LADIES' GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5699, 19 October 1896, Page 3

LADIES' GOSSIP.

[" Canterbury Times."] To a large number of women there ia something very pleasing in the idea of having " equal rights with men." It seems to mean such generous' freedom to share in all kinds of vague advantages which are popularly supposed to., be showered down at present upon man alone, who greedily tries to appropriate them all for himself, to the utter exclusion of mother, sister and wife. But let somebody only suggest that if women are to have these "equal rights," they should also have "equal responsibilities" with men, and these enterpi"ising dames are straightway astonished. It is not fair to them. Why should they not have the sweets, and let men take the blows ? And so the absurd contest goes on. A judge in a divorce case in America took a commonsense view of the question the other day, and showed women what they must expect when they share equal rights with their " tyrants." A lady who had property in her own right brought a suit for divorce. Her husband, hoAvever, pleaded poverty, and asked the Court for alimony to enable him to make his defence. This is usually granted to the wife on application, and tbe judge was at first a little surprised at hearing the request from the husband. But he was a wise man, and, evidently, quite up -to - date. He pondered awhile, and bearing in mind the progress that has been made in equalising women with men before the law, this Solomon decided to grant the application. The husband got his alimony, and the judge in concluding his decision said again, what so many people seem to be in danger . of forgetting—that " the duties which the husband and wife owe each other are reciprocal." Mrs Cunnington's brave effort on behalf of the women Flanagan and Byrne, and the man Chemis, is most praiseworthy, but it is a pity that the three names are bracketed together in the petition now awaiting signatures. There is so much diversity of opinion as to the guilt of the man, and the cases of the two women differ so much from one another that separate petitions for each prisoner would have enabled many to affix their signatured to one or the other, who are scarcely disposed to ask for the liberation of all three. As for the woman Byrne, it is surprising that she should have been imprisoned at all. If she is insane she should have baen confined in a lunatic asylum; if, on the contrarj^she is sane, the unhappy Avoman is to be pitied rather than punished, and there is no one who could wish to see her deprived of her liberty for another hour. She has been doubly wronged, and it is most earnestly to be hoped that one result of the petition will be her release from prison. An ingenious English lady thinks she has made a discovery that will make her name revered through the ages by all grateful housekeepers. To her belongs the honour of* having solved the great servant question. She has found the "boy housemaid," and like all inventors she expects to revolutionise the world, or at least its housekeeping. But she is rather too enthusiastic as to the merits of this treasure of a boy, who though only sixteen years old, appears to bean angel in disguise — no 1e33. Alice Hayes, for so she signs hei'self, has favoured the Daily Chronicle with the results of her experiments on the " Question." Her success was immediate, apparently, and "as far as I am personally concerned," she declarts, " I will have . no more women servants. I kept three here — cook, parlourmaid and general maid to assist, and gave out all tbe washing ; now I have only a boy ! He does almost all the housework. I cook our meals, with the aid of Mrs Beeton's book, and shall continue to do so until I find a competent, steady man-cook, who will do what I tell him in the disposal of my food." This boy actually is said to ' perform the work of two able-bodied women, and for his almost supei'human efforts on behalf of Mrs Hayes's family, she says she pays him the sum of three shillings-a week and all found, including aprons, slippers, and a suit of clothes ! One hears from time to time of nice, gentle boys who are useful about a house — from story-books chiefly, I think ; but most of these boys die young. A runaway horse generally comes along, and the nice boy always saves the rich man's only daughter from a terrible death, and gets killed himself; or he tries to rescue a little girl's doll from the river, where the bad boy has thrown it, and is carried away by the stream, never to reappear. No, I never knew the nice boy to survive his twelfth year — the boy who would take kindly to household drudgery — and I think he is rarely found in England ■or the colonies. Mrs Hayes must have chanced upon a unique' specimen, and she certainly is to be congratulated on her discovery but— l should like to turn up the carpets and mats to make sure that he had not swept the dust into the corners. I should also like to see the crockery and glass account for each month, and if these were satisfactory, I might possibly become converted to the idea of the " boy housemaid," or house-boy, as he should be called. In India and China the " boy " is quite an institution, so why not also in other countries ; we have the mancook already, and he, as we all know, is such a siiccess that a woman cannot approach him in efficiency. Let us welcome the house-boy by all means, and the cry " What shall we do with our boys ?" will cease out of the land. As for 'the girls they may become farmers, gardeners and sailors, and then everybody •will be satisfied. Few women realise that they can add considerably to the " life " of their shoes if they would keep them clean and polished. In the case of their shoes they are much behindmen,whousuallyhavetheirbootsshined at least once a day. Many women on the contrary will wear the same shoes as long as they look fairly black or clean till they verge on rustiness, and then wonder why their footgear wears out so soon. Then women's shoes have to submit to the constant f ric tion of the skirts, and this takes the surface off the leather very rapidly, for it makes no difference whether the dress is bound with coarse mohair braid, or with the finest silk velvet — the result sooner or later is the same. But the wise woman will take care to counteract this friction by dressing her boots daily, and if she has no tree she will do well to wear her shoes while they are being polished to prevent their being pushed out of shape in the process. This polishing puts a surface on the leather that defies dust and makes it to a certain degree waterproof. Tan shoes should be cleaned daily also ; they should be first washed with water^ and soap, but the water must bo wiped off very quickly. They should then be wiped as dry as possible with a soft rag, and then sponged over lightly and evenly with russet shoe polish, which must be finished off by a good rubbing with a soft clean rag. It is pleasant to know that the stiffly starched shirt-waists have gone quite out, and now the soft, full blouse is to be worn with all kinds of dresses, from the businesslike coat and skirt to the dainty muslin and silk dress siutable for a garden party. It is a little surprising, when one considers the discomfort of those shirt-fronts, to remember how many women not only wore them, but did so with smiling faces and an easy demeanour that effectually concealed the misery they were experiencing. And now they are to meet with their reward, for they may have their vests of the softest and laciest fabrics, and — be happy. Chiffons of all colours, tulle, muslins, with tuekings, gaugings and gathers, are to be "the thing," and wonderfully pretty and becoming they are too.