THE GIRL OF 1950.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9304, 3 August 1908, Page 2

THE GIRL OF 1950.

MADAME SARAH GRAND'S VIEWS. Madame Sarah Grand has been telling a "Daily Mail" interviewer what progress she thought women would make during the next fifty years, and what effect the franchise would have I upon the character and tastes of the sox. She says:— "lt i 3 scarcely too optimistic to foretell that women will have the franchise in forty-two years to come. That will mean a stupendous alteration in the point . of view from which women will bo regarded by men. The question to ask with regard to the suffrage is not do women want it, but will it be good for them.? Certainly it will It will teach them commonsense, develop their intelligence, and mako them responsible beings. Men will think it worth their while to talk seriously to women about serious anairs, such aa politics. They will be amazed, it i» safe to say, by the fresh and ponetratin? outlook women will, bring to boar upon great points oi issuo, and will be grateful for their advice, instead of being merely tolorant or fiankly contemptuous." . " It is easy to prognosticate the effect that this attitude, of men will have upon women. Why, it will- open up a completely new vista of worlds tor them to conquer, and will induce them to try to add to their already acknowledged assets of beauty, tenderness and domesticity, quickness of wit and alertness of brain, qualities only admired by a few men now. •' What tho Englishwomen of to-day Buffer from/ proceeded Madame Sarah Grand, lapsing from an affectionate look into futurity to an unprejudiced view of the situation present, "is apathy. They arc satisfied to remain, as they arc. To think zs abhorrent to them, and to form ideas apparently impossible. They like to frivol through life, instead of to offer to it their share of endeavour in order that the conditions of society may be bettered for all time. " Now, the American woman thinks and forms ideas; but she has to fight against two elements in her existence I that war entirely against the good that is the natural result of thought and view-finding. I allude to the wearing of tight clothing and the state of absolute hustle in which America draws her j cverv breath. j "N o«, I must make my meaning concerning these points extremely clear indeed. I have alluded to the subject I of tight clothing generally, because you have asked me how I think the girl of 1950 will dress, and before I go one word further in tho unfolding of my i views, do hear, me say that, though I I maintain that if she is wise, the woman jof forty-two* years hence will have abandoned all forme of corset except the short bust support that is merely ; a belt worn. high. I emphatically do not mean that she will dress badly. '• No, no: beauty will always bo thd bird in the hand to woman, for beauty charms. It is right that it should be, and to dress well — and, of course, with duo regard to suitability and tho occasion — will, I trust, ever be her desire. '• She is an unwise and unnatural product of humanity should she* allow herself to neglect her appearance. Bo she will wear beautiiul materials beautifully made; silks, on dress occasions, | and muslins in the summer. I think, 'and light-weight woollen fabrics and velvets in tho winter, and they will be «o designed as to enhance her grace of form, and by no means to obliterate her beauty of contour. "But the purely conventional and distorted hour-glass figure, that in absolutely unnatural, wiil have ceased to bo the ideal, and the really exquisite lines of tho feminine form, than which, nothing can be moi'e beautiful, will bo admired. No : Ido not, most emphatically, want to see back again the shapeless esthetic robe of years ago, which hid every line and. curve, and was so usually very ugly in colour. The evolution of time will, 1 trust, bring 1 the true Empire dress into popularity. It is hung from a high bodice in graceful draperies, and is as healthy as it is pretty, provided tho corset of convention is not worn beneath it. " Present-day women have a debased idea of beauty. It is that which must be banished. Then they realise not at all the fact that half their vitality is taken up in fighting against the pressure tight corsets exert upon the vital organs. " There are so many vital organs and so little room for them to be packed away in, so little, indeed, that the corset of convention, a garment closely boned and extending from bust to hips, over which it is tightly laced, must press on some. By wearing them, women voluntarily abandon a large part of the special measure of vitality with which Nature has, as a sex. endowed them. "This i 3 a pity, for women, as you know, have naturally much more vitality than men. Boy babies aro less easy to bring up than girl babies. AH mothers are aware of that. Old women live longer on an average and are more active as a rule in mentality as well as physique than old: men, although they have been the mothers of many children. Yet they will be foolish enough to sacrifice some of the vitality that is their great asset for the sake of fulfilling the demands of a debased ideal. " A man-thinker has said that no groat genius has arisen sio.ee small waists caimi into fashion, and really clever women, such as Ellen Terry, Duse and Sarah Bernhardt despise such abnormalities, and do not wear stays at all. They could not- have preserved tho staying power which enables them to play young parte at an advanced ago if they had. " Next to that other point in which tho American women fail to give their natural cleverness due scope, I mentioned that they live- their lives in a bustle and hurry. Now, to the- natures of English women, it is foreiffn not to appreciate leisure, and T believe that the English girl of 1950 will have learnt the salutary lesson that it is Tier duty to stand apart and ponder now and then. "Do not run away -with the idea that T advocate a vegetable, existence. Stagnation must have- no place in the making of the ideal woman. But leisure that stimulates the intellect women should seek. To find it they have only to abandon thp. frivolities in which they pass. so many hours nowadays; the w-nst.od Imnrs KPfrit in +'"> club', in leaving bridge and in talking; chiffons and vanity. "T believo that th* woman of IHoO will he much morn •doTPPsticatod than tho ono of 190 S. STi*> will want to n»« her newly-found administrative powers in perfecting her home. T fully expect plio will ho nincli morn a vegetarian than a meat-eating individual. '•' Do T think she will b» abT*^ to write M.P. nft.«r hor rwinr? "Well, upon that point I have no feeling. If women aro clftmoiiTod for a 3 members of Parliament thpy trill come in time, and if tliev do not succeed in the- House they -will hn turned nut of their seats. So that will be nil right, too. " It is a rosy future to which women have to look, I nm firmly convinced, and theirs almoßt for the asking. But it- is apathy, the result of the chronic debility induced by the weight and

pressure of tight clolihing, that is against them. Let women learn and show how the race will gain by every improvement in their position, and they need only ask to Jiave all that they require. Please tell them that. Apathy is their bane, the very metal of tfhich their chains are forged."