WOMAN'S WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10536, 10 August 1912, Page 4

WOMAN'S WORLD.

Miss Grace Wishaar is said to be the only woman theatrical scene painter in the world. She began her career as the assistant of a man scene painter, and was so successful that she went.intp the business for herself.

Baroness Aletta- Korff, an American girl and a Bryn Mawr graduate, who is the wife of an official in Finland, is reported aB saying that one of the first, things the women of Norway did with their ballots was to get the Government to start schools of domestao training for girls.

Fifteen thousand women took part in ih» big woman suffrage procession in New York recently. Amongst those taking part were a number of Chinese women, a band of Swedish women in their national dress, and a little body of Norwegian women. In the American ranks one of the chief features was tho dramatic section, in which neariy every well-known .American actress took part..

Some tentative attempts have been made by Englishwomen of rank to lighten tho sombreness of mourning. Queen Mary, however, has very strong views on the BUb]ect, and keeps a mourning suit in readiness against sudden news of bereavement. The young widow of Colonel Astor has been persuaded by her mother to wear white, the Chinese colour, for her term of mourning.

Most of the London hospitals have a lady almoner, whose duty it is to deal with the out-patients. She keeps a oheok on tho outpatients' department, preventing those who aro able to pay from abusing the hospital benefits; she also visits patients in their own homos, and gees that the instructions are carried out intelligently. There is a special training for the position, a course of sociology being inoluded as well as hospital training.

, Paris is the latest city to build a hostel for working women. Tho experiences ol several womon living solitary lives in small fiats in that city have inspired a few men and women to build a hostel whore women who are not well off can live in comfort and safety at a moderate price; The hostel will be built on the same plan as the famous Brabazon House in London; there will, of course, bo no question of charity, but the undertaking will pay for iteelf, though no attempt will bo made to make profit out of it.

The Caravan Club is quits an established institution in England, and many people prefer the slower method oi seeing the country to rushing over the miles in ft motor-car. On Juno 12 the annual dinner w«3 to be held in London, when all the members, men and -women, were supposed to join in the discussion and give accounts of their experiences during the season. In addition to the annual dinner, there is an annual meet, which will probably be at Stratford-on-Avon this year. Last year forty oaravans were present.

An amusing feature of the Koyal Commission en Civil Service appointments in its recent session in London was the crossexamination of Lord Haldane by his sister, who was one of the Commissionorß. She inquired whether ho was in favour of paying women at tho &ame ra,to as men In the higher posts of the Civil Service. Lord Haldane at first thought the man should bo more highly paid, with a view to his marrying, but afterwards conceded, " the lesser of two evils wub to pay women on the same level as men."

The rigours Buffered by tho imprisoned suffragists contrast grimly with tho luxurious seclusion of the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland when confined six weeks in Holloway for contempt of Court. Her cell was gorgeously furnished and tapestried; she received visits from her friendß} her meals were supplied from a first-class caterer's, and the wine was from her own cellar. The Duchess married for the third time, the bridegroom being Sir Albert Rollit, her solicitor." This venture proving unfortunate, they finally agreed to separate, however.

"Within an hour's jottrnoy from Paris, says a writer in the "Pall Mall are great forests of singing pines, tender birch, graceful beech and sturdy oak, _ about tho feet of which for acres cluster lilies of tho valloy, protected from too close a oontaot with the wind and sun. On the outskirts of this forest a town has grown up, and f-oni it every morning, during the lily se * r son, tho poorer inhabitant* set out in bonds ri ten and a dozen, with largo baskets on Pn-ir arms, and food for the day, to gather li.ios, which they will Fell next day at tho railway station to Paris florists and to motorists going through tho town. During the month tho lilies last, one family can make as much as £2O, and even the lazy people tin w*ke> £lO.