THE ENGLISHWOMAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10683, 1 February 1913, Page 4

THE ENGLISHWOMAN.

[Fhou Ot-u Lady Cohbespondent.] LONDON, December 6, 1012. Comparisons must always bo objectionable, lwt, after all, they are the only standards by which we can measure anything. And they seem particularly to attract New Zealanders. " Which do you like best. England or New Zealand?" is a ridiculous query as often put this side of tho world as the other, and is unanswerable—if only for reasons of diplomacy wherever put. But " Shall I like Englishwomen?" is of interest to new-comers and old, and ia not only asked people have arrived here, but is written beforehand. _ She is sucli an institution is t»o Englishwoman, that it is small wonder her acquaintance is approached with something of trepidation by her cousins from overseas. Not without reason, •either, for of all the critical beings in the world 110 one is more critical than tho Englishwoman. It is, perhaps, tho one thing that oven tho totally uninteresting woman unconsciously specialises "in, and it is a remnant, still alive and kicking, of the narrowness of outlook considered a proper attribute of the woman of fifty or more years ago. . . . The Englishwoman is always criticising someone or something, or some attribute or some idea. t That is one of the reasons why she is so narrow, because there is no standard about such criticism; you are part of a system in all but intellectual England," and if you don't do exactly, everything that every other cog in that wheel of society does you must bo wrong. Much more is it, exercised, this polite searchlight, on tho cousins from any Britain overseas than on foreigners. It is another relic as old as the dictum that "God sends friends and the devil relations," and it is, perhaps, a littlo excusable'when one remembers that re-, j lations do stick in a way that friends don't, and expect as rights what are only extended to outsiders as privileges. It is as well to remember, too, that our Now Zealand searchlight, in spite of its youth, is remarkably keen when turned on our English connections ! Wo laughed merrily at the Englishman, now a proverb, who called OnHiunga "One hunger," and -'that was rude of u's. We come over to England and pronounce Bclvoir as it is spelt, and make other errors of tho same flavour, and our English friends are a little shocked, as if something vita] had been left out of cur education. But that sort of thing can grow and grow if people are not sensible, and quite a good many p'"ple aro not. There ought to bo exactly the same fundamental rulo in relationship as in friendship and marriage, that good old workaday sledge - hammer maxim, Give and take"/' but we know it to be mainly " take*" in relationship. It is as difficult to advise New Zealanders as to how they will liko Englishwomen as to premise how a certain kind of being will enjoy himself at an uncertain description of festivity, because, of course, everything depends so much on tho two relations. For instance. if a girl from any of the towns of New Zealand comes to London proper she has something of an advantage over the country-bred girl who comes to stay with relatives in the suburbs in England. In the second j case she cannot always get away and j fend for herself as in the first, and if she is bound to blue skies and open spaces in New Zealand, to say nothing of healthy habits that prompt her to sing in lier bath or in tho corridors, or to practise if she feels musical, she is probably sure to feel suffocated for awhile, for those sort of tilings would be considered odd by quite nice and apparently eommonsense people in suburbia. Tho Englishwoman makes rery little noise; it is not fashionable to do so, even if the noise is musical and happy. Therefore if you, who have been act ustomed to coo-ees out of doors ana to running instead of walking about it ;-ov: feel inclined, follow your inclination, you will, bo regarded as net quite civilised. And you will soon fin-d nothing romantic about that' sensation. The only golden rule lor conquering a besetting sin is to ignore the. horrible thing and dwell persistently on the opposite virtue—a sort of red light .cure—and so many virtues has. the Englishwoman that the -other things ought to be able to be rejected. To revert for one moment. Her pride is an affair about which a guide booK should be issued, so complicated a thing and so difficult of comprehension it. In English suburbia we find that New Zealanders have a reputation of being more free and easy than English people in their class. In New Zealand parlance, this means that, whereas the English housewife would be too proud to ask a friend to lunch, tho New Zealand housewife would be , nroud to ask her, knowing the ah-iin-portant preliminary about ''pot luck.'' So, again, if an Eughsh girl had been dustii°g—they don't sweep or understand "scrubbing or how to investigate chimney interiors in the suburbs —and you called, she would neither consider it a compliment to yon or to herself to simply wash her hands and. in order not ' to keep you waiting, come in. otherwise, , I as she was. _ , ' | But her pride is quite Fplondid, too — ! 1 one of her very best attributes, and the one that has made her the first-class colonist we know she can be if she ! lilies. It bids her put a good face on misfortunes and bear hard things ' silently, and it recounts for tho way > she keeps her family and home together ■ that must be one of tho many explana--1 fions of the hardy term, '' tight little ! England." She is very susceptible to i praise, the dear lady, and experts it. ; So do we ! She gives generously to i tilings that s3ic Imows wo 11, cuicl v/oulci , never dream of taking the risks that ; Nevr Zealanders do in the country in befriending odd people .who want odu meals and other edd things, but she is very sympathetic and read}. - to be taken . in in ways ihr.r ?.?ein to us easy to read. Thoii-:h woefully ignorant, too often, i of real literature, politics,. drama and t i'ori'iftn siffeirs of note. r-he. is gentle and . well'bred, and has a nretiv knowledge • of Her own country'* birds :uwl {lowers, i ! and fhurch and V/igan iV.nivaU. ami ! I sli!" always with unerring 1 prievy. Only her methods riitfer I'roni

ours. In reality sho is a first cousin, and a very good sort and sport.