Women of To-day.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1629, 5 October 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

Women of To-day.

Women of Ancient and Modem Times— A FJlUosopZjiseiZ jDisoouxse os Fcraiijlao Beauty— Advanccmsnt or tno Sex — Woaien of tie Future.

I have besn devoting considerabla of my valuable time of late to the study of feminine bcaaty. Ido cot mean feminine beauty bs ecen in individual instances, but beauty in the abstract aa exemplified by the gentler sex. Ido not suppose tbst any male reader will attempt to controvert the bread statement that a truly beautiful woman i 3 the loveliest object in existence. We hsve Biblical authority for the fact that sfter the Creater had finished everything elea He made woman as His crowning work. Adam immediately fell upon- his ineea before bar and did exactly as Bha bado, and Adam's sons and grandsons havJ been doing the same thing ever since. Down through the generations from Adam, and Eve, Samson and Delilah, Anthony and CJeopatia, to the present d&y, lovely woman has "held the whip band, and we of the present generation havß no cause to animadvert upon the weaknesses of our ancestors ; we aio jast as easily managed as they wero. • Talk about « woman's rightß I" The oW creatures have more rights now than they know what to do with. A fairly clever woraan can wield mora influence, political, social or moral, than ten men, if sho only knowß how to use her power. And ac women are becoming bettor educated, ara taking a broader interest in public matters, in literature and a*t, I do not wonder thst medioora men are beginning to cry out against tha competition. We have only to glanoe at history to ccc Avhet may be the legitimate outcome 0! tbis improvement in women. Civilised man stopped advancing some hundred?, perhapß thousands, of years ago. There was as great statseinen, philosophers, and as polished gentlemen in China three thousand years ago as there ore in England to-day. Egypt, Greece, Borne before Christ and Europe in the Middle Ages produced men ts able in every way as the men of today. But the women of those ages and countries never had a fair ohance to compete with the men. They were kept at home, •illy educated and but little regarded except as toys to enliven a leisure hour. When & woman of tboEe times had courage to break down the barriers of cue torn which hedged her about she was regarded ac & marvel. It is only within the past one hundred yeara that women really begsn to make any progress, and, considering tho generations of prejudice and past suppression she has had to overcome, what remarkable progress she has made 1 A few years longer and it will not be a question of "women's rights," bat of men'd rights. They o&n acoomphsh now, almost, any end they strive for, indirectly ; what will it be when they hava the power to enforce their purposes directly ? Which observation leads me back to my original subject of woman's beanty. Brains being the Bame, a beautiful woman has ten times tho influence of a homely one, and I have mado tbe alarming discovery that women, as a sex, are growing more beautiful as well as more brainy.

Tha youcgar generation of woman • are more grsoefat, better formed, mcra pleasing to look upon than were the generation preocdiDg them. They walk with a springy, vigorous gait; thoir cheeks be&r-thc flush of bealtb, and they show evidence of a more permanent beauty than was possessed by their mothers tjai grAf-iimftthVp. Thirty yeara ago ii was fashionable io be pale and languid. The slender, delicate, "intcrceting " girl had the call in those days. It was considered vulgar to be large or healthy. Within the past few yearß notions have been reversed, and women ore coining nearer to the Standard of what they should be. Fancy the Venus of Milo with her superb proportions luced so tightly that eht

cenld hardly •breaths and teetering down t'iie

street on IVoneii heels. "Soi that was the ihittiti. tA&M bt iemißV&fl be&ntjr we Ma 25 yews ago. To-day 4h« girla walk, rido, raw, play tennis, yes, and box and fence, too — sad thay doa't do these things trussed in stays and perched upon three iuohca of heel set ucder tho middle ef the fo«i. There has beau a gradual ye* soro erolaiioa in the matter of fesbioßS &/) well as in education, and fashion baa had more to do with it than anything el«r. Theiegariesof that same ficfcla goddess during the p^M, 25 years have been something wonderful, and it is still more-i'smarfeaWo that women have boen willing to submit to the diotation. Jaat a few, among my baldbeaded readers, will remember the crinoline which made Bnoh immense hips that, with the pnffed-out skirts and long, tight waists, a woman looked like a peg top stuck into a pin-cushion. In those days a woman took up more room in an omnibus or on the sidewalk than half-a-dozen men, but the far. spreading, inflexible hoops seemed to keep tbe men at a distance, and that wap the reason, I fancy, chat the crinoline was discarded and another fashion in figures was adopted. We have passed through the various gradations of the " Grecian Bend," the " eel-skin " gown and all the distortions of figure and sense nntil now ye are threatened with a revival of the costumes of tho First Empire, a style which, as far a3 I can make out, consists of almoet nothing aT all. It is hardly suited to our climate, but it is oertainly more classical in its lines tban anything which has preceded it. We are getting nsed, at our dinner parties and at the opera, to Bee women eeantily clothed — above the waist— and the bathing dresses at the summer resorts have been steadily growing more and more decollette at the other end.-*-Bat it requires a good figure to stand tho laconio cost ames of modern times, and perfeot circulation and ezeroiss are requisite for a good figure. High-heeled shoes must bs discarded because they throw all the work upon the musoles of the front of the leg, and after a time the oalf moves around in front, to the utter destruction of al! symmetry. The earns is true of the upper portion of tbe bedy ; a woman who laces tightly can not have a flue neck and shoulders, the circulation ia cramped mi their deyelopmsnt ia arrested. Oo to the opera and you v?ill Eec tae resales of this cramping proceaa. W°ni en with great red arms, which look as if fresh from the wash-tubs, and women with lean and parchment-covered neck and shoulders bare them ruthlessly to tbe pazo of a& unEympsthetio public. I like brevity, but judgnccDt should bo used, asd unless a woman has really fine neck and arms, she should beware how fihe uses too much eoonomy in making her waists. I always have a wild yearning to drop a plate of icecream down the spine of some more than uaually nsolad dowager, or to splash my champagne on her arms. Perhaps it is inherent depravity in me which prompts such desires, perhaps it is because I know that ths uninviting anatomy should be covered with something. It ia the modern " tailor-made " girl that you will see tbe finest aevelopmens ol physical womanhood and of mentality, too, for that matter, despite the jsers 0! the news* paper wits. A healthy mind in a healthy DO#y is what higher education, more eensibla amusements and less idiotic fashions are doing for the women of the present generation. To one who is interested in the advancement of the human race and who can remember the men and v/omen of 25 or 30 years ago an afternoon's walk on a fashionable street in any larga city is full of enoouragement. To be sure, there are still some traces of absurdity in the fashion?, and wa can not help wondering why women do this or that. Thshighhafe at the theatre ia an absurdity and a vulgarity which is surely doomed, and the big bustle 19 shrinking moßt satisfactorily. A few years ago they were much larger than they are now, and thon at times they would get loose from their mooiinga and slew around to leeward, or get unhitched in soma way and would wobble in an alarming fashion that led the .horrified overseer to fear that tbe fair dame waß about to part with that poition of her anatomy. But the iourmiri, aa they call it not?, baa come to quito moderate proportions, and a fashionalla woman is no longer obliged to perch si<sew/Ec on the edge of the Beat when she sits down. How they endured ths tortures of snob costumca at any time i« puzzling enough. Bat women aro strange creavures, and Ihcir motives should not be too eiosely eeannsd by the coarser maaoaline mind. Men often flatter themselves that women areas for their approbation or to compel their admiration. But thia only shows man's conoeit and 'ignorasce. As a matter of fact women have a profound contempt for man's opinion on the subject of dress, and so far as I oan judge, tha dear creatures array themselves for the purpose 0! attracting or exciting the envy ef other woman. Ihe handsome toilettes seen at matinees and lunch parties are a proof of this. Fashion is in any event a curious thing and it znuEt be some one more astute than I to account for ita vagaries. In the meantime men deplore,and writers satirise the extremes and the cynical I old baohelors discuss the whole question, in tha BinoliiOg-roojD, over their cig&ro and eegnao. The fact ia, that unless a man has I earnestly studied the matter, ha knows very little abDut it. And after be has studied it, it becomes a greater myßtery to him than before. I Allan Fobmak.

Mrs. Angy Tapper- «« Gclohnrst (after fche elopement) — " Oa, please, papa, do forgive us. 1 love Angy bo that I oouldn't help it ; bat I loy9 you, dear pnp3, bo that I couldn't rest until I had corns back to tell yon all 1" Papa—" Well, well ! I auppcae I must make the best of a bad jcb. Bat where'B An W ?" Mrs. Tapper— " Ontside with a cabman. Couldn't you lfnd your, own Caramtlla enough to pay tha b*Dte? Poor Angy only had eEough for tho minister." Eosey Boy -"Way diaa's you take a Wfdding trip, Bloodgood?" Bloodgood — IS Weil, you see, my wife and I came to tbe oonolusion it wouldn't be much of a novelty for us. We met first on a steamer on the Atlantis Oj;an ; I proposed in Sweden ; was accepted iv Russia ; obtained her father's permission in England ; the marriage settlement was drawn up in tbis country, and we were married in Algiers." ITo one has a prosperity so high or firm but two or three worda can dishearten it. There is no ovil which right worda will no* beg:n to redress. The whole esaanca of trng, gentle breeding lies in the wish and the art to ba agreeable. Good manners ia Barf aoe Camtianity. True politeness is perfect ease an<i freedom. Iteimply consists ia treating others jtnt es you love to be treated yourself. Words 6« spiritual 'toiRBS, flDglea of iloaaing or ol oarsicg. Uauttered, Wfl eon« trol them ; uttered, they control us. "What has bo done? ta the divine question which searches men, and transpierces ] every fals3 reputation. Reputation is what mon and women > think of us ; oharnater is what Gcd and tha ' angels know of us. 647