Ladies’ Column.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2026, 4 February 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Ladies’ Column.

Docs it Pay to he a Woman

A correspondent, who evidently wishes she was a big, bad la in, writes to the Hfe.ooi'.. Jn'irmii to ask if it pays to be a woman ! 1 should like to know why not If it pays to be petted and shielded if you behave yourself, if it pays to be worked for and treated and poor pussy’d, if it pays to bo pretty, and graceful, and charming, if it pays to be loved and honoured and respected, if it pays to make somebody glad they were born and happy to live for your sake, if it pays to bo the greatest power for good or evil that this world knows, if it pays to be the mother of the sweetest of all r>i id-given things, a baby, if it pays to bo a mother whose children grown to manhood rise up and call her blessed, if it pays to be a wife dearer to a good man than his honour or his life, if it pays to have the blessings of the poor, the sick, the friendless, or the helpless—if any of these things pay. then it pays to bo a woman.

Fit; 1 on the woman who asks such a question. Shame on her for admitting even to herself that she has done nothing so good or so womanly that it “ paid.” The woman who takes the best of birthrights and so traduce it is no woman at all. She is a creature 1 A being so selfish, so whining. so hard, so bitter, and so complaining that she not only docs not enjoy the pleasures that are hero, but she puts an iron bar before the man or the woman who tries to do anything fur her, simply makes her own misfortunes, for it would take not only the disposition of an angel, but the heart of a, lion as well, to make up and be pretty day after day to a woman who takes a proll'urcd caress as if it were a dose of medicine and never gives one in return ; who finds a sinister motive in every bit of gallantry, and has n sneer for every pleasantry of every sort. Wo should be devoutodly thankful there are few such women in the world. Bumc there are, and they, they alone, are the kind who find “ it does not pay ! ”

What Will Happen to Girls

Thirty-nine girls. In ten years fifteen will be married. In ten years more seven of the lifccon will be widows, dependent upon their own exertions for bread and meat. In ton years fifteen of the. remaining twenty-four will be sleeping beneath the sod. And how far apart they will bo sleeping! One in England, one in California, one in India, one in Xow Zealand, another, perhaps, in a missionary’s grave in China, another amid the ashes of the ancient Aztecs of Mexico, another -but only time will tell where they all will sleep. In ton years the nine we have not yet mentioned will begin to lose their sweetness, and develope something of the sourness supposed to bo inseparable from women that are destined to be old maids. Ju ten years, not one of the thirly-ninc but that will have lasted of the bitterness that comes iu time to all human beings. Hope will be blighted, loved ones will be claimed by that same skeleton you beheld just now, sorrow in a hundred forms will bo experienced—indeed, to every one a surfeit of dead sea fruit will bo ottered.

Diaucr Table Decorations,

To attain success iu the art of decorating dinner tables needs a thoughtful eye and a discreet hand. The primary object is to enhance the elegance of the table,

“That the feast may be more joyous, And the quests bo more contented. ’

Therefore the decorations must be subordinate to the comfort of those who arc to partake of the meal ; they are not to bo arranged fur the entertainment of lookerson, and it should never be said of them that the servants had all the pleasure they could atlbrd, while the guests were simp]}’ made uncomfortable. The old (.'pergne and the golden bowl of gaudy flowers interfered with conversation, made the table heavy and ostentatious, and indicated that the dinner was prepared for ceremony rather than for enjoyment. In selecting receptacles for flowers and fruits, it should bo borne in mind that a clear view across the table is always to he desired, and that simple designs characterized by distinctness and elegance are to be preferred before those that are complex and elaborate, even if these last should happen to bo in the best taste, considered apart from the purpose they are intended for. There are occasions when elaborate and costly worksarofound appropriate, hut, as a rule, they arc the very things we do not want. All gold and silver receptacles are more or less objectionable ; nevertheless, they are not to be condemned in /o/.i, because we have seen them used with admirable effect, and the sparkle of metal is appropriate to festivity. The largo silvered plateau is usually a cold obstruction or a glaring mockery, and even plants, if too large or in too groat plenty, are apt to suggest that the table is an inundation of a nursery or a greengrocer’s shop.

Tbe Sbab’s Sister.

I Lady iSliiol, in her “Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia,” says: “I went to see the Shah's half-sister, a beautiful girl of fifteen, who lived with her mother in an obscure part of the ante-room, neglected by the Shah, and consequently by everyone else. She was really lovely, fair, and with indescribable eyes and a figure only equalled by some of the chefs dheuvre of Italian art. This is so very rare among Persian women, that she was one of the few persons I saw in the country with an approach to a good figure. She was dressed in the usual fashion of trowsers on trowsers, the last pair being of such still' brocade that if put upright in the middle of the room there they would remain. Her hair was curled, not plaited, and she was literally covered with diamonds. She was quiet inhor manners, and seemed dejected. She was most anxious to hear about European customs. And what seemed to surprise her most was that wo took the trouble to undress every night before going to bed—and she asked me if it was true that we put on a long white dress to pass the night in. All Persian women arc astonished at this custom, and are quite unable oo account for it. They never undress ,it night; they untie their thin mattrass from its silken cover, draw it out from its place against the wall, and roll themselves up in the wadded quilt which forms their blanket. The only time they change their clothes is when they go to bathe. If they go out to visit they of course put on their best garments, and take them off at night ; lull generally lie down just as (hey are, and even in cold weather they wear then* ‘ chadem - ,’ or out-of-door veil, at night,”