Ladies' Column.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2079, 10 June 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Ladies' Column.

Tried to do his Wife's Work-—it’s all right for a woman to talk,” Markus Meyer said, when ho was arrested for abandoning his wife. “All she has to do is to dress the children, do the cooking, and her work for the day is over. Then she can sit down and read a novel. A man has to work like a slave all day long. 1 wish I was a woman."

“ Why, lie's talking like a lunatic,” said his wife. “ I’ll tell you what I'll do," she continued, “If it’s so easy to manage a household, why you remain home and do a woman's work, and I’ll work to supply the family.” “ But yon may not get work,” anxiously said the husband.

“ Ob, ycsl” the wife repliel, 11 1 can get a position as saleswoman any time.” The man was all smiles when he li ft the court-room. There was a complete metamorphosis in his appearance when he returned to the court-room a week later. He looked sad and gloomy, while his wife was all smiles.

“ Well, I was all wrong, sir,” he said. “ A man has it much easier than a man.”

“ How do you like being a housemaid ?" Justice Jones inquired, “ It’s tough work, sir. I don’t want any of it again. It’s cooking, scrubbing, washing, ironing I had to do, and the children didn’t let me have a moment's peace. Do you see that bald spot on the top of my head I That was caused by the week's worry. I gave up the contest on the iirst night, but ray wife couldn't change with me until the week was out, and then she said I must come before your worship and confess that I was wrong."

“ You haven’t told the gentleman yet how many novels you read during the week," the wife said, smilingly to her husband. “Notone, How could I? The children would tear the book from my hand. If i touched one of them they would nearly drive me frantic with their screams. A woman’s lot is a hard one, after all, judge ; a man has it much easier."

“I secured a position in a Pitt street store,” the wife said, ‘‘and at six at night my work was done. Then I would lake my mother or sister to a theatre, leaving my husband home to mind the children. Last evening when I brought him my week's wages he said that if I did not keep the money and lot him do the supporting again be would leave the house and I would never see him again ; but I would not consent until be came hero and confessed his error.”

Some Love Charms.—A weekly newspaper, some years ago, gave the following receipt for ascertaining who will be the husband of any given maiden when in doubt between several loveis on which should fall the choice. Let a friend write the names on a paper in wnich a piece of wedding cake is wrapped ; let the experimentalist sleep on it for three consecutive nights, and if she should dream of any one of the names written on the paper, him she is sure to wed; if not, she had belter sot her cap elsewhere. During the marriage feast at Burnley a wedding ring is put into a posset, and the unmarried person whose cup contains the ring after the drink is served out will he the first of the company to he married. Sometimes, too, a cake is made, into which a weddingring and a sixpence are put. When the company are about to retire, the cake is broken and distributed among the unmarried ladies. She who finds the ring in her portion of cake will shortly he married; but she who gets the sixpence is certain to be an old maid. Here is another : Take a tumbler of water from a stream which runs southward; borrow the wedding ring of some married friend and suspend it by n hair of your own head over the glass of water, holding the hair between the finger and thumb. If the ring hit against the side of the glass, the holder will die an old maid; if it turn quickly round she will be married once, if slowly, twice. Should the ring strike the glass side more than three times after the holder has pronounced the name of her lover, there will bo a lengthy courtship and nothing -more; if less frequently the affair will be broken oil; and if there is no striking at all the affair will never come off. A more simple plan is to look at the new moon through a silk handkerchief that has never been washed, when as many years will elapse before marriage as there arc moons seen through the interstices of the silk.

German girls, to ascertain the color of their future husband’s hair, stand at the door between the boms of eleven and twelve on (lie eve of St, Andrew's day (thirtieth of Xovcmber), take hold of the latch and say throe times— “ Gentle love, it thou love mo, show thyself.” She must then open the door quickly, and make a rapid grasp through it into the darkness, when-she will find in her hand a lock of her future husband's hair.

Afternoon Weddings.— in England, the majority of weddings this year have been followed merely by a reception in place of a breakfast. Still it must be admitted that very aristocratic families cling to the latter time-worn custom, and it is also pretty generally retained in the country, whore visitors from a distance stand in need of something a little more substantial than sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, fruit, ices, teaand coffee. Thu sandwiches, of live or six kinds, are the only solids now served, and when this is the case the buffet totally displaces the table. Probably the new style suits the pockets of hosts witha large circle of friends, as the cost per head is less than one-half, and it also gets rid of the awkward question of selection in issuing invitations, as no limit need bo imposed. 0 But, nevertheless, it is remarked that the institution, for such it bids fair to become is not quite so popular with gnosis ns the wedding breakfast proper. At a reception, usually held between three and four iu the afternoon, there arc no speeches, which is perhaps not regretted, but an effort lias been made to preserve the ceremony of cutting the cake by the bride, and for the provocation of mirth, the cosaque or cracker Mill survives. Champagne and sherry are also to be had. Flowers there are in abundance, and it may be worth mentioning, that the profusely decorated cake is now a tiring of the past. The hideous chalk ornaments which used to be religiously kept under glass in the drawingrooms of newly-married couples as a memento have been condemned as unnatural and inartistic, and instead rpal blossoms of pure white arc now trailed over the tiers of frosted cake, greatly contributing to a pretty and tasteful result, as opposed to the former ghastly effect. The Charming Girl— The charming girl is companionable. But she docs not fall' in love any more. It would be impossible for the truly charming girl to fall in love in the old-fashioned way, the way which led (ho amiable predecessor of the Angelina type to set her affections on a villain or an idiot and cling to him through thick and thin with a fidelity and a rapture, that looks very silly to the charming girl. She knows herself better than ever a girl knew herself before. She is taught wisely and well by her careful mother, and no man can suprise her heart into surrender unless he has at least a few of the elements of genuine manliness ami nobility, attractions of mind and spirit as well as of face and manner. Of course there is a sham charming girl who doesn't fall in love because she has no heart to lose, having wasted it all in admiration of herself and her pretty gowns. This inconsequent and effective little sham knows enough, however, to imitate the ways of the girl who is genuinely charming, and she gets up a very clever and interesting counterfeit oftentimes, and one which is extremely good to look at on a pleasant summer's day. By-and-by, when the ideal girl comes to bless the world, there will, without doubt, be a sweet and pretty sham of her also to bo found at the shore and mountain resorts, whom the sham men then upon (he oavlh will flirt with to their heart's coulcul, while the idea! matt will l-ow at the shrine of the ideal girl,