In the Mirror

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 5, Issue 3, 1 September 1926, Page 2

In the Mirro r

NARROWS OF THE WAIKATO RIVER, A RAT I ATI A RAPIDS

We have had our full measure of wet weather recently, and most of us have been depressed with the dampness. The only thing that bucks up most of us is the expectation of an early Spring and bright sunshine to come. But have we been wise in cursing the weather and growling at the rain? We have been residing the remarks of an eminent medico who declares that wet dates put us on our mettle. They whip us. and. of course, being New Zealanders, we respond with added cheerfulness! “Who," he asks, "is going to he down-hearted because the clerk of the weather is our of humour?” Certainly. New Zealandersespecially our farmers —arc best when they have an excuse to grouch, and, after all, the weather is very helpful in this direction. Few of us. perhaps, realise how much we owe to these wet days which perpetually interfere with cm plans. We have to thank them for our wonderful physical power of adapting ourselves to changed conditions. We are almost prompted by these suggestions to think it must he the sudden variations from shivering cold to bright sunshine that gives us strong, patient youths and bright, pretty girls. So far, we arc spared the excitement of the bans that are being placed abroad on women's dress and ways. If our “flappers” are playing up to their freedom, it is some satisfaction to know that no one has yet ordered us to forego low-necked and sleeveless dresses on pain of

being refused admission to church because to adopt these unmaidenly abbreviations is a vice. Modesty might, of course, invite a certain discretion, but it is just a shade over the odds when we learn that a Hungarian prelate recently warned girls against the Girl Guides. We had an idea that Hungary was one of the most morally abandoned countries in Europe. Still, according to this Church dignitary, this movement had a much too masculine activity for modest maidenhood. Really, when we read such things from abroad, it does seem that the charge of insularity New Zealand lives under is a brazen myth, and that our notions of morality are not the smug humbug they are sometimes represented to be. thing modern tendencies in v dress has done is to smash all ideas of uniformity. Variety is what pleases most, so let the ornate sex

cultivate it. The greater the variety of attire women pattern for themselves the better, and certainly the more interesting they become. Our outlook is the brighter for the variety, and. titter all, women can be largely judged by what they wearand what they leave unclad! We do not want a craze for uniformity. It is a hateful passion. No one wants the world dominated bv one code of conduct or one style of attire, or one set of ideas. Variety pleases most in social customs. Therefore, why worry ourselves over such problems as: "Should women boh.''” or “Is Marriage a failure?"as though there were any other answer to them than similar questions, such as: “Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't." and “Sonic should and some shouldn't.” The underlying assumption in all these futile discussions is that human beings are all alike and should

all do the same things at the same lime, and ape one another in what they wear. Thank goodness, it isn’t true, and that it takes all sorts to make a world. I IT' seem to he living in a diete- * * tic age. Everyone appears nowadays to be expounding theories as to what we should cat and what we should not eat. One really becomes rather weary of listening to faddis.s, and it is rather refreshing to learn from one of the foremost members of the Medical profession in England, Sir James Canllie, that he emphatically lays down the dictum: "Unless von are ill, eat what von like.” Vegetarianism and fruilarianism may be the apex of hygienic wisdom, but indulgence in either seems inevitably to result in turning them into a religion, and the addicts into proselytes. When men and women attach overwhelming importance to the kind of food they cat, they may be either greedy or faddy; whatever the cause, it is not a sign of mental health. Fat what you like, and not too much of it, is sound .advice, /~\ur cover design this month is from a studio study admirably executed by Miss Marie Dean, of Wellington. The portrait is after Gainsborough’s famous picture of “The Duchess of Devonshire." The design does credit alike to the charming little maiden, Biddy Miller, of Haitaitai, the artist-photo-grapher, and Illustrations Did., which firm was responsible for the process work in colours