FIVE O'CLOCK TEA CHAT.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 37, 13 September 1890, Page 15

FIVE O'CLOCK TEA CHAT.

LADYS: ‘Do you leniemlier, \ era, seeing in the B o, ‘don papers some time ago that ladies of title were figuring as dressmakers, etc. * Some of the really poor, whose daily biead they n are Biking from them, aie complaining bitterly I t-ha,t ladies whose incomes are reduced t<»w«Zy . 5 £BOO a year should semi their daughters out as shop-girls, instead of living in contentment and * thrift ami economy on that sum.’ Vera : ‘They should come to New Zealand, ami see how comfortably we can live hereon less than that.’ Dolly : ‘ Our girls might do well to follow the example of some prudent maidens in Berlin.’ Stella: ‘Hermans are usually farseeing ami practical: what have these girls done ?’ Dolly: ‘They have formed a society for the “protection of marriageable ladies against improvident and unhappy unions.” ’ Gladys: ‘ Quite a Utopian scheme’. And how are they going to manage ?’ Dolly : ‘lt sounds rather funny, but as soon as a girl receives an offer of marriage, the other members of the society investigate the social, pecuniary, and moral condition of the male creature who ventures to propose to one of these dis creet damsels.’ Vera : ‘ But of course the society must be a secret one : for I am sure there are few men brave enough to make an offer to a member of such a terribly formidable society if he were aware of the fact that the girl he desired as his life’s companion could allow him to be so weighed in the balance.’ Dolly : ‘You may laugh, girls, but I am sure if some of our maidens reflected a little on the character of the man she was wishful to marry, and noticed, as far as possible, how he behaved in his own home, there would be fewer un happy or unsuitable unions.’ Gladys : ‘Talking of unions, Dolly, reminds me of the new fashion of proposing. The gentleman simply says, “Ahem, Miss , shall we join these fashionable unions?” and she either consents or refuses. It saves such a gieat deal of unpleasant beating about the bush in the old “Do you like anyone better than me?” style.’ Vera: ‘fs it true that the eldest son of the Prince of Wales is to be betrothed to Princess Clementine of Belgium?' Gladys : ‘lt is not quite settled. She wishes it, hut he does not care about it. She is eighteen, clever, good look in", and a great heiress. W hat more can he want ?’ Dolly : ‘ Perhaps he does not like everyone approving so heartily of the scheme. A little opposition always improves the flavour of courtship.’ Stella : ‘ Do any of you believe in hypnotism ?’ Gladys : ‘ W hat an abrupt question ! 1 hardly see how anyone can fail to believe that there is a good deal of won derful truth in the cures that it has effected. There is a capital article on the subject in the Neir He view for June, by Dr. Milne Bramwell. It is certainly a fact that more than one London doctor has sent patients to him to be cuied.’ Dolly : ‘ You can throw a person into a trance, ami make them do anything you like, can you not?’ Gladys : ‘ Yes ; and a doctor tells the patient that whatever is the matter with him has gone, ami, strange to say, though it sometimes takes one or two sittings to cure the sick person, yet it is generally successful.’ Dolly : ‘lt is horrible, I think. And of course you could suggest to anyone to go and set the house on fire or kill someone. ’ Gladys : ‘ Y’es ; and, worst of all, the hypnotised person could not tell, on recovering consciousness, who had suggested the crime to him.’ Dolly : ‘Do let us change the conversation. Vera, say something.’ Vera : ‘ I have something “ horrid ”to tell you. The Lancet says that infection can readily he conveyed in lir>oks from a lending library, ami urges people suffering from measles, scarlet fever, etc., to think of other people, and refrain from reading anything that cannot be burnt. Worse than this even, a French lady scientist has just announced, in an English journal devoted to the welfare of children, that the juvenilefor “ making dust pies, shovelling about the dry earth, and making gardens with sticks’’is fraught with imminent and deadly peril. “Children with their spades ami pails put in motion the dust, which mav be laden with germs of transmissible illness especially such as whooping-cough ami measles—and swallow them by in halation.” Really the übiquitous bacillus is becoming a sad tyrant, as the child of the future is likely to discover to its cost. No more little gardens to tend, no more carting about of toy vanloads of mould, no more delightful “ grubbing ’’ for the science-ridden little ones of t he microbe-burdened future ! Since Mother Earth herself has been detected in the act of spreading the germs of disease, whither shall we poor mortals turn for respite? For the children’s sake it is comfort ing to note that spades and pails are still for the present to be permitted at the seaside, and that the little ones are not yet to be denied the supreme delight of building sand castles ami digging channels on the seashore. Here only, it seems, they can indulge in their favourite amusement without fear of danger. But how long will it be, I wonder, before some learned Jeremiah discovers bacilli in seaweed, miciol es in shells, and germs in everything ?’ Stella: ‘Let me too contribute my little atom of science : -A letter from an astrologist, who signs himself Sagittarius, appeared in a contemporary, and it contained a warning to Miss Tennant and Mr Stanley not to marry on the 12th »July, as the stars were against that day, and any important event taking place upon it will surely be followed by un happiness or mi*fortune, or both. One would like to know how the gieat explorer looks on superstition of this kind.’ Dolly : ‘ Women are wonderfully superstitious. 1 was at a luncheon party the other day, and the whole affair, which had promised to be very pleasant, was completely spoilt by the ridiculous grief ami dismay of the hostess because one of the lady visitors, in a conlmendable endeavour to see if her paid for curls were securely fastened on the top of her unpaid for bang, dropped a small hand mirror. Really the poor hostess was nearly wild, declaring she was in for seven years of bad luck.’ Stella : ‘ I offered to cut out a dress Inst Friday for a friend, but she declared it would be ruined if begun on that day. Such is complex human nature.’