AS SEEN THROUGH WOMAN’S EYES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIII, Issue XII, 17 September 1904, Page 58

AS SEEN THROUGH WOMAN’S EYES.

Women on Secret Service.

ADMIRAL TOGO’S FIRST THRILLING EX I’ERIENCE. Admiral Togo was once the victim of a remarkable conspiracy. He had been entrusted with important despatches for the Japanese representative in China, and on the day' before his departure from his residence at Yusaii a lady called and requested an inter view with him. “I am the Countess Czascky,” she explained. when she was shown into the young officer's room. “We have met before.” Togo remembered having been intro dneed to her by an English officer at a ball in Tokio. "He understood that she was a member of an ancient Russian family', exiled for her advanced opinions. Accordingly he greeted her with marked cordiality. The conversation took a personal turn; but it was evident that the countess was continually' endeavour ing to broach political subjects. Togo as successfully and tactfully avoided them. A KNOWING COUNTESS. At length, with some show of impatience, the lady bluntly asked him: “You have despatches for China?” “Madame the countess seems to know my business,” answered Togo, whereupon the fair visitor shrugged her shoulders. “No; it is nothing to me,” she said. “I take no interest in any country’s affairs now. But we heard that you were leaving to-morrow, and the count sent me to ask a favour of you. Will you call upon him before you go, and he will explain?” Quite unsuspecting the young man gladly promised, and the same evening visited Count Czascky. He found the house closed, and wts informed that ‘he count was away. Not until then did he doubt the genuineness of his caller, and on reaching home the whole plot was clear.

In his absence the room had been rifled, and the despatches stolen. Inquiries proved that the title claimed by' the countess was unknown. She was the leading spirit of a secret society in the pay of China, and as it was

believed by the members that the despatches contained important secrets dealing with the relations between the two countries, she had arranged this plan to secure the papers, and had herself committed the theft. A remarkable secret society, called the League of Red Rain, in Mexico, is supported by women. The murder ol Senor Madilla, a secretary in the Spanish Foreign Office, was committed by a woman. THE LEAGUE OF RED RAIN. At «he time of the last great Carlist reviva,, the league, which bore a grudge against Don Carlos, arising out of some negotiations in the early days of the league, decided on an attempt on the life of the Spanish Pretender. His companion and confidant was Madilla, an accomplished young man. but one much addicted to fast living. One night a woman named Valarez, a member of the league, was with Madilla, and over the wine got from him the desired information as to Carlo’s movements; she also got at his papers, and stole several of a compromising character. As soon as he discovered how he had been duped by the woman he gave information to his chief. Then it was. when the excitement reached its climax, that Madilla, returning from his office, was stabbed by' Valarez. The plot against Don Carlos was frustrated, but the League of Red Rain still flourishes. During the Spanish-American war a woman tried to intercept despatches for Admiral Dewey. She was the wife of a Consul, and occupied a position of great influence. The despatches contained orders of supreme importance, affecting the movements of Dewey's fleet. Madame Delado made terms with the Spanish authorities, and laid her plans before them. While the warship lay at anchor before departure she was to be rowed out close to the vessel under cover of darkness, and was then to swim nearer. When within easy call, she was to er.v in distress, as though drowning, and she counted upon the humane instincts of the Americans to rescue her. Every detail of the plan was carried out. and the beautiful spy was rescued by a young sailor, and placed in a cabin, where she received ready medical attention. Beyond this, however, she did not succeed. Hearing an unusual

noise in the chief officer’s cabin, a lieutenant went below to discover the cause, and found the lady endeavouring to piek the lock of the safe. A desperate struggle ensued; but Madame Delado was soon overpowered, and was subsequently handed over to the authorities. CHASED BY A WOMAN A remarkable incident o f the Boer war was a woman’s seventy-mile ride on horseback in chase of a despatch-rider, and a keen fight at the end. The young subaltern was bearing important letters from the late General Wauchope, and going to join his regiment. The nature of some of these letters became known to the Boer woman through a prisoner. She determined to obtain possession ol the papers, and watched for the departure of the rider. He started soon after dark. There was no moon, and his way lay over a stretch of wild. lonely veldt. The woman watched him go, and when he was some distance on the way' set off, at nrst slowly, in pursuit. When he was clear of the camps the young man applied the spurs to his horse, and went ahead at a rapid pace. She could not draw too close, for fear of an untimely discovery. But she kept her man in sight, rested when he rested, and when he stopped at the one inn on the journey to change horses, seized the opportunity, and wrenched the bag from the saddle. As the man came out of the inn door he saw the woman riding as for dear life back over the road he had travelled. Without a second lost he jumped into the saddle and rushed away after her. But for mile after mile the race was hot and furious. FIGHTING LIKE A MANIAC. When the pair met their horses were well "winded.” The woman, like a maniac, attacked her pursuer in the wildest manner. It was a fierce fight, and when the man had regained the papers both of them were suffering from severe wounds. It is gratifying to record that the young fellow was promptly promoted for his adventure. Women spies were frequently caught during the Jap-China war, and one of the few minor victories of the Chinese was due to the elever ruse by which a woman duped a Japanese official. A fashionablv dressed woman snatched

a despatch-bag from the hands of a wellknown ex-Cabinet Minister as he left Downing street during the anti-French outburst of a few years ago. Of course, she was quickly captured; but it was found that she was a member of a secret society whose work had for some time been under the observation of the police. o o o o o

Motner and Daughter.

A PLEA FOR HOME LIFE. (By Mrs Diver.) "Your son is your son till he gets him a wife; But your daughter’s your daughter all your life.” If there be any truth in this old couplet, and some there undoubtedly is, it is surely a matter of paramount importance to us that our daughter should be in all respects a satisfactory possession; in short, not a daughter merely, but also a companion and a friend. This is the more to be desired since a daughter unquestionably bears a certain family likeness to that historic “little girl” of whom it is written that “when she was good, she was very, very good; but when she was bad, she was horrid.” There are few things more delightful, more eminently satisfying, than a real lifelong friendship between mother and daughter; while, on the other hand, there are few things more dismal, more degrad ng, more hopelessly antagonistic to all that is highest and happiest in home life, than the incessant bickerings and recriminations of the mother and daughter who “don’t get on”—a state of things one so rarely hears of between mother and son, and a state of things, moreover, which is undeniably more prevalent in this generation than it was some 20 or 30 years ago. Surely it is worth our while to probe into the why and wherefore of this unpleasing fact, and to be at some pains to find out a remedy, since we know that there exists an antidote for every evil under the sun. It has been said that every advance towards civilisation and cultivation involves some corresponding drawback, "to keep the balance true;” but, indeed and indeed, the disintegration of home ties and home sympathies seems all too heavy a price to pay for the so-called higher education of women. And since mother and daughter are essentially the pillars of the home, it follows that their attitude towards one another—quite apart from any consideration of their own comfort or happiness—is an all-important matter, and one which tells incalculably for good or evil upon the characters and destines

of brothers and sons. Men are moulded by women to an extent few of them would be willing to own. Let us look to it, therefore, that we who are mothers do our utmost to rear a generation of women worthy to mould the men of their day. And before all things, let us mothers worthy to mould the men of their day. And before all things, let us remember that this work of moulding is, or should be, essentially passive and unconscious—that it lies in being rather than in doing; for it is too true that the over-active brains and bodies of our present-day daughters tend tio keep them so continually occupied in doing, that the duty of merely being gracious and restful and intelligently sympathetic is apt to get thrust aside and neglected. But, to return to our main question, why is it that the average daughter of to-day so frequently proves an unsatisfied and unsatisfactory element in the home circle? The answer is not very far to seek. Compare for a moment her life, and the general scheme of her education, with that of her mother or grandmother, and you will see at a glance that the main difference between them lies in the fact that whereas in the sixties and seventies a girl was essentially a home produce—her interests, both in respect of work and play, being centred in and about her home—‘those of the twentieth century girl are most often centred entirely in school and in athletic games. Such minor domestic duties as may be required of her during the brief time spent at home are apt to be looked upon as “a bore,” or as a waste of valuable time that might be spent upon matters more important; which, being interpreted, means more interesting or exciting. And with what result? “Many a mother,” writes a woman of wide experience among modern girls, “is looking forward with more dread than pleasure to her daughter’s return from school or college, because she knows that the neighbourhood is so quiet, and there is so little to do; and the home life, W'hieh is both a duty and an advantage to a girl, will probably seem an intolerable burden.”

Surely these things ought not so to be. Home life is not only a woman’s highest sphere; it is the finest possible trainingground for her after-life and work, however far afield these may carry her. Almost all girls in these days go through a phase of supreme contempt for what they are pleased to consider the pettiness of home life; they have the natural aspiration of the young and confident for wider fields and larger issues. But even this phase, if wisely handled by a loving and understanding mother, may be converted from a stumbling-block into a stepping-stone; for now is her opportunity to point out what a very poor foundation lor public work is made by neglected work at home, since “no one is good for much except those who have so filled the smaller sphere of home life that it seems almost impossible to spare them.” It is well to

bear in mind, also, in this connection, that “the smallest duties will be large enough to occupy a girl’s energies, if only sufficiently large principles are involved in the doing of them.” But unless you have first trained your own mind to perceive these same principles—which are, as it were, the soul of life’s lesser tasks—you will hardly be competent, at this juncture, to enlighten or inspire your daughter. One thing, at all events, you can do—you can refrain from jeering at or belittling her young ideals, because you happen to have outlived your own. That way disunion lies; and it is unity—unity of thought, of interest, and of aim —that you must work for, if you desire to be not only her mother, but her best and truest friend. And friendship between parent and child, remember, setting aside that which springs naturally from sympathy of temperament and tastes, is the outcome of happy early associations and companionships ; of hopes and pleasures shared together; of respect on the one side, and confidence on the other. If desired, it must, like everything else in this world, be worked for in the light way. One does not plant wallflowers and expect sweet peas to spring up; yet there are still too many mothers who act more or less on this principle in regard to their daughters; who supply them with irreproachable nurses and governesses, and as soon as they enter their “teens” pack them off to a first-class boarding-school; who make little effort to keep in touch with their varied interests, and are ultimately more or less injured and surprised to find that this seemingly excellent process has not converted them into charming, readymade companions and friends. If a girl is to love her home and ner mother she must of necessity see a good deal of both during those most impressionable years, between thirteen and eighteen, when the child in her is giving place to first dim dawnings of womanhood; and the greater part of these, according to the above conventional programme will inevitably be spent at school. Let it not be supposed for a moment that I underrate the obvious advantages to be gained by a short spell of school life, more especially for only girls, or the physical value of outdoor games, in moderation. “But,” I am quoting a woman more experienced in these matters than myself, “there is a very great need to protest against games becoming athletics. Athletics have diminished the intelligence of the average man, if University tutors are to be believed. But, at least, he can generally stand the physical strain they involve, while his sister will suffer in mind and body. It is curious that in this age of violent outdoor life we hear of so many girls needing rest cures, and suffering from nervous collapse.” The substitution of gardening, where possible, for more violent forms of exercise, would prove a double blessing both for mother and daughter, for its advantages are manifold. It can be shared, despite disparity of age; it exercises mind as well as body; it is eminently wholesome and health-giving; and, last and best of all, the love of it tends to

keep a girl happy at home —a consummation by no means easy of achievement in these bustling times. When all is said, my ehiefest plea for the daughter of to-day is that, school or no school, games or no games, she shall be so reared that home stands first in her life and in her heart; that she should not l>e sent to school, unless necessity compels, till her moral backbone is at least partially formed—namely, after her confirmation; that she should early be made to realise the truth that, “to beings with minds and souls, the animal life is valuable only in so far as it supplies vigour for the intellectual and spiritual life;” that a special point should be made of teach ing her betimes the priceless art of using her leisure in a manner conducive to mental growth; that, in short, she be so widely and wisely educated that the dullest neighbourhood, and even advancing years, be robbed of their power to depress. All these things demand much personal care and thought and devotion on the mother’s part; and it is unhappily true that the modern mother is apt to be every whit as deeply absorbed in her own particular fads—be they social, intellectual, or political—as the daughter herself.

Has Your Husband the New Disease, Beer Heart?

There is a new disease in New York called “Tubingen Heart,” “Munich

Heart” or “Beer Heart.” It has also recently made its appearance in London, and is supposed to be developing in every American city where malt liquors are drunk to any considerable extent. So far the experts have not been able to ascertain the precise cause of the peculiar condition of the heart. Its prevalence in London has been commented on by Dr. W. Hale White.

About all that is yet definitely known about “Beer Heart” is that it is developing wherever there is a very heavy consumption of beer. The patriotic doctors of Munich insist that a better classification of the affection is one which ascribes it merely to over-indulgence in alcoholic drinks. Dr. Hale White declares that the disease is well known where beer is drunk to excess, but rare where other alcoholic beverages are taken to excess, this fact giving rise to a very strong doubt as to whether al cohol is at the bottom of the trouble. Professor Krehl doubts if the symptoms follow excessive drinking, and says he never knew a case to result from whisky drinking. Professor Strumpell, in the Erlangen clinic, told Professor Osler, the celebrated American professor of medicine, that the “Beer Heart” was very common among workers in breweries.

The autopsies show an enlarged heart, without any renal or valvular disease to account for it. It is said the carbo-hy-drates in the beer are the secret of the mysterious disease, but the German sharps ask: “Why do not the carbohydrates in potatoes give the same kind of a heart to the Irish peasants?”

The Land ef Regret.

There is a city whose gates are wide, Ils pavements pure and clean. Where shadow forms Hit side by side Ou the road called "Might Have Been.” But folks walk there with their beads bowed low, And heavy eyelids wet. For ev’ry corner is hauuted so lu this. “The I.a nd of Regret." They meet the ghosts of those other yeav-i lu dreams of memory sweet, And wet with passionate, frenzied tears The graves which lie at their feet; But never, long as their lives shall last, Can they agaiu forget Who once have walked with ghosts of the Past in this, "The Land of Regret.” They feel the touch of a hand grown still, its lingers softly press. The tender passion of kisses thrill Their own in a foud caress. Ah, me!—but pity the folks who stray Where long the sun had set, And walk witli the ghosts who're laid a way In this, "The Land of Regret.” “Pall Mall Gaz. tte.”

Making of Machinery Mastered by a woman.

As an instance of what woman can do in business the success of Miss Ella F. Jones is remarkable. Miss Jones is but 24 years old, and only the last four years ol her life have been spent in business, yet she is now the head and active manager of a machinery manufacturing establishment employing eigkey-tive men and is about to erect and operate a new plant with almost double the capacity of the old. Besides being the sole manager of her business, Miss Jones fills tile position of secretary and treasurer of the company. Iler success and ability in directing the fortunes of the enterprise are the more remarkable because of the fact that the business she is engaged in is that of machinery manufacturing, a line of work which would seem out of the natural scope of a woman. But the fact that she is one’of the first women to become engaged in an enterprise of this nature is no obstacle to this remarkable young woman. She seems perfectly at home amid the surroundings of a machinery shop, and from her office in the plant manages the affairs of the business with the judgment and care of a mature man of business. The fact that the new plant is to have double the capacity of the old would seem to indicate that her management has been productive ot permanent and encouraging results. Miss Jones came into the position she now occupies two years ago through the death of her father. At that time she was employed in the office of the firm, and her father held the position of manager and treasurer. So completely had she mastered the details cf the business that upon the demise of her father, there being no one else available for the position held by him, she took up the reins of management. Since that time Miss Jones has been the head of the firm, and has acquired and retained the respect of business men. She attends to all the details of the business. If a man wishes to sell anything he must see Miss Jones; if there is a question in the wages to be decided the same authoiity is the final arbitrator. All of the many questions that arise in the course of business are decided by her. As one of the men employed in the plant put it: “She is the boss.” Apparently there is nothing about the plant with which she is not familiar. The construction of a machine, the cost of the raw material, and the labour that is used in it are all known to her to the smallest item. She knows the machines in the shop, and their method of operation* as well as any of the men, and what is more important she knows the men also. She is to all practical purposes a competent machinist. If one of the machines should get out of order ami there was no one else about to repair it there is little doubt that Miss Jones could come out of the office and remedy the matter with the skill and expedition of an old machinist. In appearance Miss Jones is anything but masculine. She Is a small, dark, vivacious person, entirely gentle and refined in manner. There is about her no suggestion of the cares and troubles that are an inevitable part of business

life. Rather she recalls the happy, smiling teacher of a kindergarten, with a group of rollicking little ones playing around her, than the business woman with the responsibilities incident to her position upon her mind. Modesty is perhaps her most striking characteristic. She shrinks from publicity. She maintains that there is nothing noteworthy in what she has done. "There are plenty of young women who could have done as well as 1 had they had the opportunity,” she says. "Women have just as much ability tor business as men if it is only developed; ihe reason why so few women are engaged in a business to this extent is because they have had neither the opportunity nor the training necessary to such a career. Still mine is by no means an isolated ease. There are over 1000 women in this country who are actively interested in the operation of various business enterprises of fully as great scope as this.” The office from which Miss Jones manages her business is situated in one cor ner of the square brick building of the plant at South Chicago. On the desk of the manager in one corner of the room is a small vase of freshly picked flowers, but aside from this the atmosphere is strictly one of business. Here business callers are received, their business listened to, and the questions that arise settled firmly and with expedition. The readiness to meet every exigency that appears, the apparently complete grasp of the details of the business on the part of the young woman in tne manager’s chair, are what create the strongest impression upon the visitor. And always, no matter how complex the question or how annoying and trying

the affairs of the day, they are met with a cheerful smile—a smile that does not cover completely the solid firmness of the mouth and chin. o o o o o On Loving. By LUCY ROBERTSON. It may seem unnecessary to repeat to the readers what has many times been said before —that children need loving; that what rain is to the thirsty soul, or sunshine to the flower, love is to the child. But I am convinced that many mothers little know how deeply their children feel about this very subject. I knew a family, the children of parents who were in every way exemplary, who always believed that their father and mother did not love them. I recall the pathetic figure of a little girl of four, who was found crying on the stairs outside her mother's room, because “mother did not love her.” A mother onee told me she had overheard one of her children telling the other that he had a cruel, wicked mother. In all these eases there could be no doubt of the real affection of the parents for their children, and yet the children themselves were so little conscious of it. History repeats itself, and probably the foregoing are not solitary instances. How, then, shall we remedy this grave defect in our perhaps otherwise exemplary training? I think we can haidly be aware how children pine for love, or rather for the consciousness of being loved, and we ought to surround them from the first with that

sunny atmosphere in which their little minds will expand and their whole being thrive. I quite agree with what Mrs Ballin and other writers in “Baby” have often said, that indiscriminate petting and fondling are an unmitigated evil; but, in our desire to avoid the nameless ill to which these may give rise do we not go to the other extreme of being too cold and dignified in our manner? In these days of hurry and bustle the art of loving is apt to be crowded out —an incalculable loss! The claims of society, of friendship, of philanthropy leave us too little time to devote to our children’s highest good. True, we clothe them, feed them, educate them, often at vast expense; but the child does not regard these things as any proof of our love for him. Very early in life he has a vague idea that, somehow, he is not responsible for being where he finds himself; he certainly did not ask to come, and he reflects that, though he does not quite know why, it is nevertheless clearly his parents* duty to care for him. Anyone who doubts this can never have had an opportunity

of becoming acquainted with the subtle workings of the childish mind. Many a mother will spend hours tucking and trimming the dainty garments of her firstborn, who yet does not make time to take him on her knee, and, with loving arm folded round him. listen to his baby lispings and give him the sweet consciousness that he is precious to her. Then, too, are there not mothers who are full of anxiety and care as to their girl’s future, yet do not make time to enter much into the girls’ present —to gain their confidence and guide their hopes? lam quite sure that many a girl is injured by unwise friends who would never have gained an entrance to her heart if mother had been established there from babyhood. Equally does this apply to our sons. Next to the Divine Presence, a mother’s love is our boy’s best safeguard; and think not to win his confidence in later years if you have missed it in infancy. Alas! if we have not won it, then we have lost it altogether. To be courted in society, welcomed by our friends, or known as busy workers in charitable circles, would little compensate for having missed our place in the hearts and lives of our children, and would surely be unworthy of mothers who believe that their little ones are a trust from God. The commission given long ago by Pharoah’s daughter, concerning the infant Moses, we may take in a higher sense unto ourselves, “Take this child, and nurse it for me.” May we so fulfil it that when all is over, and we have to give up our charge, it shall be as those who have been found faithful, and so that the babies toddling and prattling at our knee to - day may look back in the years to come, and know, amid the storm and stress of life, that mother’s love, at any rate, never failed.

Ideal Marriages.

WHY THEY ARE THE EXCEPTION RATHER THAN THE RULE. Love is the one bit of Eden which was left to the race when the gates of paradise closed behind our first parents, the one flower, says tradition, flung to Eve by a pitying angel, who saw and was moved by her bitter teals. Given that, come what may, neither man nor woman can be miserable so long as they have each other. Love, which merges itself in another’s identity, so’that the two thereafter form a perfect and harmonious whole, and each fibre in the being of each sets to the other, so that there can be no contest of will, no difference of opinion, is as rare

as radium. Such marriages are the exception rather than the rule. People marry from inclination, which they not infrequently imagine to be love, for convenience, from propinquity, from accident, from headlong, blind passion, which may perhaps endure through the honeymoon, or even a little longer; they marry for a home; they marry to be married—in short, for any one of a thousand and one things, the rarest of which in this progressive and practical twentieth century is pure and unadulterated love. In the vast majority of marriages there is more or less readjustment necessary, the transition from the romantic love of courtship to the sober every-day affection of conjugal life. The newly-wedded pair have to become acquainted intimately and thoroughly, as is possible to no other relation of life; to discover and fit themselves to one another’s little peculiarities, which have heretofore been kept out of sight. To the fortunate few who are really two souls with but a single thought, no such readjustment is necessary, each one is the complement of the other, and neither friction nor disillusionment is possible. But for the others, even foi those whose love, without being ideal, is still the kind that lasts, there is usually more or less need for forbearance; to endure, to hope, and to believe, if not all things, yet enough to hurt. Disillusionment is always a painful process, and in marriage it is doubly so. It is hard to convince one’s self that silver is as good as gold, if only one has enough of it. When one’s precious coin proves to be only burnished nickel or copper. it takes time to be thankful that the metal, such as it is, is pure, and has been duly minted. When of the two who were married one is really in love and the other is not, the bitterness of death is as naught to that of the moment in which the lover finds that the affection upon which he had built so securely is not to be counted upon. Fortunately, in most cases the discovery is gradual, and in some it is never made: the powerful blindness of the little god of love not infrequently serves his votaries in good stead. The French have a saving that of every pair of lovers there is one who kisses and one who turns the cheek: and oftentimes the cheek is turned so readilv and so sweetly that the kisser is content. It is not difficult when one is well acquainted with people to pick out those who are happilv married, those where the husband is still the lover, although married for ten. or for thirtv vears or more: where the chief point of interest in any and everything is how it will appear from +he other’s point of view. Such unity of interest cannot fail to be apparent, nor the fact that, although they may make

no to-do about it, and are sufficiently agreeable to outsiders, they still prefer each other’s society, and are not in the least bored when they are forced to spend an evening alone together. Next to the married people who are lovers, they are happiest who are thoroughly good friends. The greater includes the less, so that genuine lovers are always friends. Just as friendship often ripens into love. so. also, while passionate love rarely cools off into friendship, the true husband or wife is always the other’s truest and liest friend. True friendship makes a quietly happy marriage, because friends make each other’s interests their own. They have similar tastes and that congeniality of disposition and pursuits which go far to make up compatibility in marriage. For never was any man yet, as I ween, be he whosoever he may, W ho has known what a true friend is. and has wished that knowledge away. The society of a sympathetic friend is always pleasant, and there is a tonic stimulant in it which keeps one’s feeling fresh and quickens one’s ambitions and aspirations. Even if a husband and wife have not been friends, in the truest sense of the word, before marriage, it is a duty and ought to be a pleasure to become so afterward, an end which may easily be achieved if each is steadfastly purposed to do his or her part in the matter. The give and take. Friendship must give and take: it must be free from petty jealousy, from querulous vanity, from faultfinding. It must not. be exacting nor selfish. taking all it can and giving as little as possible in return. It must be firmly

basial u|h>ii mutual respect and confidence. and each friend must be zealous for ami careful of the dignity and honour of the other. Much of the happiness, ami, alas! much of the misery of married life comes from the fact that sensitive women are apt to hold themselves personally responsible for the words and acts of the men whom thev love, and rejoice or suffer accordingly. Where frierdship ami love unite, each strengthening and sustaining the other, there is the ideal marriage, as the Creator instituted it when he made the first woman as a helpmeet for the first man. not the modern partnership, where the husband provides the income and the wife spends it.