Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 24 January 1912, page 5


PUCK'S GIRDLE

"I'll put a girdle round tbout the earth in forty minutes."-"Midsummer Night'« Dream."

During the past week or so thero has been a regular procession of women to the Fine Arts Society's rooms to see Florenco Rod way's portrait of Madame Melba. The picture has a special Interest for our sex, for it gives us a thrill of satisfaction to see the por-trait of the woman who Is undoubtedly the »est-known Australian in the world so cleverly painted by an Australian girl The artist has caught wonderfully all the brilliancy of colour and expression which are bo charac-teristic of the great singer, and those who have.Bcen the picture are unanimous in their hope that It will secure a permanent place in the National Gallery.

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In its current number the "Australasian Nurses' Jourdal" gives a very satisfactory ac-count of the year's work in the nursing world. The general public appear to understand moro fully the necessity for experienced nursing In sickness; the State Governments are awakened to the importance of efficient caring for those whose responsibility they accept. Several social, civic, and industrial positions are now filled by trained nurses. Five bush nurses have been appointed in New South Wales dur-ing the year, and are carrying out this good work. In the general hospitals the working hours have been shortened to the benefit of both nurses and patients. A register for mental nurses has been formed In New South Wales and Queensland; a Nurses' Club has been formed In this State; and, best of all, one State, Queensland, has passed a bill for 'the State registration of nurses.

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"John Strange Winter" (Mrs. Arthur Stan-nard, F.R.S.L.), whose death occurred re-cently in London, published her hundredth

book, "The ivory Box," two yenrs^ago. Born at York, in 18"66, she was a daughter of the Rev. H. V. Palmer, and a descendant of Han-nah Pritchard, to whose memory a monument stands in Westminster Abbey. Mrs. Stannard bad been confined to her bed since August. It seems that in March last she tripped and fell when getting out of a lift, which caused an old internal complaint to again become active, and eventually cause her death. %In accordance with her own wishes, her remains were cre-mated. The lato authoress's literary career did not show much promise at first, and^it was not till after ten years of incessant work that she succeeded in gaining public appro-bation. Moreover, that Buccess was scored by a story that had been rejected by six London editors. This was "Bootlo's Baby," which first appeared in serial form in the "London Grap-hic." Another publication that brought her much prominence was "Cavalry Life."

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Madame Louis Latour, who is well known in London, has been giving some "talks" in Paris, and has been comparing French and English women. She epoke of the brilliant complexions and the wide-open eyes of the

English'giri, and of the pale skin of the Frenchwoman, with her intelligent, slightly mocking eyes, which never look quite frank. I Both are vain, she said; the Frenchwoman on detailed points, the Englishwoman deep down in her heart, where she thanks Providence that she has been born British and nothing

else.

The "John Hampden" dinner "was the name under which the members of the "Women's Tax Resistance League" gave a dinner recently in London. At the end of the dlning hall hung a picture of the hero, who resisted the ship money Imposition, and on the menu cards appeared the legend, "No vote, no tax." The guests included many well-known people interested in woman suffrage, and the speakers. Earl Russell, Mrs. Dcspard, Sir Thomas Bar-clay, and Mr. Laurence Houseman, all upheld the right of women In refusing to pay taxes while they had no voice in the government of the country.

Mr. Henry Labouchere, whose death occur-red last week, Was once laughed at in the House of Commons because he spoke of him-self as a sentimental man: Yet there must have been a good deal of sentiment in tho man who could think of instituting the well known "Truth" doll show, which was held in London for the 32nd time last month. The dolls are provided tree by "Truth" to anyone who asks tor them, and are returned dressed, also at the expense of the "Truth" toy fund; they are then exhibited in Albert Hall before being sent to gladden the hearts of poor children in hospitals and institutions. Con-spicuous in the last exhibition was a group of dolls given by the Queen, all most beauti-fully dressed In hand-mado garments.

The laundry industry is the third largest source of employment for women in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Thomas Sutton, Surbiton, who is 84 years of age, and an Invalid, who has to be wheeled from place to place In a bath chair/is able to work every day preparing with his own hands Christmas presents for poor children In London homes and public Institutions For tho past six years Mr Sutton's hobby has been to secure from all available sources dis-carded match-boxes, cigar-boxes, cigarette boxes, chocolate-boxes, and tobacco boxes and tins, which he has adorned with art paper and pictures, and then filled with sweets, and despatched to various charitable Institutions where children largely predominate. He has in that period turned out 30,000 of these pre-sents, every one of which has been prepared with his own hands, and at the present moment there are about 6000 in his house.

M. Poiret, the Paris dressmaker, who gave a display of costumes at No. 10 Downlng-Btreet, the residence of Mrs. Asquith, has Invaded Vienna with his mannequins, clothed in the exotic dresses for which he is famed. In the course of a lecture on dress he said:-Nobody can dress a woman unless he is an artist. The dress of a woman is as complicated as the woman herself. What is Badder than the house of a Croesus without taste?-A badly dressed woman. Man only can suit a woman in dress. The woman dressmaker drowns herself in details, and neglects the outline. The male dressmaker remembers the details and respects the outline Woman must be dressed according to her type. Generalisation is the ruin of elegance. I do not try to create the fashion of 1012-1 created the "mode Poiret."