Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 22 July 1922, page 17


Sovtefy /Vettis and £venfs

A WOMAN'S LETTER

Dear People-* . I have been shown a letter, -written from the Hotel Mont-Fleuri, Meutone, by Mrs. 6am Carpenter to friends in America and forwarded by them to relatives in Ade-' loide. It contaius a erraoliic account of the

present plight of the people of Austria, which should interest and at the same time create a feeling of sympathy. First of all, let me say that the stamp ou the envelope is a really beautiful view of the ' Cote d'Azur, somewhat marred, it is true, by the postmark, yet sufficiently attractive to make one wonder why our Australian stamps do not represent sceuea of Australian beauty quite equal to anything in the south of France or elsewhere! Mrs. Carpenter writes:— 'We were three months in Vienna, and I think that of ail our interesting trips during our year and a half abroad it was the most kiteresting. GREAT CHANGES. 'It -was sad to see the need of the people, but me could not kelp being stirred by the dramatic change in the country. Austria, 'a young republic, with her palaces silent, her aristocracy in want, and her fashionable parks and gathering places neglected, speaks eloquently of the crisis through which she has passed. Prices to an Austrian arc fantastic. At normal reckoning they -were paying — not paying really, because it was impossible, but they -were asked to pay — one thousand dollars for a pair of* cloves, three times as much for a pair of shoes, and eight times as much for a suit of clothes. A fish in a restaurant cost the equivalent of three hundred dollars. With the exchange the price in dollars to an American was ridiculously cheap, for when we were there we were rccernng six thousand kronen for a dollar, end for less than tihat one could 'Ouy a. delicious luncheon for two at the best hotel;,, but for an Austrian who had no dollars to exchange, only kronen, life was POVERTY AND STARVATION. 'The Society of Friends is the one preeminent organisation in 'Vienna doing good. The Red Cross aad Mr. Hoover are helping the children and Dr. Lorenz has a wonderful institution for the sick children. But, alas! it is not only the children who suffer, but the old without profession or skill, who are in the very centre of the whirlpool of suffering, and it is the Society of Friends. who have come so gallantly to their rescue with clothes, with work, and no doubt also with food. I was told by a lady at their headquarters there that there are numberless, gentlefolk of former affluent circumstances literally suffering slow' starvation behind closed shutters in Vienna to-day! A STRANGE TROUSSEAU. ? 'I know an Austrian nobleman who told a friend of mine that before the war he had an income; of five hundred thousand kronen — £hen equal to ©neN hundred thousand doi4are; When I left that sum equalled about eighty dollars! ' His daughter was married1 jijst .before I arrived, and being unable to buy clothes her wedding dress was made from two 'old dresses of her mother's, my friend gave, her silk stockings, her. trousseau was niade of linen sheets from the chateau and some dresses from their window' iangings. ' ' She lives now with* her husband— a. baron.-r-*n',a 'few - rooms in Vienna,- does, all her 'own household work, and, as she smilingly said, t^k^g her walks in the evening to save electricity! Her father, experiencing every sort of want — lack of heat, lack of food, lack of every necessity — says. that -should Karl attempt to return to Vienna to-day be himself, at the age of sixty-four, would shoulder a gun against him! THEJPEOPLE. ,-The people one meets in the streets are often of a pallor indescribable, their clothes such -as I have never before seen worn,- and their bodies thin and obviously under-nourished. ' Their army, or that portion of it I saw marching down to Hungarv 'during' the trouble, on the border, fookefl wore Jjke.-pi^.npnLglJia|L ..^ojdiera. In contj^Bt 'to. -Miis -oire ipee» hundreds of foreigners living like kings pft their exchange, and the .profiteer ever present in all -varf-ridden .. countries — the 'war-win-ners,' as the Austriaaa sardonically call them.' ? JIow let' us hope* that since th£ news ,of British aid which has been recently Vgiven out .there wilL.be hope for Austria/ It is she -who is, 'flu her knees,' ~QjjS'*£HStinany# and evco_-j^o^. JJie suffering .t-r^nbt what -it -was 'during the war. A -Tyrolean peasant woman itith wihom-we spent one night told me that during the war they often boiled grass to eat, and that out of fourteen children only four remained, the. rest having died from anaemia. We went from. Austria - into Switzerland, and you may imagine the contrast in that untouched country.' . ? . *? . .... WORSES! BAftRISTERiS. - ~ ^ ' It ' is taken quite as a matter of course here in Australia that women should be admitted to the Bar when they have obtained the necessary qualifications, an,d this is only cne of many instances in which

our country is in- advance, of ? the Motherland --with reference 'to the ? status of women. RecentlyMiss Miss Ivy Williams, an Englishwoman, wascalled called to the \ Bar by the, Masters of the Bench of the Inner Temple, being the first woman barrister in England. Beforeher her admission there were no regulations is

sued as to the dress to be, worn in Court by feminine legal practitioners, but now the authorities hive .apparently 'got busy,' doubtless having visions in their mind's eyes of the jury being distracted by georgette and ? silk confections and — per-hape — waving ostrich plumes in the horsehair wig, so they have issued regulations *which state that the. dress of women lawyers in Court should be 'plain, black x-r very dart, . ihigh to' -tine netik, iwrtih Ions sleeves, and high plain white, collar and bands, or. plain coat and skirt, biack or very .dark, with plain white shirt and high colter amd bands (skdrt~in eriSher case not to be shorter than 'the gown).' Doesn't it sound dull and uninteresting? But, then, JasT said, it wouldn't do for Judpe, jury, and counsel to have their equanimity upset by such - sights . as one sees .every day in our streets.. You ?will ' 'notice in the accompanying I portrait of Miss Ivy'Williams that her I costume is .not* quite in accordance with the' foregoing -regulations, as lier collar is certainly- not 'very high,' but I have not noticed -'in the press that ulie has been committed for cqntempt of Court! NEW WOMEN'S CLUB. Adelaide has a new club for women, 'The Lyceum", which was formally launched on Monday night at a meeting held at the May Club, with Dr. Helen Mayo in the chair. For some time past many prominent women in our city have felt that there was room for a club in their midst membership of which should not be restricted to those who are well endowed with this world's goods, but to those whose names count for something in intel-lectual circles. Riches and intellect often make a happy combination in one woman. Sometimes the one attribute is evident without the other, and there will always be a difference of opinion as to whether the aristocracy of wealth or the aristocracy of intellect is the more important. But each must have ite appropriate environment. Hence the Lyceum Club! MEMBERSHIP. The qualificatiois for membership are as follow: — Full membership shall be open to women of any nationality: — (a) Who have been admitted to a degree of the University of Adelaide or 'o a degree of any university recog- nised by the University of Adelaide. (b) Who have distinguished themselves in or are actively interested in art, science, music, or literature. (c) Who have taken an important part in education. (d) Who have rendered distinguished public service. The Lyceum Club, Adelaide, will be affi-liated with those of London, Melbourne, and elsewhere, and a fully paid member of any Lyceum Club has the right, on pre-senting her card (obtainable from the sec-

retary of her club) to frequent any Lyceum for sixty days in any year or for three con- secutive months. THE COMMITTEE. The meeting at the May Club on Monday was most enthusiastic, and the large and representative gathering decided unani-mously and emphatically that the Lyceum Club, Adelaide, should be 'un fait accom-pli.' The following officers were elected: — President, Dr. Helen Mayo; vicepresi-dents, Miss Nora Kyffin Thomas and Miss Kathleen Cussen; committee, Miss Annie Bignell, Dr. Christina Krakowsky, and Miss Harriet Stirling; trustees, Dr. Helen Mayo, Miss Mary Kitson, and Miss Lorna Waterhouse; hon. secretary, Miss Margaret Darnley Naylor; hon. Treasurer, Miss Annie Hornabrook. The membership list already embraces a considerable number of women who come under one or more of the beforementioned qualifications, and there are many more whose names have been submitted. The club is negotiating for premises, which are under offer, in a central position in the city, and the members are looking forward to the time—at no very distant date — when they will be able to meet one an-other under their own roof -tree, have their meals, and generally enjoy the privi-leges of club life. COUSIN KATE.