THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2767, 23 March 1910, Page 3

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

SOCIAL NEWS. In former days sour milk was often drunk to alleviate certain disorders, and this treatment has recently been fully investigated and is now sb largely prescribed by the medical profession that the “sour milk cure” has become the . latest fashion. Milk is first sterilised, and then 'turned sour or curdled l>v adding a- corain powder (patented) at a given temperature, and the whole process' requires care and trouble. A lady who wias casting about for some home occupation to increase her slender income, heard of the ‘sour milk cure.” and thought it might serve her purpose. She went, round to all her friends who were taking the treatment and offered to prepare the milk for them. They were only too glad to avail themselves of her services, and pence soon became shillings and shillings pounds. On a ceritiain occasion, not many months before the death of Queen Victoria, a family dinner party took place at Windsor Castle. The talk chanced to turn on historical matters, and a discussion arose ias to the date of the death of Queen Caroline, wife of George 11. The Royal grandchildren suggested one date after another, but as a, matter of fact none of the young people could remember the time when the event happened. As everyone knows, the latn Queen had a marvellous memory for dates. When dinner was over and the late Sovereign had been wheeled into one of the drawing-rooms she gently re. preached her favorite grandchild, the Grand Duchess Cyril of Russia (Princess Mehta of Edinburgh), saying that as she had so lately left the schoolroom these facts should have been fresh in her memory. Her Royal Highness’s reply was of the neatest.: “You see, grangy,” using the.late Queen’s special pet name, “I married so young that I did not have time to get to the Geuiges.”

The publication by Mrs Charles Roundell of a life of Lady Hester Stanhope recalls a- career which strongly foreshadows that of some of our Orientalised women of the present time. Lady Hester, however, did not lead the life of an Arab dhieftainess in her luxurious retreat on Mount Lebanon for religious reasons. Rather, the ambition «f the Pitts (she was the Great Commoner’s granddaughter) centred, in her case, on attaining a queen’s throne at Jerusalem. A softer halo of romance is cast over this story by the reason of her leaving England for over. She was privately affianced to Sir John Moore, and after the fatal battle of Corunna, where she lost, both a brother and a lover, she hade a last farewell to her native land, and found forgetfulness in travel.

Women are now allowed admission to full matriculation in all German universities except that of Rostock. The total number of women entered in all universities for the summer half-year just closed (says a correspondent) was 1432, as compared with 1108 for the winter half-year of 1908. The various courses or branches of science studied during the half-year recently’ closed were as follows: —Philosophy, philology and history, 699; medicine, 371; mathematics and natural science, 245; finance, 42;. dentistry, 44; jurisprudence, 23; evamgelical theology, 4; pharmacy, 4. The number of women enrolled as “listeners” students not working for degrees is 1152, so that 2582 women are at present taking courses, in. German universities.

The distinction of being the tallest queen in Europe may be awarded to the Queen of Denmark, who stands well over six feet. Her sons have inherited her height, and are the most strapping princes of their generation, while her daughters are not short. Beauty does not belong to this nprthern lady, but she has a pleasant, kindly, and intelligent face, and she has had the good fortune to earn the whole-hearted admiration and devotion of a husband whose marriage, forty years ago, was not wholly dictated by love. Very sensible, straightforward, and far-seeing, O.ueen Louise makes an ideal wife for the ruler of a practical country, and the people appreciate her good .points and cordially like her. Her children were admirably brought up, and received much personal attention from their moth ef

WOMEN IN TURKEY

The exact relationship between a political constitution and feminine attire is not evident at the first glance, but it seems to be none the less true that emancipation in Turkey applies to the women quite as much as. to the men Harem life, while bv no means a. thing of the past, lias at least been robbed of many of its historic features, and the rules of seclusion: if not abolished altogether. have at least been measurably relaxed. The veil will not quite disappear, but it will be thinner and more transparent, and to raise it will no longer be regarded as a proof of female depravity. Very few Turkish ladies have ever been away from the place they were born in ; a ff)w have got away, and under the old regime would not have been allowed to return, but now that is all changed, and in future wives will go abroad when their husbands are rent.

The present dress will only undergo a slight modification. Instead of the shapeless out-of-door cloak, the Turkish lady can now wear well-fitting dresses or'jackets and skirts, and be as smart and trim as her European sisters in public, b.ut she must not wear a hat yet. •and her head will be entirely enveloped in a sort of hood attached to the neck of her dress or coat, and made of the same material as her costume. The women will no longer.he shut up in a closeb’-shuttered house on a hot summer’s day. They even already go about in open carriages, and are to be seen enjoying themselves on the water in the afternoons and evenings. But dries anyone suppose that Turkish women will be happier than they were before? They are now fairly on the road toward the nightmare called civilisation, and before long they may have even have suffragette chibs and be fully initiated into the system of trial marriages which prevails here under the protection of our divorce laws. So far as we mav judge from reliable account® of harem life in Turkey, the lot of the married woman in Turkey seems, to be bv no means unenviable. Domestic concord is the rule rather than the excep_ tion, and the interests of the woman are protected as much Im the law of the land as bv the kindliness and indulgence of the husband 1 .- r I 1m Turkish woman is now very much in the position of her progenitor Eve when she left the Garden of Eden except that Eve was driven forth, whereas her descendant has gone voluntarily. Her emancipation may lead to ultimate wisdom. There is a possibility of it,' but her progress thereto will he a painful one.