THE GERMAN GIRL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3306, 26 August 1911, Page 4

THE GERMAN GIRL.

According to Madame Ola Alsen, who writes in a German weekly, alterations have taken place in the standard of taste of the- \ oung girl of to-day. Wide, there exists, in Germany as elsewhere, a large number of young women whose inclination must, perforce, be turned to wage earning, there are a large number of girls of leisure who have time to cultivate their tastes, and oi>per trinities of doing so, for the mere sake of the pleasure to bo derived from it. Not every girl is compelled to spend her life in the rush and bustle of a business of a profession; luxury provides them with just as good chances of developing their individuality as wage-earning. Thus, the girl whose taste leans to sport may make that the aim of her life. She plays tennis, and delights in the fact that .she is queen of the realm, enclosed within certain lines marked with white chalk on a court. That, however, is not sufficient for her; she goes, in due season, to climb mountains, to show her prowess with the skis, to gain the reputation of one who can manage the sails of a yacht with seamanlike skill. In the lecture-rooms there are girls who do not make culture a means to an end, who never dream of emulating the teaching women, the lecturers, or those who earn a living by the pen. They enjoy a special study for its own sake, and for the joy it brings to them. They travel alone in certain districts but they do not go without chaperons into fashionable resorts. In couples earnest girls study painting in Rome, Florence, Holland, Brittany/ etc., or listen to music at festivals at Bayreuth or elsewhere.