Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1892 — THE FAIR SEX. [ARTICLE]

THE FAIR SEX.

It is an interesting fact that the strongest argument against reducing the number of hours the women and children may be employed in Pennsylvania factories comes from a wo- • man. Her plea is that the women will be injured instead of benefited by the law. There may be more menace to the welfare o£ the sex in the increasing interest taken by women in politics than is apparent to the supporters of the movement. A Japanese woman in the Nagano district was so affected by her husband voting for the wrong candidate that she dressed herself in white, the Japanese sign of mourning, retired to her room and The late Mrs. W. T. Bherman and Miss Mary Gwendolen Caldwell have given more money to the Catholic Church than any other women in America. Miss Caldwell has given the mtraey through her private purse; Mrs. Sherman through subscriptions raised among her friends. Both women have received from the Pope special gold medals. Another development of the Russian craze in Paris is the iutrodu - tion of the “balalaika,” the most primitive of all stringed instruments, and one to which the old-time moujik danced the “khorovod.” What Paris does, we do. The uncanny sound of the balalaika, which resembles a concertina with a cold, may be the music of the future with New York swelldom, f The Queen of Portugal makes her own hats and bqnnets. The Princess of Wales fits ana makes gowns for herself and family. The daughters of royalty are well gror ’ed in the principles of domestic economy, and each one is required tc master the technique of someftrade. The wife of the green groceitin America would scorn to wear a home made gown or a hat not of Parisian origin, and the daughters of washerwomen and cooks and mechanics in this l&nd of democratic simplicity are graduates in the art of being idle gracefully and of being helpless elegantly. The Young Woman’s Christian Association of Chicago has taken a house within a few minutes’ walk from one of the entrances to the fair grounds and will open it for the accommodation of young women of moderate means that wish to visit the fair. It will also serve as a bureau Of Information. Whatever discomforts the general public may encounter at the exposition, the -woman—waga.jear.ner will be made_ comfortable at prices within Her means by the forethought of her sister women.

Two self-reliant young women of Philadelphia have demonstrated the possibility of a European tour for people ofmoderate means by traveling for three months on the Continent, “doing” fifty places and several countries for the modest sura of $35(1. This included every expense from the time they left tbeir native city until they returned to it. They traveled without luggage except the light and strong linen J)%s which each carried without inconvenience in her hand. The traveling dress consisted of a Union wool, a divided skirt gathered into elastic bands below the knee, broad soled, spring heeled shoes, a dress of genuine Scotch cheviot, with a shirt of silk and another of wool, for comfort in extremes of heat and cold, a heavy reefer coat anc|.a felt hat.

Miss Rideout, of California, is one of the women now at work on the Exposition grounds at Chicago. Having won by'competitive test the right to make the groups of statuary that are to ornament the roof of the woman’s building, she has arranged hgr studio in Horticultural Hall, and is at work upon the two groups and one spandrel, which are to be reproduced several tm.es in the scheme of decoration. will receive $8,200 for her work. Several American women ore included among the regular exhibitors at the Salon in Paris. Miss Gardner, the pupil of Bouguereue: Mrs. Maomonnies. wife of the sculptor; Miss Nourse,of Cincinnati, whoso w«rk has been hung “on the line” at the Ro.val Water Color Exhibition in England, and Miss Lee-Robbins, a pupil of Carolus Duran. Miss Lee-Robbias is one of the few American women that €xcel in painting the nude, aad her Salon picture this year is au undraped figure of a girl dressiug bo* fore a mirror. There is in England a society for the employment of women devoted to the training of women in industrial pursuits, which vfronld Beetn to be of greater value to the advauoement of the woman cause thau more ambitious organizations Inspired by’ the same purpose. The special business of the society is to help girls to obtain thorough technical trainiug ia various departments of industry and to secure for them employment on advantageous terms. Prince George of Wales wears * beard to please his mother, of whom he ifc devoutly fond.