Leading Articlks in the Reviews. 



60 1 



I 



WILL WOMEN EQUAL MEN IN SPORT? 



In the November I'yys an Oxford blue discusses 

 the question, Are women approaching men in sport ? 

 In golf the man's record is 395 yards, the woman's 

 254. In the hundred yards' sprint, the man's is 9 J 

 seconds, the woman's 13 seconds ; long jump, man's 

 25 feet, woman's 14 feet 5^ inches; in the loo-yard 

 swimiuing, man's 55;;, woman's 73-;; throwing the 

 hammer, man's 67 feet, woman's 36 feel ; walking, 

 man's 8i miles in the hour, woman's 6. Even in 

 lawn tennis there can be little doubt that the best 

 men could give the women more than 30 and beat 

 them. Croquet is the only outdoor sport in which 

 woman has beaten man. The writer thinks there is 

 a prospect of women improving, but never to the 

 point of being comparable with men in the most 

 athletic sports. Woman has not the natural instinct 

 or the temperament or the build suited for the more 

 strenuous sports. As athletic men are never attracted 

 by athletic women, the prospect of a eugenic develop- 

 ment towards a more sporting woman is not great. 

 The most successful athletic woman is not of normal 

 physical proportions. She has larger hands and feet, 

 bigger shoulders, a wider waist, and is less in girth 

 elsewhere. 



THE SHOPPING PALACES OF BERLIN. 



In the Lady's Rialm for December Ma.x Rittenberg 

 gives an illustrated glance at the sumptuous stores ot 

 Berlin. With German thoroughness the Selfridges 

 and Harrods and Whiteleys of Berlin utilise the 

 services of art : — 



Thf Wertheim store has ils " Kunslbtr-Uei 'JCartiatic advisers) 



11 the persons of Professor Looscbon, an artist of distinction, 



nd Fraulein von Hahn, who is also a personality in art circles. 



i o them is confided the over-direction of the " practical men " 



who actually set up the goods in position for special displays. 



If we imagine the London firm of Ilarridyc and Snelgar 

 tailing in Sir Alma Tadenia to stage an exhibition of autumn 

 f.ishions ; if we picture our Mr. Snelgar saying, " .My dear Sir 

 Alma, you have Ciiik lilanche to etherealise the sordid husiness 

 ..f selling dresses"; ihcn the situation will be brought to a 

 liarpcr focus. 



t'laulein von Hahn has a cosy little ofiice of her own in the 

 •ore, where she comes at her own hours. Her special work is 

 he supervision of the show-windows, which are changed every 

 ibur days, and therefore call for a steady, all-the-ycar-round 

 inspection. The merchandise manager sends a memorandum to 

 her, "To-morrow, windows six and seven are to display silk 

 stuffs" ""<• 'he rc-st is left to her discretion. 



Marble, onyx, and bronie are everywhere throughout the 

 -tore ; window-boxes of growing flowers circle the balcony 

 irourd the central hall ; elsewhere a fipimtain plashes .amongst 

 palms and ferns and mosses and invites the tired shopper to rest 

 jnd be soothed. 



A MARKF.T-PLACK UK Lt/XE. 



The Passage Kaufliaus, which began as a combina- 

 tion of several firms, is now in the hands of a single 

 firm. Of it the writer says : — 



The architect seems to have said to himself, " I will cndjody 

 the romance and the dignity of commerce in this building, so 

 ihat all who enter its doors will feel that the shop need not rank 

 ~econd to the pahace. I will create the sublimation of a market- 

 l.l.ice.' 



The idea is carried out with great simplicily, and yet it makes 

 itself ;ibundantly felt. Across a lofty arcade is thrown a minia- 

 ture production of the Rialto at Venice, which carries with it the 

 impression of romance of that city of merchant-princes. One 

 of the ceilings is strongly reminiscent of the great dome of 

 St. Mark's. Another ceiling brings to one a suggestion of a 

 lagoon at dawn a-ripple with the slow tide that creeps across the 

 islets to Venice. 



The writer mentions one feature peculiar to the 

 Berlin store — the picnic restaurant. " The idea is to 

 let everyone help herself, pick out from the counters 

 the delicacies she fancies and carry them oft" to a tabic, 

 picnic fashion. It is immensely popular." Wertheini's 

 has a palm-garden, where the husband is left for an 

 afternoon nap while the wife roams the stores. 



BEAUTY CONTEST AT ROME. 



Dr. Petti n ATI describes in the Lady's Realm for 

 December the election of a Queen of Beauty in 

 Rome. Foreign newspapers having said that the 

 classical types of Roman feminine beauty had dis- 

 appeared from Rome, a gre;n clamour ensued, and 

 ultimately a beauty competition was organised, ex- 

 clusively for girls under twenty born in Rome of 

 Roman parents. At first encountering much opposi- 

 tion, it at last became very popular amongst the girls. 



THE WARD " PRINCESSES." 



Rome is divided into eighteen wards. In each 

 ward was an elected committee composed of artists 

 and journalists, who chose from among the candidates 

 a " Princess " and her Maids of Honour. From these 

 " Princesses " a Queen was chosen by an election in 

 which every Roman citizen, man or woman, had the 

 right to vote. One " Princess " was elected whose 

 election was afterwards found to be illegal. She 

 attended the banquet in honour of the girl who had 

 supplanted her, sat near her, and made a speech prais- 

 ing her for her beauty. Afterwards she ran home 

 and threw herself from a window, killing herself 

 almost immediately. " Her pride had cost her her life." 



THE QUEEN OF REAUTV. 



The eighteen " Princesses," accompanied by their 

 Maids of Honour, made a triumphal procession 

 through the streets of Rome, enthusiastically applauded 

 by one-half of the inhabitants of the city. Rome 

 chose the " Princess " of the Trastevere Ward to be 

 the Queen of Beauty. Her name is Signorina 

 Palmira Ceccani, a State cigarette-maker, a young girl 

 of eighteen. An English sculptor had previously 

 wished to carry her oflf ; but she was already engaged 

 to a young man, a modest artisan, 



and she proposes to marry him at once, .is the financial difficul- 

 ties that were the only objection to their marriage have now 

 been sellle<l by the .amount of priics and presents which the 

 girl received after her election. The Queen of Rome has been 

 awardeil by the Committee a prize of /i^200, and every 

 I'rincess will recciie a prize in money proviile<l they marry 

 in tlie next two years, a condition which is cxsily fulfilled. 

 Nearly every one of them already has a lover, only too ai.xious 

 to m.nrry his beautiful sweetheart ; and the rest since they 

 became Princesses have received so many proposals that it will 

 take them quite a long time to send an answer to all their 

 .admirers. 



