March 
13. 1915 
LAN D AND WATER 
THROUGH THE EYES OF A WOMAN 
By MRS. ERIC DE RIDDER 
The Need for Rest 
IT is very hard to realise the necessity for rest in these and granted that we are a race slow to take np new ideas, it 
days. Nearly every woman has her weeks crowded is Uttle short of amazing the progress we make when once we 
with one engagement after another, for if social do. Once we have thoroughly made up our mind we assimilate 
doings are more or less in abeyance a vast amount an idea with great speed, and in no half-hearted manner. So 
of benevolent work is occupying everybody's time, it is quite hkely that in a short while from now every woman 
It is quite easy to work hard for several weeks at a stretch, will have adopted the shapeless silhouette so definitely 
giving ourselves no repose during the day time of any sort decreed. The days of the hour-glass figure have been gone 
or kind. Then there inevitably comes a time when nervous for a long time, but they have never seemed so remote as 
strain begins to tell, and we 
become trying not only to 
ourselves but to everj'body 
else who chances to cross our 
path. The fact is that it is 
only now that all are beginning 
to feel the immense strain that 
the past few months have been. 
There is a kind of tension 
in the air which reacts upon 
our nervous systems, little 
though we feel inclined to 
acknowledge it ; and the result 
is that nearly everybody is 
living at infinitely higher pres- 
sure. Our very morning 
papers, awaiting us so harm- 
lessly on the breakfast table, 
may any day hold the news 
for us of some tremcndou-^ 
shock. Every postman's knock 
may herald the tidings of some 
nerve-racking news. These 
are destructive days to live 
in ; of that there is no shadow 
of doubt. 
The only thing to be 
done is for everybody to try 
to counteract this restless in- 
fluence as much as possible. 
It can be done, of course, by 
mind concentration on matters 
far removed from war news, 
but it is not everybody who 
has either the training or the 
ability f8r this. The next best 
thing is not to over-fatigue 
the poor willing body. And to 
this end even the shortest of 
rests during the day will lead. 
Since the war started many people when dressing for 
dinner have abandoned the evening gown of convention in 
favour of the rest gown. Rest gowns are, indeed, amongst 
the best innovations known to the world of dress. They are 
easy to don and comfortable to wear, besides being infinitely 
becoming when the work of clever hands. If we can possibly 
manage to secure half an hour's rest before dinner-time, and 
only rise to garb ourselves in something reposeful when our 
dinner is of the informal character that permits it, we shall 
iiave gone far towards the prevention of fatigue. 
The Shapeless Silhouette 
At any other time but this it is safe to state that most 
women would have talked of the fashions and nothing but 
the fashions. As it is, the new models are of a sufficiently 
surprising character to have caused much comment and 
remark. A girl whose marriage has just figured amongst the 
many war weddings, and who was married in a simple 
walking suit, voiced the common opinion about the new 
skirt very neatly recently. " As I walked up the aisle," she 
said, " in my short, full skirt I felt like a Dutch girl." And, 
as a matter of fact, the new skirts have a distinct touch of 
Dutch style about them. They need to be carefully made 
because, as it is to the unaccustomed eye, they only just 
escape verging on the clumsy side. 
It is an amazing thing this matter of custom. As each 
new design is introduced it has always been the fashion for 
every woman to declare that she thinks the new styles are 
perfectly hideous. A short while after that we hear no 
such sweeping opinion, and in a little time again we may 
meet her any day of tlie week out-Hcroding Herod in her 
adherence to the latest mode, whatever it may happen to be. 
As a nation, it cannot be doubted that we are apt to 
dislike aught to which we are unaccustomed. This being so. 
J 
Copyri^lit, SUUn.iic Lallic Charies, LADY BEATTY 
One of the many American women who have married 
Englishmen now fighting on land or sea. Her husband. 
Admiral Sir David Beatty, it one of the foremost men of the hour 
now, when shapelessness seems 
to have been pushed to an 
almost unkind extreme The 
natural figure is completely 
disguised by the short, full 
skirts and short, full coats 
which are falling to our lot, 
but there is a certain charm 
about the very impudence of 
the proceeding, and the aiidace 
of the thing is undeniable. 
One Hundred Miles of Pennies 
The organisers of the 
Queen's " Work for Women " 
Fund never let the grass grow 
under their feet. Every scheme 
that can possibly be suggested 
for the promotion of the fund 
is heeded, but it is rarely that 
such a good money-collecting 
idea is brought forward as 
their mileage scheme. Lady 
Roxburgh and Mrs. C. Arthur 
Pearson are organising it, and 
they hope to raise £22,000 in 
pennies before they finish. The 
name of the scheme explains 
itself, but its magnitude can 
only be grasped after a 
moment's reflection. It is in 
very truth a great task that 
these ladies have undertaken, 
for it is no less than the collec- 
tion of a hundred miles of 
pennies. 
A hundred miles of 
pennies, we hear, heaped in a 
pile would make quite a moun- 
tain of copper. If we imagine 
that this great mound had been taken from a long string of 
houses, each house having a frontage of thirty feet and every 
householder contributing a penny, we can get a mental 
picture of the undertaking, for such a line would not only 
span the circumference of the earth, but leave 5,124 miles 
to spare. 
It is hoped that girls and womenfolk all o\'er the country 
wOl help in this mighty collection of copper. Even the 
poorest amongst us may feel moved to contribute one penny 
towards the Mileage Scheme, while those richer in possession 
of this world's goods will probably send many pennies with 
their contribution. Most people know the headquarters of 
the Queen's " Work for Women " Fund ; but at the risk of 
repetition it may be said that the address is 33 Portland 
Place, and that particulars of the work will always be 
promptly forwarded. 
The Potato-Bread Spirit 
The news that Germany is making bread out of potatoes 
has been received in different ways by different people. 
While some have looked upon it as a sign of grim deter- 
mination and methodical forethought on Germany's part, 
others have made it a subject for ridicule. The cheap jester 
is, unfortunately, always with us, and the war has not brought 
about his extinction. 
One of the points making a recent speech of Mr. Lloyd 
George's memorable is his apt reference to what he has 
aptly called " the potato-bread spirit." The Chancellor's 
opinion is that this spirit should terrify us, not give us cause 
for mirth, because it is the right spirit for a nation meeting 
a great emergency. Few will disagree with him. With this 
question the morale of the whole German nation is concerned. 
Fortunately for us, there is much to make us confident, 
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