March 27, 191 5 
LAND AND WATER 
THROUGH THE EYES OF A WOMAN 
By MRS. ERIC DE RIDDER 
Dress v. Clothes 
RESS ! " said the Mere Male in a superior 
way. " How can you possibly think of dress 
at such a time as this ? " 
" But I am not exactly thinking of 
dress," I answered, looking up meekly from 
the pile of patterns and designs my dressmaker had just 
sent me. " I am thinking of clothes — a very different thing." without iis making them more so by appearing in metaphorical 
" That's mere femini' e prevarication," said the Mere dust and ashes. I hold no brief for reckless extravagance in 
clothes. At this time it 
-ess V. Clothes 
D 
thing is that by replenishing our wardrobes we are keeping 
many in employment who were in danger of seeing Iheir 
means of livelihood vanish away. We are doing a kindness 
to others as well as ourselves as we order our new spring 
clothes. And, all other considerations set aside, why should 
we go about in dismal dowdiness. Things are glocmy enough 
^^^^^^^^^^rV. 
/ 
Male, who is a lover of long 
words. 
" No, my good man, 
it's not," said I. " Far 
from it. It is a case of 
sheer necessity. I, Hke most 
other women and like the 
udy in the song. ' have 
nothing to wear.' We have 
got to buy some clothes, 
or we shall have to remain 
indoors, clothed like squaws 
in blankets." 
"So I suppose in a 
short time," said the Mere 
Male, with an ever-ready 
wit, " I shall have the 
pleasure of seeing you in a 
wide skirt, a coat like a 
badly cut mess jacket, and 
a piU-box hat." 
" To say nothing of 
boots twelve inches high," 
I put in, not to be outdone 
in this flight of fashionable 
fancy. 
The Mere Male grunted; 
there is no other word for 
the sound he made. 
" What did you say ? " 
I asked. 
" I didn't speak," said 
the Mere Male in a tone 
which spoke volumes. 
" Then I will," said I, 
now thoroughly aroused. 
" It isn't because we women 
are thinking of dress and 
nothing but dress that we 
are buying clothes ; we are 
buying them because we 
really need them, in the 
first place, and because we 
have some regard for the 
dressmakers, in the second." 
" From altruistic 
motives," said my friend, 
with his horrid habit of usir g 
words of three syllables 
and over, and with more than a tinge of sarcasm. 
" You can call them what you like," I retorted, " but 
the fact remains that the present spurt in clothes buying is 
spelling salvation to the dressmakers. It means money for 
heaps of little workroom girls over here, to say nothing of 
the midinettes in Paris." 
" So you women are in the right, as usual," said the 
Mere Male, only half convinced, but well on the road to 
conviction, nevertheless. 
" Exactly," I said. 
" And you have had the last word, as usual ! " 
" Precisely," said I. 
The Helping Hand 
As a matter of fact, the Mere Male, even is his most 
argumentative mood, is a helpful being. He enabled me to 
iee in a flash what this revival of industry must mean to the 
dressmaking houses. It must have lifted from many the 
'.hreat of impending ruin ; it must have reheved scores of 
minds, from the brilliant directors of famous establishments 
to the humblest worker in the smallest workroom. It is, 
of course, no use pretending it is charity pure and simple 
that is leading us aO to the fitting-room. It is nothing of 
the kind. Our needs for new garments are too many and 
obvious to allow of any such philanthropic gloss. The only 
Copyright, Madame Lallie Charles 
THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 
Nobody ii working harder oi behalf of her adopted land than t e Duchess 
of Marlborough. She is generally in the chair at the principal meetings 
of the Women's Emergency Corps, and her name figures in the 
Alphabetical Scheme for the GiiU' Patriotic Clubs 
would seem to most of us 
worse than criminal. There 
is, however, such a thing as 
the happy medium. It is 
easy to talk about — not so 
easy to find. In this par- 
ticular case it can soon be 
defined ; midway it lies, 
exactly between needless 
expense and undue 
economy. A point for nice 
di.scrimination in very truth, 
b at invaluable wh. n once we 
have finally arrived at it. 
The Market Gardeners 
A letter has just reached 
me from the Riviera. It 
is written by a fortunate 
mortal at St. Jean, Cap 
Ferrat, that fascinating spot 
within short distance of 
Nice. The averags visitor 
to the Riviera knows 
little of St. Jean, but 
the few who do recognise it 
as one of the beauty spots 
of the earth. The part of 
St. Jean which is not sea — if 
such an Irish statement may 
be permitted — is one big 
flower-garden. The mimosa 
is beginning; to fade, but 
heaps of lovely things have 
arrived to take its place. 
Festoons of ivy-leaf ger- 
anium, clusters of roses, 
sweet-smelling stock, bed 
after bed of carnations, 
white, rose and pink sweet 
peas now on the verge of 
flowering — the list is well- 
nigh inexhaustible. St. 
Jean, in common with all 
the neighbouring district, 
contributes to the Nice 
flower - market ; but the 
demand for their fragrant 
treasures does not cease here. Great baskets, hampers, and 
boxes of flowers are being forwarded regularly to Paris and 
London. And this not only in spite of the war, but in spite 
of the fact that every able-bodied Frenchman has either 
joined the colours or is working on Army supplies. Last 
year numbers of men were working in the flower-fields ; this 
year the women are doing all the work concerned with them. 
My letter tells me that there is not a single man working in 
the gardens surrounding the villa in which it is written, save 
one who is over seventy. The gardeners have gone, their 
wives are working in their stead, and the work — hard though 
it often is— is being carried out just the same in their absence. 
A SERIES of lectures, with practical demonstrations, will be given 
every Friday (except Good Friday) at 3 p.m., from February 26 to 
April 16, on " Cooking for the Sick and Convalescent," at the Queen's 
Gate Hall, Harrington Road, South Kensington, under the auspices 
of the Gas Light and Coke Company. The lectures are intended for 
the assistance of those who have generously undertaken the work of 
nursing wounded and invahd soldiers back to health, and will be 
given by the company's staff of fully qualified lady advisers, all of 
whom hold diplomas for cooking. Admission to the lectures and 
demonstrations will be free on presentation of a ticket, to be obtained 
on application to the Gas Light and Coke Company, Horscferry Road, 
Westminster, S.W. 
387 
