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SUBMARINES: AN OFFER

9 March 1915

SIR,—THE PATRIOTIC OFFER of Mr. Hoult in The Times of to-day of £500 to the captain and crew of each of the first four vessels of the British mercantile fleet who destroy a German submarine—followed by the excellent letter from Sir Oliver Lodge saying that £1000 would not be a penny too much for the nation to pay to men who risk their lives in such a service, induces me to say that I shall be prepared to add £100 to each of Mr. Hoult’s £500 patriotic donations. I do this also in the further hope that four of my old friends who have the means will follow suit and add four times the £100 to make the donations up to £1000 to each gallant captain and crew. Truly their lives are worth more than that to us all. Of course, if those lives are sacrificed in the service, the amount will go to their dependents.

Submarine is at best a sneaking kind of warfare, and the sooner it is extinguished among “Kultur”ed nations the better.

I am, Sir, yours faithfully,

HENRY KIMBER, Bt.

WOMEN’S DRESS IN WAR

11 March 1915

SIR,—MAY I, WRITER ON fashion, plead its cause so ruthlessly snubbed by “A Husband” in your Tuesday columns? I need not advance the “good for trade” argument; the emergency work rooms conclusively point to its essential value. I would urge as an unanswerable excuse for new clothes their exhilarating effect upon nine-tenths of womankind. Women want some panacea these times, some distraction from sorrow and suffering. It is on record that a teagown has proved an incentive to the bed-bound to seek the sofa, and that a becoming hat is a tonic strong enough to make a persistent invalid go for a walk. Also I can assure “A Husband” that no great expenditure is required to conform the costumes of yesteryear to the rules of this. The addition of a kilt to the walking dress and a tulle tunic to the evening dress will do the trick, and not a few dressmakers whose names I will reveal on demand gladly undertake these renovating jobs on reasonable terms. All grief and no joy makes Jill a dull creature; and even “A Husband” may benefit by the improved spirits of a cheery victim to the dress habit.

Yours faithfully,

(MRS.) E. ARIA