THE SOCIAL ROUND

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 154, 5 August 1914, Page 4

THE SOCIAL ROUND

NOTES AND NEWS. Mrs Cutten returned to Temuka yesterday. Mrs Leach (Timaru) is visiting Wellington. Mr and Mrs Lang (Christcluirch) are at present in Wellington. Mrs Inman has returned home from a visit to Racecourse Hill. Miss Fawcett arrived in this city from the north yesterday. The Misses Buss (2), of Christchurch, are visiting the northern capital. Mrs Brady (Canterbury) is staying at the Grand Hotel, Wellington. Miss Beatrix Pyne has returned to Christchurch from Hawse's Bay. Mrs Studholme (Canterbury) and Miss Bowen are in Wellington, staying at the Hotel Cecil. Mr and Mrs Beveridge, who have been visiting the North Island, are back in Christchurch again. Miss Sinclair Thomson is the guest of Mrs Arthur Rhodes for the racing carnival next week. Mrs Fitchett and Miss Rattray, who have been in Christchurch for the past fortnight, return to Dunedin to-day. The Misses Thompson (2) and Miss Forbes arrived in Christchurch yesterday from the south, and are staying at Warwick House. Mrs Bernard Wood, who has been . staying with Sir Joseph and Lady Ward ift Wellington, has returned to her home . at Fendalton. Mr and Mrs Hannon (Christchurch), who have been visiting their daughter, Mrs Percy Wilder, in the north, have returned home. Miss King, of the Oamaru Post Office, was presented the other day -with a gold wristlet watch and' handbag by the staff, prior to her departure, on promotion, to the money order department at Christchurch. Mrs R. W. Ely Roe is expected in town to-day from Hanmer, Dr Ely Roe, w t lio was in charge of the sanatorium at Hanmer, which has just been demolished by fire, will come into Christcnurch later. They will stay at Warwick House. Mrs Dan Riddiford (Longwood, Featherston), accompanied by Miss Nancy Johnston and Miss Herrick, will be visitors to Christchurch . for Grand National Week. Other visitors will include Mrs H. M. Campbell (Hastings), Mr and Mrs McHardy, Miss McHardy, Mrs Moeller, Miss Rae Moeller, and Mr and Mrs Cyril Williams (Hawke's Bay). "A lady of my acquaintance,'- writes a contributor to the "Queen," "who went to court on the night following the Suffragette incident, felt, she tells me, quite uncomfortable under the scrutinising glances of frenzied court officials. They evidently suspected a concealed liatehet in the folds of every train, among the flowers .or foliage of every bouquet; .even' jii the ladies' skirts, ■jvheie, goodness knows, fashions being what they are, it would be nothing short of a miracle if anything whatsoever were concealed, seeing that the shape ©f a modern gown leaves nothing tO the imagination, and, so I am told, precludes the possibility even of a petticoat." Speaking of the solace that the pet dog often is to lonely lives, a \vriter in the "Gentlewoman" recalls that John Wesley, Lainartine, Chas. Kingsley, and recently Canon Wilberforee, declared their belief in an immortal future for the animals. Preaching in Westminster Abbey, Canon 'Wilberforee said: "I utterly refuse to believe that there is no place for animals in a future Jife. Personally I would rather go into oblivion with dogs 1 have known that into an exclusive heaven with people 1 have met.'' Queen Mary is said to be growingfond of racing, and most interested in the Royal horses. Like the great majority of important women, she w r ore white at Royal Ascot this year. She also spent quite a long time chatting with Queen "Victoria Augusta. It was a day of Queens, for Queen Alexandra and the Empress Marie of Russia were also present.

Men have always jeered at any attempt on the part of women to adopt "rational" dress; yet curiously enough it is a man who lias made the bold suggestion that if women would only rid themselves of skirts they would at one.e find themselves introduced into many cdasses of new work. But equality of the sexes in dress would not suit the taste of the average woman. Why? Did anyone ever suggest that man's dress is attractive?

Arising out of the denunciation of the extreme Paris fashions in vogue in America, one of the ladies (Mrs Anthony) left New York in order to carry the war into Europe, taking with her fifteen trunks filled with home-made gowns for the education of Parisians and Europeans generally. These she setoff with valuable jewels, for, as the wife of a rich manufacturer, she has many. Perhaps the most startling accompaniment, however, for the home-made gowns were the jewelled heel to her slippers, Mrs Anthony says that her dresses are all of the "modest and comfortable" order, lauded by the Chicago Women 's Convention. She expects to convince the foreign designers that Americans can turn out stylish, and at the same time modest, costumes. A fashionable wedding in New York was rudely interrupted, when women standing on the steps of St. Thomas's Church hooted Mrs Henry Siegel, who was about to enter the church to witness the marriage of her daughter, Miss Dorothy Violet Wilde, to Mr Carl Joseph Moon, of St. Louis. The women represented clamorous depositors in the defunct Siegel Bank, and they recognised in Mrs Siegel the wife of the leading member of that unfortunate institution. As Mrs Siegel came down the steps to enter her carriage she wore a necklace of large diamonds, and this seemed to "Look at her!'' cried one of them, '' why doesn't she give us back our money? Look at her diamonds! ,r The women edged as near as they could to inflame the depositors in the bank, the door of the carriage, and seemed about to pounce upon Mrs Siegel. '' We 'll fix her!'' screamed one of them, '' the idea of her having such a swell wedding for her daughter, and we with children starving at home.'' Two big policemen on guard saw the threatening attitude of the women, and held them back until Mrs Siegel entered her carriage. Before she entered, however, a bailiff succeeded in serving the lady with a summons. The bride's ornaments consisted of a large diamond bar pin, the gift of the Duchess de Talleyrand; a pearl and diamond lavalliere, given to her by Princess del Drago; and a dia-

mond ring from her sister, the Countess Carlo Dentice di Frasco, who was the bride's matron of honour.