A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 307, 28 December 1929, Page 4 (Supplement)

A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN. EDWARDIAN DAYS. (From Our London Lady Correspondent.) The Dowager Countess of Warwick, whose reminiscences will make interesting reading when they are published shortly, spends nearly all her time in the country, but she is never alone at Easton Lodge, the beautiful Dunmow house near Mr. H. G. Wells' country home, which she once offered to the Socialist party. She likes to have young people about her, and nobody does more to encourage the young artist, writer, or politician who is just beginning a career. Mr. Gordon Craig's eldest son, who hag been doing film direction under the nom de plume of Edward Carrick, is executing a good deal of redecoration for Lady Warwick, and introducing into " her rooms the artistic floral touches she admires so much. The loggia of the house has been painted under his supervision, and its owner likes to sit there and write. There are many interesting reminiscences of the days of King Edward and Queen Alexandra in Lady Warwick's book. LANCASHIRE FACTORY LASSES. Of the many thousands of women operatives who are now out of work in Lancashire, but a small proportion are of the shawl and clog type of\ the past veneration. Time was, and that not long when the weaver had little regard for her personal appearance on weekdays. Her head was wrapped in a none too clean shawl, her clogs seldom , shone with blacking, and her clothing usually smelled sourly of the size with which the warps of her looms were dressed, while her dialect was closely related to the rough-and-ready tongue which passes for Lancashire on the stage. _ But since the war, and more especially in the last few years, a notable change has come over the factory lass. .Shawls and clogs are still worn by the older and less particular class, but the younger and more attractive go to the mill in. s, ye. They display a good choice in millmery, their dresses are of smart cut and wellmade, their shoes are of the latest fashion, and their artificial silk stockings are chosen to a colour scheme. Instead of the unsightly tin box, in which their sisters of bygone days cairied meals, they have neat baskets from which one can see them take out their ' vanity case and use their powder puff. Moreover, their speech is becoming refined. It was'from the weavers of Lancashire that Miss Ellen Wilkinson, M.P., has sprung. WOMEN AND GAMES. No doubt the feminist party have noted that fact that the Olympic Committee disapproved of women competing i E games. There is, of course, much to be said for and against that participation, but it deserves to be put on record that Major Marchant of the and an authority on sport, declared. 11 women are to be banned from taking part in the games, then they should be banned from all forms of athletics. Women have never suffered harm by taking part ia them, and the only event last year which seemed to distress some of them was the half-mile race, and men athletes who were present admitted that they had seen male runners in worse condition at the end of a similar competition. Provided they are properly trained I see no reason why women should not continue to take part. The life of the Engbsh eirl for the last ten years, playing games at schools, and the healthy way in which they dress, have all been conducive to physical fitness, and I do not think any action to prevent their continuing would be fair. The question to ,my mind, which might raise the point is whether there is room, owing to the large number of events, for women's athletics in the Olympic Games."

JEWELS IN FURS. , Fashion parades reveal new and ] striking ideas every day just now. I was surprised at a very smart show in , London this week to discover rich furs .] embellished with jewels. As a slender 1 mannequin in a wrap coat with a Medici i collar of fur turned slowly round in her j procession through the showroom there t came a flash at her throat. The coat ] collar, of silver fox, had a fine head < to finish it, and, instead of the usual : beady black eyes, diamonds sparkled in i the eye sockets.. Precious stones outline j the fastening of many a valuable fur, i and there are evening cloaks of ermine ] held together at the neck or on the hip i with wonderful buckles of rubies, sap- 1 phires, or emeralds. But the newest idea of all is to have a tiny jewelled I "collar" just below the head on a sable . tie. 1 PRINCESS ELIZABETH CHINA. ' •Some of the new English china is very ; attractive. A show of it is going on in < London just now, and one is impressed everywhere- by the delicacy of colouring in the new designs. There is quite a big ' demand, apparently, for perfectly plain [ services in some pastel tint, the shape being chosen for its daintiness, while an egg-shell texture is insisted upon. There are fresh ideas in the forming of cups, and rounds and ovals are by no means the only types available now. Same of what may be called the cubist designs are very quaint and amusing. _ Then the cup and saucer, as such, is giving way to a flat, plate-like piece wljiich has a groove into which the cup fits. This is not an altogether new notion, but it has not been followed to any extent until just now. Among special designs, for children the manufacturers report a very big demand for nursery tea things which have a portrait of Princess Elizabeth on ■ them, j REBECCA WEST'S NEW BOOK. We are all interested in Rebecca West and her latest novel, " Harriet Hume." Every young, thoughtful woman who comes to London asks where Miss West lives, where they are likely to see her, what she does, and how she does it, and if an opportunity of seeing her at a public function, or hearing her speak,* arises, they are keen, to take advantage of it. And one does not wonder. She makes conquests in every audience. She is charming to look at, and she never adopted the slovenly, or even unusual style of dressing. Her clothes are pretty, well put on, and chosen to suit her personality, an d she has a wonderfully vivid enthusiastic way of talking. Her eves flash, she smiles readily, and she has tno quickest sense of humour. "Harriet Hume" is full of interest—a love story in which romance does not run smoothly, _ and through which one patches glimpses of its author's views gnd yisionsj