SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 199, 16 May 1908, Page 11

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.

Mrs. arid Miss Rollcston are at present in-Wellington, and aro tho guests of Mrs. Graco in- Hawkestorie Street. They are ,ou thoir'. way'.to', the Malay Peninsula, wliero Mrs. R-ollcston's daughter, Mrs. Bowcn,. is living; and it is possible that before returning. to New Zealand they will extend thoir tour as far' as' England. Mrs. Buchanan, who during her visit to Wellington • has been . entertained' ,by her friends,,at numerous afternoon teas and luncheons,. roturned-to Hawera yesterday. • Owing.'to the difficulty it is at'present having .with regard to' its tenure -cf the links; tho Hutt Golf Club hasVnot felt inclined to have any formal opening of its .season,' but' this afternoon- it. will entertain its friends at afternoon tea, and mixed foursome competitions will be played.' Colonel. Davies has taken a houso at Lowry Bay.; for tho, winter months. Mrs. W/.Young is staying at Silverstream. Mrs. Hixwlhorno, formerly an Inspector of Factories at Wellington, mil have chargo of the new -yomon's emplbyriient brarieh of the •Labour Department in this city, until the end of the ;mo'nthi _when .Miss Br'enmer will take over the'superintendence. \ Mr. W. Davis, fifth son of Mr. P. Davis, Hilton Road, Carterton, was -married' on Thursday, at the residence of tho ■ bride's parents, -to /Miss Olive . May. Bishop, second daughter of-Mr.. A. Bishop, of Went To.ratahfl Miss M'Nab was bridesmaid, and Mr. L. Bishop was-best, man. Tho marriaji© was solemnised by tho Rev. R. Young, of Carter- • ■ Our Otaki correspondent sends word of. the wedding' at Otaki : on Wednesday afternoon': of Miss'Simmonds to Mr'. Arthur Freeman, son of' Mr. H.' Freeman.

Now Zealand is being described for ( readers in Switzerland by ,Miss. C; von Bodt; who has just concluded' a .short visit 'to Wellington, Miss yon Rodt has .travelled: round the world more.than .once,', and, has seen many lands.' Slip',has-' just/spent'; nearly a'year in Hawaii', and since landing in New Zealand has visited Auckland and Rotorua, coming'here by tho Wanganui • River. . After visiting. Christchurch, Dunedin, and the Cold ' Lakes sho purposes to, leave, for .India, and afterwards return' to her homo at' Berne, Switzerland. Miss von Rodt'has written a number of booksof travel/ and:the articles which she is now contributing; to Swiss periodicals will - pro? bably be reissued later on as a volume. JUST A POT-BOILER. Jack-was busy on his novel in his study. Elizabeth was inspecting tho larder. , The result : was not oncouragirig.' Sho took: up her pocket-book, lookod into'that, then sighed.. Then she went and-tapped at Jack's door. ' . •. "Oh, come in," ho, called, rather 'impatiently. "Well, dear, what do you want?" "Jack, - dear, funds aro low; can't': you write a.pot-boiler?" /, . • "No, I- can't;, it's .out- of f the' question. I'm just , at' fever heat in my book, and I can't stop for: such trifles." ; Elizabeth leftand r shut -the door, - emphatically,'.' I'm-afraid. - Well, she could. write/ a pot-boiler, and would. ,Sho wrote before she • was married little .stories that always' sold,/but since her marriage to. the rising-young author sho had kept overy, annoyance from him- so he could make.tho best.•■'of his talents. ' . ' SHo. must' '■ bot'J ! call,. it .'}a i . pot-boiler, ancl ■ must not let' : ahyone'suspect'it' was so sordid a thing.. ■ /.:■■ ; • '... Snatching stray minutes through' the days'her. little ,story grew.: / . . She' called'-it ■ "Threads' and-Patches." ,It was .'a story, of a. poor'seamstress,' who- at night depicted, her .-woes'.-and pleasures, her; little longings 'and sorrows, in' a little diary —told where'she had worked,. and/what: she had seen'and/heard.'' Many glimpses into' tho homo life of ■ many families the little book contained. Elizabeth/put.- some of her. own, thoughts into ; it; Idaro,say. • ■ frequently sho.'thrust'her pad and pencil into a drawer to.run at John's bidding; still the story grew. "Jack, dear,' do leave your desk," she said one afternoon, "and' take a walk: your ideas.will come faster- and your blood flow quicker -for, a good walk." >"You are' right,' Elizabeth; I will." Jack safely, out of the way, the 'conspirator took possession of his study arid typewriter.' ;-. ' . ■ .', ' 1 , Another night she drove him/to a play and finished her' typewriting. .'Tho .'copywas sent off'under ah-assumed name. A night .or .two after the popular young author and his wife we're, dining out. Editors do not 1 often talk shon, but. this • one, a guest at the dinner also, was an old college chum of Jack; so ho if . ho had ever heard of-a writer named liathryn Bancroft.

Jack!answore'd.. ■; "No-^why?" ■ " Well, wo :havo a -little' Rem sent in bv her.' • A.pastel called ■' Threads- and Patches;'. It .is 'a'-diary. of a poor seamstress, - and for outpourings -of -her roul - in ' her little, book she has outdone Mario' Ba'shkirtseff." Soon' after- this conversation a- cheque for more; "than 'she-' ever ■ dreamed- could" • come .from a short ; story came'to Elizabeth. ■' Still she did not-take-Jack into >her confidence.' The money. made him .very comfort able, and. as his dinners wero £ood he forgot' .all about the lack' of funds. Elizabeth did not care as long as ho loved her. •- At last the magazine containing her. story camo out. Jack bousht it to read " Threads and .Patchesto his .wife. ■ He went, into raptures over, it, atjd tears trembled pn Elizabeth's, lashes;the story was pathetic, read'in . Jack's pleasing manner;. " Gracious! What a - woman that must bo!."v ho said. ' " A woman with a soul wrote'that!'.' emphatically. He read-on and on, carried away with tho bits of longing oxpresscd by tho little seamstress.- ' ' ' " I never read a thing that moved me more," he :s'ighed; as ho closed the magazine. ."I wish I knew the woman who, wrote it."' ■ 1 " Jack, dear, you do; you havo lived with her a year." ' ■ ■ > 1 ■ ' "Elizabeth, you!" : ' ■' " Yes,, dear, I. I just wrote a little pot-boiler, because you hadn't time." "Hadn't time! Why, if I could write like that it would -be worth while." He went over to her. chair. " "Elizabeth, dear," ho urged,-'" let me boil, the'pots, and you take my. place in' the study. You can write."—Martha Endicott Eaton, in the. New York World." . ■

A LECTURES? AND HER GOWNS Miss , Louise. Stacey (says the , Boston "Women's Journal") lias evolved a gown which she believes to bo the ideal of comfort and convenience. She called it a "dgibbah," after the gowns, worn by the dervishes in, Egypt, from whom she got the idea of the costume. ■.- • After observing them, she bouglit some, silk, took it to a dressmaker, and-had her make her a succession of dgibbah s. Miss'Stacey now".wears.tho'm altogether. She said to a reporter: "It is ah ideal dress for a . lecturer. No hooks, no buttons, no l tapes to tie. I just slip it over my head, and there I am. When I remember the nervous hasto ■' with • which I used sometimes to dress for lectures, if I chanced to bo pressed for time—stumbling over buttons, getting tangled up in tapes,, finding at tho last minute that an indispensable hook was missing—this seems like hoaven. Why, you can dress for a caller aftor the doorboll has rung: I assure you that when 1. saw you coming I had this on," picking up a dgibbah of light-coloured linen, embroidered in rich shades, in Oricutal fashion'. " It's a short ouo, for morning wear'. As you approached, in tho twinkling of an eye, I slipped it off and put on the one you see me wearihg." ■ . • ' Tho dgibbah has pockets, too. Miss Stacey is an Englishwoman, and is a lecturer on' the Higher Thought. "