Ladies' Column ABOUT THE QUEEN.

Evening Post, Volume LIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1897, Page 2

Ladies' Column ABOUT THE QUEEN.

Among the interesting articles in the November Quiver is one by Mary Spencer Warren, telling how the Queen Bpends Sunday. In former years it was customary for Her Majesty to rise quite early on the Sunday morning — as, in fact, ahe did every day in the week. Of late years, however, she seldom leaves her room much before, ten, at which hour breakfast is taken with any members of the Royal Family who may be there, a cup of tea and a little toast having been previously conveyed to Her Majesty's bedside by one of the " dressers." After breakfast, the Queen has a turn round the grounds in her donkey carriage, the donkey being the one she bought at Florence. To preach before the Queen is, of course, a greatly coveted honour, and etiquette formal and prescribed has to be observed. No personal reference to Her Majesty is permissible, a pure Gospel discourse being de rigueur, delivered aa though Her Majesty was not present. Many have tried to evade these rules. The Queen likes and enjoys a plain and practical discourse, selected from the Lessons or Gospel of the day, to occupy about twenty minutes in delivery. Questions of the day, and, above all, politics, must be entirely excluded. A celebrated divine broke this rule one Sunday, and preached a very strong politioal sermon ; but it was his last opportunity — the Royal pulpits have neither of them been filled by him again. Wherever Her Majesty may be it is now her invariable custom to drive out in a pairhorse carriage on Sunday afternoon. Dinner subsequently is somewhat stately. Very often the Queen partakes of it with only the members of her own family present, or any Royal guest who may be staying there, save and except that the officiating clergyman of the day and the Minister in attendance generally receive an invitation. As a rule, other guests are not asked. After dinner, the Queen retires direct to her own special drawing-room, where, together with any of her family who may be present, she will enjoy some music of the old masters, preferably Beethoven and Mendelssohn, The Queen herself often takes part in duets with one of her daughters, and the Duke of Edinburgh, when present, contributes with his violin. " I have " (writes " Hebe," in the Gentlewoman) "often mentioned Mr. Cecil Rhodes's dislike of women, and the fact that he will not allow a female to serve him in any way. He had a secretary to whom he was much attaohod. One day ho announced the fact that he was going to be married. The chief was thunderstruck; and, after glaring at him for a second, growled out, 'Where the devil am I to get another secretary?' walked out of the room, and banged the door. His innate goodness of heart, however, prevailed after a bit, for he presented the bride with some lovely diamonds ; and when, soon after, he left for England he lent the young couple his carriages and horses, so that the offending bride was enabled to return her wedding calls at his expense ! It nevor occurred to him, however, to keep his favourite secretary on. The mere fact of his marrying put that out of the pale of possibility I" Here are some interesting notes on " current fashions" given by The Queen : — Hats and Bonnets.— ln the new millinery there is still the same inclination to make the heads of women resemble those of horned animals, for cock's feathers and paradise plumes are both to placed that they curl from the centre of the forehead towards the side like ram's horns. The greatest pains and thought have been devoted to the tail feathers of the bird of paradise, and they are now dyed to match any of the fashionable colours. The chenille embroidery, worked on horse-hair net, on straw and willow, and on velvet, is greatly in lashion. Ttrcica. — While we are profusely liberal in our adaptation of all sorts of trimming, we have fallen back once more on the simple, inexpensive tuck, which means nothing more than a little manual labour. They cover the lower portion of the sleeves, border the hems of skirts, are carried horizontally across the front of morning, gowns, and in thin gossamer materials entirely cover the full evening bodice, but then they are drawn together and punctured. Sleeves. — Great is the revolution in sleeves. For evening wear fashionable women are coming back to the small Empire puff as far as size is concerned, but the simple piece of material gathered at either edge is a thing of the past. There is generally a close-fitting band beneath, which prevents the under -arm being unduly seen. Above this are small double flounces of thin material, or a puff which is gathered at intervals perpendicularly. The upper puffs, by roeanß of swanadown stuffing or being gathered over wire or whalebone, or crossway folds in the thicker stuffs, assume a breadth which permits them to support, as they should, the cape trimmings of the bodice. We are using wire to support bows, sleeves, flouncings, but it needs the moßt careful usage, or it gives a hard, unnatural stiffness. Bobdpbinos.— Wi^h the advent of small flounces, which appear on the upper portion of some of the sleeves, or entirely covering skirts, finding a place also on the yeats for open coats, the necessity 'arises for some form of bordering which will show them off in a satisfactory way, and the most used is a narrow black velvet put* just above the edge, or a slightly wider bordering of such fur as sable or mink, for there in no -compunction in cutting up the best furs when necessity arises.