LADIES' COLUMN. Girls' Gossip.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue LXIV, 13 September 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN. Girls' Gossip.

My Dear Kezia, — Sports "have Hlled our minds this past weoK. Audit:}, who i>lu\s hoekoy, is at present enjoying iho rest-cure m front of a bi£ fire. &ho is curled up in an oriental attitude, and is so engrossed in '"Soldiers of Jftntuno" that even disparuguig remarks ou her new spring hat won't rouse her to repartee. Hebe, who drifts always with tho crowd, went to the match on Saturday, aud came home crestfallen at the Southerners' victoiy. According to her, the bide-shows wero more amusing than tho football. The man who, with gniu determination in his eyo, chased a rebellious rooster, and the dog who ran oil' tho ground all other dogs, wero distinctly mirthful. The hockey tournament is over, and anxious mothers can gather their athletic daughters under thoir wings with sighs of satisfaction. Excellent hockey Borne of it was, too, and many of the younger girls are "hard as nails," according to tui aiimiring small boy, who barracked with discrimination. To cultivate their minds us well as thoir muscles, a number of the damsels attended tho House, their bright facoa and flowing locks making a decorative frieze along the balustrade of the Ladies' Gallory. A chivalrous member, it is said, got no fewer than twenty-three ticket* for tho hookey girls. Unfortunately, it was a dull ' debate, and the damsels left early, nor cast ono longing look behind. Tea-parties, pingpontf afternoons, and dances filled up their time in town pleasantly. The ball was very delightful. Indeed, it is recorded that tho lights had to be lowered as a hint to go, which speaks volumes for the entertainment. Mrs. Waldegrave pave a most enjoyable dance. Altogether, though the weather was not of the cheeriest, the hookey girls must have enjoyed their trip to. Wellington. Tie many friends of Miss Chrissy Smith, at present visiting relatives at Homo, will l)o pleased to hear of her engagement. Her nun coo is Mr. Lance, a relative of the well-known. Ohristchurch Lances. He ia un only son, his parents living near London, and an engineer, having just returned from an important contract in India. Miss Smith will return to New Zealand before her marriage. Have you any yearnings, Kezia, after a motor-car? We have a specimen here, a weird vehicle with an uncompleted look to our unaccustomed eyes. It is followed «t times by a cloud of steam that is alarmingly suggestive of an explosion. Audrey, whose insatiable curiosity leads her into strange places, went years ago to the trial trip of two motorcars in Wellington. It took place in an old theatre, with pillars round the sides, which made the progress of the earn, steered by novices, exciting and full of thrilling possibilities. One man who went full steum ahead instead of astern got his head right through the lath-and-ploster of the walls before he had presence of mind to alter the direction. Audrey was brave enough to take a little outdoor trip, and hor tour to Oriental Bay is a dreadful memory of a fearsome smell of oil, fiendish noises of the engine at the back of the seat, a vacillating driver to whom Bhe had not been introduced — which made their impending immolation together moro uncomfortable, if possible— infuriated- and scared horses walking about on their hind legs, and small boys scudding from under the wheels. It put her in mind of tho luckless Phaethon and the sunchariot, the proprietor of tho motor-cnr being Zeus — ouly that Phaethon knew better than to carry a lady-passenger. We had a rather lively evening in the House last week, when Mr. George Fisher fell foul of a proviso moved by Mr. Napier. He held it up to scouu, and read it again aud again, with comments. The many luwyei* in tfce Chamber wore appealed to by him, and after ho had got the opinions of some he unkindly alluded to "the sort of lawyers we've got in this House" with much feeling — a remark that caused an Opposition man to say, "That's a reflection on the Chairman" — Mr. Guinne&a occupying that position. After Mr. Fisher had been talking for a long time to an amused House and a more amused gallery, he told xt% words failed him, and sat down in shocked and silent horror at Mr. Napier's opinions «* embudiod in the aforesaid proviso. Mr. Kapier, however, preserved a calm demeanour — I feel sure, Kezia, an average Woman would have been carried out m hycterics by the Ser-feant-at-,Arms long before — and gave Mr. 'isher various scraps of his mind. We get so tired of tho same phrases and catchwords used by members that wo eagerly greeted somo Dew expressions in this duel. "Gasconading levity" and "village, tragedian" ore un ", »"d the dictum, by Mr. Xapier, that to owe money is a civil obligation, not an offence,^ is a most comforting one to the debtor. A picturesque girl adorned our gallery last week. Unluckily fpr the members, she did not occupy a front seat, and stayed but a short time. When she $ook'off her fluff}' white cape she hnd ou a satin blouie, cut low at the throat and striped with many tticka and much insertion, while a wonderful hat, all lavender tulle and Parma violets, sat, at tho most aitistic of angles, on her fair hair. If you wish to bo correct this season, Kezia, you must remember tluffiness is out and flatness is- the order of the day. No more must the foamy boa encircle your throat. The latest decree is the pelerine, lying flat on the shoulders, and edged with many rufUes, Some of tho smartest imported hats this season have a- squashed look as if they had been sat upon, but that is, I believe, tho perfection of art and not to be acquired by omateur fingers. Spotted net makes the daintiest of pelerines, especially when the frills are edged with narrow black velvet or satin ribbon. One wishes one had made a "corner" in black velvet ribbon, so widely is it used this season. Two interesting nurses p*Bsed through Wellington last week southward-bound — Nursing-Bigfcers Rowley and Woolcombe. The former is one of Princess Christian's nurses, and went to South Africa iv 1900, this being her first boliddy to her home, which is in Southland. She has had experience in all the hospitals, and nursed Mr. Hatfleld when he waa wounded. Miss Woolcombe, who comes from Timaru, has reminiscences of crhastly Magersfontein, and is an Army. Reserve nurse who went out to South Africa before the war started. Hero is a dainty little recipe — "Berlin biscuits," ns "made in Germany" — which you may funcv : — Take 4oz butter and beat it to a froth, add to it 4o» caster ftuttar, 807. flour, the rind of a ltmon, a liqueur glass of brandy, a little milt, and three beaten eggs. Roll out and cut' in strip*, and twist into different shapes. Hove ready a good pnnfttl of boiling fat which throws off a blue smoke, and fry the biscuits in it. Drain, roll in *ifted sugar and cinnamon, and when cold store in a tin. I enoj, like Mr. E. M. Smith, with a poem — ''The Newspaper- Woman." It id not original, but is from a dipping sent me by some correspondent probnbly rankling under the family indignation caused by her putting wuHliiig-aoda iuto h«r gingerbread instead of carbonate. There is much truth in the verses. A woman who dabbles — for the press — in the occult arts of cooking, carpentering, and such like should add to her prescriptions, "All care taken but no responsibility." It ii horrible to imagine what might reault from a carelois type* tttar and an incompetent cook I

"A woman there waa, and she wrote for the press (As you or I might do). , She told how to cut and fib a dress, And how to stew many a savoury mess, But she nevor had dona it herself, I guess (Which none of hor readers knew). Oh, the hours we spent and the Hour we spent, And the sugar we wasted like sand, At the hest of a woman who never hud cooked (And now wo know that she never "could cook), And did not understand. "A woman there was, and she wrote right fair (As you or I might do), How out of a barrel to make a chair, To be covered with clunt/i and stuffed with hair — 'Twould adorn any parlour and give it an air ! (And we thought the tale was true). Oh, the days wo worked and the ways wo worked To hammer and saw and hack, In making a chair in which no ono could sir Without a crick in his back. "A woman there was, and she had her fun (Botter than you or I) ; She wrote out recipes, and never tried one ; She wrote about children — of course she had none ; She told us to do what she never had done (And never intended to try). And it isn't to toil and it isn't to spoil That brims the cup of disgrace — It's to follow a woman who didn't know beans (A woman who never had cooked any beans) But wrote and was paid to fill space." —Yours, PRISCILLA.