LADIES' COLUMN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 70, 23 March 1907, Page 15

LADIES' COLUMN.

Girls' Gos nt. (Contributions to this column addressed "Prisoillit" will lia welcomed. Thoy should be caccise, and must be signed uilh the writer's full namo and addreao, nbt for publication, but a« a guurantoi of authenticity. j Mr Diiß SatiA— Of social happenings my notebookis absolutely blank, end it is to be hoped Easter tvijl bring more festive tim.es. Shortly after the beginning of the month, a maWiage-^in which an extremely pretty bride and 60me charming bridesmaids ivre to be tho central figures, with the bridegroom, like all bridegrooms, bs a necessary appendage — is io take placo. There tjrb more woctding3 in the near future. The dearth of water is troubling many who ore living on the high levels, and results in an ever-present anxiety as to fire — as woll as a host of minor discomforts. Truly tho present day housewife's lot is not a bod of roses. Ho maids — in spite of pathetic appeal — a burst boiler, and tho water cut off — these aro a trio of trials through which ono Wellington woman \a passing. By the way, apropos of domestics, I hear one family which has made arrangements with a caterer to ssnd meals in is well satisfied with the scheme. The food is hot, well-cooked, an.d of excellent quality. Of course this is frequently carried out in London, where a motor-van, fitted with hot-water pipes, brings every meal. A waiter comes with the food, sets the table, and at the en,d clears away, and the dishes are taken off to the caterer's in another yah. It all sounds in the ears of the footsore, hot wife who : has been struggling with a refractory I range, a cross baby, and an Lnconside- j rate husband, like a scrap out of a fairy-tale. But, convenient' though j the scheme is, it does away with all those delightful little gastronomical at- ] tentions that every wife loves to pay j her husband — the pie made -with her ; own hands, the cakes devised "out of her own head." On the other hand, it lessens t^jc danger of dyspepsia ! i I had a glimpse the other afternoon t of three sketches by Miss Eila Williams, who with Miss Williams is studying art in Paris. They are charming '"bits" of continental life and landscape, one a market scene with de- j lightful colour in the foreground, and another a stretch of undulating country with fine distance and delicate j drawing. She had a picture >in the Salon last year, not, as many are got i in, by influence, but entirely on its merits. It was a bronze fountain. Miss Williams, too, is doing excellent work. Mr. Cecil Jameson's sketches in M'Gregor Wright's studio are attracting a good deal of attention. They show improvement, but are annoyingly vague and dreamy, and his idea of depicting moving water is peculiar. A number have been sold. Miss Taylor-Blacke, who has again settled in Wellington, has brought her Salon picture with her. On Thursday Dr. and Mrs. Martin and their two boys left for England in tho lonic. Their holiday of two years or so sounds most inviting. A motor-brougham, made to order and specially adapted for touring, will be | awaiting them, and they intend to j make full use of it. Miss Nellie Skerrett, who goes to her brother in the Argentine and then Home, leaves by the same boat. Miss M'Gregor, from Masterton, is a guest of Mrs. Malcolm Ross, and Miss Chamberlain, also from Masterton, is staying with Mrs. M'Gregor. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Russell and Miss Janet Boyle have been guests of Mrs. T. O. Williams, and last week Miss Hilda Williams returned after a long trip to Mount Cook. There, by the ■way, some Australian tourists had, perforce, owing to stormy weather, | to lead the simple life. They were obliged to live on red herrings and dry bread, not being able to get back to the Hermitage. It is an experi- j ence like this that makes us appreciate pate de foie gras and Pommery sec. Among those who have gone to the polo tournament are Mrs. Riddiford, Mr. and Mrs. R. Levin, and Mins Wardell. Mrs and Miss Symes and Miss Humphreys, from Christchurch, are in Wellington at present. Miss G. Harding is visiting Wanganui, and Mr. and Mrs. George Mcc are spending a holiday at Timaru. From a Gisborne paper I notice the engagement of Miss Woodbine-Johnstone, sister of Mrs. Pomare, to Mr. 0. Monckton. Miss Beatrice Holloway made a charming "Dick" in the "Two Vagabonds," and tho whole range of characters was excellently filled. As a rule a girl does not make a satisfying boy, but Miss Holloway was the plucky, cheery little outcast in every detail, even to the eager whittling of the bit of wood as she talks to Wally. Two particularly pretty gowns were in evidence in the play. Tho- one worn by Miss Deorwyn was of pastel-blue satin, the skirt almost plain except for oldfashioned puffing 3, the bodice and sleeves delicately trimmed with lace. The frock worn by the misunderstood Marion was of white satin, a lovely fichu of white chiffon painted with large pink roses and foliage bsing worn on the fow bodice. We are looking forward to Mr. Andrew Mack, whose good-look-ing portrait is decorating the shopwindows. By the way, apropos of Ireland, its Vicereine, Lady Aberdeen, is making patriotic efforts to increase its trade and manufactures. At the Gastle in January she gave an Irish lace ball, at which no lace save the real Hibernian article was to be worn. At this Irish d»nc«s were on the programme, and the Viceroy, who is a dancing man — as becomes the head of that hilarious yet £istressfu' country — joined in the reels and jigs with 'dignified ardour. Later on in tho month Lady Aberdeen gave an Irish tweed tea party. Apropos of gowns, simplicity is the keynote of the season. A Ibvely trousseau gown, made in London for a countess, "was of white velvet, untrimmed except for silver net, which veiled the bodice, and which was caught in front by on," large silver rose. Many of tho new walking* frocks are almost plain, depending for their beauty on their lovely fonts and graceful folds. A band of velvet; contrasting with the colour of the cloth, often hems the skirt. One of the moat, admired of Lady Xorthcote'x m>wxm is a pearl grey cloth — one of those makei with a surface like satin — which has a border of sapphire-blue velvet, and is simply set in gathers into }he waist. The bodice, very finelytncked, opens over under-^ana of velvet, »nd shows a vest of soft yellowish lace. This same blue is to be much worn in combination with grey or mouse-colour. Ever th<j old-fashioned velvet-pipings we revived, especially on the Empire and Directoire coat*. Hats, too, have the same tendency to severity and richnew. The ostrich featiers are enormous, some trailing on the shoulders, but these, fortunately, will not bo often Been. A photographic studio, or a viceregal garden-party «eem the correct letting for such ultra-magnificence. A hat consisting of an entire bird of rivid green decorated the Kiosk the »ther afternoon. It had the woirdestjffect from the front, the red beak jarving down inquisitively into the wear-

er's face, and a nest of cheno ribbon filling up tho space behind. It reminded one of the painful episodo in the north, where a parrot descended on tho hyacinthine locks of a lady reciter and settled there, to her great discomfort. Here are some of the new shapes to be worn this season — Romnoy, picture Lamballe, Cavalier, shovel, sha-rk-nosc, and French sailors. "you pays your money" — which by the way, is no insignificant sum — "nnd you takes your choice." This cold snap has mado us think of warmer blouses, and novel ways to make them. A charming mode for a white flannel was to tuck fronts and back in a yoke, — round, pointed, or square, as fancy impels — and where each tuck ends, mako a large cyelet-holo and button-hola it neatly in heavy silk. The effect of thess holes, which may be made larger and filled with poiut laco wheels bordering tho tucked yokes, is charming. Embroidered buttons aro to form the trimming on many of the new winter blouses. Of course, all tucking and embroidery should bo done on straight pieces of linon or flannel, and the neck cut out after the work is finished.. — I am, yours, PRISCILLA.