WOMAN'S WORLD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIII, Issue 12160, 26 March 1900, Page 2

WOMAN'S WORLD.

There were "so many subjects and speakers at the last' Women's International Congress that the report of the transactions will occupy seven volumes, which are shortly to be published at 3s each.

"Woman: Her Art and Work," will form tho subject of an exhibition at Earl's Court this year, and the help of a number of distinguished English and Continental women has been secured for it. ' It is stated that Marchesi intends to bring Amy Castles out in a little over twelve months' time. This will confirm the modern idea among aspiring young ladies, that prime donne, according to the cobblers' announcement, can be made " while you wait." Princess Christian's Red Cross hospital train, which is being sent to South Africa, has been built in Birmingham, and was inspected and approved of by the Princess herself. The surgery has been fitted with everything likely to be required, and is a model of compactness.

The first woman pastor in England is Miss. Melville, who has just taken formal charge of the Congregational Church at Brotherton, in Yorkshire. Miss Melville has taken an active part in church work in Leeds for the last thirty years, and for some, years has been preaching at the mission services. Edison, the inventor, prefers women, machinists for the delicate details of his electrical machines. He says that they display more fine sense about machinery in one minute than most men in their whole existence. He backs up his statement by having 200 female emloyees in his works. _ ■ An Indian lady doctor of the highest caste has been married recently to an English M barrister. Her own father is a barrister also, » and spends half the year in England and the other half in India. The lady was educated at Girton, took the natural science tripos, and is a licentiate of the Association oi Apothecaries, besides being a, properly qualified medical practitioner. As a souvenir of her last visit to Windsor Castle, on which occasion her singing of " Q Eest in the Lord " deeply affected the Queen, . Mis 3 Ada Crossiey has received an exquisitely, bound volume of " Choral Songs in Honour of Her Majesty." The binding' is in vellum, with the title- and Royal Arms embossed in gold, while the name of the recipient appears , in crimson letters immediately above the. autograph of her Royal Highness Princess Christian.

The little daughter of- a waterman of Datchet, Windsor, received a pleasing Christmas gift from the Queen. "While the child! was returning from school she found a handkerchief, marked " V.R.," lying on the road} near the Queen's carriage entrance to the Castle. She brought it to her father,- who forwarded it with an explanatory letter to' the Castie. In reply a cheque for £2 camo from Sir Fleetwood Edwards, with a letter expressing the Queen's wish that the money might be handed to the caild as a. Christmas present from her Majesty. 7

Millais'. grandson does not by any means appreciate the honour and glory of having sat as the original of " Bubbles." Like Mrs Hodgson Burnett's son, '" Little Lord Fauntleroy," the name has stuck to him, and although he is a lieutenant on the Royal Arthur, he can only get his proper name in official despatches. At all other times' and places it is just "Bubbles," so »Bubbles inveighs against painters who take advantage of beautiful green velvet-coated childhood, and soapboilers, who will not allow the picture ta be forgotten. Sister Clara Mavesin Chadwick, who has been appointed superintendent of the nursing staff on the " Princess of Wales" hospital ship, belongs to an ancient, warlike, landed family of England. The father of Miss Chadwick served wh/h credit in the Indian Mutiny, and when reverse of fortune mz.de it necessary for the young lady to undertake active work she chose army nursing, in which, after preliminary training in a civil hospital, she became a proficient. Her longest term of service has been passed in Malta, at the old hospital of the Knights of St'John. The young Queen of Holland can make her own dresses, and has manufactured more than one blouse for a favourite girl friend. Ons of the colours in which she most likes tsi, appear is blue of the palest shade. Thg Eoyal dressmakers, in obedience to her wishes; have made a study of the styles most adapted to a figure slightly inclined lowards plump- 1 ness, for, though quite sufficiently slim, the young Queen of Holland lias a positive horror! of.becoming or looking stout. She resolutely refused to wear any dTess with the high and: rounded waists that have, been so popula* lately, and only encircles herself with a belt . when tennis or any. kind of sport or. exercise renders loose clothing advisable. A correspondent, writing to " The Queen '* from Mafeking, says that quite a- feature o£ the siege has been The pluck of many of the women and boys. "In our own fort," he says, " we have a boy named Chiddy, who arrived with a rifle and bandolier, able to shoot with the best of us. He amuses himself during the bombardment by counting the number ol shells that pass over and asking any war correspondent who may be about embarrasJ sing questions. In the house round which' our breastwork is built, all through the shelling, were three ladies, -who showed the utmost pluck, and one of them, while the Shells were whistling overhead, endeavoured to play 'God Save the Queen' on the drawing-room piano. It was a little wavery and shaky in places, but the men heard and cheered her, and the spirit! of the thing was good. To see Colonel BadenPowell go whistling down the street, cheerful and confident, is more heartening than a pinit of dry champagne, and if we are able_to post our name upon the renowned outposts of the Empire, it will be chiefly because Baden-Powell commanded.'us. '■■'■■