THE LADIES' COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7164, 1 November 1884, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE LADIES' COLUMN.

FASHION NOTES.

The trimmed jersey is very popular in Paris and London.

Iron-rust red velvet is combined effectively with olive-coloured wools.

Some of the new cheviote woven in bird'seye effects are called Florentines. Wherelawn tennis, badminton, and croquet are much played the jersey is sure to be much worn.

Military jackets and half military styles are effected by certain leaders of European fashions.

Velours frise, velour fourrnre, velour lame, and velonr cisele, are some of the many names for the new velvet brocades.

Large plaids, large bars, medium plaids, small checks, and blocks both large and small, appear in the new plaided French wools.

Among wraps come short jackets fitted into the figure in the back, loose, pleated Fedora fronts, lace bordered, and with shoulder knots of ribbon loops. AmoDg the first importations of foreign goods ore noveltiee in rich all-wool Frenoh plaids, showing new colours, new combinations and admirable shadings of the various colours. • Skirts will be tucked, flounced,' ruffled, braided, bordered with gold-dotted velvets and other fancy fabrics in broohe, wool or silk, accordion and box pleated, according to fancy.

The black and gold uniform of the Spanish Army is a form of military toilet brought out and worn at the seaside by the Countess of Alcantara, one of the leaders of European fashionable society.

The Austrian military jacketof white clotb, gold braid and buttons, and collar and cuffs of purple velvet is the high novelty at European seaside resorts. It was introduced by the Princess Metternich. DUST AND DUSTING. Dusting, remarks a writer in Harper's Bazaar, is one of those domestic infelicities which every housekeeper shares. It is a thankless task at beet; nobody thinks of remarking that a room is carefully dusted, but who fails to inveigh against the untidiness of her whose furniture shows the faintest touch of the insidious foe, which in summer every wind conspires to lodge in the crannies of the hou6e, behind the booke in the libraryshelves, in the vases, or wherever it is most inaccessible and unhandy. It perches on the chandelier, hides in the photegraph album, powders the piano keys and the' visiting cards. In winter the furnace and open firo furnish us with the nncoveted article; and wrestlo with it as we may, we never have the pleasure of fairly routing it. It is only an old-fashioned superstition that dusting is of any service. We believe it was Thoreau who emancipated himself from this fetish of tbe duster, and threw his specimens of minerals out of the window beoauee they demanded daily attention. What; housekeeper will ever have the courage of her convictions and follow his example? It almost seems, instead, as if we collected brie librae on purpose to accommodate tbis ancient dust, and provide it a tenement. . Bridget flings her feather broom hither and yon in desperation, Hurts the dust into the atmosphere, where we may conveniently inhale it, instead of allowing it to remain innocently shelved, in spite of Florence Nightingale's injunction to use only a dsmp cloth ; and who shall estimate the costly bits that have fallen a sacrifice to the slippery fingers of the housemaid ? Indeed, we suspect dusting is an art that should be taught an well as cooking ; that should have its Professor Blot and its Mis 3 Corsori. It requires patience, eyesight, and determination ; but w e are apt to believe that anybody is equal to it, even a green girl who has never contended with dust, and does not know its ambushes, its .force and strategy. The sincere duster, however, like the poet, is bora ; she loves her vocation; she would be miserable in a world where there is no dust to dispute with, if such exists ; even gold-dust would seem *■ a little discreditable to have about her. She " scorns delight and lives laborious days" in its service, and ia jealouß of the servants interference with her prerogatives. In the meantime there are other people who are obliged to dust their dwellings, as there are those who feel obliged to write poetry, without any special talent for the work, because others do, because it is expected of them ; but who do not pursne it as a mission which no one could so thoronghlyaccoDiplish as themselves; which if unfulfilled, would throw socisty into chaos—people who are not specialists in the craft, but only general practitioners. CHIT-CHAT. Two hundred inventions have been accomplished by women during the past year. Dress reformers who advocate trousers for the feminine costume are called pantaloonatice. A ah opkeeper. having a stormy discussion with his better half, put the shutters up, and affixed the following notice:—" Closed during altercations." It is impossible to convince a woman who arrives five minutes late at the depot that theengineer did not see her coming and steam off just out of spite. A .Philadelphia girl fainted right in front of an ice-cream saloon, and has gone clean back on her lover because he had her carried to a drug store across the street instead of into the saloon. A Parisienne whose daughter was about to be married, having heard of Mrs. John Mackay's munificent benevolence, appealed to her for "any old diamonds or rubies she could spare."

A new device for wedding breakfasts is a pyramid of transparent ice having in the centre a photograph of the bride and bridegroom. This ia suggestive of coolness as well aa exclueiveneaa. When a young man walks with a girl as though he ie afraid someone would see him, the girl is his sister. If he walks so close to her aa to nearly crowd her against the fence, 'she is someone else's sister. Baroness Burdett-Coutts eits in proscenium boxes at tKe London theatres, dressed without any affectation o£ juvenility, but in the fashion of an old woman. Her yonng husband ia very attentive to her. " Mamma," said a girl who had just commenced her lessons in geography, •'Whereabouts shall I fiad the state of matrimony ?" "Oh," answered the mother, "you will find that to be one of the United States." " Yes," said a Denver man to his wife, " in the past week I have seen two rainbows, both red." "I can tell you the next thing that you ought to see," remarked the lady, quietly. "What is that ?" " A doctor." A new telephone instrument has been invented by which the crying of a baby may be heard at a distance of a hundred miles, and bachelors are beginning to consider whether it is better to marry or move out of the coantry. The moss otylish women do not now wear earrings in the daytime and only those with jewels and rare stones in the evening. Finaliy they may be discarded altogether, and the money spent for diamonds in this direction will be invested in brooohes, pendants, or bracelets. ADVIOE TO THE GIRLS. If he is shy and won't propose, Don't hang your head and sigh, But sweetly ask him if he knows The colour of your eye. ' Then, when he stoops to look at yon, Just grab him with a squeeze. And hug him till he's black and blue— 'Twill bring him to hl« knees. Talleyrand, the Prime Minister of Napoleon, was disliked by Madame de Stael. It so happened that Talleyrand was lame, and madame cross-eyed. Meeting one day, madame said, "Monsiour, how is that poor leg?" Talleyrand quickly answered, "Crooked, as you see." A bluff, outspoken old gentleman, who had lost several wives and had married yet again, all some years back, was asked by someone who knew Wβ blunt way of speaking, " Mr. A—, you have had some experience; tell us which of your wives you liked the best." Without waiting an' instant he said, in hie gruff, growlingway, "the live one, of course." Mrs. Shabby Genteel : "Jane, has the flour come' 3" Jane : " Yes, mum." "And the potatoes ?"." Yes, mum." " And the preserved meats ?" " Yes, mum, six dozen cans ; that's all was ordered, mum," "And how is the stock of other provisions, including groceries of all kinds ?" " Good enough, mum, to laet three months easy, and the milkman promised to come every night after dark." " Very well, Jane. Board up the front shuttero." ;" Do you know, George, I wish you would stay at home to-morrow. " Why, darling ?" " Oh, because this afternoon a terrible-looking tramp came while you wore away and ordered me to give him something to eat, so I had to give him all that sponge caKe I made lsst _ Saturday ; and George, he aays he's coming back to-morrow." " Did he eat the cake, darling ?" " Yee, all of it—-yos, every bit." " Well then; set your mind at reat, dear; Ve will never come baok."