LADIES' COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9082, 16 June 1888, Page 5 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

TENNIS AND RINKING GOWNS. There is no difficulty nowadays to get really pretty and becoming tennis and rinking frocks for young people. It is a comfort to see that the overweighted, heavy-looking skirts are giving way to something more

modern, and infinitely more becoming. Cramped waists and tight skirts are scarcely Jit wear for such pastimes. What is wanted is a loose bodice and sleeves, and a skirt that

will admit of the free movement of the body. To this end the frocks illustrated below should answer admirably.• Of dress improver there is only a suspicion ; the draperies are long and loose, the bodice is not only comfortable but artistic. It may match the skirt, fabric, or bo in contrast of some richer material, but it is invariably inado in the " Garibaldi"shirt style, as shown in tho two small illustrations. Such bodices may be smocked like the tirst, or .simply pleated like the second. Those .shirts are also very smart worn in the house with odd skirts.

A much more elegant style, suitable for very smart occasions, such asrinking parties, is shown in the third sketch. Great latitude may be allowed in the matter of colour and material, but for real hard wear nothing lasts longer than cashmere or Hannelette in dark colours, such as brown, green, or navy blue. It will be seen that this frock is made with n long and gracefully-cut polonaise of fine navy-blue coloured cloth, worn under a sleeveless butler's coat of crimson cloth. The realism of the little coat is carried go far that, tho back is fastened with a strap of cloth and a small buckle, while the front is trimmed with brass buttons. Full sleeves aro most daintily finished

with cords and tags in red silk, the full under-bodice being , guaged at the throat and again at the waist with silk cord of red. The underskirt is perfectly plain, but it is mode so very lull at the waist that it hangs all round in graceful folds. A gown somewhat on the same lines jis the above, with the exception of tho bodice portion, form the last sketch. In this instance it is mado up in art green silk, plentifully smocked at the neck, waist, and wrists. The drapery is a continuation of the bodice, caught in girdlo fashion at the

waist. The skirt consists of a linen or ulpaca foundation, when silk of firm texture is found too expensive ; this is covered halfway up with a wide kilting or box pleating. One small steel is run at the ton of the skirt, about twelve inches below the waist line.

The old-fashioned straight scarves of the Directoire period also promise to make their appearance. They look very graceful and protty .simply folded round the waist and tied. They will be bordered with cashmero embroideries, carried out in various dainty and delicate shades of colour. The skirts worn with these scarves will be made chiefly in shot silk with a deep flounce of embroidery round the hem, the skirt itself being very fully gathered into the waist in the antique fashion already described. The bodice will have a pointed back, draped with the same silk, and a kind of zouave front made to open over a vest of the embroidery, and trimmed from the throat half-way down the figure, with full handkerchief folds of silk.

The present German Emperor, like his late father, has an intense dislike to the presence of female nurses, and his doctors have had the greatest trouble in overcoming this feeling. At first His Majesty would on no account allow a lady from the Berlin Bethania to wait on him, saying, " My father has often deplored that my mother, during her long illness, was not nursed by soldiers trained for that purpose. He maintains that the manners of female nurses unnerve the patient." It was only owing to the persistent entreaty of his consort that the Emperor, when he was Crown Prince, could be prevailed upon to have a female nurse, who, by-the-bye, was a Dublin lady. " Dowagers, " writes a home journal, " nowadays seem to vie with young women in the lavish display of their too redundant charms, and sometimes they draw down criticism which would not please them. At a reception given at the house of a wellknown hunter after celebrities, a lady remarked to her companion, as they criticised the crowd of more or less distinguished men and terribly decollctee women, ' Quite a museum of lions.' ' I should rather call it,' he said, glancing at a group of ladies as he epoke, 'a bare garden. " Johnny's question : " Ma," said little Johnny Snooper, "why do they always put in a scythe when they make a picture of Time ? "To represent the shortness of life, Johnny. Time cuts people down, you know." " But when Time shall bo no mower he'll drop his scythe, won't he." " It's time for you to go to bed, Johnny."