ITEMS OF SOCIAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9010, 15 October 1892, Page 3 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL

."' •: ~ [prom THE SOCIETY papers.] ".' / The first time Her Majesty was taken by Mr. Downey, the photographer, sb Newcastle, his friends (says a writer in Winter's Weekly) were very curious to hear how the operation had gone off. Bat the imperturbable Scotchman was very little excited about it, outwardly at all events. " What did you say ¥' said a curious friend afterwards. "What did she say?" asked another. ".Well," said Mr. Downey, "I took Her Majesty just as I wad take" anny ither pairson, and when I'd settled her, I said, * Wad it please your Majesty to put on a more favourable countenance?' and she said, 'Sairtainly, Mr. Dooney.'" It is no longer fashionable (writes " Marjorie" in Woman) for women to kiss one another. That women who kiss one another before a drawing-room full of men and women are guilty of " bad form" is no news, but now even the inter-feminine kiss in the sanctity of the boudoir is forbidden, and the same women who affect the aerial shake of the hand, now say to one another, " Coneider yourself kissed." This saves much straining of the collar and corset, and a possible obliteration of artificial beauty from the lip or cheek. Four hours a day is the average - of time devoted by Miss Ellen Terry to correspondence, "and she has confided to Mrs. G. A. Sala that the numerous letters she receives include perpetual applications from would-be actresses for help and advice. Miss Terry's advice is always " Don't." " Madness," she says, " lies that way. The ' market' is overcrowded ; but still they come. Why is it? Simply because it is such a delightful life such an attractive life. I remember," the famous actress continued, " telling one lady that it was no use to make the attempt unless she were possessed of extreme beauty (I was thinking of Mrs. Langtry) or genius. She replied that my advice only made her the more resolved, because she had both." Passing down one of London's slums, Mr. Montagu Williams, Q.C., was struck by the distressed appearance of a young girl of about seventeen, whose eyes were seriously blackened. In reply to a sympathising companion, as to "Who did that for you?" the girl responded, " Why, ray young man, of course. He couldn't have done much more if he'd been my 'usband, could he ?" The conduct of the Government of France in Belling by auction the ruins of the historically interesting St. Cloud was vulgar and stupid. Particularly was it stupid, for, by sweeping away whatever is associated with the cause of royalty, the sentimental interest in it is only the more provoked and intensified. After all, memory cannot be suppressed, nor can history be unwritten ; and even the most rabid of Radicals will scarcely pretend that France under Kings and Emperors was altogether devoid of honour and glory. Coloured shoes are becoming more and more popular for summer wear in the United States. They are cooler, because they do not draw the sun's rays upon them, particularly the tans and light browns. Now and then a pair of custard colour or fiery red is seen peeping from beneath summer drapery, but for the most part women have settled down upon the less conspicuous colours. With coloured shoes the labour of blacking and its unavoidable smut upon the clothing are obviated.

We are a modest and pure-minded people, and we .have laws, and even by-laws, expressly designed to uphold our reputation for these virtues. At Llanfairfechan, the other day, a gentleman bathed in the sea with his wife, and for this gross impropriety he was summoned before the county magistrates at Bangor. He pleaded that his wife was timid in the water, and required him to be near her, and that she was, moreover, a Viennese lady and had Continental ideas on the subject of mixed bathing. But such wicked notions cannot be tolerated in such a very good place as Llanfairfechan. The by-laws of the Local Board had been broken, and the defendant was fined one shilling. Mrs. Grundy will, I trust, now breathe again. _^ The following anecdote, illustrative of exKing Milan's superstition, is told by a German paper. The King was recently losing heavily at baccarat and he attributed his ill-luck to the influence of a lady who was seated behind him. Turning to her in a passion the excited ex-King exclaimed, " Will you have the goodness, madanie, to change your seat ? lam losing because you are behind me." '* But I was not behind you when you lost your throne," the lady replied. What the King said to thab lady is not reported. Princess Marie of Orleans, wife of Prince Waldemar of Denmark, shares with the Czar, her brother-in-law, an intense liking for toadstool-mushrooms. The Russian monarch takes his cooked in cream, but the Princess has them fried in oil with garlic. . She and the Czar have on more than one v occasion been drenched to the skin while gathering mushrooms together in the park of Frederiksburg, and it is said that on occasions when the three children of Princss Marie have followed her into the woods that the autocrat of the Muscovites has actually been seen to wheel a perambulator. Mr. Frith repeats the following tale of William Leitch, the Scottish landscape painter, who, like Burgess, was well known as a drawing-master, and as such gave lessons to the Queen : —The story goes that one day, in the course of a lesson, the Queen let her pencil fall to the ground. Both master and pupil stooped to pick it up, and « to the horror of Leitch there was a collision —the master's head struck that of his royal pupil! and, before he could stammer an apology, the Queen said, smiling : " Well, Mr. Leitch, if we bring our heads together in this way I ought to improve rapidly." Mr. Gladstone has been quick in getting to work as a dispenser of honours. By dint of prayerful entreaty Mr. Osborne Morgan has been persuaded to accept a baronetcy in atonement for being shunted. Exceptions to the determination to create no new peerages have been made in the case of Mr. Cyril Flower and Sir Lyon Playfair. They are both rich, and with ambitious views. Mr. Flower married a Rothschild and Sir Lyon an American. It is well known that American ladies dearly love a lord. Hence that Playfair peerage. , Although Joachim, the greatviolin-player, enjoys the distinction of being called in (Germany the " violin konig," his son, who was a lieutenant in an infantry regiment quartered at Frankfort, has been removed from the roll of officers at the request of his colonel, because his father came to Frankfort and took part in a concert. This, in the opinion of the colonel, was "incompatible with the dignity of the German uniform." Here is an authentic anecdote from Truth, illustrative of the enlightened tolerance which distinguishes a considerable section of the Established clergy at the end of the nineteenth century. A parson lunching the other day at a small country house, praised his hostess' butter and cream, and inquired where they came from. " From Farmer X. a wife," replied the lady. The parson polled a long face. '«Surely yon are not ware, he Bald, gravely, " that X. is a Dissenter, and has married his deceased wife s sister. The plucky feat "oTMiss Alice Maude Meadows and her sister, recorded m the Stage, deserved generous recognition. There voune ladies— a ctever novelist and the* auLress of " The Romance of. a Madhouse"-are the grandchildren of a ; once celebrated actor, old Dnnkwater Meadows, of the Charles Kean , era, and they come of a literary and dramatic family. Sculling alone the other day at Hampton, they managed to save the lives ;of three drunken sailors who been capsized,-and could not swim a stroke. These two young girls dragged three strong men into safety, and then rowed away, refusing to give their names. ," How did you manage to get them into the boat?" asked an enthusiastic admirer of the plucky feat. "lam sure I cannot tell you,'! cheerily answered Miss Meadows ; "at such moments one does not stop to think, but to act. We got them in safe, that's a lf I know; and perhaps Providencepiaaed behind 1"