LADIES COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9401, 6 January 1894, Page 4 (Supplement)

LADIES COLUMN.

SUMMER HEADGEAR.

' JUDO EAR (says a fashion writer) will soon be quite summer-like. In facb, straws are almost indispensable in the hotter hours of the afternoon. A flab shape of green chip I noticed a few days ago was prettily trimmed with yellowish roses and violets, while a green Panama was daintily decked with accordion pleated miroir velvet and lace bow. A pretty hat was one with a crown of nutmeg-grater black straw and a wide brim of tan straw edged with black. It was trimmed with bows of green ribbon and clusters' of white and pale mauve lilac, the flowers being arranged underneath the brim in a very becoming fashion. Bonnets that are practically little beyond art arrangement of flowers are much worn. They are made entirely of ' flowers set as closely together as a carpet; this rests flat on the head, and height is produced by a couple of wings of wired lace at the back, supplemented often: by osprey. Flowers are treated in 1 a curious fashion this year. They are made into balls and hard, oblong erections attached to long pins, and are so placed on the hat or bonneb. Some of the hats are completely transparent, brims' and crowns composed of lace with only the finest and most invisible wires. Diamondshaped crowns of flowers or cord or fancy straw appear on both hats and bonnets. A novel hat is made with a crown of bright violet velvet and a brim of black drawn neb, edged with gold passementerie. At the back there are two email rosettes, one of green and one of violet velvet, with wingshaped pieces of cream guipure and two large ospreys", one violet and the other pale tan colour.

Light and sun-protecting is a brown chip hat;, turned up and down in fanciful fashion, trimmed with heliotrope miroir velvet curiously shot, caught into bows at one side with shaded quills, fixed with jewelled pins, and at the back a dainty wreath' of violets and pink roses. Another particularly picturesque hat is of black nutmeg straw. The wide brim is lined underneath with pale pink velvet, while the crown is trimmed with an effective bow, formed entirely of jet open work. Behind this bow there are some pretty loops of wide pink ribbon and an upstanding black osprey. Under the brim there is a bandeau of black velvet, daintily trimmed with roses and green leaves. Here are three effective bonnets: —One is made in a pointed shape of a many-hued Oriental embroidery and the back of this is set into a full puff of black satin. The second has a crown of cream-coloured guipure and an edge of fancy green, and white straw, bordered with a narrow line of jet passementerie. In front there aro loops and ends of brown and green velvet, fastened in the centre with an ornamental gold buckle. The third is made in fine jet, with a trimming composed of bows of lace outlined with jet, clusters of green vine leaves and small jet grapes, the whole surmounted by a fine black osprey.

SUGGESTIONS TO A GUEST. Do nob let the old saying, " The first day the man is a guest, the second a burden, and the third a pest," be applied to you. Endeavour to time your arrival so that it shall not interfere with your friends' meal hours, and arranged so that your baggage shall be delivered without being a care to ifcliem. Do nob outstay your welcome; do not even stay as long as you are asked to. Allow your hostess time to attend to her household duties; observe the hour at which her husband is likely to return from business, and try to arrange so that he may find his wife alone at that time; you can easily find an excuse for absenting yourself. Try to be unconscious of any friction which may exist in the household machinery, and by your punctuality do your best towards keeping it in regular motion. Be thoughtful of your hostess, affectionate to her children, and courteous to her servants. When leaving, bestow some little gift upon each of the servants, and send something to the cook ; she is generally the one in the house whose work is most increased by the presence of visitors, and she is usually the one ignored in the general present-giving which ensues as the guests prepare to depart. ' •

MADAME OLGA DE NOVIKOFF. An interesting conversation appears in Homeland between a representative of that magazine and Madame Olga de Novikoff, the well-known Slavophil. "I love," she says, " I cannot help loving, the English people. I have been bribed—yes, using the word advisedly—into loving them by the generosity they have displayed to my suffering fellow-countrymen and women during periods of famine. I have been bribed by the excessive kindness and confidence shown to me personally while engaged in endeavouring to alleviate the distress prevalent in my country some two years ago." Madame Novikoff does not much admire Mrs. Besant, who appears to be too fond of notoriety. It matters not how that be obtained; whether as an Atheist, a Deist, a Theosophist, or the intime of a Mahatma, so long aa the world is reminded of the existence of Annie Besant. She tires; she is not now even interesting. Madame Blavatsky, however, she says was a brilliant woman, with a charming manner,, and thoroughly disinterested. Count Tolstoi's doctrines she believes to be impracticable. He is an honest man, but excessively vain, and has little judgment. Madame de Novikoff is a teetotaller and forty-five years of age.

COSMETICS OF THE EGYPTIANS AND GREEKS. Professor Baeyer, of Munich University, in his researches among Hgyptian mummies, recently discovered certain cosmetics used by the ladies of fashion in the land of the Pharaohs in the time of Princess Aft, entombed and embalmed some 3400 years ago, and the question naturally arises whether the analysis made by this distinguished chemist has revealed secrets hitherto hidden from the complexion artists of to day. Are the women who powder and paint in any way in advance of their Egyptian antetypee ? Has science, during the march of three or four thousand years, placed new compounds at their command for ensuring that youthful beauty shall continue despite the ravages of time—or is there less disposition in these enlightened days to, have recourse to artificial aids ? Or, if women are as vain as they were when Princess Aft employed the ancient cosmetics which have been extracted from her mummy coverings, have they anything yet to -learn from the Egyptians? Great attention was paid to the art in the days of the Egyptians. The late Mr. Rimmel, who made deep researches into the subject, has recorded that this people were very cleanly in their habits, and after their baths they rubbed themselves with fragrant oils and ointments. These unguents were compounded by the priests from ingredients-— frankincense, etc.—which, for the greater parb, came from Arabia, j An Egyptian beauty was well supplied with cosmetics, and she knew how to use red and white paint for the complexion, and kohl to increase the brilliancy of the eyes. - The Greeks darkened the eyebrows as well as the eyelids with Egyptian kohl, and the Romans had a great variety of cosmetics. Ovid, the poet of love, in a book treating upon this subject, a fragment of which has come down to us, has given a recipe for the complexiou, which was composed of barley and bean flour, eggs, hartshorn, ground narcissus bulbs, gum, Tuscan seed, and honey. "Every woman who spreads this paste upon her face will render it smoother and more brilliant than her mirror," he says. In the far east the eyelids are darkened with soorma, and the eyelashes with kajul, used in the same way as kohl. 'The soorma is placed inside the lids, and according to tradition, when . God commanded , Moses to ascend Mount Sinai to show him his countenance,- Fa exhibited it through an opening of die size of a needle's eye, at the sight of which Moses fell into a trance. After a couple of hours, on coming to himself, he discovered the mountain in, a blaze, when he descended immediately. The : mountain then addressed the Almighty thus: "What? hast Thou set me, who am the leasb of mountains, on fire?" Then the Lord commanded Moses, saying, " Henceforth shall thou and thy posterity grind the earth of this mountain and apply it to your eyes." Since then (said the late Mr. Kimmo!) this custom has prevailed, and the soorma sold in the bazaars of Hiridostari is supposed to be earth coming from Mount Sinai.