DRESS BILLS OP PRINCESSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15715, 16 September 1914, Page 10

DRESS BILLS OP PRINCESSES.

ECONOMY AND EXTRAVAGANCE.

Dress bills are the bane of feminine existence: no sooner have you relieved your mind of the " account rendered " that has J dogged you for the past sis months, than j you realise another is well on the way! : "Princesses are popularly supposed to live I a glorified existence wherein no lulls of , any kind break through and steal one's ( peace of mind, hut according to an article | appearing in an English -magazine, dress i bills com* to prim esses the same as to all of us. although they are not confronted with the same unhappy necessity of personally meeting their financial obligations. H.H.If. Princess Mary is probably one of the most economically dressed young i woman in any of the Royal households. She is an only gill, but certainly no vanity has ever been instilled into her mind regarding the number and value of" the dresses she could have. For the past : five or six years the Princess has had not : more than a dozen new frocks in a year, 1 including her evening- and special after- i noon dressy. Queen Mary's chief ■ |'dressing-maid. Miss Selby, who is a ' trained modiste, has made several of the Princess's frocks, and often she has been | assisted by Her Royal Highness, who is I now quite clever at cutting out and making her own things. " Exclusive " Trimmings. Princess Mary hn.« two white afternoon . dresses which, though quite plainly cut, i are the envy of her friends, for it would be well-nigh impossible to buy anything like them. These two frocks are trimmed ! with some of the exquisite historical ; French lace that Queen Mary, when Duchess of York.', received from Queer. Victoria; and much of this lace had previously beautified the wonderful gowns worn by the ill fated French Queen. Marie I Antoinette. I In the Imperial Russian family there is ' apparcntiv a sort of tradition that the children of the reigning house must be dressed i- 1 the most expensive and elaborate nipuii possible. Elaborate Toilettes. The dies' hills of the youngest daughter of the. Tsar—the little Grand Duchess Anastasia—are as high as those of her sisters: but it is interesting to know that this extravagance does not increase proportionately as the Princess grows older. Most of this little girl's frocks are bought in London arid Paris, and the average cost of each is from twelve to twenty guineas. Not long ago one of the best-known modistes had an order for three evening dresses for the little Grand Duchess that cost twenty guineas each. One was made entirely of Brussels lace, and another of the richest crimson silk, trimmed in the most elaborate manner with gold braiding. The Grand Duchess Anastasia has two maids, and her wardrobe always contains j at least twenty frocks, which are rarely worn more than half-a-dozen times. How much the dress bills of the little Grand Duchess amount to it is difficult to say, but the sum can certainly not be less than £300, and it is probably more. Last year, hats were ordered in London for the Grand Duchess Anastasia at a cost of fifteen guineas each. PETTICOAT PHILOSOPHY. At twenty-two we have all long, long histories to unfold of our past, if we can find a sympathetic listener. It is only in middle age that we seem to have nothing of interest to communicate. Or is it only that we realise tha.t when once the talisman of youth has slipped out of our hand, our part is to listen ?

It seems to be the doom of the egoist to crave for things for which he has no real value, on which, when acquired, ne can only trample. It would be a sad world for most of us if it were by our conversational talents that we could comfort those we love. Mart Cholmondeley. Philosophy caps all forms of immaturity. Eva LATHBunr. The tact that comes from the heart is | less likely to err than the tact that comes from the head. Frank Dakbt. The person who knows how to laugh, when to laugh, and what to laugh at has ! achieved a philosophy all his own. Constance Jones. All really frank people are amusing, and [ would remain so if they could remember i that other people may sometimes want to I be frank and amusing, too. Ada Levebscn. j. The man who is raised by gift of nature a little above his fellows, who is ! spiritually long-sighted, always seems a I against established custom. I The contented people do little in life. ! Elizabeth Godfrey.

A HEROINE OF THE CRIMEA. One of the last, if not the last of the ladies who helped Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, has passed away in the death of Mother St. George. Miss Russell, as her real name was, was the sister of one of the founders of Westminster Cathedral, and after being an inmate of a Norwood convent for some years, went out to the Crimea in 1854, where she rendered valuable assistance to the Lady with the Lamp. Queen Victoria decorated her with the Red Cross in acknowledgment of her services.

J A WOMAN'S VOICE. I O heart' what is it that you hear Above the noise of a nation. Above the sound of clamour end shouting, And men making ready for war? Only a single voice, little more, than a broken whisper. Patient and t'tiprotesting— the voice of a woman, Yet I hour it above the sound of guns, ! And the turmoil of men embarking. I There's no use praying any more, ! The prayers are dons and said; I But daytime, going through the house, j Or night-time, in my bed. | They trouble me, the old prayers, I Still ringing in my head.

The young men from the papers. They brought, the word to me; I'm thinking of their mothers. How glad they ought to be. Who never said " Good-bye " to them, And let them off to sea. As strong as any man was he, And bold to do and dare: And why should I be hearing, then. All night—above the prayer. ttS. little lad that's calling me— And wanting mesomewhere. He said what he thought was right, ''Let you be proud," he sa'd. "That yon gave a son to the fight, 'Tis a glory over your head!" 'Tis lever a good man's words I'd scorn And he said what he thousht was best- ' But I Vnew my pride when the lad was born And his head was warn on my breast. ' " Let you be proud," he said, 'Twos the word that stabbed me throughProud—and my one son dead. * In a land I never knew! 'Tis the women know when glory's worn .Though he meant (he word for the best! I knew my pride when the lad was horn And his lieaid was warm on my breast. ' Only a woman's patient and unprotesting. Bu v T bear it above the sound of guns And the tumult of men .embarking. ' iHEODOSIi, Q-ABBIJOJ.