Ladies' Column.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 154, 13 June 1874, Page 4

Ladies' Column.

Tun Emperor of .Russia's brother sent a casket of diamonds from Caucasia as a wedding present for his niece, lmt when it arrived at St. Petersburg it was found to ho empty. .It is supposed that it was opened on tlio road by means of a false key. A ouniai. matron residing near Goulburn has recently taken a somewhat peculiar stop to assoii, liei prowess in fho saddle. The following advertisement appears in the Gnnlbuni Chronicle of Wednoilay last : to me about horse-riding, please, 1 will ride with her one hundred (tuu) miles in six hours.—Mrs. E. Carter, late of Haw Daw." , A you NO man who belongs to a club where cue lire is the principal intellectual study, took a young lady to church the other Sunday evening, and fell into a gentle doze before tiic minister had readiedliis ‘thirdly.’ He cannot explain how it happened, but just as the reverend gentleman said something about the last trump,’ the young man earnestly ejaculated, ‘ I’ll go alone !' The young lady says the next time lie can go alone,’ for she won't go with him. And she left him to go home alone, too. Nashvit.t.e has a club of rejected lovers. One of the rules iullicts the penalty of expulsion upon any member who visits the lady who once rejected him. In a suit for breach of promise in lowa, the jury held that the young man was justified in breaking the engagement if she persisted in eating onions. *‘ Did you execute this instrument without fear or compulsion from your husband ? blandly asked tlio judge, “fear! Compulsion! He compel me ! You don't know me, judge.” A Kentucky woman has been found who has only had one new bonnet in forty years.

“Dickens parties,” at which the guests appear in some character rendered famous by “ Boz, are in fashion in New Y ork. They prove to lie very unique entertainments, and have the rare merit of novelty. A Daniu uv lady, sitting in her parlor and engaged in tlio dreamy contemplation of the moustache of the young gentleman who was to escort her and her sister to the festival, was suddenly awakened by an ominous whisper in a juvenile voice at the door ; “ You’ve got Ann’s teeth on : she wants ’em.” A Wife's H.\rrixr.ss. — Xo married woman can he happy if her husband d ies not appear to regard and honor her as well as actually to do so. The order of flirts have a certain article of faith which comforts them mightlv—namely, that a man's wife is always the least 'interesting woman in tlio room to him. If he docs not know this, siie does : and some act of graceful courtesv, some little word or motion—nothing in itself, perhaps, but indicative r? the tenderness lie feels for her—gives the good wife a moment of triumph so innocent and sweet that no one should begrudge it to her. „ , Grace Giu-exwood, in a letter from Colorado, describes a tv pi cal poor family of Missouri, careless, shiftless, and intolerably lazy, the daughters of which were accutomcd to go barefoot till tlio solos of tlieir feet became as hard as horn, and then tells this story: “ One of these young ladies, on coming home one day from a long tram]) in the rain after the cows, was standing on the licartli drying her clothes, when her old mother drawled, ‘Sal. thar's—a—live—coalunder- yor—foot.’ The girl slightly turned her head, and drawled back, ‘ Which —foot, mammy?’” The most astonishing case of spontanaoous nuptials has occurred in ltardin County, United States, where a counle were recently married, and after the coreraonv the bride was obliged to ask her husband what her new name was. The parties had only been acquainted a few hours. A cu [Min s anecdote is told by tlio Paris Figaro of the way in which the late M. Beule found a wife. A young lady, an orphan, was walking though the galleries of the Annual Exhibition of Modern Artists., when she stopped before a “Portrait of Mons. 15 ,' and, after looking at it for a long time, said, “ I will never mavrv anvbodv but that man. Ilic store is that the guardian was persuaded to find out the original and that a most happy marriage ensued. The Rev. Henry- Ward Beecher makes this reply in the Christian Union to a query as to whether it is wicked to dance :—“ It is wicked when it is wicked, and not wicked when it is not wicked. In itself it lias no more moral character than walking, wrestling, or rowing. Bad company, untimely hours, evil dances may make the. exercise evil: gooil company, wholesome hours.’and homo influences may make it a verygreat benefit.”

TOU.TOURS AMOUR. Prithee, tell me, Dimple-chin, At what age does Love begin ? Your blue eyes have scarcely seen Summers three my fairy- queen But a miracle of sweets. Soft approaches, sly retreats. Show the liule archer there, Hidden in your pretty hair ; When didst learn a heart to win ? Prithee tell me, Dimple-chin! “ Oh !” the rosy lips reply, “ I can’t tell you if I try. ’Tis so long I can’t remember : Ask some younger lass than I !” Tell. O tell me. Grizzled-face, Do vour heart and bead keep pace? When does hoary love expire. When does frosts put out tne fire ? Can its embers burn below Aii that chill December snow? Care you still soft hands to press. Bonnv heads to smooth and bless ? When dots Love give up the chase ? Tell. O tell me. Grizzled-face ! “Ah the wise old lips reply, “ Youth mat- pass and strength may die But of Love t can’t foretoken ; \sk some older sage than I !”

THE HOUSEHOLD. To keep seeds from the depredations of mice, mix some pieces of camphor with the seeds. Camphor placed in drawers or trunks will prevent mice front doing them an injury. Mu Thomas Sutton, t He celebrated photographer, states that, if calico be dipped for an instant in dilute sulphuric acid, it will be found that it is waterproof. I'\i*i :11 I’ii,i.ows. —Excellent paper pillows maybe made of old letters—tlio stiller Hie paper the better. Newspapers will not do. The paper should lie cut into strips, and rolled round an ivory knitting-needle: it is then almost like a spring, and makes a much better cushion than the torn paper, being more elastic. Ham cake.—A capital way of disposing of the remains of a It am anil making an excellent dislt for breakfast is : Take a pound and a half of ham, fat and lean together : put it into a mortar and pound it .or pass it through a sausage machine ; boil a largo slice of bread in hair a pint of milk, and beat it and the hum well together; add an egg beaten up. But the whole into a mould, and bake a rich brown. Lemon Bib.—Three eggs (save the whites of two), juice and peel of one lemon, one cup of boiling water, one tablespoonful of corn Hour, one cup o! sugar. Bake. Crate the lemon and pour Hie boiling water over the juice and peel ; beat the eggs with tile corn Hour, and add to the boiling water : let it cool before adding the sugar. Beat the whites of the two eggs with one tablespoonful of sugar, and spread over Lie toil of the pie. Have tlio undercrust of pastry-. Whiten INo Wool,.—The sulphurising of wool can to a certain extent he avoided by placing it, after scouring, ill a bluing bath, at 122 degrees, composed (for oOlii. of wool) of alum 2!b., tartar Doz., sulphuric acid lib., starch Hoz., sulphate of indigo Boz., archil Uoz., and working at that temperature for threequarters of an hour. The white thus obtained, though generally satisfactory, can lie much improved by squeezing out the wool without washing it, and dipping it in a lukewarm solution of till, of chloride of liaifum The sulphate of baryta, or permanent white, deposited in tiie fibres, adds to the whiteness of the wool.