Gossip.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 995, 27 March 1891, Page 6

Gossip.

’ch'urch a woman ought to wear violets ; at the theatre, roses ;in the drawing room, camellias ; on the raceoourse, pansies in full bloom.—-That is, a crescendo of four degrees ; modest, alert, expansive, explosive l

The portrait of Annie Laurie, the heroine of Maxwelton Brnos* aud tlia’t of horhußband Alexander Ferg’usson of Craigdorroch, are in th’e possession of Sir Emiliuo Laurie of Maxwelton House, Dumfries. . The lady appears more winsome than strictly bsautifull.

The supply of human hair Hont from China to Europe amounted to £BO,OOO during 1890. It w»b exported from Canton, and if. Consul Alabaster may be credited most of it came from the heads of ‘ beggars, criminals, and dead persons.’ The hair used in London ohiefly comes, it is said, from Smith Gertttany and the PyroneeSj, Little is produced by London hospitals-.

A new sailor hat has been designed, blocked for the Princess of Wales and her daughters to wear on board the Royal yacht. The material used is n serge of very light weight lined with a head band of oiled silk, and simply trimmed with serge ribbon secured with an enamelled buckle of anchor pattern. To protect the eyes from the hot glare of the sun, the hat is made with an under brim of fine straw.

The use of the side-saddle for woman horse back riders, is traced to the time of Anne of Bohemia, eldest daughter of the Emperor of Germany, who married Richard 11. of England. Previous to this date, all English women bestrode their horses in manly fashion, but on account of a deformity, this Gorman bride was forced to use a side-saddle, and the custom Boon became general.

Mrs Ward has written to the Spectator to disclaim the intimate connection, which is so largely held to exist, between the new scheme of University Hali for the critioal study of the Bible aud her book Robert Elsmere. She also protests against the use made of her hero’s last words as * the measure of the whole teaahing, scientificphilosopbicalor historical,’ which the new institutions can accumulate in support of its high aim and mission.

The London Daily Telegraph recently printed a long letter from Sir Edwin Arnold describing the opening of the first Japanese Parliament. In describing the Parliament hall Sir Edwin says : * What one instantly misses is the presence of the fairer sex. Not a woman of high or low degree is to be seen about the premises ; the chairs in the box of the Empress are unused even.’. And yet people talk about the civilisation of the Japanese.

While Dr Dale, of Birmingham, has been rebuking churchgoers for arriving late, a preacher of SaulfSte. Marie, in Michigan, has been bringing much more serious ohargos against members of his congregation. Suddenly stopping in the midst of a sermon the other evening he exolaimed in tones of anger —‘ There is flirting, talking, note-writing, gum chewing and visiting going on here, and i will stop until you get through. After waiting 15 minutes the indignant minister found that they did not * get through ’ so he left the pulpit and instructed the janitor to turn the congregation out and lock the church up.

A lady correspondent of the Scotsman says it has been proved by experience that if brine from a salt herring be put upon any part of the head, the hair there will come out and never grow again. She instances one case where a man, many years ago, received a drop of brine on his head while passing through a doorway over which salted herrings were suspended ; the hair on that particular spot oa his head came out and to this day has never grown again. Might not the aamis effect he produced, she asks, were the brine applied to’the hair on the face.

Says a correspondent of the Australasian : —‘A recent lady visitor from England hit off the difference between the two places (Christchurch and Dunedin) very well in a proposal for a letter of social gossip from London for publication in either place. ‘lf they will take ray letter in Canterbury,’ she wrote to the friend who was to be her intermediary with the press, * I can give them plenty of dukes and duchesses ; if the Otago paper takes it, I shall cultivate, an extensive visiting acquaintance in professional circles.” The failings of Dunedin lie in the direction of priggishness ; those of Christchurch incline to snobbery. In Wellington I think they value a politician above all other mortals while mere moneybags have most weight in Auckland.’

Lady Humphry, whose husband is the distinguished Cambridge professor, has adopted a plan of training young servants which if it could only be carried out on a large scale would set our minds considerably at ease regarding the servants of the future. This lady who has been much vexed by the domestic problem, has conoeived the excellent idea of taking a dozen small ..maidens under her personal care. They reside in her house and she herself direots their duties and teaches them how to perform the work of good class servants. It does not lie within the power of all persons, however much they may be interested in this great question, to odd a dozen extra people to those already in their establishments, but there are many ladies (says * Miranda,’ in the Lady’s Pictorial) who might for the mere sake of effect take pleasure in surrounding themselves with miniature handmaidens to come and go with that sweet willingness which is characteristic of childhood, and thus some of us at least might benefit when these Phyllises grow too big to be pioturesque in the eyes of their trainers.