Gossip.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1032, 11 December 1891, Page 6

Gossip.

A young lady in America is said to have papered her boudoir with her correspondence, the dado being entirely composed of loveletters.

A woman in New York, charged with cruelty to one of her 14 children, was found to have had 15 husbands.

It has transpired that the Prince of Wales’ visits to the slums of London was more thorough than is supposed. Clad in shabby clothes, with false wig and beard, and accompanied by one friend and a police inspector, he was present at a thieves’ supper, and also visited some of the worst localities in the East-end.

Princess Beatrice recently gave birth to a son, making her fourth child, and the Queen’s 34th living grandchild, 22 of whom are girls. The Queen’s descendants —children, and greatgrandchildren—now number 54. In honour of the event a bonfire was lighted in the evening on a mountain overlooking the Castle, and there was a torchlight procession. A Royal salute of 21 guns was fired in St James’s Park, and, according to ancient custom, the Home Secretary officially informed the Lord Mayor, a copy of the letter being posted outside the Mansion House.

The Royal Family of England are very fond of flowers and almost each one lias his or her favourite flower. For instance the Prince Consort had a particular fancy for the primrose. The Queen likes a dark red rose. The Princess of Wales a dark carnation. Princess Beatrice a sprig of heliotrope.

Queen Natalie is so disgusted with the ingratitude of the world in general, and her own son in particular, that she is going to shake the very dust of the haunts of men from off her feet, and live in the most profound retirement at Biarritz. On her way thither, though, she is going to pay Paris a visit, just to see the latest things in gowns. It is nice to be well-dressed, even quandon va prdcher au desert.

Mark Twain is making a tour upon French rivers in a canoe, and has arrived a Lyons from Aix-les-Bains. He is accompanied by a courier, a servant, and a pilot, and is in excellent health.

The following appeal appeared the other day in an English Northern contemporary under the heading of Matrimony. ‘ Orphan Lady, with £IO,OOO in bank, would like to hear from a strong-minded, sympathetic gentlemen.’ Fortu ies of £IO,OOO do not often go a begging. It would be interesting to know the age of the orphan.

The Russian photographers have a peculiar way of punishing customers who do not pay their bills. They hang out the pictures of such customers upside down. One of the Odessa newspapers thinks that the photographers may be right in treating their delinquent adult customers in such a manner ; but it regards it as wrong to expose to scorn the pictures of children ordered by parents who would not p iy their bills.

The following is from a correspondent of the Globe, an art critic, who has studied the artistic aspect of tbe modern bonnet :— ‘ For a year and a half past woman has looked far from her best. The cause is not in her allimportant hair, which she tires with taste at least; nor in her frock, which is not unreasonable, nor in her hat, which is tolerable. It lies solely in the bonnet of the day, which has banished intelligence from the brows and fineness from the features of far more than half the women in England. Far too fiat, far too narrow, far too shallow, far too short, it gives a commonness to all but a few select thin faces. In it the ordinary young woman, who has, as George Eliot says, much face and not much feature, looks less nice than any young woman ought to look. Obviously no word of protest will hasten the abolition of this disastrous bonnet, but the time should be at hand when a word of rejoicing may celebrate its fall. May the dementing gods send us next time something a little arched on the top of the head, and play otherwise what pranks they will.’

Striped silk tea-cloths are a novelty. Ladies can easily make themselves by buying the striped corah. But the prettiest of all are the flax thread-embroidered tea-cloths. The tints of the threads are so varied that the most beautiful effects can be produced. Soft blues, apricot tints, yellows—they are all so bewitching it is difficult to choose in looking at a box of these threads. By sketching out a design, then reining the flowers and leaves and overcasting the edge, a pretty effect can be produced; but, better still, if you have the time, is to darn the whole background with one tint, ‘ Hand-made damask ’ is a new name for some dinner-cloths. This work only differs - from the darned background in being done closer, only one thread of the linen being caught up at a time. Conventional patterns look best in this work.

An Englith paper, in speaking of Australian society, says: —‘Our colonial cousins are devoted to terpsichorean exercise, and seize every pretence to foot it gaily on the light fantastic toe. Thus we read of mayoral balls by the dozen, temperance club balls, rowing club balls, tennis club balls, work association balls and a ball to celebrate the opening of a new railway. Put on their mettle by the success of the ‘ Rosebud ’ and ‘ Spinster Dances,’ the Australian married ladies have issued cards for a ‘ Matrons’ Ball,’ and the popularity of the Bachelors’ Cinderellas will possibly inspire tbe Benedicts to rival the celibates by giving a ‘ Married Men’s ball.’ In this vortex of gaiety the little ones are not forgotten, for both in Melbourne and Sydney kind hostesses have given children’s parties, judiciously held between the hours of 4 and B,’