MISS COLONIA IN LONDON.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1201, 8 March 1895, Page 13

MISS COLONIA IN LONDON.

CONFIDENCES TO HER COUSINS ACROSS THE SEA. "' k "“ '.‘v’-. • • i' . . ' From Our Special Correspondent. - ; 1 London, January 19. Dear Cousin, —When last I wrote to you we were luxuriating in the “mildest Christmas for years," but since the weather has changed, and ice, snow and a biting north-east wind are now our portion. I started off to skate with Charlie Dixon (a sort of cousin of ours two or three times removed) on Saturday on the Regent’s Park water, but when we got there the ice had just given way and about a dozen persons were standing up to their middles in the lake, howling dismally and begging to be helped out. The Humane Society’s men did the best they could and a number of policemen assisted. The ice, however, was terribly rotten, and in some cases the victims had been in the water nearly half an hour before they could be rescued. One’s sympathy waned a wee' bit on learning that most of them had been solemnly warned to keep off the portion of the pond wheredtbe accident took place. We read “~‘~Tffl6rwards that there were many more immersions during the day.

A COLD GAME.

People who talk about our girls being ‘‘colonial" and lacking in culture, have but little idea how grotesquely ignorant some 6f the so-called smart women in London society can be. We were drinking tea at a ladies’ meeting in aid of the Hungry Children’s Clean Pockethand*r. nltpjQiihief Fund on Friday (that wasn’t name), when someone made a remark' (but of - compliment to me, my dear) about the cricket matches in Australia. “ Yes," *said the Countess of Jamtarty, innocently, “ I read about it. What strange people to play cricket on bitter days like this. Fancy the poor fielders I" I give you my word, dear, no one. . corrected “her, and only two ladies 'myself sniggered. This may have been good breeding or it may have been ignorance. As a rule there is more of the latter than the former in such circles. Lady Jamtarty does not, I should explain, belong to the crime di la creme. She was on the music-hall stage when she captured the noble earl and ’tis only at charity''gatherings society consents to recognise her. On dit the countess has tired of futile efforts to get one of the really smart sets to take her up and means to return to Bohemia and stage. THE WOMAN IN BLACK. This meeting was in Kensington where, by the bye, we had a recrudescence of the >* Ripper ? scare. It arose partly from the ghastly- murder near Mr Phil May’s in Holland' v Park, and partly from the behaviour of a mysterious “woman in black," whose method was to creep up to solitary ladies in lonely lanes on pretence of asking the way and then to stab them in the back or the arm. Three or four people were attacked thus and a perfect panic set in. James Payn relates that a lady /friend of his family got the scare badly.; She was going home one afternoon, when in a lonely part of the road a woman respectably dressed asked her the way to the very square in which she lived. Thinking this a certain prelude to the usua,l stab of the knife, the lady, with much presence of mind, hit her interro-gator-two violent blows in the face with her umbrella, which put her to flight and then ran hurriedly home at the top of her speed.-'/-It was an adventure of which she 'thought she bad some reas’ui to bp proud, though- it rather upset her. She had . advertised for a cook and at five o’clock * the woman was to call. She did not, however, turn up till six and then not in a very presentable condition. A bandage was over her forehead, sticking-plaster was- on her nose, and she seemed sadlj J shaken. “ I’ve been and ’ad a drefful adventure, mum," she explained. “ I arsked a pusson as seemed a lidy the way '■ to yout ’OUB6. *Go to ,’ she says, says she A and take this,’ and she ups with her umbrella and knocked me about most --drefful. Howsumdever I’m glad I were able Ip get orf for the Kensington Ripper • she-r-jflks and no mistike, and if I 'adn’t escaped it’s a bleeding corpse a lying in the guttered be this minit." You can imagine the cook did not suit, but Mrs was most sympathetic regarding the adventure, and salved her wounds with golden ointment. %

THE QUEEN’S XMAS : A HOAX. The circumstantial account of “How the Queen Spends Christmas," that appeared in a well-known weekly, and has been widely copied, was a hoax, and from end to. end ' a pure effort of imagination. Truth, which is wonderfully well inspired as regards court news, pointed this out authoritatively, fcijtf not before thousands j

had swallowed the “ peacock pie" anti “ the rush of the children to the Queen’s room on Christmas morning" with avidity. Another curiously circumstantial falsehood has to do with the Queen buying Christmas presents, &c., mostly abroad. So far from this being the case, her Majesty sets an example to great folks generally by patronising local tradesmen. She has accounts at the principal shops in both Windsor and Cowes, and personal orders are sent to them whenever possible. Woe, however, to the shopkeeper who fails to execute such commission with “ care and despatch." Though the Queen never visits shops herself goods are daily being submitted for her inspection, and she has an excellent notion of what things ought to cost. The deluded man who under-charges in order to secure Royal custom meets with the same fate as his brother who over-charges. The goods of both are sent away marked “ unsatisfactory." BLOOMERISM. The death of the once notorious Mrs Amelia Bloomer, at the ripe old age of 77, reminds us that the strapping young person in your part of the world who wore breeches on her wedding day was nothing particularly novel after all. A 3 Lady Wargrave remarks in Sydney Grundy’s clever play, “ The chief objection to the 1 New Woman ’is that she’s too old." We have had it all before, the audacious innovations, the eccentric behaviour, the, stupid denunciations of man and the talk of social revolution. -.The sole specialty about our up-to-date Mrs Bloomers is their coarseness. Our pioneer grandmothers did know where to draw the line, and one or two things were sacred to them. - But •_ to : “George Egerton" and her kind, decent reticence is absolutely unknown.

Mrs Amelia Bloomer was beside the neurotic “ New Woman" of to-day a harmless little body. In 1846, however, the world trembled when, donning a man’s shirt front and a short ballet skirt, she came out in full Turkish trousers. “ Bloomerism " was mildly the rage for a season, the comic papers of the period made much of it and everybody was funny, who could be funny, on the subject. Then the immense crinolines of the period offered the caricaturist a more promising field and Mrs Bloomer and her divided skirt in embryo were consigned to the limbo of forgotten follies. MBS HENBY WOOD. The “ Memorials of Mrs Henry Wood" are principally interesting as showing the absolutely uneventful and prosaic life led by this industrious weaver of stones sensational and domestic. Mrs Wood had become a confirmed invalid suffering from curvature of the spine, when at.the age of 45 she produced “ East Lynne," and that notable novel was written reclining on a sofa. Before this Mrs Wood had been a regular contributor of short stories to Colburns Monthly, Ainsworth's Magazine, and other current periodicals, but the editors one and all discouraged her attempting longer work. At length, however, the idea of “ East Lynne " took such a hold of her that Mrs Wood disregarded advice and set to work upon it. When complete the MSS. was submitted to Harrison Ainsworth and warmly commended by him. Chapman and Hall had the first offer of the book, but their reader pronounced it “ no good." Mr Chapman then perused it himself, and was so struck that he referred “East Lynne" back to the reader for reconsideration. This sapient person, however, repeated “ such a story would never sell." His identity is not disclosed, but probably then as now the firm’s principal reader was George Meredith. If so we need not wonder at the blunder, as his style and Mrs Wood’s are wide as the poles apart. In the face of their reader’s verdict, Chapman and Hall dared not accept “East Lynne." The novel consequently fell into the hands of Mr Bentley, who has made a large fortune out of it and its successors. It ran first through Colburn's Monthly , and before half had been published Mary Howitt wrote to the author, “ This book will make you famous." And so it did, though not quite at once. The reviews were naturally favourable from the first, but ’twas not till the Times delivered judgment “ East Lynne" became a pronounced success. Those were the days of the Thunderer’s supreme power as a literary critic. Novels were not as a rule reviewed at all. When therefore it gave this book a column the world understood a pew writer had arisen. . To judge “ East Lynne" justly, one requires to realise what the fiction of the

period was. It would not, you may say, set the Thames afire nowadays. We can easily imagine how one of Mr Henley’s young men would make merry over “ its strained and mawkish sentiment," &c., &c. I can myself think of two or three of Mrs Oliphant’s novels Which are distinctly superior as samples of the domestic-cum-sensation romance. Yet the fact remains that no novel of the reign—not even the masterpieces of George Eliot and Dickens and Thackeray has—sold in the same way. Till a year or two ago it could not bo obtained under six shillings. For over a quarter of a century many hundreds, nay, thousands, were disposed of annually at that rate. Then a3s 6d issue brought about a renewed spirit. Now, at last a two-shilling edition is announced, and “ East Lynne " brought within reach of the masses.

The success of her first book set Mrs Henry Wood to work as a novelist, and in the next 20 years she produced no fewer than 40 three-volume stories, as well as countless short tales. Mrs Wood wrote at first from 9 *c 6 daily, but this was found to be too much for her, and ultimately 8.30 to 1.30 were her writing hours. The lady rose at 7.30, breakfasted alone, giving the household orders for the day as she ate. She then worked steadily till the lunch hour, getting through a lot of “ copy " in this time. After lunch came a drive, shopping and calls, or social and household duties at home, and in the evening Mrs Wood was at the disposal of husband and children. Mr Wood was well-to-do apart from his wife’s books, and occupied a large house with a spacious garden in St. John’s Wood Park. The authoress had a great reputation as a manager, and all. domestic arrangements worked with beautiful regularity in her comfortable household. For the; last thirty "years of her life MrafWood wore always black silk. Her evening gown was rather dressier than the morning, and she affected soft Shetland shawls, which concealed the curvature... But at all times Mrs Henry Wood was beautifully neat, and no one ever saw her the least untidy or upset. After ‘ ‘ East Lynne " our authoress gave the world the almost equally popular “ The Channings,’’ the scene of which is laid in her native Wcrcester. It appeals perhaps more to young folks than elders.

Mrs Wood’s other novels are much of a muchness if one excepts the first and second series of the “Johnny Ludlow" stories. These were published anonymously in the Argosy and at once made a hit, though no one suspected who the authoress , was. I think myself Mrs Wood never did anything better. They are simple tales laid in the district of Worcestershire in which the authoress passed her early youth, and most of the characters she had known and loved. Many scamps claimed the “ Johnny Jjudlow " series, one man ev.en stating in the witness-box of a court of law he had written them. This fraud had to withdraw and apologise. Experts, curiously enough, suspected Miss Wood of being “ Johnny Ludlow," but not her mother. When the secret leaked out the reviewers sang small, for “Johnny Ludlow’s " homely chatter contained most of the qualities they bad for years denied to Mrs Henry Wood. FASHION NOTES. There is precious little to tell you this time about frocks. Novelties in these necessaries are chiefly to be found on the stage nowadays and, alas! your stage heroine or adventuross seems to spend her entire life in evening dress. Miss Julia Neilson wears some magnificent creations in the “Ideal Husband"—dresses which makes you reflect that the Ideal Hubby must also have an Ideal Income. One of the dresses is in white satin interwoven with silver. The -skirt is trimmed all round the edge with clusters of violets and had a long train embellished with trails of violets beautifully arranged. The bodice, cut low and round, is draped with white tulle brought round the neck and front and finishing off in two long ends at the side of the dress, upon which are placed more violets. Another of Miss Neilson’b dresses, also in white satin, but this time faintly sprigged with pale pink and pale blue, is made with a bodice of pale pink chiffon arranged over the satin, finishing in a scarf of chiffon with long loops. An

attractive dress worn by Miss Maud Millett (who looks sweet in anything — vide Tom) shows a combination of pale blue spotted silk and cerise pink velvet. The bottom of the skirt was trimmed in front with knots of pink velvet and small black feathers, the bodice being trimmed in the same way with a folded band of velvet at the throat, and epaulettes of lace on the shoulders.

I found-nothing in the nature of a suggestion for a new dress for self amongst the “ Guy Domville" habiliments. Most of them are simply hideous, arid that’s a factl Miss Terry, as Mrs Peverill, however showed us a couple of quaintly delicious Quakerish costumes. The first is made of lavender shot silk, with a tight bodice opened to show a full muslin vest, frilled on each side and caught with bows of black ribbon. Over a plain: skirt is worn a Watteau back mantle of the same silk lined with white and grey striped silk, and having s ruche of the striped silk all round. A flat hat of Tuscany straw trimmed with black velvet and lined with lavender silk completed the old-fashioned picture. The second dress is made of a kind of redingote of fawn and pink surah over a petticoat of silk muslin. A large old-world fichu of muslin is worn crossing in front and tying round the waist at the back.

In millinery I have seen few things worth describing. A pretty new bonnet model I saw in a ’bus yesterday was of bright cherry-coloured velvet, covered with fine black,lace, which toned down without hiding too much the brilliant colour beneath it. On each side of the front were sable tails, standing upright, and bows of velvet: the brim was curved twice in front, the spaces being filled with lace with tiny jet butterflies resting on it, and a similar butterfly securirig' 'the strings. T; Violets are conspicuous in head gearings this season. A toque worn with a black velvet dress and mantle, the latter lined with violet satin, had the brim almost entirely of Neapolitan violets, raised rather high in -front and depressed at the sides. The crown, hardly seen, was of black velvet. On the left side were three ostrich plumes and large jetted pins, which secured the hat upon the head. Most of the newest toques have sable tails, velvet and lace in their composition, and velvet is still the favoured material for the large, hats which are still very much in evidence.

I have been reading a lot about lace lately, and have now quite abandoned the idea of becoming a “ New "Woman," because a “ New Woman" has no use for such delicate and costly finery. I love fine laces, and have serious thoughts of marrying the first available millionaire, since only by doing so can I gratify fully my taste in Brussels, old Honiton, &c. Fancy paying L4O for an ounce of lace—ten times the price of fine gold 1 Yet this sum was given recently by the wife of a Yankee merchant for a small square of Brussels. The thread used for the fine quality Brussels lace is spun irom flax grown at Hai and Bebecq-Bognon, and is so fine that it is useless for any other purpose, whilst the cost is enormous, 1 no leSs than LSOO having been paid for a pound. The late Mrs John Jacob Astor possessed a large fortune in laces, and not long before her death gave L 3500 for a lace robe in Paris. The Vanderbilt laces are estimated to be worth close upon LIOO,OOO. Mrs A. T. Stewart has on I several occasions paid LIOO for a pair of curtains, and those in the mansion of the Baltimore millionaire, Bobert Garret, are said to have cost L4O a yard! New York buys more fine lace than any city in the world. Afcjeast a score of wealthy New Yorkers’ wives have laces exceeding LIO,OOO value in their possession, and quite a hundred women in that city can boast of collections valued at over L4OOO. Two lace shawls were recently sold in the Empire City for LI2OO. But the Pope has the “ boss " collection of laces at the Vatican. At present the value is reckoned at L 175,000, and the collection is added to every year. It is a great shame that so much wealth should be boarded up in this fashion. Tire lace 3 are of no use to the Pope, and they ought to be sold for the benefit of the poor. Our Queen’s collection of laces is valued at L 75,000, and includes a piece of rare Honiton valued at LIOOO, which was used to decorate Her Majesty’s wedding dress. The Princess of Wales has also a very valuable assortment of laces, worth, ’tis said, close upon L 50,000. Failing that millionaire, I shall feel like burgling the Vatican.

The expenses of a candidate in the London School Board election amount to between <£4oo and »£SOO.