FEMININE FANCIES.

NZ Truth, Issue 152, 16 May 1908, Page 4

FEMININE FANCIES.

At the smoke concert given by the members of the "Savage Club" the other evening only a few of the guests turned up m evening dress. The modern savages havp decided not to don their glad rags for the occasion on the grounds that the ancient savage wore no clothes at all. Now, this is where the present savage makes a great mistake. When the early savage had to attend a banquet of roasted missionary or a marriage feast, or went forth to fight, he added a couple more feathers to his top-knot, a chain composed of tha teeth of his former victims, and a heap of red paint. So that the dress suit of the savage of to-day is only an emblem symbolical of the feathers, teeth and paint of their ancestors. However, the present savages have decided to have, two ladies' evenings this season, so we may be sure that they will array themselves m all their syar-paint for those occasions.

The following little .acident goes to show that some of the horny-handed sons of toil think there are no workers outside their own particular class. The other day a local medico and three or four manual laborers boarded a crowded tram-car; and after some difficulty succeeded m finding seats. . "It seems, doctor," said one of the said laborers, addressing the medico by his name, - "that presently there won't be any room on these cars for the workers at all." "Well," said the medico, "I'm a worker as well as you." "You," replied the other, "you never did a day's work m your life." "I have done, and am doing every day, more trying work and longer hours than you ever did." The passengers were amused and the horny-handed one looked somewhat confused, but not altogether convinced.

Theatre-goers will . be pleased to hear that owing to having secured a long lease of the Opera House, the firm o! theatrical managers of which Mr J. C. Williamson is the head, are going to spend £500 on/ altering and renovating it. They are going to enlarge the seating capacity of the gallery and to make it more comfortable. The whole of the scats m the stalls are to be 're-upholstered, and a drop curtain of old gold plush is to replace the old red curtain that should have retired after its long service ages ago. The plaster work is to Jife. repaired and the house decorated m ant;'; artistic style. Mr J". C. Williamson isa^hipwman and he knows that everyone is- more or less effected by their surroundings, and no matter how beautiful a jewel may he, it wants a good setting or else its beauty is deteriorated. And so with a play. If the audience have comfortable scats and artistic surroundings they are m a much better ! mood to enjoyvthe play and to come again.

Everyone seemed .sur prised witii toe veifi diet of the jury that at the iriquest.on the body of the infant, Edward George Peach, ,,who was found dead m bis go-cart after a period of ten hours with no food or sign, of. 'food m his stomach. Any woman who liad . ever had anything, to do with babies knows that an infant of that age should be seen to at least twice during the night. And if left for so long a period withoVt food, it would suf-. fer agonies with indigestion when its next nourishment, was administered. Evidently the poor mite was dying all night or else it would have cried, for no healthy baby would be quiet for so long. Yet the jury found that it had died from insufficient nourishing food and that no blame was attachable to the mother. Now, here is where women juries would come m. What ,does the average man know about children and their requirements ? It takesOiim a!l his time to work , and earn the nceoful to support them. Even the judge himself, I suppose, leaves the management of his nursery to his wife and the nurse. ,In ' somn cases ope hears of mothers who slmt up quite young children m a house by themselves whilst they take a lengthy journey into town. And it is a wonder that there are not more accidents- than there are. But if this case had occurred m a hospital or a Foundling "Home, there would hay« been a charge of gross neglect against the matron or nurse m charge.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." A well-known citizen ,m this town, having' grown tired of the charms that had once enthralled him, and m an evil hour had taken unto himself a fairer and younger mistress, the discarded lady vowed m terms a la Helen Burdett, that she would make him rue the day, etc. He only, laughed and went on the even tlsnor cl liis wicked way. But that scornfulV'' x laug,h. was jhis undoing. The discarded mistress, with the subtlety of the proverbial serpent, set about her revenge, and this is the way she wrought it.. She was friendly with his wife's best friend, whom she took into her confidence. Then she wrote an anonymous letter to the wife, calculated to arouse her suspicion, and on the day the wife received the letter her friend dropped mto afternoon tea. The friend uttered the conversation round to clairvoyancy, "Not that I have much faith m it" she explained, "but she really (hd tell me some marvellous things." She observed, "Oh, her address ? Well, dear, she does not do it m the regular way, you know that, but if you mentioned my name I am sure she would sec you and tell you anything you wanted to know." Before her visitor had been gone five minutes, the wife had ordered her motor and was on her way to the udy who saw things m a trance. Arrived there, she stated she wished to know the whereabouts of the person who had worn this, handing the supposed spiritualist a glove belonging to her husband. That lady promptly went off m a trance, and m a' halting manner described tiie truant husband. adding that he was at that very moment taking dinner a la deux with a very good looking young lady. Hastily dropping half a sovereign on , to the table, the wife fled out of the house and away faster than is allowed by the city by-laws for motors to travel m the direction of the "place ('escribed by the clairvoyant. That motor took back one more passenger to town than it carried out, and that up 3. ciutr will not feel like laughing for some t:me to come.

These are the days of novel advertisement—the more a man advertises the more business he does. But ti'cre is a chemist m Manners-street who chooses a rather gruesome style of adverihing his wares. His window is full of Ji-quorice, and dotted about amongst it are three or four skeletons holding nut towards one on their fleshless arms a stick of the same black sweet. It is a loss up m the minds of the passers-by as to whether they wish to intimate that it was licquorice that sent them to their grave, or to invite you to eat that stick and follow them.

I wonder if we shall be long before we grow large enough to have a fc\v mere guardians of the peace. T3very r-crning we open our newspaper we see the record of . a fresh burglary, and m racst cases the busy gentleman escapes. If matters are going on at ihis n>te we had better, import a Sherlock Holme* or else we may wake up one morning and find that these modern Claude Duvals have stolen some of the policjoaen we already have.

A very pretty wedding took place last Thursday at St. Joseph's Church, Buc-kle-street, .when Miss Eilcan Gallagher, of Hopper-street, was married to Mr Edward John Fitoil-hon. s'li'i'nr, o! this city. The Rev. Father O'Shea officiated, assisted by the Rev. Father Gliine. The bride wore a handsome rowu of white chiffon taffettas, tri urned

with rich lace, and the bridal veil wai the gift ot the nuns at the Hokitika Convent. Her bouquet was a sMower of white flowers. • Her two sis tots, who acted as bridesmaids, wore vhtee silk frocks and white felt hats, .md carried scarlet bouquets. Two nieces of the bridegroom were also, bridesmai'is — they wore dresses of white, silk ?nd quaint Dutch lace bonnets, and their uouqutts were of white and yellow /flowers. Mr Percy acted as best man. Mrs Gallagher, the bride's mother, wore a dress"- pf black brocade, an^ black hat with white plumes. Mrs Fitzgibbon, the i/.otlier v -of the bridegroom, was m black ciik with hat to match. After the ceremony, the parents of the bride entertained About two hundred guests at a wedding breakfast m the Alexandra Hall. The wedding cake was nearly five feet high, md was much admired. I

. Mrs Ashman returned from her trip down South on Saturday and •••? looking much better than she did before the holiday.

Mt Nelson lllingworth left for Wanganui on Wednesday morning, -where he is going to sculp Wikitoria Keepa, daughter of the Jate Major Kemp, for the third of his series of Maori busts. She will also assist him to find rither models amongst the Wana;anui trite. Mr lllingworth will be absent for two or three weeks.

Whilst erecting Government coiaat.es at Rangataua, Mr Basil Dickson paid a visIt to a Maori settlement near i/.e mountains, and bought from the natives two mountain dogs. These anim.ilx were supposed to be extinct, and how they came to New Zealand is not, definitely known. They are low-set, \y'i'ite woolly dogs, with jet black eyes, und i-ppear to be continually \ on the scuLt. Nov. here is a chance to catch the wily Vurzlar. Why can't we raise tip some of these dogs and use them like bloodhounds.

At a meeting of the Wellington Bowling Club some wag introduced Bentley (who has become very brown during his Australian season) to Mr, Chords E* :n»,ta the genial member of the Wellington Bowling Club, as a half-caste ' iv-m the South. Mr Parata was only too delighted to have a chat with a. h-ot.-b.er m blood from the South. He talked away mr Maori for some time, and <> ; e other nodded now and again m a puzzled manner. A nod's as good as a wink t« n Maori, and Mr Parata, still si^nkine m the language of his forefathers, commenced a cojirteous innuiry into ll'e Voilt^crner's ancestry— Where was he torn ? Was he of the Ngaitapu , trihe *• At length, Mr Parata said: Why, don't you speak Maori? "He?s .riot a Maori." said one of the other howlers, " that's Bentley— he's a ;-, 1 " The Maori howler's face "loured over vi-Ji irritated surprise, but, quietly rv.e^aring himself, he entered irt« Ike ?»k«, and laughed as heartily as ths swt.