NOTES FOR THE LADIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1160, 21 February 1874, Page 21

NOTES FOR THE LADIES.

A singular case of monomania has been brought to light in Troy. The victim confesses to, a mania for spoiling ladies' dresses, having ruined a large number on the street by the aid of liquorice juice. Discontented husbands and wives m Paris are in high glee over the discovery that the Commune during their possession of Paris destroyed, among other things, aU the official records of births and marriages. The fashion of wearing gems mounted in black velvet as necklaces and bracelets, is becoming very general in London, especially among blondes, on whose fair skins the black shows well.

The Musical Standard says :— " A new Swedish nightingale is reported to have been discovered in the person of a servant girl, named Martha Ericson." Madame Patti has achieved a tremendous success in the " Traviata " at Moscow. On the night of her benefit, amongst the tributes of admiration which fell at her feet was a bouquet of dimensions so enormous that three men were obliged to come forward and carry it away. The bouquet was a gift from the Prince Dolgorouki The newest fashion in ear drops is called the " ruff earring." It is made of gold or enamel, and fits close to the ear without any pendant at all. Some of them are simple gems, with a wire at the back ; others are stars, insects, &c. The fashion is stiff and ungraceful ; pretty ears would look better without any ornament at all.

A gentleman at a masked ball in NewYork, meeting a lady whose husband he knew to be exceedingly jealous, exclaimed, "Good heavens, madam, you here ! I thought your husband kept you under lock and key." "So he does," replied the angelic creature ; " but he's in bed with the typhus fever now, and I take the advantage of it to have a little The Liverpool Mercury says :— "Female burglars seem coming into fashion. One has been fortunately secured at Birkenhead, who is said to be quite an adept at the art. She was furnished with all the necessary appliances, and appears to have done "well ; at least, in addition to the case for which she has been committed for trial, ten others are laid to her account." Attempts have been made at various times (says the Times) to employ women in watchwork, but they have not been more than partially successful, since women, as a matter of organization, are not found to possess the combination of steadiness and delicacy of hand which is required for giving the last finish to objects of extreme minuteness. The Greek Church directs that the wedding ring should be placed on the right hand of the bride, and in former times the same custom was in vogue in England. Bastell, in his counter challenge to Bishop Jewel, mentions it as a novelty of the Reformation, " that the man should put the wedding ring on the fourth finger of the left hand of the woman, and not on the right hand, as hath been many hundreds of years continued." The Bey. Celia Burleigh made a new and telling point against the style of feminine attire in the New York Congress. Woman was originally created a biped, she said ; the Creator doubtless intended her to remain a biped. But at present, thanks to her swinging, trailing, cumbrous dress, woman was forced to make use of her hands in "locomoting " through any narrow passage-way up or down stairs, and so virtually reduced to a quadruped. Miss Jenny Graham, authoress of a version of <k Bide ye yet," was a maiden lady who lived to a good old age. She was troubled with an asthma, the pain of which she alleviated by singing and composing humorous Scottish songs. She was a fine dancer in her youth. On one occasion a young noble was so charmed with her graceful movements, and the music of her feet, that he inquired at what school she was taught. "In mother's washing-tub, my lord," was the quick and ready answer. Mr Thompson, of Oxford street, London, was indicted at the Middlesex Sessions, at the instance of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, for selling certain indecent photographs. Mr Besley prosecuted. The Judge said it appeared to him that, with one exception, there was not a photograph amongst thorn that could not be found in every shop and on every drawing room table in thekingdora. He was lately present at the Exhibition of the Royal Acadomj, where there was a portrait of a lady of high rank, and well known in London society, who had more of her person exposed than could be found in any of the pictureß before him. The Judge (addressing Mr Thompson") said — 1 shall now call upon you to enter into your own recognisances to come up for judgment if called, uoon. lam quite

satisfied with your explanation, and there is no stain upon your moral character. The Chigago Tribune says :— ' ' The establishment of a woman's community within the limits of the town of Woburn, about 12 miles from Boston, was begun yesterday by the formal raising of the frame of the first building. In this community all the land is to be owned by women, and so far as the affairs of the village are concerned, women suffrage is to be realised to the extent of the utter political disqualification of the sterner sex. The members of the community are obliged to assent to a constitution which is to govern it. But further than this, they are unrestrained, except, however, that they are expected to attend at least once a week upon the unsectarian services to be held. The occupation of the residents in Aurora village will be varied, and industrial schools are providedjto fit persons for the different kinds of work to be done, includingadomesticschoolforinstructioninhome duties. Each homestead is to be, accompanied with a garden, and gardening and fruit raising will be a favourite occupation. Co-operative schemes are also planned. One of these, and- that which has been pushed nearer to realisation than any other connected with the enterprise, is the establishment of a laundry where full facilities are to be afforded for doing work on a large scale, and bringing money into this thus far decidedly needy village by competing with famous Troy laundries. About 1000 persons are committed to the enterprise, though they are not all women, and not to be residents. The site of the village is a wilderness, and it offers all manner of obstacles. The community is called ' The Women's Economical Garden Homestead League,' and it is established by Act of the State Legislature."

In another batch of " curious wills," lately published are two that exhibit conjugal affection in a very interesting light. One is the will of a late M.P., who, with regard to a lady (his wife), then, and now, a leader of the beaio monde, wrote : — " The unspeakable interest with which I constantly regard Lady 's future fate induces me to advise her earnestly to unite herself again with some one who may deserve to enjoy the blessing of her society during the many years of her probable survival after my death. lam grateful to Providence for the great happiness I enjoy in her singular affection, and I pray and confidently hope that she may long continue to possess the same esteem and friendship of those who are intimate with her and can appreciate her admirable qualities and the respect of all with whom in any relation of life she is connected." The wish in this case has been very happily fulfilled. We (Echo) know nothing of the opposite case recorded, in which a Mrs Van Hanrigh in 1868 bequeathed all her property to her husband, adding — " It is also my earnest wish that my darling husband should marry, ere long, a nice, pretty girl, who is a good housewife, and above all, to be careful that she has a good temper. " Mrs Van Hanrigh must have been a most unselfish person. It is not always that wills betray more concern for the happiness of the living than for the power of the testator, and probably most men, if they do not express the sentiment in their wills, feel as did that miserable Greek brigand who, when about to be executed in Athens for complicity in the Marathon massacre, wrote, " I indulge the sweet hope that my wife will not marry again."