Gossip from the Society papers.

Otago Witness, Issue 1522, 8 January 1881, Page 26

Gossip from the Society papers.

Wheelbarrows of thick pastepoard, covered with satin, are the last knicknack for the dressing table to hold hairpins and ornaments.

With the revival of our grandfathers' fashions the word " gown " is again coming into vogue.

Mantles are fastened down the front with bows of ribbon, instead of with buttons as formerly.

Toilet covers of Turkey red damaßk, edged with knitted linen, are found convenient by ladies where the white covers are not easily kept fresh.

The style in hairdressing is now changing in consequence of the high ruffs worn, which oampel ladies to raise their hair to keepjt out of the way.

Black and gold damask is the height of heavy fashionable style in upholsteries. It is not received by the artiafcio world, however, and the effect, it must be confessed, is funereal.

The latest novelties in brooohes are formed in the shape of flowers, and are known as 'the language of flowers brooches.'

The bows on pompadour dresses are now made in all the colours of the rainbow, and a good many more. A musket or two muskets with a knapsaok suspended from them is the latest form of fancy ball pin. ' Shall I, hereafter, darn your stockings V is the fashionable language for a young lady to use when making a leap year proposal.

In Florence it is considered ill-bred for one lady to call upon another without having her work : for it necessitates the hostess being idle.

Stripes that run round a stocking make feet and ankles appear thick and stumpy, while the longitudinal stripe, or ribbed stocking, gives a slender appearance to bath inßtep and foot. Verbenas are becoming fashionable decorating flowers in milliuery and crewel work. Their variety of shades and opportunities for grouping render them most valuable in the hands of artists.

Japanese crape squares are made into bizarre window blinds and screens, joining the pictures by lace insertion. Where the insertion and borders are very wide, the effect is not unpleasing.

Among the Egyptians the favourite necklace and bracelets were of the serpent device, the former closing tight round the throat and showing its bright, ruby eyes, which saem almost to sparkle with vindictivenesf.

Black cotton gloves will not crack the hands if scalded in salt and water before wearing. The salt prevents fading. When almost dry, one should put them on in order to stretch them and keep them in ahape.

Red silk window blinds are made over in lighter fashions with alternate festoons of Turkish embroidery or Madras muslin. The fashion of the season in window draperies hangs one curtain of Oriental wool and one of Madras muslin at a window, and these are drawn across each other.

Empress Elizabeth of Austria, whom a Paris gossiper styles ' the firat Amazon of the world,' is about to receive, it is said, the title of honorary colonel of a regiment of Russian Uhlans.

It is now the style in France 1 for wedding ceremonies to last through three days, and Boston girls are thinking about adopting the custom. Boston girls have to work so hard to get up a wedding that when they do succeed they want it to last as long as possible. — American paper. Painted costumes and parasols have been immediately adopted by young ladies whose skill in colours comes to the aid of their expenses. A painted dress remarked the other day was brown silk, with clusters of flowers painted on the shoulders, lapels, and cuffs, also on long tabs down the skirt, but the conclusion suggested to every beholder was that painted decorations are too showy for the street. — Melbourne Bulletin,

The little Prinoesa Paulina, of Holland, was taken to church for her baptism in a carriage drawn by six horses, She was re*

ceived at the door by the ecclesiastic authorities and carried up the aisle to the young Queen, her mother, who, showing much emotion, presented her for baptism, herself aoting as godmother. The Empress Eugene was so fond of the Oastle of Pierrifonds (for which the First Napoleon paid $520, and on the restoration of which the third Napoleon spent a million) that she always assumed the title of Countess of Pierrifonds when travelling incognita. Pins were invented in France in 1543, and before the art of pinmaking was discovered, the ladies tidied themselves with small skewers of wood, bone, and ivory. Pins were first used in England by Catherine Howard, the fifth Queen of Henry VIII and deemed such a luxury that the maker waa not allowed to sell them in open shop except on two days of the year, at the commencement of January. The Crown Prince of Austria will, oh his marriage, receive from the aristocracy ef Vienna a present of a magnificent album, each leaf of whiclrwill contain drawings and water-colour copies of the most celebrated and best known paintings, up to the present 15,000 florins have been subscribed towards the purchase of this present.

The Princess of Wales, when at Sandringham, has little tea-parties for which she herself makes the butter in a silver churn and spreads it on slices of bread, which she outs with her own hands. While she is at her work she wears a chintz dress and a little white apron. Mrs Laura de Force Gordon, the first woman-la wyer who ever addressed a jury in California, defended a man charged with killing another man. Mrs Gordon appeared in a black silk dress, and her only ornament was a rose at her throat. Her appearance caused a sensation which she endeavoured to ignore, and she was several times applauded, to the disgust of the coarfc. Her client was acquitted on a technioal point.

At a recent wedding, that of Miss Emily Spicer with Mr Miles, of the First Life Guards, a pretty little page, the bride's nephew, dressed in a miniature ruby velvet Oavilier costume, held up her train. This revival of an old custom gave a picturesque air to the wedding, which was greatly increased by the mob caps, puffed sleeves, long mittens and paste buckles of the thirteen bridesmaids.

Mrs Arnold, the sole surviving sister of ' Stonewall ' Jackson, now liveß at Buckhannon, West Virginia, She was throughout the war a faithful Unionist, although every member of her family except one — a young nephew — was a Sesßidnist. For her brother she entertains the reverence of an undying love and affection, and she insists that it was with extreme reluctance and profound misgiving that he took up arms against his country.

Lord Vernon, the father of Arohbishop Yernon Harcourt, and great Igrandfather of Sir William Harcourt, was walking one day with a little boy, the son of his parkkeeper, in his park at Sudbury, in Derbyshire, when a stag ran out from a herd of red deer and desperately attacked him. Lord Vernon caught his assailant by the horns, and held him with great difficulty, while the little boy, aged seven years, groped in his master's pocket for a penknife, with which, following Lord Yernon's instructions, he out the stag's throat, dividing the jugular vein. One of the latest amusements for ladies in Paris is the sport of frog shooting. The weapon used for this purpose is a small steel crossbow whioh has the power of sending its little dart with sufficient strength to pierce a frog at a distance of Some twenty feet. The arrow is fastened to the breach of the cross-bow by a small silken cord, so that when the markswoman has brought down her frog she can draw its body towards her. This is indeed a verification of the interesting old saw which tells how ' A was an archer that shot at a frog.' A story is going the rounds that Mr Gladstone at a recent interview, or • audience,' with her Most Gracious Majesty was not as deferentially civil as suited the fastidious ideas of the Princess Beatrice, who happened to be present. Turning to the Premier, with a haughty look, in a sharp tone she said : ' Mr Gladstone, if you can't treat my mother as your Queen, pray remember she is a lady.' It is probably not true. The Empress Eugenic, so The Whitehall Review states, has decided to leave England, being moved to that determination by Parliament's setting its face definitely against the erection of a monument to the Prinoe Imperial in Westminister Abbey. She will probably go to reside at her- Chateau of Arenenberg, Switzerland, and her present intention is to erect a mausoleum wherever she fixes her residence, and remove the remains of her husband and son from England.

Girls, beware of the deadly celluloid, A few days ago a singular accident took place at Portland, Me. A little girl was combing her hair back from her forehead with a celluloid comb, near an open gas jet. She accidentally brought her head too near the flame and the comb suddenly took fire. The frightened girl had presence of mind enough to throw it from her head, and escaped with her hair considerably singed. The comb burned on the floor until it was entirely consumed.

The Queen intends to place a snite of ' apartments ' at Hamptou Court at the disposal oi Mrs Stirling, widow of the captain of the Atalanta. Lady Gavagnari is also on the Hampton list. In the meantime, the ' apartments ' which have been occupied by the widow of Captain Campbell of the Victoria and Albert, are about to be vacated in con■equenoe of her marriage ; they are to be decorated and refurnished, and will then become the abode of the Princes 3 Frederica of Hanover. This is one of the best sets in the palace, the windows commanding a beautiful view of the river.

The Czar when at his palace in Livadia is continually surrounded by policemen and soldiers The park and oastle are watched night and day by imperial spies to prevent the iuflux of Nihilistic assassins.

At the parish church of Foleshill, Warwickshire, a [deaf and dumb couple named Arthur Davis and Hannah Ellis were mar* ried. They made the responses on their hands, following the service from ft book placed before them.