Society and Fashion Gossip.

Otago Witness, Volume 15, Issue 1562, 15 October 1881, Page 27

Society and Fashion Gossip.

It is asserted that some Canadian women having been doing quite a thriving business In smuggling baby carriages over the line by ' coming to the American side bearing a baby in their arms and wheeling it back in a oarj[ t' a dinner-party recently given by a charming hostess a large olam shell with an original verse written by the hostess, apropos of Borne point or personal peculiarity of her guest, was plaoed at each plate instead of the usual dinner card. It is diffioult sometimes to know how to addreaß a woman. If you call her a ' miss,' you often miss your mark ; if you call her ' madame,' you make her a mad dame indeed. « Lady ' Is quite too esthetic Who will give us a form of address common to all of the fair sex alike? ' A Miohigan girl recently changed her oholce on her wedding day. The first choice made no objection, but demanded a return of the $50 he had paid for her wedding dress. She had not the money, nor had the bridegroom, but the latter gave his note, which was accepted. The New York Mail draws this unhappy picture : Young girls not yet out of their teens go about at the watering-place hotels In coßtumes called by some very stylish and fashionable, and by others very vulgar and indecent. Society seems to sanction immodesty to dress very freely this year, and the fact is one very sincerely to be deplored. 1 The beauty whioh has been so generally accorded to the women of the city of Mexico is pronounced mythloalbya correspondent ' 1 0l the Ohloftgo Times, who says they will bear no "comparison with United States women. He charges the Mexioan belle with being artificial. 1 Her face is a mass of chftlk and. rouge, and he thinks it Is seldom washed. ' t The London Spectator waxes fearful. (It dreads a reaction in ' the' present esthetic furor. • 'Our strongest conviction,' it Bays, ' is that next year the crimson peony wllUbe the rage, and our Beoret fear 1b that then the highest aim of women In dress, bo far as regards colours, will be to achieve a complete resemblance to a freshly-painted, scarlet- : coloured pillar letter-box. Already they have adopted that colour for their parasols.' ' Mrs Hayes is said to have been the best match-maker ever in the White House. During her four years there Bhe married 'off all her eligible nieces/and helped along all the young girls of her connection. It used to be a remark when a new young lady arrived at the White House, . ' What youDg ,man has Mrs Hayes in view now ?' She has lots of namesakes aU over the country, and j ia one of the moat popular gwomen iin America. A novelty in dresses is the use of large phis of gilt or oxidised silver, shaped like huge hairpins, for securing the drapery of woollen dresses, such as dark-blue nun's veilingor porcelain-blue oamel'shair. Smaller pins, shaped like nail-heads flattened, are then thrust Into the scarf drapery on the wrists of the sleeves, in the belt, and are also used to close the dress like buttons. Coloured underskirts are no longer fashionable on the other side of the water. Neither are white skirtß worn, exoept the short petticoat. The .correct long underskirt is of black silk or blaok cashmere. Those who prefer silk to linen for underclothing will find the late revival, spun silk, very desirable, as it washes well, is soft and pliable, and at j the same time strong, j The Austrian Archduchess Isabella was driving the other day beneath a steep cliff near the Danube. There is a quarry in the face of the cliff, and as the Archduchess's carriage pasßed under it a huge block, weighing over two tons, beoame detaohed and fell oloae beside the vehiole from a height of over forty-three yards. The Archduchess was for a time almost paralysed at recognising the terrible danger from which she had had so narrow an escape. Enormously large hats are shown lavishly trimmed and apparently very heavy. In shape they incline to the Rubens, but they are frequently bent and folded until the original outline is lost. Feathers are omnipotent on these bats, and are gathered together in Buch profusion that it would seem aB if a meeting of them had been held to assert their right to be omnipresent. A singularly odd and certainly ugly garniture to these hats is a rosette of coloured crape of the size of a saucer, placed immediately In front and only suggestive of a badge of some kind. It is usually of a deoidedly contrasting colour to the hat, feathers, or lining, and the why and wherefore of Its being there are entirely unknown, as it is devoid of grace or use. Sapphires are wonderfully beautiful, and are very effective when contrasted with the pure clear diamond ; the blue is bo deep and rioh that there is a peonliar charm about the sapphire which makes it a great favourite with the majority of people. The starsapphire is exceedingly odd ; the colour is neither bo rioh nor so deep as that which characterises the sapphire proper ; the light is more of a purple blue. The peculiarity from whioh It derives its name in Rfftitfftbft

on examination ; the light instead of being generally diffused, is concentrated In the centre of the stone, forming a star-shaped figure wlrfch shifts from side to aide acoording to the manner in whioh the gem is held. The light is the subdued radiance of starlight and is very lovely, although the stone is not as showy as some other varieties. The change in the riding habit worn by the Princess of Wales has been the subject of much talk and discussion among ladies In England, and may be Interesting to horsewomen here. The new riding habit is made with a short skirt gored to the knees, so that the position of the rider Is safer in the Baddle, bsing unlmoumbered with the heavy folds and useless length of drapery hitherto worn. The skirt cannot be blown about, and is thus prevented from revealing the foot and ancle, which oan never look graceful when stretched over the side of the horse to reach the stirrup. The nkirb worn by the Princess is not muoh longer than an ordinary drawing-room costume, and light, easily raised by the wearer without the danger of causing a stumble, whioh so continually happens with the riding habit usually worn. At the Wedding.- What the Ladies Say.

The following remarks have mostly been said time after time at all • toney ' weddings, and willbe said again and again on every such occasion : — Here Bhe comes ! Pretty, isn't she ? Who made her dress ?. .-. Is it surah Bilk or satin ?

Is her veil real lace 1. She's as white as the ,wall ! Wonder how much he's worth ? Did he give her those diamonds ? He's soared to death I Isn't she the cool piece 1 That train's a horrid shape ! Isn't her mother a dowdy ? Aren't the bridesmaids homely ? That's a handsome usher 1 Hasn't she a cute little hand ? Wonder what number her gloves are ? They say her shoes are fives. If his hair isn't parted in the middle I Wonder what on earth she married him for? For his money, of courße ! Isn't he handsome 1 He's as homely aB a hedgehog 1 He looks like a circus clown ! No, he's like a' dancing- master ! Good enough for her, anyway. She was always a stuck up thing. She'll be worse than ever, now I She jilted Sam Somebody, didn't she ? . No, he never asked her. He's left town, anyway. There, the ceremony has begun. Isn't he awkward ? White as his collar ! Why don't they hurry np 1 ■ Dld,she say Bhe would ' obey V What a preolous fool ! There, they are married l Doesn't Bhe look, happy?. ; * Pity If she wouldn't I (Wish I were in her place !) What a handsome oouple ! She was always a sweet little thing { How gracefully she walks ! Dear me, what airs she puts on | Wouldn't be lv her place for a farm ! ; I'll bet those jewels were hired. ' , Well, she's off her father's hands at last. Doesn't she cling tightly to him, though ! She has a mortgage oh him now. Hope they'll be happy. They say she's awiul smart. To smart for him by a t jugful. There I they are getting in the carriage ! That magnificent dress will be squashed ! The way she does look at him ! ' I bet Bhe worships him ! Worship be hanged ! she's only making believe ! It's kind of nioe to get married, isn't it ? No, it's a dreadful bore. Wasn't it a stupid wedding ? What dowdy "dresseß ! I'll never go to another ! I'm just suffocated ! Tlted to death ! Glad it's over ! Oh, dear !