GOSSIPY PARAGRAPHS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1777, 12 December 1885, Page 27

GOSSIPY PARAGRAPHS.

— The Princess of Wales, since her marriage, has frequently corresponded with Miss Williamson, the English lady who taughto her our language. When the Princess was leaving England she wrote to her former teacher to announce her visit to Copenhagen, and express a desire to see her once more, and with her — for Miss Williamson has become the wife of the king of Denmark's physician — the little girl of seven years of age, who has been called after the Princess Alexandra.

— Everybody has heard of Madame Tussaud's show ; but everybody does not know that its foundress was in her day rather a famous woman — " the most remarkable woman in England," the great Duke used to call her. She met, while yet a girl, at her uncle's table, many of the men whose names became afterward famous enough — Voltaire, Rousseau, Franklin, Robespierre, Mirabeau, and Marrat. She was drawing-mistress and friend to the Princess Elizabeth, one of the gentlest and most innocent of all the innocent victims of the Revolution. After the Reign of Terror she married, and, when she had attained the age when matrons usually settle down to enjoy existence more thoroughly than ever, poor Madame Tussaud found herself in England alone with hardly a penny in her pocket. The happy thought struck her that she might follow the example of her uncle, and form a kind of museum of wax casts of contemporary celebrities, turning her natural skill in wax modelling to practical account. The idea was a success. Madame Tussaud made a fortune. The exhibition has always been a favourite one, and it is not likely to be less popular now that the figures have been removed to a building large enough to hold them and their visitors without crowding, and without the accompaniment of a stifling atmosphere. The great marble staircase at the entrance, the original price of which was £11,000, is of itself worth a visit.

— A woman who walks heavily with a sudden fall on each foot alternately rather than upon the heel shows to the knowing eye that the limbs, even though well formed, will be found slender compared with the body ; and a physician says that in women of this conformation the least indisposition or disability is indicated by a slight vibration of the shoulders aud upper part of tha che»t at every step in walking.

— Redfern, the woman's tailor, has been remarkably successful in Paris. His methods are wholly unlike those of Worth. He gives no credit, and the wealthiest patron is treated just as well as the poorest. Women who never dreamed of paying ready money for their dresses looked upon it as a piquant innovation, very English ; and when, after a few months, they realised the economy they had made and the peace of mind they enjoyed Redfern became more the rage than ever.

— At one of the most superb balls of the Boston season the florists taxed their ingenuity to the utmost in making bouquets. The most uovel one was a large bouquet of ivy leaves, in the centre of which rested a gorgeous butterfly. On every other leaf was a brilliant beetle or insect. They were not alive, though the bugs did look as if they might go crawling off and up a sleeve.

— Triberg is the centre of the most industrous portion of the Black Forest, the town being famous, among other things, for its straw hats. Every woman, young or old, wears a canvas bag at her waist, filled with fine straw, which she pleats as she walks along, or as she remains reated.

A native of Madagascar who studied medicine in Edinburgh and returned home, now has 70 young men studying under him, and a large class of women whom he is training for nurses. He is in great favour with the Queen, and is about to marry the Prime Minister's daughter.

FASHION NOTES;

I see nothing in the colours. There are the usual shades of brown, and the inevitable navy blue, and cardinal in every possible material. The " new plushes take beautiful tints of olive, bronze,' terra-cotta, russet, deep wallflower reds, and the soft, dark, nasturtiam shades. I saw a very handsome redingate of fawn-coloured plush the other dry, worn over a dress of fine cloth in the same colour. It was becoming, but one could not help wishing that the relative position of the materials had been reversed, cloth being so much more suitable for a redingote than plush. The latter fabric is much used for short mantles, both for day wear and for the theatre. The trimmings of these are most elaborate and expensive.

Infancy there is a disposition to revert to hoods again, but I hope not, for they are rather senseless things, never being meant to turn over the head ; and, unless one has a very pretty inward curving back, the hood is anything but an improvement to the figure.

Felt hats are the only wear just now for girls, and they must match exactly the colour of the dress or of the uedingote. This is easy enough, as they are made in all the fashionable tints— bronze, brown, almond, grey, green, navy blue, and red. The trimming often consists of a scarf of silk canvas, striped in the colours of the flecks on the woollen fabrics of the dresses.

I see that the latest novelty in purses in Paris is a baby's boot crocheted in silk, and furnished with a ring and clasps, like the oldfashioned long purses that a few persons still use. What do you think of (ho idea? Perhaps it arose from the primitive bunk m which poor women sometimes keep their money — viz , the foot of an old sock. But it is difficult to account for the origin of fashions, is it not ?—"? — " Madge," in Truth.