LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 1854, 3 June 1887, Page 34

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— Although the sad news respecting the mental condition of the Duchess of Cumberland (Princess Thyra Amelia of Denmark) was not altogether unanticipated, it came as a great shock to her royal sister at Marlborough House, particularly as the Princess of Wales has been deeply anxious of late concerning her other sister, the Empress of Russia, and her imperial brother-in-law, the Emperor Alexander 111. The great world has busied itself less with Princess Thyra than with the other members of the Danish reigning house, and the three sisters have not peen much of one another since they left the paternal roof. I understand that it is not at all unlikely that the Princess of Wales will make a journey to Ober Dobling (near Vienna), where the Duchess is at present residing in a private asylum, unless there should be a speedy change for the better in the royal patient's condition. It will interest my readers to be reminded that the Duchess of Cumberland was married in 1878, and has five children — three daughters and two sons.

— Many Japanese women of good birth are often dinner-guests of European ladies in Yokohama, Tokio, and Nagasaki, and find the mrnu somewhat a trial. So now a society has been organised among them to cultivate a tas^e for ;oreign cooking, much on the c, : c, one ' must suppose, which leads Englishwomen to form societies for pianoforte practice, improving reading, early rising, and other praiseworthy disagreeables, ensuring the loyalty, of the order by a system.; of rewards and punishments carried out in the small-change so dear to the feminine heart.

On the twenty-fourth anniversary of the wedding day of the Prince and Princess of Wales a large children's, or rather young people's, party was ' given at Marlborongh House. Next year the silver wedding of the illustrious pair will be commemorated, and report says some national recognition of it is expected ; but as it seems the country will shortly be asked to make Prince Albert Victor an allowance of £90,000 per annum, I expect the ratepayers will not be disposed to be liberal in the other direction. —South Australian Chronicle's Home correspondent/

— Curious requests, it appears, are. made to the Queen in the cause of chari'iy. Ac- - cording- to a society journal, a lady recently wrote, asking the Queen to send- her the hairs her Majesty combed from her head, the writer being anxious to tiethem up into little twists and sell the same at a bazaar.

— At a recent Boston wedding the bridesmaids wore cream gowns -with" dark-brown hose, shoes, gloves, brown felt hats trimmed with velvet, and a small whip at one Bide with ivory handle.

-^Besides the names "Jubilette" and •• Jubiletta," invented by mothers forchildren.

christened ,,this year, I. hear (writes a ladycorrespondent) that three children last week were named "Victoria Jubilee,?'; "Jubilee Victoria." In after years -it f will be' of- little avail for the ladies endowed with the jubilee cognomen to endeavour- to .'disguise theirage, as their names will : reveal it. <<■ ' -, — "Washington pie" is the American name for a layer of jelly- between two layers of cake, cut into triangular shape: '

' — At the 1 reception of the Chinese Minister in Washingtom the doors of. the supper room had to be closed in an ■ hour because everything eatable was gone. A: Ghinese servant seated at the door said, with gesture, to ;an officer of the' 'navy who was gracefully. 'entering': ".Youtno can go iin. You "havee 'three times allyleddy," and the officer retiredwith less grace than he came. Hundreds came uninvited. '"•

— Aprons seem to have become- an indispensable article' of feminine attire. Many of the tea aprons are made like &■ continuation of the fichu, . one-sided effects being popular. For example, - one side of the fichu is arranged in ■ straight folds, and on the other a jabot of dainty lace forms, the edge. • * . . > , < — Miss Mary Anderson is said to be taking riding lessons in one of the ■ Belgravian schools with . a view to appearing', among other fair equestrians in the Eow. ;

— The widow of Garibaldi lives in a quiet street in Turin, the walls of her little parlour covered with flags, medals and other memen-' toes of the dead hero. :

—At a rough estimate, there • must : be something like a couple of hundred flowergirls in London, and on Saturdays their number must be increased by half as many again. In the vicinity of Liverpool arid Broad streets, between the. hours of 5 and 7 o'clock in the evening, 30 or 40 maybe easily counted ; but it is at the Wellington Statue, in Threadneedle street, where the more interesting and weather-beaten sellers are to' be found, presiding over baskets of the most picturesque type. — In Cuba a woman never loses her maiden name. After marriage she adds her husband's name to her own. In being spoken of she is always called by- her Christian and maiden names. To a stranger it is; often quite a task to find out whose wife a woman is. Never hearing the wife called by the husband's name, one naturally does not associate them together. The children take the names of both parents, but place the mother's name after the father's.

— Mrs Mackay(wife of the silver king of that' name) gave a charming fancy dress, ball in honour of her son. having passed a brilliant examination at Woolwich. In the centre of the supper table was the model of apiece of ordnance made < of.: sugar candy and surrounded by "earthworks" composed of bags of bonbons, which were afterwards distributed amongst the ladies. A rather pleasing innovation was made by the band, at the conclusion of the supper, striking up, "God Save the Queen," whereupon the guests joined in and sang it in chorus.