LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2006, 4 August 1892, Page 42

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— The cable informed us last week of the London World's announcement of the engagement of the Duke of York to Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, daughter of Prince "Frederick." This is evidently a misprint for Prince Christian. The coming engagement had been spoken of at Home prior to the last mail leaving, aa the following paragraphs from a London society journal will show : —

" Months ago we pointed out in these columns that the only choice lay between the Princess Victoria Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt and the Princess Victoria Louise of SchleswigHolstein ; and our readers will doubtless remember how we described the difference between the young ladies, the Darmstadter being very lively and full of go, and the Holsteiner a sweet, retiring, home body; and our readers will also recall all that we said about the Queen favouring the • Darmstadt match, but fearing on the score of perhaps some want of robustness lurking in the children of that royal saint, the late Princess Alice.

"Nothing would have given the Queen greater pleasure than to have known tha a child of her beloved Alice would Bit on he throne of Great Britain, but her Majesty is far too good and sensible a woman and Sovereign to allow personal feelings to interfere with what she esteems to be a public duty ; and so it is that the Hesse-Darmstadt match has reluctantly been abandoned, and the Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (who is two-and-twenty) has been finally selected to be Iho Consort of George V.

"Of course, all the Cumberland Lodgers are delighted, and that dear and delightful Prinoes3 Helena radiant, while Prince Christian is overjoyed at the event. So thus is the matter finally decided ; the betrothal will take place at Balmoral, and, as we have mentioned already, the announcement be at once made to the pablic, though the fact is so well known already that even before his departure Prince George has received many congratulations, and wrote one letter to an old friend of his which lets the cat entirely out of the bag."

— The German Emperor understands the servant- girl question as well as statecraft. Every domestic keeps a' little blank book, and once a week the mistress is obliged to paste therein a stamp of a small denomination purchased of the Government. Should the girl fall ill the stamps are redeemed, and she i£ thus provided with a little sickness fund if she keeps her health long enough. When old age overtakes her the Government pays the face value of the uncancelled stamps. This little scheme was adopted by direction of the Emperor about two years ago.

— The capacity of the human eye (says the Optician) for special training would appear to be even greater than that of the hand. A young woman employed in a Press Cutting Agency tells us of a wonderful faculty she has acquired, which enables her to see certain names and subjects at a glance at the page of a newspaper. They are the names and subjects she is paid to look up through hundreds of newspapers every day. What the ordinary reader would have to read column after column to find — and then might miss— she sees at what seems the merest casual glance at the sheet as soon as it is spread out before her. " They stand right out," said she laughingly, " just as i£ they were printed in bold black type and all the rest was small print. I couldn't help seeing them."

— RuEtling Bkirts are decidedly the thing with European ladies of fashion.

— The Princess Eulalie, daughter of Queen Isabella of Spain, is very beautiful, but she is decidedly eccentric. It is said that she is in the habit of wandering about at night in jnale attire, and of visiting the various tbarrieres and Moulin Rouge entertainments, coiffed with a traditional, high-peaked silk cap worn by the professional Alphonse. This sort of thing appears to run in the blood. Queen Isabella, when a young girl, used to roam about Madrid at night with Marshal Serrano, who even visited some of the most popular caf6s with the young Queen thus disguised. — A regular campaign has been opened by the Supreme Sanitary Board of Hungary against the fashion of trained drefeses. The press of Fcsth and Vienna heartily seconds this apparently hopeless endeavour to convince the women of these countries that by following this foolish mode they are helping directly to increase the spread of tuberculosis, of typhus fever, and other maladies. Through the sweeping up of the dry dust by ladies' trains contagion is being constantly sprtad. — " At home " days are beginning to go out of fashion in England, and the women who held them wifo irritating regularity once a week are now reducing them to once a month, and a few of those who found them most irksome have, with admirable cutenees, fixed them on " fifth Mondays, Tuesdays, &c," to limit them to one day in two or three months. One Jady who had become particularly annoyed at missing all the best things of the winter, which she declareß came always on " her day," for the sake of seeing a lot of people she didn't want to see, and receiving a sbower of pasteboard from, the friends she did want to see, gays that next year she is going to observe as her " at home " day " the second Sunday in the week."

— There have been gveafc improvements effected in the small King of Spain's own little garden, which is so arranged »s to contain a great many different sorts of flowers, a tiny little rivulet, a miniature bridge, and a number of small walks a.Dd alleys. Another part of the castle which has been carefully renovared is the Sala tics Trese (the drawing room of the 13), which has a cuiious history attached to it. In 1884, when cholera was raging at Aranjuez, Alf.on.so XII, with only the Duke of Sesto for his companion, left Madrid privately, and paid a visit to thft panic-stricken place, without having told hid family, or apprised the Government of what he was goiDg to do. He spent the morning in inspecting the hospitals and visiting the sick at their own homes ; and then invited the principal personages of the town to lunch with him at the palace. The Sala in question was then the dining room, and a splendid banquet was served in it. But in

the midst of the repast, the king suddenly cast bis eye over the table, and burst out laughing ; " Senhores," be said gaily, "we are 13 in number, one oE us will die before tho year is out 1 " The errand on which the King had gone to Aranjuez became known during his absence, acd when he returned to Madrid in the evening crowds of people were waiting for him, and he received a regular ovation. But, 10 month 3 later, his Maje3ty died, and all the world began to speak of the fulfilment of -bis own prediction in the dinicg room at Aranjaez. It was turned into a drawing room, and has been a good deal changed by the recent restorations ; but a certain superstitious awe clings to it still, and it will alwnjs retain the fateful name of Sala dos Trece.

The Queen, addressing a deputation from the local Horticultural and Agricultural Society, said Hyeres was a real land of flowers. So pleased has she been with her stay that she purposes visiting Hyeres again next year. — Mrs Gladstone recently left a pair of diamond earrings in a railway carriage ; they are valued at L 4.00. The guard was telegraphed for and search made, at first without avail, but further search proved more successful; the carriage had been swept, and when the sweepings were overlooked the missing jewels were discovered. Mrs Gladstone gave the finder a sovereign, and presented four sovereigns to the fund for the orphan children oE railway officials. — One of fashion's devotees suggests that the Government ought to print an assortment of postage stamps with a black border, for the use of people in mourning. The finest complexions in the world are those of the Spanish and Italian ladies, who live hugely on coarse grain food and fruit like the orange or banana. Half a dozen for breakfast, with a cup of coffee, a dozen for lunch, with a glass of milk and a saucer of oatmeal, and a dozen more for supper, with a crust of bread and a sip of tea, may not be high living in the proper sense of the word, but such a course of diet will bring a complexion of peach and ivory which will drive almost, any belle off her head with envy.

The Prince of Wales private study at Sandringham is anything but pretentious. It is one of the smallest rooms in the house, and is lit by a large single window. The woodwork is all 01 light oak, and the walls and ceiling of a neutral tint. There are no hanging-, no bric-a-brac, no ornaments of any kiud, no soft rugs even on the oaken floor. The principal piece of furniture is a solid, square, oaken desk, at which the Prince writes all his private letters. The Prince's waste basket is odd. It is from a design furnished by his Royal Highness, and resembles a huge chimney-pot hat. There are no books in the room, but a huge collection of pipes and cigars arranged on shelves. — The fact of the Queen having " knitted " ever since she was nine or ten years of age, and still finding constant pleasure in the use of the needles and wool, reminds us that the Duchess of Fife is perhaps the most industrions needlewoman amongst the younger members of the Royal Family. Garments of a useful nature form her favourite work, though her embroidery is also very beautiful. Her embroidered handkerchiefs are much sought after as presents.

— Where is the woman with taste so dead that she does not like a black silk dress 7 I do not believe she exists, so that every one will rejoice with me when I tell them that black silk dresses are again coming into favour, after long and cruel neglect. Nothing make 3 a pretty woman look prettier, or suits a neat figure better ; whilst as to a badly complexioned or " stumpy " person, a black silk will touch her bad points gently, and accentuate her good ones. Of course the black silk must be made quite plainly, excepting that a ruche and a band of jet trimmiDg may be allowed along the bottom of the skirt, and a flounco of .black or, if preferred, handsome cream lace, real if possible, may be worn about the shoulders and the tops of the arms. — The Queen of England has two beautiful little gold watches by Brugunet that are Bupposed to be 100 yeara old. They have silver dials and are severally about the size of a two-shilling piece. One is a- blind man's •watch and the other is a repeater. Both go perfectly well and are in constant use. Her Majesty's favourite watch is a large plain gold one by Mudge, an EDglish maker. It is about twice as big as an ordinary man's watch.

HOME INTEEE3TS.

Welsh Rakeijit. — Cut some bread into slices about £in in thickness, pare off the crust, toast the bread slightly without hardening or burning it, and spread with butter. Cut some slices, not quite bo large as the bread, from a good rich fat cheese ; lay them on the toasted bread in a cheese toaster ; be careful that the cheese does not burn, and let it be equally melted. Spread over the top a little made mustard and a seasoning of pepper, and serve very hot with very hot plates. To facilitate the melting of the cheese, it may be cut into thin flakes, or toasted on one side before it is laid on the bread, as it is so essential to send this dish hot to table.

Macaroons. — Take £lb sweet almonds, £lb fine white sugar, and the whites of two eggg. Blanch the almonds, and pound them to a paste ; add to them the sugar and the eggs after they have been beaten to a froth. Work the whole well together with the back of a spoon ; then roll the preparation in the hands in balls about the size of a nutmeg ; lay them on a sheet of paper at least lin apart. Bake them in a cool oven a light brown.

Sausages. — A recipe which makes excellent sausages, with the merit of not being quite so rich as those "cooimouly sold. Take of young pork lib fat and 21b lean. Pass it through the mincing machine. Then add £lb breadcrumbs, half a nutmeg, aud half a lemon peel grated five, 1 teaspootif ul of pepper aud 2of salt, 1 of gage broken fine, and another of thyme or marjoram or any sweet herbs, not necessarily always the same. Well mix these ingredients, and Jill the skins prepared in the usual way. If the sausages be placed in hot water for lmin before cooking, it removes the oiliness from the skin ; and if a few pricks be given with a skewer, the skins will not burst in tho frying pau. Pakadisk Pudding. — Pare, core, and mince three good-sized apples, and niiv them with £lb freshly grated breadcrumbs, 3oz currants, 3oz moist sugar, a little salt aud grated nutmeg, and the grated rind of lemon. Beat 2 eggs till light, then mix them with the preceding;

beat them well, stir in half a wineglassful of brandy, put it all into a well-buttered mould, tie it down with a cloth, and boil for one hour and a-half .

Pahsnip Soup. — Put half a dozen sliced parsnips into a stewpan, with two onions, half a dozen sticks of celery, and two quarts of good light coloured stock. Stew the vegetables until they are tender, then drain them, press them through a coarse sieve, and return the purde to the soup. Let it boil, flavour with a little salt and pepper or cayenne, and serve very hot. A little boiling milk may be added if liked.

Pancakes. — Six eggs, a pint of milk, one heaping teaspoonful of salt, one cupful of flour, one tablespoonful of sugar. Beat the eggs very light, and add the milk. Pour ono-third of the mixture on the flour, and beat until perfectly smooth and light ; then add the remainder and the other ingredients. Heat and butter an omelet pan. Pour into it a thin layer of the mixture. When brown on one side, turn and brown the other. Roll up, sprinkle with sugar, and serve hot. Or cover with a thin layer of jelly, and roll. A number of them should be served on one dish.

Oatmeal Crisps. — One cup oatmeal, one half teaspoonful salt, mixed together dry ; cover with cold water and let it stand half an hour. Drain off any water remaining, drop by spoonfuls on a tin, spreading as thick as possible. Bake until brown and crisp, but not scorched in the least.