LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2013, 22 September 1892, Page 43

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— The latest French bat is the most becoming thing of the season. It flares in the back and comes to an odd little point in the front. Between the sides of the point there is just room for the fluffy bang of the summer girl. The foundation of the hat is black guipure lace, with a narrow edge falling over the brim. A large bow of soft pale green ribbon and stately loops form the trimming.^ Each loop is studded with imitation emeralds and glossy jets. Wavy aigrettes tower above the loops of ribbon. They are resplendent with alternating rows of the emeralds and jet.

— The Grand Duchess of Baden is at the head of a school of art for women, a training school for servants, a hospital, a mending school, and a cookiDg' school. The royal ladies of Sweden also support an industrial school, and Queen Margaret of Italy is at the head of an industrial school for women founded by herself.

— Roses are the most popular flower of the season in millinery. The strings of new bonnets are formed entirely of tiny rosebuds, while the bonnets themselves and large hats are covered with buds and blossoms of larger growth.

— Lady Tennyson (says the Ladies' Home Journal) is unknown to English society, excepting the villagers oi Farringford and Alsworth, and of the few friends who have been privileged to enter the portals of the Laureate's dwellings in the Isle of Wight and in the County of Surrey, none have so much as seen her face or shaken her by the hand. Uulike the wives of many great men, Lady Tennyson has modestly merged her individuality ia that of hex husband ; but it is not because she lacks intellectual capacity and scholarly acquirements. Her father, a solicitor of Hardcastle, in Lincolnshire, educated hsr as few giils of that f.m3 were, and when Alfred Tennyson met her she was in full sympathy with his high ideal and lofty aspiration. She is an excellent musician, and has written scores for several of her husband's ballads, which were successfully given at a recent London concert.

— My lady's petticoat is a very important article this season. It is formed of lace, frilled and flounced to an astonishing degree. The white skirt is coming forward again, regardless of the popularity of its silk rival. It is a dainty affair, made of the finest white cambric, with alternate tucks and low flounces.

— The oldest schoolmistress in France, Mdlle. Virginie Mauvais, died recently at Nancy. The daughter of an unfrocked priest, she was born in 1797, was brought up after Rousseau's doctrines, and did not learn to read till she was 1& She afterwards started a school, and retired in 1,852 with half a trillion francs of savings. In 1890 she gave $00,OOQfr fora new wing to the Nancy Efcspital on condition that it contained a memorial of the donor in the shape of some sculpture representing children reading. The remainder of her property she left to the poor, and directed that her funeral should be a civil one,

— A waist with a single seam — that down the middle of the back — is now made by Paris dressmakers. It is cut bias throughout, the back slightly full at the belt line, the fronts curved away like an elongated Figaro jacket. The cut-away fronts are faced with the material, and disclose a waist underneath of stripes of ecru batiste with guipure of the same tint, which is almost covered with a fall of guipure lace attached to the collar, shaped on the Bhoulders, drooping over the sleeve-tops and descending as bretelles. The skirt is entirely of the batiste and laoe stripes over a be'l"shaped silk skirt.

The festival of roses is an annual celebration in some of the rural parts of France. It consists in crowning with roses the bestbehaved maiden of the town or village. The ceremony take* place in a ohurcb, whither she is conducted with great pomp by the villagers. Festivals of this description are usually celebrated in France in Jane. The Persians have also an annual festival of roles, which consists of bands of yonths parading the streets with music, and offering roses to all they meet, for which they receive a trifling gratuity. — The Parisian woman is going In for things band-painted. Her gowns are decorated wi,th h a nd-painted flowers, and the vesl which Bbc dons with her walking costume is the background of a choice artistic effect. One of the eccentric young women whose chiaf object in life is to have " something new " painted flies all over her white percale vest, and wore it with innocent satisfaction. Hand-painted pocket-books are numerous, and, of course, the hand-painted fan is more conspicuously to the front than ever!

— The style of hairdressing is altering daily more and more. In fact (says a fashion writer in a Home' paper), I should not be at all surprised if a version'of the old and huge chignon were not the direct outcome of the Greek knot. These latter are often very much exaggerated, and are. fast losing their later shape, so the step would not be a long one. Another straw which shows how the bairdressing wind is blowing, is the growing fashion of setting most of the hat trimmings well to the back, and then perching the hat itself so far to the rear that how it is kept on at all is q marvel. In fact, ;n many oases the fashionable hat bears the same relation to its owner's head that the plate-like glory attached (in medieval pictures) to the heads of famous saints does. Jt is not unbecoming, if the wearer is young and pretty, but for the average woman of 35 it is distinctly not to be reoommended.

— To those of the fair sex who wish to preserve their complexion, a hint may be given not to expose the faoe to the artificial

heat of fire or gas. The cold is favourable to brunettes, while heat favours blondes, the wind injures the skin very mucb> and to walk against the wind must always be avoided; and it is said kissing spoils the skin. There are many parents in Spain and Italy who do not allow their children to be kissed except by their nearest relatives, bebecause the downy appearance of the skin, like the peach, is spoiled thereby. The juice of lemons and strawberries used occasionally has a very beneficial effect on the face. On the contrary, alcoholic essences, often put in water to wash with, dry and harden the skin, and prevent the necessary perspiration taking place. — A pretty anecdote is told of Henrik Ibsen's wooing of his wife. The dramatist was instructor of the theatre at Bergen. When he fell in love with the beautiful daughter of Pastor Thoresen how to make known the fact to her troubled him for weeks. At last he resolved to write to her. He would come and fetch his answer the same afternoon at five. , Did the lady accept him she would be "at home " ; otherwise not. At 5 o'clock he presented himself, and the maid asked him to go into the best room. He was very hopeful, and glad to have time to collect himself. But when he had waited half-an-hour awful doubts began to assail him. After an hour had passed he imagined the letter had not reached the young lady. Some mistake was making a fool of him. Still he waited on. After two hours he began to be ashamed of himself. She would learn that he had sat two hours in that deserted house and would laugh at him. At last he jumped up in a rage and ran to the door. He was opening it when a loud peal of laughter arrested him. He turned and saw the fair head of his adored emerge from under the sofa. Her mouth was laughing, but her eyes were filled with tears. 11 Ob, you dear good fellow to wait all this while," she said. "I wanted to see how many minutes a lover's patience lasts. How ha.rd the floor is 1 Now help me to get out, and then we will talk." In less than a week the marriage was arranged. — At some of the bale llanos now popular in Paris it is the mode for young girls to wear satin duchesse dresses, with short skirts edgei with a ruche of gauze, and made with modest half-high bodices with cross folds disappearing in a corselet of moire or velvet. They make excellent dancing dresses, with no useless draperies to tear and crush in,' the whirl of the dance.

— A clever person in St. Petersburg has arranged and placed on exhibition a clock with a phonograph attached that will repeat' at any hour set, according to the possessor's desire, such orders or announcements as may be committed to it. This is a boon to the tired house- mother. It would be well that in the nursery the solemn timepiece conld be made to say, "Children.it is time to get up; dress quickly, and do not dawdle." In the kitchen, at an early hour, it should be ready with, "Breakfast at 8 sharp, Mary; don't forget " ; and in the breakfast-room, " You must start in 10 minutes, or you will lose your train." The dial of this clock of the future is, we are told, a human faoe, from whose uncanny mouth comes the announcements of the hours, as well as any directions that may be left with it. In a little side street in London an office has been opened by a man who styles himself a < l picnic director." Despite the oddity of his calling he did a good business last year, making enough money to pay all his personal expenses and something over. The picnic director is an actor during the season, but in simmer time he is generally idle. . Last spring he happened to think of bis present business, and commenced it with sucoess. " I take full charge of picnics and relieve the promoters of all responsibility," he says. " Most of my patrons are wealthy or well-to-do people, who want to take a day's outing. I give them a list of pleasant places in and around London, and secure the necessary carriages, boat or railway "tickets. At the grounds I look after the provisions, see that the servants attend to their business, give information as to where the prettiest views of the country can be seen, sing a song or two if necessary, and make myself generally agreeable. It is a pleasant way to spend a summer holiday, and it brings me in enough money to pay for my board and incidentals until the theatrical season opens again." — The Queen is having some carpets made from patterns designed by the Prince Consort.

— Trailing "skirts were introduced into England nearly 500 years ago by Anne, queen of Richard Ir. The same enterprising lady .introduced the side-saddle for women, and abolished the cavalier style of riding then in vogue. — Nearly every European monarch is indebted to British nurses and governesses for the first rudiments of education, and for the earliest mental training. Thus the little Qoeeri of Efolland has an English governess, a Miss Winter; and an Irish lady is in charge as governess of little King Alfonso of Spain. It was but the other day that the Czar and his brothers walked bare-headed'behind the hearse which bore the corpse of their old English nurse to the grave. The present Khedive of Egypt was under the control of British nurses and' governesses until his 10th year, and so, too, was the Crown Prince of Italy, who speaks English without even, the least foreign accent. The present Em. peror of Germany, the KiDg of Belgium, the King of SwedeD, and his sons, and the King of Portugal owe their knowledge of the English language to the British nurses and governesses who first directed the coarse of their mind and of their intellect during th.eir childhood. The British nurses and governesses, by the early influences which they have exeroised over the character of the rulers of the' eirth, may be said to have played an important role in the history of the world.

— The secretary of the London City Orthopaedic Hoipital writes to a Home paper ; — V Among the number of deformed poor, soms 10,000 attendances, at present under treatment at this hospital as out-patients, there are a number of Inourable oripples, of tender age, suffering most intense agony both night and day, oaused by the severe and frightful deformities of their bodies, principally that of hip disease, Their screams and the appeals of their parents for the necessary treatment are most heartrending, as on the slightest movement o! their limbs on being

carried to and from the hospital^ their pain and torture are intensified. Tha sufferings peculiar to this disease are the most severe known in all hospital practice.

— The French bicycling costume for ladies consists of a tunic and knickerbookers made exactly like those worn by men, except that the tunic feminine is a little longer than that worn by men. The most approved costume for the maid-a-wheel in England has a full divided skirt, supported from the shoulders by suspenders, a light silk blouse held in place by a rubber band, a Windsor tie at the neck, a . jacket like the skirt ; beneath all a " union suit " of wool.

— A French journalist has recently given some curious information about the women who are tempted and who fall during their shopping expeditions. He says that in Paris no fewer than 4000 women are oaught every year stealing before the counter. The number of titled ladies seized with kleptomania while examining the fashions is almost incredible. Among the most recent culprits were a Russian princess, a French countess, and a daughter of a reigning sovereign. As a rule, these more distinguished offenders are let off on the payment of a round sum for the relief of the poor, and when the shoplifter is known to be rich, the sum exacted rises to as much as lO.OOOfr. The police authorities consent to this condonation.

— In the Gay city it is a season of lace. Not the plain unadorned laoe of old, bat gorgeously jewelled lace. Butterflies and beetles of all descriptions are caught in its meshas, and their gaudy wings are resplendent with varicoloured imitation gems. The black laces and nets have the pattern studded with jet. The creamy guipure lace finds its way everywhere. It varies in width from 2in to half a yaid. Silvered lace is used in combination. A coarse black lace, covered with gilt crescents, is also a novelty. A new lace is of chiffon and point de gene intermingled in the same pattern. Dalicately tinted gauzes have borders of artificial flowers.

— The Parisian lower classes have various wonderful notions of etiquette. From small shopkeepers down, no plebeian Parisian bride would consider the marriage ceremony complete if, on its conclusion, the entire wedding party did not pack itself solemnly into carriages, cabs,' or even race- waggons, and drive in the Bois de Boulogne at the fashionable hour, to have the bride duly admired by the beau inonde.

— In one of the New York synagogues the rabbi a few weeks ago asked for volunteers from bhe children of the Sabbath School to take part in the closing exercises. At once two little maids stepped forward, and, amid the astonished glances of children and taachers, began the skirt dance with accompanying song. Although in olden days David danced before the ark, it was hardly deemed the proper thing to permit two little girls to dance the skirt danoe in the modern synagogue. — In the school for the training of military nurses established by the Prinoess Hohenlohe in Strassburg, the Prinaess shares alike with all members of the olasa in everything they are called on to do, from binding a broken leg to answering the test questions of the examining corps of physicians. The Princess is a woman of 60, of strong nerves and splendid health, an excellent shot, being especially fond of ajbearhunt, and a fine horsewoman.

— The Duohess of Bedford is the donor of a large house of his Grace's Bloomsbury property, for the use of the London School of Medioine for Women, and adjoining their present premises. T be Duchess takes a great interest in her sex studying medicine, and, notwithstanding her ducal mate's apathy in good works, is determined on devoting her time and money to the relief of misery, and especially in promoting among her fellow sisters kindness to "little ones." Indeed, the good lady, at her own cost, yearly sends many of the younger denizens of Drury lane and Hoxton into the fair country around her stately Bedfordshire seats to eny>y a fortnight's fresh air. — The lily of the valley has become the popular flower of the season, for it wan the favourite of the Duke of Clarence. With the exception of a heart in violets, it formed 1 the cross which Princess Mary plaoed over the remains of her be'rothed, and held chief place in the floral tributes of the dead Prince's brothers and sisters. .-The flo #er is cultivated in the neighbourhood of SanJringham, and millions of roots are s.ent to all parts of the country. — Many a woman has a plump form, but ha 3an unshapely forearm or is painfully thin and utterly devoid of symmetry from the knee down. A pporiysbaped limb may be developed by patience, and long-continued treatment?. Message them daily, stroking from, ejhow or knee down. This draws the blood to this part and increases its nutrition. Many, kinds, of ligh* work will perforra wonders, and let it be whispered, sweeping, coffee-grinding, or pumping water, will do more to produce pretty, plump arms than a course of; expansive massage treatment will ever effeor. But it must not be done spasmodically, but with the regularity oi clockwork. A hot bath in soap, and water and gentle rubbing irfa ciroular direotion twice a day, after w,hJQh aald water is dashed on to close* the p'are3, will harden the flesh and briag about the desired result.

— The direction o? the Hungarian Stajbe. railway have issued a notice that for ihe present no more applications. c,an oe received for posts as women cjierks. These posts were a short time syp thrown open to women, wifcb, tfh^ result that the direction find themselves unable to cope with the ever-increap-ing number of applications for the posts, which is fifty times that of the posts themselves.

— Mrs " Franky " Cleveland's return to the control of the White Hpwao would ba bailed with delight by all th,e " society " people in America, and especially in Washington, for she is the first Presidentess who has made an attempt tc establish something like a court, at which, in addition to the dreary receptions and the doll official dinners, something in the way of real festivities took place. Mis Franky, like Madame Caraot in France, set herself up to be a queen on a Republican scale, and she succeeded. Her dresses were admired and oopied all over Amerloa, her dinner parties wero considered charmlnizly tasteful, her balls were voted superior to tlbe Patriarchs' or MatrferobiVehe even ventured tb : entertain" the b^<3s of th^ Opposition

without being regarded as having lost her* own. A little more of this civilising process would do American politics no barm.

— The popular tradition which tells how the plant which bears the name of forget-me-not came to be applied to it is that aknight and a lady were walking by the side of the Danube, interchanging vows of devotion and affection, when the latter saw on the other side of the stream the bright blue flowers of the myosotis, and expressed a desire for them. The knight, eager to gratify her, plunged into the river, and, reaching the opposite bank, gathered a bunch of flowers. On his return, however, che current proved too strong for him, and after many efforts to reach the land he was borne away. With a, last effort he flung tho fatal blossoms upon the bank, exclaiming, " Forget me not." — Said Mrs Tom :— 11 'Our natural enemy, man, mydear— what is his favourite colour 1 '

" ' Oh, pale blue, I should think.'

" • Certainly not,' said Mrs Tojn. • A man as naturally inclines towards pink as a woman does towards .flattery. Evidently you have not thought out the suggestions of colours. You see, pale blue is absolutely tod pure for him. He has knocked round this wicked world until he regards pale blue as a colour only to be worn by newly-born babies and his own daughters. He likes red, but somebo ir he always connects it with a woman making love to him ; whereas pink, having the delicacy of blus and something of the warmth of red, always hints of a woman who, while she expects him to do the lovemaking, will, nevertheless, meet him halfway by the droop of her eyes and the half-whispered words that only he can thoroughly comprehend. He always love 3 a pink rose, and you have no idea how in his heart of hearts a pretty woman named Rdeo will attract him."