TO MY TWIN SOUL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2059, 10 August 1893, Page 47

TO MY TWIN SOUL.

I have a word for you to-night — Arise and shine ! Shine with your brightest, strongest light, That-lightißmMie. - My half to-night is hidden in the cloud. Let this be true, ' That the world sees the same dear heart By me or you. To-morrow, when your sun cannot arise, I shall be there ; Nor will the world have wonder or surprise Seeing me fair. The birds will sing, the flowers in sweetness bloom, Casting their dew, ' For feeling my warm beams, dear heart, Will think it you I To-day, when I am dumb, your lips My words will speak, So that the hard, cold heart will feel, And, feeling, break ; To-morrow, when your voice is still, I'll plead for you ; And listening men shall cry in truth, "Yes, he is true! You cannot fall, else I shall know The humbling dust ; I cannot fall, else I should throw Your sweetest trust. Step firm, dear heart, my foot and yours Upon one stone— A slip, a slide ;— and could one foofe Balance alone? Oh ! doea it matter which iB crowned, My Twin or I? What matters which one live, my dear, Or which one die ? \ No one will know whether 'tis you That reigns in grace Or I that lie so still, for we Are like in face. God kisses you when bliss my lips Softly caress, And takes me to His heart when He ' Doth your form press. I feel the thrill of all His love When I am sad* Two hands, two feet, two eyes ; one way, One soul, one breath ; One work, one hope, one earnest aim, One life, one death ; One voice, one message— Life and Love And Liberty ;— Dear heart, it matters not if it Be you or me. —Alice. LADIES' GOSSIP. — Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh is " out " now, and will probably be " off "in a year or so, -thanks to the worldly wisdom of her mother, our Imperial Puchess. The simple style in which the young Wales Princesses have been brought up is not quite to the taste of Marie Alexandrovna, who believes in training her daughters' sentiments according to their position. There is a grand duke in Germany who would do nicely for Victoria Melita, and another prince or two with fine castles and reliable incomes, very different from the samples who make England their abiding place; so the Duchess puts her girls into trains and diamonds at an age when the Wales Highnesses were kept in the schoolroom, with no greater fun in prospect than making clothes for cottagers, and walking about to distribute them. — At a large dinner party and cotillon given by a lady in Paris lately at her house —a splendid mansion— to over 90 guests, the courtyard, covered in and hung with red silk and valuable tapestry, was used as a dining room. Tables were arranged for groups of 10 and 12 guests, and the tables were ornamented with roses, at each table a different shade— red, pink, yellow, tea, &c— in bouquets, entwined with ribbon and placed between the guests. The dinner was over by about half-past 10, and the cotillon commenced at once in the salons ; th.c figures were all carried out with flowers, and parasols and various other things were lavishly distributed. Ab a ball given by another lady at her residence, a beautiful place, the courtyard was likewise covered in, and made an excellent ballroom, decorated with enormous mirrors and masses of shrubs and.foliage. A handsome staircase led up to the salons on tie first floor; there were flowers everywhere, and a soft rose electric light' gave a most becoming hue to the complexions and dresses of the guests. — Plates for dessert with miniatures of dear friends in medallions upon them is a late caprice with some of the persons who are for anything if it is new. This may be well enough for the beginning of the course, but the last impression of a cherished face looking through various sticky or liquid "re* mains "is not a pleasant one. Our pet aunt with a moustache of gooseberry fool is unnerving. — A very original dejeuner was given in Paris in May last by the Princess Onrousoff, wife of the Bussian Ambassador at Brussels. The Princess was in Paris fpr the season, and gave recherche entertainments. The dejeuner in question was a mauve dejeuner. The Princess is a great admirer of Oscar Wilde's works, and she wished to give her friends the treat of hearing one of her favourite poet's pieces read after the dejeuner. But the Wilde school requires the mind to be in harmony with the subjeor, and the poem selected .was slightly melancholy— in fact, mauve in tone ; so, to put the minds of the auditors in the proper key, all was mauve at the dejeuner. The Princese was dreEsed , in mauve, the tablecloth, serviettes, and wineglasses were all mauve, and even the window curtains were the same hue I This mauve atmosphere was singularly unbecoming, and the knowledge that they were looking yellow and sallow put some of the pretty guests in any*

thing tut an amiable frame of mind, and they afterwards anathematised mauve ideas, and expressed a preference for something less aesthetic and more becoming. — Both the outgoing (Earl Derby, formerly Lord Stanley of Preston) and the incoming (the Earl of Aberdeen) Governor-gtmeral owe to the death of a brother their present easy ciicuraßtances. Tne death of the late Lord Derby is (says a Home paper) in all our recollections ; and most of us remember how George, sixth Earl of Aberdeen, was accidentally drowned, when not yet 30, off the coast of America, while serving as a sailor on board the Hera, after a life ofjipmewbat romantic adventures. The present earl is a good fellow, and the countess's name is a household word for good work among her own sex. Her ladyship will be a loss on this side of the herring-pond, and a corresponding gem on the other side to all that is best and noblest among women. Mrs James G-. Blame has joined the American colony in London, and will, it is said, return to the United States only at long intervals and for short period?. — Apropos of shoes, are ladies aware that when tbeir shoes glisten with a polish they are really covered with diamonds? Bonedust, which is the principal ingredient of Bhoe blacking, is almost pure carbon. The diamond is the purest form of carbon. When this paste has been smeared over the shoes the friction of the polishing brush crystallises the blacking and converts it into millions of infinitesimally small diamonds, and every girl with a shine on her shoes may revel in the knowledge that she wears a cluster of microscopical diamonds on her feet. With a strong magnifying glass she might fancy herself a millionnairess ; but with a couple of yards for feet. — Should a married woman sink her identity in that of her husband by taking Ms name 1 How such a. question would have shocked our grandmothers 1 Yet it is seriously discussed now in certain circles, where " Women's Rights " are the subject of greatest interest and importance. It is not always her maiden name that the married woman wishes to retain. Thus we are informed, on good authority, that the lady who wrote the " Heavenly Twins " now wishes only to be known by her norn de plume, both in public and private. With a drop of the old Quaker blood in her veins, she objects to any prefix, and is addressed by friends as well as strangers as plain Sarah Grand. She has, in fact, to use her own words, " buried her old name, together with the painful recollections attached thereto, in the graves we dig for what we forgive." I Like another famous lady novelist, Sarah Grand enjoys the distinction of being preached at from many pulpits all over the country. But the modern anathema rather benefits an author than the reverse. — It is promising to hear, on the authority of so learned a lady as Miss Manockji Oursetji, that the true reason why female doctors in India find most of tbeir practice among the Mahomedan women is that the Hindoo and Parsee women, who are not so strictly kept from the eye of man, are able to avail themselves of male advice. It is, however, decidedly disheartening, after all the outcry about the incalculable benefits conferred on their sex by those ladles who have laken up medicine, to learn that all women who have any choice in the matter as a rule prefer to be treated by men, and that women's practice is nearly limited to the abject slaves of man's jealous surveillance, who must be content with female treatment or have none. — Prince.and Princess Metternich (Paris) recently gave an original sort of ball at which gentlemen were requested to appear in simple evening dress (an extraordinary thing in France, where almost everybody has a uniform), with a mask representing the head of an animal or a well-known portrait ; the ladies, if they chose, to come unmasked and in ball toilette. The result was very comical, as the ladies knew each other but none of the gentlemen. Besides bears, monkeys, elephants, lions, donkeys, and other heads of quadrupeds, English clowns and the typical English traveller, as well as Bißmarcks, Wagners, Liszts, negroes, and mulattoes, were much in favour. The hats of 1813 were greatly en vogue, and ancient costumes generally prefeired to modern. — This is the time for every girl to decide whether she will be a Flat or a Fluff :— " A fiat is another name for a tailor-made girl. She is a trimmed flat, stitched fiat, ironed flat. Not a ruffle or a wrinkle mars the even tenor of her stiffened gown. Not a feather or a flower nods above her sailor hat. She looks as if she bad been cut out with a sharp knife. A fluff, on the ether hand, is gay with frills of laca and furbelows of ribbons. She coquets from under a big, soft Leghorn, over which all manner of flowers peep at her face, and from head to foot she is eoEt and cloudy and flattery. " It is very decidedly a case where you pay your money and take your choice. If you have enough money you can choose both, and be a Flat in the morning and a Fluff at Bunset, but you will need much scrip in your purse to do this. The strictly' tailor-made girl is gowned in cheviot, or whipcord, or seeded rep, with a wide plain skirt, a jacket bodice opening over a low waistcoat dotted with white. Her shirt front is of the stiffest and is, if she be a trifle ultra, stripe! with horizontal coloured bands and surmounted by a plain white collar. A novelty is a small imitaticn vest front of pique or coloured linen, to be worn with a white collar in place of a chemisette. " To attempt a description of all the possibilities of the Fluff would be a hopeless undertaking. It mnst be confessed that most of the novelties this season are of the fluffy order. But one of the greatest joys of the fluffy girl are the • fixings ' for the seek. Ribbon, lace, and chiffon are magicians. They have an immense power of adornment. They are formed into a host of berthas and jabots and jackets and yokes, all adjustable, and all giving more attractiveness to the square inch than any other article of adornment a girl can put on. These ' arrangements ' are quite incapable of description, but a sharp look at them will enable a clever woman to go away and do likewise at a quarter of the expense. The Alpha and Omega of the Fluff's alphabet is — lace 1 " — Philip and Grace lean over the front gate in the moonlight. They are lovers. He is loth to leave, as the parting is the last. He is about to go away. "I'll never forget you," he says ; " and if death should claim

me, my last thbught Will be of you."—" I'll be true to you," bHo softs. " I'll never see anybody else or love them as long as I live." They part. Six years later he returns, but his sweetheart of former years bad married. They mot at a party. She has changed greatly. Between the dances the recognition takes place. " Let ifte see," she muses, with her* fan beating a tattoo on her pretty hand, •• was it you or your brother who Was my old sweebheart ?"—" Really, I don't know," he cays — " probably my father." — The stage coaches, which met yesterday (says St. James's, of the 9th June), found themselves a little cast in the shade by the splendid turnout of Baron Hirech, whose team, of course, completely outclassed those of the "road" drivers. Baron Hirsch's coach attracted the more attention because it was driven by a lady. The ribbons were handled by Lady Ourzon, who is one of the best whips in England, and could give lessons to most members of the Four-in-hand and Coaching Clubs. Lady Curzon is a daughter of a former Duke of Marlborougb, and sister of Lady Sarah Wilson (Ercildoune). — The Earl of Erroll has just disposed of his celebrated dinner service of old Worcester porcelain, consisting of upwards of 260 pieces, which was presented by the nation to Lord Nelson, by whom it was bequeathed to the Queen's " Uncle King," William IV, who presented it to his mistress's (Mrs Jordan's) son, Lord Frederick FitzClarence, and it afterwards became the property of the Eail of Erroll. Each piece is painted with a portrait of Lady Hamilton, as " Hop 9," in varied attitudes on the seashore, a ship in the distance, the borders dark blue, with rich decorations in gold, and is marked " Flight," with a crown above and crescent below in blue. The beautiful Lady Hamilton and England's greate&t sea fighter no doubt often used this famous dinner service. Anything of greatly artistic value (and especially china) which has belonged to the family of the Four Georges will, as a rule, be bought by the Qaeen. Thus it is that the old Worcester which the Earl of Erroll, who, not being rich, and in no wise a man who cares for art, has thought fit to rid himself of will, it is reckoned with very little doubt, reaoh Windsor, if not at once, in the course of a short time. The Queen is, and has always been, a ready purchaser of all kinds of china connected in any special way with members of her family— her ancestors. For example, a very handsome Worcester set, which had belonged to the late Duke of York, and which Lord Ooleraine would have bought (so he himself stated) if his Royal Highness would have contented himself with payments by degrees, or instalments, was bought by the Queen not very many years ago, and is now at Osborne. The late Lord Porfcarlington (who knew all about these things, and always had his eyes open) brought this set to the notice of her Majesty, and, unfortunately, in rather too open a fashion, for a Mr Suydam, an American col-, lector of vast 'wealth, hearing of these negotiations, wanted the crockery, and by bis competition forced her Majesty to pay more than she otherwise would have done. — One of the events of Paris in June was the red and white ball given by Madame Collaa, wife of the director of Turkish lighthouses, at her beautiful apartment in the Champs Elysees. All the reception rooms were decorated with red and white hangings, supper was served at small tables draped with red and white cloths, the menus and plates were red and white, as were also the napkins ; and in compliance with the request of the hostess, ladies came in red and white costumes and gowns. The effect was extremely pretty. Almost all the dresses were made of satin, which seems to be the material most used at the present time for evening toilettes. The lady of the house looked lovely in a satin costume striped red and white, half beta? red chaperon, and the remainder white pierrette ; another lady appeared in what was said to represent a red and white Hindoo goddess ; another came as a clownness in white satin trimmed with red roses and a powdered wig ; and among the many other dresses that 1 noticed were an empire robe in white Batin and red velvet, a faille with white Valencienne lace flounces caught up with bunches of red ribbon, a white satin gown with a huge red tulle Gainsborough hat, trimmed with an enormous tuft of red ostrich feathers. There was a very pretty red and white Spanish costume, and Mdlle. Koenigswater made a charming peasant girl in the same colours. In the cotillon, which was led by Madame Collasand Count D'Argence, the accessories were also red and white. — " A Provincial A.ctor " writes in a Home paper : — " Laßt week one of your contributors stated, on the authority of ' an accomplished actress,' that actresses had good complexions because they so frequently washed their faces with greise ; cold cream being chiefly used to remove the • make up.' It may interest your lady readers to know that for several years past stage paint itself has been composed almost entirely of grease. Instead of the horrible dry powdera which were used 30 years ago, actors and actresses have now neat little sticks of coloured grease, which can be obtained in every shade of flesh colour, besides red, yellow, black, and various tints of brown. These paints are very pleasant and most effective, and if properly, used they answer admirably; they would not, however, do for everyday wear, as the colours are specially made to suit artificial light. " The dreadful pigments employed in making up in • the good old days ' were such that it is a wonder how any actress could (if, indeed, any actress did) retain even a passable complexion after 12 months of stage life. Chalk, vermilion, and other mercurial powders, Armenian bole, Indian ink and kindred abominations were freely plastered over the much enduring face, and afterward washed off with cold water and strong soap ; but perhaps the worst of all was a horrible liquid mixture composed o£ oxide of zinc, glycerine, and rose water, which used to be applied to the face with .a sponge. When 'fiist rubbed in, it produced no particularly striking effect, but it would quickly diy (exactly as whitewash does) a ghastly dead white, which threw up the hard patches of red on the cheeks, and caused the unfortunate artist to look like a slightly modified clown. Indeed, when one remembers the • make ups,' the dowdy toilets, and the fearful and wonderf nl ' mounting '(to say nothing j of the stilted and unnatural style of acting) I

which prevailed in the ' good old days,' it is not surprising that salaries should then have been bo low, audiences bo sparse, and theatres so few and far between." Home fashions. I never saw such AN EPIDEMIC OF WINGS as there is just now. They are on everything in the head-covering line, and generally put on in a way that unpleasantly suggests donkeys' eaffi. One very quaint coiffure con* eisted of a close-fitting' coif shape of a kind of trellis work of emerald-green velvet, trimmed with round bunches of cornflowers (f) of the most vivid blue, and, furthermore, finished with a kind of coronal of parrots' wings in front. It certainly was startling, though, in its proper place, on the corn-coloured hair of a dainty, black-robed damsel in a perfectly appointed carriage, it was a snecess. All the same, it is not a fashion that could be adopted with impunity by any less perfectly got-up woman. - As far as fashion in headgear goes, there does not seem to be any, properly speaking, and everyone may wear what seems good in her own eyes, and as long as it is fresh, pretty, and becoming to its wearer, it will pass current as fashionable. Really, I do not know what to advise you about your dresses. The fashions held up to one as the thing of the moment are often so BEVOLTINGU/Y UGLY (I do not know how else to characterise them) that it is impossible not to believe, and hope, that there will be a regular volte-face before the end of the season. Anything so outrageous as the empire shape, as adopted by some milliners, is difficult to imagine. Then the rosettes so much worn are another trap for the unwary, for unless put on " judgmatically " they have a most depressingly feeble appearance, and always remind me of the peculiar knobs with which, in the illustrations of our childhood, the " flying horse " of the Arabian Nights used to be adorned. The place to see dress of the most startling kind is undoubtedly A PIOTUKB GALIiEBY, the New for choice. I do not mean that horrors are the rule, but the specimens one sees there are certainly portentous. The other day I followed round a lady in a curious copper tea-kettle gown shot with fawn colour, made in the Victorian style (but without the requisite orin stiffening), the body with a folded waistbelt of a curious orange shade, finished with a marvellous rosette, with hugh revers reaching to the I extremist limits of the very puffed-out sleeves, also of the same unholy blend, while on top was perched a tiny Puritan coif of golden network, finished off with a huge beau-pot of vivid azuline blue cornflowers. Anything so startling it was difficult to fancy, and it was a source of awestruck wonder to everyone in the room, especially as the wearer (whose idea of beauty was evidently founded on the letter X) was neither in her first youth nor strikingly beautiful, and, moreover, boasted locks of the tint " that friends call auburn, and foes dub red." How the FASHIONS IN JEWELLERY alter ! Just at present the most out-of-the-way jewels are the most fashionable, and a list of the gems in the window of an up-to-date jeweller would read almoßt like a description of Biblical jewels, Ohrysoprase, jacinth, beryl, there they all are, mixed with better-known but hitherto little-worn stones, such as aquamarines, opals, amethysts, topazes, &c. Opals are undoubtedly beautiful, and now it has been decided that they are lucky to those whose birthmonth contains an "O" our fin-de-siecle superstition is satisfied, and I believe a fiancee born in October or November would gratefully accept even an engagement ring of the erstwhile despised gems. I remember well a few years ago in a fashionable shop seeing a gentleman returning an exquisite half hoop of these stones with diamond points, as it was an "engaged" ring, and the lady would have none of it ; and being immensely amused by the shopkeeper's sympathetic murmur: "I did not guess what you wished that ring for, or I would have warned you, sir, for it has been chosen twice before from its beauty, and this is the third time it has been brought backl" Nowadays its fate might be different. By-the-bye, I saw A NEW PLOWEB VASE the other day — "the milking stool" — brought out by Messrs Webb and Co., of Charterhouse street, which would have delighted you. Ifc consists of a shallow bowl, with three leg?, the flowers being arranged in what should be the seat, the trails falling over the legs. It makes a very fetching little table decoration, and has at all events the merit of novelty.—" Elspetji," in Weekly Citizen.

T»J«nnr« »nbUo»tlon In the forthoomlng liras lei ton itonld resoh the Wltnauofflos not later thin Saturday night. IDewrlptioni of bslla, to., mmt ba endorsed by either onr iwn oorrojpondent for the dlitrlot or by the loaretary to the ball tommlttee. The US. of any correspondent! who do not comply with toil rnlo will be tent to the leoretary for endowment prior o appearing.] ODDFELXOWS* BALL AT BAT.CLUTHA. The Royal Dalton Lodge of Oddfellows held their annual ball in Ban s Hall on the 2nd inst. It being a fine night about 50 couples absembled, and the hall was pretty full, though not uncomfortably crowded. All present seemed to enjoy themselves, and the whole affair proved a success. A number of ladies present were in evening dress, and among them I noticed Miss M'Farlane, in a pretty white dress relieved with pink; Miss M'Kenzie, very neat yellow dress; Miss Lattimore, pale blue, pretty white opera cloak ; Miss Christopher, pale green ; Miss Simpson, pale blue, with ruche trimmings ; Miss Allen, black velvet and white chiffon ; Miss Foray th, black satin and net relieved with red ; Miss Bain, black, with rud poppies ; Miss J. Bain, pale blue, pretty wrap ; Miss E. Hope, pretty cream dress ; Miss J. Smith, black velvet and pale blue chiffon; Miss Wilson, pretty white dress ; Miss Bartlett, black and pale blue ; Bliss Saunders, pice red dress ; Misses Sinclair (2), pale blue muslin ; Miss Reidie, bright red ; Miss Rogerson, red relieved with cream. Among the married ladies were Mrs J. Crawford, very pretty white dress ; Mrs Blackwood, heliotrope; Mrs Wyber, white; Mrs Hislop, maroon, with cream vest ; Mrs Mnley, white and pink; Mrs Saunders, black velvet; Mrs W. Wright, black relieved with pale blue ; Mrs Hatcher, navy blue and fawn ; Mrs J. Anderson, fawn- white vest jMesdames Taylor, Simpson, Laidlaw, Hay, Christie, and Shielß all in black.— Vixen. BACHELORS' BALL AT SHAG POINT. The bachelors of Shag Point and Allandalo held their annual ball in the Shag Point Hall on the '

21st ult. The affair proved a great success, the hall being both well filled and tastefully decorated. Some very pretty dresses were worn, and among those present I noticed Miss C. Smith, in a pink corselet bodice and black skirt ; MissN. M'Kenzie, white, oldgold trimmings ;Miss M. M'lntosh, pink, black lace ', Miss J. Walker, checked tweed ; Miss Cullen, black, white fur ; Mis 6M. Hollows, checked tweed ; Miss'C. M'ln- . tosh, white, pink ribbons ; Miss M. M'Kenzie, black and pink; Miss M. Smith, blue bodice, white Bkirt ; Miss Day, pink ; Miss M. Frew, white •; Miss J. Frew, white and maroon ; Miss Pattison, cream and pink ; Miss M. Day, white and blue } Miss Gillanders, white, maroon sash ; Miss Longton, white corselet bodice and blacklskirt ; Miss J. Madams, white and blue ; Miss L. Todd, white, blue ribbons ; Miss Rosa, white and blue delaine ; Miss A. Madams, white and pink ; Miss A, Todd, brown tweed; Miss F. Everest, pale blue and white ; Miss Porter, white bodice and grey skirt} Miss J. Walker (Palmerston), white and blue ; Miss E. Everest, black cashmere : Miss M. Boag, white, maroon ribbons ; Misß B. Walker, white, blue ribbons; Miss C. Barber, brown bodice, pink skirt ; Miss A. Campbell, maroon ; Miss A. Douglas, white, maroon ribbons ; Miss M. E. Clark, maroon : Miss J. Stuart, maroon and white ; Miss M. Gordon, sea green and pink ; Miss D. Gordon, pretty pink. Several of the married- ladies also worp pretty costumes. Dancing terminated at 4 o'clock, all having spent a most enjoyable evening.—Bachelor. ' . , .