LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2149, 2 May 1895, Page 46

LADIES' GOSSIP.

* # * Some of the London balls during the past winter have been marie extremely amusing by the introduction of electric light accompaniments, with variegated ooloura. The blush is the most successful, the pale hue of death is startling, but at one dance, we are told, a good joke, and ope which met with immense approval, was the turning on of a nigger colour. As it is not an expensive operation to have the eleotric light, with surprise change*, for the evening, such entertainments are the delight of children, and have, at least, the charm of novelty. The blush light is said to make even ugly women look pretty. *„* Mrs Fenwick Miller, in speaking the other day, says that at present only 18 per cent, of English girls are married, and only 25 per cent, of American. Thore are two obvious reasons, Mrs Miller saye, for this f ac fc — \ o wit, the first, that men do not care to marry educated girls ; second, that cultivated women who can earn their own living and have their own careers do not care to marry the men they see around. Mrs Fenwick Miller thinks that if men could see how often fcheyare accepted because girls see no other chances of a livelihood in the future, they might; not be pleased 1 . *„,* The most fashionable flower of the moment is (write 3 the New York correspondent of an English paper) the large double Parma violet, though its price and the immense number .of blooms necessary to form one of the huge corsage bouquets afftcted by the American belle and dude make the lovely Napoleonic flower prohibitive to all but the wealthy The giant scarlet poinsettia is also in favour for room or table decoration, and was used with great effect the other day at a luncheon by artificial light, given to eight ladies of the most exclnsive set in St. Louis. The table of polished ebony had a centre oloth of artisti-cally-crumpled scarlet silk, on which rested a massive silver candelabrum adapted to electric light, «ach simulated electric candle being covered with a heavily-fringed scarlet shade. Between each branch swung a silver basket filled with scarlet poinsettias, feme, and trails of smilax. The silken centre cloth was bordered with the same foliage, while ropes of smilax, through which a broad scarlet satin ribbon was twisted with the carelessness of perfect art, radiated from the centrepiece, and divided each cover, which was Beparately laid on a fringed napkin of the fineßt damask satin. Silver dishes of miniature size, and loaded with scarlet sweetmeats, were placed before each cover, and intended aa souvenirs to the guests at this most efE ctively decorated table. •»* The new names for perfumes in Paris are all Russian— aB " Russian Eagles," "Cz tr's Violets," &c. With these the sensuous Pariaieniics perfume their hair, neck, throat, arms, hands, and even feet. The linings of their dresses are also perfumed. Perfumery is returning into fashion. Our health can be gaided by the perfumery we use. Ancient Romans, who were neither fools nor effiminate, impregnated themselves and tbei* houses with perfumes, and each perfume had a special hygienic quality.

Roses, for instance, prevented the brain from being affected by too many cups of wine ; and verbena gave strength.

*#* Tbe dancing of 1895 will, says a Home paper, be of a new order. The barn danoe is likely to disappear, and the waltz to be subdued ; or, in the best circles, omitted altogether. The skirt dance never really found its way into good society, and never will. Square dances and the gavotte quadrille will be fashionable. It has been decided by the Olympian deities that waltzing must be toned down, if not, indeed, wholly put on the shelf. We aTe speaking now, of course, of only the very extra smart inner oircle of •'La Haute." In minor drawing rooms, of course, waltzing will still find favour. * # * The most expensive private residence in the world— that of Mr Cornelius Vanderbilt, which stands at the corner of Fifth avenue and Fifty -seventh street in New York — has at length been completed. Jt has cost £1,000.000 ; and a small garden adjoining it, on whioh stood a £25,000 house, has cost £100,000. As it will only be occupied six months in the year, the rental will figure out at .about £300 a day. . -

* # » " Dining at the honse of a Polish lady one day, writes a correspondent' in a Home paper, I was served with a very delicious soup. It looked too rich for my taste, and I only partook of it on being pressed by my hostess. It was so good that I asked for the recipe. It is called banzez, and is prepared as follows : — Cut some beetroot in BUces, and these slices should have a square form ; cook them' with some well- covered bones — » ham bone is the best — and when the soup is ner«rly ready beat up some epgs, in the proportion of one for two persons, with some thick cream, add it, and allow it to boil for a few minutes, and then serve. It is simply delicious, especially during this cold weather."

%• St. Mary's is the only R>man Catholic Church in Australiain which the unaccompanied singing duriDg the Lenten season is carried out according to the ecoleßistical oaaons. This is doubtless due to the fact that the cathedral was for many years in charge of the benedicttne3, who keep up the monastic musical traditions.

%* A London paper's correspondent writes from Nice : — " What struck me most on arriving here waß the competition that the milliners seem to be having among themselves to see which can succeed in putting the most flowers on a hat, and a similar race among the ladies, especially among the gay contingent, as to who can wear this flowerbasket. All species of flowers, and in many colours, are crowded on the game hat ; either there are olusters all round of stocks, sitting on the flat brims like fir cones and tall flowers at the back, which seem growing in the middle of large bows, or else flowers on long stems in front, and other bouquets with soft stems falling on the hair at the back. Yet a third hat will have wreaths of flowers under the brim. All kinds are used, but principally violets, single or double hyacinths, and roses. The favourite coloured straw is mordore ; it is very coarse, but very light, as if made of rice paper. The large ribbon bows are made of shot silk, or white with black stripes running through it, or a shade of beetroot called Chateau Lafitte."

* M * Prince Waldemar, of Prussia, the only son of Emperor William's sailor brother, Prince Henry, iB deaf and dumb, a fact of which scarcely anyone outside court circles is aware. •«* " The Shah's largest turquoise— he has heaps of them, like we have of coals— is certainly the finest in the world ; it is 4in long, has no flaw, and possesses the most exquisite colour. There were hundreds of sapphires as big as marbles, and couotleßS rubies and pearls the size of nuts. There were over 100 emeralds about three-quarters of an inch long and an inch broad. In one sword scabbard, which was covered with diamonds, there was not a single stone smaller than the nail of a man's little finger. Laßtly, there was an emerald as big as a walnut, covered with the names of kings who bad possessed it." * # * The marriage of Lilian Duchess of Marlborough (formerly Mrs Hamersley) to Lord William Beresford would, but for the illness of Lord Randolph Ohurchill, have taken place in January. The Duchess of Marlborough has, in the short time she has been in English society, succeeded in makiDg herself more generally liked, and more tlftroughly popular, than any other American lady who has married into the British peerage. Her Graoe is as simple, unaffected, and kind-hearted as she is beautiful and wealthy. * # * Fashionable dames in Paris have gone a step further than stockings with real laoe insertions that have been their extravagance this season. Some of them are now wearing hosery made entirely of the costly fabric, with an embroidery of seed pearls on the instep. These real lace stockings are as fine and cob-webby as a veil or scarf, and are as expensive as they are dainty. *** Black skirts with coloured bodices are the rage for theatre dresses just now in Paris. A pretty brunette the other night wore a plain black satin with a bodice in a very soft, pliant sort of cloth-of-gold, closely fitting behind and above the waist, but in full draperies on the bußt. The neck was cut square, and the short wide sleeves of oloth-of-gold were veiled in a cloud of frills of black mousßeline de Boie. - There were long epaulettes of green velvet on the shoulders &nd a waistband of folded green velvet. The wearer sported a magnificent display of diamonds on the front of the corsage, and a single row of fine pearls round her neck. Her dark hair was prettily waved in puff 4 and ringlets, and a cluster of white aigrettes was fastened by a diamond ornament into the rich brown locks. The combination of green and gold doos not sound harmonious, but the effect was exceedingly so; and, with the flashing diamonds, produced a most rich and striking tout ensemble.

%' The hatters of Corea, however loyal, cannot but help rejoicing when the demise of any member o£ the Ccrean royal family is announced, for on such occasions every grown male has, accordirg to the sumptuary lawa of that happy country, to wear a white hat for three years. I£ any other sort of headgear ;b donrjed it is promptly removed, and to prevent any farther backsliding the head is removed with it. This aystem ia said to save any amount of trouble. •** A lova latter from Napoleon I has

lately been discovered on the person of a poor woman who died recently at Porto Alegre. Her name was B jnohamps, and she was 101 years of age. Fifteen years ago a kind family took her from Bio de Janeiro) where she then was, and ever since provided for her most neoeßeary wants. She never was heard to speak of her past life, but when Bhe died a little bag whioh she always carried round her neck was opened, and in it was found the following letter : —

Good-bye, Amelia ! Who knows, perhaps for, ever. You have seen me but once in the midsb of my ruin, when my army was sleeping tha eternal sleep of death in the frozen fields o£ Raesia. You had pity on my misfortune*, sad gave me forgetfulnesß in a moment of love, •aorifioing your own happiness to lessen my despair. If I can euccsed in saving the throne, I will remember that yon once tud pity for the vanquished Cteiar. A kiss on jour forehead, , and farewell (1812). — Napoleon. Amelia Bonohampa never revealed this secret of her life. She would aay that doting Napoleon's Russian campaign she waa living in Russia with her parents, and that these were killed by the Rneßian*, and she escaped only by a miracle. Bat she never «aid that she loved Napoleon, and had been lovsd bj him. She only kept his letter on her heart: . aB long as she lived.

%♦ A girl was found dead in her bed lately after a ball, at wbioh she had exhibited a marvellously small waist; and the medical, evidence tended to show that her death wai entirely caused by the excessive tightness of' her oorset. Now there is one practice whioh is painfully common among all classes, and that is the use of the " looked corset,"

This is practically a steel ooraet, with a waist varying from about Mm to 16in. Into this the growing girl ia oompreseed by force,' the corset is Bhufc tight and scoured by % lock, the key being kept by the mother or whoever is responsible for the proceeding. It may be observed here that it is the utual praotios for the heads of " trying on " departments in large drees-makingand mantlemaking establishments to require all glrli engaged in " tryirg on " to enter one of these corsets, which is looked, and the key kept by the head. In the case of the growing girl the objeot is to prevent the waist from grow/'ing aB the rest of the body develops, and the idea is really only worthy of Obinese oruelty. In the oase of the shop girl, the objeot is to " preserve " the figure precisely at the exact amount of compression whioh is supposed to I show off ladies' garments to the best advantage. I In any case, the cjirl is confined in this way |by the middle night and day. She has to sleep in her " little ease " if she can, and the torture is Buch that at first even the shopgirl, worn out with the fatigues of the day, can hardly sleep for the pain. Probably nothing can be done until all women are sufficiently sensible, to, realise that there 1b no beauty in a wasp's waist, that the majority of men do not really oare a bit about it, and that there is real danger in tight-lacing] bnt surely the dreadful events which have happened lately ought to Sosomething to emancipate schoolgirls and debutantes from their perpetual imprison* merit in locked corsets. Elder women who compress on their own account are responsible for their own folly, but something ought to be done to put an end to this form of girltorture.

♦ # * " Mousie " writes from Belfast to Modern Society : " Quite a demand for Limerick lace has sprung np recently,, and yards of this useful lace have been selling off 'like fan.' This lace, if not quite equal in appearance to the Garrickmacrosß and Irish palafc, » very pretty in the finer qualities, and quite ft boon to girls who do not possess fairy godmothers,

"For generations feminine ingenuity has been expended on the pincushion. Now, why in the name of all that is lovely did we not let the fatuous pincushions of our grandmothers go and hold on like grim death to their pretty footstools 1 The pincushion was never much wanted by anybody, and now even the dreßsmaker no longer goes about with scissors and pincushion depending from her girdle. The modiste of to-day would no more think of wearing those implements of her profession (I had almost written trade) than a plumber would of carrying his own tools; but chink what the footetool must have been as a pedestal for a pair of pretty feet t I do not mean the hard, fancy- work or bead footstool, made by industrious people to fill odd corners and trip unwary visitors ; it was these horrors that murdered the footstool proper, the soft and large volveC hassock that seemed to caress the pretty slipper resting on it. We have chesen for ourselves and voted the delicious, puffy oid footstools a bore, and now not a man in the crowd knows how to bring a footstool and place it at one's feet with the true air and empressement that should accompany such a service. The poor fellows were always willing to perform the graceful office, and we ourselves are to blame for teaching them that we can do without them. 11 Just as mankind has a deep and deadly enmity to the feminine headgear, and bristles at the very name of a bonnet, so daea he display a natural weakness for a prettj slipper. He is as proud of his wife's neat foot aB a young mother of her baby's intelligence, and pays a price for a nice shoe without a grumble; he prides JnmselS on being a person of superior discrimination in that, other men being simply satisfied with a pretty face, he has gone about tha business with an eye to a more lasting attraction. There are things that a man wifl pay for without growling, and shoes are among them. The one thing that a man cannot abide about the house is a slipshod women:" •„,* " You have been correctly informed, said the most extensive diamond merchant in London ; " there is no really notable gem of Europe and America at least that I could not at once recognise, whoever might present it to me. " All the abnormally big stones, be they what they may, are well known to experts ot the firat class. Each celebrated stone baa its own peculiarities, both of cutting, ot colonr, and of lustre, and any thief who might get hold of one of these many worldknowa stones would need to h&veitrecut, or cut up into smaller Btoneß, in order to sell it. 11 If one of these Btone3 were kept to ba gold in its entirety, it would be certaia to ba

reoognured, even after years had elapsed ; almost as certain, in fact, as would a celebrated picture. Most of the second-rate stones even are perfectly well known to all dealers in gems — as to weight, cut, colour, history, everything. Really, in regard to each class of gem, the specimens over a cartain size, or manifesting any valuable peculiarity, are not very numerous. Were aDy man to bring me any gem of abnormal proportions of which I had never heard before, I should be at once suspicious." %* Very little is known about those almost nnivereal adjuncts to "my lady's" toilet table known as powder puffs, though bo various are they in shape, size, and quality that much might be written about them. As many as 20,000 young swans— cygnets, as they are called— are billed every year to supply this dainty fluff, to say nothing of innumerable young birds of the eider-duck and wild- goose kind. It is needless to say that the bulk of these are imported— the swans and geese from the islands of the Baltic and from Norway and Sweden, and the eiders from the northern and more icebound seas. One cygnet will make nearly a dozen average-sized " puffs," which shows how many of our fair charmers most be to a greater or lesser extent addicted to the use of powder. The puff trade is highly profitable, as may be judged from the fact that the down of a cygnet costs little more than a shilling, the poor creature often being plucked alive so that it may bear another crop, while the puffs are sold often at several shillings, nicely mounted in bone and blue or pink satin, which adjuncts amount to comparatively nothing. The ladies of Paris and Vienna are the largest consumers of puffs, owing chiefly to theirfastidiousness in casting aside puffs as soon aB they lose their pristine delicacy.

%♦ When a Chinese gentleman intends giving a dinner to three friends, he will arrange for it to be provided on a flower boat at a certain hour, and also for the company of eight dining-outgirls— two for each gentleman. I call them dining-oufc girls, as it best describes to me their calling. They will come prettily dreseed, their hair done up in most wonderful shapes, and brushed over with a sort of varnisb, which makes it appear like a fantastic head-drees carved in ebony. They will ornament this structure with bright flowers, though the wreaths will be as stiff as their hair ; or they will sometimes add jade, gold, or feather-inlaid ornaments. Their faces will be painted in white and pink— very artistically painted, smooth, and soft- looking. Delicately-traced, sharp black crescents will mark their eyebrows. Dainty, demure dolls they will appear, and pretty to look upon; but seemingly one touch would destroy their artistic effects, as a rough hand the radiance of a butterfly's wing. Two of these young ladies will attend to each gentleman, sitting Blightly back from the table at each side of the enteitained. They will fill bio liquor cups, sip from them, and pass them on ; pick out the dainty pieces of " chow " (food) with chopsticks, and hand them to him ; crack jokes, fill and light his pipe, and all the while chat gaily and eat dried water-melon seeds. That is all I ever saw them eat. Behind each group of three a solemn-looking coolie, or waiter, will stand to fan them all the while. Other waiters bring in food, wine, and tea, change the dishes, and attend to their wants. The meal will last for a loDg time. Eventaally all will rise and retire to an outer room, furnished with couches covered with matting. Opium pipes will be there for those who care for them, and tobacco and cigars in plenty. The girls will sit on the couches, langh, fill the pipes, and still eat water-melon seeds, while the gentlemen will recline at their ease. • \* A pretty story in connection with the accession of the new Czar and the students is told by a St. Petersburg correspondent. Bixteen students, we are told, ref need to take the oath of allegiance to Nioholas 11, and naturally expected to be sent to Siberia. Hearing of the incident, the Czar said : "If they refuse to be my loyal subjects, let them leave Ras6ia within 24= hours, and live elsephere until they have acquired another nationality. Then they may return if they please and finish their education." So astonished were the students at the Czar's action that they took the oath of allegiance forthwith.

* # * The trade of floor-polishing, so far as this country at least is concerned, is, says an English paper, almost a new one, but it is a most flourishing and ever-increasing one. It is the outcome of the comparative unpopularity of carpets and oilolothg, and it consists in the art of polishing with beeswax and other materials the wooden floors of halls, staircases, and rooms which have been paved with oak and other hard woods. The beautiful wooden floors so popular in modern mansions and even in public buildings require to be polished periodically, and it is but f«w ordinary servants who are capable of getting the full effect out of the inlaid wooden flooring.

Floor polishers, of whom a number have sprung up in London, contract, as a rule, by the year, and a good thing they make of it, even journeymen earning as much as from £3 to £4 a week.

The most successful polishers are those who possess trade fcecrets as to giving certain tints and an extra sheen to the wood, and it is a notable fact that one of the most popular polishers of the West End of London stipulates that no one shall watch him whilst he is at work. A very great lady in Paris, a dowager of the ancicn regime, has made with her own noble hands a wedding present for her niece, such as many English brides would be glad to receive as a marriage gift. It is an oldfashioned, purse of white silk, netted, and held in place by two fine riDga of gold, just the sort of purse our grandmothers used save for its costliness; some nice, heavy gold piecas make it hang down weightily beneath each ring. At the ends, where tassels used to finish off the extremities, the aged noblewoman had used family jewels of great value, diamond catches suspending large pearshaped pearls. We are sure, says a Home paper, that all our young lady readers will be ready to bid their grand-damea and greataunts " go and do likewise," when they read about this delectable offering 1 * # * It is not often that one hears in real life of a titled lady going to reside even on the verge of the East End ; but the Dowager Duchess ©£ Newcastle is now living in a

house on Tower Hill, in order to carry on her charitable and religious work with greater success. The Duchess is the mother of the present Duke of Newcastle, who succeeded to the title in 1879, when he was only 15 years of age. During his minoiity his mother had the assistance of Mr Gladstone, who was one of the trustees appointed to manage the estates. The Duke, who holds extreme High Church views, has given large sums to At glicancausea, and has erected a fine church at Clumber. The Dowager Duchess is a Roman Catholic, and it is under the auspices of that church that she is working in the East End.

Nine Styles in One Hundred Years. A YOUNG WOMAN OF OBSERVATION SAYS THERE HAVE BEEN NO MORE THAN THAT. "Though the fashion in woman's dress has changed 100 times in 100 years," said a young lady of observation, "it has been a change of detail rather than of style, while of changes of costume— that [&, of dress whioh oan be said to mark a historical epoch— there have been but two. Similarly in men's clothing there has been but one radical change of costume during the century — that from the breeches to the trousers, with the interregnum of the pantaloons. The change in woman's attire which was sufficiently radical to be called a change of costume occurred in 1819-20, when the classical renaissance, with its immodesty, its single garment, and its waist under the shoulders, went out, and woman became the bodiced and petticoated creature that you know her to-day. " Of styles, as I understand the term— that is, changes of distinctive fashion in woman's g ar b — there have only been nine during the past 100 years, which I think is greatly to her credit. What are they 1 Well, that's rather a hard question to answer. Let me see, now : " From 1795 to 1819 or 1820 was the era of the short waist.

" From 1820 to 1825 were the days of the middle waist, short dress, no sleeves below the (Shoulders, or elbows at furthest, and natural shoulders.

"From 1825 to 1835 there was a distinctly marked spell of broad shoulders, big sleeves, and bell skirts. In fact, our present fashions have been oonsiderably based on that decade.

"From 1835 to 1843 there were sloping shoulders and big full skirts. "From 1843 to 1865 there was the reign of the crinoline, the longest rule of a fashion that ever prevailed, I guess. " From 1865 to 1882 was a period of evolution. The train grew into being, the skirts shrank little by little, growing slimmer and slimmer until the outlines of the figure were once more revealed.

"From 1882 to 1887 was the period of the bustle— just that. " From 1887 to 1892 was the fashion of paniers and Prinoeese dress. " With 1892 came in the re-establishment of big sleeves, and I'm sure that you'll agree with me that there never was a style so fetching as that with which we make ourselves beautiful for you to-day. But that's a peculiarity of all fashions. That which is worn is the fashion, and that which is the fashion is so becoming that we wonder when we think how we ever could have worn anything else." — New York Sun.

Some Home Fashions. We are still wearing THE CHIFFON RUFFLES

that have been so popular all the winter, but there is a tendency to replace the chiffon (which is costly from its delicacy, and gets to look raggy in almost one wear) by very fine Brussels net, which is much more durable, and little, if at all, less light. If you want Jack to give you a really suitable present, ask him for one of

THE NEW-FASHIONED COSTUMES. These consist of ekirt and covert coat of plain cloth, lined with sqnirrel, the skirt being so cnt that it wraps over the dress skirt in an instant, fastening up the side under the light braiding which forms its sole trimming ; the fur-lined coat slips on equally speedily, and the whole forms a neat and cosy travelling or driving dress, suitable to our present arctic weather. Thank goodness ! the word seems really to have been passed for diminishing

THE SIZE OF HATS, and the cartwheels we have so long groaned behind at matinees and concerts are to give place to less alarming erections ; though, of course, we shall have to endure them for a while yet, as fashion takes long in spreading this weather, when there is realiy no get-at-able placa for studying the fashions at their bast. You ask as to

HAIRDRESSING J

well, I do not think the French stjle is coming in very fast. The best hairdressers say it does not suit Englishwomen, and these ladies (who have learned to have millinery ideas of their own since they floated " tailormades" in defiance of M. Worth) consequently will have none of it, and still insist on piling their hair on the centre of the back of their heads, coil upon coil, and having it as much waved and curled as ever. Ido not blame them. The inn deaux a la Madone are far too commonplace and bourgeois for the present style of drees.

AIGBETTES

are apparently the only idea of women in want of a head-dreES, and of course these are combined with diamonds (from Golconda or the Parisian Diamond Company as may be), and to match these the hair is often drawn up in stiffened bows standing well up from the head, in the quaint, stiff style with which Hugh Thompson makes us familiar in his delicious " Oranford," or his still more fascinating " Pxide and Prejudice." If this weary frost ever does come to an end we shall have most

FLOWEBY FASHIONS

on our headgear I foreee, for already some enterprising modistes are showing most astounding collections of horticultural specimens on hats and bonnets. What say you to rush plait mixed with green velvet, buttercups, daisies, wood anemones, and dog violets, held together with a perfect coruscation of cut-steel buckles ? Or another, a mass of crocuses and wild hyacinths arranged on a (very) fancy straw 1 Personally I am struck by the undercurrent of vulgarity that underlies all our fashions nowadajg.

when the desire seems to be far more to outdo our neighbour than really to find pretty things.

I grant you that women wear their ruo, and their clothes, with a difference ; but, unfortunately, the difference is seldom in favour of those who cannot afford a firstclass modiste.—" Elspeth," in the Weekly Citizen.