LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2263, 15 July 1897, Page 52

LADIES' GOSSIP.

• . • In an article on the Royal Family of j Greece in the May number of the Century j 'Mr I. de Wheeler describes the King as personally a sociable, companionable man, fond | of a joke, particularly susceptible to the flavour of American humour, not at all 1 'stringent in the minutias of official etiquette, ] 'and sometimes giving the impression that he i -will be glad when the formal part of the j ceremony is over. He is often seen walking In the parks or on the side-walks of his \ capital, and in the seclusion of his garden ' xejoices in the use of an American bicycle, ■which no interpretation of royal license would permit him to ride upon the highways. He sb, however, a rigid disciplinarian, and his 'children have been brought up to feel the lull force of the authority of the Teutonic bouße-father. King George's natural sympathies and tastes (says the writer) lead him towards France. It is in Paris that be loves best of all to spend his weeks oE relaxation. Germany has little charm for him, and no wonder, Dane as he is. For him the person . of the present German Emperor adds nothing , to the attractiveness of Betlin. Between j Ithem there is a deep gulf fixed. Mr Wheeler appends a sketch of Queen Olga in the following terms : — " The Queen is a Russian, and a Russian with heart and aoul. She never fails to show the warmth of her allegiance, whether it Tae to individuals, to political interests, or to religion. She is a most devoted adherent of the Russian Church. The ministrations of the church she generally receives at a little Russian chapel Bpecially constructed for her use in the palace, but on the great feast days she j attends the Russian church in the city. The ' King regularly attends a Lutheran service held in the Royal Chape!, and conduoted by the Court chaplains in German. The princes and princesses, however, are all adherents of the National Greek church. Almost as diverse are the linguistic conditions. The Queen does not speak Danish freely* nor the King Russian. Hence, when by themselves, they converse in German. Both speak English and French freely. In the family of the Crown Prince, English is the established language. When the whole family is together it is made the rule that Greek shall be used at table, but at other times English or German is the usual language. Fortunately, the Queen's enthusiasm for Russian interests is not shared by her sons." • . • The Princeßse Isabelle de BourbonBourbon, who died on Monday, May 18, in Paris, at the Hotel Victoria, in the Cite fl'Antin, was the sister of Don Francis of Aesisi, titular King of Spain, and the aunt of the Queen-Regent. Since her romantic marriage with the Polish Count Gorowski she had not been on terms with her family, who allowed ber, however, a pension oE some £300 a month. A woman of generous character, she spent much of her money on charity, and so was frequently in narrowed circumstances. She died absolutely in solitude, leaving two daughters surviving out of nine children, Princess Maria Christina and Princess Maria Isabella. • . • A very curious contest between the notions of the New Woman and the Old Man has been raging of late in a town In ono

of the eastern S cates of New York. Some time ago a Dutchman of the old and stolid type settled down in America with his young wife. The Dutchman brought with him the old European notions of the rights of the man over his wife. Bat the wife quickly imbibed the ideas that are current in America, and | began to assert herself. The climax seems to have been reached when the Dutchman insisted on smoking his pipe in the best par- ; lour. Finding objection useless, the wife hid the pipe. Then the Dutchman found another i pipe, sat down in the best room, with his feet on ths best chair, and smoked in silence. Wherenpon the wife protested with feminine ! volubility, and threatened to leave him for ever if he persisted in his brntal treatment of the best parlour. The Dutchman said j nothing. j Now along one eide of the room stood a bureau of the vast roomy kind that the Dutchman loves to bring from his native Holland. As the wife continued her protests, I her husband stepped quietly to the bureau, i opened the lowest drawer, and gently, but ] firmly, placed his wife therein. She went on j with her protests, but when the drawer wax closed they were not sufficiently audible to cause her husband any inconvenience, so he smoked on peacefully. So excellent did this expedient appear to him, that whenever his wife showed (symptoms of beginning to nag he took her up and deposited her in the bureau ' drawer and locked her up until her temper j "had had time to cool. And so accustomed did the wife grow to the punishment that she rigged up a cone for table little bed in the drawer and- slept quietly during her periods of pnnishment, <■ Bat one day, when the Dutchman had incarcerated his wife and gone out in search of beer, a neighbour's wife came in, and heard j i a voice from ths bureau begging for freedom, j She opened the drawer, liberated the \ prisoner, and explained that the American j j law would not countenance such proceedings j jon the part of a husband. The wife was ! | persuaded to appeal to tbe courts, and the ; ■ Dutchman was told that in a free country no | man is free to do as ha pleases with his own i wife. And now the Dutchman in going about j wondering how on earth, if he must neither beat nor imprison bis own wife, he is to maintain his marital authority and smoke in the best room, so curious is the effect of the collision between nswer conditions and an older civilisation. • . • At the first Drawing Room of the season there were a great many beautiful women and beautiful dresses, and quite the loveliest woman in the room, so people say, was Lady Westmorland, all in white, with swatbing3 of pale green, and a wonderful train of green , velvet, lined with soft fallings of shaded \ green chiffon, and caught up on one shoulder ! with a beautiful bunch of white lilies. Then the pretty sisters, Lady Sophie Scott and Lady Lurgan, were both dressed alike, in white, with dazzling diamonds and silver ; and Lady de Traff ord wore the simplest little frock of white chiffon, with rubies and diamonds, and loveließt pink roßes. There were a great many beautiful jewels, but none so prettily worn as those of Lady Ashburton, whose train was actually looped on with ropes of beautiful big diamonds, and who wore a belt of diamonds. Very handsome indeed was Lily Duchess of Marlborough, in black satin, beflowered with diamonds and black feathers well poised within her diamond crown. Lady Dartmouth looked wonderfully well, and Mrs Miller Mandy waß beautifully dressed in white satin, embroidered in pale green flowers and diamonds, with a very handsome train of pink brocade. Lady Oaledon, who is staying at the Ooburg Hotel for a time, wore the prettiest lace frock, with pink roses and lilac on a lovely train ; Lady Charles Beresford was handsomely dressed, and Lady Airlie looked noticeably nice. Quite a sensation waa caused by Mrs Carl Meyer, who wore white muslin lightly I painted in roses, with trails of rcses on a soft > rose-satin train veiled in silver spangled gauze ; and she wore the celebrated pearls as well as a great many diamonds. Mrs Hwfa Williams looked wonderfully well in rose colour and white, with huge bunches of rosecoloured geraniums upon her train. Mrs Munro- Walker was beautifully dressed in green and white, with a great many bunches of roses. Mrs Gilbey looked very sweet and nice in pale lilac and silver, with diamond stars and a diamond tiara ; and Mrs Charles Cadogan also looked well in mauve and white. As usual, the Americans made a brave show. There was Mrs John Hay in beautiful violet and white, and Mrs Ogden Goelet, in a beautiful French frock, shared the honours with her pretty little daughter, who is slim and dark, with a dear little face, although a rather determined expression, i She was very prettily dressed in white lace,

with tiny frills of ribbon, and her train of white and silver gauze was looped on with bouqueta of lilies. Mrs Eaton, who was very well dressed in white satin embroidered with lilac, presented her American sister, Miss French, while Mrs Parkinson Sharpe was one of several others who at the last moment j abandoned their intention of being present. , ' . • I saw a unique veil net the other day i (says a writer in a London paper). It was an ordinary black veiling, but underneath was a very thin tulle of a pale rosy pink tint, and so woven together that the effect was j like only one thickness of net. It cast a pretty, faint flush upon the face that would be becoming to a pale girl. * . * Madame Bernhardt will not exercise, and hates fruit, unless she happens to feel in a mood for eating it, and still she has a hand, gome head of hair, which, some of the doctors say, is quite remarkable, in view of the fact that fruit and exercise make beautiful hair. She makes her hair grow .winter and summer by exposing it. For several hours a day it hangs down her back, with the air blowing through it and tbe sun touching it. Her theory is that wherever the hairpins touch the hair it will be dull and glosslesß. • . • In the struggle between Cuba and Spain women are and have been playing no small part. Not only have they many times rendered the insurgents valuable services both as spies and as smugglers o£ arms and ammunition, but in numerous instances they have actually fought side by side with their husbands and brothers. Thus, at the Biege of Oandilana a fair maiden, riding a snowwhite steed, led a company of insurgents in an attack upon the Spanish trenches. And these fair rebels in Oaba have done cot a little to make Spain's task a 'hopeless one. The Spanish colonists who have come to Cuba have invariably taken Cuban wives, and their children imbibe the spirit of hatred of Spain with their mothers' milk. If the Spanish husband be a tyrant to bis wife — as is frequently the case — then she hates his j country all the more ; whereas, if he be kind ', and gentle, he is apt to realise the tyranny ! of hie Country and join with his Cuban wife j in her principles of insurrection and freedom. • . • In Russia, where there are hundreds of ways of consulting the fates, the using of looking-glasses is considered one of the most serious, though there is another dariug way. j New Year's Eve is deemed the most solemn | moment for penetrating into one's future. Russian maidens, who are perfectly strong minded, look themselves up in their rooms, and, in the depth of night, put two table 3of equal height one opposite the other, a lookingglaes on each table, and two lighted carries before each. They place a chair between the two tables, «o as to have one lookingglass in front and another at the back. When seated, the girl proceeds : " Ob, my future one, my destined one, show yourself to me," &c. Of course, those who are doomed to comb St. Catherine's hair sit uselessly until they are scared by J . their own , pale and haggard faces in the looking-glaHs ; then they go to bed to spend a sleepless night. But the privileged ones, after sitting a considerable while, see at first a mysterious darkness in the looking-glass, then it brightens of a sudden, and the destined one appears. One widow lady told me that she had seen a young hussar in red uniform looking at a bunch of grapes in his right hand ; six months after she met him at a dinner party and was married to him. ' Another lady aaw a fascinating aide-de-camp ' just in the act of itiviting her to a dance ; ' before the end of the year she met him at a ! bnll and they were married. But both Indies were elderly widows whan I know them, and , they confessed that they never ventured to gpeak of it to anybody, neither before nor after their marriage ; they wero afraid that i if it had reached their husbands' ears their wedded bliss would have been ruined. Tho Russian husband bursts out at auoh rovolations in a furious fashion. He atousos his wife of having used uncanny influence to attract him into her path ; ho say» that ft sorceress is not a suitable companion for v worthy man. Ho begins to find in her move faults than he aaw bofore, and grows so cold to her children that he scarcely recognises them. How the' phenomenon i« produood by telepathy influencing tbe astral body, or anything else, the Russian huoband leaves to t scientists and Bpiiitualielß ; but ho objects to the machinery, whioh is of great antiquity, as a reference to it oan bo found in the Scriptures. How to Sleep at Will. According to the newest theory of sleep, that curious phenomenon results from tho brain being literally drowned in blood. The physiologist who has made this discovery has also found out how you may regulate your period of Bleep to tho minute, and wake as regularly as the punctual cock. All you have to do is to raise or lower your head by means of pillows of various thicknesses. If you want to sleep longer than you do at present, lower the pillow and let in more blood to the brain ; if you want to sleep less, raise your pillow and let in less blood. Never take narcotic drugs, as they injure the brain, but lower the pillow more more and more till sleep comes. You need not go to the expense of buying an alarm clock either, since this simple plan will enable you to awake at any hour. The Utility of Yawning. Yawning is one of Nature's remedies for a certain condition of internal affairs. Yawning exercises all the muscles of respiration and the lungs. Yawning is a natural massage for the organs of respiration. Yawning relieves pain caused by accumulations of wax in the ear. Yawning is about the only means cf exercising those muscles over which the will has no control. It answers the same purpose for the muscles of the ear, throat, nose, and chest that stretching does for the muscles of the legs. Uon't Forget This. " I wonder how many people know tho actual immediate result of mending a fire," says a doctor. "An increase of the room's temperature, do you say 1 That's just where you make a mistake, since the exact contrary is the case. The reason U simple enough. The heat of. the fuel already burning goes to light that which . has been added, consequently nothing is gained until the latter has taken fire. " By the way, the knowledge of this fact is often very important in a sick room,

which, of course, has to be maintained at as even a temperature as poßsible. " This is readily effected by having the scuttle filled with email pieces of coal as nearly as possible of equal size. If these be then added to the fire one by one at regular intervals — say every 10 minutes — it can be kept exactly right for hours." An Interesting Fact. The room in which the Queen was born is a plain, old-fashioned apartment in Kensington Palace, in the same condition now — for it has been redecorated to exactly the identical pattern— as it was on the 24fch May, 1819. Let into the wall is a small brass plate, upon whioh is recorded : la this room QUEEN VIOTOEIA was born, May 24fch, 1819. While the Duchess of Teck occupied these apartments the room waß used as a dining room ; but it is now to bs famished again as a bedroom, and left as exactly as possible as it was when first the baby who was destined to be our great Queen-Empress saw the light in it. "When Tlsltlns an Invalid. When you are going to ccc an invalid do not fall into the error which, I am sure, is very common among kind-hearted people of thinking that it does not matter how you are dressed for such a visit. I have had a great deal of invalidism myself for the last few years, and therefore /know from experience what a refreshment and pleasure it is to eyes whioh usually Bee the same things day after day when a friend prettily and brightly dressed comes into the room. It is like a ray of sunshine— a breath of fresh air, and makes one feel that, after all, the world is not bounded "by one's sick room. It will often brighten up a whole day, and I am convinced that anything, however trivial, i which draws an invalid's thoughts from her- ' self and her ailments ie bound to do her some ' good, both mentally and bodily. Therefore, make yourself look as nice as possible ; pat on your prettiest clothes, and if yon can take a few flowers, or lend your friend anaw book, so much the better. Don't think, even if she can afford to buy all the books she wants, and has a greenhouse of her own, that she will not value these little attentions. It is marvellous how an invalid appreciates anything which has come from the outer world, even if no better than, or not as good, as things of the game kind which she already possesses. Whatever distracts an invalid's thoughts ia most welcome and beneficial, and visits from friends who can bring this about are eagerly looked forward to. Spirits of camphor rubbed lightly on the gams will allay inflammation. Care for Oornß. — A strong solution of common washing soda applied to each corn by wetticg a small piece of linen and bind1 ing round the foot will entirely remove | cores. _