LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2358, 4 May 1899, Page 52

LADIES' GOSSIP.

~ The < manner in which a Cuban girl is courted is one of the most interesting featares of Havana society. The first steps in a love affair are carried on secretly, despite the duenna. The minute a couple have come to an understanding their conduct ■betrays them. It is not considered proper for a girl and man who are engaged to tjance, or even to enter a dining room, with anyone but eacb other. These are the first 'feigns of an engagement. Then the father of the young man formally demands the 'girl for his son. Before such a step is .taken, however, it is generally understood ( that both families are willing that the alliance shall take place. After the girl has Ibeen formally betrothed her society days Jare at an end. She no longer attends soJcial functions, but remains at home, where Wvery evening she receives her future husfband. Engagements are, as a rule, very long. Weddings invariably occur at night. jOnce married a young couple seldom go to. ilances or dinners. But, on the other hand, B jilted girl is almost an unknown thing jn Havana. Consuelo de Sanchez Marmol, kme of Havana's most famous beauties, ■Committed suicide about four years ago, beteause she was jilted. [ — A most remarkable wedding has just jfcaken place at a small village called Trail, Jfour brothers being married to four sis")ters. The four knots were tied at the home 3of the fout sister brides, who are daughters 'of a prosperous farmer named James Hoch-

• stettler. Their ages range from 18 to 28, feind the ages of their respective husbands 'Wary only slightly. The bridegrooms are ')tke four sons of John Sumers, and are en'jergetic young men of good habits and some " means. The four brothers and their wives live within a stonejs throw of each other. t — Mdlle JBlanpKe Marchesi, daughter of Jfche famous Marchesi, was recently interViewed, and she told the strange story of |her wonderful talent. It appears that she Shad no voice at all until she was 25 ; the voice was there, but it would not 3ome jout; the larynx would not develop. But nil the while that she was waiting she was with her brain." She heard pll her mother's instruction ; she declares^ that her will so influenced her vocal chords /that they gradually learned what they 'had ifco do, and became flexible. When at last, f like' a flash her voice came," she could sing , This is the verdict of the .critics. '

— The Abyssinian soldier's ordinary dress is not very attractive. It consists of a ;tvhite linen shirt down to his knees and a {pair of tight linen trousers to half way- o idown his calf. Over this he wears a belt' \of folded linen, and, as a rule, a "shamma," or white cotton sheet, draped round him. Xiloaks of blue, red, green, yellow or violet, "ornamented with rough embroidery, leopard skins, sheep skins and even lion skins, are

•worn on special occasions by the officers and small chiefs, and the army then presents a noble show. Any man who has killed a lion or an elephant, or has distinguished himself much in battle, wears an aureole, or lion's mane, on his head ; for- each five men he has kiUtd he wears a silver band on his sword The Jbighes'u recompense for valour is a sort of velvet top hat ornamented with silver, and

•great officers are given shields covered with velvet and ornamented with gold and silver.

' — Emeralds are the gems of the moment. (A. leading jeweller declares that for bringing out their beauty and finest effect such £tones should be placed alternately with diamonds. ' — There has been quite a little boom in the perfumery trade of late says a writer in a Home paper. And the reason is that the society woman perfumes 'her bath. Now you may scent your handkerchief with a firbp or two, but the bath in which you can lie down and wallow cannot be perpimed without making a big hole in a quart flbottle. And that is the explanation of the bottles of scent which you may «ea in the windows of the West End shops |when the lily is painted and the violet perfumed. The scented bath is a pleasant opening tc the day, and its fragrance lingers. Moreover, it is a great deal more ."wholesome than the subcutaneous injection of scent with which the Parisienne has for tyears past been amusing herself.

— At the christening of the twin children fof Mr 0. H. Seely, M.P. for Lincoln, and !&frs Seely. the other day, the tenantry ' • jwere entertained at the White Hart Hotel, where there was a christening cake, surjmounted by a cradle and twins, and having bther appropriate devices. The following flay the whole of the school children of Lincoln were entertained at tea, and each Dhild received a piece of the christening iaie, 9000 packages having been made ap

for the occasion. The cake weighed two tons in all.

— A -correspondent writes in a Home paper : — " Have you ever considered how names date a woman? There is a distinct fashion in them,, and by her name you can generally guess a woman's age within ten years. Just about the time when that dear maiden aunt, from whom we have expectations, was christened, Alice, Maud, and Editb. were in vogue; while Matilda, Lavinia, and Henrietta were beginning to grow ridiculous. Then came a time when early English names held the day: Guinevere, Ermentrude, Aldytha, and such like were bestowed on helpless infants, and the calendar was searched for cognomens of Anglo-Saxon saints ; but about 16 years ago a tremendous rush for Dorothy took place, and every other female child seemed to bear that name, with occasionally Doris as a variation. A little later Gladys found great favour, spreading to the class from which our servants are recruited, so that if you asked the name of the small child sent home with the washing or begging a black frock because 'the baby had died,' you were most likely to be told proudly that it was 'Gladys.' Now, there has been a great levulsion, beginning with the 'classes,' in favour of homely, old-fashioned appellations such as Betty, Molly, Barbara, Joan, Marjorie, and Nancy, which, two decades ago, would have been thought ' vulgar ' ; and I suppose, in course of time we shall try Sarah, Jemima, Eliza, and other names at which we used to shudder as miracles of ugliness."