LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2373, 24 August 1899, Page 52

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— Out of the millions who own umbrellas, Bow many realise that these unfortunately indispensable articles represent wealth untold ! The frame, • the cover, the materials used, all are the result of numberless experiments and patents. An umbrella years ago used to be made of whalebone and gingham. It weighed as much as a portmanteau. Alpaca was substituted for gingham, then silk for alpaca. Each change meant a fortune to the inventor who brought it about. For a long time the ribs jWere solid; then Samuel Fox arose, took •the umbrella and cut grooves along its ribs. He designed the "Patent Paragon iFrame," and lived to see bis invention used At the death of Samuel Fox his heir benefited to the extent of £179,000 •—the residue of a total profit of at least half a million. — Patent Record. — An American correspondent announces that yet another daughter of Mr Levi -Leiter kthe father-in-law of the Viceroy of India) 5s to wed a member of the British noJjility. " This continued success of the Leiier family in the title-hunting market," ftihe writer adds, "is making every other 'American millionaire family blind with tenvy." — The Earl of Seafield sits in the House jof Lords as Baron Strathspey. One of his Ancestors was to be created Earl of Strathfcpey in the seventeenth century, though the creation did not come off. So the seventh OEarl of Seafield, in 1858, and the seventh iEarl, in 1884, on being created peers of the United Kingdom, took the title of Baron Strathspey. The ninth Earl had not, like the seventh Earl, estates in Strathspey ; but, equally with the seventh Earl, he owed \t to an accident that he did not inherit an Earldom of Strathspey Caroline, Countess fcf Seafield, whe owns the Grant and Seafield estates, is one of the two Countesses of Seafield resident in Britain. The other, Georgiana, Countess of Seafield, widow (by his third marriage) of the ninth Earl, the present Earl's grandfather, resides it (Mayne, ncai Elgin, and has a town house in Onslow Gardens, S.W. The two Coun•iesses are sisters-in-law, but, owing to theii deceased husbands' relations, they are not acquainted. The third Countess still lives in New Zealand, while the fourth, who is at present in England, may also be said to Jbe domiciled in New Zealand. — AmUngst other popular ladies who pos- • Besß gold cycles is the Queen "of Italy, who deceived such a costly machine from the Cycle Club of Milan. — The Duchess of York, it is remarked, is looking exceedingly well just now. Her Royal Highness has got to look and dress bo much like the Princess of Wales that rtvhen seen driving quickly past, or even for a short time, the resemblance is quite striking. — The Calcutta University has given a great impetus to the cause of female education in India by appointing two eminent Bengali 'ladies, Miss Chandramukhi Bose, M.A., and Mrs Nirmalabala Shome, M.A., is examiners for the entrance examination. ;