LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 51

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— Miss Freda Knagen, a charming 'Ana athletic brunette of Christiania, is the only woman living who has eclipsed all male rivals in a branch of • athletics. At the great ski-ing competition held last year at llolmenkollen. she cleared the astounding distance of 103£ ft in a single jump, leaving 1 the highest previous record 16lt in the reai % . Ihe course at Holmenkollen, on the outskirts of Christiaaia, is the scene of the championship contest in the Swedish national ' sport. • The course, which is of snow, deep, crisp, and firm, slopes upward from a frozen lake 1 at a sharp angle , to a height of 160 ft. IJwo-thirds of the.w ay;, down the course there is a platform, from which there is a vertical drop of 30ft. The competitor, with his wooden runners strapped to his feet, slides rapidly dowa the course, acquiring momentum with every yard of the descent, until he literally; flies with the speed of an express • train. When he reaches the " hop " he takes a flying leap in the air, lands skilfully after a flight of from fifty to one hundred feet on the soft snow, and, at a still higher speed, due to the momentum _of l.is leap, flashes down the rest of the course and sails away over ihe flat surface of the lake, until, by a dexterous turn, he comes to a stop. Until the contest referred to the male and female competitions were distinct, but on this occasion the sexes were allowed to compete against each ether, when Miss Freda, the " Queen of the Ski- ' ers," darting down the slope with the grace and swiftness of a swallow, shot over the platform and never touched eurth again ' until she had traversed a distance of thirtyfour and one-half yards. ' ,

— A photographer accounts for the high rate of beauty among actresses by the fact that they cultivate becoming expressions of countenance. Here's a hint which other women— and men, too, for that mattermight profit by.

— There is great excitement in the Or. leans party over the approaching marriage of Princess Isabel, the lovely third sister of the Due d'Orleans. The ceremony will probably take place at Wood Norton or in London. This will furnish the Duchessa d'Ao&ta with an excuse for a visit to England, which she loves so well, and as the King of Portugal contemplates a visit to Balmoral it is hoped the Queen of Portugal will cross the Channel with him. Should the ceremony take place in the metropolis, Londoners will have the opportunity of seeing together the famous beautiful trio of foreign princesses. — Mrs M'Kinley is always very handsomely dressed. She has many pretty gowns, but white is her favourite colour, as befits the mistress of the White House. She has all her house and afternoon and evening dresses made with a long train. — Through the will of Baroness Hirsch, Mdlle. Lucienne Hirsch, the late Baroness's adopted daughter, becomes one of the greatest heiresses of the world. Although at the present time the young lady will only enjoy the income produced by £40,000, when she attains the age of 35 close on half a million pounds will be paid over to he>* unconditionally.

— " One hears a good deal about the expense of launching an English girl into society," said the wife of an American financial magnate. "All the same, my experience ia .that it costs very much more to ' bring out ' a girl in New York. Sixty, thousand dollars (£12,000) is a moderate estimate of the amount expended on many, an American girl from infancy until, at' about the age of eighteen, she enters upon! her society career. Of course, a large proportion of the expense is represented bjr, frocks and jewellery. Then comes the. expense of education and physical training. In this last item must be included the cost; of a horse and groom. Then she must have a French or German maid, and, if her father is rich enough to bear the expense, a 1 trip to Europe. Finally comes the cost of

the elaborate wardrobe required for her as r, debutante, often costing as much as many a bride's trousseau in England." — As all the -world knows, the Queen delights in marrying and giving in marriage. f As a young married woman, she not unfrenuenlly assisted at the weddings of her jt'eally intimate friends and dependents, and the first Maid of Honour who followed her j Royal mistress's example after the Queen's own marriage had the privilege of being married in the private chapel of Bucking- j bam Palace. Accordingly, there is some- ! thing very interesting in the announcement ' that the Queen's trusted medical attend- . ant, Sir James Reid, who has had the sole ' charge of the Sovereign's health for nearly . 20 years, is about to contract a union with j one of his Uoyal mistress's Maids of Ho- j nour, the Hon. Susan Baring, youngest daughter of the late Lord Revelstoke. Their marriage is creating quite a stir in Court i circles. Both are popular, and their friends ihave decided to show their good wishes by , making the occasion memorable. Sir Jamen ds a Scotchman, -a native of Ellon, AberIdeen, who, after a distinguished college •career, made rapid advance in his profession. It is stated that the Queen will present Miss Baring with a gift of £1000 .towards her dowry. j — A very good way of obtaining sleep is to imagine somebody else asleep. Take somebody you know, and imagine them asleep. This will act like a charm. | " The picturing of another as asleep," says nn eminent psychologist, " is a strong autosuggestion of sleep, taking effect in my own case in about five minutes if the condition he kept constant. The more clearly the j patient's sleep is pictured the stronger becomes the subjective feeling of drowsi"nes3." — ■ If the servant question grows more acute year by year, surely machinery is do- ' ing its very best to oil the domestic wheels. ! Jn an advanced house it is simply marvellous how man3 r machines may be found ; Jtnife-cleaning machines, boot-cleaning, floor sweeping, floor stubbing, mincing, vegetable paring, raisin seeding, etc. One would /think that the old-fashioned household con»modity, elbow grease, must be a thing of /the past. But what a saving of patience as well as time are many of these mechanical contrivances. One of the most tedious <>f kitchen operations has now come within the scope of a machine — namely, shelling peas. The " Acme " pea-sheller fixes to the of the table like a mincer, the pods are put into an opening at the top, one at b time, the crank is turned, the peas drop jout through a spout into a dish on the Jtable, while the empty pods pass through pnother opening into a can hung "below. — iHome paper. — The German Empress at her dances Kakes it a rule that there shall be no waltz- . g- | — "My husband embraced me the verj r jfirst moment he saw me," the ' beautiful Queen of Roumania often says, in reference to the accident that led to her marriage. £>he was running hurriedly downstairs, after a Royal reception at the Court of Prussia, .•when her foot slipped, and the next moment she was in the arms of Prince Charles

of Holhenxollern, who thus saved the young Princess from a seriou.s accident, and was later rewarded by her hand. The marriage i has been ideally happy, although the Queen ■ has sorrowed many years for the beautiful daughter who was so suddenly snatched from her. The King has always been devoted to his gifted wife, and says of her, . " She is my wisest councillor." — The Duchess of York is a most enthusiastic collector of parasols. She has no fewer than a hundred, and all are made I from special designs in order that the combination of oolour with her costume and hat may be harmonious. — A curious case was tried recently in Vienna. A young lady demanded hea-vj r compensation from a j'oung man with whom she danced at a masked ball, and who allowed her to fall so heavily that she sustained severe internal injury. The defendant declared that his partner was a 1 poor dancer, and it was difficult to guide Tier through the crowded room. She rejoined that the defendant had attempted some new steps which he had seen in the opera ballet and desired to imitate. "He flung his legs about," she said, "and went through some kind. of a Russian bent-knee dance, in the execution whereof he tripped Ime and we both fell heavily." The judge 1 decided thai, a man could not be held rei sponsible for the safety of his partner, and the case was dismissed. — Any woman can be attractive if she takes the trouble, writes Ellen T. Fowler. There is always <a niche in this world for a woman of tact — which is merely another name for observation and unselfishness. A • woman always admires a man when he is angry with her, provided that she knows he is in the right, and that he is not a relation. The most sympathetic woman in the world is the old maid who has been in ' love ; the least, the old maid who has not. ! Dulness is the only unpardonable sin in the nineteenth century. Nowadays it is provincial for a woman to be dull. No- [ body with over £100 a yea*- makes love ; before lunch time. I shall do what the ' other man wants, even when it is ridi- | culous ; that is what will make life «o _ delightful to the other man. So easy it , is to put out the light in another's face, and so impossible to rekindle it. Those men deserve some punishment who refuse to J share their burdens with a woman if she : is willing and anxious to share them. Tact , can be, and ought to be, acquired. It is ( merely the outward form of "that inward grace we call unselfishness. Nothing is ! really inexcusable save an excuse. In the ■ first place, in order to talk agreeably, it is ' requisite to have something to talk about. You cannot draw water from a well where no water is, therefore you must cultivate , your mind through reading and observation. Accustom yourself to talk about j what you see and read. It is a great mistake to talk little to the members of your | own family ; many a one has grown taciturn from considering it not worth while j to exert oneself to entertain the home people. Keep yourself in touch with questions of the day ; to do this give a few moments to the newspaper every morning. Avoid as far as possible all unDleas-

ant subjects, and endeavour to discover Avhat is most interesting to your companions. With some persons this faculty amounts to intuition, Avith others it is laboriously acquired, but it invariably grows by exercise. Talk of things, and not of people ; gossip is not conversation, jffever talk much of yourself nor your own affairs ; it is in bad form, and generally bores your hearer. AA'oid also unkind and censorious observations about other people, and never, if you can help it, make personal remarks, unless they are in the nature of a delicate and sincere compliment.