OVER THE TEACUPS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 59

OVER THE TEACUPS.

My dear Readers. — One henrs remarks made by very intelligent persons at times which seem to imply thai Royal personages belong to a slightly different order of creation to ourselves On the other hand, a, certain dk*s of. journals mikes a point of affecting an amusing intimacy with the like*, dislike*-, home life, fads, and follies of royalty, and adopts quite a frisky tone in discussing Kings, Queens, and their resultant Princes and Pi incenses. From bucli journals one is amused to learn that Queen Alexandra, as Princess of Wales, was "fond of making the toast at ofternoon tea time for her especial ir:ends" ! That the Duke of Yoik, like his cousin, the Czar, is nil enthusiast in strmp collection, and w;xs the discoverer of the iaulty printing of the letters "V. R. I." across the confiscated Boer stamps at Pretoria As a. lesult of tins carelessness in printing a lot of the stamps only bore the letters 'V R , the "I." being missing, and tha om'is-ion tendering the already \aluable stamps almost priceles? — on the principle of our own prec-ious misspelt "'Wakitipu'' stamp. The King of Portugil and his brother ore keen tennis player^, the King, despite his rather corpulent figure, playing a good game, b-Mng specially smart in volleying. It is s.iul th-it both the King and the '"Infant, ' Don Alphon^o, weie recently included m a team representing the South at Portugal. Then there is a certain reig-iing Grand Duke who combines a hobby with a philanthropy in a truly original manner. This is Duke Carl Theodore of Bavaiia, a duly qualified oculist, who has turned -his ancestral castle of Tegernsee into an eye hospital, where his daughter* have aided in the care of the patients, and every operation undertaken by her gentle, clever husband is a matter of the greatest interest to his wife, the Princess Maria Josepha. The Grand Duke was only 23 when he took his M.D. degree, after studj ing at Paris and Vienna. *" He has now performed over 10 000 operations. His skill is at the service of the poor as freely as of the rich, and those who are too poor to pay are treated gratis at Tegernsee. It ip natural enough that the family of the reigning Duke is regarded by the people -r ith a love and ■veneration beyond po^er of words to expie c s. A charming half-hour's reading is afforded by the account of the old twodecker, the Warspite, moored in the Thames off Charlton, near Woolwich, and as bright and busy as the presence of her crowd of embryo Jack Tais can make her. Tie Alirine Society has for 144 years been steadily working in the direction of (.ducatmjc aiul training as seamen pooi boys of good character. Dining the:r many years ot work, the society has tiained 63.442 !ads as sailois and of this number 27,935 have preferred seiwee in the Royal Navy. The Waispit.3 is in no sense a reformatory ; therefore only boys of good chirpcler are admitted. Their poverty or humble surroundings are no drawback ; indeed, it is the veiy poor boys — boys whose utter poverty expose 5*5 * them to the endless temptations to crime which prov. 1 round extreme poverty — .vhom tlie society specially desires to help A gcjd -uoik, vhose practical siamfica.'.rc is endless, is thus accomplished. An excellent feature in the trami. £ of the boys on the Warspite is the daily dimming lesion in the magnificent baths'. Heie, under the tuition of an instructor (who prides himself in being able to make an expert s-wimmt'i in one fortnight out of boys who never eve.i knew what a bath Vas before), the b >ys learn to be comp'ctely at home in the water. Not an hour cf the long day (beginning in summer at 5 30) i« ■waited. But mental effoit, as embodied 111 education, and physical exercise, as cairied out in then tiaimng as seamen, effectually prevent either monotony ov ■ueanne-s. and these boy«. are as happy as they look At the end of d ye ir a boy is fit for pad duty, and j i berth is secured for him either in the Rival Navy or the merchmt service, whichever he prefers The "cult of the sash" is neisistent in home fashions just now, and it finds its way into the I'nangement of day or evening gowns. Fur and tuHe ai? enmbimd in the i,ewcst nock nifrks; and cameo 5 -. ?■> long and so lu.pelc^lv out of date, siio once more "in "' Cimeo battens ami buckles and c imen biooches (the tiny ones) ;.nd pins, aie all among the newest ciaze. I saw lather a go k! suggestion fr.i those town people who ha\ c absolutely no garden We all know how melancholy-look-ing bowl.-, of ferns become when ]rv u-eel f.n table decoration — sach a travesty of the tender gi.ico that wa-. thens in tLe cum a'sles of the forost whence we rooted them! But the substitute? A few pcorn* 1 and chestnuts planted in pots of earth uul kepu in til? dark foi a v. eel: or so; then removed to plenty of li^ht and air, and kenfc moist unt'l the little nieen shoots of th« baby trees begin to appear. Notlu'w <_(,ulrl be prcttifT than the delicate giecn of theso forest seedlings-. So keen is the appreciation cf physic^.

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training for girls now at Home that really Up-to-date and competent teachers have no difficulty in making a very comfortable income ; in fact, physical training and culture is one of the few professions in which there is still a good opening for women There are various systems in use, such as the German, Swedish, military, and English, and for some of these a fee of £100 is charged for the complete course ; but then a good teacher (able, perhaps, to teach fencing as well) will consider her fee of '£100 well -spent since it enables her to earn an income of £300 to £400 per annum. Heavy clubs, massive dumb-bells, and violent pxercisss are unanimously giving place to gentler exercises in which none of the muscles are overtaxed or unduly developed, while all are exercised *and {strengthened. Many of the dumb-bells used do not exceed eight ounces in weight, and Borne are much lighter. Of all the absurd little shams of the moment, surely the most absurd is the new handkerchief— a microscopic square of cobwebby fineness, laced and bordered with the finest narrow lace. The object is to carry it 111 the palm of the glove if possible , failing that, tucked up one's sleeve— lor who can fumble about solving that Chinese puzzle of the whereabouts of one's bocket in these days? It makes one look both absurd and ungraceful*

I The new handkerchief is naturally for : ornament — not use — and "looks pretty to take out when one is walking, just to wipe the lips or flick a httle imaginary dust off the face ' In the course of a pleasant paper on the contrasts presented by ancient and modern honeymoons. I notice that the I last shred of that old custom which Lad j upen the bride the pleasant privilege of providing the hou«e linen of her future I home has been relegated to the past. In old days she spun the linen in the long I vi inter evenings of her "spinster"' years: { but that was when the use of the loom i and diMilt" were a necessary part of every j girl's education. L.iter, when the sp.nmng J wheel became a thing of the past, prospecj tive girl brides still seamed and hemmed, embroidered and befri'led their household lmen and took pr ; de in its quality and I quantity. But the up-to-data br.de of our tunes knows and crres nothing of the plenishing of her future — flat ! Recent taste Las, however, abolished another item of mairiage etiquette, whose loss we can well dispense with— the exhibition of the br.de' s troiisseau — this once fashionable i custom being now considered utterly second- ' rate It the d-splav of weddmg presents could be likewise relegated to ob'ivion, one of the most objectionable features of modem wedding etiquette would meet a well-

deserved fate. In its present importance and ostentation, the display of -wedding presents has become vulgar and offensive, a 'function instead of a sentiment, a matter of social obligation instead of a proof of goodwill and affection — at least in my opinion. There was a certain pathetic old custom of which this httle article on "honeymoons" past and present reminds its readers. I, for one, had never heard of it before — the laying by of the wedding dress, to be fashioned in fulness of time into a shroud. It figured, be sure, in many a stately moment where the young bride was the cynosure of all eyes, gleamed in the mellow waxlights of many a grand dinner party and was soiled at "rout" and "kettledrum." But then 'twas unpicked, cleaned, and laid away in lavender for the last use its wearer, should make her wedding gown. You remember those lines of Tennyson's in THE LORD OF BI7RLEIGH. And he looked at her and said, " Bring the dress and put it on her, That she wore when she was wed." Then her people, softly treading, Bore to earth her body, drest In the dress that she was wed in, That her spirit might have rest. They always seemed to me so sweet, and had their root, it would seem, in old custom as well as poets' fancy. After brides, shall we, indeed, talk of common pjaces? Well, why not — what is more commonplace than marriage, unless, indeed, it be Death ! Let us then note the newest fashion in table decorations whicL obtained just before the death of our beloved Queen. It had been decided that scarlet was to be the favourite colour — carried out in flowers, centrepieces, and bonbonnieres, and gold (or its semblance) was to usurp the place of silver : at least on the tables of the wealthy. Silver plate is so inexpensive now, that in its modern form it has ceased to be desirable, and those who approve smartness before anything will endeavour, says a Home journal, to have little touches of gold in the shape of salt cellars, pepperettes, and mustard pots. Let us say adieu after that, le^t we echo the words of the preacher, "all is vanity, vanity, vanity." — Your attached EMMELINE.