LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 67

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— There was an incident during the beautiful and stately ceremonies of the Queen's funeral that touched Highlander profoundly, although it passed before southern eyes without showing its true significance In the fai North it is the custom for the nearest of kin or the first among the clansmen to have the honour of removing the coffined corpse of a chief to the bier on which it is to be borne to the tomb. There i« a Gaelic word, meaning "the first lift,"' which is used to describe this special part of the burial rites. It will be remembered that her Majesty's Highland servants and ghilhes lifted her coffin, bore it across the threshold of her home, and placed it on the gun carnage that was to convey it on the first stage of its long journey. All the world read thai in the published reports, or pored over the pictures which represented the scene in the illustrated papers. Yet scarcely anyone south of the Forth understood the full significance of the thing. It wa-. by the express orrleis of the King that the Highlanders were allotted this part in that pageant which w<>« at once so simple and ,"T impressive. Hundicds of Highland hearts beat fast with a soirowful pride when they knew that Highland hands hod had "first lift of the coffin which contained all that ■nas earthly of the dear liege lady who was to them as truly Queen of Scots #s *he was Queen of England. King Edward -could have done no more kindly or sympathetic nor one that could have touched Deeside more nerjrlv.

— The Duke of Abercorn, who, as Ambassador Extraordinary of the Court of St. James, has been leceived with signal honour at St. Petersburg and Ber'in. i« the head of the House of Hamilton. HisXtrace enjoys, in addition to several olhei ihiique privileges, that of being one of the only two British nobles nho po»«ess distinct peeiages in the thiee kingdoms, and he is in France Due de C'hateiherault. The Duke and Duchess of Abercorn have long been on terms of intimate friendship with King Edward and Queen Alexandra. His Majesty, as Prince of Wales, stood sponsor to the Marquis of Hamilton, and Lady Alexandra Hamilton is one of her Majesty's prettiest god-daughter*. Of the Duke's sisters, the Duchess of Buccleuch has bsen four times Mistress of the Robes, and is now seiving her Majesty in that capacity ; Lady Lansdowne has done good work on behalf of the wives and families of those officers who have spent so many weary months at "the front": and Lady Blandford, the mother of the Duke of Marlborough, is one of the most chaiming of the great ladies who are jirobably destined to occupy important positions about the Court.

— A school exists in the city of Bangkok, the capital of Siam, in ■which a'l the pupil* are princesses. The school X kept by an English lady, who has about 15 weekly boarclers, all belonging to the royal family of Suan. They return to their ie«pective palaces on Friday afternoons, and are back again for school early on the following Monday morning. The pupils are all princesses, and their rank is the only qualification it possesses for being called a high school. Beyond reading, writing, and rou&i \ the school is devoted to domestic teaching. The royal schoLu* delight to cook, scrub, and dust. A teacher show s them how to wa-h clothes, goffer, and clear starch. Each pupil in tuin undertakes to cook the school meals, othtrs lay the table, ariange the fiowei>. and write the menu". Ereiything connected with the table is done in English or French fashion, but. like most Oriental", they hate sitting on chairs. These pupils are giadually introducing the customs and cui-ine of civilisation at the Siamese Court. The pupils jange in age fiom 10 to 15, and their clever little fingers aie expert at every branch of domestic woik.

• — "The rruM wonderful woman in the woild except my mother," is the descuption "aid to have been given by the King ot the Baroness Buidett-Uoutts, who has ii.st leached her eighty-sixth birthday. The Barone.-s surely deserves this de&oription. In the year of Queen Victoria's accession she became pos^e^sed of £1,800,000. and since then it is estimated that at least a million of tin.-, fortune lips been spent in chaiity. Tv%o private secretaries dre kept bus>y by the Baioness, viho uoiks as hard as eithei of them. StiU fre^h in her mind aie the adventures she and Chai'.es Dickens had togfcthei in the East End of London

— For lithly-doweied bride*. America hold's the palm The Pi'cl'e^ of Marlborough biought a foitune of £2.000.000 to her husband, but even this sum v a.-, exceeded by hex coumd, who manipJ Mr

Moses Taylor, and brought him a dowTy of £4.000,000. New York people calculated that Mr ' and Mrs Taylor started married life with a joint capital of £8,000,000. Another great union of wealth was the marrying of Miss Gertrude Vanderbilt to MiHenry Whitney last year. Then joint fortunes amount to £12,000,000.

— The Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, who has just been nursed back to health after a serious illness by her mother. Countess Lonyaj'- (formerly Archduchess Stephanie), is an extremely wealthy young lady, even for a princess. She is devoted to athletics. After the tragic death of the Crown Prince Rudolph, his widow took long mountaineering expeditions, being generally accompanied by her young daughter, to whom she is devoted'y attached.

— Queen Alexandra was not included in the first census of her husband's leign. She was at the time in Denmark. It will be the first census for, at any rate, 60 yeais in which the Queen of England has not figured. Queen Victoria was not once out of the kingdom in census week. —It is not generally realised that the three daughters of the King and Queen .ire no longer Piincesses of Wale". Ihey aie each entitled to the designation "Princess of Great Britain and li eland." and so in future they \\i\\ sign themselves on great occasions. " The Empress Frederick still delights to recall the fact that phe is the Princess Royal, and all her sisters have always added the significant -six words in question when endorsing State or other documents.

— "The Queen Regent of Spain,"' writes a correspondent of Modem (Society, "is, I hear on the point of retiring from public life. A Bavarian lady. a fiiend of hers, who i-aw her a few days ago. told me that poor, exhausted Maiia Christina, appeared to her to be like a human being wh/^siter huvmg lor.jht for years agamsT'""mdoniitable bad luck, suddenly lets everything go. and feels a'.mo"t happy — in a woid, like an aristocratic dcs- ; perado. j "As a mattei of fact, few people know what terrible and pathetic scenes took place in the Palace of Madrid before the marriage of the Infanta Mercedes to the son of the Comte de Caserta. For mother and daughter .scarcely spoke to each other, and once the Infanta went so far as to shut herself up in her room 5 -, remaining there for 4S hours, and refusing to unlock the door. At last the Queen, great h exasperated, forced it open, and the two ladio found themselves facing each other with flashing eves. A tender reconciliation, however, took place on the spot, but on the morrow, after her daily iiiteiview with her Prims Minister, the Quean changed her mind again, and all had to begin ai'ievh. "During tins painful time, the young King, who as 15 yeais old in Miy, astonished everybody by his clearsightedness and the curious notions lie seems to en- , tertain about the duties of a Sovereign. One day, after an unpleasant discussion. h ; s s-i"ter, with tears streaming down her cheeks, exclaimed, ' So I cannot be happy like a simple peasant girl. Why on eaifcb wa"3 I born a Princess in thi-s ocliou* country?' On hearing these words the boy King flushed up, and, to the astonishment of all present, said, ' I do not know indeed by you were born a Princes? of Spain, for you are not woithy of the honour. But you are a Pimce--s of Spam, and there is no help for it. Fuilhei'more, you may one clay be the Queen of this "odious country," as you call our ve/.m. and this, pio'-pect is grand enough for you to put ( aside all your love nonsense. If God al- ! lows me to reign I slia'l marry the Princess -whom my subjects and my Minister wi-h me to, even if I do not like her, and I shall be true to her. though I may happen to love another lady ! ' j

' Then he sat down, his eyes full of tears, for, though he has shown himself more than once a very strong-minded little fellow, it is evident that his nerves are weak and easily shaken. However, this brotherly admonition had but little effect on Mercedes, who, as we know, gained her point and married her ' Prince Charmant.' " — The " Faiisienne, ' the statue ■nhii-h adorned the Poite Monumentale ac the Pans Exhibition, has been purchased for the sum of eight thousand francs by a Hungarian magnate, who intends erecting it in the park of his country "eat near Budapest. — Princess Beatrice of Coburg, the youngest daughter of the late Duke, has been more often married by rumour than any Prmoess in Europe-. This probably ari~.es out of the fact tint her mothei has the reputation of being a great njatchmaker, and, moreover, is a great believer in early marriages, especially when it is a ca^e of a Princess having to marry a foreigner, her idea being that the younger she enters into her new duties and while her views are yet unformed, the better. The latest fiance assigned to Princess Beatrice is the Giand Duke, of Saxe-Weima'\ but the announcement lias been officially contradicted.

- — The younge«t member of the family the bright particular star of which is the German Emperor is the Princess Margaret Beatrice, -who was married eiclit years ago to Prince Frcdeiic Charles of Hesse. Her Imperial Highness, who was bom on April 22, 1872, was 29 this year, so that she is 13 years younger than her illustrious brother.

— The whole of the valuable art trea«urps of the famous Comte«se de C'astighone, -who died late'y in Paris, aie lo be sold shortly. These are spread over five distinct residences, and include a m-u'vellous col'eclion of antique fail", p ctiues. lace, furs, china, and piecious «-tone". She peail necklace ■uorn by the C'omcesse at 1 lie Tuilerie*' during Napoleon's reien is valued at a quarter of v. indium o r haius

— Every fashionable woman h.i« now a tiny tov-dosr. which she ii"iiallv wines about with her under hti aim. Theie sm^ll anima's have taken the place of the <h\arts, mo^kevf, find sp.inie's of the fine lddiex of past centime*. They cost a great deal of monny. and are generally very il!-tem-ptred. One wonders- what the Lidie 1 ' m-i'd* and footmen, who-.e biiMne<s« it is to look aftei the.-t po"i- little darhnus when their owneis cannot hive them with them,

think of the new ciaze. I know people who never visit in country houses where their dogs are not invited. — Lady Violet Greville, in the Graphic.

— The little Duke of Leinster is in his early teens. He was six years old when, he succeeded" his father, the fifth Duke ; and at eight years of age lost his mother — ■ the beautiful Lady Hermione Duncombe of earlier days. The young Duke spends much of his time in England with his grand parents. Lord and Lady Faversham, and nis lovely aunt, Lady Ulrica Duncombe, whose name has been coupled lately with that of the new Bishop of London.

— Maiie Roze the other day showed two vfiy curious and contrasted souvenirs of her career as a star. One was a sort of illuminated testimonial from a convict in Auburn Prison, America, where she had the kindness to sing for the benefit of the assembled prisoneis. Mnje. Marie Roze said. it was a strangely mcvirg experience, and s-he prizes the memento. A visitor remarked that the "testimonial was well done. "Yes," said the puma donna, "he fias a forger and note engraver ! " The other souvenir was the programme printed on satin of the songs Mnne Roze sang to the late Queen at Windsor. She says that the Queen her"elf sang well, and that she was a very good ji\dge of music.

—As the wife of one of our most distinguished diplomatics, Lady Dufferin has seen life in many parts of the globe. She has been Yice-Reine of Canada and India, and Ambassadress in Russia, Turkey, Italy, and France, and in all the^e countries she has been deservedly popular, her beauty and charm of manner winning her hosts of fiiends. H a r experiences abroad, in an. official capacity, have been recounted by the Marchioness in three books which have come fiom her pen. One of these is entitled " Our Tk-e-regal Life in India.'' another " My Canadian Journal," and the th'rd is a rectrd of three years' medical work in India. The eldest son of the Marquis and Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava was killed in the South African war, at Ladysmith, in the beginning of last year. The Earl of Ava was one of the finest-looking young fellows in the army. He was exceedingly popular in England, and also in- Paris, and his early death caused profound grief, not only to his parents, but to his troops of friends on both sides of the Channel

—It is all very well for German doctor 1 ? to maintain and prove to the hilt that lrarriage is more conducive to longevity than celibacy ; but this will not hhpe ] p women to find the means of thus lengthel ing their days-, nor will it aid young men of insufficient income to sin mount the barrier which keeps them back fiom the altar. Indeed, it must be extri tantalising to learn that marriage and longevity are more often associated than old age and single b'essedncss-. Matrimony i« an "elixir vitae" that i.s certainly not within the reach of all : and it looks as if there were less and. less desire, even on the part of those who can avail themselves of it, to make the experiment, for it is more and more apparent that the .average age of both brides and bridegrooms is higher than foimerly. — ■ Lady's Pictorial.