LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2604, 10 February 1904, Page 62

LADIES ' GOSSIP.

— A lady who has visited the United States gave some interesting impressions of American girls. "Although," said she, "they seem to lack the fresh complexions of English girls, ihej have some mental qualities well worth imitation. For one thing, they do not regard every bachelor they meet as a possible lover ; nor, even if they are poor, do Ijkey look upon marriage as the only way of acquiring independence. They are self-poised and resourceful, a"d the way in which many of them meet and conquer adverse conditions singlehanded is marvellous. As a consequence, it is very rare to find an American girl entering the marriage state without due deliberation. She has not the British girl's dread of becoming an old maid ; and, moreover, she always has plenty of men friends, and acquires a knowledge of masculine ways that greatly aids her choice when she at last decides upon matrimony. As a wife she i& a real helpmeet to her husband, taking an intelligent interest in his business affairs — so much so, indeed, that when the husband becomes incapacitated from any caiise, sEie is sometimes able to assume the management herself."

— " No one says ' ladies ' or ' gentlemen ' nowadays, Sarah," said Aunt Betty Modish to her country-bred niece, whom &ne was endeavouring to "form" on the approved lines of the fashionable type of her world, before presenting her to society. "We are men and women now, Dieu merci ! And it sound like a servant to speak of people in any oltier way. And for heaven's sake, child," continued her up-to-date mentor, "never let me hear you use tltat dreadful word ' genteel ' again. I heard you say that something looked ' genteel and ladylike' yesterday, and I nearly fainted." "Gran,"' who was knitting a fleecy mass of white Shetland wool into soft, dainty little baby's garments, looked up quizzically. "Yes, Sarah," she said, '"it is quite true ; there are no ladies, in the old acceptance of the term, left in these modern times. They are like old lace and lavender, and belong to a bygone age. The delicacy and refinement, the purity of speech and monners, the sweet primness which laid an embargo on over-free speech, the dignity of demeanour, and the graciousness of courteous deportment which we used to consider indicative of a ' lady ' are all oldfashioned, and, of course, must not ba cultivated. The gentlemen, too, as your Aunt BetLy says, have disappeared. Chiralry is quite obsolete, courtly manners are considered ridiculous, and I do not think that Tom, Dick, and Harry, whom you will meet when you go out, need fear to have the old-time appellation ajDplied to them."' Betty Modish laughed goodnatuvedly. "Jlother is severe*" she said.

"but I darcwy she is ri^ht. Scoictj 1 - lost, a good deal and rather lowered her standard when she eliminated the title of lady and g^ntiemnn ; but, ell the same, you have to be in the f-i^Ciion."

— Sunderland House, as the Duke and Duchess of Mailborough have decided to style their London residence, will certainly be for many a day to come, it is stated^ tho most splondid of twentieth-century m. .isions. The Duke, who seems to have inherited some of his father's great artistic taste, is himself superintending the arrangement of a.ll the fital reception rooms, and also of iCie pretty smaller apartments in which he pnd his charming A^& rican Duche&s will spend that part oi their leisure when they are not entertaining their friends. Cne beautiful feoiure of Sundeiiand House is the panelling of the rooms, which is in some cases of rare woods, in others of plain silks, or. again, of lich brocades specially for the purpose. Much of the furniture is French.

— The famous young novelet and editor, Mr Max Pemberton, whose latest published book, "Dr Bavier," is one of those romances of necromancy in \* Inch the twentieth century so greatly delights, has in his wife one of the mosv charming and sympathetic feminine personalities in the literary world. Mrs Pemberton was a Miss Tussand, and she has much of the French grace and charm, as well as the personal beauty, which Avere so marked in her famous greut-grandmother, the Madame Tussaud who, after having been attached to the household of Marie Antoinette, took refuge in England, and founded the great waxworks, which still bear her name. ivEr and Mrs Max Pembertor have a delightful hcuse at Hampstead. and a country pi ms where their many children can run wiM, and enjoy healthy pursuits to their hearts' content. Unlike the wives o.f so many modern novelists Mrs Pemberton has never cared to write hereelf, but she is a keen and intelligent critic of her distingxiished husband's work. — Sketch.

— ~Slr H. B. Marrioit-Watson writes, in the Nineteenth Century, on what he describes as "The Deleterious Effect of AniiSiicanisation. of Women." The American woman, he says, is a product partly of racial modification and partly of the social conditions of the commercial age. We have many opportunities of studying the American woman, for she has undertaken to annex as much of Europe as is practicable, and 1 has succeeded very fairly. A little time back some enthusiastic journal in New York was at the pains to compile a list of American women who had married net Europeans merely, but Europeans with titles. The large majority of thesei ladies were confessedly wealthy, and it would be absurd to ignoie the obvious bargain upon which many such matches are based — on the one side mon?y_, on the other influence or position. It is considered by the tasteof the day quits a creditable thing that some pork-packer's dollars from Chicago should buy a coronet in Mayfair. The American woman is claimed by her admirers as being independent. But she is more than that — .she is anarchical. The State has been built upon certain sociological facts as foundation } the American woman is destroying these, and with tliern, therefore, tha structure of the State as it exists now. The evidences that American women are deliberately turning their backs on natural laws have accumulated of recent years. It would seem that while the American man unnaturally devotes all his days to money-making, the American woman as unnaturally devotes her d-iys to jileasure. Whereas the savage woman acted as beast of burden to her lord, the Amer.can man woiks like the beast of burden beside his triumphing lady.

— The romantic story of 'Mr Balfour's one heart attachment is recalled by the appointment of Alfred Lyttelton to the Colonial Secretaryship. Thirty year's ago Mr Baifcur was in loto with the Hon. Mary Lyttelton, Alfred's youngest sister She was clever, cuUivatedj and charming, but delicate, and died in 1875 when only 18. Arthui Balfour was inconsolable, and the story is told that he entered the death chamber, removed his ring, and placed it on hei wedding fingei, pledging himself forever to his dead love. He has always remained a close friend of Alfred Lyttelton, who several years later married Laura Tennant, the eldest sister of "MargoP Tennant, who is now Mrs Herbert Asquith and the original of Benson's "Dodo." Laura Tennant, a remarkably brilliant, fascinating girl, attracted all the intellectual men and women of "smart"' society in her day, but she, too, died a few years after her marriage. The devotion between Laura and "Mai-got" 1 was intense, ana -^c latter was terribly stricken by the bereavement. — A romantic story is told of the Right Hon. Sir Samuel Way, the Australian. Chief Juctice and statesman. In the early days of his struggle and poverty at the Australian Bar he lost his heart to a young lady who was little more than a child ; but with characteristic modesty and thought for her he never told his love, and she married another. But the embryo Chief Justice remained loyal to his first ant! only love, and when, 40 years later, she became a widow, he proposed to her and made her his wife; and it was in her honour that, a year later, he accepted a baronetcy, after declining a title probably oft-ener t'Ean any man living. --In opening an Indian exhibition, on behalf of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, the Duchess of Somerset performed a task which to some extent was after her own heart. Her Grace takes the keenest intere&t in any movement for the relief of the sick, whether in the medical or nursing department. She was one of the leading spirits in securing the £60,000 contributed last year by the women of England as a memorial to Queen Victoria, and she does not mind how much trouble she gives herself to serve the oause which she desires to benefit. But it has been by no means an easy matter to her to become prominent in public. She is naturally exceedingly retiring, speaks in low tones with considerable diffidence, and very briefly. Her dress is as unassuming as

her demeanour ; so unassuming, in fret, that at an. important meeting, v. hen Viie was quietly making her way on to the phtfoim, a" busy official barred her paesnje and said briskly, "Not th'.s way, please. Thtre is plonty of room in the hall." Her tinva, remonstrance, "I thought the speakers h-id to sit here," was overheaid bj a friend, who, with ready tact, observed to the orh'eial, "I think there is room for the Duchess of Somerset next to me." That official wished that he had not ppoken.

— A Dutch v edclmg is a curious contrast to an English one. Ir Holland the wedding party encei.% the cLurch two and two, the procession being headed by the bride and bridegroom. Foiins aie anvnged in a semicircle round the pulpit, and there the young people with their friends and relatives seat themselves The ceremony consist of the rencung of a portion of Scripture and a long admonition to the bride aid bridegioom, delivered extempore by the black-gow ned minister. The prayers are sa.t through like the letb of the service, for it is against Calvinistic custom to kneel to pray. At the close of the service Bibles are presented to th 9 young couple and to certain of their relatives. Then the marriage is registered. This free distribution of Bb'es, which is made by the State, accounts for the very small s.ile there is for the Holy Scriptures in Holland.

— A Iriend of mine («ays "Kathleen," in Leeds Mercury) tells me how an American gul of ht-T acquaintance, taking an idea from the London Lody Guides' Association, found that a good many country ladies come to Xew York in the course of the j-ear, and want someone "to direct them obout the city. So the young lady of whom I speak got some cards printed, in the corners of which was the statement that Mi*s Blank was prepared to personally conduct ladies visiting New York to places of amusement, on shopping tours, or sightseeing generally. Briefly, she has been so successful in procuring the patronage of such ladies that her income now is between three or tour thousand dollars a year, and added to this are substantial commissions from the shops to which she escorts wealthy customers. * A feminine courier of this kind seems a very useful innovation.

— A young woman who makes her living by singing into phonographs talked the other day about her task. "In this work," slie said, "there is one great difficulty, and that is the absence of an audience. When a singer comes out before a big audience to sing, the sight of all those persons is frightening to hei, but at the same time it is inspiring ; it keys her up ; it takes her out, of herself and beyond herself. She doe -s better than she would have thought it prfsible to do. Singing into a phonograpn is hard because there is nothing there to inspire and intoxicate you. Instead of a hou.«e of people eager to be pleased, you have an empty room and a .big cylinder. Hence you feel dull and dumpy. You cannot put into youi voice the brilliance, the exhilaration, and the sympathy that come of themselves when there are human ears listening and understanding. Some of the best singers cannot sing into the phonogiaph at all solely on this account. Others cannot sing into it unless they have taken a glass or two of champagne. I, with hard work, have managed to pioduce my voice et its best for the machine just as I do on the stage, but in this I am singular. The persons who can sing into phonographs so as to do themselves justice are few and far between." — Queen Alexandra is nevei in the van of fashion, and women, who rush to extremes, and adopt each new idea as it comes alonj, consider that her Majesty is quite behind the times. Undoubtedly, so far as being a slave to modes is concerned, but how "is it that, at least at Court and at all grea. functions that she graces with her presence, the Queen stands pre-eminent as the great figure of the occasion — not only queenly, but also beautiful? Dress is a great consideration to her — it is quite a mistake to suppose otherwise, bu' she dress?& from an individual point of view, knowing well what suits her, and understanding how to modify and adapt fashions. In day dress the Queen is always very quiet in her taste, and we are never unfamiliarised with her appeal ance by any sudden change in style. Her Majesty is, however, very womanly in her love of pretty things and very tasteful in her choice of them.

— Even as the best tea never leaves China, &o the finest sables never leave Russia. The skins bought by the traders from the trappers aie carefully picked over under official supervision. The most- perfect pelts are assigned to the Czai. the second best are set aside for the Grand Dukes, and the lemainder are put on the market, the third best, as a rule, finding theii way to Austria and France. America, is mainly content witb Canadian sable, a fur somewhat lighter in colour and less deep in texture. The Czarina, os might be expected, possesses trhe most splendid sable cloaks in the world, though they might perhaps be equalled by those of her mother-in-law. Queen Alexandra prefeis chinchilla to sable.