LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2623, 22 June 1904, Page 66

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— The invariable kindness and consideration which King Edward and Queen Alexandra display towards the servants in the ,' royal palares is a matter of common know- ; kdse. A beautiful in/*:dei*t connected with the" death of the Duke of Cambridge lus ;iow become known. After the private ser- , vice in Gloucester House, before the body was removed to Westminster Abbey, the , private servants of the late Duke filed before ike King and Queen, who shook each by the hand, the King saying: "I thank you for your kindness to my uncle." — "I have been a most fortunate man,"' , King Edward to Mdl'.e. Vacaivsco one day when he wa« Prince of Wales — "heir to a great throne, and yet able to enjoy | liberty. I have an admirable mother, an ex- , quisit'e wife, and charming children ; a whole nation — nay, many nations in one — to love and please. I sometimes wonder how . I manage not to become selfish and hard- ! heaa^ted. Yet I pity misery and want, and , when I have seen an anxious and worried ! face I cannot sleep before I have inquired ' imo the cause of the poor creature's dis- , tress-. ... I wish you could see tlie Princes". She possesses a soul as perfect as her face, which you must know is very sweet and beautiful." Of Queen Alexandra, j Mddle. Vacaresco (in her newly -published j book, "Kings and Queens I Have Known"') J has many pleasing little anecdotes relating j to her charm as a hostess, her beautiful ami- j ability, her vivacity of speech, her simple, ( unconventional manners in home life. j 1 — Among the horticulturists of the peerage is Lord Dunraven's only surviving daughter, Lady Aileen Wyndhani Quin, i who has a wonderful violet farm at Adare j Manor, the family seat in Irtiland. Here in j the spring are to be seen acres of the . scented purple blossom*, which thrive in i the moist air, and give employment to many women and children on the estate. I — The Baroness Burdett-Coutts was 90 < years of age on Thursday, April 21. In many ways she is perhaps the most remarkable living Englishwoman. She is a . daughter of the famous reformer. Sir Francis Burdett, and succeeded under the will of '. her grandfather's widow, the Duchess of St. , Albans, to the fortune of her grandfather, Thomas Coutts, the banker. The , Baroness is one of the very few persons now I J alive who were present at the Coronation of j 1 Queen Victoria. More than 50 years ago j - she endowed the three colonial bishoprics j : . of Adelaide in Australia, Capetown in | . South Africa, and British Columbia- in [ Canada. She also enjoys-, among other dis- ; tinctions, the honour of being the only lady alive on whom has been conferred the j freedom of London and Edinburgh. — Prince Dhuleep Sing will find memories I of his father and the stirring Indian days ! . crowding thick upon him when he hears of ' the Hon. Agnes Maud Lawrence talcing her position in public life as a "co-opted" mem- ( ber of the Education Committee of the L.C.C. There is not nowadays much con- \ nection between the families of Dhuleep ' Singh and Lawrence, but there was in the * previous generation, if only from one fact. ' The world -fain ous Koh-i-Nooi- was the pro- ( perty of the. late Prince, and Lord Law- \ renoe once had it — and lost it ! It happened, \ of course, when the late Lord Lawrence was * in India, which he did so much to save for * Great Britain. In the days of terrible ' strain and anguish of the Mutiny, he had s charge of this stone, over whicli so much | 1 blood had been spilt, so many murders [ done, so nrucli unspeakable ciime com- c niitted 1 . It was to come to England as the , - Prince's present to the Queen. Suddenly it * disappeared, and aio man could say where s it had gone. For six w»:eks it was out of c sight, and a king's ransom could not pro- a chice it. Then, on,? day, six weeks after * the catastrophe, when turning out some t ashes from a cigar box which stood beside » his. bed, he found the stone in it. There f it had kin all the time. ! ' • — i Are womien's feet gelling bigger? c People are now bothering themselves about a tli£. increased size of women's feet, writ.es a t lady scribe. It sems that a decade since, I the average size in women's shoes was s threej five being considered unusually large, t and {i seven or an eight a monstrosity, t

tin!- tW i ,] v 0 sevens and eights— even iiine& — v, niiout bhuhing. The same sad tale is told oi £,l<m s In fact, the average giii of 1904 v>ouM find it n difficult problem to -near any prtide of apparel that fitted the giil of 1874. The Lady's Pictorial asks, ivith tear*, vbvre li is' to end. Will the girl of 1924 take ten* and elevens in. boots, and be unable to squeeze her gianb hand into the seven glov^ worn by her ancestress? The prospect is nlaiming, until we remember that Tve move round, not forward, and that the laws of take are for ever operating against the laws of give. In. ( 1874 women were sma/11-handed and small1 footed, because it was the fashion for them to u-se both hands and feet as little as possible. Now freedom is the rage. Buti the day of the "cribb'd, cabined," and imprisoned sex may come again. The delicate, languishing, fainting Amelias who tripped from birth to death may be waiting their passage on the whiiligig of time. — Lady Constance MacKenzie's nia;rria<*e was as unconventional as her previous career. Invitations to it were sent by telegraph from Tain, and not one relative was present when she gave her hand to Sir . jidward Stewart-Richardson, a tall ouipfc I officer in the Black Watch, who is nine roars oleter than ]us bride. She is a livoV . bmnettc, is the best amateur lady swimmer i at the Bsth Club, London, has ridden astride across Somaliland, and once, it is i said, ran attired as a sais behind her own carriage in Cairo. She has been the most j interesting girl since Mrs Asquith ceased ! to be Miss Margot Tennant. i — On the subject of Japanese fashions ; 'Fiances" writes in T.P.s Weekly: "I , don'tknow that we are not better off im our Western complexity of a milliner's shop than the Japanese belle in the Eastern simplicity which gives five hours up to a greasing and stiffening and manipulating of the hair into a symmetrical arrangement which needs a wooden pillow foi the> preservation of its artistic lines and its complicated pattern. True, the one dressing lasts for a week, but, then, even our advanced fashion guides do not insist that we should have more than one hat a month, and the adjustment of the most angular neuveaute does not take longer than a few minutes. No we need not ftel envious on learning that at the present moment the fashion for the belle of Tokio is to arrange her Lair in the form of a butterfly. When it comes to other details- of costume, however, the advantage &etms to go to Madame Chrysanthemum, for f-he stirs up covetousness in the hearts of hu- female Iriends simply by the gorgeorsness and the multiplicity of her sashes. A new .sas'.i lor her ;s the equivalent oi the latest Paris, confection for us. Her paper jacket-handkerchief, which never sees the light bub once, is also a catarrh prevention contrivance which has the merit both of simplicity and wisdom. Apropos of Madame Chrysanthemum seeking variety in a mere change of sash, I remember a girl who went right through the season at a tennis club with one navy blue serge gown. Though the club was one where the members went in for good dressing, and the girl was constantly in attendance, yet she never looked out of the picture ; on a miserably small dress allowance she always appeared trim, neat — even small. 1 often marvelled at the continual freshness of her appearance, for I knew the background, and when I discovered thesecret it was a lesson for all time in the importance of small details. Her serge gown, to begin with, was of good cut and' good quality, and she had a large supply of well-cut, home-made muslin and cotton shirts, but her success lay in .having belt, neck-tie, and hat-band to match, and having half-a-dozen sets of various colours, for I learned that two white sailor hats were all the head-gear that supplemented the navyblue gown for the season. She changed her hat-band every time she changed her tie — a little thing, yet it meant a. great deal where appearances and a small income had to be amalgamated. — The following items of intei - est to lady readers are contributed by the Glasgow lady; reporter to the Weekly Citizen of April 23 : According to the i.islnonable bootmaker, Lhe vogue in footgear for the coming season is represented by the pointed toe and highheeled shoe. 'lhe Cromwellian shoe of patent leather is already a good deal worn ; [tnd, for fine weather, suede shoes, in- paie :an colour and grey, are coining into favour. Frenchwomen are noted for their neat boots, which they prefer to shoes when wearing Lhe short skirt, at anyrate, and aome of th& new boots which hail from Paris have patent fronts, with uppers and buttoned portion of kid in black, white, or brown. — ■ Of laces introduced these last few years name is legion, and there seems no imit to the enterprise of the makers 1 . The latest novelty is lace dyed to correspond ivith the tint of costume worn, or blouses )f dyed lace, of the most delicately suggesive shades. There are some avlio are ready :o condemn painted lace as in questionable ;aste, but dyed lace is sudi a recent prolucbion that opinions as to its artistic merit jannot yet be surmised. The process of lyeing the Lice is said to be expensive, so hat the pi ice is somewhat prohibitive, and 'the general" are the less likely to invest n ifc. The new raised spotted lace is also »xtreme]y decorative, and exquisitely'emjroiderecl and painted laces have recently ippeared. For blouses, the value of these aces is limitless, and they promise to take m impoitant place among the- decorative tetails of the coming season's smart frocks. -Ribbons occupy an important share of the nilliner's attention. The new ribbons aie o soft and pliable, their colouring is so lelicate, and yet so effective, and one is mazed by the ingenious fancies produced iy the manufacturer. Rosettes may be (ought ready for use, also the daintiest leck-fitnients are made from the oldashioned chine and glace ribbons ; or those nth a f?l;n £.::ish in minivc. white, pink, v blua. The patterned sit in ribbons. ,n < wide width, are used for outspreading iows in millinery, and the pompadour nb>ons are to be much in evidence in t' c pring and summer. Tlkh-o are some no\ i_lles among ribbons in those of scft beaver exture, spotted or striped, the latter oFteu