LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Volume 14, Issue 2648, 14 December 1904, Page 65

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— During her stay in South Africa Princess Christian has been gathering up all the memories, and interviewing all the people who had any knowledge of Prince Christian Victor. And perhaps none of them has pleased her better than the testimony of a Boer woman, who hates the English, buy has a kindly memory of Queen grandson Her husband was one of the hardest fighters of the Boer Army, and one night the British troops invested this man's home, and, banishing the wife and children to an outbuilding, proceeded to make themselves as comfortable as might be in the house. Presently the woman came in to ask for an extr.i chair. But the officers were tired, and a little incensed by her hostile demeanour, and not one of" them would give up Ms seat. At length a quiet-looking young officer came foiward, saying politely, "Here is one for you, madam," and carried it outside for her. This was Prince Christian Victor, and he stayed chatting to the children, and, taking one. of the little girls on his kr.ee, persuaded her to sing him the Volkslied. But she drew the line at "God save the Queen."

— A Massachusetts woman, whose husband was trying to introduce an Americaa invention, found herself left alone in London by her husband's sudden death. She had 250<!ol after the funeral expenses ".-ere paid, and, rather than go home to the dependent, she resolved to seek fortune on the spot. For a time she cast about for a promising opening— some occupation foe which she was personally fitted, and which would pay her enough to live on. At length the chance remark of a fellow countryman gave her an idea. She sent most of her money to the- United States to pay for a supply of beans and cranberries, set up a cookstovc in hei room, and mailed cards to American residents in London, stating that after a certain date she would supply°them ■nitli baked beans and brown bread on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and cranberry pies every day.

Orders came before she was fairly ready. She supplied food that "tasted like home." In three months she moved to larger quariers and employed five assistants, and at the end of a year she opened a legular shop, where she sold not only beans and cranberry pies, but every American thing the exile longs for, from shoes to confectionery, not omitting ice cream soda, which had been unknown in London. She is now a rich woman.

— The New England pivss is continually " pulling the Chicago leg " and magnifying the Chicago foot. Lately, for instance^ there has been much indignation ainoncr the maidens of Chicago, who are noted all°over the .States for many pronounced qualities ot which Chicago is very pioud, because a Boston paper has declared that they habitually talk slang and make use of such expressions as " getting left, "' " coralled a handkerchief, "' and "put hi his best ticks. "' A Chicago reporter called upon a representative young lady of this city for a refutation, of the calumny, and he got it. " This is a fish story," said the young ladjr indignantly ; " the fellow who wrote it is way off tis base. There may be some of us who sling slang, but I never woik the slan^ i.'ickel mrsplf. We can discount Boston on beauty, and as for accomplishments, why tint's where we hold a full hand. Take me, for example — I ran paw the ivory, I can warble a few wavbs, and I can elocute. Boston girls have just got to hustle to kec:> even with us, and don't you. forget it !" —In certain parts of Holland, when a young man thinks he- loves a girl, lie asks

her for a match to light his cigar at the door of the beloved one's home. This is donu to let the parents know that something is intended, and if the visit is repeated and the same thing occurs, no doubt is left in the minds of the girl's parents, and they immediately proceed to investigate the 3'oung man's character and antecedents. When he calls the third time they are prepared to give him an answer. If his suit is looked upon favourably, he is foi- the firsb time invited in.side and given a match. If refused, he produces his own match, lights his cigar, and walks away. If a favourable answer is given, he steps forward and joins hands with the girl. - While the engagement is by no means a settled faefcv even at this important stage, it is stated as a truth that if on the occasion of the young man's third visit his inamorata offers him a second cigar and he smokes it in the house the engagement is never cancelled.

— The education of the modern- schoolgirl is all in the direction of teaching her self-reliance. The aim to-day is to cultivate the spirit of initiative, and to teach girls to think. In all the best schools responsibility is. given to the girls, certain of whom occasionally take charge of the class-, and in boarding schools girls have charge of the dormitories, and are responsible for the behaviour of the other girls. In certain, schools in Glasgow magazines have been introduced, and the editor, one of the older girls, makes it her business to obtain contributions of stories nnd articles from all who are in any way under hei influence. Ths girls are encouraged to express their views on special subjects. Many a girl discovers that she is able to write through the magazine, and makes a choice of her future profession when still at school. In America they have introduced a novel practice in some schools. Every day, at a stated hour, a certain number of girls are made to lecture to the class, me on the latest home or foreign news, another on 'history or literature, and so on. There is a discussion afterwards, and the girls are in this way taught, to express themselves clearly and with confidence. It may be said by some that "selfreliance is all very well, but that the modern, school-giil has it in abundauce without special teaching. The tenclencj- these limes is raiher towards s?lfassertion on the" part of our sex, but girls nowadays really require to be thoroughly self-reliant and stlf-confident if they ara left to make their own way in the woild, and are obliged to woik fov themselves. — Glasgow lady reporter of the Weekly Citizen. — The use of strawberries for the complexion, advocated recently in a lady's paper, is not uew. It is a very old remedy, well known to om grandmothers. The fm'ib was used habitually by thorn for the teetb. and skin, just as lemon juice and cream, cucumbeis and buttermilk were constantly. These simple remedies for tan, sunburn or freckles are really far more efficacious and far cheaper than all the expensive nostrums even, now be appreciated in spring. The h;tir waf-hes so complacently miffed now are -often only the familiar rosemary and herbal washes of the lady's still-room ;. while tho merits of the curds and whey, the buttermilk, the camomile tea, the elder tea, the cowslip wine, and home-made cider., so sought after by our ancestresses, may oven now 'be appreciated in Spring. The constant use of home-made cold cream, of sage leaves to clean the teeth, of lavender and rose leaves to lie among the linen, proves

that the scrupulous care of the healths and complexion and the,, delicate love of perfumes are/ indeed, . no 'hew thing. "Our mothers rated the value of their complexions Bo highly that they -would never even have suffered bought ond - perhaps adulterated cosmetics to enter their dressing-rooms.— I^mdon. Graphic.

— There are many to rejoice over the birth of a son to the Czar, but no me is more jubilant than the old English nurse of the Czaiina, who lives at the Russian Court, and is in her way quite a personage— "Miss Orchard." The late Princess Alice of ■Hesse, before the birth of her first child, wrote to Queen Victoria and; begged of her to procure her an English nurse. The, Queen jsent the homely and respectable Orchardson, who in time became the chosen confidante of Princess Alice, and was always addressed hy her as "Orchie.". The Czarina, in the kindness of "her heart-, when she married refused to leave her old nurse -behind her at Darmstadt, and insisted on her accompanying- her to St. Petersburg. English fcursss are in great request in all royal nurBeries. The Kaiser's boys have been brought up by English nurses and governesses, and the Kaiser himself and -his brother Henry owe "their .fluency, in ouv language and tiheir.love of cold-tubbing to then.' nurse "Hobhes," to whom the Emperor and Em, (press were "much attached, and whe frequently reminded their sons in after-life 3io"w_ great was their debt of gratitude to ber for -all the good things she had taught them. The, Dutch Queen studied under an English governess ; so did the- King of Spain; whilst the King of Italy's pretty little girls, as also the Czar's quartette of daughters, have English nurses and goyer-Besses.-^Westminster Budget.

— Fashion in the colour of hair is ..mutable, . as are o^er fashions, but while it lasts it assertsj§self strongly. Auburn hair, golden hair, even locks of carrot red, have, been greatly admired for several years past — in fact, ever since the pre-Raphaelite painters brought them into favour, and Rossetti and . Burne-Jones depicted weird mysterious-looking damsels with a wealth of ruddy hair. Previous to that, raven tresses were sung by the poets and lauded by the novelists, red locks being considered a real misfortune to their possessors. In the days of Queen Bess, fair hair, was ■esteemed because that high and mighty sovereign was crowned with sandy curls, which, when sprinkled with gold dust, did "shin 9 resplendent." Marie Stuart, although not a blonde, wore an auburn wig, we are told, even at her execution.

— How old- are you? The adage says that -women are as old as they look and men as old as they feel, fhat is' Avrong. _ Adrian and. woman are as old as they take 'themselves to be. Growing old is largely a 'habit of mind. "As a man thinketh in Ids heart, so is he." If he begins shortly after middle ago- to imagine himself growing old, he wSfbe old. To keep oneself from decrepitude is somewhat a. matter of will power. The fates are kind to the man who hangs on to. life with both hands. He who lets go will go. Death is slow only to- tackle the tenacious. Ponce de Leon searched in the wrong place for the fountain of youth. It is in one's self. One must keep oneself young inside ; so that while "the outer man perisheth the inner man is renewed day by day." When the human mind ceases to exert itself, when there is no longer an active interest in the affairs of this life, when the human stops reading and thinking and doing, the man, like a blasted tree, begins to die at the top. You are as old as yon think you are. Keep the^harness on. Your job is not done.

— When th-3 Dutehess of Devonshire is entertaining, she literally makes it business to anticipate the wants of every one under her roof. She is a contrast to the Duke, who, if his appearance were not so familiar, would not often be recognised as host. In a crowded reception room he likes to retire into a, corner, and talk quietly to a special choim. The Duchess is in her element when the house is full of people ; the Duke is not.

— Apropos of flower names now given to the up-to-date baby, it is a fashion that has been revived with additions, for on quite

aacient monuments and tombstones one finds such names as Rue, Pansy, Lavender,

Eglantine, Marjoram, Sorrel, Briar, Pimpernel, Saffron, Prunella, Hyacinth, and Laurel, and, of course, Rose, Lily, and Margaret, besides several others. Rosemary, the quaint name which the Duchess pf Sutherland chose for her daughter, was also popular in olden days. Rosemary means "Spray of the Sea" — "Rosee de Mer," — because it grows luxuriantly on certain sandhills along the French coast ; and it was partly her love for the sea that made the Duchess of

Sutherland take the fancy to give this name to her little girl. — Just as American leaders of fashion were

beginning to swathe their heads in veil

upon veil as a reaction against the bareheaded custom, which, having been adopted by the country boarder and the seaside ' "tripper," had become quite too common for them to follow, English society was adopting the fallen transatlantic custom and discarding its headgear. An English magazine comments on this phenomenon. At the seaside resorts, it seems, the number of bare heads last summer was "very | noticeable." Previously the practice of j going about hatless was confined almost • exclusively to persons of the "superior" 1 classes, it seems, "the lower, middle, and working classes seeming to regard headgear of eccentric character as an essential part of holiday attire. But it is remarkable," it goes on to saj r , "how many young men of the 'varsity stamp and their sisters are to be seen just now with bare heads. A ■ correspondent writes that at one favourite

resort even the matrons do all their shopping without hats, and the girls have adopted a style of coiffure for the morning which enables them to defy wind and give their Lair the benefit of a good blow." —It is curious how many people have sought relaxation in caravan life this summer (remarks a Home paper). Old hands at it have for long proclaimed its delights to all and sundry, but we have heard of the most unlikely people who have followed their example. A lady not far from her eightieth birthdny spent a fortnight in a gipsy carl nvcntly, jogging along the •st.cop roads of I'ortli.shirc. Certainly it wits .'in excellent <-nrt, Bft lonj^, ml fully sft AviiU 1 . l(, had « tilted roof and muslin curiums In tho windows ; and Uio shelves 1 , whioh wci'o I>ikln by nights nnd table and si\'its hy tiny, wcio ln\tifimiM with pmldrrl velvet mu\ bright- I •push-- hinged brackets, lint f«» » Italy of fuur-scoiv to f(w:n days of jolting ;m<l nigtil.-i of inicerUiin anchorage, with all llio vagaries of commissariat, and of cooking, was plucky, to say tho least of it. Caravanning must possess nmny of the virtues cl.timod for it, since our aged friend lvturncd to the bosom of her anxious family in splendid health and spirits. She had not enjoyed a holiday like it for years ! Well as she thought she knew Perthshire, only now has she gained a real idea of its beauties. Houses may be comfortable, even needful in winter, but for long sunny day and glorious starry nights there is nothing in the world so delightful to dwell in as a gipsy caravan.