LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2654, 25 January 1905, Page 65

LADIES' GOSSIP.

_— A lad}' who is regarded as an authority on matrimonial affairs declared that an only daughter nearly always made an admirable wife. "In the first place."' said she, "the mother of an only daughter can take pains with her tiaining and concentrate upon her all the care and attention that otherwise would be distributed amongst several children. Phen, an onlyi daughter is generally sweet-tempered. She has no sisters to quarrel with and go boys % to make her hoydenish. She is llEely to be simple m her tastes and thrifty. The girl who is extravagant in dress is usually one of a family of girls where each, sister tries to outshine the other. The friends ofi

$uch a girl are not always unexceptionable ; hut in -the case of an only daughter the parents see to it that her companions are above suspicion. Another advantage of marrying an only daughter is that the hus■band is never jjgprdened with the troubles - of his wife's brothers and sisters, like the anan who marries into a family with numerous members." ! — Mrs Farquharson, 1 of Haughton, •F.R.M.S., whose efforts to get women ad- l knitted to the learned societies have at last Jteen successful in the capitulation of the SLinnaean Society, is the daughter of the late BTev. Nicholas Ridley (a member of the ( iioble house of Ridley), and widow of the ' fate Robert F ; 0. Farquharson, D.L., J.P. She is well known as a botanist and writer »f a clever little work on British ferns. -,-Jn 1885 she ;was asked to become one of , ' the first lady Fellqws of the Hoyal Micro- j seopical Society, though the absurd sex ( Carrier, which she has even since worked '■,£0 get removed, prevented her from attendan<*" the meetings of the .society. She lives In a charming place in Aberdeenshire, the \ house built on the top of a'high. hill, from' jtrhich /"it takps its name; "Tillydrine" i (Gaelic, "The Hill of the Beautiful View"), \ commanding wonderful views over Deeside. | — Miss. Helen M. Gould, one of the J leaders of New York society, gives a party ( iach season for the express purpose of view- j Ing the flowering of the night-blooming ] "cereus, one of the rarest of plants. As many as a hundred buds have blossomed in a. single night at her country home, j Gould expends £10,000 a year on the hpkeep- of her flowers and plants, j " Her orchids are the rarest money-can pro- , ". duce, and the collection of chrysanthemums ( include specimens which cannot be' duplicated anywhere. Her gardener is as highly }>aid as are chefs employed by royalty. Some of our society grandmothers are 50 youthful (says the Lady's Home Maga- j iine) that the venerable title sits quaintly ; Wn them. Who is the youngest grand- ■ Wether in society? Probably the honour , falls to Mrs* Connvallis-West, who became C grandmother at the early age of 36. She married at 17, and was the mother of , fthree children before she was 21. Her j feldest daughter, Princess Henry of Pless, , Srai mair&Lat 18, and became a proud Mother at 19, with the result that her fctill young and pretty mother acquired the venerable title of grandmother, which sat Vomswhat quaintly upon her. I —'"Keep athing seven years and you U find > use for it" is a proverb that might be enlarged on. ' Keep it fourteen, -fnd you'll value it— keep it 28, and other people will value it as well. Apropos of :which there is something not altogether Surprising in the revival of photograph alsmm*- j?or two generations there have oc- .

cupied obscure positions in our households ' — now they are threatened attention they never got before. The older the collection the, greater, of course, its value. The majority of the originals of the quaint crinolined figures and the owners of the funny "belltopper" Bats have gone hence, and such of them as are left no longer resent the curious old carte re visites that '"made such, frights" of them. No one can deny the advance in photography that has been made since these dear old souls first had,- their "likenesses" taken, but it is a significant fact that nobody asks for a likeness now. We no longer sit by silly little pillars with an oper book on our knees while we gaze into space and "think of him." We are far more likely to put on evening dress and a picture hat — a thing we never do in real life — and pose in a manner that would excite the well-deserved amusement" of our friends if we tried it in •public. The consequence- as we collect pictures nowadays, but few likenesses, and 40 years hence it is highly improbable that those who come after will find" our presentments half as entertaining and interesting as we find the inartistic old photographs we are only just beginning to value. — "Viola," in the Melbourne Age. ,

— American women take the matter oJL physical soundness .and perfection very seriously (says the Daily Telegraph), and the American girl starts out with the intention of becoming the most beautiful woman' in the world. Of late years the matter of attaining a beautiful complexion has particularly appealed to the American girl, possibly because it is the one ftein in beauty's category which she is most likely to lack. As a rule, Nature does not give • her the roses and cream of her English or German sister. The climate of the United States, with its brilliant sun, strong winds, and, broadly speaking, its absence of mist and fog, Nature's own skin preservers, hardens and tans the skin early in life. Of course the climatic conditions vary to such an extent in different sections of the country that such an assertion must cany with it an infinite number of exceptions. "But, on the whole, red cheeks and alabaster brows are rarer in the United States than. in Northern Europe. Except in New England, where the climate has something of the* moisture of the British Isles, and lacks the brilliant sun of the middle and western. \ SJates, a ned-cheeked American girl is rare enough to attract remark, and envy. — Of all the changes in the human relationships which modern life has brought about, none is more marked than that which has transformed the relative positions of mothers and daughters. For the old attitude of deference, reverence, and compulsory obedience ©n the Dar£ of the younger woman

there is now substituted an equality which would have staggered our grandmothers, but in which a sensible mother can only rejoice. For the reluctant subject of the olden clays she has now a companion, full of hopes, dreams, and aspirations, it is true, but who in mind and character is practically on a Level with herself, and whose quickaess of observation and readiness of impression form a happy complement of her own matured judgment and long experience of the world. The relationship under these conditions ought to be an ideal ons, the elder woman renewing her youth in that of the girl, the girl insensibly absorbing wisdom and knowledge from the experience of the parent. Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that the actual position is very different from that whicn should be and is possible. Lack of sympathy, inability to efface self in minor matters', sharp contrasts of disposition, or equally marked similarity of unyielding temper, sometimes make the relationship one of unceasing discord, and the very , fact of two women of antagonistic natures ] being forced to live together and follow the same outward course of life, with at least some show of mutual regard, intensifies an antipathy which would perhaps never have revealed itself had circumstances not brought it into prominence. Such eases are happily but few, and surely the mother who bewails tlie failings of her daughters in the columns of a newspaper is herself wanting in sonig of 'the. virtues that go to make up perfect motherhood 1 . For, given a large amount of intimate and affectionate intercourse during the early years, so that mother and daughter have a perfect knowledge of each other by the time the girl arrives at womanhood, it could seldom happen that these unhappy differences would arise, unless there lurk in the character of both or either some disagreeable- traits ; which no patience or forbearance can eradi- j cate. Surely such a state of things is so ! unusual as to be unique, and calls for quite exceptional treatment. — "Yetta." in the I Liverpool Mercury. — The official announcement will shortly be made of the engagement of the Infanta Marit Teresa of Spain to her cousin, Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria. The Infanta^Maria Teresa is two years older than her^future husband, she having been born in 1882 and -he in 1884. The negotiations for the coming wedding have been conducted with the knowledge and approval of Senor ! Maura, the Premier, and the Spanish Government. The marriage will take place next spring, and the newly -married . couple will pay a visit to Germany, and then return to Spain, where they will reside, as Infanta Maria Teresa does not like to live out of the country. Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria will by his marriage acquire the title of Infante of Spain, and will be an officer in the Spanish army. He has been invited by King Alfonso to go to Madrid for the military manoeuvres, which will take place next month. — "It is impossible,'' asserted a lady doctor, "to lay down any hard-and-fast rule regarding the amount of sleep n woman shouldi take. Some good rules for women who wish to get the greatest benefit from their night's rest are (1) prepare yourself slowly and comfort ably for bed, (2) don't go to bed until 3'ou feel tired, (3) don't worry about anything after you are in bed, make your mind and body easy, and let everything else go. You will reap your reward in health and spirits — and good looks." TJie "Nice Boy" discusses the feminine subterfuges and substitutes for the mas- , suline pocket : "Recent historietal research . has brought to light an interesting fact j which ,had hitherto escaped the notice of I commentators — namely, that in the early j days of the Garden of Ederff when Adam I and Eve sewed for themselves garments of fig-leaves, it was Adam who succeeded in constructing therein a practical pocket, whereas all Eve's efforts in this direction proved hopelessly ineffectual. This is all the more to Adam's credit when one reflects that he was naturally less skilful with the pine needle than Eve, and he was, of course, further hampered by doubts as to whether to make his pocket a 'hip,' or 'side,' or 'inside breast,' etc. "From that day to this woman has been feebly attempting to overtake the descendant's of Adam in this matter of the 1 pocket, and occasionally, for a brief delirious space, she has dreamed that she has effected her design. But Madame la 1 Mode invariably intervenes with specious J arguments wherewith she robs poor pocketl less woman of her much-desired receptacle. 'Woman,' as she carefully points out, 'is the proud possessor of a figure, and the lines of this sacred must be considered at all hazards, and no risks must be run of tampering with its svelte and sculptural outlines with anything so essentially bulgy and unbeautiful as a pocket.' "And woman, who can be ever so argumentative and self-willed when any other topic is under discussion, simply bows her carefully-curled " head in ■ acquiescence when Madame la .Mode lays down the law on a question of this kind. And so, having accepted the mandate that, whatever else happens, nothing in the way of a real pocket shall be allowed to interfere with the unimpeachable >et' of her skirt, it remains for her to set her ingenuity to work to devise some sort of substitute for the commodious receptacles wherewith more fortunate man is bountifully supplied. Hence the string bag! Hence, too, the multiform chate° lame purses of all materials, shapes, and sizes ! "But these are the more deliberate and obvious expedients for getting out of the difficulty. The true woman loves something with rather more of a spice of ingenuity about it, and so she hns recourse to various schemes which would not occur i to the blunter and more brutal masculine mind. It is, for instance, rumoured that the Ne* York girl has found the loose pouch of the bodice a handy little receptacle for a variety of stray and strange oDjectSj from a handkerchief -and a ham

sandwich to half a dozen, pairs of gloves and a blouse length from the annual sales ! "Other ingenious members of the beautiful sex have endeavoured to overcome the difficulties of the situation by having a pocket inserted in, the frill of the skirt lining, or of what our grandmothers called the petticoat, but Avhich the drapery jargon of the day labels an uudorskirt. "Girls have also been known to utilise the edge of a parasol, and even the collar of a pet dog, as a phce wherein to conceal a minute pocltet. In any case, it certainly seems hard that a woman, who has so many more indispensable odds and ends than a man, should be left stranded with nowhere to put them. The Best Girl declares that there is a perfectly simple way out of the difficulty — namely, to compel your Best Boy to keep his pockets entirely at your disposal. And perhaps she is right!" — The subject of whether or not music should take its place in the regular school cimiculuni (writes the Edinburgh lady reporter of the Glasgow Weekly Citizen) has been occupying attention lately. Formerly music was a matter-of-course lesson in our schools, but in some of the n recently a, change has been made, and now it is optional on th« pupil's part. In speaking at a meeting in connection with the Edinburgh branch of the Educational Institute of Scotland the other day, Dr Arthur Somervell, examiner in music, English Board of Education, held that music had su^h. 'a softening, civilising effect on children that it could not fail to impress gentleness, self-restraint, and refinement on their characters by stimulating their imagination. He advocated the introduction of daily music into the school lessons, either in the middle or end of a lesson. There is no doubt that when children are dull and their, attention is uagging nothing brightens them up so much as some vocal exercise, which, by bunging their lungs into plas r , invigorates and refreshes them. Dr Somervell protested against the objection taken to the teaching of our own national songs by a Scottish inspector. The latter had condemned them as being too- high in pitch for children's voices, too Jacobite in sentiment, and too sentimental in character. Dr Somsrvell, on the other hand, advised that songs of a suitable pitch should be chosen; that, as we were by nature Jacobites, the songs had survived all these years from the very loyalty -to which they gave voice. As to the 1 sentimental objection— well, they had been written by our best poets, and what more cpuld one want? So it is to be hoped that the Englishman's advice will be taken and khe children in our Scottish schools taught their own national songs.