LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2663, 29 March 1905, Page 65

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— The majority of people are indeed said to be born with some natural antipathy, and those whom Nature has neglected in this respect will seldom reach maturity without finding themselves fully equipped. These dislikes are often those

which one would least expect, their possessors to develop. The famous Dr.ke of Wellington, for instance, was terrified at the sight of a spider or a black beetle ; Napoleon trembled if he encountered a black cat. and Nelson would shudder if he passed a funeral One of the mostcurious aversions was the intense dislike of Lord Palmerston for the smell of an orange. Even royalty has its pet aversions, and the spectacle of a lady cyclist was said at one time to have been a positive annoyance to Queen Victoria, who lived, however, to see her granddaughters expert riders. The Czar once laughingly declared [ that what he hated most was being "dressed up," and that the more gorgeous the uniform the more he disliked it. As for the Kaiser, probably the role of "second fiddle"' has the greatest terrors for him. The presence of a cat seriously disturbs Lord Roberts, who also dislikes all games of cards. The average woman's pet aversion is usually essentially feminine. A smart dame, who was questioned on the subject the other day, replied, "I cannot bear anyone being better dressed than myself." Dr Gordon Stables owns to an unconquerable aversion to motor cars, banjos, and bad tea. Mr Balfour confesses that there is something about a fowl which greatly annoys him. Sir Hiram Maxim loathes tobacco, and smoke renders him positively ill. He particularly detests the sight of a man smoking a pipe. Miss Alice de Rothschild, the owner of Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, and one of the richest ladies in the kingdom, has a great, repugnance to having her furniture moved. She can tell in a moment if the position of a tdble or sofa has been changed even a few inches, and new servants, unaware of this peouliaiity of hers, are promptly reprimanded tor their delinquencies. Miss de Rothschild has also a great aversion to i unpunctual people. j

— The Prince of Wales's visit to Dublin is not to be made the occasion of much expenditure, so it is said. Lady Grenfell and Lady lveagh are both going to give balls. There will likely b& a Castle ball ;

and Lady Grosvenor, who has been entei taining and giving some very successful small dances, is sure to do something. She is wonderfully popular in Dublin, and the Chief Secretary's hospitality is very much, liked. Lady Dudley has set off on her inspection of the nurses whom she hns started to work among the poor in Ireland. She lias gone in her motor car, and returns to Rockingham before she and Lord Dudley* go finally to Dublin for the season. — The Lady's Pictorial finds it uifncult to realise th» statement, made in a'l seriousness, that men have been d(tc::ed fiom taking up hockey because it is pLr^d by a large number of athletic gals. ' '•Surely such an admission as this is f.ir more damaging to masculine supremacy of spirit than can be the intrusion — if it be so regarded — of women upon the rocreationhunting preserves of men. And it may ba pointed out that women have alw»y<. shown a kindly — even encouraging — ittiti rip towards every masculine desire to monopo* iise what at one time was l^garded as more especially feminine pastimes. Xothing could more firmly support this assertion than the remarkable change that lias come over the name of croquet.'' — The modern woman, in spite of her increased independence and her er.tiy into the battleground of crof-essianal labour, is, T believe (writes a correspondent in the Lady), quite as sentimental as her grandmother was before her. She cherishes tha same ideals about love and maniag<\ She is, for all her show of strength, ";• weak,

depeudent creatuie who, to attain whafs is perhaps rightly considered the highest point of woman's earthly foitune. will gladly turn her back on any work or any art for the sake of a man's protection and a settled future. The idea that any spinster can be '•comfortably settled in life," as the phrase runs, is, of course, absurd. Dealing with tho question of marrying for love, a fair correspondent in a London contemporary admits that women who do not marry for love often make excellent wives, yet she denounces such marriages, and pleads for the love match, and the love match only. She does not seem to realise that such matches often turn out most unhappily. Reflections o.i this subject lead one to the fact, deplorable or otherwise, that only one woman m ten thousand can live happily without marriage.

— Some quaint customs still survive in out-of-the-way places. One is that of the alms cow, which still holds good in the village of Waddesdon, where Miss Alice de Rothschild has her beautiful home. Onf any- morning or evening of the year a wayfar-er can claim a free drink of milk from a cow kept for the special benefit of> thirsty travellers. The Duke of Marlborough also keeps up an old custom of the same sort by allowing a farmer £10 a year for the keep of a cow whose milk is given to the aged poor ofl the parish. Another curious charity is the gift- to a parish of what is known as the "bell-rope piece," the rent of which provides new bell ropes for the church. —It is stated, as mentioned in a recent cable message, that the Princess Margaret of Connaught is likely to marry the eldest son of the Crown Prince of Sweden. The alliance would in ail respects be a- suitable one, and would be regarded with gratification by the royal houses both of Great Britain and Sweden. The young people are shortly to meet in Cairo. , — The little Princess Yolanda, the King of Italy's eldest girl, is a very handsome child, but solemn to a degree — in both qualities resembling her mother — and is also very clever and precocious. The other day the troops at Pisa were reviewed by the King in the presence of the Queen and the two princesses. Yolanda — who loves a soldier — seemed to think that the whole show had been arranged for her special benefit, and, therefore, took upon heiself the burden of doing the honours. When the soldiers saluted she gravely, bowed her little black head, and when tha colours passed also waved her hand, and to the surprise of all called out, "Vival'ltalia!" The clear little voice was carried to the men by the wind ; there was ai visible sensation in the ranks, and we may be sure that those words, said by a baby, will make for loyalty among the soldiers, and will never be forgotten by those who heard them and saw her animated ar.d flushed little face. —It is always interesting to know (writes the lady reporter of the Weekly. Citizen) how the Glasgow women graduates progress in their work. Within a very short time several good posts have been given to women graduates in medicine. Miss Kate Fraser, who is also a graduate in science, has beeu appointed to the Royal Institute, Crichton. Dr Fraaer is ai daughter of Dr Donald Fraser, of Paisley, and a niece of the late Professor Coats; of Glasgow University. Dr Margaret Ritchie is house surgeon at the new Children's Hospital, Glasgow, and Miss Leila Greig, M.8., is just elected inspector inconnection with obstetric work in Stafford* shire. Miss May Cameron, M.8., is shortly beginning work' in Sheffield as assistant doctor there. Thare are several women medical graduates in and around Glasgow., Indeed, we are well supplied with rising^ young women doctors. Dr Marion Ross and Dr Elizabeth Lyness Smith are oa the South side, and both crive lectures in connection with hvgien-e ai-d sick-nursing. Mrs M'Gregor', M.D.. .md Dr Louie M'llroy are in the West Knd. and Dr ( Marion Gilchrist, who beg.v " vk as Dr M'Gregor Robertson's, assistant =; in Billhead. Most of these hold hospit ' , npointments. The two house surge oi t the Samaritan Hospital are Dr Milk-i <i Dr Cameron, both old Queen Margaici students. — The modem girl from the home of the workman and the mechanic — in many cases from a higher social stratum — does not live; the_ life her grandmother did (says, London) Opinion). She goes out to woik, to earn money, to provide her own clothes. She. usually has a Long and tiring day in shop or office. She arrives home latej am} ,

Grants to read or rest. On Sundays she lies in bed or goes visiting. Mothers are almost invariably unselfish towards their children, and' mothers with a few grow-up ioys and girls recognise that the drudgery of cooking is their natural lot in life. They would rather work hard themselves any time if they may thereby afford some indtilgence to their daughters. Thus it tappens that mother cooks the dinner and -the girl is not expected to help. One day she gets married. She is then called upon to play a different part. She is unable to tk> it. Her husband 1 , being convalescent from the fever of love's young dream, is looking for a little comfort. He remembers .what he useoL to have tinder his mother's ,roof, and he winces. A sensible girl sees Ihe mistake, and soon remedies it. Tlie Jazy, the selfish, the indifferent one lets the trouble go on. She practically abdicates ber throne, and appoints the servant girl as regent. Heaven help the household whose cookery depends upon the "general."

—It is jusb fifty years ago since Miss I/uey St-one, the pioneer of the woman, suffrage movement in the United States, made, on the occasion of her marriage with Mr Henry B. Blackwall, the famous protest against the marriage laws. Both she and her husband joined the protest. Among the la.ws protested against were those giving exclusive control and guardianship of the children ; the sole ownership* of the wife's personal estate and the use of her real estate ; the absolute right •Jo the product- of the wife's industry ; and, finally, protest was made against the .whole system by which the legal existence Df the wife was suspended during marriage, so that she neither had a legal part in the choice of her residence, nor can. she make a> will, nor sue or be sued in her own name, cor inherit property. That was fifty years ago. To-day, throughout all of the States, the principle holds good that a married! ■woman, without the consent of her husband., may receive, hold, and - nranage property, and sell or bequeath it as she Bees fit. In England, of course, the same progress has been made. — "Frances,"' in T P's Weekly.

■ : — Captain the Hon. Richard Coke, who ihas recently resigned his commission in the Scots Guaids, is the eldest son of Lord Leicester by his second marriage with the Hon. Georgians Cavendish in 1875. The present Earl, who is just over eighty-two years of age, and has had the curious experience of celebrating his silver wedding twice, is the second of the title, the first JLord Leicester himself having narrowly escaped a similar distinction. Marrying fi-n 1775, his first wife died in 1800. After twenty-one years of widowerhood he married again, his own death occuring twenty ■years later. There is a good story about this first Lord Leicester. His heir-pre-sumptive, was his nephew, and anxious to marry him off. the Earl discovered a young lady of beauty and intelligence, to whom his nephew addressed himself in such lukewarm terms as compassed the courted refusal. When the Earl inquired into the reason for the lady's decision lie asked her to reconsider it. "No," said she, '"I will not marry your nephew, but I will marry you, if you like." This lady was presumably Lady 'Anne Amelia Keppel, whom the Earl, then 69, married in 1822. The issue of this marriage — five sons and on© daughter — • Naturally cut the nephew out oi an immense fortune. — Little Princess Louise, daughter of the Uaiser, was one day discussing the secrets of her toilette --with a playmate, daughter pf a Court official. "Just fancy," the little said, complainingly, "I have to put on clean underclothing every day? Does your mamma make you do that, too?" "No,"' said the visitor, "not every day." f "Eh&}\ jou are well ofU" irejglied the

Imperial Princess. The daughter of the Court official repeated the conversation at home, and her father, imagining that the child had perhaps asked indiscreet questions, said to her, "My sweetheart, people don't ask about such things." Soon forwards the little girl was again invitid to the Palace. Meanwhile the young princess had faithfully communicated the important conversation to her parents, adding that she envied her friend, who was not worried every day by all these changes of garments. The Empeior was J'ghly amused by the affair,* and said, laughingly, to his daughter's friend, "Why, you lucky little mortal,- and so you need not put on clean things every day !" Whereupon the young lady made her profounebst. curtsey, and said, "Your Majesty, my papa -says people don't ask about these things!" When she got home she told her father that the Emperor must have thought she had said something very nice for he had shouted with laughter at her reply. —At the conference of the National Union of Women Workers recently held at York. Mrs Creighton expressed the opinion that, so far from women overcrowding the labour maikets and professions nowadays, there were really not enough, that is to say, to do the right kind of work. Of governesses, actresses, secretaries, and typewriters there are enough and to spare ; but there are not enough women working for the nation (says the Lady's Pictorial). More teachers in our county council schools are always needed, and so are more workers in municipal concerns ; but when women do not actually need to work, Mrs Creighton urges them all from the time they leave school to do something more than settle down to mere pleasure-sceeking, and, whatever they do, to interest themselves in life without haste and without fuss. It is their iuminess and the overweening sense of their own importance which has made so many women-workers disliked, and has undoubtedly given women a set-back of recent years. One is glad, therefore, to find Mrs Creighton speaking out so plainly on this subject. If women really are anxious to be efficient and work on equal terms with men, they must first learn to work as men do, without fv>ss and without the perpetuil air of feeling that they are very clever and capable, and generally wonderful.

— Another royal novelist, the Princess Feodora of Scaleswig-Ho! stein, the youngest sister of the German Empress, is said to be the authoress of four novels recently issued by a writer signing herself, "F. Hugin."' Quite recently Vanity Fair gave a list of royal writers. amon£ the best-known of whom are the King of Sweden, Avho writes under his own name, and the Queen of Roumania. who is wellknown as Carmen Sylva. The Prince of Montenegro is a poet of considerable talent, which has been inherited by his daughter, the Queen of Italy. Her Majesty writes extremely pretty poems in French, Italian, and her native tongue. Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria has written the libretto of an op-era. The Queen-Dowa ger of Italy writes religious poems. Princess Chiistian has written many articles for English papers, and the Duchess of Albany is also eaid to have tried her hand at journalism, •while the Princess Victoria of England has written a novel.

Tlie favoured girls who arc chosen. to become niaids of honour io the Czarina are usually (says the Penny Magazine) the daughters of high officials and officers at the Court. They are educated at special schools, and are taught the etiquette -which later is to become a part of their daily life. The prospective maids of honour w-ear a costume at this time of plain black, and a peculiar feature of these dresses is that the sleeves and necks are tejparate

piece*, so arranged thnt they can be 3ns.ta.utly removed. The ie,i>on for this is t hi' t in cjsg ot a surprise visit fiom the Couit such parts ot the gowns are at once removable, and they can appear decollete. VWn a ni lid of honour enter 1 ? upon her new duties sho is -">t once considered a mi rnber of die C'mut. and attends all oftlcial ccrcmoni"*. The costume then worn is. of course, supsrb. The govm i.= of •rich white s.ifin. buttoned fiom neck to horn with piecious &tone«, with a tumc ovtr it of go'd-embi'oid&ied purple veKei, with large hanging si tves and o long train. The most peculiar and distinruve p.irt of the co-tume is the head-diess, or kakochink, as it is called. Tt is of velvet, encrusted with jewels, and is a relic ot ! antiquity in form. On the left shoulder tLe m<iid of honour wears a pile -blue ribbon, worked with the inonogrim uf the Cz-irin,i. After a few years the mopom >m is rcpUoed with a portrait of the Imperial mistress, fiamod in brilliants. The purple tunic is then discarded for or.c of eniciakl and silver.

— The youthful-looking step-mother of the jDies-ent Loid Aliugton wa*, bc-iore her marriage, one of the most cluiinnno-look-m£ crirls in the London world of the eaily 'nineties, ;md the engagement of Mis.s "Evy"' Leigh with the tirst Lord Alington was quite the sei^sation of the year in which it took place. The bridegroom was something like 40 years older then his lovely bride. The marriage turned out exceedingly well, and tß"e late Lord Alington and his young wife entertained many memorable house-parties at Criehel, the beautiful Dorset estate, where the King and Queen are shortly expected to pay the new Peer a visit.

— The Empress Elizabeth suffered, as all the world know o . such blows of tragic fate as few women are called upon to bear. 'After the death of her only son under circumstances too terrible ever to be freely told, she noticed that her pearls were growing dim ; the lovely light was dying out of "them slowly but surely. The "Empress has a passion for the sea ; it soothed that restless spirit of hers, and brought some semblance of peace to her tortured soul. Would it not "cure" her pearls? Born of the sea, formed of the very essence of its limitless mystery, as they were, could they not again gather from the sea the lustre they had lust? It was worth trying, at anyrate. So a strong iron case, perforated with holes, vas made for the casket in which the pearls lay, and a length of chain strongly attached thereto. Ore iiight. the moon was hi^h in the heavens, but a. cold wind swept the waves, and moaned around the reaches of -the shore. Elizabeth, attended only by the old servitor, who followed his mistress like a dog, stepped across the terra ces of her Corfu home, entered the tiny skiff moored by th-e marble steps, and rowed out to the reef that ran into d-eep water. An iron ring had be-en fastened there. lar below the surface of the sea. and to tint ring the iron chain was made fast. Her faithful servant and she alone knew txjetly where. "We will come again in a year." the Enmrei-s said. "The s n a will have done its work in a year.'' Perhaps the sea has done its ,work, for many a year has coma and gone since that night whin the pearls were sunk beneath its waves. Elizabeth sleeps in th-e Hofkirche in Vienna, and her 1 old servant did not long outlive the mistre-es he adored. 4nd no one knows exactly where the- pearls lie hid, or if the iron chain has kept its trust through the storms and tides of all these years.

— The Duchess of Fife looks much stronger in health than shs has been for years, and is wonderfully like the Qusen, if without her radiant loveliness. None of her photographs do her anything like justice, for she has a. slow smile that is quite beautiful and lights up and transforms her pale, thoughtful face. The Ladi-es Alexandra and Maud Duff are pretty children, and their upbringing is characterised by extreme simplicity.

— Should the announcement that Prince Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is to be betrothed to a daughter of the Duchess of Cumberland be correct, a niece of Queen Alexandra would some day be Queen of Sweden. The young Prince is the eldest son of the heir "to th-e Swedish throne, ar.d was born just 22 years ago. The King of ■Sweden has no daughter, but four sms, and the Crown Prince also has three toys.

— Lace is perhaps the most universallybecoming accessory to the well-dressed woman's toilette which fashion has lately decreed, and the economically-minded matron is alto aware that time- need not stale the usefulness of her hand-made lace. One or two ladies have even essayed the art of lace production themselves, and have found the task extremely fascinating. Mrs Pound, the wife of London's new chief magistrate, and her daughters can wield their bobbins as deftly as any professional. There are few women who have studied the cult of dress who have not accumulated small or large hoards of lace, a fabric which can re-appear time after time and only gain in smartness by acquiring the faint yellow tinge known as the "old" lace colour. Among royal ladies, Queen of Italy, who is credited with an expensive taste in chiffons, delights in the quantity of lace she possesses. Ihe Czarina cares less for gorgeous jewels and rich silks than for the beautiful lace which her great wealth enables her to procure. Much of Princess Henry of Battenberg's great ptore was left to her by Queen Victoria, but this she is inclined to use sparingly. The Duchess of Sutherland particularly prizes the pieces which have been handed down as heirlooms in her husband's family. The Duchess qf Portland frequently uses old lace to adorn her Court gowns. — Lady Ancaster and her husband are honoured by the personal friendship oi royalty. Lady Ancaster is the daughter of the tenth Marquis of Huntly. She is a woman of commanding presence, tall and stately* with beautifully clear-cut features.

Her favourite ornaments are earrings of \v*iiich she possesses many that aie of great wine. — Dress on the stage is always sumptuous, it i-< always m the latest fashion, and it is always agreeable to louk at, says Lady Violet Gr. ville, in the Graphic, let, how very few women wear their growiis well! On the English stage two actresses only stand out as well-dressed women, who, thuugli exquisitely garbed, yet manage to carry their clothes unobtrusively. These nvo are Mi&s VioleL Vanbrugh and Miss Mai 10 Tomptsr. The latter's gowns are invaiiably piquant, original, and up to date, yet they ueem part of herself and ore never i.btiusive. Ali^s^^Vaflbrugh dresses for the part she is phiymg7 > her appearance is in harmony vith the character, and even the smirtest of her gowns does not jar, as happens with women of less consummate tasie. Of course, a well-made gown adds to every one's appearance. But the «ov 11 is not e\ jrythii-vj ; \ou want a woman as well as a peg to hang it on. — More than 40 j-eais ago English people who were, interested in royal personages took special note of a very pretty young Queen of Portugal who paid a brief visit io this country on her way to Lisbon. This was Piincess Stephinie of Hohenzollern.Sigmarhigon. She had been married by proxy at Berlin to King Pedro V of Portugal, and iras en loute to join her bridegroom — he and she being both under 21 years of age at the time. Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort naturally paid considerable attention to the charming Stephanie — who, by the way, was a granddaughter of Stephanie do Beaxiharnais, Grand Duchess of Bad-211, niece of tlie Empress Josephine's first husband, and adopted daughter of the great Napoleon. The young Qupcn of Portugal reached Lisbon all right, and was received by her bridegroom and his people with all due honours. In little more than two years she and her husband were dead, leaving no children ; and two of the King's ' brothers likewise died, mainly, it was supposed, through the insanitary condition of the royal palaces. Queen Victoria's Consort, who was ailing at the time, was deeply affected by the death of his Portuguese relatives, and died himself a month after King Pedro V. The succeeding King | of Portugal, Pedro's brother Louis, was j also married by proxy to Princess Maria Pia, daughter of Victor Emmanuel 11, King of Italy. This custom dates from the days when people expected a Sovereign to f stay in his own country and have his bride 1 brought to him ; and when the bride's j relatives, on their part, would not allow a j princess to take a long and hazardous journey to another land without having her legally wedded in advance. It mattered nothing that the royal couple had not seen each other, and were to meet as strangers. '