LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2671, 24 May 1905, Page 66

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— The women of Italy are admired the world over for their dazzling beauty and grace, and inquiry into the reason of this reveals that, as a nation, the parents are very guarded over their children, especially the girls, when they are of a tender age. It is noteworthy that even among the poorer classes the women not only walk gracefully, but carry their heads with charming dignity. These women gain this poise through carrying burdens on their heads; and in order that the children of the better class may not lack this quality, they are trained to carry light weights on their heads. It is an exercise practised in many schools, and that it has a beneficial effect is evident by the manner in which it develops the neck and shoulders. Parents are not neglectful of the profile of their children. Either the mother or the nurse is said to "teach the features how to grow," and in order to straighten or lengthen the nose, it is gently pinched several times a day. The growth is regulated in this way. The Italian child is never allowed to rub its eyes. If it bursts into tears it is not repressed, but allowed to have the cry out. This, it is claimed, beautifies the ej'es and makes them clear, whilst rubbing tho eyes injures them in many ways. Reading in a dim light is never indulged in ; but tho two factors which contrive most to beauty are rest when not feeling well, and avoidance of much ment. By taking a complete rest when even slightly indisposed, the Italian woman avoids nervous prostration, and does not lose her good complexion. Her diet includes very little meat. Fruit is ■oaten in large quantities, and the face treated constantly by massage. — Miss Helen Gould, the American millionairess, has, besides much money, the unpurchasable possession of a pretty wit. Not long ago Miss Gould entertained at luncheon at her residence a number of little girls from a charitable institution. At the end of the luncheon Miss Gould showed to the children some of the beautiful contents of her house. She showed them books, carved Italian furniture, tapestries, and marbles. " Here," she said, "is a beautiful statue — a statue of Minerva." "Was she married?" asked a little girl. " Oh, no, my child," said Miss Gould, smiling. " She was the goddess of wisdom."

— Clubs for women are becoming much more popular, are growing in number, and the usefulness, especially to professional ladies, is being recognised on all hands. It is, however, impossible to avoid criticism in these days, and, even if it were possible, it is perhaps best that it should not be avoided, for a kindly criticism often prevents institutions, as well as people, from becoming failures. Writing on women's club life, a London contemporary sa y S . — "There hangs over the average ladies' club an atmosphere of veiled hostility and suspicion brought about by the unfriendly attitude of the members to one another." Again, another scribe expresses himself thus: — "The British husband regards women's clubs with amusement, as places where women eat strange meals and put up with discomforts which would not be tolerated for an hour in a man's club." Modern American women desire a club with more " equipment " than any of the old-fashioned style. To meet this demand, an exclusive club, luxuriously housed, equipped with a. swimming pool, Turkish baths, gymnasium, and a running track, has been opened in New York. Many well-known wealthy ladies of New York society are members. — Matrimony is evidently destined to perpetuate the long connection of Ireland with the Continent which began in more troublous times by the voluntary and forced exile of so many Irishmen. Marshal MacMahon in France, Coiint O'Donnell in Spain, and Count Taaffe in Austria are representative of the many sons of Erin who have risen to high places in foreign lands ; and Ireland has supplied statesmen without number and more than one President to the United States. At a recent banquet in New York, President Roosevelt stated that he was descended from the O'Briens and the O'Neills of* Ireland, his ancestors having emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania in the seventeenth century. The ex-Empress Eugenic, too, belongs in a sense to Ireland, her mother, the Countess of Montijo, being the daughter of William Fitzpatrick, a Belfast citizen, who emigrated to the United States, and subsequently became United States Consul at Malaga. Prince Oscar of Sweden, whose betrothal to Princess Margaret of Connaught was lately announced, has also Irish blood in his veins, being great grandson of Marshal Bernadotte (Charles XIV.), whose wife, Mile. Clary, was ot mixed French and Irish descent.

— A lady writer in the British Weekly says she is surprised now and then, in going about London, to hear fragments of "horsey" talk from, women of an outwardly quiet and decorous exterior. She sometimes listens to snatches of betting slang. Two plainly-dressed little women •were discussing the prospects of a certain horse for the Grand National. "He is certain to lose," said one, "as I have put my money on him." The friends then discussed the best mode of seeing this particular race, and decided not to go to stay at Liverpool, where the hotels would be full, but to go to Chester and drive to the course.

— Mrs Maesmore Morris, the •wellknown " beauty actress " interviewed in Wellington, asked what she thought of New Zealand, said :— " Well, it's a fine little colony, but candidly it does seem slow and quiet after having lived in larger countries. What amazes me so is the scarcity of men out here. What you girls are going to do for husbands I do not know. And Australia Is even worse. Why when I left Australia for London I left behind me among my friends some beautiful girls, yet after six years absence, when I returned I found them just the same as when I bade them good-bye. One or two had married perhaps z but only

here and there, and yet these girls were accomplished and beautiful, but they were still single. The one reason was that there were no men they would marry. Those who were perhaps in positions to marfy chose the girls who came down from the stations — mostly squatters daughters — with plenty of money. These were the girls that married, and I do think that you girls in New Zealand and Australia should cro Home if at all possible and find suitable husbands, for there are certainly no men out here practically speaking to go around so many.*' The foreigner may not be sincere, but he thoroughly understands women (says the Ladies' Field). The Englishman is sincere, but he frequently makes us want to box his ears with his comfortable conviction that we are really interested in the interminable description of his day's sport or the fluctuations of the rainfall in the past week — his only ideas of conversation which are cheerful without being compromising. — Lady Maitland, who has been singing old French and English songs with great success at a New York charity concert, is a woman of many accomplishments, not the least among which is that of miniature painting, which she has made her chief occupation. In 1890, when as Miss Gwendoline Vaughan-Williams she married Viscount Maitland, she found a- ready sympathiser with her artistic aspirations, which up to that time had had small chance of ever being realised. She began her career as a miniaturist by making a striking likeness of her husband, the success of which urged her to serious study at Florence and elsewhere, and since then her ladyship has painted a good many notable people, both men and women, and a number of Americans, who doubtless like to exhibit their features as portrayed by a real viscountess. Lord Maitland, the eldest son of the Earl of Lauderdale, is well known not only as a man who has done a good deal of hard work in connection with soldiering, but as an amatetir photographer who can claim to surpass in excellence most professionals of the art. Out in South Africa his Lordship commanded the Rough Riders a but at home he is in the Scots Guards. Perhaps it is hardly necessary to state that Lady Maitland devotes all the proceeds of her art to charity, which she also assists in many other ways. She is also well known among cat lovers as an exhibitor at the shows. One of her chief pets used to be a beautiful blue Persian, which walked on a string like a dog. and which accompanied his mistress almost everywhere she went.