LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2677, 5 July 1905, Page 66

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— What a host of memories must crowc upon the Dowager Countess of Iddesleigh who has gone to New York. She ha: been there before, but under vastly cKu-er-erit conditions. When &he fiist went out it was as a sort of uncrowned queen o: what is noAV part of Canada. Her husband, the late earl, then Sir Staff ore Northcote, had been appointed chairniar. of the great Hudson Bay Company, anci its incorporation, upon terms, into th« Dominion of Canada, was on the tapis. It w.i,s a great enterprise of which to be the head. Here was a territory which is now Manitoba, which had its charter from the Merry Monarch, and had actually waged wars on its own behalf. — The Comtesse de Paris, to whom Queen Alexandra went specially to pay a visit when in Portugal, has found some compensations for the troubles of her career in the brilliant marriages of her children. One of her daughters is Queen Amelie of Portugal, another, until 'ast year, wife of the heir to the Italian throne, while the Duke of Orleans is wedded to an Austrian Archduchess. The Comtesse de Paris and her family are well known to English people from their long residence at Stowe House, during which tinip the Comte and Comtesse and their children led the life of an ordinary English county family. Queen Victoria and th.> English Royal Family were always on intimate terms with the exiled members of the Eoyal House oi France. For- some years now the Comtesse has lived in southern Spain. After his expulsion the late Comte was never allowed to set foot on French soil, but the Comtesse was permitted to travel through the country on her way to Portugal and Spain. — " Do Men Like Athletic Women ?"' is the question which Rita asks in an article in the May number of Cassell's Magazine. According to Rita,, it is this type of girl — the hard, knockabout "sporting" girl — who offers man a wide field) of speculation in the problem of life companionship. She is not manly enough for one side of his nature, nor womanly enough for the other. With her slang terms, her mannish dress, her avowed taste for cigarettes and "big drinks," her brusque, rough, overbearing manner, her perpetual "chaff," or her perpetual silly laughter, she is at once an annoyance and ; an object lesson. A lesson in what to avoid, not in what to admire. What can ' men think of women who openly avowj that "domesticity" is a bugbear, and thai j children are a " hateful nuisance " 1 Rita I has heard these expressions on countless ; occasions from the lips of "sportswomen." j True that the speakers were strong and hardy and an " all-ro-nnd-good-sort," to quote their male friends' definition ; but they were not lovable, not feminine, certainly not attractive nor humane. No sportswoman can be that. She has but> one conception of intelligence — her own. That it leads her to cruelty, to recklessness, and coarseness all the finer instincts of her nature matters nothing. — Photographs from the tiny " cartes de vi&ites " of the early sixties to the splendid examples of the photographer's art in the twentieth century may be described (says Madame) as the peculiar collecting hobby of Queen Alexandra. It is her Majesty's love for them and for haying one and all of her relations and intimate friends depicted in this fashion in all her private rooms that originally led to the craze for photography, which is such a mai'ked feature of smart society to-day. Also, being a competent photo-

grapher herself. Queen Alexandra gave ar impetus to the fancy for amateur photography, many of Her Majesty's treasurec possessions in the way of photos being from the cameras of her near relation as i well as of her private friends. I — The Empress of Russia learned from her mother, the lale Princess Alice, the value of a private book wherein to pom i out her most secret thoughts. This is not shown to her liege lord ; but Her Majesty , has another volume, in which she inscribes I from time to time thoughts ivjJon passing ,' events, enlivened with those -whimsical caricatures which are a source of delight to Nicholas 11. — Lady Sophia Montgomerie is the eldest daughter cf the late Earl of Egliii- ■ ton, and niece of the present holder of tJie , title. Her fatter, who died in 1892, had four daughters, but no son. and was succeeded by his brother. In 1886 Lady 1 Sophia married Captain Hynman Allenby, who, however, assamed his wife's sur- , name in 1893, by which step he became a, , beneficiary under the will of his fatlrsr-in-i law. Captain Montgoinerie is the owner of three fine estates. — The printing business appears to be so attractive to the girls who engage in it, that few fair compositors leave to get married. That, at anyrate, is the experience of the Women's Printing Society, for during eighteen years only two out of a large staff abandoned their occupation for the uncertainties of matrimony. | — Mrs Athol B. Eeader, who ten years ago was a typ writer girl in New York, i is- now one of the most successful lady lobbyists and secret financial agents in the > world. She was born in Alabama, and ' came to New York in 1892 as a typewriter ' and stenographer. In five years she was running a bureau, employing forty other girls. The 1896 Presidential election introduced her to high politics, for she became confidential stenographer and spcietary to the 'chairman of Mr M'Kinley"& campaign committee. Later she came to London, and was interested in securing the contract for the Johore Railway. The Sultan of Johore was bese-iged by lobblists an A promoters, but the American typewriter airl won. In London she met' Mr Athol Reader. They were married and went to America two years ago, when Mv Reader became an American citizen. He | and his wife were engaged in promoting mining enterprises in the island of San Domingo. It was under these auspices , that the movement for a U.S.A. piotectorate over San Domingo was hatched. — Prince Nicholas of Montenegro is sixty-sbc, and is much beloved by his j people. Simplicity is perhaps tlie secret of the Prince's popularity. He always ' appears in native costume, and expects i his family to do likewise. But since Prin- f cess Helena has become a Queen the Mon- j tenee:iin Piincesses have considerably ' modified this ruR Theie is but little i Court ceremony or etiquette. On a re- j cent occasion a minister of one of the I great powers,' during a reception at the palace, was regretting that the exports of tlia country were of such a meagre and valueless description. " Well. I don't know," rejoined the Prince, ' v what about my daughters?"