LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2761, 13 February 1907, Page 72

LADIES' GOSSIP.

—Twenty-seven American women have married princes, though only one of these married a reigning prince.

— Lady, Marjorie Sinclair is one of the most talented ladies in society. Before she was 13 she had turned her thoughts towards literature, and was editing a children's magazine. She has since written a play, and her writings have been seen in several publications. Like her mother (the Countess of Aberdeen) Lady Marjorie is also keenly interested! hi politics and is an excellent platform speaker. Her marriage to Captain Sinclair, the Secretary for Scotland, was the culmination of a long friendship. Captain Sinclair was A.D.C. to Lord Aberdeen when the bride was a child two years old.

— Speaking as a girl to an extremely pretty married woman, who was displaying to me the photograph of her latest victim — a well-known name at that time — I remarked, "But I should get to care for them." "Oh, no," was her casual response, "you get used to it." Another fascinating woman was in like manner showing me a. framed row of portraits — corresponding to the strung scalps on the belt of a savage. Tapping each picture with a finger, eho said — "JJo you know. I love them all — iv turn," and added, "I have come to the conclusion that I must have a very large heart." To which I responded!, "It muet be immense." — "Phrases of Marriage," by Edith Escombe.

— Few ladies of title lead a more strenuous, and at the same time moro healthy, life than. Lady Gifford, . whose home, Old Park, is among the picturesque 6ea -creeks that border Sussex and Hampshire. Lady Gifford tells how her father, General Street, C.8., used to make a point of going round and holding a "kit inspection" of his daughter's rooms, to inculcate the virtue of neatness, and the soldierly thoroughness suggested by the 6tory is characteristic of her. She is an ardent sportswoman and a fearless rider, and holds that there ie no justification for conventional woman's "nervousness." She confesses to having been timid once, but', as she quaintly puts it, "I was so frightened of being laughed at for being frightened that I ceased being frightened." Indeed, it would not do for the wife of a V.C. to be "frightened." Having nursed the wounded in the late war, her ladyship is now as thorough in the capacity of parish nurse in her own parish, and many homes are brightened by her cheery presence. A characteristic saying of hers is that every woman should be a jjrop to those about her, and that "no one knows the joy they will give to other people if they only let themselves be perfectly natural and full of sunshine."

— Matinee hats ore not allowed in Antwerp theatres, and the officials have strict orders to see that the rule is not infringed, and to expel ladles who will not adhere to the rules. The other day, at one of the leading theatres, 6even ladies appeared at the matinee, and had) booked seven seats in the first row of stalls. They were attired in large hats of the newest fashions, and in spite of soir.e rather 6trong remarks from the audience insisted on keeping them on their heads. When the perfoimanc© was about to begin, the officiating gendarmo requested the ladies either to put their hats on their laps or to let him take them to the cloak-room. Six of the ladies at once chose the former course, but the seventh, the wife of a leading citizen, absolutely lefused to remove her hat, and grew insulting into the bargain. The policeofficer hardly knew what to do, all the more as he had known madame for some time, and he was just about to retire when a gentleman in the second row of the stalls called him back, and insisted on his expelling the "hatted" lady. What were his sensations when he recognised in the accuser the husband of the obstinate lady, and realised that he really was in earnest? The officer now hesitated no longer, but left the stalls accompanied by the lady. History does not i elate what sort of a reception the heroic husband received when he arrived home. — Vanity Fair.

— Beauty, from a Japanese standpoint, consists of a long oval face, regular features, Almond-snaped eyes, sloping slightly upward, a high, narrow, forehead,

and abundance' of smooth black hair. The movements of Japanese women are graceful, although- the style of their dress pre.vents them from walking with ease ; their feet xnd hands are delicately formed, and their roaaaera unquestionably charming. They take little or no exercise, and one wonders sometimes how the little ladies employ their time — there seems so little to be done in a Japanese house. To begin with, there are no regular meals. The shops near at hand supply daily numberless dashes which seem to be eaten at all hxrcrs of the day and night — a few pecks at a time — with those impossible tittle chopsticks. Very little is kept in the larder, except some slices of daikon, fermented turnip, some rice, and sweet biscuits. Eggs are cheap and plentiful ;. bread is never used, so there is no necessity for an oven. The great stand-by is tea. A Japanese lady is seldom seen in her home without the quaint little tea tray by her side, and the inevitable pipe, containing one whiff of tobacco, which is in constant requisition.

— "Why cV>es a women, button her garments on the left side?" The question is being discussed in The T.ailor and Cutter by several correspondents, one of whom advances this theory: — "For ladies to have the buttonholes in the right side of their garments lias its origin in the times when it was necessary for a lady when going out at night to have a gentleman escort, who supported her upon his left arm, leaving his right, or sword arm, at liberty. Thus tho lady's left band would be free to fasten or unfasten her cloak at her own, pleasure, and without inconvenience." This opinion is shared by many, and is supported even by those who point out that the fashion is of much older date than buttons, as may be seen from costumes in old Greek MSS. , in which men's garments are fastened left over right, and women's right over left.

—If we have arrived at the fact, and I think that most of us have (remarks "Yetta" in the Liverpool Mercury), that there are many more eligible women than men, and the supply of bridegrooms is not, therefore, equal to the demand, it would seem that at a wedding the most conspicuous and . important personage would be the man, and that his would be the name on every tongue and his the appearance most criticised. So far is this from being the case, that at no other time or place is the lord of creation of such small consequence, and many a man never realises of how little importance he is in the world until he attends his own wedding. Nobody notices him, and hardly a word is addressed to him save by the heroic friend who has undertaken to be his best man, and who occasionally bestows a word of comfort or advice. Nobody consults the bridegroom's tastes of preference in the wedding arrangements, or cares haw he looks, and if in the crowd after the ceremony he should by any chance be accidentally lost, it is highly probable that he would not be missed until required to take away the bride. The richest young man in the world might be married, and no one would think it worth while to publish a 'detail concerning his going-away suit, yet he doubtless took as deep an interest m his clothes as the lady did in hers. More than this, the bride is deluged with advice about how to enter the church, how and when to stand and kneel, and what to wear, besides being surrounded l»y a bevy of girls ready at a glance for any unlooked-for emergency that may occur. But no one ever thinks of offering a word of helpful counsel to the poor bridegroom, who is left to get through the ceremony as best he may, consoling himself with the thought that he may make as many mistakes as he likes, no one will be any the wiser, for every gaze is concentrated on the beauti ful figure at his side. Did the young man whose fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love in the spring fully realise the ordeal of a marriage day. there might be a still further decline in the number of weddings, which, we are told, is aU too "small as it is.

— An explanation is given by '•Gretcheri'' in the Scottish Farmer why women do not buy books : — The widely extended discussion there has been in the newspapers for the last few months on the book-selling venture of The Times has set me pondering upon the small fraction of women who have it in their power to buy books of any sort. It is calculated that only about one and a-half millions of people in the British Isles have over £150 a year. The women belonging to families of much higher income have seldom any command of money beyond what is required for their personal needs. When a woman has it to spare, from whatever source, these are a thousand and one things urging her to expend. She wants more "nice things" for her house, her table, her personal adornment, in order .to keep well up with her friends, or. it may 3be, to be before them. Then, whether she be maid, wife, mother, daughter, or sister, it will be strange if there are not many and increasing demands upon her purse as upon her affections. A bookish man may be excused for forgetting birthdays, and still be regarded as amiable — but not so the bookish woman. He may go about, unnoticed, with last year's clothes, and fill another bookshelf ; but the woman who will deny herself a new frock in order to spare money for a few books I have never met, and do not expect to meet. In short, books are the last things a woman can afford to buy.

— One of England's most eminent painters has written a latter to a lady friend, who is not only a lady of title, but one of the leaders of society, in which •be pays a high tribute to what he calls "the sweet prettiness, were I speaking as « mere man, but what as an artist I must describe as the artistic beauty, of Queen •Maud" of Norway. One or two further extracts from this letter have been permitted me on the condition that neither the lady recipient, nor the artist writer should bare their names made public. "It 'is seldom in actual experience," he continues, "that one sees a properly oval face — never (I speak as an artist, of course) a perfect one. I can candidly say this, how*ver. Queen Maud's is the nearest to per-

she will meet men confreres perhaps at a bed of sickness, and if they live in the same direction she will naturally walk some distance with them in the early morning hours. A chaperon for a woman like this is, on the face of it, a social superfluity ; and co with a woman journalist, or the woman in any profession or business whom years of training has made self-sufficient and independent. As a rule she can be left to take care of herself. Freedom in tlis use of her latch-key and the choice of her friends will neither do herself nor society any harm. Her independence is of her own making, and she has a right to exercise it." But there is another type of bachelor woman — she may. be called the society bachelor woman. It is she that Mrs Clifford depicts in her story. She lives the independent life of the business or professional woman, but — and here is the crux of her position — her independence goes towards amusing herself instead of making a living, and I think it can be said, without fear of contradiction, that she is a failure both as a -uoman and a social factor. You meet the professional bachelor woman ; she is, as a rule, kind, she is sympathetic, she remains, in a word, a lady. You meet the society bachelor woman ; she is slangy, or flippant, or brusque, or faddy — at any rate, she is generally completely lost to all sense of femininity and companionship with her own sex. If she is at heart a good sort, then she becomes the prey of the male flirt. And this is the aspect of the bachelor woman's life which Mrs Clifford depicts with rare insight and truth in her story.