LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 73

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— Miss Haldane, the only unmarried sister of the Secretary of State for War, who is her brother's right hand during the parliamentary session, is one of the most cultured and accomplished women of the day. Besides being an authoress of distinction, Miss Haldane is an exquisite needlewoman, and has reproduced some beautiful pieces of embroidery. She is also an adept at the ancient art of spinning, and has spun several varieties of the Scotch tweeds on her own wfae'el, and has done much to revive the spinning industry amongst the cottagers on the family estate in Perthshire. Miss -Haldane is a B.A. of Girton. — " Ladies in the London season," says ■» writer in t,he National Review, " have a good time. There is no doubt,whatever that they have a far. better time nowadays than in the ' good old times.' Conventionality — the bane* of all society in whatever form — is year by year growing less rigid, and with its lessening power I feel that the London, seasons will become even more enjoyable than they are at present. Though fashions may change, and just now it appears to be the fashion to pretend to be tired of fun and tired of enjoying oneself — still, for those who whole-heartedly and disinterestedly seek to give pleasure to others I am, certain there will always be a large number of people who will gratefully accept their generosity, and instead of blaming will endeavour to enjoy life whilst they can, and, above everything else, help others to enjoy it too." — The Czarina positively reyels in matters appertaining to her toilet, and is said to spend no less than £4000 annually with one Paris house for /s perfumery alone. Her dressing-fable is of solid silver, with legs of malachite, and the; contents of her many bejewelled scent bottles represent a small fortune in precious smells. But her favourite essence is violet, and for several weeks in early spring hundreds of women and girls may be seen at Grasse gathering the blossoms from which the Czarina's perfume is made. The finished product is tested, bottle by bottle, at •the Sfc. Petersburg Academy of Chemistry before being sent to the imperial stores, and the substitution of a single ounce of imitation essence would cast the maker a contract worth a fortune annually. The soap 'used by the Empress of Russia is made by _ another Paris firm, from a recipe which they dare not divulge or employ upon behafi of any other customer. — Man is the hunting animal, the provider, ihe winner of bread. Woman is the housewife, the preparer of meals, the mother, and the nurse. The woman who despises matrimony, who, perchance, by sheer pressure of circumstances has drifted into political work, who has not a tie in the world beyond her feminine friendships, belongs, to the abnormal type. She is a product of a variation that in its essential nature wiU modify her sex, and .will bring her (as certain female animals ere brought) nearer and nearer to the type of the male. This, again, is biological reversion. It is retrogression to a state in which differentiation of sex was {ion-existent. Sooner or later in human |ife, if the present warfare of. woman Against man proceeds apace, we shall arrive at the conception of the neuter |>se, which, indefatigable worker as it may $>c, misses the highest development of the life of its species. — Dr Andrew Wilson, in the Illustrated London News. : — Kaqmt as " The League- £o Respect (Women, a body to encourage politeness m France has just been formed. One of 'ate founders explains the object thus:— '"For many years past we Frenchmen b.ave been losing our reputation for politer ness to, wpmen — in fact, we are' no longer as polite to women as are English, Italians, or Austrians. This is evjdeWed gaily in a hundred little ways. For instance, a Frenchman will seldom if ever think of giving up bis seat in a tramway car or omnibus tQ a woman. It is quite ."Tflffll At a statioß to see $ bub. s&qvl .

his way through a crowd of Waiting : women to get in front. In railway carriages men wiU smoke in non-smoking compartments without asking the permission of the women present. We want not • to go back to the old, somewhat ridiculous forms of ceremonious politeness, but to keep alive, or rather to revive, something traditional in French courtesy towards women, which is, unfortunately, fast dying out." — How many women know the full sig nificance of the wedding ring? ft must be made from pure gold, to signify the lasting devotion between husband ' and wife; it must be a perfect circle, to denote eternity; it must be placed upon the left hand, to show that the wife was subject to the husband ; and, lastly, it must be worn upon the third finger, because a certain nerve is supposed to run directly from there- to the heart. In some parts of the Tyrol a beautiful though curious custom prevails. When a girl is going to be married, and just before she leaves for the church, her-" mother gives her a handkerchief, which is called a tealkerchief. lit Is made of newly-spun and unused linen, and with it the girl dries the natural tears shs sheds on leaving home. The tearkerchisi is never used after the" marriage day. but is folded up and placed in the linen closet, where it remains till its owner's death, when it is taken from its" place and spread over her dead face. . w — One of the most conspicuous figures at the recent London wedding of Lady Evelyn Innes-Ker was the American millionairess, Mrs Ogden, proelet, who is now paying, her annual visit to her daughter, the -Duchess of Roxburghe. Mrs Goelet's jewels are world-renowned — did she not have > £40,000 worth of them stolen recently and mysteriously restored by the thief? — and the magnificence of ber jewellery display at the Innes-Ker wedding caused quite a sensation. A ruby as big as a florin fastened the laces at her neck, and an extraordinarily beautiful rope of large white and black pearls hung below that dazzling ornament. Theso accessories are mere trifles to Mrs Goelet, who inherited the larger portion of the late Mr Ogden Goelet's fortune of £10.000,000. Mrs Goelet spends vast sums during her visits to London, but her disbursements are rather discounted by the loss to English art of the immensely valuable pictures find bric-a-brac which she carries back to America for the enlichment of her gorgeous villa at Newport. In tie mere building of this villa she . spent over £200,000, and twice as much again in its furnishing and adornment. Mrj Goelet has' not been without adventure during her world-wide travels! Once her yacht was "held up " by a Turkish warship in the Dardanelles until .the Sultan learned what an important personage his captive was, whereupon his Majesty hastily invested her with a Turkish order, to smooth her ruffled feelings. A few years ago Mrs Goelet entertained the Prince of Wales at Cowes, and, in order to make the occasion memorable, she brought Yvette Guilbert over from Paris, paying her the record fee of £700 for singing three songs. — " ' Gracious ' — courteous, friendly, kind, attractive, gfaceful, disposed to show goodwill, beneficent, full of grace or fervour." The dictionary definition certainly appear? to cover a goodly number of the virtues as well as the graces. Perhaps that is why the patronising woman who has none of the Christian virtues in her makes such a bad imitation of being gracious. Yet when a~ gracious .woman is met it becomes evident why others wish to imitate her, for her charm is wide and abiding. Graciousness, in fact, is so enviable a possession that one wonders why more women do not try for it. There are "lenty of clever women whose' lack of it- is depressing and distressing. There are plenty of average women who could make themselves delightful by its aid. It is the most needed and most missed in the daily little matters of social life. But a gracious woman can be gracious in a mining camp, on a club committee, or in- a business office, . and gain by it everywhere. . -