LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 73

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— A chain of uncut turquoises is the pet conceit of Miss Violet Vanburgh. This chain constantly increases in length, fov any of the gifted actress's friends who happen to hit upon a turquoise en cabochon is very apf to purchase it and send it to be added to the quaintly barbaric chain which so well adorns the dark beauty of its owner. — The Directoire gown is responsible for many little extravagancies, and one of them" is the painted china button. Sometimes it is a woman's face, a Waiteau picture, or, in the ca>-e of \e:v "doggy" peop'e. it is tome frr. oi'iitccanine. Ixners of cats have a'-o launched

into the extravagance of having their pets thus pictured. — The widow's cap has been diminishing in size, if not in significance, for a long time. It is now a graceful little Marie Stuart coif, with long ends at the back, and is a decorative addition to a charming head. Strongly in contrast is it with the very serious piece of headgear known some 20 years ago as a widow's cap. It hid nearly all the hair, and could certainly never have been considered ornamental — in fact, its raison d'etre seemed to have been the expression on the part of its wearer of utter indifference as to her good looks or the opinion of men. But now even mourning is smart, and widows, instead of shrouding their figures in thick black mantles, as they did 15 years since, now wear the most up-to-date of coats and caj3es. — One reason why old lace is so vainable is because it is woven in lost patterns. Liace-making in France received a severe check during the French Revolution. Before that time whole \ illages supported themselves by lace-making, and ! patterns were handed down from one i generation to another. When the Reign of Terror began all work of this kind was interrupted for a time. After the storm had subsided the dealers and workers were far apart — some dead, some lost, some exiled in foreign lands — and such of the women as remained were bound by their oath to work for but one dealer. Some, however, taught their children and their grandchildren, and in this way patterns were preserved. But many of the daintiest and finest patterns were never recovered, and to-day specimens of these laces are exceedingly valuable. — Years ago Sarah Bernhardt conceived a happy idea, and, with her usual impulsiveness, acted upon it immediately. It wa3 to form a " friendship" chain. When her friends heard of her intention each was eager to contribute. One gave a cameo, one a silver cross, others gave j rings, keys, jewels. AM these were i worked up into a chain, the various porj tions fastened by the finest gold wire. This curious medley of jewels remained for years the great Frenchwoman's mascot. But when Madame played that wonderful part in " Phedre " she wore a girdle of cameos, and for some reason she made up her mind that her great sue- . cess was due entirely to this girdle. Fiom ! that date on the cameos have been her cherished talisman. — One of the most interesting of living Frenchwomen is Madame de Thebes, " the oracle of Paris." as she has been called, j whose predictions for the year 1909 are anything but favourable. Madame de Thebes has been prophesying for so long. and so many of her predictions have been fulfilled, that she has become quite an institution, and she is consulted by ihe leading men and women of the gay city. No less a personage than Alexandra Dumas gave her his friendship, and she is familiar with half literary and artistic Paris. Madame disdains the usual methods of the fortune-teller, and the most astute of men have confessed themj selves baffled as to how she gets her information. Among the numerous events which she has foretold may be mentioned the Syveton affair, the .Russo-Japanese war, the fire at the Comedie Francaise, and the illness of King Edward which was the cause of postponing the Coronation. Some years ago, too, she predicted that " women will rise to give lessons to the men," but whether she referred to Frenchwomen or to the " votes for women agitation in England, Madame neglected to state. — If, as is reported. Mr J. Orr-Ewing, of the Sixteenth Lancers, and his bride has chosen the South Pole for their honeymoon, they have achieved that most dirticult thing — an entirely novel wedding trip. Arctic honeymoons are, we believe, fairly common nowadays. It is not long ! since Mr Max Fleischman, an American i millionaire, took his bride ior an excursion of some months among Polar ice and bears; Count de Lesdain and hi-> wife spent their honeymoon in a trip from Peking, through Thibet, to India— a perilous journey in which they more than once j almost lost their lives ; — Major Powell i Cotton spent many months of honey with | his bride in the heart of Africa, among I the savage pigmies: while Herr and Fravi j Scharlieb. of Berlin, indulged in a wedding excursion which lasted three yeais. extended over 40,000 miles, and took in almost every country on earth. — Norway can teach us many lessons, not the least being its attitude towards its women. There are no idle women in ! Norway. Every woman does something. If thej'e be not enough to occupy her at home then she goes boldly out into the world and does her part there. They are, by instinct, such careful, thrifty housewives that they settle down cheerfutly j and bravely to work hard in their own I homes when they marry. But in Noiway. i it appeal's, marriage is not considered the be-all and end-all of a woman's existence. Idleness among their womenfolk is ns much a disgrace with them as is that ot our men with us. Norwegian servants 1 ha\e always been found to be thorough'y i conscientious and hard-working. and registry-keepers say there is an ever- , increasing demand for them. As a laclyj help the Norwegian girl of the better class is invaluable. If she does not under stand the language at fust she very soon tumbles to h, and, language or no language, she does her work, and that light | well. 1 — The value of pearls in the ancient ' world appears to hr.ye been fabulously high. Pliny states that the two famous I petirls which Cleopati-a wore at the cele- ! brated banquet to Mark Anthony — '' the 1 singular and only jewels of the world, and . e\en Natuie's wonder" — were worthy 60 million sestertii, equivalent to 1.875.0000z ,of siher. Suetonius relates that two reI inarkably large and heavy peaih. brought > by an araba^&ador for the F.mnress. found no purchaser when ofreied for sale by ' Alo..an'l-.r S"'. erus. and t'lni the Emperor |,iin r ; tiiei-i in th" poJs of the s'auie ol Yeniis. b?i'.n;: "If the Emnie^s hvi

such pearls she would set a bad example to other women by wearing an ornament of fo much value that no one could pay for it." In spite of their cost, pearls continued to be used so profusely in the Roman world that Pliny exclaimed : " It i 3 not sufficient for them to wear pearls, but they must trample and walk over them " ; and the women wore pearls even in the still hours of the night, so that in their sleep they might be conscious ot possessing the beautiful gems." A sumptuary law of Csesar denied them to women beneath a certain rank, while Martial, Tibullus, and Horace inveighed against the extravagance they caused. In the Middle Ages similar extravagance called forth similar legislation in France. England, Germany, and other countries. The Arabs, after 'the eighth century, introduced a new use for pearls into Europe. They were supposed to contain extraordinary medicinal and magical properties, and to possess a powerful influence in human affairs, like the heavenly bodies. A different motive inspired a different ser\ice: if melted in wine they were considered to enrich a banquet. The classical tradition that Cleopatra dissolved her priceless pearls as a tribute to Antony is disposed of by the authors as impracticable, for the reason that the gems do not dissolve without being previously pul-■\e-iised. They readily mix when powdered, hoy. ever: and Sir Thomas Gresham is credited with having drunk a pearl worth £15.000 to the health ot Queen Elizabeth, in order to win a wager against the Spanish Ambassador. —H. H. Rogers, the New York millionaire, is an exception among the great financiers in having a. woman for his pmate secretary. This extremely responsible post is filled by Miss K. I. Harrison, who receives for her services a salary which is reported to be £5000 a year. Miss Harrison has been with Mr Rogers for several years, and in that time has come to know all his business friends and social acquaintances. When Mr Rogers is out of town, as he frequently is. Miss Harrison runs his oftice. She has her stenographeis, her clerks, and her office boys, who obey her as their chief. Even wtienuJMr Rogers is present his time is occupied only as she has arranged Tor it ; and it must be a very unusual and extremely important piece of business that can get a personal conference with even Miss Harrison, to say nothing of Mr Rogers, until it has been duly taken up by correspondence and anah'sed and considered. Mark Twain once said that it he let his correspondence go unanswered long enough it uo longer became necessary to answer it at all, and he could throw away large bundles of neglected letters at a time. Perhaps this influence— Mr Rogers and Mark Twain are fast friends — is felt in Miss Harrison's office; certain it is that many letters arrive there merely to find oblivior.. Tc Miss Harrison tails the duty of serving as Mr Rogers's official buffer — more than that, as "his representative. She herself has buffers, through whom it is difficult to pass except by prearranged appointment — by letter. * Telephone messages are politely requested to be put in written form and submitted through the post. — Mme. Calve, who has been ill for son^e time at the Plaza Hotel, opposite Central Park, New York, is better, and is at present engaged in cheering up her physician (Dr William Bull, or.c of the most noted surgeons in the city). Dr Bull is critically ill himself with cancer, and is also stopping at the Plaza Hotel. Every day (the Chronicle states) Mme. Calve goes to the physician's room and sings to him. STie accompanies herself. The doctor declares that if he recovers it will be due to Mme. Calve" s great kindness, as her singing gives him strength to fight against his disease.