LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3015, 27 December 1911, Page 72

LADIES' GOSSIP.

Mme. Alico Vallandri, who sang at the opening night of the London Opera House, is said to have the longest hair of any woman in Europe. It is coppergold in colour, and reaches down to her knees.

—lt is a great mistake to imagine that the old do not enjoy life. Bright elderly women are a pleasure to meet, and young girls are often very fond of them. 'They like to visit them and hear them talk.

The great secret of keeping young, according to the Lady's Companion, is to be amiable, and try always to look on life's _ brightest side. A sweet, kindly expression lends a never-failing charm to the face; while a gloomy look adds years and years to a woman's countenance.

man at all, she might as well be the wife of whatever he is. You are called to be the wife of the man you married, not the w'fe of the man you thought you married when youth and the little god has somewhat blinded your eyes.—Daily Mail. -—The Baptist Tabernacle in Philadelphia, of which Dr Ru&sell H. Conwell is pastor, is likely to take over the congregation of another Baptist Church in the same city. The building left vacant by this consolidation will probably become the home of an Institutional Church which Dr Conwell proposes to establish for the benefit of the large number of women students who come to Philadelphia from other parts of America. It will not only provide them with a place of worship, but will be kept open day and night to serve the purpose of a social centre. Casting stones at society women seems an increasingly popular pastinie among clerics. The latest exponent of this art is the Rev. Charles Richmond, of Philadelphia, who is giving the residents of Fifth avenue thUs sort of food to digest:—" The women of this country are responsible for scandals, divorces, and tbe demoralisation of American society. They are money-mad, clothes-mad, and hunger and thirst for limelight. They regard home solely as a place to eat and sleep in. They scheme for any kind of notoriety, dress immodestly, lust for wealth and evil leadership in fashionable society. In all these things they outstrip the women of any other nation. Nowhere else can women be found who frankly sell themselves and their children to the highest biddei*." Mrs Margaret L. Woods has recorded her impressions of a tour in South Africa in a book entitled " Pastels Under the Southern Cross." * (Smith, Elder. 6s net.) Speaking of "the unexpected beauty of the black race," she says:—"The black Hercules has no huge framework of bone, no lumps and cords of muscle. His limbs are rounded, and nothing in his frame appears very massive. The firm flesh, the velvety brown-black skin, flow smooth, as it were, over muscles the hardness and power of which would hardly be guessed until he is seen lifting a big weight, or, it may be, chasing a buck with long elastic bounds hardly inferior to its own. And the youths and maidens, at an age. when in Europe.they would be skinny—what slender yet rounded limbs! What upright, well-posed grace of body !" When on October 29 the Red Cross hospital-ship Memfi was about to leave Naples for Tripoli, the distinguished visitors, including the Duke and Duchess of Aosta, who had come to see the start, were just leaving the vessel, when the commander asked the Duchess whether she had any message for the troops. "I must let you know," she answered, " that I am Nurse No. 3 of the Naples Red Cross," and those present realised that she was going to the front. In the list of nurses no titles are used, and the Duchess appears simply as "Elena Aosta." Her husband is a first cousin of the King of Italy. Before her marriage, which took place at Kingston in 1895, she was Princess Helene of Orleans.

Elizabeth Lady Butler, who now finds herself mother-in-law to Lord Gormanston, is one of the most interesting women of the century, clever with her peri as with her brush, as befits the sister of that graceful essayist, Mrs Alice Meynell. Before her marriage to the late Sir William Butler she was Miss Elizabeth Southerden Thompson. Born at Lousanne, many of her earlier paintings, with their blue lakes and sunny atmospheres, exhibit the influence of her life under Southern skies. Early in her career, and before she gained fame with the " Roll Call," the great French painter Meissonier and our own Millais predicted great things for her. She is one of the governors of the National Gallery of Ireland.

Apparently the quickest way to become "rich beyond the dreams of avarice" is to run an emporium for the insatiable supply of fashionable clothes. Two Parisian dressmakers have recently given fetes. Here is a description of one of these most costly and fairy like entertainments, given at the house of M. Poiret: — " The grounds were lit with thousands of subdued electric lights, and every room was carpeted with the richest products of the looms of Shiraz, whilst chairs were banished, and the guests reclined upon low divans or on the velvet pile of the rugs anb! masses of silken and brocaded piilows. Nobody was permitted to enter except in strict Oriental dress, and no effort was spared to reconstitute a picture of the days of Haroun Al P,aschid. The fairest and most beautiful artists of Paris., were invited to dance, and when the greater part of the _ crowd had departed the most intimate friends indulged in the seductive pleasures of the bowl and the fumes of the Persian drug." The Crown Princess of Sweden, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught's eldest daughter, will be watching with keen interest the news from Canada, the land of her adoption. It is just a little over six years since Princess Margaret of Connaught went to Sweden as a bride, and since then she has won all hearts by her charming manners and sweet disposition. As the years have passed the young Princess has made herself more and more beloved in Sweden. She is continually ra-

ceiving little ovations all on "her own" from the warm-hearted Swedes —ovations which show how very popular she is over there. Not long ago she arrived at Malmo to find a number of officers, students, and naval cadets awaiting her arrival, and they took the horses out of her carriage and dragged it back to the palace amidst - the continuous cheers of the onlookers. Since the accession of the present King and Queen to the Swedish throne, the Crown Princess has done a great deal of entertaining, as her mother-in-law, Queen Victoria, is very delicate and has to spend most of her life away from Sweden in warmer climes. The Late Lady Colin Campbell. Lady Colin Campbell, who died a few weeks ago, was a clever journalist, and she had great views of women in connection with journalism. "I fail to understand," she once said, "why women shouldn't make good editors. Many of them do, you know —that is, where weekly papers are concerned. As regards dailies, I shouldn't like to express an opinion on the subject. Daily journalism is hard work, but there are some very strong women. No doubt there are individual women who are capable of undergoing the strain, just as there are individual men who are not." But Lady Colin thought it did not matter who conducted a paper so long as it gave you what you wanted. "Far too much," she exclaimed, " is made of this sex question." Lady Colin expressed herself as having had very little difficulty in making a start in journalism. The, first article she ever wrote was about a ladies' Turkish bath at Cairo, and she was only fourteen at the time. Then she wrote a little child's story-book when she was sixteen. After these events she did no writing whatever for five years, but a xriend of her father was constantly saying that she ought to write, so at last she took his advice. She sent an article to the Saturday Review. It was accepted, and she continued writing for that paper for three or four years. After that she joined the staff of the World, of which paper she was for a considerable time the art critic. Later she was editor of the Ladies' Field. Lady Colin Campbell had the reputation of .being one of the finest fencers in the country. "I strongly recommend fencing for ladies," she once said; "indeed, of all exercises, I consider it far and away the finest. It is the one fport in which women can compete on something like equal terms with men. You see, it doesn't demand an enormous amount of strength; besides which, it develops the muscles all over the body without unduly developing any one part. Fencing gives a carriage and walk that I don't think any other kind of exercise does. It is good both for the eye and the brain, and it quickens the reasoning powers. In addition to all this you can fence in all weathers —you are not the slave of the watering-pot, as you are with other sports. It is a great pity that women do not take to it." Mine. Melba's Australian Home. A visitor to "Coombe Cottage," Mme. Melba's Lillydale residence, near Melbourne, writes that anyone who has not been there could not possibly realise the beauty of the diva's Australian home. "But what most impresses the imagination," says the writer, "is how it all came about. It is like a wonderful fairy story. There is in all of us sufficient of the dreamer to have conjured up a great personal conquest of the world, and then bring its rarest art treasures to that delightful mansion we would build on the delectable mountain near the spot where we were born. Almost always the castle has remained in the air. "With Mme. Melba is has been different. Her dream has materialised. On a site commanding the country over which, as a girl, she careered on a galloping pony —the natives will vouch for it that she never used a saddle, and was always galloping—is "Coombe Cottage." There is no other home in Australia quite like it. It is not obtrusive, in no wise, ostentatious ; but just peacefully beautiful. "Eighteen months ago there was a cornfield where are now the house and grounds. Above the cottage, which has bay windows and wide verandah spaces, and is picturesque from every aspect, is a pergola, and over this the climbing plants are beginning to find their way. About the house roses have been trained, while trailing vines are already shading the verandahs. Mr Guilfoyle, for many years curator of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, spent a year laying out the grounds, which have wide lawns, a croquet space, grass tennis courts, and tdeasant paths, with flowers in great profusion colouring the landscape. The road to Healesville is hidden by a hedge,' but passing motorists pull up their cars and stand on the upholstered seats to get a glimpse of the garden in the Australian bush. . "A big tower clock over the motor garage tolls the hours. Beneath the dial is the legent, 'East, West, Hame's best.' "In the garage are two big touring cars and under the same roof an electric plant, with accumulators, for supplying the liffht for the cottage, buildings, and grounds. Another large building stables Mme. Melba's pair of hays, which draw the high phaeton she drives about the country roads. Everything is the model of order, while the building has graceful architectural lines, and one looks the prospect pleases. "But, as the furniture advertisements say, 'lt's what's inside makes the homes.' To 'describe the treasures here would be at the risk of exciting envy. That muchabused word 'artistic' sounds more Philistinio than ever when applied to them and the scheme of their arrangement. Everything what it purports to be, and one's eye Is never offended by 'the sincerest form of flattery.' The flooring of the music-room is genuine parquette, and the mantelpiece is an undeniable Adams. The oil paintings are by masters ; the framed

coloured drawings in the corridor are originals by John Leach. Europe seems to have been put under contribution for beautiful things, and a home truth given expression is that wherever pretence is absent there is perfect harmony in the effect. Gifts from kings and princes are housed at 'Coombe Cottage.' There are cabinets of writing tables in Australian woods, designed and executed with exquisite taste. And over all is evidence of loving care and the patriotic sentiment which inspired Mme. Melba to make this home—it would still be notable in any art centre in Europe. Do ISrofbers Help S'sfers? " In a family," said Lord Tennyson, "every member ought to be a help and an encourager of each of the others." No doubt that ought to be the case, but it is to be feared that such an ideal state of things does not exist in a good many homes. Does the ordinary brother do his duty by his sister or sisters? Is it not often the case that while he is., perhaps, remarkably devoted to someone else's sister, he is considerably neglectful of his own? . "It really seems rather a shame, you know," remarked the newly-engaged girl to the sister of her fiancee. "It really seems almost a shame for me to take your brother from you. He takes me everywhere. Now, if he hadn't me he would be taking you." That lady had no brothers of her own, and the young gentleman's sister was too loyal to him to enlighten her that that was hardly how brothers - generally behaved to their sisters. Queen Victoria used, as a test of a young man's character with regard to the female sexy to encourage him to talk about his sisters. If he was enthusiastic about them she concluded at once that he had been well trained in respect and devotedness to the female sex. If he was merely tolerant of them she concluded that there was something defective in his estimate of womanhood. A sister, she held, was a great test. She might also, at times, be a great trial. " Sisters," wrote the schoolboy who had to write an essay on the subject, "are not much good. There clothes keep them from climbing and dooing useful things. They can't throe strate, and there games are only fit for girls. Not having pockets they never have nives and things to swop. They screech at nothing, and cry if one happens to hit them." How They Might Help.— One of the greatest singers of the day declares it was her brother who first spoke to her the -words of encouragement that made her aptflv herself to singing. He had been to a concert at which he had heard several of the great songstresses, and coming home, heard his sister singing. "Do you know, Nell," he said at last, "you have an awfully pretty voice. I believe you would be as good a singer as any of the lot if you took trouble." He was to her what so many brothers are to their man who went abroad and learnt lots of things she had no chance of learning. She believed he was immensely clever. Those words of encouragement meant the world to her. Matrimonially does the brother help the sister? "Does he. introduce her to his friends as he might? He is generally supremely unconscious of the fact that his best chum may possibly have fallen in love with her. It takes an enormous lot to awaken him to the fact when it hapand until he has been awakened to it he is commonly an obstacle that it almost drives the other man frantic to get out of the way so that he may reveal his affection. When at last he awakes to the staggering fact that his chum has actuallv proposed to his sister and beenaccepted in the five minutes he left them together, it is doubtful whether he does not feel a little hurt that his chum should have the taste to prefer "only Jane's" society to his own. If brothers would' only ask themselves oftener whether they are quite as helpful to their sisters as they might be, a good deal more happiness would be carried into many households. And how much more help and encouragement, too, might they themselves receive! For what heart is so , generous in gratitude as the heart of the ' girl? ! Hints and Suggestions. An onion poultice will soon relieve the worst kind of earache. When meat appears tough add a tablespoonful of vinegar to the water or gravy in which it is cooked, and simmer slowly. To prevent the gravy soaking through the bottom crust of meat pies, brush over the crust with white of egg. | After frying onions, pour a little vinegar into the frying-pan, let it get hot, and it Avill remove all smell'from the pan. When two glass tumblers or dishes stick together so that there is danger of breaking in getting them apart, put cold water in the inner one and hold the outer one in warm water, and they will separate at once. Pour boiling water over lemons before . using. This will double the amount of , juice they Avill produce. The pulp of a 1 lemon is an excellent teeth cleanser. A bit of lemon put into the copper with a little boiling water Will thoroughly clean it. ° - J Dishes should be arranged for washing ' in the following order: Glass, silver, cups, saucers, plates, and other dishes. Wash the cleanest first, and only a few at a time. Two pans, one for washing and one for. rinsing, should be used. When cleaning out a fireplace sprinkle some tea leaves among the ashes. They will prevent the dust from flying about, and will keep the room wonderfully clean. This hint should be remembered for a sick room. When vegetables are not young and tender a pinch of baking-soda added to the . water in which they are cooked improves them in both tenderness and colour. There should always be an opening between lid and pot for the steam to pass off, or the j vegetables will turn out "soggy," and \

they should always he taken out of the water as soon as they begin to lose their firmness. When preparing rice, instead of washing it three or four times in cold water to remove the starch, rinse it twice in very hot water and the same result is gained. Few of the average English cooks succeed in boiling rice so that each grain is separate—in the way seen on the Southern itables. Tq cook rice thus, throw it slowly into rapidly boiling water, slightly salted, and cook for 15 minutes uncovered. It is always useful to have a bottle of embrocation handy in case of need. The ! following is a well-known recipe which I may be applied in all cases of bruise, 1 sprain, or rheumatism, if the -surface of the. skin is unbroken. For it are required the yolks of two eggs, half a gill of acetic acid, half a gill of turpentine. Mix all well together in a bottle, cork tightly, and keep apart. Shake thoroughly before using. For six pence you may thus have as much embrocation as would otherwise cost four times the sum. Stockings, almost more than anything else, require careful washing, or they soon lose their colour, and also become hard and uncomfortable. The pretty coloured stockings now sold to match the dress must be specially carefully washed ; much rubbing is injurious, and no soda must ba used in the water. Prepare two or three good warm lathers with white curd soap, to which a small piece of alum or borax, or a tablespoonful of vinegar has been added, and well squeeze and press the stockings in succession through ; these lathers. 'Some people add a tea?oonful of ox-gall instead of the vinegar, hen turn the stockings wrong side out, and rinse in clear, warm water till clean. Do not allow them to lie in the water, but squeeze them out as dry as possible, pull them into ahaoe. and hang them up by the toes in the open air. When dry, fold neatly, and mangle them. Stockings should not be ironed. I Sea-bathing and the hair.—The effect of sea water on the hair is to make it sticky and rather dull looking, unless precautions are taken to' counteract any such effect. It is not always convenient, neither is it advisable,, to wash the hair in fresh water after each sea-bath, if the latter be ■repeated every day or so; but the hair should be subjected to a certain after- j treatment to prevent its matting together , and feeling thick to the touch. A simple ; j remedy to be applied to the hair after a sea-bath is a teaspoonful _of j arbor andi tonio, or even diluted vinegar. This should be rubbed into the roots of the hair with a piece of clean, white flannel, ! after which the hair should be brushed with a moderately stiff brush, combed and allowed to flow freely for a quarter of an hour for the air to play through it, the fingers moving it about and gently i rubbing the scalp meanwhile.