LADSES’ GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3160, 7 October 1914, Page 67

LADSES’ GOSSIP.

The Queen of the Netherlands is an enthusiastic farmer. A dairy in connection Avith the Royal castle at Loo is run on regular business lines by its owner; large quantities of butter and milk are sold regularly from the dairy, which is uoav self-supporting and profitable. The proprietor of a German toyshojo in South London Avas summoned to the colours with such urgency that he had no time to make any arrangements for the carrying on of his business. When his assistant arrived in the morning ho found the proprietor gone—“address net known’’ —and at once quietly assumed control of the shop. The next day he Avas called upon to take his place in the Territorials. His brother, to Avhom he handed over the business, was seized with the Avar fever within tAvo days, and enlisted. To make sure of keeping the business in the family before leaving, he installed his Avife in charge. The Queen of Italy is said to oavii a Avonderful sunshade handle made of coral, and Avorth over £3OO. The working of coral is an Italian industry, and the fisheries are, as a rule, several miles out to sea. Nearer the shore the coral is collected by divers, and in order to fish for it a special apparatus is employed in the Mediterranean Avhich has be6n in use for centuries. Of the three kinds of coral —red, Avhitc, and pink—the latter is most valuable, and undoubtedly the prettiest as well. The larger pieces of coral are used for sticks and parasol handles. One of the loveliest chains of pink coral is that owned bj’ Lady Helen Vincent. There are many curious betrothal customs in Germany that arc found in no place else in the Avorld. As soon as a German girl is betrothed she is. addressed as “bride” by her fiance. The betrothal is a more serious affair than in England, and is not so easily broken. Immediately upon the betrothal the lovers exchange

rings, which, if the course of true love runs smooth, are to be worn ever afterwards. The woman wears her betrothal ring on the third finger of her left hand until she is married, and then it is transferred to the third finger of her right hand. The man continues to wear his ring just as the wife wore hers when she was a bride. Standing high on a scaffold in tho transept of tho New Catholic Church at St. Louis, with a novice’s veil about her face, Miss Melva Beatrice Wilson, of New York, famous sculptress, is carving her life’s masterpiece as her farewell to the world. When she sees the work finished and the seven stations of the cross stand out in white relief in the marble beneath her hands she will renounce ambition to become a- nun and enter upon a life secluded. The renunciation will mean to her as much probably as to any woman of America who has written her name high in the realm of art and letters. She studied here and abroad, especially in religious edifices, from sacred works and carved stone. Now, as she works on her scaffold, veiled and devout, she has a vase of Calla lilies at her feet, and surrounds herself as much as possible with material aids to concentration of mind upon the vast subject, —So far as I am aware, the following extraordinary incident with regard to the late Joseph Chamberlain’s marriage to Miss Lndicott, his third wife, has never been published. Some years ago an antiquarian browsing among the registers of City churches discovered the entry of a marriage early in the seventeenth century of a Joseph Chamberlain to a Mary Endicott, A little research proved that the bridegroom was an ancestor of thq lamented statesman (the Chamberlains 1 London pedigree is well known), and that the bride was an ancestress of the Miss Endicott whom the late Mr Chamberlain wooed and won in Washington more than 25 years ago, and nearly three centuries after tho first marriage between the families. Mr Chamberlain and his wife inspected together the orginal entry in the register. When one remembers the unfailing happiness of the union the theory of reincarnation suggests itself.