LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3277, 3 January 1917, Page 50

LADIES' GOSSIP.

The war has compelled the Empress Eugenie to give up the yachting cruises which she has always enjoyed so much. She has lived practically altogether at Farnborough for some time past. King George and Queen Mary visit the Empress regularly, and Queen Alexandra is also a frequent visitor to Farnborough. Mrs Vaughan, one of the Empress's most intimate friends, died recently, and her death was a great blow to the .I'irnpress. Mrs Vaughan's two sons are at the front. Whether or no you approve of " monster " patterned taffetas, they are here —and here for a very long stay—though of course it is chielly on the stage now that one sees any sort of ultrafashionable gown. It's usually where evening gowns are concerned that these materials are in evidence. Sometimes the ground will be almost entirely covered with some brightly covered design, while another will have a bold pattern merely at intervals. The colours, too ! They are simply wonderful. A weird red and green flower design will appear on a dull orange ground, while gold on a black background is one of the favourites. A little gown seen one clay was perfectly charming, of black taffeta, the rather stiff variety, patterned all over with monster old-gold roses. It was very, very simply made (a point to remember with these big patterns), with just a wee black net bodice, outlined in gold thread. Gold shoes and stockings were worn; and a wee gold rosebud should be lucked away in the coils of the wearer's jet-black hair. —lt is difficult to think of the tall and slender and almost girlish-seeming Duchess of Portland as a grandmother, but the arrival of Lady Titchfield's baby girl conferred that estate upon her. The marriage of Lord Titchfield and Miss Ivy GordonLennox was celebrated in the private chapel at Welbeck in August, 1915, and Queen Alexandra, accompanied by Princess Victoria, travelled down to Notts the clay before in order co be present at the union of a favourite Maid of Honour to the son of her Mistress of the Lobes. Lady Titchfield is very graceful and pretty in the blonde way of the GordonLennoxes, and every one wiio has the privilege of knowing her likes her more than a little. Mrs Geoffrey Howard was Miss Christian Methuen, eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Methuen, and her marriage to the popular Liberal Whip, who is the elder surviving son of Rosalind Lady Carlisle, took place in April, 1915, in the Henry VII Chapel of Westminster Abbey. Mr Edwin Montagu, who shortly afterwards married the bridegroom's cousin, Miss Venetia Stanley, a convert to Judaism, acted as best man. Before her marriage Mrs Howard took an active part in nursing wounded soldiers, and Mr Howard, who is Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, was at the front for a time in command of the Royal Naval Division Motor Transport.

The following item appears in the New York Times:—Colorado Springs, September 29.—Major Charles A. Gordon, 94 years old, was married to-day to his fifth wife, Mrs Margaret E. Dixon, aged 78. Gordon first married a millionaire's daughter in London in 1837. She died in Omaha in 1868. His subsequent marriages occurred here, and all his brides have been widows. His only child, a son aged 78, lias 15 children. When You niv Tiird. Should your head be inclined to ache, take down your liair and massage the head gently with a little vinegar, from the temples to the bump behind your

oars. This bump is the seat of all the head nerves, and a gentle massage, firm enough to stir the circulation, is both soothing and helpful. Nothing relieves tired feet like massage. The soles should receive careful attention, as the nerves here are near the surface. First bathe the feet in warm water, in which lias been added a teaspoenful of eau-de-Cologne. Then massage with cold cream or toilet vinegar. Make-Up and stajro Rissfs. Even in these days there are many excellent people who object to pronounced love-making on the stage. Gould these good folks but once see a pair .of stage lovers at close quarters, their minds would be for ever disabused of the notion that the stage kiss is anything more than a very disagreeable little bit of stage business, unfortunately necessary to the realism of the scene. To her stage lovers the beautiful actress appears as a very crudely executed oil painting. On every eyelash hangs a little bead of black cosmetic. The underlids are heavily blacked, and a black lino extends a quarter of an inch from the eye at each end—this makes them large from the frcnt —on the cheeks are round circles of rouge. The lips are an exaggerated carmine, the brows pencilled thickly, and throat, shoulders, and arms whitened to a ghastly hue that are luckily like nothing else in nature. "He" looks even worse, especially if lie wears a wig and false moustache. No, the stage case is "business," and nothing else to those chiefly concerned. So any romantically-minded damsel who is stage struck will do well to remembei these decidedly unromantic facts when she finds herself dreaming of her stage heroes and heroines, or drawing unflattering comparisons between life, as she knows it, and life as it is their business to represent it for her amusement. Or maybe, if she is ignorant of these things, a kindly friend will point them out to her, and so a possible heartache and feeling of disillusionment will be avoided.

ISints and 'Uirnestioiis. When peeling onions hold a cork between the teeth, and the eyes will notbecome affected. Unless tin things are put in a warm place to dry after washing, they are sure to rust at the seams. Before wearing new stockings, wash them -.cell in soapy water. If this is done the stockings will wear much better. Stewed meat requires less fuel to cook it than roasted, and is quite as nourishing. To make omelets light, add one scant teaspoonful of baking powder for every four eggs. If a iish bone sticks in the throat, suck the" juice of a lemon. This will immediately dislodge the bone, and will bring it down without any further trouble. Crushed egg-shells are splendid for securing purposes. They must be really finely crushed, or they will .scratch enamelled ware, or anything of the kind. .Remove all the white skin from the inside of the shells before crushing, and then apply the powder on a damp rag. Wash afterwards with warm, soapy water, and your pots and pans will look like new again. To Clean Frosted Silver.—Powdered billiard chalk with a little ammonia ir methylated spirits and brushed with a soft brush is good for this purpose, care being taken not to use too much force during the process. The article should then bo washed in warm water, using soap and brush, and then allowed to dry in fine sawdust or box-wood. To keep beef in hot weather remove any kernel or marrow before putting the joint in the larder, and, if it is to be kept a day or two, wipe it daily, and keep ,t covered to prevent flies attacking it. It may be dusted well with pepper, also a precaution against flies, if you like. If, in spite of care, the beef does get taint wash it in water in which powdered has been dissolved, two teaspoonfuls io t pint, or water and vinegar will do, bus borax is the best thing to use. Meat thai lias been tainted should not bo boiled c* stewed, but baked or roasted.