THE SOCIAL ROUND

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 76, 6 May 1914, Page 4

THE SOCIAL ROUND

NOTES AND NEWS.

Mr and Mrs May, of Wanganui, will leave for London by the Eemuera on Thursday.

Lady Gibbes. left Wellington yesterday for Pahiatua, where she will spend a brief holiday with her daughter, Mrs Thompson. m v x

Mrs Ward and Mrs Frith, of Wellington, have' arrived in Christchurch,. where they will spend a short holiday. Mr and Mrs K. W. Barton, who are on their way ""to Vancouver, left Wellington for Auckland by the Main Trunk express on Monday. > * Mr and Miss Bamson, of this city, who are at present on a visit to Wellington, are staying at the Hotel Windsor.

Mrs and Miss Stevenson, of Waaganui, arrived from Wellington this morning. - '-■■j

Dr. Walker, whose practice is being, taken over by Dr. Noble Adams, of Takaka, and Mrs Walker, will shortly leave, on a trip to England. ■- <, Mr and Mrs MacEwan, of ton, are leaving for Canada in a few weeks? time.

Mr and Mrs Harris, who arrived in Christchurch on Monday, purpose returning to Geraldine to-day. Miss Patten, of Fendalton, is staying with her sister, Mrs J. Milne Allen, Waimatai.

Mrs E. Willis, who has been infant mistress at Ashburton for the last twenty years, has tendered her resignation to the school committee, and it has been accepted with many expressions of r iegret. It was decided to arrange for a fitting. recognition of the services that Mrs Willis has rendered to the school.

Dr and Mrs Morkane, Mr and Mrs Alfred Bunz, and Mrs R. O. Duncan left yesterday for Wellington, where they Will join the for their trip Home.

Sir Joseph .Ward an< l Lady Ward, who have been staying in Christehurch since Saturday, left by the Wahine last even ing f or Wellington. . f Mr and Mrs E. J. Jay and family, also Miss Bowen, are staying at Sumner. Particulars regarding the awarding ©£ certificates for five years' service by ihe St» John Ambulance Brigade are now to'hand, -and are as follow: —Canterbury N.M. and W.C. district; District W. R. L. Esselborn; district superintendent, J. P. Hughson. Greymouth Nursing Division: Mrs E. Batty 41ady superintendent), Mrs B. Drake, Mrs E. Yeadon, Misses A. Tindale and M. Batty. Kaiapoi Division: Divisional /superintendent, L. E. Oram, Thomas Hoskin, and H. Oram. North Canterbury Corps: Corps superintendent, A. L. Gray. Palmerston South Division: A. Crilmore. Wellington Division: J. C. Balph. Wellington Nursing Division: Dr. E. Gunn, Nurse M. H. Macandrew, Miss A. M.-M. Redmond. The .total number of these certificates issued "is 179.

Melbourne is taking .on Parisian ways on Saturday nights, and the scenes, ; at most of the big cafes are more than passing gay. The smart young mother •f a smart young matron relates a typical experience.* One was" asked to supper at one cafe, and another at another. For all that it was Sunday morning, they were dancing merrily till 2 o 'clock, and it was not till their respective taxis Beared home that each thought of what the other would say. By an extraordinary coincidence, both- taxis drew up simultaneously, and as two very modern women stepped forward with their latchkeys, their mutual recognition made even the seasoned chauffeurs grin. A subsequent exchange of confidences revealed the fact that dozens of members of exclusive society had been among their companions, and while proceedings had been distinctly merry, and the tango had been danced universally, there was nothing much to choose between the parties at the cafes and parties in private houses. 4)£ course, proprietors regard the law very seriously, indeed, and the champagne, which flows very freely, indeed, is all ordered early in the day. It is. a tough problem for the poor old wowser, whose zeal arbitrating the pleasures of the monied Australian continues- unabated.

A correspondent to a London paper I Las actually sought information as to tbe way to make a proposal! Is there any accepted method? There must be as many ways as there are days in the year, anil yet very few display any originality. Bead all the great novelists, and-mark how varied are the ways they adopt of making their heroes put the great question. Think of Kochester, George Osborne, Mr George Knightley, John Halifax, David Copperfield, Eobert Elsmere, and hosts of others, and each one will be found to propose differently, but quite effectively. Much depends upon the time and place and circumstances. It is useless to make plans."-They fail at the psychological moment. A woman can upsflt every one if she likes. She is really never taken by surprise! Mj, 1 E. F. Benson .says the Victorian girl suffered as much from chaperonitis as the girl of to-day suffers from appendicitis. The chaperon has been removed, and in his opinion the modern maiden is very much healthier in mind and manner for it. Altogether, Mr Benson thinks the jeune fille of the present time a very great improvement on her predecessor. She may be outspoken, but she has greater individuality; she does more "shocking" things, but she is less impulsive; she no longer pursues man, but she more often marries for love than the girls of a previous generation. There is a great deal in what this popular novelist says, too, about the old and the new woman in relation to poli-

ties. While there are thousands clamouring and fighting for the vote, women really exercise far less political power now than they did in early Victorian flays. It has been declared by Lord Newton that "the hat is by far the most important article in feminine attire." But surely this is a rather sweeping statement, which leaves nothing to the individual point of feminine views? Some women have the cult of the hat very firmly marked, while others border almost on the indifferent in regard to this "article" of attire. And one believes that the masculine mind is not unanimous in its views as tot the supreme importance of any one article of the satorial whole. Feminine dress would be very dull indeed if it were not for the variety it brings (remarks the "Pictorial^'). 11 The Times' ' says there has been a valuable discovery of Bronte pictures, and in a manner at once romantic and extraordinary. Mrs Gaskell's "Life of Charlotte Bronte" in the Haworth edition, speaks of portraits taken by the Rev. A..8. Nicholls, Charlotte's widowed husband, to his home in Ireland, at his departure from Haworth. Nobody ever saw them there, however, and it was generally believed that the group had perished and that the ' '"Emily'' which it was known had been given to a servant, had been lost. Only a few weeks ago, however, the lady who became the second wife of Mr Nicholls, and who is still living in the Irish house where he resided until his death, was looking on while a servant turned out lan old cupboard Or wardrobe, which had lain long undisturbed, when the, servant came upon two brown-paper :f parcels. y Mrs Nicholls wade her untie '■ them, anft from one emerged the picture of "Emily," and from the second, actually folded into four, the group of the three sisters, the Very group which Charlotte held up for Mrs Gaskell to see, as is described in the life. Both pictures were painted by their brother, Bramwell Bronte, and they have now been placed in the National Portrait Gallery. Mr Junius Morgan, the twenty-three-year-old son of Mr J. P. Morgan, and a grandson of Mr Pierpont Morgan, has become engaged to Miss Louise. Converse, aged nineteen; and who lives at Boston, Mr Morgan is. studying at Harvard University, and the wedding will take place when he has graduated. —Press Association.