NOTES AND NEWS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 85, 16 May 1914, Page 7

NOTES AND NEWS.

Mr and Mrs Frank Courage (AmberIcy ) have taken furnished '' Uramo,'' Brown's Road, Merivale, for the winter months. Mr and Mrs Cecil Oljivicr have returned to Christchurch after a holiday trip to Sydney and' Melbourne. , • Mrs Percy Haggitt, ;St. Matthew's vicarage, St." Albans, is visiting Dunedin. Dr and Mrs M'Evedy. left last night by the Maori for Wellington;'.-,", Mrs Denriistoii, who has~ been north, returned to Christchurch .by yesterday's boat. •' -, .•':■': -■ -' ■• ' ; •■' : . '. ' i Mr and Mrs Seaton, who have been staying at the Occidental since Tuesday, left 'last' night ou their return to Wellington. Mr and Mrs Hockley, of Melbourne, . who have been visiting Christchurch relatives, sailed by the Moeraki yesterday ou their return to Victoria. Mr and Mrs W., de Thicr, who have been holidaying in the North Island, returned to Christchurch this morning. Miss Maud Allan and the Cherniavsys arrived from the north this morning. Miss Essie Glen, of Christchurch, left . by the Maunganui on' Friday (yesterday) for Sydney, on a visit to her sister, Mrs Roekley Turner. ■ Miss May Logan, who has been stay - ; ing with her sister, Mrs Henry Hall (Wellington), left last ni'glit for Christchurch. Miss Elsie Graham, M.A., of the 'Girls' High School, spent the winter vacation with her relatives in Wa- ' nganui. ' ' Miss Elsie Cooper (Christchurch) left by the Maunganui yesterday on a visit to Sydney. ' Miss Mary Jones left Wellington last night for 'Christchurch,'where she will stay for some weeks as the guest of Mrs B. B. Wood, Fendaltbn. Miss Olive Wolters, of Carterton, is spending a few weeks in Christchurch,! visiting friends. Miss Nora Archey was presented with an ebony toilet set by the staff of W. H. Sitrims and Sons, Ltd., on her severing her connection with the firm. The managing director, Mr F. E. Jones, made the presentation, and referred in terms of high appreciation to Miss Archey's ability.

Discussing the death of a baby six months old, which had been fed on crusts, bacon, fried fish, and sausage, a London doctor remarked that the babies of Southwark, where he chiefly practised, must have at birth the finest constitutions in the" world. "I have had babies brought to me suffering from the after effects of pickles, periwinkles, mackerel, and the more , alarming, varieties of ice, cream. One. young mother, whose child narrowly escaped . death, told me that the child, which was not a day over six months old, had. eaten lobster." Some babies also are fed on an < extraordinary diet, in which potatoes arc often prominent. In spite of all that is said and written on the subject of infant feeding, many women prefer to. trust that "maternal instinct" which is one of the most deadly agencies for removing babies to, another world.

Water is hard.in many English towns and therefore bad for the complexion. A popular royal lady noted for her soft colouring never washes but in distilled water, while an English lady, who is famous for her lovely complexion, washes her face invariably , with rose-water heated in a silver Etna. Softened water, then, we must have if we want to have a soft skin. A doctor gave me this idea: Have some water boiled fast, and s then let it get quite cold again, and then let it boil up again and keep boilving.for a minute. Set on one side, and when the water is merely warm wash face and hands with it.. Persevere daily with this treatment, and you will soon see a great difference in your appearance.

. JTurs are bcgiuniug to be the symbol of mere wealth, and as such are becoming (lis-tasteful to Englishwomen, who are averse from seeming to imitate the vulgar rich. Besides, many women dislike wearing furs from the same humanitnririi motives that make them refuse to wear egrets in their hats. In any case, many who cannot afford expensive furs do not wish to wear rabbit skins masquerading as fox or as sable. Even the elegant lady of fashion can wear her furs only, when she is dressed for walking in town or motoring. So in the country in England, one sees comparatively few furs. Some Englishwomen keep their throats warm all through the winter with. the silk knitted scarfs, which arc soft and light and are made in the most exquisite shades. They form a good .finish to a walking dress. For cold weather every Englishwoman has a becoming knitted coat, either of silk or of wool. These coats are a great comfort in the house when the weather is chilly, and caii be wont out of doors either for golf or for motoring. Certainly one does still see women dressed in silk in Hegent Street at 11 o'clock in the morning, but such sights are becoming more infrequent in London. None but old-fashioned specimens .of. the more or less wealthy and 'decidedly lower middle class appear in the . street in 'clothes only suited to the house. A business woman says that she quite believes that a shop exclusively dedicated to old ladies would succeed very well. It is at only a few of the big dressmakers that models'arc shown for quite elderly ladies—[.mean the genuine white-haired ones, and as a matter of fact some of these grandmothers and great-grandmothers feel a certain timidity in the presence of the lovely damsels vho arc. told oIV to wait upon them at

the smarter, up-to-date establishments. However old a lady, she may have coquettish tastes and care about the cut and hang of her brocade, satin, or taffetas gown, as the case may be; care, too, about the style of her mantle and the becomingness of her hat or bonnet, and daintiness of "her frills and softness of her furs. She would; no doubt, welcome a shop devoted to her interests exclusively. The idea reminds one of the "Individual Shop'' in New York, where everything is original and patented. Clever 7 people evolving happy thoughts pass them on to the keeper of the shop and have a certain percentage in the sales. One of the greatest successes of late at the individual shop is a camisole that is just different from other camisoles and has taken the fancy of shoppers greatly. Other exclusive shops are the gift shop, where you may buy all sorts'of pretty things that are collected from all the world over, and another is the invalid food shop, explained in full by its' name and capable of an infinite number of developments. Madame Melba is in London again for the opera season at Covent Garden. Her six months' tour in the United States proved a rare bustle. Madame Melba gave 58 concerts, and sang in six operas. But, as she says, "I had a splendid time, and have come back with lots of dollars;" Among the most popular items in the programmes were the mad scene from *■' Lucia," and. the Du Pare songs, but what every audienee demanded was Tosti's "Good-bye." While in America Madame Mella, with her accustomed kindliness, kept a constant look-out for promising singers. She discovered two girls with undoubted taleni. One of them sue is going to have trained. Kadame Melba has said that she always strives to encourage talent, but it must be outstanding talent. "I know too well all the struggles, the disappointments, the pitfalls, and the agonising strivings that beset the way to ultimate and crowning ; success." Madame Melba is particularly insistent that no second-class singer should go to the United States. She says that they are doomed to failure. Americans know capable singers, pack their halls and theatres to hear them, and do not grudge the cost. Madame Melba's own tour was a triumph. "I cannot tell you how often the-platform and stage we,re stormed, and blooms plucked from the piled-up bouquets which had been sent to me. I always think it a pity in rapid tours, such as my American one was, that I have neither the time nor the opportunity to send these flowers to the sick." As to the whirlwind nature of the tour, Madame Melba recalls that her last twelve hours' was occupied as follows: — Finishing at the Boston Opera House on the Monday night, she caught the train 'at 1 on Tuesday morning, and reached New_ York at 7. At 8 came a a bath and breakfast, and ■ then the examination ;of six months' accounts with her auditors > This tusk was completed at 11 o'clock. Then came lunch, and departure for England. Concerning the death of Tito Mattei, which 1 took place recently, an English writer says: ; —As , the composer of "Dear Heart" and the "Mattei Waltz" he will be remembered long after many a better composer and musician. Tito Mattel's musical gifts were discovered when he was a boy of five or six, and, by eleven, he was a professor of the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome. In the middle sixties he came to London with the manuscript of , the "Mattei Valse,"• for which he asked £SO. The publishers scoffed at the notion, but, finally, agreed to pay the unknown Italian a royalty of sixpence a copy. Within a few weeks they regretted their bargain ; 15,000 copies were sold yearly for twenty years, and the popularity of the waltz is not yet exhausted, although some half million copies have been sold. Another great popular success was ' * Oh, ho! Hear the Wild Winds Blow.'' It was composed at Margate during a storm. Tito Mattei stood in an arcade on the sea front, and, as he listened to

the booming of the waves, thought out his melody. Twenty thousand copies a year were sold for a long period. As for '' Dear Heart,'' thirty thousand copies were disposed of in the first three months, though Mattei was then almost unknown. He was in a publisher 's ; office- near Charing .Cross when someone handed him the English words. Mattei could not speak English , at the time, and the words were translated to him. Immediately he sat down and strummed out a rough idea of the melody. The song was finished the same evening. Though he earned large sums, Tito Mattei proved a poor man of business, and lost heavily through bad investments. His last years were saddened by money troubles, and ,he died a poor man.