THE SOCIAL ROUND

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 827, 4 October 1916, Page 4

THE SOCIAL ROUND

Mrs Russell Grace (Wangauui) is staying with her mother, Mrs Stead, "Strowan.'' Mrs and Miss Cracroft Wilson have returned to Christchurch from Wellington.

Mr and Mrs G. T. Finlay (To Kuiti) I and Mr and Mrs J. 8. Cooper (Auck-! ]and) are amongst the guests at Warner ’s. | Pier Excellency the Countess of Liver- 1 pool has consented to become patroness of the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Navy League and the Mayoress (Mrs J. P. Luke.) has consented to be vice-presi-1 dent (says a Wellington paper). Thoi president is Mrs Ilall-Thompson. The auxiliary is making a special effort to collect woollen goods to be sent to thej men of the auxiliary fleet, patrol boats, etc. The subject of a world-wide street collection for Red Cross purposes, to be held on October 19, came before the joint committee of the Red Cross Society in Auckland on Thursday (says the “Star”). Mrs Parkes stated that people were tired of street collections.! She proposed that, as a new thing, .the men should do the collecting at the street corners in place of the ladies, j The lion. Mr Fowlds: “Will the ladies do the paying if we do the collecting?” Mrs Parkes: “Certainly.” I think London has really been almost quiet this week (says a London correspondent, writing on August 9). At any rate, nothing very thrilling in the j way of a social function has occurred beyond an unusual deluge of weddings, military, and otherwise. That of Mrs Chamberlain and Canon Carnegie was, in a sense, the most exciting because it was the most secret. The contracting parties did their very best to prevent any definite details getting known before the event, and were married at 8 a.m., in order to make sure that sightseers and prying journalists should have no share in the ceremony. The actual wedding took place in the Henry VII. Chapel at Westminster Abbey, which is very seldom used for such functions, as it is a very private chapel indeed, and only a few people have the privilege of using it for this purpose. 1 think they have to live within certain precincts attached to the Abbey, and even then have a lot of regulations to attend to before they can get the necessary per-

mission. Yesterday afternoon, at the Cirls' High School, a display of sewing was held, and the results of the patient in-

dustry of the girls for several months past was viewed with approbation by a large number of visitors. It took the form of a beautifully-made collection of garments for the orphan babies of English soldiers and sailors. Fifteen complete sets and a number of odd garments were included, numbering about 400 in all, and the display was one in which both girls, sewing mistress, and principal of the school might well take pride. Each little garment was exquisitely hand-sewn and finished. Each "set" contained a generous supply of clothes for any infant —day frocks, nightgowns, little woolly jackets, bonnets, coats, petticoats, bibs, etc —and one could not but think, when viewing them, what joy they would bring to many a widowed mother in England. All the material, it may be mentioned, was provided by the girls, who also do a considerable amount of sewing for the Red Cross. During the afternoon Mrs Morton, president of the Pluuket Society, and a number of the committee inspected the display, and gratefully received the garments, as a present from the school, for dispatch to England. Very many admiring comI ments were made by the ladies present, who included tho Mayoress (Mrs H. Holland), Mrs Deans, Mrs Chilton, Mrs Reeves, Mrs Bristed (secretary to the Plunket Society), and many others. "Vandonian," in tho "Bulletin," has the following to say concerning ! various people of whom Christehurch | knows: —Little Florence Scapini was too ill to play at the French League concert, so Cyril Monk scraped the ice off with a serious composition for the fiddle. Pauline Bindley's soprano was pleasing in everything but its incursions into French. Ballads in English will for somo time to come be Pauline's best advertising line. Truman added Ihe organ's blast to Dufault 's fiery " Marseillaise." But the remote | organ pealed coldly to time, while Paul marched on as tho spirit moved him. i"Eet is 'orrible! " said an adjacent Frenchman, and it was. The foreign Consuls, led by Chayet, were in prominence, and Premier Holman —president of the French League —had his feet on the blue Axminster. French Leaguers, with their faces puckered up in smiles (think what the cheque will buy for little'orphan Jeanette!) sat up very straight on front chairs. Manager Freddie Shipman and his small commanding officer joyously led the applause.

The death took place at North Sydney a few days ago of Mrs Mary Eh-a both Cooper, a granddaughter of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, New Zealand's first missionary. Mrs Cooper, who was 70 years of ago, was the eldest, daughter of the late Rev. Henry Bobart, who married the daughter of Marsden. She leaves three daughters and a number of grandchildren. One of her grandchildren is Captain Erie Cooper, son of Mrs W. Holding, of North Sydney, who served with the Australian: at Rabaul, and is now off to England, having been appointed captain of an English machine-gun corps. War has wrought many changes in social conventions. Things pass unnoticed now that would formerly haveprovoked amazement or amusement. But when a gaitered dignitary of the church, a dean, or perhaps an archdeacon, passed along the Victoria Embankment wheeling a perambulator nobody (says the "Daily Chronicle") gave the matter a second thought. And the dean (or archdeacon) did not propel his offspring with the semi-detached air which most fathers assume on such occasions. He had both hands on the bar of the machine, and from time to time smilingly hailed the baby. A nursemaid could not have done it better.