A COUNTESS REPROVED.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13491, 10 June 1914, Page 8

A COUNTESS REPROVED.

A FUNERAL SERVICE* NOT ■ A BALL.

In a remarkable incident which occurred last month, and set St. Petersburg society tongues a-wagging, an American woman, the Countess Nostitz, whose husband is chief of staff of the crack Guards Regiment, figured. It was the tenth anniversary of the sinking of the battleship Petropaw-. lowsk by the Japanese when Admiral Vakaroff and nearly the whole of his staff went to the bottom of the Pacific. Memorial services were held at the new church, situated in the English quay, and built to commemorate the naval tragedy. The Dowager Empress Marie and all the members of the Imperial family then at St. Petersburg were present. The Count-Nostitz, who was Lj-dia Madeleine Booton, was present, attired in a magnificent fashionable black gown, embroidered with white, with corsage cut as low as possible, and covered with jewels.. She happened to be placed so that the Dowager Empress had to pass her on her way out of the church. As the Empress Dowager reached the Countess Nostitz, she stopped, and looking the Countess full in the face, said in a voice loud enough for ereryone to hear* to a lady in waiting, who was following: — "It is extraordinary how these foreign ladies never know how to dress for an occasion. A funeral service is not a ball, and a countess ought to know that it is not seemly to appear on such an occasion covered in jewels arid wearing evening dress."

The poor countess, who is very popular in St. Petersburg society, appeared to feel the humiliation keenly.

The Empress Marie never has been an admirer of the present fashions, and always dresses- with the utmost simplicity, but this is the first time she has given vent to her feeling in public. ,