WOMEN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 301, 13 May 1913, Page 6

WOMEN'S WORLD.

RIVAL QUEENS AN' ANCIENT CHINESE ROMANCE. From an assistant-professor of. Chinese at London University the- China Society learned o{ "The Romance of the Emperor iliny Huang." Properly speaking. Ming liming had two romances. One was Mee-Fei and Ok; oilier Yauk-Kuei-Fci. Mee-Fei was slender; Yang-Kuei-Fei over-ine,lii:ed to embonpoint. Mee-Fei came first. From a poem she wrote Ming Huang perceived she, loved plum blossom, so he had his palace gardens planted with plum I reus and called her their queen. He protested eternal all'ection, but Mee-Fei told him her fear that, even as the plum blossoms faded, so would his all'ection wither. Her intuitions were justified. One day she learned that the intriguing Yatig-Kuci-Fef had not merely laid siege to, but entered, the citadel of the Imperial heart. She sought an interview with Min» Huang, and asked to see her supplanter. They met and were apparently charmed. Ming Huang was delighted. So completely was he deceived that he asked Mee-Fei to celebrate the charms of her successor in verse. This was too much for the discarded beauty. Mee-Fei wrote a poem, which on the surface was all courtly compliment. Ming Huang read it so. But Yang-Kuei-Fei was less obtuse. She detected easily the veiled allusion in this line to her previous marriage and in that to her uncompromising rotundity. Yang-Kuei-Fei took poetic justice. She asked Ming Huang if she might write a return poem on Mee-Fei. It ran to four lines. But the Emperor made no more efforts to promote harmonious relations between the old favourite and the new. Y"ang-Kuei-Fci's career at the palace suffered interruption. She was, in fact, ordered to leave it. But the intrigues of her friends resulted in a- corruptible high official memorialising the Throne on her behalf that she, the glorious, might not be "lost in the mists of the common people." Upon this the Emperor desired her to return. She sent word that she dared not face him. The attitude was pleasing to Ming Huang. Yang-Kuei-Fei was reinstated with her ancient honours. Which things took place in the .end of the seventh century, when England had still to await her Norman conquerors over 300 years. THE KISS OF DEATH STRANGE STORY OF GIRL'S END. LOVER CHARGED WITH MURDER. Sydney, May 3. Strange evidence was given at the Coroner's Court in Sydney during the week, regarding the circumstances of the death of Stella Myrtle Caldwell, aged 22 years, a. single woman, who was found in a shed at Lane Cove, Sydney, on February 13, with a bullet wound in her head, from which she died two days later. There was present in custody a young man, William George Wright, who been charged with the murder of the girl. ', Wright was foilnd on 1 the day of the tragedy with a bullet wound in his head. Constable Wickes stated that on February 16 he was on duty at the Prince Alfred Hospital in charge of Wright, who was then under arrest. Wright said to the-witness, "Where is MyrtJ" The witness replied, "She is not here. What have you done with her?" Afterwards he said, "They tried to make things very uncomfortable for me, so I made up my mind to make it uncomfortable for them. I took her down the harbor and then we went up the Lane Cove river and sat in a shed. I kissed and cuddled her and then squeezed her tight with one arm. I then tried to choke her, and when she was unconscious I put a bullet in her brain. I then walked to the wharf and caught a boat and came home and put a bullet in my own brain. lam sorry [ killed her, but not myself." • Constable Alexander, who arrested Wright, said:. Wright was shown the following letter, which, it was explained, had been found in his pocket:— "We are both driven mad by one and another, of you. Myrtle is my only friend. I have no relations at all, so no wonder I stuck to her, and we won't part. She won't part with me, and I won't part with her. So we will die together, counting you our murderers. Myrtle says good-bye, and to fc-rget her. She is tired of life.—Yours madly, Will, Myrtle. Good-bye, mamma; taking my own life with Wiil." The last sentence was in different handwriting. Witness deposed that Wright had also said to him and Sergeant McDonald, "I hope the inquest is coming off soon. I will be glad when it is all over. If it had not been for Myrtle's sister it would not have happened." The coroner found that the young woman had been wilfully murdered by Wright, who was committed *for trial. AN ANCIENT PALACE The Palace of Tsarskoe Selo, where l the Tsar's little son is at present staying, is the favorite home of the Tsar. The town is a cheerful one, with the magnificent Cossack officers walking and driving about everywhere in their gaily-colored uniforms, the coats of which are sometimes almost covered with gold and silver lace. The Palace itself is wonderfully pretty, and shows everywhere "the touch of a woman's hand." The rooms are hung with different colored silks, bright, burning blue, green or crimson, amber, emerald green and rose color, and with the furniture to match. The most beautiful room in this Palace is the amber room, which is lined with the pieces of amber sent by Frederick the -Great, and which were found on the shores of the Baltic. The effect of the bright, clear amber alternating with the cloudy is charming. Another room is all malachite, and has the floors in laid with the lovely green stone, and another is all lapis lazuli; but here the floors are inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Every piece of furniture at Tsakoe Selo dates from the time of the Empress Elizabeth, and is of curious and beautiful design. The interior of the chapel is attached to the Palace and is painted a brilliant hue of gold; and outside the five domes shine dazzlingly in the sunlight. No wonder, for they are covered with plates of polished gold that cost not less than £50,000! When the Tsar and Tsarina arrive in their State carriage the sight is one not to be forgotten. The carriages, the most ordinary of which is worth £3OOO, are tricked out with silver gilt. The carriage brought out on very important occasions for the Tsarina is the one which belonged to Catherine 11. The harness used for her carriage at her coronation was a mass of brilliants sent to the Tsar by various Sultans. One is instantly reminded at Tsarskoe Selo, as at the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg, that the present Empress is of English extraction, so many are the photographs and mementoes visible of her relatives in Britain. In the ante-room of one of her Imperial Majesty's drawing rooms is an old picture of Queen Victoria seated on a pony held bv John Brown, with her girls and her little pet dog in the background. An engraving of Sir Edwin Landseer's "Stag" and a British grand piano are here, too. . ;