A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1929, Page 17

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN. CHAIR FOR PRINCESS ELIZABETH. (From Our Lady Correspondent.) : London, Sept. ■ 12.

Princess Elizabeth has already, become the possessor of more than one Royal heirloom of historic value.. Now the Queen has addfd to her collections by giving her the armchair which King Edward used as a child when he was at Balmoral. It was ordered and made specially for him at Queen Victoria’s request for his visit to Deeside as long ago as 1848. It is a beautiful little chair with a sloping, baek, which, with the arms, is comfortably padded, and. the Queen has liafl it re-upholstered in a pretty red and gold brocade. For the present it is to stay at Balmoral, in the Queen’s own sitting-room there, and will be used by the little Princess when she stays there. Princess Elizabeth is-not yet able .to appreciate the chair at its true value, • but ,in years to come, she will doubtless think a great of it.

BOGNOR AGAIN? Every body connected with the Court disclaims any knowledge of the possibility of the King spending the winter at 80gn0r.,... But I am told that he and the Queen are very likely to do so, Craigweil House is not let again, and there is no prospect of its owner, Sir Arthur du Oros, returning to it immediately.- Yet all kinds of alterations are going on to make it as suitable for winter residence as it is for the summer. It was always regarded by Sir Arthur as a summer place, and when, unfortunately, almost Arctic conditions set: in at Bognor soon after the King was established there, there was some difficulty in guarding against chills and draughts. Certain members of the household who were accommodated at a cottage near the house actually burnt out at the back of one of their fireplaces in the endeavour to keep their quarters comfortably warm. Should His Majesty go back to Bognor Regie for the winter, he and the Queen would find that provision had been made, to secure complete comfort for them on the coldest and dampest days.

: ■ .. IN COMMEMORATION. Little has been heard lately of the gift which the Queen was anxious tc make to commemorate the recovery oi the King from his serious illness. At first it was thought something might be done in the little church just out oi Bognor which Her Majesty attended several, times' while the Court was in residence at Craigweil House, and it was understood that the Queen had dis-

cussed the matter with the authorities there. But it was learned afterwards that- both their Majesties had agreec that they would like to follow the example of Queen Alexandra, who had a email memorial put into Sandringham Church after King Edward got better from the illness which caused the postponement of his coronation. I am told the Queen has paid several visits to the church with the idea of deciding upon the form of the momento, and it is very likely that a stained glass window will be put in. At present, however, no definite plans have been made, and the preliminaries may take a very long time jto arrange.

THE QUEEN MAKES JAM. - The Queen lias always taken a great Interest in the kitchen garden at Sandringham, as well as in the flower beds and general lay-out of the grounds. The yegetables for the Royal table are . all supplied from the. estate, and practically all the jam used in the Royal houses is made from Sandringham fruit under Her Majesty’s own supervision. This year the soft .fruits were ready for preserving before the Court, left

London, and much of the jam-making had to be done under the eye of the housekeeper. But she has the Queen’s own recipes, and knows Her Majesty’s likes and dislikes, and she displayed with great pride a still-room well filled with neatly tied down pots when the household arrived from Buckingham Palace. Now the Queen herself is making jam in her own special cooking kitchen at Sandringham, using the beautiful Victorian plums of which the gardens give such an abundant supply.

PRINCESS ROYAL’S TOWN HOUSE. Since the amenities of Portman Square are increasingly' undergoing change owing to the magnificent series of palatial flats which are being erected there, many well-known residents are giving up their houses and seeking others in the country or further westward. Princess Royal, I understand, contemplates giving up her house, which stands-on the north side of the Square. This’lias long been the home of the King’s eldest sister, .but now that-her two daughters are married, Her Royal Highness 'finds ’the place rather big. It is probable that she will—as soon as one becomes vacant —have the offer of one of the suites of rooms in St. James’s Palace, an offer which is in the gift of the King. His Majesty offered the Princess Victoria a suite when she gave up Marlborough House, but with a strong outdoor tendency, the Princess decided to go further afield, and finally took a house at I ver, Bucks, which was then in the market. She has never regretted her choice, for I am told that the Princess has never been better in health than since living in the country.

“WE TWA.” Lord and Lady Aberdeen are always very much in evidence during these days of Highland gatherings and .Scottish games. Lord Aberdeen’s official position as Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire makes it necessary for him to come down from the House of Cromar for most of the festivities. I found that they are constantly referred to. by everybody as “we twa.” That was the pseudonym they chose • when they published some time ago the very interesting reminiscences of their., long and happy life together. It fits them extremely well, for no . other society couple who are sb much in the public eye. can claim to be happier in the companionship of each other than Lord and Lady Aberdeen. They are trying now to take things a little more easily than they did, but they are much too popular to be allowed to slip into retirement. -

A WOMAN PREACHER. Friends of Miss Maude Royden .will be sorry to hear that her health is not very good just now, and that she intends to go into a nursing home to see if a complete rest will put her right. Miss Roydon has no easy life-work as the minister of the Guildhouse in Lon-

don, one of the most interesting centres of religious thought and activity in the whole of the Metropolis. Shb is the pivot round which all kinds of social work revolves, and, in addition to her preaching, she arranged for leaders of every type interested in the various problems and questions of the day to expound their views at the Guildhouse from time to time. Miss Royden spent the whole of last year abroad in America, New Zealand, and Australia lecturing, speaking and preaching, and there is no doubt that she is now feeling the effects of the tremendous strain which her tour involved. All her friends will wish her a speedy recovery to complete strength.

DUDLEY AND GODIV.'. The Elders of Dudley hardly seem to be emulating the tact and delicacy of the forefathers of the neighbouring city of Coventry. On the strength of the fact that Eeofric and the Countess Godiva lived from time to time at Dudley Castle, the committee of the forthcoming carnival are determined that the historic ride shall form one of the features of their pageant.

Whether they are under the impression that this noble lady habitually rode her palfrey attired only in her tresses, or that they are callous to an infringement of Coventry’s copyright, does not seem very clear. On one thing they have expressed themselves emphatically, namely, that they consider the Godiva ride will prove the most attractive feature of the whole "programme.” Presumably, the committee have not arrived at this conviction without reason, but it hardly seems to place Dudley on a par for chivalry with its neighbouring borough. When Lady Godiva made her famous ride the good citizens of Coventry did not regard the episode as a “popular feature,” but rather did they shut themselves in their houses and draw their blinds. There was, however, one notable exception. Thanks to the present controversy future historians will be able to add to the old legend the information that Peeping Tom wag a./ftransfer” from Dudley.

SPEEDSTERS’ WIVES. . . If, as is being suggested, a new type of masculine face is being evolved — that of the speedster—l think there can be no doubt that it will have its feminine counterpart in that of the speedster’s wife. As a visitor to Calshot I confess to having been no more impressed by the fine physique and alert but old-young faces of the aviators than I was by the wonderful esprit and calm assurance of their womenfolk. The wives of several of the leading members of our Schneider Trophy team were frequently to be seen watching the trials, and it was easy to see that their presence lent nothing but encouragement to those taking part in these daring teste. Their invariable brightness and assurance showe'd a form of. couragp no les admirable than that possessed by the pilots themselves, as any woman will agree who imagines for a moment what it must be like to watch her "second-best half” precipitating himself through the air at six miles to the. minute. However well disguised, however, the strain is there none the less, and the tense expression of the airman’s wife is likely to become no less characteristic of the female physiognomy of the future than will be the hawk-like features of the male-flyer.

HEAT IN THEATRELAND. The “open spaces” so conspicuous in the auditoriums of many West End theatres during the week just closed do not, I think, indicate any serious box-office . losses. The vacancies occur exclusively in the bookable places, and almost in every case the unoccupied seats have been bought and paid for some days previously. The fact is the heat-wave has deterred many habitual theatre-goers from availing themselves of the seats reserved for them, milady deciding at the last moment that it is far preferable to- remain iij the cool of her own boudoir, or to seek the breeze in a country motor run, than to face the warmth and stuffiness of an evening in town. The nitites and galleryites, however, are a hardier race, and the campstool queues of femininity outside the early doors have been in jio wise curtailed by the tropical atmosphere. It does seem a shame, though, that the heat and discomfort borne by these "fans” in order to see and hear some popular idol of the stage should in certain cases recently have gone unrewarded in the end. Yet there have been instances when the prologue to a popular show has been the formal managerial regret that “owing to a slight indisposition, etc.,” the popular star will be represented by an understudy.

• DISAPPEARING FARTHING. Drapers, I am told, are regretting the gradual disappearance' of the farthing, because its elimination is costing them money. The chief accountant of one of. the big stores tells me that up-to-date (salesmanship abhors the farthing, and will not have goods marked “eleventhree,” the idea being that time is saved in reckoning up the counter books, and customers are not irritated by a valueless coin. In practice, however, it has been found that an article formerly sold at Is ll|d cannot be sold at 2s, but has to be sold at Is lid, owing to keen competition. In a busy store, the lost three farthings add up to a considerable sum in a day, and in one department actually made the difference between a profit and a loss.

GENERAL DAWES’ DAUGHTER. General. and .Mrs. Dawes’ only girl, Virginia, is getting ready to go to school in England, and is looking for-ward-very much to the new experience. Our last American Ambassadoi- in London, Mr. Houghton, had a young daughter who was at an English boardingschool while her father was -in office here, and she did so well that she went on to Oxford, and will be returning from Washington to the university at the end of this month. Virginia Dawes is fifteen, and her favourite subjects are literature, especially poetry, music and art... She hag always been very fond of reading and has inherited something of the artistic temperament which lies behind her father’s bluff exterior. So far, she does not seem to be following in the dancing footsteps of the Houghton girls. They loved social life and parties. Virginia Dawes likes to avoid it.

VICTORIAN BALLADS. Everything Victorian in turn seems to be becoming fashionable. The latest Victorian “relic” to be sought by collectors is the drawing-room in the last century, are beginning to fetch high prices. Good copies of ballads such as “We Met, ’Twas in a-Crowd,” “I’d be a Butterfly Born in a Bower,” and “I Drcam't that 1 Dwelt in Marble Halls” are increasing in value, but they must be in good condition and have the original covers with their illustrations in steel engraving. The death larst week-end of Mr. F. E. Weatherly, the octogenarian song-writer of “Nancy Lee” and “To-morrow Will be Friday” fame, is likely to give impetus to such relic-hunters. A curiously ingenious idea of a cloth manufacturer has had an immediate

success. He has produced a lightweight tweed with a powdering of white hairs on the material which makes it look exactly as though it was covered with dust. This tweed is being made up into motoring coats by some of the smartest shops in Mayfair, and is being bought by society women who drive open cars. The saloon car. is still, and will probably continue to be, the best all-purposes car, but the woman who can afford more than one car is this year going in for a fast two-seater as a fine weather "roadster.” The anti-dust tweed is designed for her, as even if the road is dusty the coat looks exactly the same at the end of a fast trip. . THE EVASIVE MELODY. Miss Gloria Swanson, who is over in connection with her first “talkie”— which is being shown in London this week over a month before America sees

it —is the most unaffected of all the film stars I have met in London. She juet site and tells amusing stories about her pictures instead of expounding the relationship of her soul to the peasants of Europe—which is really rather refreshing of her. One of her more delightful anecdotes is about Mr. Edmund Goulding, the English author and picture-director, who wrote “Broadway Melody,” and both wrote and directed her own new picture. He is, among his minor -hobbies, a musical composer, and quite by chance started whistling an original air which attracted Mies. Swanson and. her husband, the Marquise de. Falaise, as being suitable for the musical theme of.the picture in the making. They besought him to repeat it, and he did so—with several wrong notes. They corrected him, and looked for someone to note it down. It was a Sunday, and no one was about. So they kept him whistling the- air for thirteen minutes while they got first a musical friend with influenza, and then a violinist in the country, to note it down on the telephone. Of such stuff are theme-songs made!

IN PLACE OF THE ICE BOX. A SIMPLE HOME-MADE COOLER. If you do -not possess an ice-box, and are troubled about, keeping food cool, you can make an excellent cooling-well from a small bath or a large bowl.

Half-fill the bath or bowl with cold water, squeeze in the blue bag until the liquid becomes a dark blue colour, and add a couple of handful, of common salt; stir until dissolved, and the cooling-well is complete. Butter placed in a basin and allowed to stand in the water is kept delightfully cool during the hottest weather. Milk also is kept sweet and fresh when the jugs are similarly immersed. Ices, blanc-manges, jellies and soft drinks may likewise be kept at a low temperature by being placed -in suitable receptacles and deposited in the blue water. Of course, the more vessels there are to go into the cooling-well at once, the less the volume of water available for each, and the less its resistance against heat. As a rule, you will find that when the water is at least two-thirds up the sides of the receptacle, the contents can be kept cool without difficulty. For this reason, don’t overcrowd the cooling-well; rather make a smaller one in a clean bowl or bucket for the smaller vessels, and leave the bath-well’ for the larger ones.