WOMAN'S WORLD.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 11998, 21 February 1903, Page 3 (Supplement)

WOMAN'S WORLD.

Mrs Ghamberiain, the American wife of the noted English Statesman, is credited with having .immense influence on her husband, though she is far the most feminine and retiring of the many distinguished women who nowadays play a certain pari in the political life ol> Great Britain.

Miss Amber Reeves, the eldest daughter of the Agent-General has just won the prize given by' Lady Daarley for an essay on Australia. The competition was open to all the pupils of the Girls' Public Day Schools in England. There are a large number of these schools, all with a large attendance, and many of the competitors were older than the little New Zealander, who is to be congratulated on her brilliant success.

Miss Cecilia Eliza Adams,- a wealthy and eccentric woman, has just died in London at the age of seventy-six, after living alone for thirty years. Her house was packed from basement to attic with new goods which had never been unpacked from the. time of. their purchase. Her hobby was buying goods for which she had no use, and china, i'carpets, clocks clothes and dozens of unpacked boxes were piled up in every room, leaving a passage through which a man or woman could just pass in each room. Her dearest and nearest friends had never been permitted to enter this curious dwelling; the only visitor who had ever been admitted was a woman living in the neighbourhood.

Queen Alexandra acted as godmother to the infant son and heir of the Duke and Duchess of Manchester, whose christening took place at the Ohapel Koytal in December last. A very small and very smart party assembled for the ceremony, and a homely touch was given to the impressive function when the Queen, after the christening of the child, took him in her arms from Dr Sfeppard, and, silting down in the red aoid gold chair placed for her, nursed him in a -delightfully motherly fashion. Her Majesty also made a charming picture as she stood near the iily-wreathed font, holding the child in her arms, and in clear, musical tones, gave his names—Alexander George Francis Drogo—in response to lite clergyman. She wore a soft grey velvet dress, with a dark toque trimmed with roses, and wore ermine round her neck.

Princess Theresa of Bavaria is certainly among the cleverest of the royal ladies of Europe. The. Princess is .a great traveller, and, like our Queen and Princess Victoria, an enthusiastic amateur photographer. Princess Theresa, who has undoubtedly inherited some of the genius for which the Royal house of Bavaria is renowned, is also a remarkable linguist and devoted student of the sciences, for which researches she was made an (honorary member of Uie Munich Royal Academy of Sciences, being the only woman' thus honoured. She was .born at Munich, Nov. 12, ISSO, tho only dflugnter of King Louis I. and the Princess Theresa of Saxe-Alteuburg, and is the sister of Prince-Regent Luitpold and of the Princes Leopold and Aruulph, the former of whom represented the Bavarian Royal family at the 'Coronation. The Princess Theresa also holds the post of Directrice and Abbess of the Royal Chapter of St Anne at Munich, whence considerable emoluments are derived. She is an Hon Dame of the Order of Theresa, and unmarried.

Countess Cianaarty, formerly Belle Bilton, of music-hall fame, lives on her 'husband's estates ia Ireland, and her marriage seems to ho ;i. happy one. Three children have been burn to the Earl and Countess—Lord Kilconuel. tho heir, dhe .Hon Robert Trench, and quite recently, u daughter. Lady Clancarty cares little. lor society and apparently prefers it life oT soiiti-scchisioii to tin- gaieties which attended her as one of " tin- ladies of the theatre." The Countess of Claucurty was 11,,. first of the three actr, sse-;. now peeresses, to win her title. She stepped from London music lot lis into lite peerage not onlv of Ireland, but of the KefhirUutds. Her husband holds the Huleh Marquisate of Heusdon. A number of chorus s;ir's and phivers have married vounger sous of-peers, but onlv three lords, t!ie Earl of Orkney, the Marquis of Hcadfort and the Earl of Clanear'.y, have taken the:r wives from the stage, 'idle Countess of Claucariy is of Welsh extraction, and were her husband not ?o universally called bv his title, she would be known as Mrs William Frederick Le Poet Trench. The Trenches are French by birth. Their estates lie principally in. the County Galway, Ireland, where, is also the famous Trench picture gallery. Both the Ear', and Countess go in for luinihig, steepleehasing, horse breeding and travelling.

The. new Royal train which lias been built for the King mid Queen is the most luxurious and tlie most beautifully unpointed one in the world. The Queen's bedroom is in rose pink, which sets o(T tlie heel with its .silver-plate Hitiui;*. Electric, lamps ivcp out fr me expected comer.- and folds of .mll ; . and the brocade, used m the Queen's l.eudoir combine a pale, bine with another shade of pink. At the end of each saloon is the attendants' compartment, which is lilicd with a . .se.it that can be turned into a bed, and is provided with electric cooking appliance-. There are balconies to each saloon, which are hen ted by steam and can be used as observation ears, and the two central saloons are gangwayed together, so as to permit of u passage from one end of the. train to nhe other. The King's day compartment is decorated in a light tone of green, with white enamel and satinwood furniture, inlaid with ivorv. which luis exceptionally krge windows. Kven the handles of the ventilators in this and the oilier saloon* are work- of an in silver-plate. Here, too, as elsewhere, electricity phi v.-, an iniP"iUn' part. >iti the littiie/-.. 'h:!..ctnc fain ■and electric, heaters aie provided, in ihe King's saloon there, are electric. cUMr-lioih-lers-iu silver, and there arc several electric contrivances, m the Queen's saloon. Manv of the lamps, shaded witili pale, pink or green silk, are portable.