FEMININE INTERESTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18538, 8 April 1930, Page 13

FEMININE INTERESTS.

PERSONAL AND FASHION NOTES. French Home in London: Being an Ambassador’s wife has its drawbacks. Madame de Fleuriau, the French Ambassador’s wife, has had to make her home away from her own country for thirty years. Some people would call it being exiled; the darkeyed little Frenchwoman calls it “having a second country.” Her first visit was when she was two years old, and she began her official career in London thirty years ago, when she married M. de Fleuriau, then Third Secretary at the Embassy. “If I could not live in Paris,” said Mme. de Fleuriau. who is a Parisienne, “I would like to live in London. My daughter loved the freedom of London when she first came here. In Paris, when she was 19, she could not go with a girl friend and two men to a restaurant. She might have gone to the theatre or cinema after she was 22, but not before. And she had never been to a ball without me.”

Mile Yvonne de Fleuriau has recently taken a certificate for shorthand and typewriting, but not with a view to following a career. She is the only daughter, and in any case, as Mme. de Fleuriau explained, “Girls stay much more with their families in France. They are not even sent away to school.’’ Mme. de Fleuriau spoke of other differences in the home-life of England It surprised her at first that the butler and the cook would not take their orders from the housekeeper. In France there is no housekeeper, but in a very large household there is a femme-de-chnvo- who di rec ts all the other servants.

The French custom in entertaining is observed at the Embassy, and the men do not remain to smoke and talk in the dining-room after dinner, but go with the women to the salon. “Men do not begin to smoke until they are going out of the salle a manger if they are well brought up.” said Mme. de Fleuriau. “Their coffee after dinner is not taken in the diningroom in France, but in the salon. Occasionally, when there were only two or three people to lunch, it migiit be served in the dining-room.” / Mme. de Fleuriau finds dress'in the evening in London more formal than in France. “In France,” said Mme. de Fleuriau, “Women wear semi-dress on informal occasions and business men will not dress for a small party. I find a very great change in the dress of English-womcn in recent years. Taste has improved so much and the shops are very good.” Madame de Fleuriau has had a peculiar opportunity of noting these changes. She was presented to Queen Victoria in 1900, and later to Queen Alexandra. Cricketer’s Sister Marries Spanish Naval Officer: At her marriage at St. James’s Spanish Place, London, to LieutenantCommander Felipe Abarzuza, son of Senor and Senora Abarzuba, of Cadiz, Spain, Miss Daisy Enthoven. daughter of Mr and Mrs Cecil Enthoven, and sister of the well-known cricketer, Mr H. J. Enthoven. departed from the lately all-prevailing green, and chose frocks of flame coloured velvet for her bridesmaids who numbered six. Miss Enthoven. who is considered one of the most beautiful girls in society, wore an ivory panne velvet dress. The train and veil were of Brussels lace. She carried Madonna lilies, but deep red roses were carried by her attendants. The bridegroom and his brother, Lieutenant-Commander Fernando Abarzuza, who was best man, are of the Spanish Royal Navy. Some well known cricketers were also at the wedding. After a reception at the bride's home the young couple left London for Italy Duchess at Bookshop: Tlie Duchess of Norfolk, with Lady Katherine Howard, spent a considerable time in an art gallery at a bookshop in Charing Cross road.

Finally she chose a picture of Fujiyama, the sacred mountain of Japan, painted in evening light. This is the second picture she possesses by MiFrank Beresford, who painted a presentation portrait of the Duke of Norfolk at his coming of age last summer.

Lord Cavan looked in to see the portrait of Lord Hartington, which was painted after only one sitting. Sir John Stirling-Maxwell was an eariy visitor the other morning, and Japanese visitors to the Naval Conference came to see pictures of their country which were exhibited.

Swimmer Weds Trainer: It was revealed recently that Dr Dorothy Logan, of Harley street, London, who figured in the Channel swim hoax of October 19, 1927, was married on March 28, 1929, at the Wandsworth Register Office to her trainer. Mr Horace Henry Carey. Dr Logan's age is given in the register as 41, and her husband’s as 33.

On November 7, 1927, Dr Logan was fined £IOO and £lO 10s costs at the London Mansion House for making a false declaration about the swim, and Mr Carey was fined £SO and £5 ss‘ costs.

Mr Carey, who is an omnibus driver employed by the East Kent'Road Cai Company, has since the wedding remained in this employment, and Dr Eogan has continued her medical practice. They have been together at weekends, either in London or Hythe.

When called upon at their hut, which stands on the sea wall between Hythe and Seabrook, Mr Carey said: “It is incorrect to say that the wedding has been a well-kept secret. All the relatives of the two families knew of it, as well as the people of Hythe.” Omnibus drivers employed by the same company as Mr Carey admitted that they had heard rumours that Mr Carey was married.

A tradesman, who was frequently in Mr Carey’s company, said: “It is a surprise to me to learn that Mr Carey is married, although I heard a rumour of it last summer. I never spoke to him about what 1 had heard, and he never mentioned it to me.”

It was announced on October 11,1927, that Dr Logan (swimming under the name .of Miss Mona MacLennan) had swum the Channel from Cape Grisnez to Folkestone the previous night. The French newspapers, however, cast doubt upon the claim, asserting that no swimmer could have left the coast at that time because the water was too cold. Dr liogan made an emphatic reply and said that she was disgusted with their lack of sportsmanship and amazed at their scepticism. On October 16 the newspaper “News of the World” announced that Dr Logan did not swim (he Channel at all, but that she merely spent nine hours on board a fishing smack, “in order to prove the necessity of an official international commission to check the claims of Channel swimmers.” She had handed back a cheque for £IOOO which she received from the “News of the World” as a prize for her supposed feat She expressed the hope that the public would forgive the deception. Subsequently proceedings were taken against Dr Logan for having made a false statutory declaration in connection with the pretended swim The Lord Mayor. Sir Roland Blades, who presided over the court, said: “You are not before me for hoaxing the public, but for committing an offence akin to perjury, for which you could be imprisoned.”

Dame Janet Campbell’s Return: So many people came to the reception given to Dame Janet Campbell at the General Lying-in Hospital, York road, that it was at times difficult to move about the entrance hall, where the reception was held. The hospital is rather cramped for room these days,, and under the capable organisation of Miss Grace Watson, formerly of Australia is launching its first public appeal for one hundred and sixty-two years, in order to enable it to undertake building operations. The Countess of Birkenhead is chairman of the extension fund committee, and she and Lady Northcote, president of the ladies’ committee, were joint hostesses at a recent party .when many prominent people were present to welcome Dame Janet home after her visit to Australia Dame Janet, wearing a broken dress under a fur coat and carrying a bouquet of pink carnations, was busy meeting old friends, and later in the afternoon many people took the opportunity of inspecting the wards, which were all open for the occasion.

An Egyptian “Throw-back”: There is a girl in London said to be amazingly like an ancient Queen of Egypt. You know the distinctive features of Egyptian beauty—high cheek bones narrow eyes, set wide apart, long curving eyebrows, and long slim neck —well, she has them to a remarkable degree, says a correspondent of “The Leader.” Strangely enough, she works in the British Museum within sight oi her “double” all day. When the Museum attendants have shown visitors the cast of Queen Nefert-iti they sometimes say, “Now come and meet her in real life,” and take them along to this young girl, Miss E. C. Butt. Queen Nefert-iti was the wife of Pharaoh Akhnaton, and mother-in-law of Tutenkhamen, ruler of Egypt, who lived nearly four thousand years ago. It is extraordinarily interesting to find the beauty of that remote age persisting still to-day. Vogue for Smaller Houses: One of the sensations of the time— Lady Seafield’s marrage—still intrigues the public, and we quote for ou: readers’ edification from one of the

organs which specialise in society affairs a note about how they face the troubles of life. “Large houses are less in favour than ever, and nearly all newly-married people start housekeeping in the smallest possible way, for no one wants to be bothered with the servant problem and other kindred worries. Lady Seafield is no exception to this, for she and her husband have taken one of the most delightful little houses tucked away in a courtyard at r the back of Brompton Oratory. It is one of a number of tiny houses, quite new, but built after the Tudor style, with picturesque latticed windows and surrounding a quaint paved courtyard with flower beds in the centre.”

Princess Mary’s Home: Princess Mary has just had extensive redecorations carried out at Chesterfield House. The Adams drawing-room has been painted cream and gold, and hangings of deep rose silk fitted. The morning-room is now grey and ornamented with flower paintings from the Princess’s collection. The Jacobean library is a soft green, and the diningroom has been repapered a rich ivory that, excellently sets off its antique furniture. Princess Mary always has a linen cloth on the long table and frequently a service of iridescent glass. The Princess’s own rooms are decorated throughout in her favourite shade of blue, and in the boudoir is a blue Kashmiri rug that was her last birthday present from the Queen.

Quilted Sets for Bedrooms: Quilting, done by the wives and daughters of miners in Durban and South Wales, has become so fashionable that many of the experts were booked up with orders for long after Christmas.

In Lady Denman’s Grosvenor street drawing-room bedroom sets comprising a quilt, pillow-cases, a dressing-gown, tea cosies and soft cushions all quilted in traditional patterns, were shown. Durham quilters employ chiefly the feather and the shell patterns, which have never been written down but passed on by word of mouth since Tudor days. To South Wales quilters belong the fan • and the church window designs, while there is one quilter who employs a “nature” pattern of which she alone knows the secret. Leaves of chestnut, beech and the lesser celandine figure in it.