"THE LADIES COLUMN NOTES BY "THE DUCHESS"

Observer, Volume II, Issue 47, 6 August 1881, Page 534

"THE LADIES COLUMN NOTES BY "THE DUCHESS"

— Dresses, as a rule, are worn very short, especially in front, and if the wearer has pretty feet the effect is charming, if not ahem ! —A new kind of needlework, called chenille embroidery, is all the rage at Home. Instead of sewing the applique with silk or crewel, the stitches are made with chenille. —The Rink at the Choral Hall was very thinly attended on Wednesday, 27th in -t ant. Gentlemen's tickets are now reduced to hulf-a-guinea, and ladies' tickets to five shillings. — I notice the World says that "Mr Gladstone has been lately admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society." It appears to me that Mr Gladstone has been for some time a fellow ad' Quitted into the Royal society. —The Prince of Wales is very fond of the theatre, but he does not go in for tragedy oi high art. He finds enough tragedy around him in real life, and so passes the evenings whenever he can at the Gaiety, or the Opera Coniique. — There are one or two most scandalous stories circulating at present pretty freely among the upper ten thousand re two young ladies well-known to fame, which, as I do not quite believe, I will at present say nothing more about. But is there no way of putting a stop to this kind of thing altogether — this hateful way of talking without first ascertaining if there is any truth at all in the report. — The {esthetic craze at Home is getting quite sickening. Thank heaven it has not yet reached here, and may it never. Not long ago some of the undergraduates of Magdalen College, Oxford, caught one of the "intense and consummate," and, taking him under a friendly pump, threw cold water upon his craze. They would have none of it in Magdalen, they said. The aesthetic followers are styled the Dado-cracy. — Three_ " girl graduates" have passed the B. A. examination at the University of London, and been presented to the Chancellor Earl Granville. As he received them, he rose from his chair, advanced a step or two, and shook each of them cordially by the hand. The cheering was enthusiastic, far surpassing that with which the names of the most popular prize holders of the other sex had been received. — Some very interesting gifts were made to the Princess Stephanie of Belgium on the occasion of her marriage. The gifts which pleased her best were, however, those made by some Belgian peasant girls in their national dress, and given by their own hands into hers. They consisted of a spinning- Avheel (symbol of industry), a wash-tub, a wooden platter laden with butter and lard, a honey cake, and a holiday shawl of native work in white and gold. — Satin is de rigximr just now. Almost every evening dress is made of satin, or satin brocade. It had suffered a long eclipse, but has now blazed forth with unwonted splendor. White satin, maize satin, pink satin, blue satin, aile de corbeau satin (raven's wing), cream satin, ivory satin, mauve satin, black satin, fleur da peche satin, lilac satin, and ombre satin merveilleuxj make up the long list of ladies dresses at a reception at the Countess of Jersey's not long since. —Mrs Glenny, the lady lecturer on the identity of the Lost Tribes with the English people, died lately at Melbourne. She resided for some years at the North Shore where she made many friends, and her lectures, not long ago at Onehunga, attracted many of the residents there. She was most enthusiastic in her belief, and expressed herself well and forcibly. That this belief has been pronounced by philologists and savants quite untenable, wiU not disturb her rest in that undiscovered country where she will no longer see "through a glass, darkly." — There are two new ways of ornamenting fire stoves — one for those to whom money is of no object, the other for those who have to be careful. The first is to fit a framed lookingglass into the square of the mantelpiece ; the effect is very fine. The second is to get a Japanese umbrella, cut it short at the handle, open it, and place it in front of the bars of the grate. As these umbrellas are exquisitely coloured and designed, they cannot be excelled for beauty for the purposes of a stove ornament. Let us hope they may prove a death blow to those horrible, stamped, cut, and befiiligreed paper contrivances which delighted the hearts of our mothers. — The marriage of Miss Katherine Gladstone, niece of the Premier, with the Very Rev. Dr. Charles Lake, Dean of Durham, was solemnized at St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, on June 2nd. The bride wore a dress of ivory brocade trimmed with old mechlin lace, a wreath of natural orange flowers, and a Brussels lace veil with, ornaments of pearls and diamonds. Her train was borne by her nephew, Master Bertram Hardy. Bridesmaids are going out of fashion, and pages are coming in. The bride's travelling dress was of dark blue cashmere, and satin de lyon, and trimmed with steel, and bonnet to match. — Make your minds easy, my dear young friends, there will in all probability be no balL if there should be, the partners of the Royal lads will be nominated before hand, and no outsiders will be allowed inside the magic circle. The creme de la creme of this sublime city will on this occasion dispense with the skimmed milk. Turn down the corners of your mouth, Jemima Ann, or Mary Jane, there will be no danger of your keeping unwashed for ever the hand a Prince has kissed. On civic dignities alone, and high officials will the Royal gaze be allowed to rest, and on the ladies of their households ! Yet, after all, it may turn out that boys will boys. —Verily Auckland is a city of mud-dleheads. There is mud ankle deep in Queen-street, mud in the suburbs, mud in the country, andnrfact, in spite of a remarkably fine and truly splendid winter, we are stuck in the mud altogether. Would it cost very much to have Queen-street scraped every now and then, andnaade cleanly?

We pay rates and taxes enough, in all conscience, to obtain this trifling boon. The principal street in our city is a disgrace to the •Gity Council ; nor would such a state of affairs •be suffered in Sydney or Melbourne. The city is, I hear, endeavouring to take in the suburbs, and offering great advantages. When we see •her cleaning up a little of her own mud, and making things generally straight in the City iPark and elsewhere, it will be time enough to ask her to take several uncleanly and needy daughters into her fond embrace. — Apropos of verses, I append some very striking ones from the Sydney Bulletin, which paper delights in showing up New Zealand generally, and in last number gave a ferocious cut at the Observer anent the portrait of Miss Marston Leigh {alias Mrs Carden). They are •much too consummately too, much too eesthetiically intense to remain unnoticed, or to waste their sweetness on the desert air — Pollard kids at Auckland are, And Walter in the Star does write To ask those who are crowded out To just crowd in again to-night. Great Haselmayer is at — well, Those names we do detest ; 'Tis Otahu — oh hang it — there ! ' Yoii'l have to guess the rest. ] Query : Is Otahuhu quite as barbaric as Wooloomoloo ? —The dress of the Princess of Wales at the , last State ball was like herself, graceful, gracious, and lovely as a dream. It was of silver .grey tulle, embroidered in a Greek pattern with i pearls, and caught with bouquets of silver dai-' sies, the tulle train spangled with silver. The ■corsage was studded with pearls and diamonds, , the tiara of the same stones. Her slight, dainty figure and young face make the beholder forget that she is the mother of a young man of seventeen, and of four other children. Mrs Cornwallis West had her corsage very deeply vandyked, especially at the back ; in the centre of her forehead blazed an enormous' diamond star, and she carried an immense bouquet, chiefly composed of arum lillies ! Think of that, oh Auckland belles — arum lilies ! What would be thought of one of you, if you appeared at the next "At Home," or ball, with a great bunch of these familiar flowers dangling beside your fan? — The Onehunga dance on Friday, 29th inst. was simply crowded out. The committee did ■ the very best they could, but they could not prevent various collisions of more or less intensity. The sexes were very equally divided, and the dance altogether enjoyable. Pink, in its various shades and hues, was the most predominent colour in the room. Caps of plush were worn by several of the young ladies. Is this a Sydney or M elbourne innovation ? Miss Howard and Miss Laura Taylor divided the honours of the evening. Miss Howard wore black velvet made en princesse, and silver ornaments. Miss L Taylor wore pink silk trimmed with white lace and chenille cords and tassels, pink plush cap. Mrs James Buckland : grey silk trimmed with white satin and white lace. Mrs Carte : combination of pink silk and white muslin. Miss E. Taylor : pale blue satin trimmed with white lace, blue chenille cords and tassels, blue plush cap. Miss Maude Brookfield : black grenadine Swiss bodice laced up the back with gold cord, necklet of pink roses. Miss Beatrice Brookfield : black grenadine trimmed with scarlet. Miss Cleghorn : frey silk trimmed with grey muslin. Miss S. j irewer : dark blue grenadine trimmed with crimson velvet, and crimson cords. Miss Alice Brewer : pale blue silk. Miss C. White : black grenadine trimmed with silver braid and ■pink bows. Miss Wayland : black velvet. . Miss Symonds : pale blue lustre trimmed with white lace. Miss Caseel : blue sateen, with broad white lace sash. The Misses Gould wore pink sateens. Miss A. Mulgan : pink sateen. Miss M. Mulgan : white muslin. Miss Snowdrop Mulgan : cream sateen. Miss A. Dickey : white muslin with old gold bows. Miss Commons : black velvet. Mr W. Shera was the lion of the evening. N.B. — The soup was excellent.