PRETTY LITTLE DOROTHY DREW.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5115, 24 November 1894, Page 3

PRETTY LITTLE DOROTHY DREW.

Tho pretty, bare feet of little Dorothy Drew, Mr Gladstone's granddaughter, are getting to be almost as well known and as much in evidence as those of the immortal "Trilby." It has been a theory of Dorothy's parents that she be brought up barefooted, and barefooted she ia on moßt occasions.

A woman who was' at an association fite recently at Hawarden gives in the Boston Herald an interesting picture of the little girl and her feet :

" At four o'clock, when we paid our sixpence admission to the terrace, the sun was shining brightly in the castle and grounds. A space immediately opposite the centre walk from the house was roped off for Mr Gladstone and his party. A few ladies had already taken their seats on the wall and on chairs within this enclosure, when, like a little bird, Dorothy Drew came dancing along from the casfcle; When the immense crowd in the field below caught eight of her they cheered loudly. Evidently she ia weli accustomed to 'being received/ * for she danced up to the wall and stood smiling, with the tqpst perfect selfpossession* She is only a tiny mite, and was very Eimply dressed in a pink frock and a white washing hat. She began p'ulinr* at her frock, and in a moment, with h«Jr motnere' help, off came her little brown shoes and Btockings, and Bhe was barefooted. For tho rest of the afternoon she remained so, and ran about with equal ease on both gravel walks and gras3. " While we waited for Mr Gladstone she sat on the terrace wall, plucking ivy leaves and throwing them into the crowd. Then she stuck the leaves betwen her toes and waved her little foot to the people. She has exquisitely formed legs and feet, and I was told that she ia often seen in the village barefooted. * * * When her grandfather alluded so prettily to her in his speech, Mrs Gladstone lifted her up on to the wall beside him, where they stood hand in hand, while the crowd cheered themselves hoarse. It was a pretty sight. The old man's face glowed with pride while he bent down and told her to kiss her hand to the people. She was lifted down again out of sight,' but for the rest of the afternoon she was danoing — always dancing — here, there, and everywhere, on her little bare feet."