LADIES' GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5322, 29 July 1895, Page 4

LADIES' GOSSIP.

(Canterlury Times.)

It is with some pleasure that I acknowledge the receipt of the first copy of The White Ribbon, a email monthly printed under the auspices of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and edited by Mre K. Sheppatd. Itß aim is "to be not merely the official organ of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, but to be a medium for the disoussion of subjects bearing on social, political, moral and religious questions of the day." Not only this, but the paper will act as a medium between the Federated Societies of women workers throughout New Zealand. The copy before me contains some interesting articles on social reform, and on woman's work in different parta of the world. I cordially wish The White Ribbon every suceesß. English women have taken to cycling with an enthusiasm almost equal to that of their Parisian sisters, and during tbe present summer the wheel promises to become the favourite form of exercise for fashionable London. Lady Norreye, the patroness of the new Trafalgar Bicycle Club for ladies and gentlemen, is only one of many society women who prefer wheel to horseback exercise during fine weather. Although she haß ridden a bicycle for over a year, she is always ready to "talk cycle" as though she could never tiro of the subject. To an interviewer she confessed the other day that she loved riding in London better than in the country, on account of the excitement. She had ridden once or twice to the Tower Bridge on a Sunday morning, when the streets are comparatively clear; but the one thing she hoped Boon to do was to ride through the city at night — a very risky feat, as one can easily imagine. It may be interesting to know that Lady Norreya does not ride in rational dress. Her usual coatume is of navy serge, worn over riding knickers of black Bilk stockinette. The skirt is only two and a half yards wide, and is well off the ground. Her Eton jacket has white duck revers, and with this she generally wears a waistcoat of pale blue chiffon, brown spats and a sailor hat. The Trafalgar Bicycle Club is chiefly for ladies, but gentlemen members are admitted, and it is expected to become a great success, It was opened about two | months ago by Sir William Call, and is to be the most fashionable club in London. It has a large open track for fast riding and racing, as weil as a covered velodrome for bad weather and winter riding. On the ground floor of the club buildings are two large luncheon rooms leading to a large verandah. Then on the first landing are the gentlemen's dressing and bathrooms .comfortably fitted up, while on the next flight are the ladies' apartments also carefully but simply furnished. That no featnre of attractiveness may be missing, there is also a large drawing-room well supplied with women's papers and magazines, and adjoining the bathrooms is a large boudoir for resting in after a long ride. This is how Londoners mean to enjoy the new. exeroise, which, besides being health-promoting, is extremely inexpensive as compared with the cost of keeping a horse and groom for the Park. For the information of the curious, I may add that the subscription to the Trafalgar Club is five guineas a year. There is at Dieppe a devoted woman who gives up her whole life to the care of the English sailors who visit; that pork. The English consul there, writing of her in his report, mentions the remarkable but entirely unostentatious work of Misß Galloway, who manages the seamen's reading-room. She possesses rare qualities of persuasion and sympathy, which make her mission the success it has become. She is ever on the alert, aB vessels come and go, to endeavour to keep the crews from drink and out of mischief — to guide them, to invite and encourage them to frequent the reading-room— -to drop a good word in | season, to provide them with healthy and ! instructive literature, both in port and on voyages' ; to help them with their letters, and assist them with advice on any subject ; to play the piano or harmonium, and sing with them ; to draw them to ohurob, &o. Although not by any means well off, Miss Galloway has refused to accept any remuneration for this work, ! preferring to feel herself free in every { respect. Women with a small competence who are earnestly anxious to do good might take an example by Mies Galloway's wholehearted services ou behalf of her kind. Poor M. Daudet! He does not think much of English women. Evidently be holds a Bimilar opinion of them to that possessed by his lately deceased countryman, M. Tame, who declared, after a short stay in England, that he could see nothing to admire in ces dames Anglaises and than actually went on to tell the world in his celebrated work on literature, that Englishwomen had large teeth for eating flesh with, and big feet for walking in j the mud. Could anything more cruel or more unjust have been said, and that, too, by one whose opportunities for observing the Englisb were extremely limited P M. Daudet not only is unkind in his criticism of the daughters of England, but he cannot resist the temptation of lauding his own countrywomen to the skies in the same breath. "I do not think," he J Bays, " that there exists any woman in the world that can compare with the Frenchwoman; but, in any o<ise, the Englishwoman cannot be held her superior. Not only is the Englishwoman not handsome in features, but there is nothing seductive in her physical form, and, moreover, she is an utter stranger to elegance and good taste. The Englishwoman whom you encounter driving about Paris, whom you run against in our picture galleries with her flattened-down hair and huge feet, differs in no single particular from j the English lady of rank whom you meet j in salons, on the turf, and at the play." But this is not all, for hio relief is so great on returning to French soil that he can* not reßist exulting in the following strain : — " On getting out of the train in Paris on Monday evening," he writes, "it gave me a zeal thrill of pleasure to behold our pretty ' Parisiennea,' with their fascinating toilettes lighted up by the gleams of a sun quite unknown in London, and I infinitely prefer them to all the Englishwomen in existence, even though these latter may be I more serious, read more, and are less extravagant." Farther, we are told that he confessed to having been able t) master i the word " yes " during his visit to London. After this no one will be surprised to hear that M. Daudet feels himself sufficiently well-informed to set about writing a book on the English ! We may i expect a curiosity when it does appear. It is terribly difficult for English people | to recognise the educational rights of girls and women. Quite recently the London School Board nominated a Mies Eve aa a I member of the Council of Almoners of Christ's Hospital. Anticipating some difficulty and opposition in the election of a lady to this post, one of the Board moved as an amendment — "That it i* most desirable that a lady should be appointed upon tie Council of Almoners, and that he recommended MUa Eve as a competent person duly qualified to discharge the duties of that office. Further, that ibe prewaoe of a laay on the Council was necessary, because girls had not hitherto had their proper share of the endowments," which are not confined to the education of boys. That this was the case is shown by the w.-rds of John Stuart Mill, who, writing of thisinstitution in 1867, said: " I am told by one of the highest authorities on tbe Bubject, that in the majority cf the endowments the provision made is not for boys, but for education generally ; in one endowment, Christ'a Hoapital, which is expressly for both, that institution now maintains and educates eleven hundred boys, and exactly twenty-3ix girls." And now, after about thirty years have paosed Bince the above was written, Bteps are to be taken to remedy this injustice to girls. We do things quicker in New Zealand. The Hon Mrs Maxwell Scott, in her book, "Tho Tragedy of Fotheringhay," throwß a lurid light upon the spitofulness and cruelty shown by Quoea Elizabeth towards her unhappy cousin, the Queen of Soots. Comparatively little is known by ub of the lastdaya of Mury.but some hitherto unpublished manuscripts and the journal of Dr Bourgoing, Mary's faithful physician, have been used in compiling

the work, which is acknowledged to be in every respect trustworthy aa well as interesting. Mrs Maxwell Scott commences her history of Mary of Scots at the period when, under the guardianship of Sir Amyas Paulet, her confinement became stricter, and when Elizabeth began to seriously consider the removal of her ill-fated cousin, ' Before she went to Fotheringhay, Mary had been surrounded with the insignia of her rank, but after the sentence of death had been passed upon her, the outward semblance of her royal state was gradually removed. First her dais was taken away, then Sir Amyas Paulet Bat in her presence with his hat on; the climax coming with the removal of some of her attendants, and the forbid' ding of Mary's mailre d'hotel to usher in the servants carrying her meals. The writer gives a vivid picture of Elizabeth's indecision as to the signing of the deathwarrant, and shows clearly the vindictiveneas of the Virgin Queen. Politically speaking, Elizabeth committed a gross crime j humanly speaking, her conduct was monstrous. So afraid was she of consequence* that Bhe ordered the execution to take place in the hall of the castle and not in the courtyard, and even at the last would nob allow Mary to have ber private papers for the purpose of making her will. The woman whose youth had been spent in the gaiety and brilliance of the French Court, whose later years had been passed as the Queen of a turbulent people, went to her death with the greatest calmness.rather longing to be freed from the misery of her days than clinging to life. Mrs Scott thus describes her dress on the occasion of hor execution:— "Her robea, the only ones she had reserved of former splendours, were such as then worn by queens-dowager. The skirt and bodice of blaok Batin were worn over a petticoat of russet-brown velvet, while the long regal mantle, also of black satin, embroidered with gold and trimmed with fur, had long hanging sleeves and a train. The Queen's head-dress was of white crape, from which fell a long veil of the Bame delicate material, edged with lace. Round her neck she wore a chain of scented beads with a cross, and at her waist a golden rosary." Even with the horrors of so painful a death before her, Mary wrote to her brother-in-law, Henry 111. of France, commending to his care her faithful attendants, and distributed amongst them the only money left her after Elizabeth's rapacity had been satisfied by the confiscation of the greater part of her property. The execution was a horrible scene, it requiring three strokes of the axe to sever the Queen's head from her body. When the executioner lifted the head from the ground to show it to the bystanders, it "was grey as one of seventy years of age, polled very short, her face being so much altered immediately from the - form she had when she was alive ; she gasped after her head was cut off by the Bpace of half a quarter of an hour." Mary's appearance at the time is thus described in a manuscript endorsed "Executio Regina Scotorume" as being "of stature High, big made and somewhat round-Bhouldered, her face broad and fat, double-chinned and hazel-eyed."