WOMAN'S WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6090, 29 January 1898, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD.

The study of domestic science bjryonug women in Germany includes the sfadycx the vegetable garden and how to cultivate it. Queen Natalie is considered the most beautiful Queen in Europe. Her greatest charm is her exquisitely-shaped neck, which is said to resemble that of the Venus of Milo. The art she employs to protect it against the ravages of time is simple onough to be practised by anyone. Every morning she takes a brisk walk in the, grounds of her palace, near Belgrade, with a heavy pitcher on her head. Hawiian women have a wonderful charm of ananner, ancHiheir moriling faces, dark, lustrous eyes and soft voices have* fascination about them that cannot be easily defined. They carry themselves with a grace and dignity peculiarly their own — even the flower women, with their pretty lei customs — though their feet may be bare, have a certain dignity of bearing never seen in the Anglo-Saxon of the same .class. That clever woman and famous painter, Bosa Bonheur, recently granted the Grand Duke Michael of Busßia an interview at her country home. The Duke was so interested and charmed with her conversation that he begged her permission •to give her ■something' as a souvenir of the interview.. She. graciously permitted hhn -to«endher "any little-animal as a. model," he sent three mighty polar ; ; bears. Sarah Bernhardt seems to grow younger with time. When one sees this tall, graceful woman (writes the Paris correspondent of Woman) and notices the bright eye, without line or wrinkle, and the firmlycut, fresh-looking lips, it iB difficult to imagine that she is more than thirty -at the most. It iB said that Madame Bernhardt'stbest cosmetic is her sunshiny temperament. She prides herself on possessing a character which is capable of shaking off -that dreadful enemy of good looks — worry. Whether this may be oraot, I do not know, but it is certain that in a recent :-perforjnance she looked only-twenty-five. Thereds living in Chester a woman Aged eighty-two years, who has fifteen times been the mother of twins. Prom investigations made by Dr Cory, of St Thomas's Hospital,. it appears that the tendency to give birth to twins frequently runs uncertain families,-andont of-seventeon cases lie found that in thirteen there had been previous births of twins among near relatives of either the father or the mother. One case of a family was recorded by another doctor which shoved twins in each of four successive generations. A woman in Vienna, the wife of a weaver,. is stated to have had thirty-two children. Twice? she had four at a birth, and triplets four times. Misa Ajonie S. Swan,the popular novelist, is still quite a young-looking woman. She is said to be the only lady writer whom the Queen ever expressed a personal desire to meet, and she was accordingly presented to her Majesty in an informal manner during a brief holiday spent by herself and her husband, Dr Burnett Smith, on Deeside. As is natural, the author of " Sheila " is a great favourite among Scotch pepple,.for most of her stories deal with some form of Scotch life. She is a great believer in steady and systematic-work, and although she rarely spends more time at her desk than two hours each day, fow days in the year are -passed by her without something being accomplished. Mrs Burnett Smith is a devoted wife and mother, butwhile she lias a horror of the term "New Woman," she is a believer in Female Suffrage. The bridal bouquet of Miss C. Vanderbilt, whose marriage with the Duke of Maiiborough was a most expensive one, was "twelve feet in eircTrmforonce, and was madte under the superintendence of the head gardener at Blenheim. The bouquet which Mr Vanderbilt gave his bride (Mis 9 Wilson) was a very large one, containing hundreds of sprays of lilies of the valley, ' just sufficient green being left to serve as a frame for the flowers. In one corner a great cluster of white orchids was massed and fastened to the lilies by white satin ribbon five inches wide. The ribbon was tied in a large bow. A shower of narrow white satin trails fell from under the lilies, each little streamer knotting sprigs of orange blossoms. These were almost, worth their weight in gold, being much rarer and more difficult to procure than the orchids.