WOMAN'S WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7329, 15 February 1902, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD.

The Queen of Siam lias a gold thimble made in the form of a dotus-bud, with her name and the date of her marriage in tiny diamonds. It was a gift from the King. A Philadelphia wotoan has one that is completely encrusted -with diamonds, which is said to have cost £20&. -The Dowager- liady Anglesey, who ha 3 just died, waa a link between two- very dissimilar worlds. Half her life had been spent, as the wife of a racing celebrity, in the very gayest of all sporting societies. For the second half she was a devoted adherent of the Plymouth. Brethren. Her gardener, who, being like her ladyship, one of " the Brethren," alwaya ministered to the house-party on Sundays. The cooking range has. been so long -with us that few people imagined that the inventor lived until .this time. Mr'Josiah M. Eeid, of Boston, who, ii is claimed, made the invention in 1846, haa, however, just died at the age of ninety-two. He began life as a wheelwright/ but in 1839 he went to Boston; and began .the manufacture, of stoves, remaining there until his retirement at the age of eighty in 1888. For more than half a century he had been one of the best-known and most progressive men in Boston, representing his district in 4he General Court from 1861 to 1863. . A new wall covering is being placed upon the market. It is an artificial leather, and is the invention of a Frenchman. French leather papers have not been sold in this country to anything like the extent they were twenty and even ten years ago. Dec6raline, and the 'various high reliefs, ' Anoglypta, Lincrusta, Lignomur, Cameoid, and Tynecastle, which ■ lend themselves so readily to decorative treatments, have very properly taken the place of the foreign leathers. Tho new paper consists v qf pieces of. refuse skin and hides cut exceedingly small, mixed in a vat filled with an intensely alkaline solution. The parrots belonging to Madame Patti are a source of constant amusement to everyone near them, and there could not be greater contrast, for while one talk 3 and sings all' day long, imitating its- mistress's trills in a weird, thin voice, the other is constantly silent. The former only cost £21 and the latter £200, for ho was represented to be the finest talking parrot alive. However, when Patti brought b»rs to England— he was bought in America — he refused *to utter a word. Only once since has he broken the silence ; then Madame Patti had sent for a diootor to examine her throat, and when the medico entered the room " Jumbo " exclaimed, with a strong Yankee acoent, "Oh! doctor, I am so sick." Madame Patti declares that the two parrots are devoted to each other. , The manners of the rising generation are marked by unabashed selfishness and cynical irreverence. The ttype of well-bred youth or maiden is, if not obsolete, rapidly obsolescent. Formerly there -were well-recognised railings between Ahe different ages ; but encouraged by their parents the modern youth have incontinently stormed these barriers, and are everywhere at all 'times. "We have seen young ladies refuse to leave the dinner-<table with their mother, and remain -1o romp with boys upon the hearthrug, to the dismay of the men who, with sickly smiles of counterfeited glee, tried to sip their port and talk their politics. We have seen young gentlemen with turaed-up trousers and the perennial cigarette between their lips lounge away the afternoon in their mother's drawing-room, staring silently at her guests through, rings of smoke. It is impos- I sible that young people so brought up can be other than selfish and inconsiderate men and | women. I It is announced that her Majesty Queen* j Alexandra has been pleased io confer upon j Lady Hallo the title of "Violinist to the j Queen." The distinguished artiste is to be ■• congratulated "upon this signal mark of Eoyal favour, -which assuredly could have fallen to no worthier or more appropriate recipient than the lady who has long been known to the . world as the "Queen of Violinists." From \ the time when she settled down in London more than thirty years ago (she originally : made her debut here, a girl of ten, in 1849;, Wiihelrnina Norman Neruda, afterwards Lady Halle, became a persona gratissima at Marl- ; borough House. She found not only a warm admirer but a kind and devoted friend in our beloved Prince 93 of Wales, who, for many , years was an almost regular attendant at the , recitals given at Sfc James's Hall by the late ' Sir Charles Halle, with the assistance of the j gifted violinist who subsequently became his wife. Mrs Hugh Fraser, the author of the everdelightful 'A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan, and the more recent and equally popular "A Littlo Grey Sheep," comes of a literary , stock, as she is a sister of the famous nove- | list, Marion Crawford. Mrs Fraser only I took to writing for publication when her hus- I band's death left her in somewhat straitened .' circumstances, but she quickly made her way ; to the front, and now commands a large and j steadily-increasing oirc'.e of readers. She is. tall, | slight, with delicate aquiline features, eyes I that vary in -hue with her emotions; soft, ! silky hair turned prematurely grey, and such charm of manner that a distinguished Ambassador once described her as "distinction itself." Moreover, she possesses a wonderful vitality despiio her fragile appearance, and a most exuberant imagination, which reveals itself in her books. Indeed, of one of thorn, a novel called "Palladia," a well-known critic complained, when reviewing it, of having to follow the threads cf nine distinct and separate plots! Mrs Fraser is a great theatregoer when not working, and, like her brother, is passionately fond of the sea; indeed, she avers that she knows just how the reindeer feel when they turn their heads towards the blue water, and must reach it or die. She ' hfl.9 two sons, the elder of whom inherits his mother's literary proclivities, having recently iiroduced a novel called "Death, the Showman," while the other has been fighting and eettin" wounded in South Africa. Mrs Fraser '■ was with her husband when he was stationed in Japan, and wa3 a great favourite with the Mikado, who still sends her valuable gifts.