WOMAN'S WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7808, 12 September 1903, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD.

The servant problem is being solved at Tunbridge Wells, England, by the employment of young men from Germany. They not only act as waiters, but cook, scrub the floors, and make themselves " generally useful."

The first needle used in England was made in Queen Mary's reign by a negro, who, unfortunately, died before imparting the secret to anyone. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the art of needle-making was rediscovered by a. German, who imparted it to an Englishman.

What most peopl* at the present day require is a good rest. The smart ladies of France stay in bed the -whole of one day each week. To sit upon* his steps and have a quiet think is the desire of many a busy man. The fashionable part of London is now the nursing quarter round Cavendish Square.

Queen Wilhelmina of Holland practises dairying as a hobby, and .-is actually making money by selling milk and butter obtained from the Royal farm. Ths loyal Dutchmen are so enthusiastic about the idea that the demand for Royal butter is considerably greater than the supply. The Queen, however, is extending her dairy, and has recemtly purchased thirty of the best cows that could be obtained in Holland.

Little Princess Viotori'a of "Wiales is perhaps the youngest Boyal cyclist in Buropje. Tbe dimensions of her bicycle are Liliputian. Only 16in of tube separate ihe bracket and the seat pillar. The rims of the wheels, whioh are 20m im, diameter, are made of alumiinium. The diameter iof the tyres is l£in, and the machine is geared to 43in. On the front ot tlhe plain black enamelled frame apoears a em-all "M" in gold. The whole weighs only 151 b.

The reason that Turkish girls were not allowed to learn to write was a fear, perhaps mot iil-founded, that having once learned to write, they might hasten to make use of the accomplishment by composing love-letters to young men, with whom they could not otherwise communicate, for the strict seclusion of 'females cut off all intercourse between young people of opposite sexes almost as soon as they have ceased to be infants. Tins absurd, in fact harmful, prohibition- has of late, and for some time past, been losing its force.

Onoe upon a time all teroines were beautiful — aa beautiful as dolls, and somewhat like those satisfactory toys in all respects. If hair of anything but spunjjold or raven blackness was ever permitted, it was a shining chestnut, and it was accompanied by very pink cheeks and mild blue or brown eyes. Nowadays the hero is likely to have ladies presented for his admiration who have red hair, ash-coloured hair, copper-coloured hair, streaked hair; there have even been heroines who did not scruple to have a sprinkling of grey in their' dark locks.

The size of ladies' headgear is often* a source of serious discomfort to people not of the stature of Gog and Magog, who happen to sit behind a, fashionable damsel at a theatre or spectacle. We wish our . theatrical managers would take & hint from the enterprising impressario of a French provincial theatre, who receiving so many complaints from gentlemen of the difficulties experienced in obtaining a glance of the stage over the enormous _T»ts aud bonnets, affixed the following notice on the doors of his theatre: — "The manager begs that a_M pretty women will tako otf (heir hats end bonnets. Those who may be ugly or elderly are welcome to keep them on." It is scarcely neoessaiy to say that from that moment all hats and bonnets were carefully left with the box-keeper. •

Mdme Sibyl Sanderson died recemtly from the effects tof influenza caught at Nice two months ago while singing the part oi Phryne in the ©peira of that name by SaintSaens, an opera that was written.^ specially frr her. Mdme St-nde-uson, who was born in am __Tan > c_-co less %xn forty -years agx>, achieved her greatest successes in the works of Massamet. In 1897 she mtoried Senor Antonio Terry, a Oul»aai millionaire, who lived principally in Paris, where he was famous as a patron of horseflesh. A year after the wedding Senor Terry died, leaving a fortune of twenty mUlton dofflars divided between his widow and a daughter of hia first wife-, a New Yorker. It was accomp_-_ied by the conditiothat his widow did not remarry. The lady returned to the stage and io something like her old triumphs. Her personal ©barm was aided by a magnificent vodce, so that her success in critical Paris was not to be wondered at. Since the death of Senor Terry, it wa_ stated that Mdme Sybil Sandersen had become, engaged tb the CounV de Fitzjames, f descendant of out James 11., who was removed from the throne in 1698. But the marriage did not (take place; perhaps the conditions of Senor Terry* will had 60ur___ing to do with __t_as result.