WOMAN'S WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8351, 24 June 1905, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD.

The Empress of Germany is very fond of giving a very plain travelling clock to her relations as her private -wedding present, for the virtue that she values chiefly among all others ia that of punctuality. One of the hobbies of Princess Charles of Denmark is the collection of curiosities. She has hundreds of unique specimens. When travelling abroad, as she is now with _ the Queen, the Princess delights in visiting dealers in the antique, and her knowledge is such that she can appraise almost every article submitted for inspection at its proper value. ■ A. new school for lady gardeners has just been started at Glynde, Essex. It is intended for daughters of professional men who cannot afford the expensive training of the Horticultural Colleges. The terms are very moderate, £10 covering the first year's instruction, J65 the second' year. Lodgings can be obtained in the neighbourhood in a house where several may board together. The pupils defray their own board and lodging expenses. The most original charity performance ever organised in the world was given recently in Brussels by members of the Belgian aristocracy. Sixty titled ladies performed a spectacular ballet, the 'libretto of which was written by Baroness Yandewerye de Schilde, and the music by Miasa, a pupil of Massenet. The production was attecaded by all aristocratic Brussels, and ever"y lady taking part in the ballet bore a title. The costumes were exquisitely lavish', and the scenery, electrio lighi effects and grouping equal to the best on the professional stago. it was the most remarkable amateur performance ever •witnessed, and was really well done. A pathetio story of the Russo-JapaneEe ■war is told by the " Express " correspondent at Kobe. Tecdore Chesnetzkv, a stalwart young soldier, was taken to the Red Cross Hospital at Matsuyama riddled with shrapnel. . -His ribs and limbs were amputated, and niter the operation, to the amazement of the doctors, Chesne-tzky lived for eight months, lying quite helpless on his mattresses. He was attended by Nurse Kawafuchi, and he became so much attached to er that he would cry like a child when, he could not see her. Her devotion and tenderness were such that she scarcely deft him for eight months, and she was with him when he died. Tho bride of the German Crown Prince epont • th» last few montfis before her wedding very quietfy with her mother at Cannes in the Villa Wenden, whioh is rather a .castle than a villa, and stands on a rocky site. The Grand Duchess has been hard at work preparing herself for her high position amongst the various book 3on the history of the German Empire, which, report says, she is reading, is a life of [Frederick tho Great, senit her by the Crown. Prince, with special annotations on the margin by his own hand.' One of the bride's strongest characteristics is a keen sense of duty; and, although she has a gentle, retiring nature, she quite realises the fmportanoa of the Btate to which she is called. Ail over Germany the women of the country were busy preparing gifts suitable for the young bride. One of the joint pr©3enta given by " the women of Rostock and Mecklenburg was a huge «Ivot loving-cup, info which arc wrought all th« different coins of the country. Tho Germans are muoh given to this custom of working artistio old coins into the decoration of the large bowls or jugs they use for punch, hock-cup, or other summer beverages. Chinese children lead very odd lives a3 compared with those of European children. At their birth it is supposed that _ unseen spirits attend — spirits good and spirits bad. Bed candles flare in the room, and only good words are- spoken by those within it. Should the baby be a boy, on. the twentyeighth day after his birth his little head is ehavgd quite bore. The little girls aro allowed to keep their hair until they are two days older. One of the oddest happenings that affect the wee Chinese is connected, with bis names. At his birth, a name is given him, but when he goes to school the master changes it. When he is married he receives another, and when he is quite old he may still be renamed. There is a superstition: in China that if the epirits think a father and mother love their children deeply the wicked spirits harm the child. So, to hoodwink lha evil ones, the par eats can oall their little ones dreadful names, to appear as unloving aB possible. Vagabond, dog, cat, .ugly, and bo forth, are some of their p«t names. When the little boys are a year old in China they have a feast, and after that first feast eA the expiration of every ten years another, but the little girls go featless. In an interview accorded to the representative of the " Gaulois," Queen Alexandra spoke recently, not as a Queen, but as a woman, and - her utterances consequently are doubly interesting. What the Queen said is what ©very good •woman feels, though possibly sho may 'not tklvnt.y» be able to express herself. ' Queens have to train their children to oocupy a high and always difficult j position, to relieve .misfortune and distress. This is the bast and sweetest of roles. I do not want to play any other. Believe me, if social questions ■ can be solved- some day, it will be by the virtues practised by women, by mutual affection and" by mutual respect for habits of justice and charity. Her Majesty also averred that "everything is artificial in tho surroundings of Queens. Art and Natur* are their consolation. , My de'ight is solitary contemplation in the evening on the deck of a ihip. I'am passionately fond of the «ea, whether it as b.ua, as it knows how to be, with a mystic blue full of suggestions, or dark green, like this evening, with a triumphant train of silver strteaks, or light, blue, wiih white feathers which cusl and uncurl as they play on its ffttrface. When I see it from the deck of a yaohit or from a beach stretching out indefinitely to the horizon, and with only the skies besides/there are hours whenla, gxande blefue, as you call it, holds me spellbound, and this conquest of me by charms formerly unfelt leaves me completely dazzled, on the threshold of a new paradise." Hero speaks a po&t and an artist. h<o wonder the rocipiont of such an interview waa delighted. '