WOMAN'S WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8375, 22 July 1905, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD.

Madame Sarah Bernhardt is said to conteiiij>.u/i<e appearing eeioie ioag ill *" Xae Xrojan. women," oi JiuripAies.

The Duchess of Portland has been president for tiia past fourteen years oi the booiety tor the Protection or riirds. iier vjruoe jiua never vvorn an osprey. " l-ersona,.iy," ant wrote tne oiner day, '" i nave always tnougni Uieru very uninteresting and ugly in a lux."

Lady Diana Huddlestone is the first of Queen Alexandra's briaesui&icis to pa&aaway. ~». aeciaed.y .reserved oia lady, i/aay JJi <u-v.-aya had the asiies of her deceased husband, tiie Judge, in ap aiabasier vase qa a oaoie at her oeaaiae, and ncr great tear was that they should not ba buried with ner.

The secret of Miss Marie Corelli's literary success, says a writer in the " Daiiy 'iS'ews," is ' no inconsiderable problem. VV c are confronted with the phenomenon of a writer who withouD any staking inteneciual power, or originanty of view, wiuiout any special knowiedge, possessed indeed of imagination, Dut not a subtle imagination, is nevertheless read, digested and quoted by masses oi people in England and America.

In New Guinea parents send their daughters to bed in a little house at the top oi & tree every night, and, when the girls have gone up. the ladder is removed, so that there is no coming down till the parents allow it. Kloperne-nta under these circumstances must be <iimcuit, and parents no doubt sleep the sounder for knowing that thear girls are unabie to take their walks abroad until their elders sco fit; for them to do so.

Madame Modjeska, who is living in retirement in California, is reported to be in financial difficulties. Modjeska is a Pole. It was in her seventeenth year, when she married, that she joined a company of strolling players. In her twenty-fourth yeai she became ■tiie theatrical star of Warsaw. A few years later Modjeska performed the record ieat of appearing in English after a study of only four months of our language.

Bareness Burdett-Coutts celebrated her ninety-second birthday last April. She was the younger daughter ' of tho famous politician, onco Radical and afterwards renegade, Sir Francis Burdett, by his marriage with Sophia,, youngest daughter of Thomas Coults, the banker, and her father's house was adjacent to that of Samuel Eogers, the banker-poet, who was a great friend of heru and gave her— then a young girl— a key to go through his garden gate as often as sho pleased.

A Russian brido has nofc to submit to the trying ordeal for her beauty of appearing in white attire in tho cold light of day. The wedding takes place by candle-light, in the drawing-room of the bride's mother. After the ceremony there is a banquet, followed by a ball, and after that there is a supper, which is often the occasion for the observance of auaint old customs- Here a satin slipper, supposed to be the bride's, figures, but as a goblet. A new satin slipper ia filled • with wine, and passed round to the bridegroom's friends, who drink from it to the health of the bride.

Lady Stanley, widow of the African explorer, has at lasi been tempted in Italy to resume the brush she kid down when she became the devoted nurse of her distinguished husband. Few women are so talented, few talk so well, and npno are such good listeners. It was interesting, says a writer from Florence, to see her standing beneath tho shade of G-iotto's Campanile, dose to Mrs Humphry Ward. Florentines hope that the visit of the latter there inesune that in her next book she intends to make this lovely city a vivid background for her tale, just as she so splendidly utilised Venice for the " Marriago of William Ashe."

The mistress of the White House has plenty of character and determination. She is her famous husband's second wife, and •they have now been married nineteen years. Tho prettiest tribute ever paid her as wife and mother came from her outspoken husband, who, on one occasion observed: "Mrs Roosevelt is as near a pattern President's wife as could be mado; she is so broad in her vision, and yet co conscientious in her action. Look at her as a mother! No matter -whatever be on hand, she never neglects her children. Then -she is never too busy to devote her time to me; she can always manage to go for a walk or a ride if I invite her to go with me."

It may not be generally known that several years ago Mrs Langtry became a naturalised citizen of the United States, in which country sho has niany investments. One of the most beautiful women of her day, Mrs Langtry keeps her looks of youth to an astonishing degree, and it is no doubt in a measure due to her variety of interests. Since appearing as Miss Hardcastle in " She Stoops to Conquer." Mrs Langtry has played many parts and gained innumerable cuccesses, not only in the dramatic, but in the facing world. Some years ogro she married the eldest son of Sir Henry de Bathe. Mrs Langtry's only daughter. Miss Jeanne Langtry, is the wife of Mr lan Malcolm, M.P.

Queen" Alexandra stall remains the mo3t charming figure in society. This sounds absurd flattery to people who have not had the privilege of seeing her Majesty ; but, says " Filomena," in the " Illustrated London News," those who do see her personally know that it is exactly true. When she is there the eyes of the spectators are rivetfed by her perennial grace and chaxm. Doubtless much of the charm, is tho unconsc'ous expression of ,a sweet, loving and gracious 'nature. In the letters of members of her family as they come to light — those of the late Princess Alice and the late Duchess of Teck. for instance — endear Sng epithets are seen to drop naturally into their place before Queen Alexandra's name: she is always " dear " or " kind," or " sweet Alix "to her relations.

The time has gone by. says a writer in an English magazine, when a Court bouquet waa merely ordered from the florist's, end a huge mass of blossoms in the semblance of a cauliflower made ita appearance in response. Art takes its place now in the florist's calling, as is witnessed by the many graceful floral effects which the season brings forth, each year showing greater beauties and more artistic arrangement. There is no special fashion in ,Court bouquets, for many points a»no w taken into consideration by weaier and designer; colouring of train and gown, for instance; ita fashioning, and tho height ond other characteristics of its wearer. This year, in view of the fact that rich brocades, cloth of gold, and silver, and exquisite velvets of softest sheen are being co much worn T>7 the majority, Court bouquets have undergone some slight change, what is termed the " PompatUnu: " style being much, in evidenci