WOMAN'S WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8874, 9 March 1907, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD.

Lady Essex is one of the famous Americans in the* 'peerage. She was Miss Adola Grant, and was as famed for her beauty and pleasant personal attributes on the other side of the Atlantic as on this. She has most of the tastes of the Englishwoman. She rides and motors. She has her pretty villa on the Riviera; also she has something 1 of that indescribable dash peculiar to her nationality. H«r fre© and independent spirit showed itself when, not getting satisfaction out of her laundty, she and a few other titled ladies started one* of their o.wn, which has proved a great success. First among lady astronomer* is the gifted i •wife of Sir William Huggina. It is not only since her marriage that Lady Huggina haa devoted herself to star science. The most treasured possessions of her early girlhood wer© a small telescope and star atlaa. Sir Willianu Huggins's house at Tulse Hill is splendidly fitted for the study of the stars, but Lady Hug-gins declares that the first requisite for a British astronomer is a broken heart. If the organ is not fractured already the vagaries of the- terrible British climate^ to say nothing of London fog and smoke, cutting off all observation for weeks together, will effectually break it for bim. . Mrs L. T. Meade is said to be the most voluminous authoress in the world. Whether this is so or not, her pen is a very busy one, and there are few people" who read who have not enjoyed her books or short stories at some time or other. Sh© started writing at the early age of seventeen, and haa continued' doing 1 so ever since. She was born in the County of Cork, in Ireland, where her father, a clergyman, held a living; and it was h,ere that she first developed a striking inclination towards literature. Some of her moat successful stories have had to do with the Bible, for which she has travelled in Egypt and j Syria for exact knowledge in their treatment. ' A ripple of excitement was caused In NewYork lately by the discovery tha-fc " Eleanora Leigh," playing the part of Phene in " Pippa Passes," at the Majestio Theatre, was really Miss Alice Lewisohn, a member of a wealthy and well-known family of the metropolis of the United States. She had hoped to keep her identfty secret, but friends in the audience found her out. Miss LewiBohn has had success &s an amateur, but does not intend to become ■» professional aotress, and took a part in the play merely for educational reasons. She de-votes much time, effort and niony to settlement work oa the East Sido of Isew York, which is the equivalent of our East End of London. Among the six American stage beauties whom Mr Charles Frohman has brought over to assist Miss Edna May in the new play " Nelly Neil," to be produced shortly at ihe Aldwvch Theatre, London, is Miss Grace Kimball, a blonde with blue eyes and golden 'hair, who claims to b© th© lady out of whose slipper th© Grand Duke Boris drank champagne at a supper party a year or so ago. Sho also claims- to be th© originator of the " Sammy " song, and sh© wrote the chorus of the " Cosy Corner Girl." On the voyage over there was a kissing auction, in aid of the seamen. Five dollars a kiss was the price, and between them these American show girls kissed 250 dollars out of the pockets of the saloon passengers. The girls are delighted with, their visit to London. Madame Curie was formerly a Miss Sklodowpkn-, Polisfc by birth. She went to Paris to study science under the most disad%-anta-geous circumstances. She was so poor she could not afford to attend any of the big 1 schools, and wont to a municipal workingclass institute, where M. Curie directed a laboratory. Seeing wlmt great interest she took in his experiments, tmd recognising her exceptional abilities, he made her his u.^Hi."tant, and a little time afterwards they were married. Yet for all her sucoess Madame Curie remains unspoiled. She lives simply and modestly, carrying on her experiments with radium with ceaseless industry and patience. Professor Madame Curie has on© little daughter, a <nrl of eight, who she is determined shall follow in het own foptstops as a woman of pciencfc