FIVE O'CLOCK TEA CHAT.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 48, 29 November 1890, Page 15

FIVE O'CLOCK TEA CHAT.

ERA : ‘ls the weather a tabuued subjeet at these little ehats of ours * 'jftjujPT Gladys. • Mostassuredly. Talkingaboatthe _. Au£sL‘ weather reveals a paucity of ideas oa the part ; , '2WIA of your visitor, or else conveys the impression I doe? not think yoa would understand any other conversational remarks.' . - Dolly : ‘ I am most thankful that Gladys is not always present when I either receive or

par vi-its !* Vera: *I am glad, in my efforts to keep you all up to the mark of the latest in fashions of all kinds, that I have the reward of knowing you do try to follow out any hints. My newest idea is mourning stationery. Dollv : * Oh, I hope that hideous black border is about to be abolished. ’

Vera: *lt is. The most correct style for letter paper envelopes is called “ The Court." It is a patent, but will soon become universally used. It is simply nice white paper, the top left hand corner only being black, the envelope the same. Of course the erest and monogram are also tn black. The Glohi says : “It is verysimple. veryneat, verv artistic, and very full of sorrow."' Stella : ' I like the idea wy much, and shall certainly adopt it. Is it permissible for all depths of mourning ?' Vera: ‘ Most assuredly it is. This is what Figaro says of it: “The idea now is that degrees of black are unnecessary, and that either you are in mourning, or you are not in mourning. If you are nor, you use white paper, if you are. von use paper and envelopes of which a corner only, the left-hand top one, is black. " Gladys : ■ Have you ever noticed that those husbands—and wives too, I believe —who seem most heartbroken over the death of their consorts are generally those who soonest console themselves by marrying again ?' Vera : ‘ Frequently. Indeed, just now I can recall three recent instances. How do you account for it f

Gladys : • My private opinion is that life now-a-days is too practical for sentiment to hold sway for any length of time. Jost at first the blow seems crushing ;no one could replace the lust darling. Then comes the worry of a house on one's hands, children to manage, servants to be looked after. A man feels these annoyances acutely, all the more when the wife has been a capable woman. So “ for the sake of his family "he marries again. But the strange part is that he generally chooses a pretty, young girl, and seems to find her a remarkable consolation.' Dolly : * Let me suggest another idea. Supposing husband and wife are very much to each other, what is called a devoted couple, suppose she dies. Well, the widower will feel so unutterably lonely, so miserable without someone to pet and consult and talk to, as only a man and wife in perfect accord eon talk, that he imagines life is absolutely unbearable, and in sheer desperation and soreness of heart marries again.' Gladys : * Yet even Ac selects a eharming, lovely girl.' Dolly: ‘ That's out of compliment to his late wife, a realitv of the ideal dead that he carries about in his heart.'

Gladys : • I should like to hear what other people say on this subject. I hope some one will write aliout it to the La*iies' Correspondence column.’ Vera: ‘ of this subject I may mention a weddingparty was delayed the other day at a station waiting for a train. They were going into Christchurch to be married in style. At length they resolved to wait no longer. A country clergyman was found, and the knot tied at the ration.’

Gladys: ‘ There is a very curious article in Lipjpineott. It is called “ Karma,’' and professes to be the diary of a man who proposes to a very beautiful, soulful, good girt She neither accepts nor refuses him, but says, “ Go home now ; then, as soon as you feel able to do it properly, write out for me a short history of your life. Just write down everything you feel you would not like me to know. Write it, ansi send it— " “ And then i" he asked, as she paused. “ And then I shall tel! you whether I will marry you," she finished, resolutely.' Dollv: • What a fearful idea r'

Gladys : ‘ The poor fellow dared not meet her pure grey eyes and tell her a lie. or rather, write one. so he found himself in a great strait. At first he had thought it would be easv enough, but when he to write there were so many little, and, alas I some big sins, that he could not submit for a pure woman s eyes to rest upon. For the first time he really saw himself. I should like every young man to read thisstory and see how he would stand thiscritieal test. ’ Dollv : ‘ Did she marrv him f

Gladys : ‘ Not when she read his confession. Some years after, when he was making what atonement was possible, she told him she would help him.' Dolly : ’ I should like to raise the standard of some of our girls too. They are quite willing to marry without finding out anything of the character of the man to whom they give themselves.’

Vera : 'That applies to the men equally. How is a poor unfortunate creature ever to find out a girl's real character, or to learn anything at all about her, if he is only to see her at afternoon calls or at the dinner table, always under the eyeof her mother 1 Hedoesnot contemplate marrying the girl with her mother and her four sisters attached, and often a damsel who only seems delightfully retiring and wisely silent amongst her family circle, may be found deliberately stupid and uninteresting when reduced to an hour or two's conversation alone with a man.'

Stella -. • I think mothers ought, in a quiet way, to let men see their daughters when they can reallv judge what they are like. But I think that all girls should, when they attain years of discretion, ask themselves. “If I do not marry, 'what am I going to do with my life !" Marriage is out and should not be the sole aim and object of a girl s life.' Vera : *We are very metaphysical this aftern. on. Dolly, say something light to cheer us up before we part.' Dolly : * My brother says that he was smoking with Mr Smith the oilier afternoon in the dining-room, and Mr Smith said :“ My wife is going out shopping. She has been up stairs before her looking-glass for an hour, but I bet she wifi hare a question to ask about her appearance before she goes out. “Think so !" said my brother. “I’m sure of it." Just then Mrs Smith tripped downstairs and looking into the dining-room said : “Good-bye, dear. I'm going. Uh by the way," she added, “ is my bat straight t” ’