CLIPPINGS FROM SOCIETY PAPERS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 48, 28 November 1891, Page 638

CLIPPINGS FROM SOCIETY PAPERS.

LITTLE LADY DUFF. HER MAJESTY looked in excellent health when she came to town to be present at the christening of the little Lady Alexandra Victoria Alberta Edwina Louise Dutt'. The ceremony was strictly private, scarcely anyone but the members of the Royal Family being present. The infant, gorgeous in all the bravery of sheeny satin and costly lace, was handed to the Archbishop by the Queen, and received from him by the Princess of Wales. It is quite within the bounds of possibility that the three ladies of the little group may each be yet numbered among the Queens of Ent-land. Be that as it may, the latest addition to the Royal Family comported herself with a dignified composure befitting her position, only once protesting faintly during the whole ceremony. The ordinary baptismal service was used without variation. The first hymn sung began with the line, * In token that thou shalt not fear,’ and the second, ‘ ’Tis done, the new and heavenly birth.’ EFFACING HERSELF. MRS HOUSEWORTHY is famous for liking to do for others in peculiar and impulsive ways. She would rather sit on the floor than let anyone else have even the faintest ungratified wish for a chair in a parlour or at a concert, and she has been known to do it more than once, to the great distress of her family and friends. She likes to give up her own bedroom to a visitor, even if there are two or three pleasant unused rooms in the house. ‘ Why, I would rather travel twenty-five miles than not give up my room !’ she declared on one of these occasions when remonstrated with. Newly made friends suffer under her persistent attempts at self effacement, but old friends accept them as part of her odd, though sweet and generous character. Her husband long ago got used to her ways, and recalls with amusement now an example of her overdone unselfishness which annoyed him a good deal at the time. It was the day the Houseworthys were married, a quarter of a century ago. Mr Houseworthy, in gallant fashion, had ordered a carriage and pair sent to the house of his bride to take her to the church, and it was arranged that he was to come from his own home, a few streets distant, to proceed with her to the church. Now there were guests staying at the bride’s home, and there was no carriage to take them to the church, so the generous bride said : ‘Take ours! take ours! Mr Houseworthy will get another when he comes !’ So the bridegroom, arriving a moment later, saw his carriage and pair whisking round the corner, and had to trudge away two or three streets in his pumps to get another. But no other carriage was to be found, and the wedding was delayed ten minutes for the bridal pair to reach the church on foot. Mr Houseworthy said ‘ I will !’ that day with more emphasis than seemed necessary, and he meant it ; but he did not really enjoy his walk to the church. THE much coveted cards of invitation to the Queen’s I State Concerts are issued by the Lord Chamberlain. They ate extremely neat and not adorned, as many suppose, with the Royal cypher in gold and colours. This is all reserved for the programme. The following is a specimen of the card of invitation, being a reproduction of that for the first State Concert given on Wednesday, June 17th : The Lord Chamberlain is commanded by The Quern to invite to an Evening Party on Wednesday, the 17th of June, IS9I, at 10-3 U o'clock. Buckingham Palace. Music. Full Dress. IyERHAI’S it is the fate of genius to languish for want of sympathy, or, at any rate, appreciation from the right source. An interesting instance of this is to he seen in Mrs Crosse’s ‘ Reminiscences of Walter Savage Landor,’ in this month’s Temple Bar. While dealing with Landors personal life, she comments upon his unfortunate marriage with a woman utterly incapable of understanding him. It was said that she was very beautiful, so should one wonder at his choice 1 An anecdote illustrates most completely Mrs Landor’s unsuitability to her husband’s temperament. It appears t hat shortly after their marriage he was reading some of his verses to her as they sat side by side, when all at once the lady jumped up hastily, saying, ‘Oh, do stop, Walter. There's that dear, delightful Punch performing in the street. I must look out of the window.’ 'Exit poetry for ever !’ adds Mrs Crosse, significantly. There are, of course, many such unions, and there always will be, for in choosing a husband or a wife 1 have observed that the last thing taken into consideration, if, indeed, it is considered at all, is whether the tastes and pursuits of the couple run in the least towards the same direction. MISS CHARLOTTE TAYLOR, who has just taken mathematical honours at Cambridge, is a Newnham student, and twenty-one years of age. She went up to Newnham College with a King Edward’s Exhibition of £2OO, and has won altogether in scholarships and prizes the sum of £365, to say nothing of a considerable library of books. She has recently been studying under Miss Ricketts ami Mr Baker, the senior wrangler of the Jubilee year, and few pupils have done greater credit to their teachers. Miss Taylor is sister to the editor of The Midland Evening News. Another woman has just earned distinction in a public examination. This is the second y ear in succession that a student of the London School of Medicine has carried off the highest honours to be won in the M.B. examination of the Royal University at Dublin. Last year Miss Eleanor Fleury was placed first in order of merit in the honours list, and this year Miss Hester Dell Russell finds herself in the same uniqne exalted position. Miss Russell held for six months the post of curator to the Royal Free Hospital. In the face of these successes, surely the last remnant of those misguided people who were wont to assert the inferiority of a woman’s mental power will now retire into

obscurity, or go over to the enemy whom they used to despise. lIKS BALLINGTON BOOTH may be said to possess ill quite as much self-reliance and resource as her somewhat aggressive father-in-law, for she has just supplied the first instance on record of a marriage ceremony performed by a woman, in joining the hands of Staff Captain Ida May Harris and Adjutant Wallace Winchell, two prominent members of the Salvation Army in New York. Some doubts were apparently thrown upon the legality of the marriage, but Mrs Booth claims to be upheld in her action by some of. the best legal authorities in America on the ground that, as the Salvation Army is recognised as a properly constituted religious body, its chiefs have the same rights under American law as the ministers of any other denomination. It is difficult to imagine any other motive for Mrs Booth’s action than the desire for notoriety at any price that characterises most of the doings of the organisation to which she belongs. ONE does not often see such a thorough going performance of the rite of baptism as that which took place a fewdays ago at Annfield, Newhaven, Scotland. There the Rev. D. Tait, of the South Leith Baptist congregation, baptized two men in the sea, in the presence of about 3,000 spectators. The minister, clad in waterproof clothing, descended some steps into the sea, accompanied by the two men. They then walked out about half a dozen yards, until both were about waist deep. The minister, placing his hands upon the shoulders of the man, threw him backwards under water, then quickly helped him to regain his feet, and led him back to the steps His companion was next immersed in the same manner, and the somewhat novel service ended.