THE SOCIAL WORLD

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1253, 23 April 1914, Page 26

THE SOCIAL WORLD

The Ellerslie racecourse has never looked better than it did for the Auckland Racing Club’s Autumn meeting on Easter Saturday and Monday. Noticeable improvements have been made since the Club’s last meeting, and they did not fail to catch the favourable eye of the many thousands of patrons who participated in the two days’ sport. /The walks (were bordered with giant begonias in vivid colouring, while clumps of vari-hued chrysanthemums were charmingly arranged to advantage. His Excellency, the Governor, Lord Liverpool, and the Countess of Liverpool were present on both days, and were accompanied by General Godley and Mrs. Godley, the Hon. G. W. F. Foljambe, Captain Eastwood, A.D.C., and Captain Shaw. On Saturday Her Excellency wore an amethyst charmeuse frock, with grey ninon tunic, and large hat wreathed with purple pansies, and on Monday a champagne-coloured crepe gown, with bright blue hat bunched with cerise rosebuds.

Amongst those at the races were the Prime Minister (the Hon. W. F. Massey), Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Lowry (Hawke’s Bay), and the Hon. W. H. Herries, Misses Gorrie, Mrs. V. Riddit'ord (Lower Hutt), Mrs. F. Waller, Mrs. and Miss Foster, Mrs. E. JL Mann (Gisborne), Mrs. Bernstein (Dunedin), Mrs. Seymour Thorne George, Mrs. E. D. Aubin, Mrs. F. E. Baume, Mrs. Sharman, Mrs. and Miss Devore, Mrs. George Purchas, Mrs. Field Porter, Miss Alice Walker, Mrs. Hiley (Wellington), Mrs. Tole, Mrs. Marsack, Mrs. E. C. Firth, Mrs. E. Davis, Mrs. Alfred Nathan, Mrs. Gillies (Hamilton), Mrs. A. Kidd, Mrs. H. Rainger, Mrs. and Miss Ralph, Mrs. Chennery Suggate, Mrs. E. W. Alison, Mrs. W. R. Holmes, Mrs. Markham,

Easter has ushered in the usual number of weddings. The New Zealand “Times” chronicles, amongst others, the marriage of Miss Mabel Hands, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Hands, to Mr. Roy Jordan, only son of Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Jordan, Christchurch; Miss Matilda O’Connell, daughter of Mrs. M. E. O’Connell, Church Street, Palmerston North, to Mr. Francis Lewis Henry Delamar, of Auckland; Mr. Percival Vallender, second son of Mr. and Mrs. Evan Vallender, to Miss Annie Butler, of Sheffield, Yorkshire, England; Mr. Oswald M. Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Smith, of Palmerston North, to Miss Lucy Mee, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. Mee, of Dunedin; Mr. K. Welch, son of the late Mr. G. H. Welch, of Masterton, to Miss Ruby McLachlan, eldest daughter of Mr. Duncan McLachlan, of Willow Park, Opaki; Miss Florence Hunter, daughter of Mrs. Hunter, of Nelson, to Mr. Harry Barltrop, son of Mr. and Mrs. Barltrop; Mr. J. W. G. Brodie, son of Mr. James Brodie, Blackheath, London, to Miss May Moss, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Moss. Karori.

The marriage took place in Wellington on April 13th of Miss Kathleen Devine, eldest daughter of Mrs. Devine, The Terrace, Wellington, to Mr. Edward Joseph Prendergast, of the legal firm of Devore, Martin and. Prendergast, Auckland. The ceremony was performed by Dean Regnault, assisted by Archbishop O’Shea and Archdeacon Devoy, and was afterwads followed by the celebration of the nuptial mass. The bride, who was given away by her brother, wore a gown of ivory brocade, and a white hat massed with white ostrich plumes. Her sister was bridesmaid, and Mr. W. W. Cook acted as best man. The newly-married couple motored through to Auckland.

Owing the official anxiety as to the attitude of British Suffragettes during the King’s visit to Paris, Miss Cristabel Pankhurst has (according to a cabled message) given an assurance that the militants will not make any demonstration. This is a concession to mark the courtesy and hospitality shown her in France.

Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Lowry, Hawke’s Bay, returned to New Zealand from Australia by the Niagara last week. * .. tfc *

Dr. and Mrs. McDowell have returned to Auckland after a holiday visit in the South.

Some astonishment has been occasioned by the announcement of the engagement of President Wilson’s youngest daughter with a man who is a grandfather (writes the San Francisco correspondent of “The Post”). William G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury in the Wilson Cabinet, is to marry Miss Eleanor Randolph Wilson, who is 24 years old. McAdoo is 51 years of age, a widower, with six children and two grandchildren. Reports connecting the names of the two were current in Washington for ten days before the formal announcement from White House. Indeed, the fact of the engagement was admitted only after several newspapers had published the news in the guise of a “rumour.” Miss Eleanor Wilson is the artist among the President’s daughters.

Dr. and Mrs. Fitchett, of Wellington, have been on a visit to Auckland.

With regard to dancing, there is a rumour (I give it for what it is worth, says a writer in the “Gentlewoman”) that the minuet is to be in favour very soon, completely ousting the tango, maxixe, and suchrlike, from public favour. The curious freak of wearing wigs of every kind of shade has set this fashion going in Paris, whence most of these “chic” modes seem to emanate. I cannot myself see that a blue or a mauve or a pink wig, such as Parisiennes are described as wearing at present, would look any more in keeping with the minuet than the most up-to-date style of hairdressing. Certainly if the minuet is to elbow out the tango there must be, accompanying this change, a complete upheaval in the matter of dress. A full skirt must surely be the very first essential to gracefully treading any measure one associates with the end of the eighteenth century. .

According to the “Gentlewoman,” the “police official’s hat,” dating from the time of the French Revolution, has lately been revived; and the Parisienne wears it amusingly tilted at the side, just as the men did at the end of the eighteenth century. It is fashioned in black moire and velvet, or “picot” and satin, with a bunch of paradise aigrettes towards the side.

Mr. J. L. Salmond, of Dunedin, and Miss Salmond arrived in Auckland last week.

The wedding was celebrated at All Saints’ Church, Kilbirnie, on Monday, April 13th, of Mr. Herman Newman, Toowoomba, Queensland, son of Mr. Ferdinand Newman, and Miss Agnes May Kells, daughter of Mr. Robert Kells, Kilbirnie.

A pretty wedding took place at St. Mark’s Church, Wellington, on April 14th, when Mr. Douglas Little, son of Mr. Alfred Little, of Wellington, was married to Miss Olive Ellison, third daughter of Mr. J. W. Ellison, Superintendent of Police, Wellington. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. A. L. Askew. The bride wore a bridal gown of ivory duchesse satin and tulle veil. .Her bridesmaids were Miss Lilian and Kate Ellison, Miss Agnes Leopard, and Miss Dulcie Neilson. Mr. J. Harrison was best man, and Messrs. F. Mason and E. Burr were groomsmen.

A London cable tells us that the Rev. Mr. Eales, the vicar of Waltham, has notified his parishioners that bridesmaids must have their heads covered during marriages. He relies on the eleventh chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians for the step he has taken. The chapter referred to says: “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dis honoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if a woman be not covered, let her also be shorn; but if it be a crime for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.”

A beautiful display of chrysanthemums and autumn flowers was made at the Horticultural Society’s Show at the Exhibition last week. The most prominent exhibitor was Mr. G. B. Simpson, of Cambridge, who gained six out of eight championships. In the amateur section he also secured the National Chrysanthemum Society’s certificate of merit the Exhibition diploma for aggregate points. One of the championships was gained by Mrs. Harris, of Palmerston North. Mr. W. F. Buckland was awarded the Exhibition diploma in the open section. The finest dahlia was exhibited by Messrs. D. Hay and

Sons. Among the visitors to the Show were His Excellency, the Governor, and the Countess of Liverpool.

A surprising defence of the tango is made by the Rev. D. S. Phelan, pastor of a Roman Catholic church at St. Louis, and editor of the “Western Watchman,” a Roman Catholic organ. Father Phelan prints a tango leader in a recent issue of his periodical, in which he says:—“Don’t mind, girls. These crusty old priests are only retouching the awful anathemas they formerly launched against the round dance so much in vogue now. People do not understand the innocent female mind. These tango-dancing girls are engaged in God’s work. The bewitching little miss, who disports her charms in the ball-room, is doing God’s work as emphatically as the bishop in his orisons. But, girls, permit us to tell you that the man who falls in love with your pretty face is apt to become a better husband than one who is captured by your ankles. But, face or ankles, you have a right to fascinate him, if you can.”

Mr. and Mrs. Howard J. Reynolds, of Hokitika, returned South last week after a trip North.

The Countess of Warwick presided over a meeting held in London last month, under-the auspices of the committee for the Economic Preservation of Birds. She said that for more than twenty years she had avoided wearing any feathers or plumes of birds save the ostrich, and, knowing the cruelty that was practised in the fur trade, she had not worn furs. She thought that women were not content with putting little balls of fur round their necks, and were not happy unless they had whole beasts spread about them.

“Primness is the most everlasting, indestructible trait of humanity. It can outface the Sphinx. It is destructible only by death. Whoever has married a prim woman must hand over his breeches and his purse, he will collect postage stamps in his old age, he will twiddle his thumbs and smile when the visitor asks him a question, he will grow to dislike beer, and will admit and assert that a man’s place is the home —these things come to pass as surely as the procession of the seasons.” —..Here Are Ladies,” by James Stephens.

“Men insist on dragging in the word ‘sentimental’ in reference to women. No woman is half so sentimental as the average man, even about children.”

Hardly a day passes (writes our Melbourne correspondent) that Muriel Starr, who has made a big hit in “Madame X” at Melbourne Theatre Royal, does not find amongst her correspondence letters from people of an inquiring turn of mind, who desire to know the nature of the liquid she drinks during her drug-taking scene in the first, act of the striking French drama. One correspondent wrote: “I notice that when you put your lips to the small bottle a sort of shudder

goes through you; then, as the liquid enters the mouth, a look of peace and satisfaction comes on your face, followed by a sort of gasping breath. That liquid must either be real or your powers as a realistic actress extremely remarkable.” “As a matter of fact,” commented Miss Starr, “it is part of the business of an actress to be able to simulate the real thing, | and it is no more necessary to drink I ether (to which Jacqueline Floriot is addicted) in order to be realistic as it is for a loaded cartridge to be used in a pistol to make a stage murder appear the real thing. I have studied the effects of ether on those who take it, and I attempt to portray them faithfully.”