Personalities.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 429, 11 August 1904, Page 7

Personalities.

BEAUTIFUL FEESTOH WOMEN. §HE Dae d'Urleaas has patronised the Opera at Covent Garden more than onoe during the MoodyManners seasoa, and one night appeared in the royal box with his two Bisters, who are verj beautiful women. They are both fair, tall, wad state) j 7 , and were magnificently dressed, the Daoheesa de Guise in white and silver, with diamond and emerald wiags in her golien hair. Her sister, Priacesse Louise, was attired in a frock of gauzy black with a pink rose for adornment. They both wore fliff/ white feather stoles round their shoulders,

OTJB DANCING POWEBS. i It is laid to our charge as a nation that, we are sadly deficient in grace where dancing is concerned— comparing very badly with the French, Viennese, and Americans Yet tha generality of English people are very fond of daecing as a recreatioa. The fact is, they do not take it seriously enough, and imagine that two or three leEsonß in tha art, oomhiaed with a good partner, will see them safely through the ball. I was talking to a French girl the other day who was lost in wonder as to our mode of getting through the 'Lancers.' 'lt is quite different in oar country,' she said ; ' with you it is what you call one romp I' And, Bad o relate, she spoke truly. Of course, the best dancers are born and not made, one individual acquiring the waltz in a lesson or two, while another will fail to do it justice in monts. Every boy and girl should learn dancing as a matter of course; it is healthy exercise, and in the case of girls might counteract the havoc said to be wrought by athletics. It is the upper and middle classes which fail in proficiency, says an authority. A LOVEB O? JAPAN, One of the cleverest woman authors of the day is Mrs Hugh Faaser, whose late husband Was British Minister in Japan. She is a sister of Mr Marion Crawford, who takes Italy'as the background for most of hie novels. Mrs Hugh Fraser's book, ' A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan,' is so typical of the surroundings and life of the country as to be regarded by the Japanese as a standard work. Mrs Fraser has a delightful personality, and in addition to the beauty of delicate features, blue eyes, and prematurely 'powdered' hair, she is a wocdjrfnlly interesting conversationalist, with a fund of anecdotes oonneeted with her life in Japan. CANINE PETS, Their Majesties, as all the world knows, are very devoted to their doge, and wben circumstances permit are usually acoorapanied by several of their pets. At Marienbad, indeed, the King had no fewer than nine with him, and the Qacea never gees away without ac%e el her doge. Fashionable people nowadays take

their dogs nearly everywhere, in their carriages and motors, by train, and when walking, and—what at one time would have been looked upon ai a moat amaalng breaoh of good maanera—even when making calls. Of course, in the latter event, the dog ie usually, a toy Pomeranian, or some amall deioription of dog which can be readily tuokad under the arm. LOED BYBON'S GBllf D-D aUGHTER Oae of the moat awompliahed women in— Society is Lady Anne Blunt, a**d hera is no mere surface cleverness. Sae is an admirable Arabic scholar, and speaks the language perfectly. She and her husband, Mr Wilfred Blunt, pass a great deal of their time at their Arab farm near Cairo. Lady Anne is an accomplished musician, and playa the violin most wonderfully well. She is the daughter of Byron's only child, Ada, who married the first Lord Lovelace. Lady Anne is a noticeable figure in Society, being of very striking appearanoe, with snow-white hair and intensely dark eyes, while her ' figure ia erect and tall.

A WELL-KNOWN NOVELIST. ' There are few more practical hoasewivea than Mrs Mora Annie Steel, the well-known novelist, who is not too busy to spend some time in her kitchen when her cook falls short of the household requirements. Among her culinary triumphs are ourries and oriental- dishes, which «ho learned to make in India, the country she knows and writes about so well. On life in India and the condition of her own six in the country Mrs S:eel ie an authority, and she has had much to do with the amelioration of the lot of Indian women.

A LOVER OP PERFUMES. TheCzuiaa of Rassia has an absolute paeaion for perfumes. All her belongings are heavily aoented—even the trains and carriages in whioh shs travels—and she procures all the latest inventions, in the way of scent sprays and fountains. Only the sweetest perfumes, those resembling newly gathered flowers of her favourite blooms, are seleoted, and violets hold the first plaoa in the Cziriaa's affections - Even the little grand duchesses have their nnrseries sprayed with scent, the Czarina holding a theory—one which is shared by many people—that sweet parfume ia a great be&uiifier of the appearance and complexion. Strange to say, the Dowager Empress of Rassia ia also more than usually fond of perfume, and owns a collection of every imaginable kind of scent bottle, several of quaint and artistic shapes designed by herself.