GOSSIP FROM ABROAD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 587, 16 August 1909, Page 3

GOSSIP FROM ABROAD.

The Royal nurseries at Madrid are amongst tho finest in the world, tind everything is ,dono as far as possible on the.English plan. ' i'ho very walls are decorated with pictures by English artists, while much of the t'ufnituro and- a number of the fixtures were imported from that country. The Queen- herself superintends the caw of her children, and makes a good deal of thsir- clothing herself. She is an ardent, believer in tho value of open windows, and insists that the "nurseries shall always be ventilated as much as possible. ■ The fresh-air curovnot being popular in Spain, sonio of the Court attendants caught violent colds not.long ago; but the little princes are being brought up in more vigorous fashion, and the. wide-open windows have done them .no harm*. -Another innovation for which tho Queen ivas lesponsible was the daily bath for tno children. When she first.went to-Madrid she ■ hud expensive ■ new bathrooms put into the palace, and the daily "tub" which tha royal children indulge in at first caused great surprise among the Spanish' nurses. Twice a week was considered quite sufficient for this essentially. English operation. ... . In spite of the rigorous etiquette that prevails at the Court, Queen Victoria manages to be more, with her children than any othor Spanish Queen. , Both she and'the King are very early risers, and after breakfast her Majesty spends a good deal of time in the nufsery. Very often, even before breakfast,' she superintends, the bathing of the children. Although her day-is-taken up with answering correspondence, attending functions, and. a thousand other things, she never misses an opportunity to visit the nurseries, and it is rumoured that the King has stated that Queen Victoria has* done more for . the children of Spain by her good example than he 1 could have conceived possible. ■More feminine victories! The Belin-Dollet annual.prize of JJdO for the best original eauforte engraving shown at the Salon has .been awarded to a lady. Mile. Benise Fredet, whose Benedicite, after Chardin, was . one of the sucesses of the exhibition. Secondly, tho Aero Club -of France- has delivered its first ;feminine certificate, of aeronautic-pilot to Mai/;.. Surcouf, the wife of the well-known constructor of dirigible-balloons. Mme. Surcouf is the president of the ladies , : aeronautic club, the Stella,' which was founded last year. A very successful inauguration fere has just been held at the Aero Club's grounds at St. ,Cloud, six balloons, all bearing floral names ond prettily decorated with the corresponding flowers, going 'up. Mme. Surcouf took with her the .club's secretary, Mme. Airault, and Mile. Tissot, no' masculine passengers being carried. In the other balloons there was a pilot of. the other sex. One of the most interesting women in London is Mrs. Flinders Petrie, who, with her distinguished husband, Professor Flinders Petrie, of -Egyptologist' fame, was to preside at the annual exhibition of Egyptian antiquities, to be opened early this month at University College. Mrs. : Petrie has been tho constaiit companion of the great archaeologist in his''excavations, and has herself taken an active share in work which is one that has been attempted by very few woman. For months at a-time this devoted wife and enthusiastic antiquary . has shared in tho privations and rigours of camp life in the Egyptian desert, a hundred miles away from civilisation. . •The astonishing'success gained by Mr. .7. It. 11. Butler, the' son of the Master of Trinity, in the Classical tripos at Cambridge, recalls the famous triumph of his accomplished mother, who, while she was still Miss Ramsay, carried off the highest, honours in Classics it. was possible for a woman to attain. -Following closely on what was a phenomenal intellectual feat for a woman in days when Mich 'achievements wero not as common as now. came the news -that the "sweet cirl-graduate" had won tho'affections of the Master of Trinity, Dr. H. Montague Butler. To-day Mrs. Butler can rejoice in seeingiier own successes repeated by her brilliant youiig son.