INTERESTING ITEMS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 330, 21 January 1911, Page 3

INTERESTING ITEMS.

; "I have a parrot which Las been \ taught to say to me in my own house, 'No votes for women.'" said Lady : Francis Balfour, speaking at a wo- ■' men's suffrage meeting recently. I The best marrying age for an En- ; glish girl is 22, according to a table of statistics recently issued. In London alone, out of 33,000 mar- ; riages recorded, no fewer than : 14,800 brides were of that age. The Dowager Queen Maria Pia is the only Queen now alive who was married by proxy. She was married in October, 1802, at Turin, to a bridegroom who merely represented King Luis, and it was not until some time after that she was actually married to the King. Lady lngestre is a daughter of the late Lord Alexander Paget. She possesses not only the smartness and good looks characteristic of the Paget family, but a charming disposition which has won for her many friends. Lady fngestre is a sister of Lady Herbert and the young Marquis of Anglesey. In Yunnan, China, girls are still sold into slavery. In one year about 300 children from its neighbourhood were sold to dealers and carried to the capital in baskets like poultry. At ordinary timea the price for girls is 3s 2d for each year of their age, but in time of famine children become a drug on the market. Lady William Cecil played a great part in the early life of the Queen of Spain, for it was she who formally handed over King Alfonso's brideelect on the eve of her marriage. Lady William was a prominent guest at the ceremony, and was the first English woman to congratulate their Majesties on their miraculous escape. The latest fancy of the womansmoker is a pipe—not the tiny affair that suffices for the Japanese, but a good sized briar or a neat meerschaum. The pipe is boldly carried along with a gold card-case and chain purse. For some time now the cigarettes have given way to cigars, small in size and mild in quality. Women said they were tired of the cigarettee and wanted a bigger smoke.

Princess Marie Victoria of Schlea-wig-llolstcin, has a charming room at Cumberland Lodge. It is adorned with a soft grey paper, though the dado is much darker; whilst it is especially noticeable for having a very large number of brackets hanging from the walls, the shelves for holding small articles. Also, the overmantel hag similar small shelves for supporting valuable pieces of bric-a-brac and vertu.

Nobody in the kingdom of Roumania work harder than its Queen. By nine o'clock she is at her desk, winter and summer and many of the hundreds of letters received she answers herself. She controls all the institutions she has founded, and takes a personal interest in all the inmates of her homes and orphanages. She knows exactly what each person wants. In addition to all this work she has always some book on hand, and often the supervision of a translation as well.

: When Queen Mary lived at White i Lodge, Richmond Park, as a girl be- : fore her marriage, her sitting-room was a very small one, and was ex- : tremely frugally furnished. There was here and there a little table, a writing-table which she used every day, a few wicker chairs, anJ a comfortable swing chair which she used I for sitting at the desk, but no large . easy chair or couch. The walla were decorated with hardly more than half a dozen pictures, most of them from ; her own brush or from those of friends ; skilled in painting. i An interesting feature of the New I York iliyng meetings is the number : of society ladies who are flying with j the aviators. Count de Lesspes has i taken three up, and nearly had a | duel with the president, of the AmeriI can Aero Club over the latter's play- | fu! jest that each of litem must have ; given him a thousand-dollar cheque ! for the privilege. The Frenchman's I retort was, "'l'm a gentleman aviator, ! not a professional chauffeur." Miss ! Eleanor Sears, a Boston society : athlete, fiew for ten minutes with Grahame White. On alighting she exclaimed, "This is the greatest sport on eartli. I'll fly with any man who asks me. Every girl who docs will forget all about her nerves." Lord Morley's reappearance among the reviewers, with his special article ' in the "Times" on the biography of Lord Beaeonsfiekl, calls to mind that he 13 the first example in England of I a journalist who has changed proofs I for a portfolio. In France it is not i uncommon for political journalists to I write themselves into high offices of I the State. Of the Secretary for India j it may be said that he wrote himself I into Cabinet rank. As a journalist he | was unquestionably a very hard j worker. Between his editorship of : the "Morning Star" and that of the ! "Pall Mall Gazette",he contributed to } and conducted the "Fortnightly Re- ! view." His books were all written, I for the most part, amid pre-occupa-I tions and worries of journalistic work. I The two points on which the high ! authorities concerned are really cxeri cised at present in connection with the ! coronation solemnities this year are I the positions to be assigned to the i Heir Apparent and to the Queen | Mother respectively. It is impossi- | ble, of course, to decide at present as jto what Quesn Alexandra's own ! wishes will be as to taking part in .< the august ceremonial, and there is little, if any, precedent in this particular matter. An to the Prince of Wales, who will be ;.fill under age, one of the questions affecting him will be the proprietary (or otherwise) : of his doing homage to the | In this case also there is practically j no precedent to guide those responsible j for the arrangements.