LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 73

LADIES' GOSSIP.

*— Mine. Ghosal, the daughter of tHf Maharajah of Coooh Behar, the Indian prince whose magnificent attire makes him <; one of the most picturesque figures at the Court of St. James, can be very witty, on occasions. Once, when staying at a country house, she was asked to "writs" down -a thought -in an album, and seeing that someone had inscribed the somewhat - sententious phrase, "'Do right, and fear _ no man/ she took the pen and promptly . wrote underneath, " Don't write, and fear no -woman." - — Lady Tankerville is rae of the many " beautiful Americans who grace the peerage. Born Miss Leonora van Marter, sha belongs to one of the oldest Dutoh-AmeTi- • can families. Her father was an officer in the 22nd New York Cavalry, and was in active service during the Civil War. Of her four children, two sons only survive—LoTd Ossulston, the heir, and th& Hon. George William Bennet, a small boy, who in the family circle is known as " Babs." To Lady Tankerville belongs the distinction of having driven the railway engine of the Canadian express for six hours, the journey being from Glacier - House to Siocamoos. She is a fine lin^ guist, and counts photography among her ' hobbies. She is also an authority on oldfurniture.

— Interesting Napoleonic ■ " souvenirs "• were revived the other day by the marriage in Berne of Princess Carina Barclay de Tolly Weymarn to Mi C. L. Ottino, the bride being the descendant of the celebrated field-marshal, Prince Michel Barclay de Tolly,* who was practicaily, cpmmander-in-chief of tKe allied European armies against the all-conquering battalions of the grande armee. That redoubtable officer, though by birth a. Russian, boasted Scotch ancestry, and left' beb-bltl him a reputation that was cosmopolitan. In 1814 he was the recipient of a " sword of honour," presented to liiia by_ the Corporation of London, as an acknowledgment of his services to Europe at large. , — Miss Eadith Campbell Walker. wh<» ;has given £1000 "to the Australian Dreadnought Fund, is supposed to be the richest woman in the Commonwealth. She is of Scottish parentage. Her father emigrated from his native Leithj and acquired extensive lands in the early years of Aus* tralian colonisation. From these lands=, largely tlirotigh the operation of unearifcd increment, Miss Walker derives a vast> annual income. She has been a munificent benefactor of the Sydney hospitals and charitable institutions, and she serves on the committees of some of them. Sho lives in a splendid mansion at Concord, a suburb of Sydney. — The death of Lady Laurie of Max-welton-house, Dumfries, .recalls (says the Westminster Gazette) one of the be.«t known Scots songs. Maxwelton-houFe >is well known, as the birthplace of" Annie Laurie. She . was the daughter of the first baronet, and was born in 1682. Iho words of the song were composed by % 3 r outh named Douglas of Fiugiand, and the music more than a century afterwards by Lady John Spottiswood. , The "promise true " proved a for tha lady threw Douglas over, and married in - his place Alexander Fergusson, of Craigdarroch. The portraits of both herself and her husband are in the keeping of the baronet who still holds possession where " Maxwelton braes are bonnie."

— Recently a new regulation, permitting the carriage of dogs on tramcars on payment of Id, has come into operation in a, »Scottu,h town. "I suppose/ said a lady — "I suppose, if -my dog is to be charged a penny, he will have .the same privileges as other passenger^-that is, he may have a seat." "Certainly, madaine," replied 1 the conductor, "on the same terms an other passengers — he will not be allowed to put his feet on the seat." — The death of Miss Lucy Field, which occurred at Hampstead,. at the age of 89, removes an interesting link with the past. Sho wa"s, The Times states, the last of the twelve children born to the Rev. William Field, Independent minister, of Learn, Warwick, who was fourth in * de?cent from Henry, son of Oliver Cromwell.. He was the nephew of Mr Oliver Cromwell, clerk to St. Thomas's Hospital, who died in 1821, the last of the Protector's male descendants. Miss Field conducted for years with her sisters a private school; at Learn, and she had. Actually retired' wber Baron . and Baroness Mayer de Rothschild prevailed upon her to undertake the charge of their only child, Hannah, then seven years old, whom- she brought up entirely until her pupil's marriage to Lord Rosebery. Miss Field was one of those who remembered': breakfasting with Rogers id St James's Place. —It is rare to find anybody over the age of twenty who enjoys going to a party; 'it :s: s equally rare to meet anybody, who enjoys giving one. So writes Lady, Gordon in the Ladies' ,Field. The whole art of entertaining, from the point of view of the hostess, consists in doing /it more expensively than anyone ejse, ..while the only object of her guests in attending her party is fco get it over as quickly as possible in. ordei tc ba ' able to- '•go on» to another.

Hints and Suggestions.

Leathei bags that are faded-looking with use can be improved by being rubbedwith - good boot polish. They should be cleaned just as shoes are cleaned, ftpd.