LADIES’ EXPRESS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 223, 18 November 1874, Page 2

LADIES’ EXPRESS.

[l’Ae Editor will be glad to give insertion to any local contributions from his lady friends that may be considered interesting in ths family circle, or to the sex generally.]

A MOTHER'S L4.MENT FOR HER HEAD CHILD.

A Little elbow’ leans upon your knee, Your tired knee, that has so much to bear ; A child’s dear eyes are looking lovingly From underneath a that<h of tangled hair. Perhaps you do not heed the velvet touch Of warm, moist fingers, folding yours so tight;— You do not prize this blessing over-much, You almost are too tired to pray to-night.

But it is blessedness ! A year ago 1 did not see it as 1 do to-day.— We are so dull and thankless ; and too slow To catch the sunshine till it slips away. And now it seems surpassing strange to uie 1 hat, while 1 bore the badge of motherhood, I did not kiss more oft, and tenderly, The little child that brought me only good.

And if some night when you sit down to rest. You miss this elbow from your tired knee ; This restless curling head from off your breast; This lisping tongue that chatters constantly ; If from yourownlhe dimpled hand had slipped, And ne’er would nestle in your palm again ; If the white feet into their grave had tripp’d I could not blame you for your hearlucho then.

I wonder so that mothers ever fret At. little children clinging to their gown ; Or that the footprints, when (ho days are wet. Are ever black enough to make them frown. If I could find a little muddy boot, Or cap, or jacket, ou my chamber floor; If I could kiss a rosy, rest less foot, And hear its patter iu my home once more :

If I could mend a broken cart to-day, To-morrow make a kite to reach the sky— There is no woman in Go I’s world could say (She was more blissfully content than 1. But ah ! the dainty pillow next my own, Is never rumpled by a shining head ;— My singing birdling from its nest has flown; The little boy I used to kiss is dead!

PARIS FASHIONS. I have said that tunics arc worn vefeg long. They must fall in froqL-jH behind to within about eight inches from the edge of the skirt, and sixteen or twenty inches at the sides. There is also much less tacking up than in the spring ami summer fashions. They are now gathered up very slightly tinder the puff, and not up to the waist, as they have been until now. But for all untrained costumes, lha tunic or Polonaise continues to be worn. Shall we ever be silly enough to abandon tins convenient aud becoming style of dress? Not this year, at all events. So let us be grateful and enjoy the present. Embroidery continues to be extremely fashionable, There are black and coloured silks embroidered by iiiachinery, which are used for tunies, or for flounces or trimming of one-skirted dresses. This is an expensive fancy, and, very likely, not, a very durable one, so I would not advise sucli of my readers as like to get out of a silk dress all the use it can give, to adopt this fashion. They must leave it to the fortunate ladies who do not mind the expense, and, after wearing a dress a dozen times, make a present of it to their maid.

I have seen a young lady’s hat which is trimmed i.i such a manner that it can be worn on both sides, forming thus two hats in one; placed in one manner, it is a round hat worn backwards, with a bunch of flowers under the brim just above the forehead. In the other it is a hat with low border over the forehead, turned up behind. The trimming is so cleverly disposed, that, whichever way it is worn, nobody would ever think there was any other manner of wearing it. “What is heaven’s best gift to man? a vonncr lady, the other ni ;ht, smiling | sweetly on a pleasant.-looking clerk “ A hoss!” replied the young man with great p u ’ence. Ma. Muntz. in the debate in the House of Commons on the Pub’ic Worship Bill, gave utterance to the remarkable doctrine that one Archbishop was worth all the women in England. No doubt he smarted fur the statement the day (or night) after it appeared in the papers. An American paper notes that a timid Chinese dined with the three hundred ladies a* the Mount Holyoke seminary a few days ago. He was very bashful, and all he could say was “ To mucheo gal.” Much given to serenading his Dulcina wi»h “ T’m lonely to-night love, wiihout thee,” a love-10-n swain was in f e rupted by dogs the other evening, who effectually dispelled his loneliness during u two mile rare. A cynical writer says : —“Tike a company of boys chasing butterflies; } ut long-tailed coats on the boys, and turn the butterflies into guineas, and you have a beautiful panorama of the wojdd.”