FANTASY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 239, 29 December 1927, Page 5

FANTASY

Like her friends David Garnett and Sylvia Townshend Warner, Bea Howe is a devotee of the fantasy cult and

her latest book has the intriguing title, “A Fairy Leapt Upon My Knee.” She was born in Valparaiso and is descended from James Buchanan, the Scottish historian, who was tutor to James I. TATTING Mrs. Pearson, of Ashfield, New South Wales, is one of Australia’s veteran tatting workers. As long ago as 1888 she carried off second prize among three thousand competitive exhibits at the famous Sydney exhibition held that year, and as recently as this year examples of her work were received by the Duchess of York and highly praised by her Highness in a personal letter. Mrs. Pearson also treasures a letter from the Bishop of Manchester eulogising two beautiful chalice cloths which she worked and sent to him for the special and most interesting reason that the shuttles with which they were worked had been owned by his mother, Lady Temple,

wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who crowned Edward VII.. In addition to her tatting, Mrs. Pearson has produced some of the finest crochet work. INSECT FAUNA Miss Evelyn Cheesman, authoress of “The Great Little Insect,” was specially chosen to accompany the St. George expedition to the South Seas in 1924 as entomologist. Upon the completion of the expedition’s work, with other members, she pursued independent scientific investigations in Tahiti and other Society Islands, and her results have brought forth her book, “Islands Near the Sun.” Her collection of insect fauna numbered about 500 species, many new to scientists. BRUSHMAKING Miss Annie Nicholson, a brushmaker employed by a firm in Melbourne, has been doing the same class of work for the firm for 53£ years, and declares that she is not thinking of retiring yet. Her experience dates from the earliest days of the brushmaking industry in Australia, and though many mechanical improvements have been made, the high-grade hand-work in which she excels has not been super- , seded by a suitable machine. REAL ESTATE Mrs. Gerritt Smith, of New York, is the first woman to be elected to active membership of the Real Estate Board of that city. In the past women have been elected only as associates and not as full governing members. Mrs. Smith is sole agent for a big suburban residential tract having a total valuation of £600,000, and is regarded as one of the cleverest realty brokers in New York. A FINANCIAL AUTHORITY Women are net supposed to be good preservers of anonymity (or other Secrets), but “C.G.W.,” the publisher of Wall Street’s most influential finan-

cial journal, has had her identity revealed, after 16 years’ work, as Mrs. C. G. Wyckoff, of New York. Above her initials many brilliant articles have appeared, which have exerted a strong influence in financial circles.