BAND OF BRAVE WOMEN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 55, 14 June 1910, Page 6

BAND OF BRAVE WOMEN.

0Y Mother St. George, of the Convent < .5 the Faithful Virgin, Norwood, one < Miss Nightingale's original b-.ind of Ci . mean nurses, recently celebrated the di; 'l c mond jubilee of her religious pTofessio 'f~ The occasion is one of exceptional inte est, far, Bishop Grant, of South wark, wf j l "' appealed to by the War Office to provk t0 ten Sisters of Mc:"y, and as only fh le could be spare-; 1 .'. m Bermondsey 1 Br asked the prayers <■: this convent, whic r " was not primarily .i nursing communit; 3t that he might f.iid the rest. The Supi rior at once vohmtpercl, and among tli *" sisters there wns eager desire to be si lected. Only on a- -aturday was' the d( cision made, and o:i the following Mor day, October 2i)rd; 1-554, these brave wc men started on their etfer'-memoru.bl journey. Mother St. George worked wit a. Miss Nightingale at Scutari, and say ]. she will ever retain pleasant memorie i. of her affability _ and kindness. Tw ii other of Miss Nightingale's Sisters o ~ ' Mercy are still with us in Mother Mar ,', Stanislaus, now aged 88, who kept he n religious diamond jubilee in Fabruarj 0 1909, and Mother Anastasia, both at th a, Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth. GOULD-DREXEL WEDDING e The wedding of Miss Marjorie Goulc 5 and Mr. Anthony J. Drexel, junr. (says £ G New York message), is the most notable 3 and interesting social event for manj ■ years in New York. The young couple have been given presents on a scale of '' lavishness which, according to the testi- ' mony of an eminent jewellery firm, ex--1 ceeds the record established at the historic Vander-bilt-Szeefcenyi wedding. • Various members of the very rich society of America seem to have vied with one another in giving gifts that testify to the popularity of the beautiful young daughter of the "railway Icing." Miss Gould has received froni her father a house valued at •■ £LOO;000, situated in the most fashiona'ble part of Fifth: Avenue. Mr; George Gould has also given her a diamond necklace of Oriental design, with stones of graduated size. Mrs. Gould's present is a' magnificent plastron of diamonds and sapphires, while the Duehesse de Taliey-r-and Perigord sent an ancient ring with a' large black pearl.. The Drexel family have furnished tlie •bride with a silver chest comprising every article used in the household. Uniting as it does the rich-railway-building family of the Goulds with the ancient and exclusive family iof the Drexels, both -typifying'different developments! of American social life;, the wedding has attracted the most widespread interest. \ HOW MARY FILLED THE COPPER. Miss May re Sousa, the oiiarnnug American actress, who earn boast of the •distinction of being the first'lady chosen from the land of the Stars and Stripes - to play the leading role at the historic Drury Lane pantomime, recalls with intense amusement a certain superficially trivial happening she once witnessed ' when .having tea with a frietfd ■ at'; Sll John's Wood. "My hostess," she-saysy "was a great authority on t&e servant question,, and, indeed, I think she extracted a vast amount of innoeent pleasure fronv. personally supervising-her domestics' work. Oite afternoon we were sitting chatting m the drawing-room, when she suddenly jumped up, and, apologising Eor leaving' me alone, added: 'I must remind Mary that this is hw washing afternoon.' '-A few seconds later I ■ heard her call down the kitchen'stairs: 'Mary, don'ii forget that it is time for you to begia your washing.' Thissage was foflowed by .a scuffling- of uncommonly heavy feet for a female ser-r rant, and I ifteard Mary bustle out from t' the Ititchen. and hurrying to tlw- foot of the stairs, shout back: 'All right, mum, I'm just-filling-the copper.' Thirty seconds afterwards 1 saw a portly police-1 man,, wiping Ibis half-fi'lTed mouth on the! sleeve of his uniform, run up the area! steps, and, crouching "carefully below the! top of the rai l'ings, hurry down the road, j Mary was evSently quite a truthfui! girl. She had obviously not departed from the I paths of truths when she confessed that I' %he- was only filling the copper'." \

THE: SPIRIT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. A eorrespofi'd'ent of a Home paper writes r—T heard a strange story —a' true •one, moreover—from a girl friend',, over which I have puzzled vainly ever since. The dramatis personae .were ordinary every-day people, neither morbid nor hysterical, and quite trustworthy. Two English ladies in Paris were spending a day out at Versailles. In the corarse of their wanderings 'through the palace ground's, they came to a by-pathi which appeared most inviting. They were just about to explore it, when one -of them suddenly heard footsteps behind'. On turning rtund, they beheld a man wrapped in a long black cloak, standing close to them. He addressed them in what struck them as being very pedantic language—both of them knew French perfectly, but found considerable difficulty in understanding him. However, they succeed ed in making out that they must not enter that path, and accordingly turned their steps elsewhere, taking the man for some Palace official.

On relating their experience to some friends, they discovered to their amazement that his dress was that of the

?igh,teenth century, and that in addressing them lie had used the speech of the time of Marie Antoinette! Needless to say, they paid a return visit to Versailles at the first opportunity; and now somes the strangest part of the story. The ladies had no difficulty in finding the scene of their adventure, and even the forbidden path. But the entrance to the path was completely overgrown with wild vegetation, which must have taken years to reach the stage it was at. The two friends were walking up and down the stone verandah of the Petit Trianon, discussing the incident; one of them every time she passed n certain spot instinctively moved her dress aside, as though passing some person, or thing obstructing her path. As they left the Petit Trianon, the second lady venianu'a in bewildered tones, "Who in the world could that be?" Her companion was at a loss to understand her meaning. Her. friend; thereupon declared that on. passing a certain spot in tlielr walk, they had had to move aside out of the way of a lady who stood, silent and dignified, in their path, ami who' seemed to expect them to make' way far her, My girl friend who had seen the lady was able to .give a minute description of her, as the exact counterpart of the portrait of Marie Antoinette, in the Palace. I myself have seen what I believe to be the -path referred to, in the Palace grounds. The explanation of the phenomena may be some quite prosaic one; but one would fain believe that the spirit of the beautiful ill-starred Queen were still hovering about the place where her happiest hours were spent. ■ iiri..-M-"iirn rr-.~-.ri """S^T