NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 227, 19 January 1911, Page 6

NOTES.

Mrs. Jane Boyle, -who died recently at .Swansea, at the advanced age of 101 years, was supposed to have been the oldest woman in Southern Wales. She retained 'her faculties to the last, was able to sew, and smoked to within a few days of her death. They have strange methods in Italy of treating prisoners, as witness the manner in which the infamous Countess Tar-now-ska is allowed to comfort herself in the (liiidecea prison, on the lagoon of Venice. She docs not occupy a common cell, but a luxurious apartment, for which she pays rent, Her relatives allow her £23 a month, which enables her to still gratify her extravagant tastes. She spends £1 a weak on perfumery alone, and is bountifully supplied with French novels and current literature. Queca Mary's attendances at the Ladies' Needlework Guild at the Imperial Institute reminds one that she is the most expert needlewoman of the Royal Family, and is rarely to be seen without a needle in her hand during her leisure moments. When the Queen stayed at a [country house as Princess of Wales, it Was quite understood that immediately the ladies adjourned to the drawing-room, the lady-in-waiting would bring her bag of needlework to her, and with this she occupied herself constantly, while joining, of course, in the conversation. When the new Court has settled down, the Queen will doubtless continue this homely practice. She does not earn for cards, and has no particular skill at them, and her example in preferring her needlework to the card table is likely to be widely followed in society. Queen Mary is also quite accustomed to the sewing machine, and she things so highly of knitting and crochctting as pastimes that she has had her sons, as well as her daughters, trained to turn out mittens, stockings, and [ simple kinds of lace. Both the Qu-e.cn and Princess Mary have knitted many a [ pair of socks for tile children of the Royal Family.