WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 315, 31 May 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") SOCIAL NEWS The engagement is announced of Miss Margaret lima ("Birdie") Clarke, second daughter of the late Mr. F. E. Clarke, chief draughtsman, to Mr. J. Excell, chief cleric at the Taumarunui post office. A LETTER FROM STRATFORD. A very smart function in the shape of a farewell social was tendered in the Town Hall on Friday night, the guest of, the evening being Mrs. E. C. Robinson, who has decided to go to Auckland for twelve months for the purpose of having her voice thoroughly trained. Her many friends wish her every success. She'will be much missed in musical circles, especially at charitable functions, where she was ever ready to assist when a Die. The hall was tastefully decorated. The supper-room was a picture, being I prettily decorated with holly and bunting, while the tables were laden with every toothsome dainty procurable. Amongst those present were: —Mrs. E. C. Robinson, handsome white satin, overdress of net, red poppies on corsage; Mrs. | Kimble, dainty white silk gown; Mrs. Wake, grey chiffon dress, trimmed with old rose; Mrs. Young, beautiful black sequin gown; Mrs. Fookes. black velvet, trimmed with old lace; Mrs. Copping, handsome black satin, trimmed with real lace; Mrs. Glasgow, smart gown of blue ninon, gold trimmings; Mrs. Hogg, smart gown of black satin, over-dress of chiffon; Mrs. Stubbs, black silk taffeta; Mrs. (Dr.) Menzies, white silk; Mrs. Anderson, buttercup satin, relieved with black velvet: Mrs. Crawshaw, lovely gown of Spanish lace, mounted on black silk; Mrs. Johnston,. orange brocade; Mrs. Melville (Dunedin), white chiffon over white satin; Mrs. Porritt, white chiffon taffeta; Mrs. Renall, grey velvet, relieved with beautiful lace; Mrs. Wilkie, black net robe over silk; Miss Anderson (Auckland), smart frock of black silk voile; Miss Fnssell, cream silk, with black velvet trimmings; Miss Anderson, black silk, pearl trimmings; Miss James, dainty white silk; Miss Nancy James, very pretty frock of pink silk; Miss Orbell, pink silk, handsome Oriental gabon; Miss Joyce Glyncs (Auckland), pale grey ninon; Miss Black, chiffon taffeta, trim-, med with old lace. . I

Amongst the gentlemen present were: Messrs Robinson, Grant, Stubbs, Copping, Crawshaw, Vaughan, Glasgow, Webster, James (2). Young (2). Anderson (3), Wilkie, Fnssell, Robinson, Rennell, Uniacke, Curtis, Spence. Johnston, Jones, Fookes, Wake and Drs. Menzies and Stevens. DRESSES FOR THE CORONATION.

I hear (writes the Lady) that the Queen is greatly interesting herself in the dresses to bo worn by her Maids of Honor at the Coronation, who, by her Majesty's wish, are to be effectively grouped a! nut her person as she sits upon her throne. As you know, the Queen herself will wear a magnificent robe of cloth-of-gold, which is being band-woven expressly for her by Messrs Warner and Son at their looms at Braintree, Eessex; and this will be made up by Messrs Reville and Rossiter, the well-known dressmakers in Hanover Square. . It has now been decided by her Majesty that, to complete the picture, her "maids" shall wear cloth-of-silver, woven at the same famous looms in Essex, and afterwards entrusted to Reville and Rossiter, who have designed charming dresses of the gleaming fabric, which, in spite of its richness, will be arranged so as to strike a note of graceful simplicity. The Queen has gone into every detail herself, and you may imagine what a beautiful and picturesque effect will be produced at the Abbey by the sight of her Majesty in her gorgeous Coronation robes anr jewels, with her Maids of Honor grouped about her in their shimmering attire. The six train-bearers, I hear, are to wear dresses of white satin, embroidered in pearls, their heads being crowned with roses, below which white tulle veils will float. THE KAISERIN.

This, from an article on the Kaiserin by Basil Lambert, is interesting in view of the recent cable in regard to the suggested marriage between her only'daughter and the Prince of Wales:—"Germany is beginning to wonder whether the Kaiserin is young or old, and what she means by getting younger in ways the older she gets in years. The hat deepens the mystery, for tho Kai9erin has an exceedingly youthful face, and were it not for her snow-white hair would be taken for thirty-five. When the white hair is uncovered, fifty-two-year-old Augusta Victoria is distinctly elderly, severe, grave and majestic. But when she appears to the world in a hat she gives a very different impression. The hat, of course, is big and modish, not designed in dowdy Berlin, but cunningly contrived to bide the hoarfrost of years. And under its majestic influence the elderly Kaiserin seems to disappear. Instead, one sees a youthful, smooth face, two bright twinkling eyes, enlivened by honest interest in the sinful world, an agreeable smile, and sometimes a pleasant expression that might almost be doscribed as coquettish. But, again, a fortnight later, you see the Kaiserin without the rejuvenating hat, and alio seems a very Imperial and elderly personage, so exalted above mortal weaknesses that you cannot conceive l\er wearing a hat at all. You wonder rather where she has put her rightful' adornment, a heavenly crown. Yes, the i Iftiiscrin is a puzzle. For years past two I souls have contended in her slight and pliant body, and neither has conquered. One of them makes for superhuman propriety, peace, monastic seclusion, and a .somewhat intolerant morality; but tho other is resolutely fighting for worldliness, courtly state, magnificence and glitter. The first and unworldly soul lias (succeeded in making fiermany's court the dullest and most decorous in Europe. The second and worldy had made it tfio most showy and historic, j Tile two souls are never at peace. One ■ day you hear that Augusta Victoria has ■ issued regulations restricting the dancing of married women. Next day you read ' she has complained that her court ladies

[ and maids of honor have not worn enough gems. On the third day you [learn she has rebuked the Potsdamcr [ military for holding a bazaar on Sunday, but on the fourth you are informed that she has spent £40,000 on pearls. But the greatest puzzle of all is that this dual Kaiserin is something new. The Kaiserin twenty years ago had only one soul, an unworidy one. The wordly side the Kaiserin is a recent phenomenon, and the older the Kaiserin gets the more it comes into vision. Can it be that the growth of her daughter is impelling her to renew her youth? It has been remarked that the obsession of gems which for years past has possessed the Empress has lately become a mania. At the second Court ball it was noticed I that her famous pearl necklace has now ■ a fifth row, and rumor says that this fifth row alone has cost £'so/)00. At the same ball the Empress wore a new emerald bracelet composed of stones of unexampled size, and the front of her gown was so covered with diamonds and pearls that none of the material could be seen. The "Hofdamen" and other Court ladies glittered with' almost equal brilliancy. Where, asked people, did tlier get the money? The answer was that tiie Kaiserin's entourage was changed markedly since she came to the throne. Twenty years ago most court ladies were of ancient lineage, but of modest fortune. To-day ancient lineage is still demanded, but modest fortune is a bar. The wordly Kaiserin "desired a brilliant setting for her brilliant self; and as the original court ladies married or died, only rich women became their successors. 'To-day not in London or Vienna or Rome is jewellery worn as it is in Berlin. The capital has three times at many first-class jewellers' shops as it hnd a decade ago, The cause, beyond doubt, is the high standard of personal adornment set by the Kaiserin, and her passion for impressive glitter, a passion which exists alongside genuine piety, excessive prudery, and a sincere love for simplicity, beneficence and holy living. The Kaiserin is, in fact, a paradox. And though the balance between the antagonistic principles is fairly well preserved, on the whole Augusta Victoria is growing younger, more magnificent, and more worldly. Naturally, the unitiated remark, her husband's loyal subjects lament this falling ofr from grace! Alas! such is the perversity of human nature —most of them rejoice.

PRINCESS MARY. / The last article written by the late. Sir Richard Holmes, librarian of Windsor] Castle, was a charming p ßn picture in. Everybody's Weekly of the King's only daughter:— "It is often seen in a large family that one child will reproduce in an astonishing manner all the physical and mental characteristics of some grandfather or grandmother. Scarcely any feature of the father and mother can be traced. It seems just as if some older, beloved relative has returned from the world beyond the veil, and put on again the mortal part of humanity. The thought often struck me when the only daughter of King George and Queen Mary used to come into the library of Windsor Castle. I am an old man now, and I can remember what Queen Mary's mother the Duchess of.Teck, looked like in her girlhood. Princess Mary is the exact image of her grandmother. She has the same features, the same splendid qualities, and the same east of mind."