WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 315, 3 July 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") 1 TEA TABLE TALK , White "mourning" was used in Spain for the last time in 1495 A.D. . A woman forgives much to a man who can love well. 'No one who is love could ever be bored for a moment. According to the Penang Gazette, a Bombay lady was presented with the following testimonial by a suppliant bawarchi (cook): "Saitan Sousa leaves me of his own accord. He came to me as a cook, and leaves me as a financier. He is excellent at making a mess, and can cook an account with anyone." It is the custom for Chinese women to use cosmetics and to put them on with a lavish hand. Indeed, no Chinese lady, unless a widow or well past sixty, is supposed to appear in the presence of her family without a regular coating of cosmetics. A little while ago a Chinese woman complained to a European of the difficulty she had in lifting her eyebrows, iand asked what the reason was. "Perhaps," was the answer, "they are partially paralysed by the lead in your cosmetics. Wash off the paint, and see if the nerves do not recover their tone." The lady looked horrified at the sugj gestion. "But," said she, "I would not I dare to appear in the presence of my J husband or family without paint or powI der! It would not be respectable."

I The Queen is always the first to hear j I of the engagement of any of her ladies, ■ which etiquette forbids should he announced even to the Court entourage until the Royal consent to the engagement lias been obtained. Directly a lady-in-waiting becomes engaged, she seeks an audience with the Queen and I asks for the Royal commission to we 3 the man of her choice, and the announcement of the engagement is then usually made at once to the household. If the Queen happens to be abroad at the time, the engagement would not be announced in the Press, at all events, until her Majesty's return. The Royal consent is never refused, though it is, of course, possible that, if the Queen had any very good reason for thinking the marriage an unwise one, she would manage to convey a tactful warning to the lady-in-waiting. There are a great many alterations in ( the present-day .regulations for maids-of-honor. In the days of the late Queen Victoria they had a much less gay life j than is now the case at Court, but they ■ were kept very busily employed all the same, and the constant standing required by Court custom is always a trial to delicate organisations. After dinner, in Queen Victoria's time, the Maid of Honor was expected to stand near her Majesty's chair until she retired to her own apartment, where often she was sent for later to read aloud or play games.

St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children. He is supposed to have been Bishop of Myra, and to have died in the year 326. He is the Santa Claus of the Dutch, and the children of that country first put out their stockings to receive his gifts on Christmas Eve. There are various legends extant about him. He is said to have supplied three poor jnaidt ens with marriage .portions Hj secretly leaving mo'ney on their window sills, and he is also credited with having restored three murdered children to life.

There is a strange romance connected with'the old Scottish family of Kirkpat- . rick, from whom the Empress Eugenie is descended. It is said that when a Kirkpatrick is dying a mysterious swan appears on the lake at Closeburn, their old home in Dumfrieshire. No one knows whence this bird comes or whither it goes, for as soon as the death takes place it disappears. When the first baronet was making his third marriage, one of his sons took a walk by the lake on the wedding day, when suddenly the swan appeared. This so disturbed the son that even the wedding and its attendant festivities failed to cheer him. The fear of an untoward end for his father so preyed upon his mind that he died in the night of sheer fear.

The Duchess of Marlborough is one of the most distinguished of the numerous Anglo-American peeresses. The fame of her dark, girlish beauty spread to London before she became the bride of the owrier of Blenheim, and she has since won all hearts by the sweetness and graciousness of her manner. She has accomplished a great amount of real social reform work, and is never so happy as when helping those who have been unfortunate in the affairs of this world. She has always loved books, has a keen appreciation of the higher dramatic art, and is 'believed to cherish a desire to endow a theatre.

There have been very stringent new regulations at Court, among them a new regulation by the Lord Chamberlain requesting all those who had received invitations to the Courts to bring their invitations with them. Hitherto, this has not been done, and people have only taken a small card bearing their names to be handed to the Lord Chamberlain. At trie Court held early in March, the invitation cards were strictly demanded at the entrance to the Palace, so that by no possibility could any unauthorised person penetrate within its precincts.

SUBSIDY FOR BABIES THE AUSTRALIAN SCHEME. The Federal Prime Minister's scheme to give a maternity allowance of £5 for every baby born in the Commonwealth" is expected to have an influence, at election time, especially with women voters, which will help Mr. Fisher and his colleagues a great deal in the next election fight. Mr. Fisher admits that lie is not too sure whether there is power under the Constitution to make payments of such maternity allowances, but even if the scheme is checked till special powers are obtained, he will still T)c able to go before the electors as the leader of a party which first put forward this proposal and can be trusted to put it into effect at the earliest opportunity. It seems that in this matter Mr. Fisher has forestalled the Labor Ministry in New South Wales. The friendly societies there have, with some knowledge at least of Ministerial approval of the idea, been thinking over the subject of maternity endowments, and it is said that members of the Ministry had made up their minds to come forward with a scheme akin to Mr. Fisher's when, through the agency of the friendly societies, the way had been prepared with a little advertising of a useful nature.

NTPPED IN THE BUD. A cold, cold or influenze can be nipped in the bud by a few doses of Dr. Sheldon's New Discovery for coughs and colds. Price Is 6d and 3s. Obtainable everywhere.