WOMAN’S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1922, Page 10

WOMAN’S WORLD.

MOUNTBATTEN WEDDING. GREAT ASSEMBLY OF ROYALTY. ENGLAND’S RICHEST HEIRESS. London, July 21. There was nearly as much public interest taken in this week’s important wedding at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, as there was in that at the Abbey a few months ago when Princess Mary was the bride. Enthusiastic Londoners began to assemble in the vicinity of Westminster in the very small hours—from 1 a.m. onwards—for a ceremony to take place at 2.15 p.m., and in that wide interval the entire route from Park lane became thickly populated, no heed at all being paid to be heavy downpours of rain. The wedding of Lord Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, K.C.V.0., R.N.—affectionately known as “Dickie” for short—to Miss Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley was remarkable for the great assembly of Royal and distinguished guests. The King and Queen and Queen Alexandra were there, and the Prince of Wales was best man. Others among a distinguished company included:—The Duke of York, Princess Mary (Viscountess Lascelles) and Viscount Lascelles, Prince George, the Duke of Connaught, Princess Royal, Princess Victoria, Princess Christian, the Duchess of Argyll, the Duchess of Albany, Princess Arthur of Connaught, Princess Alice (Countess of Athlone), the Earl of Athlone. Princess Helena Victoria, Princess Marie Louise, Princess Maud, Grand Duchess George of Russia, Grand Duke Michael and Countess Torby, Princess Andrew of Greece (sister of the bridegroom and mother of four of the bridesmaids), Dowager "Marchioness of Milford Ta ven (mother of the bridegroom), Marquis and Marchioness of Milford Haven. Lady Mary Cambridge, and Prince and Princess Nikita of Russia. Dukes and duchesses, ambassadors and their wives, Cabinet Ministers and their wives, Indian princes and gorgeous turbans, and the Maharanee of Cooch-Behar, in a wonderful Indian gown of orange bordered with jade green, were among the great company—numbering over a thousand —who were in their' places long before the Arrival of the King and Queen. Officers of H.M.S. Renown and H.M.S. Repulse, in full dress with gold epaulettes, showed the guests their seats. Lord Louis is a grandson of Queen Victoria's daughter. Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, and the younger son of the late Marquess of Milford Haven, better known as Admiral of the Fleet Prince Louis of Battenberg. The bride is the elder daughter of Colonel Wilfrid W. Ashley. M.P. for the Fylde Division of Lancashire, and, through her mother, a grand-daughter of the late Sir Ernest Cassel, who left her a large part of his enormous wealth—hi« estate was sworn at £d,000.000 —and Brook House, Park lane, was part of her inheritance. The bridegroom is just 22; the bride is 21. Everyone wanted to have a glimpse of the richest heiress in Britain. Thousands of the waiting throng never saw her, but they all cheered and waved • s ‘he journeyed from Brook House to St. Margaret’s. And they waved and cheered with ecstasy a little later, when, with her sailor husband, she was pulled in her ear. with ropes, by a score of the Renown’s bluejackets, from St. Margaret’s to Brook House, with an old shoe tied to the spare wheel behind. The bluejackets tied on the shoe, with much joyTHE BRIDAL DRESS. Very simple in effect, but very beautiful, was the Ipridal dress, of speciallywoven frosted and bright silver, the effect being brilliant and supple. In character it was handsomely-embroidered in diamante and crystal. The sleeves, of li«se, were long to the wrist. The train of silver was cleverly pleated into a collar from shoulder to shoulder. Over this was draped some of the finest possible examples of old Point de Venise lace, remarkable for its wonderful preservation and its dimensions—four yards in length and ope and a half vards in width. There was s deep collar and broad edging to below the waist of antioue Spanish lace. All the lace was the gift of Mrs. Cassel. Pale delphinium blue was the color of the dresses worn bv the seven bridesmaids. who were:—Miss Marv Ashley r nr.;v siste’* of the bride). Princesses Margaret. Theodora, Cecile, and Sophie (daughters of Prince and Princess Andrew of Greece). Lady Mary Ashley (daughter of the Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury), and Mws Esther Pakenham (daughter of Captain and Mrs. Hercules Pakenham). Crepe romain was the material, the skirts being draped with georgette to match. There were girdles of pale colors, and at one side the overdress was arranged ill large cornucopia-shaped fluffed out bows repeating the same pretty tint*. They wore silver caps, and to each the bridegroom gave a diamond brooch. CANON CARNEGIE’S ADDRESS. There were blue and dull mauve and j Purple delphiniums on the altar, and at o : ther s : de of the entrance to the chancel ‘bort pillars made of delphinium spikes. Canon Carnegie was assisted by the serI vice by the Rev. F. Lawrence Long, ' who had acted as tutor to the bride* i gioom. The procession was met at the west door bv the choir singing the hymn • Holv, Holy Holv. Lord God Almighty.” The psalm was xxiii.. the Lord’s Prayer was recited to Bortniansk , 's setting, and the second hvmn was “Thine for ever. God of Love.” Canon Carnegie, in his address, reminded th° young people that mutual comfort and the society one with Hie other were the primary reasons for the institution of marriage. “We are reading very often,” he said, “of unhapnv marriages, hut out of a long experience I can say that in the very largS major s tv of cases, with norma) and responsible people, marriages turn out happily, ond are a source of unmixed blessing and help to those who enter into them.” It was by remembering the spiritual (significance of the marriage l 1 bond and it« connection with the deepest things of life and of the hereafter that success in marriage could he attained. During the signing of the register the anthem sung was “Hallelujah Unto God s ' Almightv Son.”

Leaving the church, the bridal proppsftion passed beneath an archway of crossed swords held aloft, bv officers of H.M.S. Renown. Verv slowly was nrogress made to the waiting car. Here representatives of all ratings of the Penown. under Chief Pettv Officer Sheather. were read 3 ’ with ropes attached to the oar. and they started off. the King and Queen and other important guests having assembled nt the iron gates to sep them pass. The bridal ear was towed the public —which docs it not

by a gaily-decorated charabanc filled with sailors, and was followed by another to Brook House.

SOME OF THE DRESSES.

The Queen had a dress of delphinium blue chiffon delicately embroidered in ficelle color and shades of blue. Over it was a mantle of parchment-colored brocade edged with ostrich feather trimming to match, a blue lisse hat with parchment-colored ostrich feathers on one side. Hand-in-hand with the Queen walked Queen Alexandra, wearing, over a black and silver dress, a long coat of orchid-mauve velvet and crepe de cljine embroidered in gold, and a hat of similar velvet, with gold and silver sequins, and a black and purple sigrette at one side. Princess Mary, who had a very enthusiastic welcome from the crowd, wore a prettily-draped dress of parchment-col-ored crepe romain, and a large hat to match, surrounded with an ostrich feather to tone. A feather boa was of opalescent coloring. Fourteen hundred guests were invited to the reception at Brook House, where the bride and bridegroom received the congratulations of their friends as they stood under a beautiful grove of orange trees 9 ft. or 10 ft. high. The staircase was banked with delphiniums.

Wonderful were the presents, but the most unique and quite unconventional was that from the Prince of Wales. It was a charming personal memento of the bridegroom’s tours in the Rehown, and consisted of a silver figure of Atlas, on an ebony base, holding up a silver world. Traced in enamel are the routes followed by the Royal traveller and his kinsman on the two great voyages—to Australasia and to the East. From the King and Queen Lord Louis received a pair of ovalshaped sleeve-links of delicate Workman ship, with the letters “G.R.” in diamonds. Queen Alexandra also gave sleeve-links, containing on the one half a diamond and ruby bar, and on the other the diamond initial “A.” The bride gave her husband a RollsRovce motor-car.

The honeymoon is to be spent motoring in Europe, with Northern Spain as the ultimate destination, where the bride, and bridegroom will be the guests of the King and Queen of Spain. Returning to England late in August they will go for a visit to the United States, and early in December Lord Louis will resume his duties as a sailor. A ROMANCE OF THE WAR. BACK FROM SLAVERY. BRITISH VICTORY BRINGS LIBERTY. TURKISH ATROCITIES. It is a long step from the unspeakable horrors of an Arab slave market to the environment of a charming New Zealand romance, but a young woman who will shortly arrive here has taken it (says the Wellington Dominion). Her name, for the purpose of this story, is Vera. The man whom she is to marry resides in Wellington. The writer has had the pleasure of his personal friendship for tse past six months, and has permission to tell Vera’s story. On her ! right hand is a cruel brand that she will carry to the grave. It is th? indelible insignia of a slave. To-day it'is counterbalanced by the solitaire which sparkles on the third finger of her left hand.

For a girl barely out of her ’teens, Vera has lived through horrors which in pre-war days scarcely could have been compressed into a century of atrocities. They came to an end happily when she escaped from Turkish captivity, as the victorious British Army entered Jerusalem. There her troubles ended. She met Lemuel, and the romance began. Here is her own story, as she told it to him, and as he told it to the writer:

“My father was a prosperous merchant, and in 1915 our family lived in happiness in the province of Siva, in Armenia. Two years before that my brother John had gone to America. It was the first break in the family tie. and I know to-day how great a blessing it was that he went there, for it means that he is alive, instead of having been slaughtered by the Turks. Our family consisted of my mother and father, sister, aunt, uncle, two young cousins—a. happy, peaceful groun. For years we hah d been persecuted for the Turks, but we bore those thinns as best we could.

“Then the war broke out. Earlv one morning in October. 1915, the family was sitting down to breakfast when two Turkish policemen entered the house. Unless vou are an Armenian vou cannot realise what that means. These policemen spoke pleasantly to us. Such an attitude forebodies worse things than roughness. We were told that all the men. women and children were to gather in the square to hear certain news proclaimed. Under the eye of the police we went to the square. It was packed with people. Turkish police were everywhere. “The commandant mounted a platform. and announced that all the young men. married or single, and all the bovs from twelve vears upwards, were to go to a certain nlace, to be examined for the Army. They would be permitted to return to their families before being called out for service. There was nothing to do but obey, and within twenty minutes all the young men and boys were on their way to the appointed place, some I’ttle distance away. The women, children, and old mon were loft in the square.

“Suddenly there was a thunderous roar, a great crack of musketry, and the police about us burst into laughter. Then we knew what had happened. Our men folks had been taken away from us. Within three-quarters of an hour from the time thev were ordered to leave us thev were all shot dead. “What next?” That was the question whispered amongst us. What would they do to us?

“The man who had ordered our fathers and brothers to leave the square approached, and told us he had found the men too weak for the army, and therefore useless, and they bad been killed outright. We were to march to the next town. “We started, the young, the old, and the sick and well. 10.009 all told. We started on a march, not of a day, but of months, and not many survived to tell of that march, and some of those who did survive have lost their reason. “All the rest of the dav we marched. At night we came to halt in the open. It was raining, and we had no food, and the children suffered dreadfully. The guards erected tents for themselves, and built fires and cooked food. They sat eating and drinking, while we huddled together in the rain.

“A Turkish guard, eating under his shelter, threw a piece of bread on the ground not far from where I was. A

woman darted forward to get it for her child". When she picked it up, a shot rang out, and sho fell over dead. A roar of laughter went up from the guards, and they began a game of baiting us, throwing scraps of food towards us. No one dared to touch them.

“Two days later we camped outside a village of Turks. We were famished with hunger and parched with thirst. We learned that we were on the way to Aleppo, to the slave market. “That night we heard a noise of shouting and revels. The Turks from the village were coming. They were drunk, and the soldiers encouraged them on. Near to where we were standing was a hole that might have been an old well, partly filled with rubbish. My mother pushed me into it, and piled rubbish on top of me. There I stayed till dawn, the shouting and cursihg ringing out into the night. When morning came my mother told me that many of the young girls had been taken away, and that others were dead.

“There came endless days of wandering, until we entered the desert, that barren waste that recurs to me now of nights, whose torture nearly drove me mad, like many of the others.

“One moonlight night they took my uncle and some other old men, tied them in groups of four or six, poured oil over them, and burned them alive. Nex*t day my aunt, whose husband was among the number, collapsed and died. “All this time I bad escaped the notice of the guards. I shrunk my body and hobbled like an old woman during the daylight hours. Every night my mother would dig a hole with her hands and bury me in the sand, leaving just space enough for me to breathe. She was always saying: “Hide, daughter, hide; better die first.’ Then one night, as we were digging the hole, she died in mv arms.

“That night I put on the clothes of one of my boy cousins, and crept to the outside of the group, where I fell on my face. A soldier came by and kicked me, saying there was one more pig gone. For nights I played tricks like that on them.

“Roving bands of Arabs met us, taking the women for the slave market. One night, when I went to a well for water, I felt a rough hand grip my shoulder. I was dragged away by my captor, and that was the last I saw of that unhappy band.

“What was to become of me? I did not know. I did not care. I had no hope left in me, except that through a miracle I might reach my brother in America some day. “I was dragged into a farmhouse, nearly naked, and the Arabs laughed at me. The other women laughed, too, and said I was but fit company for animals. I was beaten and thrown into a corner, where I must have become unconscious. When I awoke a woman was standing over me with a bowl of soup. >She spoke kindly, and told me I was now a slave. She hade me look at my hand, and I would see the mark. There on my right hand, at the base of my thumb, was the Arab’s slave mark, such as they put on cattle. lam marked for life. From that on I lived the life of a slave. I did work of the vilest kind, and slept with the cows and pigs. “A passing Turkish officer .discovered that I spoke Turkish as well as Armenian, and I was taken from my master to serve as interpreter in the Turkish Army. Life there was frightful, and I managed to get a place in the Turkish hospital as a nurse. When the British captured Jerusalem I escaped to their lines, and was treated very kindly. They had me conducted to the American relief station at Beirut, where the American authorities arranged to send me to my brother.” z OASIS IN A CITY. Writing from London a Wellington resident pens the following:—We walked home in front of Buckingham Palace. and up to Hyde Park corner with daffodils flowing on one side, and Green Park to our right; fat lazy sheep, and every indication of the country; crowds strolling under the trees and sitting on the seats provided everywhere—and all this in the heart of London. By the way, has poor Wellington yet got any seats in the “Parliamentary Grounds”? How often has that question been asked, or how often have tired people looked around that nice open space and thought how they would like to stop awhile and rest? To stop and rest the eyes on the green slopes, and look at the gay flower-borders which are still pretty, though not so tasteful as they were a year or two back, for some reason or another (perhaps an economic one), would be a great refreshment to people. Considering the universal customs in other parts of the world, it is a matter for wonder why Wellington does not come into line and make use of her very few open spaces for the good of COMPLIMENTS SHE LIKES. Many a woman has been alienated by an awkward compliment. The compliment itself may have been pretty, but it did not fit the lady and she was clever enough to know it. The success of a compliment depends upon two things, its appropriateness and the manner of delivery. The perfect maker of compliments is born to the art, but those less gifted may, by practice, acquire proficiency. Different women like different compliments. but, generally speaking, any woman likes any compliment for which there is any possible foundation. The compliment that irritates is the ready-made compliment. It is not at all flattering. It is like being offered a stale bun at a bakery or an artificial bouquet for a birthday gift. Quite two-thirds of the compliments uttered are inspired by personal attractiveness. Almost everyone possesses at least one good feature, and as tactful compliments have helped many a lame dog over a stile, it behoves each of us to observe these good points and to refer to them judiciously. Compliments on dress rank next in popularity. Some women, especially those who design their own clothes, value them even more than compliments on beauty, for, as one woman said: “Nature is responsible for me, but I can take credit for my dresses.”

Until recent times is was not good taste to compliment a woman on her intellect, as the possession of this commodity implied absence of charm. Now. however, compliments on intellectual achievements are eagerly sought after, even women who have no claim to the distinction angling for recognition of the coveted gift. Proficiency in any line of work inspires valued compliments. “houseproud” wives being especially susceptible to praise. Versatility is another good quality on which to pin « MWttplii ment.—Daily Mail.