BRIEF

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 230, 7 February 1885, Page 12

BRIEF

''Rumour says that the hoopskirt has been introduced again ; simply to give jewelled garters a show. ' ' , Minnie S. is back again at the Vie. By St.-iTacob! she has pomed oil on many troubled spirits.. . Sweet " Belle Mahone " says he's in love •vritfr a young lady who looks ill, at the United. Funny, all this. 'Does that Fiji planter really call you Emily when he gets gay? If you love Willy, you would not aUow him, Alice. That golden-haired young lady, Miss T., iat the Vie.., does draw the boys. The Wellington mashers must miss her. Is - Frank still the Best man with S? It May be, so, but' there is another Kichmond in the field at Wellington. Poor. Alf T. looks awfully dejected since the Whites went away, and is constantly ■humming that touching air, " Some Day." Those two gay swains who charmed the fair waitresses at Dallen's with their vocal abilities, the other evening, were decidedly a ".lump off." Our poetic contributor, Mr W. E. Wills, has had set to music a piece written many years ago, and we predict that it will be one of . his best efforts. Ninety thousand copies of "Les Filles de John Bull," the French version, have been sold, and twenty-five thousand of the English version are bespoken, i The boys do get at the "Grizzly Bear." He declares that only for the sujrphment the San Francisco line of steamers would never live. Does he mean subsidy ? ■ It's a shame that Miss Jf ., of the Thistle, should be so much annoyed by her sweetheart. Take no notice of him ; he is a married man, or rather he ought to be. A Japanese society girl, when she goos to a party, paints' her face white, her lips and the corners of her eyes red, and finishes up with ' two slate-coloured spots on her forehead. Alma Tadema says that a woman with a beautiful face seldom has a- beautiful form, and that a woman with a" beautiful form is almost always plain. This is a plain libel on the fair sex. Mr Leaning corrects an error in our notice of the funeral of the late John Henry Holmes. He did not collect money for the funeral expenses, but he paid £1 out of his own. pocket for the grave. When the inquisitive travelling Briton interviews Prince Bismarck, and after getting full particulars of Germany's policy from him," inquires, "What nex'?" the stolid Bizzy replies, "What nex'? Why annex, of course." ■ The creditors of a certain publican, who toasts of having a reputation to lose, had better have a care. He has let others in to a considerable amount down South, and is in a fair way of doing so here. It is rumoured heantends shortly to file, Lieut. Conolly declined to propose "His Holiness the Pope " at the unfurling of the Hibernian banner. He holds a commission in the Volunteer Service, and could not break his oath of allegiance. Therein he deserves respect and sympathy. The latest agony in stockings are made of Brussels lace. They are laced up at the back by a cord and cost £10 a pair. They are not, however, likely to come into universal use, as the cost will hardly accord ■with scantily filled purses. More shocks of earthquake down South. Strange that these shocks never occur during the daytime — they are always happening at night — late at night. It almost looks as if earthquakes waited till a man had got outside his' full day's share of liquor before they thought it safe to '• rock" him. Christmas in .Sydney nearly "boshed up" the Harniy. Half the soldiers went on the bust ; ,250 pawned their uniforms ; bassoons and. trombones were also freely offered to Moshish. It was fun on Boxing Day to see the Staff Captain going round in a cart, and getting out the 1 big drums. It has been 1 flashe'd'all round the world that fashionable women have taken to poker playing. What;. idiot starts stale; old news like; that ? Married women with red hair andilthin, lips ,have : taken . to . playing- with kitchen; pokers and .flat irons ever: since those utensils were invented. .0 > >\ ;•■' ■* 7/ Some men have a brief way of putting it. We met a disconsolate young lover the other day, and we asked him the cause of his not marrying the girl of his choice. "We thought you were wooing her," we remarked. ' ; Oh, , yes,'|i_lie.replied, bitterly," I wooed — but she wooed^'t." And haying inflicted that torture upontusine seemed much better. *•' ; '; No/longer do .female prbmenjiders remind us o|3fd^apjp;' goddesses, quite*, superior^tb theiifenvelopeaj .andin outline^ corresponding to hSm|n : hum^d|>ear\Y%d byV means^^^^^^les, and; 'alre^^aV.sympatKettc-.^istenia^^Ql^skirts: i^pli^S^ l^re'tuth''" ; tb'' l the'''gigani^^||^ps 'of" ■ "twenty years ago*- So we must-ro^uly^possess ' . ou^^soujs j in ,- patient ,. waiting; for; a -jjy>sle),of f asfuon* to" l onc 1 ( ?t;M,O,r J e tog, <rpund ''^^^^tv i^,y^^ fc :;:;* , -.yPf|l|||||

— — ~/X?Tv7*luu Mrs Pugmire read in a fashion paper that "''■BuMerare'cominpo "the ?ronl. T ' " simply horrid/ said she, *&and I won't wear imxne that way,; not even if Queen Victoria herself does. . It's bad enough, to wear them .atall ; but how would you and me look, Mrs Tarbox, at our age, with 'bustles in front? Let younger women wear them that way, if Jthey want to ; but I vow I won't;" A tradesman in Bichmond can go one better than Sammy Coombes. He advertises that he is enabled/ to sell cheaper than his rivals because he is a bachelor, and does not need to make the profits required by married men with families. Further, that he is a teetotaller, and consequently does not want to put on an additional percentage to pay for publichouse luxuries. Such an array of proofs that he can sell more cheaply than j others ought surely to be irresistible. ! There is a patch of asphalt in Victoria- i street — from Eew's corner to the Observer Qflice — which sadly needs a top-dressing of tar and sand. The piece above this was lately so painted, while that referred to is as slippery as glass ; and to people with nails in their boots it is really very dangerous to walk down, as not only is the hill steep, but the pavement is pitched at a considerable angle towards the gutter. We hope the Council will order this to be top-dressed as soon as possible. A young man named Presley T. Jenking, of Washington, has recently been divorced from his wife. She is a well-known variety artist, known as Frankie Christit. Young Jenking fell in love with the plump appearance of the fair Frankie when she was disporting her figure in plum-coloared silk tights, and married her when in such a condition of inebriety chat he could hardly sign his name to the marriage register. Jenking's family strongly objected to the alliance, so hence the divorce.

Fashionable women in New York have their arms and necks ' polished ' now before going to a ball or other entertainment, j where they appear with very decollete dress. , The polishing ■ greatly beautifies the skin. ! First the arms and neck are rubbed very thoroughly with rose water. After this has been rubbed off, the arms and the shoulders are covered with cold, cream, which is allowed to remain on fifteen minutes. This is then rubbed off with a piece of fine, soft white flannel, and the arms and shoulders are covered with powder and rubbed thoroughly. When This operation is completed the skins of the dear creatures, it is j said, assume the appearance of polished j marble. \ Five publicans ivent out the other day j" on the shoot." It was curlews they were after, and after walking through, mud and salt slush up to their knees . all day, and visiting three "Lone Isles," they saw a solitary ' ' long bill " soaking his hoad after a night's dissipation. Jack H., the crack shot of the crowd, ranged his men in line, and giving the word "ready, present, fire !" they downed the. poor bird., The dog went over a creek to recover the remains, but found him so fiill of "No. 4" that he could not carry or drag him; so the gallant sportsmen had to come home tired, dirty, and hungry, with riot a feather between them. Next ■' time this crowd go shooting they niean to buy their birds first, and take them ! out and in with them. . . * Woman's heart is sTTtpposedto.be made of more susceptible stuff than that of man, and to those who saw the fall of Banana afc the Takapuna Steeplechase this will in future go without saying. ' When Banana brought his rider down scream after scream rent the air, and people felt sure that Ted Williams had fqund a soft spot in the heart of the fair screamer. But her first utterance entirely dissipated that idea. " Oh, the poor horse /" she cried. " The poor Horse is hurt!". Sudh ' Is the heart of lovely woman. . While men were wondering if Williams was killed, or going to be, this lady's first thought was for Banana. [By the way, - it's 'not 7 the" first- , time that a "banana" has brought a man* | dowri ; ; "but ih'this' case the' yell " Oti !" '(yellow) was on the nmn instead of on the. -"banana "-pee? — says.—^Oh, shut up.— Ed. O£s]. <::t -y..?rot:-i Tb.n-v