LADY CONSTANCE STEWARTRICHARDSON.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2722, 29 January 1910, Page 2

LADY CONSTANCE STEWARTRICHARDSON.

AS A DANCER. Lad’" Constance Stcwart-Richardson, whose coming appearance on the variety stage was announced by cable last month, is bbq daughter of the late Earl of Cromartie, and sister of the present countess, whose heir she was for some years. In nearly every branch of sport and out dor life she excels (says the London “Daily Mail”). She has hunted in the Himalayas, in places where no white woman had ever been before; she has ventured into Central Africa, hunting lions; she has ridden out into the wiki west to hunt the/ wild hogs of Texas; she excels at shooting, fishing, and swimming; can ride anything from a Shetland pony to a racehorse and drive a four-in-hand or a- motor car ; and withal she is a brilliant conversationalist. She is tall and slight. Her hair and eyes are dark and her complexion clear, but her great charm is the vivacity of her expression when in conversation. Much of her time in girlhood was spent at Dunrobin Castlo with the Duchess of Sutherland, where she early gave signs of her adventurous disposition. It was there she learnt to swim, and, as will be remembered, she is one •of the best women swimmers in the country. She won the ladies’ challenge shield of the Bath Club three times in succession—in 1899, 1900, and 1901 — and possesses a replica of it in token of the achievement. She is an intrepid diver, and thinks little of leaping thirty feet- to the water. She was born in 18S2. and liefore tile end of last century had attained fame as one of the best sportswomen in England under her maiden name, of course, of Lady Constance Mackenzie. It was not until 1904 that she married Sir Edward Stowart-Richardson, of Ditto ur castle, Perthshire. When Scotland ceased to offer her enough sport she went further afield in search of adventure, and travelled so far into the interior of Somaliland that the authorities became fearful tor her safety. Her intrenidity is well evidenced by her first meeting with a wild hog in Texas. Her first shot only wounded the animal, which turned at bay prepared to charge and gore her with its terrible tusks. Dismounting, she ran towards it. and, shooting again at dose quarters, killed it. Her endurance can be gathered from her account of her travels in the Himalayas, among steep moraines and snow, slones. She crossed one pass 17.000 feet high, marching continuously for twelve hours, and frequently marched twenty-five miles a day. A bear that foil to her rifle she followed for two days. A bear cub she procured became quite a pet and travelled back to England with her, where lie took up his auarterg in the Zoo. Another great pet of hers was a .boa-constrictor. She has original ideas upon the education of her children. When she first began to give semi-public performances of dancing in New York last spring she announced that her object was to procure funds to establish a model school for boys where her theory of education could be carried out, and this is the reason for her London appearances. Her scheme for her school is to teach a number of boys whom she will carefully select, all sorts of outdoor sports, as well as agriculture and dancing and the usual studies. The present system of teaching, with its modified cultivation of athletics, she holds to ho inadequate, and in all her beliefs as well as by her career Lady Constance StewartRichardson stands for the outdoor life. Her own little son, lan Rorv Hay, is five years old. and already a fearless swimmer. He is being brought up to know and love nature before troubling about the alphabet. Ho is not to he taught reading and writing till he is seven or eight rears old. “I have trained him,” she has remarked, “to observe the trees and the wonders of Nature, and already he surprises me bv telling me things that I myself did not know.”