A LADY’S LETTER FROM AUCKLAND.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume V, Issue 625, 25 June 1891, Page 2

A LADY’S LETTER FROM AUCKLAND.

IBy Standard Special Cobrxspondbnt “A.T."] M?- h 0 J ar ? Well J anoe B‘ Ten >“ hono/of Mr T. “Z.B y U , TUe R B L Rr - W “ » Hal!, hs 8 b h :* d ‘‘“' o e f X2JSS sensations of enjoyment declare there is nothrcg more pleasant than ” the pain which is all but a pleasure. There was certainly a pleasing pathos in the air that night.

I noticed two or three very pretty dresses One of them was a pale blue silk worn by Miss Henderson, of Sydney. The front of the skirt was of brocade, the bodice and demitrain of plain corded silk exactly the same shade. The bodice was out in the Directoire style, the revere fa tened back by diamondshaped medallions of gold embroidery, gold cord appearing somewhere on tho skirt as well—plaited with blue to form a girdle, I believe. A blue net was prettily trimmed with ribbons which, starting from the waist near the back of tbe eide-breadths of the skirt were carried to the hem on the opposite side, crossing each other, and forming a large regular net-work.

The supper table looked very pretty. The prevailing tint of the decorations was rosecolor. A long strip of Liberty silk in this shade ran down the centre, not lying flat and straight as plush table centres do, but loosely gathered here and there in little ripples of most ar l fully artless arrangement. Largo masses of arum lilies, ferns, and grasses were grouped in deep vases. These bowls were doubtless of the rarest Venetian glass, the costliest blue china, or the most delicate porcelain, but unfortunately the Committee ladiea in their blind adherence to a fashion universal in Government House and other drawing-rooms, had hidden them under the folds of aesthetic-hued silk scarves and handkerchiefs. The general outlines as far as they were visible, bore a faint resemblance to the shape of a fruit preserving bottle, a ginger jar, and a large milk jug respectively. lam sorry lam not able to tell you more about their nature, but perhaps the hint as to the fashionable shapes may not be thrown away. Little clusters of pink camellias lay loosely on the white cloth, while white ones appeared in the folds of tbe silk. Trails of autumn leaves also looked lovely. The only improvement that could, have been suggested was tbe addition of a number of rose-colored fairy lights. These lamps in pink, gold, or blue set off any table to advantage. They gleam like glow-worms under the shade of ferns, or through the folds of thin Bilk, or make a little point of light unobscured. Some of the new flower shapes are lovely, particularly the roses with their many delicate petals. Some are raised on glass atoms from a mirror which reflects the glowing and exquisitely shaded blossoms.

Now that photograph albums have gone so greatly out of fashion, it is sometimes difficult to know what to do with the cabinet portraits of our friends. Heaps of them lie on tables in our drawing rcoms, lolitary ones stand on the mantlepiece leaning against the wall, and some find their way into frames, and are protected from dust. A very light and pretty frame, and at the same time a very inexpensive one, is made of plain window glass, painted by hand. A glazier would cut the glass in any design chosen. Among the pretty and fanciful shapes which these frames are made in are open fans (large enough to hold two likenesses), shields, hearts, hone-shoei, crescents, bells, and perfectly round, square, or oval pieces of glass. The photograph is held in place by a spiral spring clasping the front of the glass, top and bottom, to which a suppoi tis attached. The outline of the picture is marked by a narrow gold rim, and the surface of the glass beyond painted with sprays of various flowers. On the tramparent surface light and feathery subjects, and small flowers, look better than their more imposing fellows—lilac, laburnum, wisteria, violets, forget me note, primroses, clematis with its silvery tufts—all these are suitable and pretty. Birds, too, and butterflies, are favorite subjects.

There is at present in Auckland a young colonial, whose pianoforte playing promises to place him in a high rank among musician!. Thia is Mr Leon Driver, whose heme was originally at the Thames. Of late years he has baen studying bard in Melbourne, and is now commencing a New Zealand tour. He plays with wonderful execution, precision and clearness, and also with much delicacy and expression. His style is rather marred by ostentation, but it is only your eye that is offended, while your ear is charmed. I was sorry to see so few at his concert, but an unknown player coming so soon after Patsy (who took away £9OO net from our not too wealthy town) could hardly have expected much. The audience was for the most part composed of people who had beard his performance at a previous concert, when he kindly filled a gap caused by the non-appear-ance of one of the singers. The Curagoa is in again, but it is a case of “ here to-day and gone to-morrow,” literally. This fleeting visit is more tantalizing to those who learned months ago how gentlemanly and pleasant her officers are, than if they had sailed straight away from Lyttelton. If they ever come back from Sydney they will not be nearly bo agreeable. A large crowd gathered on the wharf last week to welcome Sir George Grey home after his triumphal procession through Australia. He has come back loaded with fresh gifts for our Library, which be has already endowed so richly. I have heard that he is looking very well. He left Auckland yesterday, to rush, with renewed health and vigor, into the war of politics once more. Last Wednesday, at a large afternoon tea given by Mrs Nelson George, some of us rallied from the “ next-day " feeling which often follows a dance. The babel of voices was most bewildering. I have not left myself apace to give you any account of it, nor of tbe very pretty musical burlesque "All Baba” which the children of tbe Devonport District School performed in the City Hall on Saturday afternoon. The acting and singing were capital, but we were ranch amused by seeing the wild and unruly “ forty thievea ” amuse themselves in their orgies in the cave, by dancing the Barn Dance. It looked very mild—not at all what one would have expected from aqcfi blood-thirsty brigands.