Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 2 August 1902, page 40


PEN PICTURES.

(By "Penelope.")

Cup Day at Ascot

Never has there been a more sucee Cup Day at Ascot than the one passed. It only needed the presen « the Kino- to make it perfect. As it the Royal box was graced by the sence of the Queen, tue Prince and I cess of Wales, and many other mem of the Royal Family, aud we were to gratify our loyalty by gazing ad ingly at the gracious face and rigur Queen Alexandra. The weather beh¡ beautifully-the AUD was hot. but t was a gentle breesse. and not a si drop of rain to mar tho lovely toil« which filled the stands and boxes of Royal enclosure. lt was a beau Bight as the Royal procession drov< the course, thronged on either side enthusiastic crowds. . The scarlet-coi outriders, the postillions in their ye jackets, and the magnificent fuur-ho carriages made a splendid splash colour on the green turf. The mauve of Her Majesty's dress and ruffle of a darker shade which she*v were very becoming, and the your Princesses, in white, blue, aud p looked very pretty. As for the ol toilettes I saw, I was really too occu] in watching the races, aud in talkinf my friends to do more -than gathc . fleetiug impression ; but I noticed i

the prettiest effects were gained wearing delicate crepes de chine or vc ovor silk of a different colour, the

shades blending together and fonnhi

harmonious whole.

Two Popular Victories.

The Duke of Portland's victory v William the Third for the Gold < was a most popular one ; and, persona I was delighted at his success,

friends had convinced me that ho wo win; and, when tho beautiful horses ráded past the stands and I saw V liam's muscle and his altogether inaf ficeiit appearance, I hesitated no lonj; bnt backed the favourite. It is a h race for tho Cup-about two miles an ha)f-and for nearly tgiro miles V

liahi kept in the rear. Then, as ' horses came racing up the straight, w Osboch and Santoi in front, 1 favourite suddenly passed them with.1 troatest ease, and won iu grand style

ve lengths. It was a splendid feat, a nearly everyone was pleased. The ho and jockey were vociferously cheer« and the Duke and Duchess of Portia wftfe overwhelmed with congratulatioi 'After the Cup race the chief excíteme was over, and we were able to .str about the lawn behind the Royal- sta* where thc Royal Artillery Band w playing. Never has there been such crowd at Ascot before-a crowd, t< that was full of contrasts, for close tom© fair-skinned beauty in gauzy fiji dress could be seen the dark co-mplexic the heavily-swathed turban of one of o Indian visitors, or by the side of an ii maculate frock-coat you could descry t gorgeous yellow embroideries of a Cl

nose Envoy.

«The St. James's Palace Stakes produ ea the next excitement, and I was gli to have the chance of seeing Mr. Si Vier's famous Sceptre.. A wicked litt Vixen she looked as she cantered down the starting-post, but with victory

her grasp if she chose to assert hersel 'After dropping some way behind, whi settling into her stride, she covered tl ground in magnificent fashion up tl straight, and seemed to fly to the wi ning-post at the last moment. No woi der Mr. Sievier is proud of her ; and i wonder we all went home feeling tin Cup Dav at Ascot had proved one of ii few satisfactory things in this most di appointing season of rain and cold.

The Sun Shines Again.

Lovely costumes are to be seen ever} where now that the sun has begun i pihine again. Russian blouses and shoi eDats of fine pale-coloured cloth, en

roidered with silver and gold or coloui ed silks, and lined with palest crean pink, or blue satins, are much worn b smart ladies, with large hats of stra\n garlanded with flowers of every kind an description. Black roses with yelloi stamens and bright green leaves are ver chic upon a black or burnt-straw hat (Small oranges, lemons, cherries, am strawberries I have seen upon hats, rip plums and grapes. (Talking of grapes in the decorations, Messrs. Gilbey' place of business in Old Ford-where th« ¡old Pantheon used to be-is garlanded al over wi th vine leaves and hanging bunche] of luscious grapes.) Hydrangias, corn flowers, carnations, and rhododendrons azaleas, in fact, every description o beautiful flowering plant has been inri tated beyond detection to adorn our sum mer headgear.

Paris Hats.

A shop of French millinery has recent-ly bloomed forth in Oxford-street witl two large plate-glass windows. Qm window is marked 5s., and every hat and toque in that window is priced at Ss. In the "opposite window every article is 18s. 6d., and some of the hats are very smart and pretty. Mixed green and blue ¡stráw.in coarse plait is, to my mind, very ¡ártistic, adorned by iridescent green and Mue wings on each side, with a dark ailvy-blue serge costume for the. naval re,Tlew. I cannot imagine anything pret-tier. Hats and toques are really very

fascinating just now.

The Evening Court.

The evening Courts are becoming very popular and much less formal than the afternoon drawing-rooms of the late reign. To those simply attending the Court it is like being at a delightful re-ception. The ladies and .gentlemen simply attending the Court stand in single file all along tho gorgeous suite of rooms, m Buckingham Palace, until the JUhg and Queen arrive. They are"W. ceded by four gentlemen, who walk slow-ly backwards, bowing continuously be-fore them Their Majwtieg walk .lowly »W followed hr the other members oí the H<>yal Family: the Ladies-in-Waitmg and Mftid«-of-KoBo«r. The Kine and Queon bc* and smile on each side

as the line of ladies and gentlemen bow low, and curtsey low, on each side, oc-casionally stopping to shake hands with any intimate acquaintance, lu the end roora, the ballroom, the presentations take place, and debutantes make their first sweeping curtsies to their Majesties. Hie King and Queen then walk down the beautiful flower-bedeckod rooms again, and after that everybody melts apart, and talk and chat, and adjourn to the

supner-room, and by 12 o'clock are in their carriages again. The evening Courts are quite pleasant, social func-tions. It is a curious fact that all these Court evenings have been on a Friday, and all have been dripping wet nights, and last Friday was no exception, for it poured. A" young married lady of my acquaintance had a sad experience, for some accident having happened to her coachman at the last minute, she sent for a four-wheeled cab to take her to Buckingham Palace, and, on ar-rival, the cab was refused ad-mission to the line of carriages. This lady had not the privilege of the en-tree, and yet she was quite determined to attend the last Court of the season, so hurriedly nicking up her train and her skirts, she arrived on foot at the doors of Buckineham Palace, and enter-ed its portals, and she is alive and well to tell the tale. Another friend cf mine went to Court in Windsor uniform, not knowing that he was doing anything out of order (dark blue with a gold stripe down the side of the trousers),and he had to hide his legs behind his wife's skirts all the evening, for fear of it being dis-covered that his nether garments were not knee .breeches aud silk stockings. The rules and regulations relating to full Court dress and Court etiquette are much more strict than they used to bo. The Queen was frowned in pale mauve on Fridav. with diamonds all over her dress, on her neck and anns, a diamond tiara in her hair. How 'youthful and sylph-like she still looks. She was fol-lowed bv her twin Maid,s of Honour, the Hons. Dorot'hv and Violet Vivian. They are tht beautiful and talented daughters of Lord Vivian. There ar© other twin sisters of the same name, daughters of Lord Swansea, who have recently made their cúrteos to their Majesties. The beautiful twins looked perfectly bewitch-ing, gowned alike in palest pink-their grey eves and dark hair, the counter-part of each other.

Plasmon for the Coronation.

I have been providing friends of my own who are going to the Abbey on Co-ronation Day with little cases contain-ing three bars of piasmon chocolate and three piasmon biscuits, which, I am told, contains as much nourishment as two ounces of beef steak.

Nikisch Concert.

Never have I enjoyed a musical treat more than I have this afternoon. Mr. Arthur Nikisch, the great Hungarian conductor (a pupil of Dr. Hans Richter), seemed to imbue the Queen's Hall or-chestra with new life and enthusiasm, emanating from himself. Never have I heard such wonderful unanimity of feel-ing between performers and conductor. The orchestra nlayed as one man, and the enthusiasm at the end of the concert wa6 usch as is rarely displayed by the undemonstrative English, though we are certainly learning to display a little more of our foreign cousins' feeling and en-thusiasm upon occasions. The audi-ence rose "en masse," and shouted and waved to Mr. Nikisch, recalling him

again and again to the platform. " He « kept bowing and waving his hands to-wards the standing musicians arid or-chestra, to show that they were the peo-ple to be claimed and applauded, not he. Whoever might be the most deserving of applause, however, the "ensemble " was nerfect. We had the overture from Beethoven's "Leonora,' ' and the Sym-phony in A. We had Wagner's "Waldweben," when the whole atmosphere vi-brated as with the notes of wild wood birds. We had selections from Berlioz's "Faust," and No. 1 Suite by Tschaikowsky, and never was highly musical audience better treated. We all sat

thrilled and snellbound, listening keen- j

iy and intently to every note. I no-ticed M. Kubelik. M. Joseph Hoffman, and Miss Helen Henschel amongst the audience, which was a very large and distinguished one. It is certainly a great privilege to live near Queen's

Hall, the home and centre of musical « Loudon. One forgets evervthing-wor-ries, vexations, and anxieties, all dis-appear and dissolve away, and one's soul soars away to another world, under the magic influeuco of Mr. Robert Newman's Queen's Hall Orchestra.

London, June 26.