embonpoint, but there be other matrons who hang so uncertainly about that borderland of beauty that they somehow manage to convey the hint that only by an unwinking watchfulness do they succeed in foiling the onslaughts of his ogreship of avoirdupois.  In their eye lurks terror and in their lines one spells their secret of rebellious hunger; of Delsarte, gymnastics and massage.  Sometimes the matron is an improvement on the maid.  But this is not always true.  For those who turn coarse and harsh with years, we recommend Christian Science and a less flexible self-denial.

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We find it difficult to understand that lack of sense and taste which led to the recent criticisms of Mr. Jefferson’s oratory on the Actor’s Home occasion.  Mr. Jefferson, happening by mistake to pass over one of the many names of benefactors, and, presto! there were a dozen listeners, malice-prompted, eager to ascribe to this falter of an old man’s memory every meager and jealous motive.  An intricate and, of a necessity, a somewhat didactic argument, delivered in the open air, does not become the simplest of tasks in the hands of an old gentleman who has turned his back upon the fourscore mark.  He was brave and he was most obliging to undertake a speech of any character, and now his payment seems to be in the customary false, ill-natured coin.

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It is said that the late Ward McAllister shrank with peculiar distaste from the vulgarity of divorce.  If so he is to be congratulated on passing away before the publication of his niece’s domestic misfits.  Mrs. Young is appallingly frank concerning her wrongs and the suit threatens to be spicy; although so far, the name of the actress corespondent has not been given to the press.  It was good of Mr. McAllister to attempt that separation of wheat from chaff which at one time rendered his verdicts of such dread power among social aspirants; it may be the irony of mockery that to-day his family are conspicuous upon only two points.  One relative goes clamorously into the divorce court while another wins celebration by the showy style of a bodice.

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The gossip who predicted that the wife of the French ambassador would decline to be received by the Countess Cassini must content herself as best she may with the development of some lesser scandal, for certainly this last effort has met refutation.  Mme. Cambon dined at the Russian embassy like the diplomatic woman that she is.

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The visit of Miss Roosevelt to Cuba is said to have been more or less of a failure speaking from a Latin standpoint.  Miss Roosevelt did not “take” with the Cuban element.  She is uncompromisingly Anglo-Saxon and lacks that pliability which would endear her to the children of another race.  Cuban women excel in charm of mannerism and in their eyes Miss Roosevelt appears unpolished and uncut.  We may like her better as she is, but it is safe to say that had she but a few added years of experience there would have been a more gracious outcome to her trip.  Miss Roosevelt Scovel was recently dining at Sherry’s.  She wore an exquisite white frock but is not herself a pretty girl though her grace uplifts somewhat her mediocrity of appearance.