THE WOMAN'S WORLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10434, 5 May 1897, Page 3

THE WOMAN'S WORLD.

THE IDEAL GIRL. There exists in the mind of the average young man an ideal girl whom he fondly hopes it will be his good fortune to marry. This girl will be immeasurably superior to the very ordinary young persons the average young man's friends bave married, or are about to marry. She will be as beautiful as a Greek goddess, a skilled musician, clever, poetical, and a variety of other things which the average girlfortunately—is not. This kind of girl is all very well in a two-shilling novel, where the fulfils her destiny by marrying Sir Guy de Tankerville or Lord Fitz-Haetings; but she would be a distinct mistake in the twopair back or £35 a year villa. We confess that we have a much higher regard for the quiet little woman of the practical world than for the queenly personage of the yellow-back novel, and when our " average young man" really does come to marry he forgets all about his impossible paragon of beauty and intellect, and finds his true happiness in the love of a good every-day woman. In this he shows his wisdom. He wants a helpmeet who will make his little home cheerful and bright for him, and not a tragedy princess, with her back hair .down and a fine scorn for the conventionalities of humdrum existence.

A woman, not too good For human nature's daily food, as Wordsworth puts it, is what he wants, and he is thrice fortunate if it fall to his lot to win such a treasure.

MARIE CORELLI ON THE MARRIAGE MART. The author of" Barabbas," writing in the Lady's Realm, finda a congenial theme for her profuse invective in the modern marriage, market. Beginning by declaring that "never did a greater generation of civilised hypocrites cumber the face of the globe than cumber it to-day," she goes on to compare the Turkish alave-markeb and its stripped victims with the London " eeason":—" It is an absolute grim fact that in England women—those of the upper classes, at any rate—are not to-day married, but bought for a price. The high and noble intention of marriage is entirely lost sight of in the scheming, the bargaining, and the pricing." True marriage is to the writer a religious unity:—"Nothing can make marriage an absolutely sacred thing except the great love, combined with the pure and faithful intention, of the human pair involved. They have to realise first of all that a God exists; and that before that God, whom they solemnly acknowledge and believe in, they are One." She tells a sweet story of an artist who lives in perfect happiness with his wife in a cottage in Capri on a hundred a year, and extols his plain living and high feeling as an example to English women. Then she draws her contrast;—" There can be nothing more hideous, more like a foretaste of hell itself, than the life to-life position of a man and woman who have been hustled into matrimony, or rather, as I prefer to put it, sold to each other for so many thousands per annum, and who, when the wedding fuss is over, and the feminine 'pictorials' have done gushing about the millinery of the occasion, find themselves alone together, without; a single sympathy in common—with nothing bub the chink of gold and the rustle of bank-notes for their heart-music—and with a barrier of steadilyincreasing repulsion and disgust rising between them every day. And this is what happens in nine cases out of ten in fashionable modern matrimony."

THE MOTHER'S INFLUENCE. Few individually appreciate the enormous hidden force in educational and moral influence exerted upon them by their mothers. Were a college founded for the propagation of right living, its professors would touch only superficially the inner life of its students. It would be, in fact, a superfluous institution, for life itself is such a school. We begin here like children, understanding such instruction alone as appeals to the heart, and of this every man's mother holds the key. Comprehending this, a wise mother should improve every occasion as a stimulus to an exercise in morality, teaching even by the glance of her eye, as it appeals to the innate love of her child; and this fundamental instruction will tako root as deeply as though the pupils were already older, excluding superficiality from the fact that she can touch the soul to its innermost core. When one leaves a mother's influence, one is already a moral man, or one is not, and, of a hundred who are so, ninety-nine, even though unconsciously, are indebted to the mother. THE TABLE. Brazilian Shew.—Cut up a few onions, tomatoes, and carrots; have ready 21b of the ehin of beef; cut into pieces about two inches long, and dip each piece into vinegar. Put the vegetables and meat, pepper and salt, into a saucepan without any water, and let them simmer by the fire for three or four hours. There will be plenty of gravy, and the meat very tender. Lemon Jelly.—Steep one and α-half ounces of gelatine in half a pint of cold water, with the rind of a lemon and a stick of cinnamon; add half a pint of white wine and sugar to taste, the juice of a lemon and the white of an egg well beaten; boil without stirring for five minutes, run through a fine cloth if you have not a jelly-bag at hand, and cool slightly before pouring into a damp mould. Soltana Cake.—Half a pound of flour, 6oz of sultanas, 3oz of butter, 3oz of sugar, one or two eggs, about a gill ot milk, a flat teaspoonful of baking powder, and a little flavouring. Beat the butter and sugar together to a cream, add flour, your sultanas cleaned and picked, the baking powder, and a little flavouring; add enough of milk to form rather a stiff mixture; place into a greased and floured cake tin; bake in a moderate oven for an hour.

Horseradish Sauce.—Required : Four tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish, one toaspoonful of powdered sugar, one teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, two tenspoonfuU of made mustard, a little vinegar. Mix the horseradish with sugar, salt, pepper, and mustard; moisten with sufficient; vinegar to give it a consistency of cream, and serve in a tureen. Stuffed Egos,—Take fire eggs and boil them until quite hard, then lay them in cold water for a few minutes, shell, and cut them in halves crosswise; remove the yolks very carefully, and cut the tip off the white so that they will stand firm; mix up the yolks in a basin with a piece of stale Dread soaked in milk, five or six finely-chopped capers, and two good-sized sardines, which have previously been washed, boned, and minced. Add to the mixture a little vinegar, oil, cayenne pepper, and salt; mix well together, and fill the whites of the eggs with the forcemeat. Garnish the dish with aspic jelly. GENERAL NOTES. Strop Preparation for Razors.—Mix fine-washed emery intimately witb fat or beeswax, until the proper consistency is obtained in the paste, and then rub it well into the leather strop. For a finer mixture use rouge or putty powder with the wax.

To Clean Gilt Fbames.—Gilfa frames may be cleaned as follows:—Mix with a pint of water enough Sowers of sulphur to give it a golden tinge; add this to four bruised onions, and boil for an hour and a-half. Pour off the liquid, strain is, and let it stand till quite cold. Apply with a soft brash to the dull frame, and it will be much improved.

How to Wash Silk Ties.—Take a pound of bran and boil it well; then wash the ties in the water the bran has been boiled in, keeping them quite straight. Rinse them well in water to which a small piece ot salt has been added. Iron when slightly damp. If this mode of washing ties is carefully carried ont they will last for years.

Roles for Window Clunino.—Chooie a time for cleaning when the sun doe* not shine on the windows. Wipe off the dust inside and out before wetting. Commence with the glass all round the woodwork. Use lukewarm water with a tablespoonful of ammonia in it Use cotton clothe, not linen.

A UsxroL Hint.—The sick room fire should never be replenished roughly and noisily., Nice, bandy lamps of coal sboaM be wrapped up in bit* of newspaper, which can be taken np by the fingers and quietly laid on the' fire without a sound., Many a refreshing, almost i life-giving slumber hat been broken limply by lack of thought it itWidiwettoo. - : ' - I