FAMILY MEALS FOR A WEEK

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 38, 21 March 1914, Page 3

FAMILY MEALS FOR A WEEK

[woman and) the rash individual who is only considerate

of women. > u: Trae* considerateness means; the exercise of the art of considering. - Th 6 man wtja has a general rule of eonsiderateness towards all women does not exercise :ihis ar.t. =...." .«• ■ ■ ■■■ .. ,

, He +??****- ae« even. the obvious difference' between [the appreciation of his consideratenessfrom, say, an" athletic - golfing girlj a fragile " feminine'' an elderly matron, a young bluestocking, and so forth. They, each and all are '' woriien'' to whom he must be " considerate.'' And if one (s¥» other a little unresponsive, Or bit-hand with hirii' 'he silently mourns the change which is coming over ' women''! There still 1 exist plenty' of considerate men who fondly imagine that - they can getj along with women by some rule-of-thuihb which.'inyolves the graceful presentation, at odd intervals, of "those two classic offerings, a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers. To such a one it is a shock to diseovfer that there exists a "woman to "Whom either'; if box of chocolates or a gift of flowers positively borders on insult. Not |hat she dislikes either, chocolates- pi; flowers. She may be quite human enough to enjoy chocolates. She may have a passion for flowers. But the reception of either of them,* from the considerate man, reminds her too forcibly of—well, of his'iionsiderateness. • To her there is a touch of condescension in this formality of the chocolates and the flowers. It is a sign that the giver thinks ought to have chocolates and flowers, not that this particular woman has been so carefully considered, in all her tastes, that the things on earth suitable for her at that particular moment and from that particular visitor were chocolates or flowers. ' 1

Indeed, it is the common mistake of the mechanically considerate man that he labours under the'delusion that "women." always like presents. Many a woman intensely dislikes presents. But even the woman who appreciates presents appreciates the considered present tenfold.

The Art of Giving Presents. Perhaps she is musical; and the considerate man who* genuinely considers her takes pains to bring her a gift of some special piece of music. . Not half so costly as the hypothetical chocolates from Bond Street or flowers from a Piccadilly florist's, but—carefully chosen after consideration. The woman who likes bqoks also has the strange faculty of liking certain sOrts of books. These the considering considerate man has quietly made a note of; and when he brings her a present it consists of a brilliant divination of her preferences in the shape of precisely the,book she had been longing to read —yet, perhaps, precisely the book which, he himself would never , dream of reading. Whereas our dear old the unconsidering considerate man, if he gives ''women'' books at all, chooses ones with pretty binding or a pink ribbon at the corners, for "women" adore pretty things, don't you know, and books to them, are primarily nn ornament for that mythical retreat, the boudoir! Then there is the pathetically appealing figure, the tmconsidering considerate husband. He means well—and to be sure all considerate men mean well—but his

(Arranged for THE SUN readers by Miss Mildred^Trfeirt, I 'Licentiate Cookery Association.).

to be at the theatre in time, either because of the girl chum's visit or because a new evening dress had not come from .the milliner's! He would have shrunk at this rebuff of his generosity. Nevertheless, jthe rebuff /vvould have,been justified. Madame has to make frantic efforts to get a dress ready, in time, an older dress than the one which she wotild -have preferred to wear; she has to give fresh orders to the servants in regard to dinner,'and countermand thet previous ones. All because monsieur had' not the considered considerateness to propose the theatre trip in the i Burning, or on the previous day, instead of in the 4ate afternoon! •

And Weil she knows that the origin of his considerateness very occult secret. He wants to go to the theatre himself. So they meet in town, is smiling and serene, beautifully dressed; Never a mention of the upset at.sfwne or of the postponed girl chum! After all, it is;®»ph jollier to have an impromptu theatre trip with moifeifeur when, he is in the mood to go than a long-forS&eetoi trip which takes place when, as it turns out, he rather have stayed away. And jshe sees that he has, aa "usual, brought her a spray of flowers she is riot, conceivably, ill-pleased. They are lovely.-' Moreover, it is quite like old times if, in the he signals to the attendant for a box of chocoj^'tes. . ■. —"Daily Mail."