Housekeeper.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 701, 10 November 1909, Page 7

Housekeeper.

HOME HINTS. To Make Stale Loves Like New. Take a stale loaf of bread and pour cold water over it, then put it between two bread tins and re-bake in a brisk oven. Teacakes can be done the same way, and will be found quite equal to new. If you have a very salt piece of bacon that you want to use for frying, put it in a pan with enuogh cold water to cover it. Heat quickly, and as soon as the water boils empty it off, and fry in the usuai way. Cooking it in this way quite takes off any unpleasant saltness.

White Kitchen Tables. After.scrubbing with soap and water in the usual way, take a clean, dry cloth and a handful of salt. Rub the salt on the same way as the grain of the wood, then leave it to dry. Should any salt remain, it only needs to be wiped off with a duster. The result is a beautiful white table. All kitchen utensils —such as pastry-board and rolling-pin—should be cleaned in the same way. Dandruff and Falling Out of Hair. Wash the scalp at least once a week with the best quality "of juniper tar soap, rinsing in several waters. After drying the hair, rub in with the fingers a teaspoonful of the following mixture: ioz. of oil of sweet almonds, ioz. of strong water of ammonia, 40Z. of spirit of rosemary, 20Z. of Florida water. A thorough systematic brushing night and morning with a brush not too stiff will do more than anything else to keep the scalp clean and free from dandruff.

How to Wash an Eider-Down Quilt. When washing an eider-down quilt, first of all mend any little holes there may be in the sateen, then prepare suds with warm water and boiled soap, and in this plunge the quilt. Squeeze with the hands until the water becomes dirty, then place in fresh water (suds), and repeat the process until clean. Rinse in as many waters as necessary, squeeze out the water, shake the quilt, and j hang it out to dry; while drying shqlke it until it is soft and full. On ■no account use a wringer, orj the quilt will be utterly spoiled.

The Care of Rings. The growing fancy for wearing an abundance of rings' during the day as well as for evening affairs makes special care of gems they encase very necessary. If you want your rings to last well do not wear them under gloves. That is what a prominent jeweller says. But if you decide that gloves are a necessity, as probably you will, he adds, then send your rings twice a year to be overhauled. The reason for this warning is that the constant friction of the gloves wears the tiny points that hold the stones in place, and the jresult is that the stones fall out unless" they are constantly looked after. Where to Find the Waist Line. In the many forms assumed by the corselet the tendency is now towards the waist-line being once more relegated to its normal position. It is likely that the spell which the charm of the Empire gown has woven around us will continue to affect the place of the waist for some time, and that the high waist will not be entirelv forgotten for many months, but its adoption is no longer universal, and in the modified forms of the princess frock especially the waist-line is normal. Amusements that Bore. It is rare to find anybody over the age of twenty who enjoys going to a party, it is equally rare to meet anybody who enjoys giving one. So writes Lady Gordon. The whole art of entertaining, from the point of view of the hostess, consists in doing it more expensively than anyone else, while the only objects of her guests in attending her party is to get it over as quickly as possible in order to be able to go on to another.

Keep Your Handkerchiefs Hidden. One point (says a correspondent) the would-be well-dressed should remember —the handkerchief should not be too much in evidence. The woman who goes about with her handkerchief clutched in her hand seldom has a clean handkerchief. It is usually a damp, grimy ball, and no matter how beautiful the workmanship of it may be\ nothing impresses one but the soggy uncleanliness of it. If there is no pocket in her dress, a woman can always tuck her handkerchief in some little corner of her bodice. BEAUTIES MARRED BY THEIR "WALK." A Frenchwoman of any standing rarely moves jauntily, the Spanish ffirl never, and therein lies their popularity (says a writer). Having lived abroad many years, in places frequented by our tourists, I have had ample opportunity of observing the average Englishman's "walk" as compared with that of her cousins beyond the Channel, and in nine cases out of ten the comparison did not favour her, though, as far as healthy good looks are concerned, she could generally carry off the prize. Englishmen of my acquaintance invariably agree with me, and we deplored the fact that our compatriots, superior in many ways to the Continentals, should nevertheless make themselves so awkwardly conspicuous when walking down the streej? It made them lose in attractiveness what I they would easily have gained a hundredfold had an elegant sinuosity of the movements taken the place of the careless and jerky "swagger" which does so much to mar beauty.

SCHOOL FOR THE ART OF EATINC. An enterprising woman named Hoiker has started a school at Budapest where pupils of all ages are given a full course of instruction in the art of eating. Practical demonstrations are given in ordinary table manners, but the chief aim of the establishment is to

teach the ignorant how to #eal successfully with such dishes as they never even heard of. "Who does not recollect in his experience moments of unspeakable anguish," asks Frau Hoiker, "when at a dinner party he finds that he is using his knife or fork for a dish that only requires a spoon, or vice versa? It is to save men and women from these little tragedies that I have opened my school."

Examinations are to be held at the end of each term, when the students will be requested to attack an array of unknown delicacies before them. Those who undergo the ordeal successfully will, it is said, obtain a certificate from Frau Hoiked, which will enable them to face any banquet without flinching.

RIVAL BEAUTIES. 'Which is the most beautiful of these, a French or an English woman?" This is the deightfully agitating question raised by the exhibition of a hundred portraits, by French and English masters, recently held in Paris. ' Practically it was an international beauty show. \ The only beauties on exhibition graced a by-gone age. which, however, was the traditional epoch of lovely woman, as it was certainly the golden age of portrait painting. Only the works of old masters were shown, such as Gainborough, Romnev T. Lawrence, and Hogarth for England, and Boucher, Largilliere. . and Mme. Lebrun, for France. Both Mme. Lebrun and Romney painted portraits of Lady Hamilton, so these may be compared at the exhibition. Reynolds is well represented, as is Hoppner and Raeburn. The exhibition has raised the always entertaining discussion as to which' nation boasts the more beautiful women to-day. Several newspapers have devoted editorials to this question, which is difficult to answer unless the nations risk the rupture of the \"entente cordiale" by submitting it to a court of arbitration.

LATEST IN NECKWEAR. Combine your underwear and save room. This is the latest fiat of the modiste. Separated underclothing is somewhat old-fashioned and the latest developement combines at least two, if not three, of the garments- of the ordinary underwear into qne garment, which, to be correct, must be tailormade in the carefulness of its fit. There is the long petticoat with the corset cover made in princess form. This style has many advantages for wear under the semi-princess dresses, and is made up of nainsook, muslin, cambric, or longcloth, as well as in the plain and cross-barred fabrics, or in light coloured China silks. The decorations are Cluny and Valenciennes lace, but there is very little tucking shown, and the idea,is to have the garment take up as little room as possible. Handsome corsets and petticoats in one, the corset being of satin with a satin petticoat attached are made up for more extravagant women who have a special corset made to fit each gown. Another combination is that of the lace petticoat and bloomer, which is frequently attached to the corset cover.