WOMEN'S WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 307, 27 December 1924, Page 22

WOMEN'S WORLD.

AROUND THE TOY SHOPS. (By G, EDITH BURTON".) One nniy needs to take a look around the toy .-iiops at liiis season to be able to reafise what a grotesque variety even ,hildren require nowadaya-to awaken their blase Interest. _ Having a pretty definite idea 01 what 1 wa- u.»in- to "(jive my liule friuml.. 1 was able u> speii.l a μ-oddeul <>i time matching unfortunate relatives in tin throes of painful indecision, in one particular shop, a largu back room Pimply bulged with toy*. n.ey overflowed from ceilin; tn floor--a bewildering medley. A pramlma and a maiden auntie, who was not at oil young, wandered around with a long list which auntie carried in a rliseonsolato fashion. The young shop assistant had done her best/and was still gentle and polite, bllt there was a decidedly chilly tone in her voice as she a-'-e.l if she might look at the list, so that it might suggest something to her. Auntie handed it over. "Knives, nir-piins, month-oraans. trumpets, swords." she read out—"o, we have heaps of these" (in great relief). "O dear." , said grandma, "that is the wrong side— those are things wp may not give my grandsons. because of dam-ape done with them last year." Then I passed oh to the meehanieal toys, where a girl, hot and flushed With stooping, was winding all manner of things on wheels, allowing them off to quite a crowd. This is the section where the grownup children love to congregate. These are not children's toys: they are really a pastime for boys from forty to eighty. A little boy I know had' a perfect little motor car of the •ninding up variety given him and he very quickly tired of it. "You can't do "anything with it," lie said, "only make it run round." And he soon went hack to his wooden trolley. But his father and his uncles played with it every evening, until the little fellow gravely presented it to them (in all innocence), then they allowed it to remain in state on the mantelpiece. Mechanical Marvels. In this toy department there was an unusually good stock of mechanical toys —two ridiculous ones I mnst mention. The first, a pair of ferocious roosters, when first wound up fought

(without damage to one another) at a terrific speed, which, as the wheels ran down, became inane dips or pecks reminiscent of slow movement pictures. Two big boys of thirty-five and forty had it wound up several times, and laughed till the tears ran down their faces. The second was a turtle as big as a tea-plate and a splendid imitation, but alas, when wound, it was quite evident it had begun its Xmas festivities early, for it started oft" round and round t lie I floor, at a pace that was never known , for a turtle, on sea or land. | During the Great War, and for a year or two after that, toys were poor and scarce, and of course very expensive. This year they seem to have got back to the old standard and beyond it. Shops teem with all sorts of new ideas for toy-land. It is a relief to turn from dozens of boxes containing trumpery furniture sets, bath sets, shop sets, to the solid \ ■wooden toys so fresh and clean looking ' jn their plain, unvarnished wood. Yet for small purses, these toys are expensive: and where there are live or | six stockings to fill, the little delicate I box of some kind of ''set"' supplies the I want. Its life is over by breakfast ' time, but it has filled a little heart with j rapture for an hour or two, and what j more could sixpence do? The Big Children. At what age, asks someone, does a child cease to care for toys? Some : never; but most have a lucid interval j between thirteen and thirty. After the ; teens are readied mankind prefers to ! call its toys 'hobbies." mascots, any | thing but toys. Cjrla no longer dress j dolls wlien they put their hair up: they i have kewpics or collies instead. They have black china cats; hicky bean's slung on ribbon round their necks, and "vastijeae dateline from their bamrles ! .Men have grotesque toys of endless ' variety and they all come under the name of mascots; and men more than women are ready at any time to play i with any toy left lying about \ little I mean'no': "thereV ju !f JT'?" I ,™' Ton spoke, did Tou J h ' h d . '[ " hen

Ino I mean Thursday—Dash the tiling^ ' : have you ever got the three in at once?" [and so on for at least an hour. ' A little frirl hearing a certain visitor i was expected for bridge that evening, ! Lot up out of bed to put her "Brer ! Kabbit" on t)ie soaa for Mr.- ■ to play 1 with. " '(.'us lie does love to feel Brer's 1 long ears. ' 1 An American magazine advertise-; a doll with fix different hends. What a j commentary on lift- to-day; and what ■ an lii-iilr in V\e dear litt lo maids who ' J faithfully hue on.- old battered dolly. HOUSEKEEPING. i ' According to popular belief children ■ I learn in the sehoulroom all. nr nearly i ! ;ill ilie thinffß that will make them . capable of fullillins to t!ie best of their • j power the duties of after life, chief : 'among the-e duties being the earning i of a livelihood. Later then , are evening : lor extension .-iliools. at which they may : l perfect themselves, so that they may - lattain greater efliciency iv their par- ! tii'iilnr walk in life, in other words. • [so that they may succeed, nr. to put it ! I baldly, make more money, for, after all. • ,is nnt this at the back of most people's ; mind* in the educating of their children. Taking this for granted, is there any 1 school where children are taught the ' i best method of usins this money —or • where the precepts of practical economy 1 'are instilled into them? America has f led the van in remedying the defects 'of early scholarastic or home training ■ •Uγ iiistitutinjr what is known as Home i Service Departments—to l>e exact, the ■ ; American hanks instituted these de--1 ' partments. not as a money-making sclieme. but to inculcate principles of ' : thrift. Especially to housewives, they ' have been of inestimable value. We " all know women who wail that they ' have no head for fijrurcs, and the 'housekeeping allowance never seema to !I be enoujrh, no matter how careful they ; try to be. To those who have indulgent husbands blessed with a sufficiency of this world's goods, the matter is not very serious— but to her whose man earns so much and no more, and who can but provide accordingly, the quesi tion of outlay is a burning one. For 1 her especially these Home Service . Departments have been established in ; many towns. An expert is engaged, I and will not only advise but actually

arrange, free of any charge or obligation, the complete outlay of the housekeeping money—and the first item under the statement of that monthly income is "savings." Keeping strict account of expenditure, personal and household, is the fust step towards efficient management. Try it, and you will lie astonished at the way in "which trifling sums for '-this I and that" will mount up. To apportion j a sum for each week in the month, and ■to subdivide this among the various I items to he purchased, is the plan of a wise housekeeper. There can be no doubt that the keeping of strict account of outlay—that is, a '•budget"—is a great help towards judicious expenditure, economy, and living within one's income. Moreover—and this is ot supreme importance—it tends to make I a home happier, since it helps to I disperse financial worry. The housekeeper whose outlay is unchecked or unrecorded is pretty sure to find herself sooner or later in difficulties. .Small sums have a disconcerting way of mounting up, and a succession of trivial J expenditures may very well lead to the bankruptcy of the family excheque. 'unless v careful watch is kept. We may .have a grudge against our trans- ; Pacific cousins for some of the things they have sent us—notably jazz and lilnis—but if they should inculcate in us 1 lie idea of thrift, so encouraged*in : their own people, we might forgive I them even those atrocities. ! If flies come buzzing round baby as lie j lies in his cot or pram he should be proj looted by means of mosquito netting. Do not let the netting come nearer his face anil body limn absolutely necessary, as it will tend to hold the bad air which he ■ breathes out. and u> prevent fresh air 1 getting to him. When using the netting. try and stand baby in a. perceptible draught so that the air will foive its i way through the netting to him. Any silk ribbons, even oi expensive taffetas or satin, c;;n be washed easily. j Dip in ral:i water and lay fiat on "a j good surface, such as a marble slab or a j towel spread over a table. Rub a small ' brush in Castile >oap solution, and with j this rub the ribbon on both sides, but lin one direction only; then rinse in two lor three clear waters, wring between the j tolds of a towel, and press under thin • J muslin.