AROUND THE TEA TABLE

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 44, 22 February 1927, Page 19

AROUND THE TEA TABLE

le MATTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

(By SHIRLEY.)

»e The newest in the monogram cur] a, Like the girl who, when she was good le was very, veiy good, and when she wa it bad, was horrid, you sport it "right ii the middle of the forehead." Goinj further than that damsel, however, voi id twist it into the initial letter of 'you 10 name, or that of your "best bov," i le you wish to console him for the elimina n tion of "obey." s. How managed? Quite easv. Oil o pomade the "L" or "M," and" then sla] F. it hard against your feminine brow. g * • * • :e Madame Melba, who is booked foi a concerts in Melbourne, is still wearim n unshingled hair, called red gold by tht 7 poetical, "but my feather used to call ii r rusty. However," excusing her parent a "he was a contractor, you know.' Melba will rest while the Royal invasior is on. It must be good for a singer tc sing when Royalty has anything to dc with the arrangements. It seems that ;. to ensure perfect silence, the clocks are - stopped! • • • • One admires the ingenuity, rather , than the integrity, of that New South f Wales woman who noticed, when her , piano, on the hire system, was brought 9 into her room, that the instrument was 3 a very tight fit in the doorway. Later, 2 she contrived to make it just a shade | tighter. When the men*came for the 1 second instalment she refused to pay, - with the result, that, after vain at- - tempts to resume their own propertv, * the firm had to let the piano remain | and write off the debt. Presumably ane might have charged them for storage if 7 they had not cancelled the matter' •"• • • \ Loud speakers "are. beings banished in : Paris. -The wireless voice is no longer 1 permitted to add to the din—and yet _ the Parisians are not particularly senr sitive to sound. Evidently, however, the wireless voice has got them down. The trouble is as yet in its infancy here, J but I am told of a lady in a southern city, who has one on each side of her, and who is going to buy a domestic t cleanser, because this, she states, will , take a good deal of the electricity out of the air, and so soften the voices, at least to a great extent. It will be a I nuisance, she states, to have to work it when she wants a little peace, but she [ is resolved to do so. I am not wireless expert enough . to know whether her way will be i efficacious but, if so, the scheme is , what the Americans term "a ripe and fruity one." • * • • The "Clutha Leader" informs us that "there is a rush of applicants to certain public works down that way, for which i married men, with large families, are to , be first considered. The arrangement is , that there are to be only four days of work per week." I wonder what the mothers of those same large families would say, if told that they would have only four days' work a week. The news would have to be broken to them gently. ' Let jis hope some of those good men and true, on their three off-days a week, will remember Walt Whitman's advice, when he counselled every man "To see that he do something for a woman, to work as tailor, tailoress, porter, nurse. To invent a little, something ingenious, to aid the washing, cooking, and cleaning, And to hold it no disgrace to take a hand at them themselves." which excellent advice must have come as a thunderbolt in the dark days of sixty years ago when the "good," grey poet" gave them forth. • • » • It is to be hoped that the teaching of. self-help in the water will not be > shelved, because the word "swimming" , is so constantly used.' Swimming is the equivalent of running on land, and floating the equivalent of walking. We learn to walk on land, and to acquire the art of floating will usually see us through. If a girl can float with her arms folded in front of her, she has enough balance probably to keep her on the surface even if upset from a boat with her ordinary clothes on—such as clothes are nowadays—and floating is the woman's role. She does this better than men, so the experts tell us. The sea is "woman's sphere." Here she is almost equal with men, manv of whom "can't float." Even in swimmino', however, she shows well, and, while 1 admire that member of the other sex who nearly conquered our N.Z. river the other day, entertain a conviction that a woman will be the first to succeed.

NOTE. Notices of engagement sent in most bear the signature of both contracting parties. Accounts of -weddings should reach this office as soon after the ceremony an possible. Xo notice will be given of weddings later than ten days after the event.