AROUND THE TEA TABLE

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 114, 17 May 1927, Page 10

AROUND THE TEA TABLE

MATTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST,

(By SHIRLEY.)

We were talking at one afternoon tea about buying at the door. It was striking to notice the way in which some of us repudiated the custom, as if one's own doorstep were some low place, not fit for decent society. Quite a relief was it when a heretic struck in with the announcement that she'd bought seven articles lately in this reprehensible fashion "and all of them were quite good." There was a gasp, but one of the older 1 school of thought told a harrowing tale of a man who had come to her wanting to dispose of articles that would mean at least ten shillings of her money. "He wouldn't give his address or the name of his firm. He insisted that he represented himself and was proud and hurt when I declined to take his word that the goods would come next week." "Well, you didn't pay, of course, so that was all right." "No, I didn't, but he showed me a list of five or six persons who had paid on speculation and if the names and addresses are correct, all I can say is there are some very confiding people still in hardened old Auckland. So that's your buying at the door." "Not so," thus one from tlie opposition benches, "that's being very foolish at the door," after which we calmed down, disposed of more cake and presently drifted out to "keep between the white lines," whenever a large kind-looking cart horse, or an impatient motor car, would allow us to do so. The door-frequenting fraternity is much more masculine than feminine. Is

this a sign that men are better sellers than our sex, or worse? Probably men are a little superior. They know that salesmanship is to be learnt, and, having learnt the art, they don't keep too rigidly to rule. When a girl has learnt the rules she fails sometimes in applying learnt the art, they don't keep too dent. I remember one negotiating me in a semi-personal fashion who had evidently learnt about "the human touch," which can be gained by finding out the other person's name and using it sometimes. She did so to an irritating effect, and she had got the name wrong anyhow.

Behind the counter, there is often als< lack of skill. There was one I approachet the other day for a cold water dye, de clining one proffered me because "Boi for ten minutes" was on the label. Thii struck me, my intelligence being higl at the time, as not exactly a cold watei way of working the business. "Oh, yon take no notice of that label," said the young person airily, and added a lofty "please yourself," when I continued, in my simple way, taking notice. At an adjacent shop the same brand wae offered me. "Very true," remarked the male door-keeper. He seemed pleased and happy at my sagacity—then turning the packet round, he showed how there was an alternative method by which the other method could be used. And it was used, with results good enough to be mentioned at the next afternon tea, which is the test. Many preparations in tins or packets give instructions in French, sometimes cigarette-making machine, however, somewhat tactlessly tells how to manufacture these articles in the language ol France alone. As one optimist said, however, buying one, anyone who can t see what ouvrir le moule means must be very dense. As there is only one thing tc open, we conclude that that is the moule and open it. Cigarettes as a feminine possession, however, are still not very common in this country. The other day, at one of our suburban wharves, a little boy watched, in growing horror, a young lady lighting up on the wharf, waiting for the ferry. "Mother, will she be allowed to do that?" A large policeman was in the vicinity, and the boy had visions of an arrest. He had not evidently heard the new saying "Sauce for the gander is not merely sauce for the goose : but 'applesauce.'" Tobacco reminds us women of those thousands of industrial men in the Old Country who are going to give up beei and tobacco months to help theii cause. Will the wives get the benefit 1 This giving up is without a parallel in masculine history. Men hitherto hav< given up their lives, but not theii tobacco. There were, of course, th< Boston men who threw all the tea intc their harbour when George the Third wai troublesome. Men didn't drink tea mucl in those days. They called it catlap and were John Bullish about it, calling for tankards of good old English home brewed and so forth when anyone ever offered the decoction that was bringing England to the usual dogs. It is. edify ing, therefore, to think of all those Boston men (who at the moment were English), slipping their wives' reflection into the sea, and getting into history for their self-denial! On the whole, I admire more the industrial workers of to-day. They will out-do the "Boston tea party" if—every wife knows what that "if" means. Many fashions have arisen from a defect, permanent or temporary. An English society woman recently knocked against a tree when out hunting, result, one black eye. Having to appear at an afternoon next day, she had the discoloured skin treated so as to harmonise with her hat, which was deep blue. In the evening, it was recoloured to tone with her evening dress. She states that when her skin is normal, she will still keep her black eye. One wonders what der husband thinks. Perhaps, however, tier husband is that gentleman clad in bright violet who amazed a West End diurch the other day. Except for the :olour, his suit was made on conventional lines, which, paradoxically made t the more startling. Some day, howsver, it may be described as a quiet suit mited for a modest and retiring gentlenan who dislikes the jazz colouring of >rdinary masculine wear.

There are dress experts who believe that in ten years' time no woman will think of wearing a skirt when she plays golf, tennis, or any other strenuous game. Though it is true that the present-day skirts do not impede any ordinary activity, a well-known firm of designers has launched a trouser skirt this spring, which they claim is even more comfortable to wear. A deep inverted pleat is used in the centre front, and the edges of the Stuff, instead of being joined in the centre seam in the ordinary way. are taken back and invisibly attached to the back of the skirt. This is so skilfully done as to be invisible, and the skirt has a perfectly ordinary appearance at the back. In front, when you wish to conceal the trouser effect, there is a loose pleated panel, which can be attached in a moment, to hang over the skirt division and give Jthe effect of an ordinary pleated skirt.