TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11750, 26 November 1903, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Possibly because of the deetruoTulips, tive effect of nor'-westem,

which in some years are at their wowt in early summer, tulips ire not so much grown in Canterbury os they deserve to be. They Have, indeed, been in the cool shade of tolerance rather than the warmth of popularity, but in the, Old are experiencing a revival in fashion, aid are coming to the front once in .There is nothing like- a boom, and assuredly there will never. again be ( anything ;lik^.»the mania which two hundred year* • »gcr in Holland created one of the most extraordinary incidents in the trnoTe history of commerce. Time* have changed .since then, and the black tulip for which, in the day* of the "tulipomania,"' two bufidred guineas is said to hare been paid, cait tiW be bought for—two pence I - Itis not absolutely' black, but then there are dottbt*. ae to vhedier the ■ high-priced bloom of the seventeenth century was really as black as the old Dutch bulb-growers assert. It is a 'poult which cannot be cleared tip now f at any rate, for the. "old .original Haarlem black" disappeared from' Cultivation a hundred years ago. From being a fad in which only millionaires could indulge, tulip-growing ie now within' the meant of quite ordinary peoplt. No one is in any danger of being asked two, hen* dred guineas for a tingle bulb, in fact, it is very doubtful if a man could throw away two hundred shillings on one bloom, even if be wanted to do so. It was stated «ome little time ago that as much tw two or three guineas oosld be obtained for nngle bulbs, but a move recent authority declares that the most expensive tulips' can be bought aU Home for five shillings and sixpence. It is a small tulip, growing about ceven inches high, and its primrose yellow flowers are blotched: with green at the base. The biggest and showiest of the tulips are the cheapest, and' gorgeous indeed i* the appearance of a well-filled bed of them.. From these giante two feet, and sometimes more in height, one can have tulip* all : the way . down to three-inch midget*, with blooms likeupright harebelle. It is satiarfactorf to learn that, bad es England's trade •Jβ alleged t» be, in tnlip-growing at least she is more than holding her own. Am a matter of fact nhe » taking a good deal of Holland's ancient trade from her, although in the opinion of the Dutch the country that, could ieach them anything about tulips did not exist.

If any l*dy desires to ascertain The whether she possesses 'the Perfect perfect foot," as conceived by Foot, the prince of Paris bootmakers, let her measure the length of her head and then her height. If she finds that the eighth port of her height is equal to the length of her head, the will probably also have the perfect length of foot—in a medium-eked woman, finches. If it is not that exact length the must resign herself to the knowledge that she is not possessed of the perfect foot, consoling herself With the pronouncement of the Paris expert thai that foot is. s> great rarity. But although nine and β-quarter inches is arbitrarily laid down as the proper length, of the foot of a- "mediumsized woman "—which is wither a wide description—it appears that perfect feet are by no means necessarily small. The tine test of pedal perfection is, as with other things, a matter of proper proportion. " Line " is the great, the essential, desideratum. The. foot .should, says the French authority, be daintily and delicately formed, arching gracefully like the neck of a- high-bred horse, both at the instep and what we call the * foot'e neck,' the ' cott da pied, , trbich is the litUe hillock, where an ill-made boot invariably-hurts, sJbove the instep, and the lines of the toes ahoold ripple from the big tee's point to that of the littio toe, decreasing gradually as do the waves upon the beach during a gently ebbing tide"—from which one gathers that, if a man has a poet's soul, not even the proiieic occupation of making boots can stifle it. There are various conditions to be observed by those who would cultivate a perfect foot. Tbue, huddled or cramped toes are disastrous, and will in time destroy the beauty of the most perfect foot eve* made. Hygiene of the foot must be observed with the greatest devotion, end the toes should be "wriggled" for half an hour every day after the both—* counsel 'of perfection, we fear, for most of us. Hish heela o» aa abomination to be

avoided like the plagtts, as, not only work,ing havoo "with tlie coaititetion, but absolutely ruining all hop« of attaining tree foot beauty. Above all, boots and s%>ce mn*t be made for t£e ready eWe article.being anaUvema to this, prince• of bootaMfcem ' Remembering French jibes at tli« sixe of English feet,. one is- surprised to learn that English women rank in this Frenchman , * opinion as high ac fourth ainofeg the natione for the pwWfteie of their feet. The Austriana are easily first, followed by Americans, with French women third. English women, who> sire very dose up fourth, usually have larger feet than their French neighbours, ;btlt then they are bigger hi every way r ,'*nd beauty in t*st-, as we. have mid',, is a 'matter of proportionu The appewranc* of » big woman with ttny feet is as unpleasing as that of a little woman with "beetlecrushers." . . •