RELIGIOUS AMERICA

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31831, 8 November 1968, Page 2

RELIGIOUS AMERICA

Religion plays an important part in family life throughout the United States and Americans express their faith freely, Mrs S. C. Skurr, of Ohoka, who spent weeks travelling in America with her husband, said in Christchurch yesterday.

“Americans live up to their religion in their everyday life. They talk about it openly, and are not at all pious. When I commented on it they said: ‘Our forefathers came here for freedom of speech and religion and we are sticking to it’.” Competition pervaded big business but did not enter the home. Americans were very family conscious, and showed “their love of each other more than we do here. “Children seem to mean more to them. When a speaker on a platform is introduced, so is his wife and smallest children,” said Mrs Skurr, who stayed with several families in America.

“Really cold” air conditioning, large, opulent bathrooms in unusual colours and with an assortment of fittings, and the devoted service of longstanding Negro servants pressed her. “OLD-FASHIONED" During stops in 35 states she observed the dress of women in the street and found it “old-fashioned.” Few women were as smart as those in New Zealand and Australia. Skirts were worn well below the knee and attention seemed focused on hair styles. “Everyone colours their hair. I didn’t see a woman with pepper-and-salt hair, and if it’s grey it’s not likely to be natural. Styles are mostly short, and some are simply worn straight but beautifully cut I didn’t see a single hat until we got to New York and then only occasionally.

For the fashion conscious, skirts were made quite short for the coming winter, and styles were flared. Fur was the “in” fabric, particularly for hats, and grey lynx or “wild cat” the favoured variety. Even muffs were staging a come-back. Shoes were all closed in, sandals almost impossible to procure. The Skurrs have a mixed farm in Ohoka and made a point of seeing many types of fanning in America. The horse “farms” (as they were told to call studs) of Kentucky were one of the highlights of their tour. REALLY BLUE

The famed blue grass was really blue, and the state’s native “crop” was never ploughed, but weeded by hand. White rail fencing surrounded each field in the very wealthy horse breeding country round Lexington. There the select “horsey set” owned its own farm, over which it hunted. The subscription of the hunt club was a well-kept secret “We drove through the stud which was owned by Elizabeth Arden. She had the track put in very close to -her mansion so she could watch the horses from her windows,” said Mrs Skurr. The “Spendthrift" stud held the record for the highest average price for yearlings—s3o,ooo a head. Mrs Skurr owns the largest corgi kennels in New Zealand and a special show was

arranged for her to judge In California. The breed was popular in the state, although not well known throughout America. She found breeders colour conscious and they had achieved the correct size. Poodles remain the most popular and pampered pets. “There are poodle parlours in every large town and city where poodles are shampooed and clipped. Each large department store has a dog department with leads, collars, coats, and staff for grooming," she said.