THE SENSELESS FEATHER DUSTER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 47, 19 November 1907, Page 3

THE SENSELESS FEATHER DUSTER.

No doubt men do things that-women wonder at, and marvel why they do tliem. But I; wonder if in their business lives,-or in connection with- their personal belongings, they have or use anything quite so senseless, they.have for use anything quite so "Senseless, fbrtpractical'purposes, as a woman's featherduster. Of 1 all usoless domestic inventions that absolutely defeats its own purpose, die feather-duster strike? tho practical mascu-liho'-mind as par excellence the most foolish coritrivanco which tho human mind ever invehted. tt actually accomplishes nothing, except..to raise the dust from one spot m> thttt 'it may settle in another. It may bo a • r.uick manner of dusting, but what does it : really accomplish, except to set particles of dust in motion so that they can bfe the more easily breathed in by thoso who happen to bo-in the room? As an insanitary article of use perhaps its equal is scarcely known. The feathers havo not the adhesive quality of a cloth; so it gathers unto itself not a particle of dust. Let a maid, or a house-wife-devote: ono hour to the dusting of a , loojrn with a feathor-du6ter, and at the end of':t'hat time thero is just exactly as much • dußt in the room as there ever was. It is simply not .in the same spots. It lias only been disturbed to settle somewhere else. Perhaps..it is not given to the masculine Perhaps it is not given to the feminine ■rinna to, 1 understand just what a feather- : duster ..accomplishes— oxcopt, perhaps, *o make a think look clean when really it is hot clean. / But as a snare and a delusion, and one .so easily apparent at that, the featheNduster certainly retains its place in the .domestic machinery, with a wonderful persistency.; . I'ortunately, it is moro useless than injurious, except when there is a baby'in the room; thoil the use of a featherduster takes on a 1 more serious aspect.

The black hat trimmed with coloured flowers has' not had such ah iiinings as it is now enjoying for many a long day. In the yrrong .hands nothing can be dowdier, ihd ono generally thinks of the dusty strn - garnished with dustier velvet and adjri; i pith -tired, icrumpled pink or red roses dear to'/"the char-lady I" It can bo very s.nou however,' at the present .moment, »n<l v. hen massed; with leafless roses in shad 13 nf ivory, :; pink,-apricot, and peach mau », iricihs very, well; also wreathed with many-hued begonias.- Convolvuli are too pop alar now. As.-;a change from flowers, soft swathings of several tints of tullo 'or chiffon c.u? looii lovely. Mrs.Winficld Freeman, who has lately returned'from a trip to Korea, writes in the "Central Christian Advocate" of the curious medical superstitions of tho peoplo, and the strange remedies .to which tliey resort. Whooping-cough' tliov call "donkey cough," and tho-cure is to kiss the donkey IMrs. Freeman makes a strong plea for more doctors and hospitals. Thero is a picturo that would havo glaidonod the heart of "Elia," suggosted by :',e statement. that society ladies of Texas ore having , wild pigs trained as drawing-room pets. "A young and tender suckling," ro Wrote, thinking, no doubt, of just such « charming creature, "under a moon oM - guiltless as yet of the sty—with no origi-.inl speck of the atnor imniunditiao, the here litary failing of tho first parent, yet manifest—his voico as yet not broken, but something between a childish treble and a grumble—the mild forerunner or praehidium of n grunt"— lii Texas a lady of fashion For porkers, developed a passion; From eleven to six Shu would teach each one tricks, And'she dressed each in silk, with a sash on!