WOMAN'S WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 16672, 2 March 1918, Page 11

WOMAN'S WORLD.

. [By Viva,] A Viva" will in this column answer all reasonable questions relating to the home, cookery } domestic economy, and any topic of interest to her sex. But each letter must bear t~h"s writer's bona fide name and address. No notice whatever will be taken of anonymous correspondence. Questions should be concisely put, and the writer's nom de plume tfearly. written. - HOUSEHOLD RECIPES. Cornish Stew (an inexpensive meat dish). —Required: One and a-hali Tmunds of shin or skirt of beef, Wo talblaspoonfuls of vinegar, two onions, two carrots, half a pounds of butter or haricot beans, two ounces of dripping, two ounces of "flour, one quart of vegetableT stock or water, one tanlespoonful of Harvey or other sauce. *or the dumplings: Half a pound of flour, Kilt a tsaspoonful of baking powder, one teaspoorrful of salt, one tablospoomful of cnopped parsley, three ounces of chopped suet-or dripping, half a teaspoonful of powdered; herbs. v Cut the meat into large squares. Lay it in .the vinegar for 10 minutes, turning occasionally. Melt the dripping in a saucepan, add to it the , thinly-shced onions and carrots, and . fry ™ em , a good brown. Lift these out; lav a pUte, arid fry the flour next a rich but not dark brown. Pour in the stock, and stir until boiling. Then add the vegetables, the beans (which should bo aaj 1 oV6ri "S nt ). »nd a little seasoning. Add the sauce, cover the pan, and simmer lor two or three hours, or until the beans ftnd meat are both tender. Don't lot it gallop, or your meat will be tough and stringy. Skim off any grease, season well, and serve on « hot dish with the dumpings, which are added to it during the % last three-quarters of an hour. To make the dumplings: Well stir together all the dry ingredients, and mix these to a stiff paste with cold water. Shape into round balls the' size of walnuts, and slip them into the stew, a few at a time, about threequarters of an hour before tha stow is cooked.

A Simple Chocolate Cake.—Required; Two ounces of flour, two ounces of ground rice, two ounces of grated chocolate, two ounces of margerine, two tablespoonfuls of sugar or golden syrup, or syrup from any tinned fruit, two small eggs, one teaspoonful of,baking powder, a few drops of vanilla. Prepare the cake tin, heat the oven. Beat the sugar and margarine till creamy, or, if syrup is used, beat the fat alone til] - white and soft. Beat the eggs to a froth, and mix them in thoroughly,. Dissolve the chocolate in a spoonful or two of hot milk, add it to the mixture. Mix and add the dry ingredients. Flavor witJh vanilla, add the svmp (if being used), and turn into the 'tin. Bate the cake in a moderately-hot oven for about 40 minutes. Once or twice, when out of chocolate, cocoa was used instead, and sweetened condensed malic was used in place of sugar. Date Cakes.—Required: Two ounces of flour or whole meal, six ounces of fine oatmeal, three ounces of margarine, four ounces of chopped dates, quarter of a teaspoonful of mixed spice, one teaspoonful of baking powder, milk to mix. Mix the flour, spice, and baking powder. Rub in the fat lightly. Add the dates and enough milk to moisten the mixture—enough to let it drop heavily from the spoon. Put it into small greased tins, and bake in a qmck_ oven - for about 20 minutes. Pigs or raisins can be used instead of dates; or if yon have had a tin of pineapple for dinner, and a few bits are left over, chop these and use them with some of the syrup instead of milk. This, makes a delicious mixture. Hot Meat Mould.—Required: Half <• pound of cooked meat, half a pound of mashed potato, one ounce of small sa°-o ' two tablespoonfuls of stock, two teaspoonfuls each of chopped parsley «nd onion, seasoning. So a k the sago in the stock for an hour then mix and knead all the other ingredients with it very; thoroughly and season carefully. Grease a pudding basin or mould, press in the mixture, twist a piece of greased paper over the top, and steam it tor at least an hour. Then turn it out, and pour over and around it any nice tomato is specially good—or Jet it become cold. Cut in s'lices-4hiek . on t s ~, sei 7 e with a nice £ o,lad. wW P? k i Pi - e- ~ Sl W° se on <> day you want a steak pie, yet conscience murmurs: lou know you mustn't use flour." Quite true; but a potato crust is really almost as nice as one made with all flour. Required : One pound of beef pieces or steak, half a pound of beef kidney, half a p oU nd of potatoes, seasoning. For the crust: potato (cold), four ounces of flour or sub-! Sr \ ir" r °l lnCeS 0f or dripping half a teaspoonfol each of tr&kin> powder and salt To make the filling: fiil the pie dish with layers of thinlvsliced peeled raw potatoes, and the beef and kidney cut into large cubes \.dd half-fill the dish. The potato will break during the cooking, and will thicken the gravy, lo make the crust: Mix the flour sait and baking powder, rub in the fat lightly, then work in the potatoes, and mix to a stiff but not crumbly paste, with cold water. Roll out on a floured board to the thickness of barely a quarter of an inch <and cover the dish as usual. Bake in a moderately-hot oven for about one and a half to two hours. This potato pastrv can be used for sausage rolls, pastries or for sweet pies if less salt is used and a dnst of sugar added. Primrose Padding.—Required.: Two ounces of semolina or small sago, one pint it milk or milk and water, one ounce of aarganne, four ounces of stoned chopped states, three teaspoonfuls of some good tgg or custard powder, juice of half a iemon. Bring the milk, water, and margarine to boiling point, sprinkle in the sago, and stir and boil it till clear. Add the dates and lemon juice. Mix the custard powder smoothly and thinly with a little cold water. Stir it in thoroughly. J-iirn the mixture into a greased basin, corer the top with a piece of creased paper, and steam it for an hour. Turn out and S3 rve with a hot jam sauce, if pos-

nnnnfT . Ke^ eree -- Required: Two ounces of rice, two ounces of lentils, two HH °„ gl ' a I ted t C i hcese ' one lar S e onionnaif a pound of tomatoes, Worcester or similar bottled sauce to taste, ?wo 0 " „ C es of margarine, seasoning, stock or water Wash the rice and lentils, peel and chop the onions, slice the tomato. Put all thp/p m a saucepan, add sufficient stock o Wa to. cover them to the depth of about two inches, add a little Ba lt,a„d £ S both rice and lentils are soft and TthirV T\ f r ,? fte "- and as the liqrid fs absorbed add more, but vour object is to have no liquid to drain off afterttey ar e cooked, only sufficient to cook them without burning. Then add margarine or dripping, remove any tomato skins, and tt SaS Z l \ 'Y' d the sauce " You may flavor with chutney, chopped pickles or curry powder, if you like. Turn the mixture into a greased pie dish, shake the Cheese over the top, and bake it till browned. Serve as hot as possible. . HINTS. . 'lf you are buying woollen goods for next winter at a summer sale, and you want to make sure that you are riot getting a mature of-irool'and cotton, burn a sample U the material contains any cotton the flame will run along the line where the cotton is. ■ , ■ Many people object to the economy of usmi? butter substitutes because they miss in them the " butter flavor." Try adding s> pinch of salt to the lard or oil yon use and you will hardly miss the "real" butter. Five or six drops of lemon juice can cometimes save you many pennies on a tiece of meat, for- a few drops of lemon pice added to a piece of tough meat when i < begins to boil makes it tender. _ Here's a way to save a little flour: With rubber bands fasten a piece of thin, «>ft muslin tightly around - your ■■ rolling | ln '.Yon will find that when rolling 4 aokies and biscuits you will need much Si»a flour for rolling. your bacon rind; it adds a delicious flavor to vegetables, taking the place « T butter for this purpose. Before baking potatoes let-them stand in Sot water for at least 15 minutes, and I !iey will bake in less than half the orditjwar lengtn of tinw

Keep your" stockings from getting' "runs" by putting a row of machine stitches around each stocking three or four inches from the topi An old boiler and a wooden box are the basis of an ice-saving refrigerator. Have the box a little deeper than-the boiler, two feet wider, and just long enough for the boiler to fit in easily. Place the ico around the "boiler on both sides. A heavy packing made o'f gunny sacks or old pieces of carpet may be used to cover the top. Don't throw away net curtains because they are torn. Dip squares of net into cold starch, apply to the rent on the •wrong side of the curtain, and iron with a hot iron.'; The net will blend with the original curtain., in such a way that the tear cannot be seen. To keep potatoes from shrinking when they are paked, rub the skins with dripping before placing them in the oven. They bake more quickly, save gas, have a better flavor, and the potato, instead"of shrinking, fills the skin to the full. WOMEN AS NAVAL AUXULTABIES The British Secretary of tho Admiralty issued the following announcement recently in the 'Daily Express':—The Admiralty has approved of me employment of women on various duties on shore hitherto performed by naval ratings, and have de-. oided to establish a Women's Royal Naval Service for this-purpose. The members of, this service will wear a distinctive uniform, and the service Trill be confined to women employed on doflnite duties directly connected with the Navy. It is not intended for the present to include those serving in the Admiralty departments, or the royal dockyards, or other Civil establishments under the Admiralty. Dame Katherine Furse, G.8.E., at the request of the board, has accepted the position of Director of the Women's Royal Naval Service, and will ho responsible, under the Second Sea Lord, for its administration and organisation, including the control of the members when off duty and the care of their general welfare. A further announcement will be made shortly with, regard to the mode of recruiting for the Women's Royal Naval Service and the branches of it for which immediate entries are required, and no applications on inquiries should be made until this announcement has been issued. Dame Katherine Furse recently resigned her appointment as commandant-in-chief of the Voluntary Aid Detachments. LINES ABOUT WOMEN. Miss Ruth Law's famous airplane trip from Chicago to Hornell, New York, without a stop, has been excelled by Miss Katherine Stinson, who, on December 11, made a flight fsrom San Diego (Southern California) to San Francisco without stopping, the distance being about 98 miles greater than that covered by Miss Law. "The women are delighted with their uniforms, new jobs, and new independence." So said one of the eight women conductors who were recently added to the staff of the Brooklyn (New York) street railway. The company's officials and the public are equally pleased with the way the women handle the cars, and declare that they have set up a new standard of politeness. Will the management of our City tramways take note, and see if women cannot 'be utilised in relieving the present pressure on the conductors? The t'hin,; has long passed the experimental stage in England. Women bell ringers are getting more numerous in England, especially now that so many men have been called to the colors. The Bath and Wells diocesan association of change ringers now include nc fewer than 43 women ringers in theii ranks. This' is a large proportion out ol a total effective membership of 134. Nc fewer than 510 members axe in service. A sheet-irtjn elbow which conveys warn air from a gas range or oil stove_ burnei is a new invention, the purpose of which is to permit women to dry their own hair at home- after washing it. Dr Jane Craven, of Evanston, HI., was the first American woman to be honored with the French Military Cross, which was bestowed on her for rescuing wounded men under fire. The right of the women of North Dakota to participate in municipal elections is now established. On December 23 the women of Bismarck voted in the. municipal election of that city, a memorable occasion, as it marked the first municipal election in North Dakota in which the women have voted under the limited franchise law enacted at the last session of the Legislature. The highest average a,t a. Government's wireless examination held in Baltimore, U.S., just before Christmas was won by a girl. She made the best record of anybody—man or woman—in the operating tests. This girl is one of 10 who, imme-' diately after war was declared, decided to take up wireless telegraphy. They all now have Government licenses, and their average record is said to be high. HOW GERMANY TREATS BELGIAN WOMEN. EVIDENCE THAT IS NOT CONTROVERTIBLE. Further details concerning forced laborin Belgium, and the sending of Belgian women to work behind the German lines, under the Allies' fire, have been made public by the official Belgian Information Bureau at Washington (U.S.A.), which has received the following report: "An unpleasant story is revealed by a journal captured from men of a division of the Landwehr. Less than two miles behind the German front, in the flooded region beyond the Yser, almost exactly to the east of Pervyse, on the Belgian front, there is a little village called Leke. It is situated in the zone of fire, the civilians having evacuated it long ago. "This journal states that 50 young women and young qirls have been at work on the concrete shelters at Leke. The place is situated, as related, in the zone of fire. How did the German author of the journal know about the affair? 'lt is my | duty to escort a band of 47 women to Leke, if they have to go, and bring them back at night.' The authenticity of the report cannot be doubted. The journal's allusion to a round number of 50, and afterward to 47 when the writer speaks of his escort duty, is sufficiently convincing. " This incident gives an idea of the stories of horrors which will come from Belgium when the Belgians are again free to tell know. It is stated by a very trustworthy person that women and girls between the ages of 15 and 45 from the neighborhood of Tournai are being sent to points behind the German front. "Another instance of forced labor and of punishment for refusal on the part of the Belgians to perform it is related in the following despatch, received here "In the country around Liege several Belgian policemen of the auxiliary police force have been dismissed from their positions ■by the German authorities because they refused to give their assistance in the requisitioning of mattresses." Official advices state that the Germans are appropriating to their own uses practically everything of utility in Belgium, leaving the native Belgians only the scant necessaries for their own existence. _ All buildings, including ch'urches and private residences, are being stripped of every particle of metal, which is being consigned to war uses by the invaders. The severity of the Germans is said to exceed that which marked their occupation of Belgium early in the war. THE WOMAN'S JOB. Lady Semphill, in opening an exhibition at Aberdeen recently, criticised the extravagance in, dress of women, and the use of sham jewellery. She said that the shops were largely to blame for .their tempting displays. : More useful things should be shown. Oftimes she watched and wished she could throw a bomb among the lot of rubbish she saw in these shops. These shops, with their fallals and rubbish, beautnul in times of peace, tempted weakminded people to spend their money on what was not wanted. Let them look at some of the young girls, with their dresses and sham jewellery. If girf» could be taught to spend less and think more of e S are <" tne * ut ure J-ace it would be grand. Girls were rushing matrimony as if it were a huge joke.' As a matter of fact, women should remember that'with one hand they rocked the cradle, and with the other they had to defeat the U-boat. That was the woman's job.

CHINA COMING INTO LINE. PROTESTS AGAINST EARLY MARRIAGES AND FOOTBINDING. The Chinese Department of Rites and Customs, through the Minister of the Interior, has begun the circulation throughout China of the following document explaining the evils of early marriage, the necessity for the observance of funeral rites for deceased parents, the importance of abolishing foot binding and the vice of gambling: "In order to settle the mind of the people it is imperative that rites and traditons of the nation should be followed and all bad customs abolished. Since the inauguration of the republio systems and principles have been trampled under foot. Popular scholai-s have preached fallacious doctrines which have done a world of mischief to society. As it is the duty of this ministry to improvo the moral condition of the people we hereby point out the following causes of deterioration t EARLY MARRIAGES CONDEMNED. According to ancient custom, a man could only marry at 30 years of age and a girl at 20, and in Europe and America the age of marriage has also been fixed by civil laws. The evils of early marriage are numerous. We havo always noticed young men becoming weak and enfeebled and neglecting their studies simply because they have been married too early. Moreover, as a rule, the issue of such marriages is always unhealthy, and consequently the nation has become weak and incapable of accomplishing anything. All modem scholars and philosophers have unanimously'condemned early marriages. SHOULD OBSERVE FUNERAL RITES. "Funeral Rites and Ceremonies.—For thousands of years China has observed rites and traditions wliich havo kept up our national spirit. Although the form of i state has been a-Uc-red, we have the same society. In our anxiety to introduce new rites we must not forget the old ones which have been handed down t<> us by our fathers. According to our national custom, after the death of a, narent a son must be in mourn'ng for three years, but of late people have tried to reduce the period. The most suiprising thing is that many have adopted foreign customs. They assert that there is no truth in the existence of departed spirits, hence they have dispensed with their custom of providing food iri the niorning and evening for the spirit ob the deceased parent They refuse to wear coarse clothing, and try to obliterate the memory of their parents as soon as possible. These new errors have heroine deeply rooted in the mind of the people and wrought a serious change in society. On the other hand, there are many who believe in geomancy. and have delayed the interment of their parents. Some time ago this ministry submitted a set of regulations to the President on the rites and ceremonies governing marriages and funerals, but owing to the disturbances in the country no time could bo spared to attend to such matters. ABOLISH FOOT-BINDING. Las£ year this ministry issued a circular instruction to all the police authorities of the country to enforce the prohibition .of foot-binding, and, as a. result, there is now less foot-binding in large towns and cities. But in more secluded regions this practice has- continued as heretofore. Some say that it is hard to change time-sanctioned customs, but we believe that the continuation of this practice is rather due' to the fact that local officials havo not tried to explain the evils of this practice to villagers and countryman. We do not mean to unbind the feet of women of okl age, but v/e have decided that siich an evil practice should not be allowed in the younger generation. *