EVE’S Vanity Case

Feilding Star, Volume 6, Issue 1313, 26 January 1928, Page 2

EVE’S Vanity Case

TO CORRESPONDENTS The Lady Editor will be pleased to receive for publication in the “Woman’s Realm” items of social or personal news. Such items should be fully authenticated, and engagement notices muat bear signatured. THE GLORY OF GRATITUDE “He who receives a good turn ■should never forget if; ho "bo dues olio should never remember.” —Glutr-

Huinuu, nature i-s not nearly so mean and so ignoble as the cynics believe or make-beiieve it to ne. Gratitude sounds ;t little, but means a great deal. Those two small words “Thank you” cost little to the speaker, yet when said truly are ample compensation for any service or gift—the small courtesies sweeten life, the greater ennoble it. yet in tbe bustle of everyday existence the former are often omitted. James Douglas in writing on gratitude relates that in a snail house in ,Stoke-on-Trent there lives a verv great gentleman, Mr. Charles Asiuue'ad Watson, who was formerly a music-hall! artist, known as Danny Leighton. Through throat (roublelie was compelled, to retire. An aunt ho hast not seen, for thirty, years has unexpectedly left him a .legacy of £50,000.

When Mr. Watson was a boy of seven bis aunt, in leaving London to be married, said to him (he was her favourite nephew) “Sonny, micu you are a man 1 will give you a real birthday gift. 1 have written it down m my book, and it will never bo rubbed out.” Mr. Watson.e had forgotten bis Aunt Amelia, having not see.) her or heard from her again. She was the widow of a rancher ol Notie Gras, Montreal. After thirty years she kept tno promise she laid made t 0 the little boy by bequeathing to ■him “a real birthday gift” ol £50,000. Now comes the pearl in the oyster. Mr. Watson is giving half Ids leg acy to hospitals of Canada in memory of his aunt. This is surely the peak ynd pinnacle of human gratitude. This poor music-hall artist is not coil toot with g'.wng back a titbe of his legacy to i,ko land from which-it came.°llis thankful spirit, is not satistied with a memorial donation ol £5(X)(>. Out'of his wonderful windfall ho takes £25,000 and bestows it on tho sick and afflicted iu Canada. This is still more marvellous, miraculous ami incredible. It is *» beau geste unparalleled in the annuls of gratitude. Are there many, or, any who give away halt their income in charity? If Mr. Watson s example wgre widely initiated our hospitals would not need to emit, cries for help or to organise mass appeals for donations. They wuuli* wa know' what to do with their lunds. That old cynic, Gibbon, declined that revenge is profitable, but gratitude is expensive. The truth ’s that gratitude is difficult because it involves voluntary sell-sacrifice. It is easy to be mean, but :t is hard to he generous. The mi an man evades the impulse to express his gratitude, but in evading it lm injures his own soul. He loses more spiritually than ho gains ma-terially-by surrendering to ms selfishness.

There is no waste in the outpouring of gratitudo. Its expense is lavishly repaid in Die sense of Hto that it begets. The thrill of gratitude is au enlargement of the mind, a liberation of the soul, an exaltation of the personality. . Joseph Cook says: “It is the v:ill oe J gratem! which constitutes gratitude.”’ Ido not agree with George Meredith iu thinking that the world is poor. Gratitude is a rich .old it. is akin to love.

IIDBJJKR TEA SETS

AND OTHER NOVELTIES

llubbor plays an ever-growing prame in the furnishing and equip - meat of the modern home. It is cXenn and quiet and gcrniproof, so has much to recommend it for floor coverings, mattresses and upholsteiy purposes. But these are' hardly every-day purchases, and the average housewife is perhaps more concerned wit'll smaller' accessories, many of which were shown in London req cently.

Rubber, tlougk m a form unrecognisable to the laj 7 mind, enters into the composition of some charm-

iug unbreakable table ware. Ibe cups and saucers may be thro" u abnuli <.*■»* dropped \vitlu_ju.i» sulid’iiiL' a single chip, yet there is notlrng iu their appearance to suggest these dreadnought qualities. They 'are pleasantly thin and made: in a. range ol pretty colours. The puiposes for which the new vacuum rubber covers may be used ai'e legions, and a sot in tho kite hoi saves an infinite amount of time, patience and labour. They are made of rubber, circular in shape and smroumlcd with, a metal rim. Ibe un der side is merely damped and then tbe cover set over jar, jug or dish, as tho ease may be. It adheres firmly and keeps the contents! of the vessel quite airtight.

Pretty teapot stands are made in marbled rubber, which arc absolutely heat-resisting. A transparent rubber hot water bottle is a novelty, and the battling girl will be glad to know of a seamless rubber bathing cap of great durability, which the makers claim really will keep the huh dry iu the, water.

Hitherto, the unsatisfactory feature of rubber housemaid gloves 'has been the tendency they have to split in use. Hut this drawback has now been overcome, and the very latest gloves may he stretched and strecliod, but without damage to the fabric. The same' advantage now applies to children's rubber knickers and feeders, and this ' alone sluuld etl'cct a considerable saving . ’i foe cost of small people's outfits. Other items for the nursery, such us feeder and table mats, ate decorated with paintings and designs by well-known children’s artists. A new and special process has made possible rubber sheeting so ~olt and pliable that it may be handled by a housewife and sheets l'or invalid and nursery use made up at home. Window curtains in pattern material of similar texture are. good for hath rooms and kitchens', where the steam from hot water and cooking renders the ordinary fabric limp and soiled in a very short time. When the curtains need laundering all Unit is required is a sponge-down with tepid water. Thus labour is saved iu two directions.

GLUT Grit is above' all things the capacity for hanging on. Some folks have it, others have it not, and in many it lies latent, having never been called forth. It is not a rare quality, indeed there is so much of it around us that we hardly notice its presence; only when some tragedy arises a man jumps from Oral ton Bridge or shoots himself, and those he loves or hates —and then we say: “He.had no grit ; lie couldn’t hang it out.” Eor suicide is the short way out, the narrow flight of steps at the hack door of life, q'lie church and the law forbid the exit, ban the portal, draw the boll, but they take it all the same, the short way out—those, at least, who have no grit. Publicity comes in plenty—rather mercilessly, perhaps—on those who thus'defy the unchanging law of humanity; but of necessity it passes by tens upon thousands of struggling souls, lighting a.losing fight with grit indomitable just to keep alive. Every day in every city of the world there are occasions innumerable—their

name is legion—for men, women, and even children to.take their own lives, so great and so extraordinary are their sufferings. Yet these people somehow manage to hang on.; they turn their hacks lo llie forbidden ex-

it, ami with feet firmly planted, anid heads 9reel, fight ou fur dear life — dear, though it may not be illumined by one single gleam. It takes grit to do it, and grit is no soft pleasant thing, no feather bed, no downy pillow—grit is hard as its name and sharp as the split particles of Hint or gravel. There are those, soft natured in the easy lap of life, who. knowing nothing at all of grit, on hearing of some case of self-inilieted death, exclaim : “flow shocking; but what courage to take the fatal step, what nerve thus to forego this life which, after all, is very charming with the sunshine, and fresh air—all men

have these —thus to forego them for the dreadful uncertainty beyond.” For these if might take courage—certainly if would —to forfeit wlmt is pleasant, but what if there is no sun, no air. but all is hidden in a murky gloom of misery, poverty, oppression, disappointment—hope I cess denizens of the underworld and not only of the underworld. What if it should take more courage to endure than to end these things V What if it should? —ami it does.

There are women combatting poverty and crime at every step of their upward way, women to whom life offers no reward and few —very few—: compensations. There are mothers, loyal to their husbands yet who have to say to a growing son "not to follow father not to touch the stuff.” Drink has nearly driven many a woman desperate. There are women almost. starving denying themselves to feed and clothe weak, miserable children, who never can and never will rise to a better life than what the mother endures. There are women, married, in whom love is dead, killed outright, yet they hear it all in silence. There are sufferers under some fell disease, painfully enduring in patience. There are men combatting fearful odds, watching their helpless dependents one by one fall victims to the blows of fate. Yet they never seek flm short way out nor realise the splendid battle they are lighting. Men have grit in plenty, somehow we expect it of them, so many great achievements rest upon that line foundation. Vet the grit which women have is of a different order, baffling description, baffling praise, perhaps because it is more silent, more unrecognised—just the spirit of hanging on.

SHOWS Interesting 'New Shoes Seen on Fashionable Feet The simulated side fastening is the newest whim in footwear. It is often .seen on evening shoes of Court shape, as for instance, in a silver moire model, with an "ear” ami a buckle of brilliants, placed on the side of the instep.

The sabot, type of shoe, unpopular at first, but now an accepted feature of the mode, also favours side t rimming. One model of brown kid had a vamp and heel of brown lizard, with a scroll of the kid decorat in;' the simulated opening. Walking shoes composed entirety of reptile skin have become too popular to please the fastidious. 15ut strappings of reptile skin, especially lizard, are still very smart on plain kid shoes. The elegantly simple Court shoe of black patent leather never goes out of favour for afternoon wear. It is allied this season to sheer silk hose in delicate and most subtle shades, all inclining to grey. Uvening shoes may be of sandal or

Court shape, in satin or metal brocade. Black, honey and ilesh-col-oured satins are liked, with sirup or rim of brilliants or a flashing brilliant studded heel.

Sport and beach shoes have coloured instep straps, fastening with lacing. 'the model, very late, designed for the Lido, was of striped rubberised taffeta, matching the beach wrap, and had dark blue instep and low heel.

I’AIXT STAINS ON CLOTHING Hub paint stains carefully with turpentine. Dip a clean cloth in turpentine, then, starting on the outside of the stains, gradually work round tf and round towards the centre. For paint stains on line material a mixture of one part turpentine to two parts methylated spirit, used in the way described, will remove them successfully.