MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 March 1926, Page 8

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

NEWS AND NOTES. Silver wool, which, when knitted, gives much the appearance of silver tissue, is a novelty welcomed by . knitters on the Continent. Fancy patterns in knitting are less liked than elaborate effects achieved by quite simple combinations of plain~and purl, or in plain knitting by the use of fancy yarns, silk and wool mixtures, or with tinsels interspersed, and so on. At an inquest on a. woman who died in London after eating a. duck’s dgg. a doctor gave evidence that he found in the stomach enormous quantities of a bacillus usually associated with illness from eating poisoned meat. The bacillus resisted heat, and would not be destroyed by the frying or boiling of the egg. He believed that the bacillus penetrated the eggshell. No previous case of the kind had occurred in England. The Tuareg, found ove r a large area in Northern Africa, are nomads who live principally by means of, and on, camels. Tuareg, women are as free as women in Britain. They go about unveiled, while the men are always veiled. The women choose their own husbands and teach the children to read and write. They can own property, even after marriage, and their husbands have no control over it. Caste and authority are inherited through the mothers. In America marriage is as easy as divorce. It seems it may take place anywhere and anyhow. It may be solemnised in a balloon, or it may, apparently, be managed by telephone. Pike’s Peak, in Colorado, has witness-

ed a wedding, and so has the Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky. At Chicago three couples were recently married in death-cell No. 13, in an old convictship, at 13 minutes past 13 o’clock on a Friday, 13 guests being present, and 13 mirrors being smashed. For the second time in 77 years there was no claimant last year at St. Cyrus, Kincardineshire, to marriage dowries provided in the will of the late John Orr. Dowries are given to the tallest, shortest, oldest and youngest brides led to the altar at St. Cyrus Parish Church during the year. There were no church weddings last year, but five marriages were registered in the parish. The sum now at the credit of the fund is £l5OO. On his retrial at Surrey Quarter Sessions recently, for burglary at Surbiton, Henry Williams, aged 46, wap sentenced to 3g years’ penal servitude. At the first trial his sentence was four years, but he appealed, on the ground that his objection to women on the jury was ignored. The appeal was upheld by the Court of Appeal, and a now trial ordered. ■ There were three women on the jury at the second trial, but on this occasion, Williams raised no objection to their presence. Kinema stars are largely responsible for many of the eccentricities of women’s present fashions. If the tendency of women io imitate their film favourites persists, several sensations in feminine apparel can be expected in 1926. For instance, among the vations are Anna Nilsson’s fur-lined negligees, and Rene o Adoree’s snakeskin coats. But these are not so start-

ling as Blance Sweet’s beaded bathing suit. The climax so fax- is reached by Joyce Compton, whose belled garters malke t .music wherever she goes. To decorate one’s house is a very fashionable hobby. The Hon. Mrs Ernest Villiers thinks .one’s ceilings ought to match the walls in colour. She has just completed the decoration of her own house, and the panelled walls and plain ceilings to tone look delightful. “Ceilings and walls all of one colour double the apparent size of your room,” she explained to an admiring circle of friends, “and, of •course, you must have light colours.’’ She has chosen apple-green and French blue herself. When pins were first invented and brought into use, about the beginning of the sixteenth century, they were usually given as a New Year gift, and any money given for the purpose of buying them was called “pin money,” an expression we still use, but with a very different meaning. They were first made in boxwood, bone and silver, for those who could afford it, and in wood (being, indeed, miniature skewers) for the poor. Henry VIII passed a law fixing the price at not more that 6/8 per 1000—or more nearly, in. present money value, 15/-.

A forward step has been taken in the feminist movement by the appointment of Dr. Adele Aitken to the position of relieveing assistant ophthalmic surgeon at the Sydney Hospital. This is the first time that a woman has succeeded in obtaining an honorary position at one of the large |general metropolitan hospitals, and will form an important precedent for the future. Dr Aitken is fully qualified for the position, as she has held responsible appointments in connection with this special form medical practice, both at the Sydney Hospital and in Great Britain, and is now in private practice in Sydney. A particularly valuable possession at the present time is a detachable fur lining, which can be worn with any coat. It may be made from the fur lining of an old coat, and the work is within the capacity of the amateur needlewoman. The lining is first taken from the coat, and any torn bits sewn together by overcasting on the skin side. The skin side is then covered with any suitable material, such as silk or brocade, cut to the size and shape of the fur. This is easily done if the fur is laid flat, back and sides separately, and the silk fitted to it The scales of the silk are run up, and the covering hemmed to the fur. The sleeves are covered in the same manner. The lining is nut on .separately from the coat, as® a wool jersey would be, and the sides may be fastened to the coat with press studs or tied together with ribbon. A furrier would, of course, make a lining of this class to order, but a partially worn one answer's equally v'ell.