MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 May 1928, Page 10

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF INTEREST

(Notes by

Marjorie)

HOUSEKEEPING IN 1700. HOW A BUDGET WORKED. Nobody in his right mind would deliberately pick out a set of household expense books for a lazy Sunday afteinoon’s reading, but foi a really sprightly afternoon let nre recommend the household books of Lady Griseli Baillie, who flourished in the days of good Queen Anne, states a writer in an American exchange. Lady Griseli began keeping books when she was a young married woman in comparatively simple circumstances and kept right on through a long life' and great prosperity. Even so, she could make a penny go pretty far. and for years she maintained a family of five, a dozen servants and two houses on something like £550 a year. People nowadays can talk about the good old days when the faithful family servant came as a child and stayed on to close the dying eyes of her mistress. There was nothing like that in the Baillie household. In her first three years of married life Lady Griseli had .18 servants. In the next ten years , she had 60. Sometimes they stayed out their month, but left without a “character.” In 1715, which seems to have been a very bad year for cooks, she had 80. One of them remained only one night, because the constable came next morning to carry her off to gaol.

When you read how brave Lady Griseli was, and how charming everybody thought her, you begin to wonder about that constant procession of servants. Still, she did keep one or two about her through a decade or so, in spite of the heavy fines she could administer for breaking her precious china and for getting drunk. That brings up another item of household expense. Lady Griseli spent one-quarter of her household budget on wine and spirits, and this sum does not include beer. Claret, brandy, and ale occupy a large part of the expenditure, but sometimes burgundy and champagne appear on the expenses.

Another extravagance in those days was tea, which sold for 40s a pound. No wonder Lady Griseli had to be careful how she served “bohea” and no wonder she got oh with green tea as much as she could, because it was cheaper. Most of the time she bought her tea in quarter and half pound lots and not until “her dearest” became a Lord of the Admiralty and a great man in. London did she begin to serve it more plentifully. “Her dearest,” by the way, had a great respect for her and left everything, even his own allowance, to “goodwife” to settle. Once in a while there is an entry “To my dear’s poket, 2, and again “To my dearest’s poket, 3. He was a most docile husband in a day when husbands were not always gentle.

ACTRESS’S SUICIDE. NEW YORK, May 12. Unwilling to live longer “without my sweetheart,” Jean Lebrun, the well-known actress, has committed suicide. Tacked on the walls and lyirig loose around her room, were scores of photographs of Leonard Bonney, the millionaire aviator and inventor, who, with Jean as a spectator, was crushed to death last week in the initial flight of the “Bonney Gull” ’plane, which was patterned after the common seagull. ■ WOMEN’S UNUSUAL JOBS. It is a. wonder that any woman of today does stereotyped work, for there are any number of' original jobs waiting to be done by girls who have sufficient initiative to break away from the ranks of teaching or secretarial work (says a writer in “The Australasian”). Some of the work, of course, would not appeal to everyone. There was not much of a rush, for instance, to secure the post of official executioner in Hungary, although three women did consider themselves suitable, and applied for it. In England women are doing all kinds of unexpected work. Miss Mary Size has lately been appointed deputy governor of Holloway prison, and is the only woman to hold such a position in England. Another woman has entered into partnership with a former burglar and has opened a club, which meet in the crypt of St. Martins-in-the-Fields or in All Hallow’s Church. The ordinary qualifications count for nothing if you are seeking to join this club. The most exclusive West End club might be willing • to open its haughty doors to you, but this particular club will keep its doors firmly shut unless you have been in prison. It is called the Run Straight Club, and all its members are determined to begin afresh and make a better job of life. FOR MODERN BRIDES. Though most brides fasten their wedding veil round their head as a nurse fastens her cap, there are others who prefer more original or conventional ideas. The old way of fastening it. is always becoming, while the same cannot be said of certain of the new ways. The high circle head dress in Russian style, the flat-topped Elizabethan cap, and the wimple of lace tied under the chin, have all been tried by modern brides, with, in some cases, fortunate results, and, in others, unfortunate. Two (recent innovajtions suggest ways of arranging veils that are new and becoming. The first, in parchment tinted chiffon, is draped closely over the head, and held down at either side with clusters of orange blossom; trails of pearl embroideries decorate the front of the veil. The second* features the fashionable eyeveil. The head dress is carried out in hemstitched tulle, embroidered in crystals and pearls. TWO DIFFERING COSTUMES. lu a quest for information regarding the habits of certain tropical species of uixlersea growths. Miss Alice Lorimer. who loaches biology in the University of Louisiana, U.S.A., recently descended Io the sea-floor in the West Indies, clad in a diver’s costume, and remained there for several hours making notes and sketches (states an exchange). Then she returned to the surface and shed her diving costume, and sot about the preparations for her wedding to a botanist at one of the West Indian experimental stations, which took place next day.

WOMAN PROPOSES. CUSTOMS OF OTHER PEOPLES. Leap Year always brings a revival of the ages old question:—“Should a woman propose?” There are countries, however, where this question has been definitely settled, states the “San Francisco Chronicle.” Not only do the women, propose during Leap Year, but every year, as the following examples show: — Subject to her parents’ consent the girl of the Blackfeet Indians of North America proposes to the young bravo of her choice by carrying food to his lodge. If he accepts the service the maiden continues it during a whole moon, when a feast is arranged and the nuptials celebrated. The maiden of Bonda Porjas, in Southern India, resorts to a severe test when selecting a. husband. The chosen man has to accompany her into the jungle, where she applies fire to his bare back. If the pain draws a yell from him, he is contemptuously rejected. She takes him for husband only if he suffers in silence. Definitely pugnacious is the courtship conducted by the young woman of the Choroti and Ashluslay Red Indians of South America. She courts the selected youth at the dances. If a rival enters the field, she settles the issue by fighting her with punchers made of bone or with tapirski boxing gloves. In Borneo, among the Kalabit peoples, it. is always the girl who conducts the courtship. This was probably the custom at one time with the other tribes of Borneo; at least, it is significant that when a marriage is celebrated between a Punan man. and woman the husband leaves his own family and joins his bride’s people. Not only does the Cham maiden in some districts of Indo-China make the proposal, but with her also lies the initiative for divorce. Moreover, when divorce occurs —which it does often — the wife retains the home, the children, and one-third of the property! Even more favoured is the girl of the “maternal kinship” tribes of Assam. She proposes, and, if he accepts, the marriage takes place and the husband must then come and live with her people. And the wife may divorce her husband when she pleases. By so doing, indeed, she gains much, for she not only keeps the children and her own property, but all her divorced husband’s property as well. On the other hand, if a husband divorces his wife he does not escape any easier, for he must still surrender his entire property and the children to her.

THE SLIM SILHOUETTE. The’ 1 “liquid” day of many wellknown women who are trying to slim themselves has become somewhat of a joke among their friends; but Lady Poynter, writing recently to an English newspaper, applauds the custom. “Australia,” writes Lady Poynter, “is a -land flowing with milk and honey, and overflowing with the milk of human’ kindness. The climate conduces to good appetites. Tempting cakes, cream sandwiches, and even puddings are included in the staple diet. Australia is displacing Scotland as the land of cakes, so many are eaten at breakfast and morning and afternoon teas. Despite the delicious and, alas’ fattening food, Australian women keep the straight lines that fashion decrees by a ‘a liquid day,’ in which as much tea,, water, lemon juice, orange juice, or milk is drunk. It causes no trouble in the household, and is only embarrassing when an unfortunate hostess finds that her friends attending her bridge lunch are indulging simultaneously in the ‘liquid day’ which she had yesterday.” THE CUP OF TEA. The effect of the cup of tea or cocoa, with a brief spell of rest, on women-workers is discussed in an Industrial Fatigue. Research Board report. “There is a widely-held impression that a cup of tea acts as a powerful but harmless, stimulant to flagging energies,” states the report. At a factory where workers were given a 15-minutes rest-pause in each work spell, during which they went to the canteen and had a free tea provided each afternoon, the percentage of workers, leaving during the years 1923, 1924, and 1925 was 25. In a second factory where the workers had a. three-minutes pause in which to drink tea provided by the management., the leavng percentage was 42; while in a. factory in which no rests were allowed and the workers were discouraged from surreptitious feeding the leaving percentage was 94. SABLE RABBIT. Two of a. new variety of rabbits, called sable rabbits, stated to have commercial possibilities, have caused quite a stir among the furriers of London, and samples 'of them were shown at the Somerset Ssliow. Mr G. A. Drake, secretary of the British Sable Rabbit Club, who was one of the judges, said that it was impossible to distinguish their fur from the real sable, and the white hairs in their coats defied the dyer’s art. “It takes about 30 rabbits to make one sable coat, and I am getting six guineas each for two-month-old sable rabbits. The Prince of Wales is very much interested in these rabbits, and many well-known people are breeding them.” Another judge said that it was remarkable the way in which utility rabbit breeding was becoming an industry in this country. Women especially were breeding Angoras. The wool cannot be imitated by anything else, and the price per pound has risen from 20s to 425. Angora wool production is a fine commercial proposition at the moment. The spinning factories cannot get enough, and many new uses are being found for it. An excellent schoolboy howler was perpetrated by a pupil in an Ashburton school. The lesson was from a. history book, and a passage read that “Henry paid no heed to flatterers.” The youthful historian rewrote the passage “Henry paid no heed to flappers.”