DOMESTIC REALM

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10740, 10 November 1928, Page 10

DOMESTIC REALM

WHY DO PEOPLE MARRY? IS IT A MATTER OF CHOICE? (By G. A. Dawson, the well-known novelist.) “In those circumstances many men would have withdrawn,” said the old lady primly, as she isat watching her middle-aged widower son play tennis, “'Hut Charley married her. Unfortunately the growth recurred, and mim months later site died.” “Charley loved Amabel,” I ventured, thinking of these few months which was all of human time 'the couple had had together. “He has not married since,” granted the old lady, and I lapsed into silence, meditating on the different types of marriages—arranged marriages, contract marriages and those for love

Why, leaving aside the natural urge, does the average person marry? Look at the coTiples, passing down the street, sitting in trains and omnibuses, living in the nearby houses. AVhy have they taken each other for better for worse? Has it been a matter of choice? Or has the choice been limited so greatly that it has been practically non-existent? AVhat, then, lias launched all these pairs of rowers on the river of life; and, not only here within sight of over curious eyes, but* all over the world? A large proportion of the human race are literally given in marriage. Their parents look about, discuss the merits of that one and the other, and decide finally on which will be the most suitable partner for their .child). Aloney is settled, a ceremony takes place," and the young man and woman find themselves partners for life. Among the Irish peasantry and l also in India and China, this form of marriage has been the result for hundreds of years, and it appears to work satisfactorily—but what a. responsibility for the parents! A young Indian once described to me the courtship of his sister. “Our parents—it was principally my mother who decided—selected Yusuf to he the bridegroom, arid he was invited to come to see my sister. During the first interview she sat beside my mother, who talked with him. As soon as he had returned home he wrote a poein to my sister and beggod to come again that he might read it to her. and there were others, I doubt 1 her having understood the poems, but she was flattered. My parents chose well for my sister. She and her husband are happy together.” LOVELESS MARRIAGES.

In isuch marriages, the “in love” element is only faintly if at all represented. It appears, also, to be absent from many of the partnerships that young people arrange for themselves. The average woman still considers that at a certain age. she should have a husband, home and children. She is not always capable of romantic feeling, but that is no reason that she should be debarred from the joys of domesticity. In effect, she is willing to make a reasonable contract with the most suitable man she can find. She' will run his home, bear the children, give him companionship, and in return lie- will support her and give her the status of a responsible matron. This type of marriage is an arrangement made by practical people which shall help them to get the best out of that chancy thing called Life; and although it has at the beginning nothing to do with love, yet out of it may grow a deepening affection. This being merely a business arrangement, however, if either partner can he. proved not only to have hern damaged in health and reputation, hut to have concealed it, the other will he justified in refusing.to carry out the contract. As Air. Justice Acton said some time .since, “If a man refuses to marry a woman within a reasonable time after ho. has given her his promise, the woman is entitled to recover damages.” He emphasises the. business side of the matter in what he says next: “Before she is entitled to recover damages she has to show on her part that she. was ready and willing to perform her part of the tiargain within a reasonable period, and that* she was fit to carry out that- promise.” In other words, she must he ablo to run a home, bear healthy children, and not mulct the poor mail in excessive doctors’ hills.

For the ordinary person no doubt such a marriage is likely to prove as good a bargain with fate as he is likely to make . . , everything open 'and above Board . • . her job ais well defined as his . . , and no nonsense about it

Nonsense? And men have died and worms have eaten them—but not for love. Shades of Romeo and Juliet, of Sappho, of desperately loving people throughout the ages and all tho world over, what treason is this? She for a little tried To live without him, liked it nor—And died--is more to our liking. How did suttee come into existence if it were not in its inception the act of a woman who could not endure that the harrier of death should separate her from tho man she loved ? I have heard, but do not know if it be true, that on the doctor’s condemning a certain man to segregation among his fellow lepers, a woman begged to be allowed to accompany ton if not as his wife, then as his nurse. . AVhat was social life, the company of healthy folk, the common happiness of the everyday to her, if hei were to be lonely and suffering? She would he happier ministering to him m a mutual banishment, i. Yes, among lepers. And that is marriage for love.

COLD RAZORS AND NAIL FILES. IN TOMB OF OHEOPSP MOTHER. The Cairo Museum has just received a consignment of new finds made by the Harvard-Boston Egyptian expedition in the tomb of Queen HetepHeres, the mother of King Cheops. Among the objects were two razors: of pure gold. with one edge sharpened, and a manicure tool with one end pointed to he used for cleaning the nails and the other end rounded for use! in pushing down the cuticle at the base, of the nail. . Apart from these implements of gold, the consignment comprises five other razors made of copper and another .four, rectangular knives of the same metal. ; Additional.-' gold objects are a drinking clip with a rolled back rim. and mouthpiece.'and two other goblets of smaller size. _ A little wooden casket, a reproduction of an older "model, fragments of which were found on a former occasion, contains eight alabaster jars,,, seven of which are filled with the scented ointment characteristic of ancient Egypt.> • ■; - The lids of six of the jars hear a description, of them respective contents, while hieroglyphic characters on the., rim indicate the connection between lid and jar. The lids to the Other two jars are no longer preserved. The. balance of the alabaster finds making up this consignment to Cairo consist of thirty . vessels, two of them being of exceptionally unusual form.

Household Hints

By "MARIE."

WAR ON ROUGE. PLEA, FOR ’VARSITY BAN ON ( ■ WOAIEN. ‘‘DISTURBING’ ’ PERFUMES. PARIS, Sept. 8. French , male students are abouft to declare war on their bobbed-hair sisters who, they declared, invade the university class rooms bringing with them odours of cheap perfume and lipsticks, which disturb professors and students alike. An international conference of male students from various: European universities iis being organised to discuss the best means of relegating women to separate class rooms,. “They annoy ms in our work,” declare. some of the most advanced students at the Sorbtonne. “Especially in anatomy classes they befuddle the professors with ridiculous remarks about nothing at all, until one is able to gain no benefit whatever from the lectures'. PROFESSORS 1 ‘BEFUDDLED. ’ ’ “In tho law schools their bobbed hair, rouged lips and cheeks, and even blackened eyebrows and lashes, strike a note entirely out of harmony with the traditional solemnity of the French judicial system.” British university students ar© declared in Paris to he as eager fop the change as the French students. One of the chief objections of the French students is to the overpowering effect of the odours of perfume and rouge in badly-ventilated class rooms.. But nothing can he done till the heads of the faculties ait. the various universities in France give their support to the movement for “masculine rights.”—British United Press.

TESTED RECIPES.

HAVE YOU TRIED THESE?

To Curry Stale Bread.—This is an American recipe, and in an economical family will be found useful. Soak some slices of stale bread in cream or milk, and dust them over with a little pepper. Put on each piece a bit of butter. Alince three onions very fine and fry them in a frying-pan until they are colored, stirring them about well to prevent burning. AVlien the. onions are soft add) half or three-quarters of a pint of milk thickened with flour; season with salt and let it boil up; then place the stale slices of bread on the pan and dust them over with a tablespoonfnl of curry. Let them simmer slowly for ten" minutes, turning frequently, and stirring to incorporate the enrry with the gravy. Put on tho table very hot, and place new tomatoes around the dish. If you have no. tomatoes, use sliced cucumber or slices of hot. boiled potatoes.

A Simple Wet. Curry.—lib uncooked meat, lib onions, 2oz butter or fat, i dessertspoonful rice flour, 1 tablespoonfnl chopped coconut, 1 dessertspoonful curry powder, about, halfpint light stock, salt to taste, the juice of half ‘a lemon. Melt the fat in a saucepan, add the onion, finely chopped, and cook it a few minutes. Then add the meat, cut in small pieces, the curry powder, nee flour and coconut, and stir over the fire a few minutes' longer. Now add gradually enough light stock to make the curry soft. bur. not- sloppy. Season with salt to taste. Cover and cook slowly by the side of the fire or in'the oven untd ire meat i.s tender—from 1 to 2 hours, according to the' kind of meat used. Add lemon-juice, and serve with nee. and chutney.

Dutch Currant Cake.—Half-pound flour, Jib currants, lez mixed peel, 2oz raisins, 4oz castor sugar, soz butter, three eggs, half a gill of milk, one dessertspoonful ground cinnamon, one teaspoonful baking powder. Beat the sugar ■ and yolks of eggs to a cream, melt the butter, sift the flour and baking potvder. Clean the fruit, shred the peel, and mix all the dry ingredients together with the sugar and yolks of eggs. AA’hisk the whites of eggs to a stiff froth, and add them gradually. Pour the mixture into a buttered cake tin lined wdtli greased paper, and bake in a moderate, oven for an hour and n-quarter.

Tinned Meat Recipes.—ln the backbloeks tinned meat is. called “Tinned Dog,” and sometimes the men get tired of “Dog” straight from tlte tin. The following recipes will prove an appetising change :—Rissoles : Take 1 tin of boiled meat. § spoonful herbs, pepper and salt to taste, A cupful breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoonful flour. Mix 1 all together, then form into rissoles and bake half an hour on a, large flat plate in the oven. Frying is too greasy for tinned meat. Serve with strips of hot buttered toast.—Tinned Meat Pie: Select tinned sausages for this dish. Chop the sausages up, put in a saucepan with 2 chopped onions and £ cupful water and plenty tomato sauce. Cook until onions are tender, then turn into a piedisli. Cover with a good short crust and hake till brown.—Cheek Relish: Take 1 tin of ox cheek, cut into tain slices, put. Jin of sliced onions and potatoes on a piedisli, then layers of cheek, then moTe onions and potatoes. Repeat this process till dish is full; pour over 1 cupful of water in which has been, stnred 1 tablespoonful of any good sauce ;sprinkle the top with brown breadcrumbs and bake one hour.— Tinned Meat Stew: Take 1 tin of meat, 2 onions, 2 carrots, or a seasoning of any vegetales on hand, J cupful of vermicilli or macaroni, enough water to strain it, pepper, and salt; cook 3.J hrs.—Meat Omelettes: Make a hatter of flour and water ana a little baking powder, as for pancakes. Drop spoonful in boiling fat in a flat pari, put a small piece of meat on, then another spoonful of batter. When brown on. one side turn over with an egg slice to the other side; the result will be a meatfilled omelette. Chopped parsley is a nice garnish to this dish, or yon can serve with strips of baked cheese. Cut the chfeese m strips arid stand on a plate" in the oven for 10 minutes to bake.

Sultana Cake.—-(1) Take • -Jib butter, 1 cupful sugar, 3 eggs, \ cupful milk, i lb sultanas, 1. cupful plain flour, 1 cupful self-raising flour. .Beat, sugar and butter to a cream, and eggs one at a tiriieiand beatf well, add sultanas, then plain flour, and then milk, then, self-raising flour. Bake in a moderate oven 1 j Hours. (2) ■ Take one cupful butter, beat to a cream, add 1J cupfuls sugar" and 4 eggs, "and a little milk. Beat well together; then add 6oz sultanas, 3 cupfuls floui\ arid 1 laroe teaspoonl'ul 'baking powdier. Bake in a moderate oven for 2& hours. (3) Take lb flour. 1 heaped teaspoonful baking powder and a pinch salt. Beat together five ounces of butter, soz of castor sugar; 1 tablespoonful which some spice has gee'n stinted. Into theMflour put -Jib of cleaned sultanas and 2oz of chopped peel. By degrees woi’k in 3 eggs to the blitter and sugar and the dry ingredients, very slblvly. v Bnat-thh ,whole for five minutes, R'ut iyto tv -ud hake steadily.