A VICTORIAN BELLE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11493, 21 November 1931, Page 11

A VICTORIAN BELLE

HOOPS AND FEATHERS. When I was a small boy of six or so my mother wore hoop skirts. I remember them vividly. My eldest* sister also swayed her hoop skirts proudly as she walked, much to tlio envy of a younger sister who . was not ,so favored. My mother, indeed, boasted a number of hoops, says “R.D.8.” in the London Daily Express. I remember that whenever I was permitted to- go into her dressiugroom and saw tho inanimate hoops, dozens of wiro rings lying in a heap on the 'floor or hanging from a chair, I used to have a desperate longing to : steal them to make cages for my performing jackdaws. My mother also had a number of wonderful bustles, most ingenious contraptions which were applied to various of her Dolly Yarden costumes, and each bustle , was designed to improve the fit and fall of a given dress. She had the most wonderful sashes, which were two or three yards long'and looked entrancing. My mother was a bit of a belle sixty, years ago, and sire kept abreast of all tlio fashions as they changed from spring to summer, , to autumn and to winter.

On her head she had a captivating little hat. I still recall with a thrill the bright red cockatoo feather which stuck out jauntily on one side, and the beautifully rolled curls whichhung hoAvitellingly—one on each side of her head and ono o\'er and in front of her left shoulder. Many’s tlio time I used to long to run off with one of these fascinating switches that I saw hanging from the chair in tlio dressingroom and display it to uiy little wild playfellows as scalp locks, tlio harvest of an Indian raid.

My Aunt- Helen once came to one of my mother’s afternoon reading parties all dressed up to kill. She was very handsome, with large, lustrous. poetic eyes, a fine white neck, and tho most wonderful jet necklace brooch and earrings, all shiny black: but she had a faint- spot of rouge on her othorwise alabaster check.

A theatrical company bad passed through a week before, and all the actresses of the company had appeared in tho main street- in the afternoon Avith rougo on their cheeks; so that Aunt Helen, avlio Avas a most assiduous copyist, felt justified in appearing similarly rouged. It nearly ruined her reputation. The women tattled about it for weeks and’ Aunt Helen aa*us nearly sent to CoA-entry as tho next thing to a scarlet woman.

My second sister wore, for party purposes, a most striking costume of broad check, black and tvhite- like a chess board. It made her look most attraetiA'o with.her black shiny curls and her coral necklace Avliich my father had given her on her 10th birthday.

Like all the young girls of that time tho pride of her costume was tlio AA’liite pantalettes Avliieh extended beloiv the skirt, and were set off Avith appropriate embroidery round tlio hem; and she phi-ays wore the most exquisite bronze and blue laced shoes. She had half a dozen new red and wh-ito striped stockings, the pride of her youth. This second sister,, like her mother, was a most fastidious dcA-otce to fashion even to her later years.

I remember when she greAV up the fashions suddenly decreed that young ladies might Avear black stockings. Tho innovation Avas striking and sensational. My sister, with great enterprise, sent all her white stockings to be dyed black.

She Avas the first of her set to appear in black stockings, and Ibis brought a lot of scandalising comment in the community. -She was, indeed, a forward and most brazen little tiling to defy public opinion so openly. Tn later years I recall that this samo sister Avas the first to wear open-work stockings, and thus again she caused tho gossips to make odious remarks.

My sisters had beautiful ostrich fleather fans, and they knew the languago of fans for perfection. I doubt i if there is a girl to-day who cap tell you what it means to lift just one eyelash or so over the right top edge of a fan; or how much meaning is t'cj be put into a languor- 1 ous" look over the lower handle end; or a swift closing or a sudden wide open fluttering movement as if to agitato tho air. All those thing's had to be studied and practised, and they added to the social accomplishment of every, what is called genteel young woman. My mother had a lot of point lace strewn over the top of her sunshade; laco that had come down, according to my understanding, through hundreds of grandmothers and great-great-great-graiidmdthefs. The sunshade that I host remembqr was of brilliant magenta. Its handle was an ivory greyhound’s diead with great ruby eyes. I make bore a public confession that I picked out onb of these ruby eyes—without iny mother’s knowledgeand traded it with a lied Indian trapper pal for a pair .of'moccasins. My second . sister, r the one who spent most of her time studying the fashion plates in tliq 5 Harper’s Bazaar of.that time, began to get what was called the whimsies; No - one knew why sho as constantly; fainting and reaching out for restoratives. .= Her. lips were always grey-blue and shotcould not-walk very far. One day after a strenuous round-of • croquet sho fell all of a heap on- tlie lawn,'aud the doctor was sent for.

He was a lino upstanding man in Dundreary whiskers. Ho rode up on a high horse, 18 hands of horse, and his trousers had straps under his boots.

Tho doctor took his stethoscope from his tightly buttoned plum-col-ored frock coat, and swung it gracefully. Then without further ado he turned to niy anxious ' mother—we were all grouped nervously about the prostrate girl—and said brusquely, ‘ ‘Take her corsets off!’ ’ “I shall never forget that scene. Such an indelicate suggestion ! Take her corsets off! You cannot imagine what that meant. Tho trouble was all because my sister had got into the habit, as most girls did, of pulling her stay laces too tightly. I do not believe she measured more than 18 inches round tho waist when she was fully “pulled in.” But she would not obey the doctor’s orders to desist, preferring her enviable wasp-like figure; and so she kept on fainting and looking white. My elder sister took singing lessons. She had truly a wonderful voice and her singing master was a graduate or licentiate, or whatever it was. from a conservatory somewhere in Germany. He wore what was to me a wonderful necktie with a great lyre stuck in it for a scarf pin, and the cuffs of his light brown frock coat wero of dark velvet

Ho used some sort of pomatum on his rich hair, and that caused him to move about in an'atmosphere of patchouli and rosemary. Altogether a most picturesque young man, who caused many a maiden's heart to llutter violently against the whalebone walls of her encasing corsets. His first name. 1 remember, was Reinliold; another reason for romantic rhapsody. Whenever Reinliold approached a piano to accompany his pupils he gavo an exhibition of perfect training in the manner of walking and deportment I often used to peep over the transom to observe the solemnity of the singing lesson. My sister, standing rigidly by the piano with tho music sheet in her hand, was to me always a picture of despair, while Reinhold at the piano was all business, never even lifting his blue Bavarian eyes above the rims of his golden spectacles.' and throughout it all Aunt Helen, whose duty it was-to sit out the lesson'in the role of chaperone, sat with her hands in her lap. Marjorie Howell, who was a pretty girl and a vivacious one. with blonde curls that hung far down her back, and a swinging gait and a mind of her .owp, went one Saturday afternoon all by herself with a new young man whom few people had seen before, to an adjoining town to attend a dance given by people whom people did not know.

She did not come home till halfpast twelve o’clock the next morning! Her mother, who had been the proudest woman for miles around, never recovered her social prestige. RECIPES AND HINTS. Tart Recipes.—Cocoanut Tart: Lino a deep baking-dish with good short pastry. Make a custard of 3 well-beaten eggs, 2) cupfuls milk and sugar to taste. Cook over a slow fire till thick, But do not let it boil. Tako from the lire, add 1 teaspoonful vanilla, a sprinkle of nutmeg and half-cupful or more of grated fresh or desiccated cocoanut. Pour into the pastry shell, bake till light brown and servo either hot or cold. Orange Macaroon Tart.—One egg, loz. butter, 2oz. sugar, 3oz. milk, 1 small cupful flour, 1 small teaspoonful cream of tartar, J teaspoonful bicarb, soda, a little salt. Mix in order given, beating well after each addition, and when smooth spread on a floured plate and bake till a golden brown. Remove from oven aud fill with tlie following mixture:—Beat together 2oz. sugar, loz. butter and 1 egg yolk, add the grated rind and juice of one orange and beat yell; then add 4oz. crushed cornflakes, aud lastly the stifflybeaten egg-white. Bake in a moderate oven till firm and brown, aud servo with custard. Nougat Tart: Lino a sandwich-tin with pastry and spread thinly with* 5 raspberry jam. Mix together lib. sugar, Jib. desiccated cocoanut, 1 egg, a little milk, and a good pinch of baking powder; do not make mixture too moist. Spread over the torfc and hake a nice brown. Fruit Tart: Stew 3 or 4 apples without sugar, then add 1 small cupful each of currants and sultanas, 1- cupful raisins, a little finely-sliced candied peel, I cupful brown sugar, $ cupful desiccated cocoanut, 1 teaspoonful grated nutmeg, 1 dessertspoonful butter and 2 tablespoonfuls flour (or a little if necessary). Line' a flat meat-dish with short crust, fill with tlio mixture and put a layer of short crust on tho top; prick all over with a fork, and hake in a fairly hot oven about half an hour. When cold, sprinkle with icing sugar and cut into squares. Lemon Meringue Tart: Lino a tart tin; with short crust, cover the centre with a piece of buttered paper, and on this put some raw rice. Bake till the edgo is light brown removing the rice and paper five or ten minutes before it is cooked. Let the pastry cool, then fill with tho following. Beat 2 egg-yolks with 1 dessertspoonful cornflour for 5 minutes. Stir on to these J pint boiling wafer, add the grated rind and strained juice of 1 lemon, sweetened with 2 table spoon fills sugar, and stir over the fire till it thickens; don’t boil it. Let it Become quite cool before filling tart. Meringue: Beat the egg whites, stiff with a ‘ \ '■

pinch of salt, add 2oz. castor sugar and pour over the tart. Bake in. 'a moderate oven till light brown. Tim tart is best eaten cold.

V Mince of Cold Meat and Macaroni. —Cold cooked meat, some mushrooms, l pint good brown gravy, butter, salt, pepper. Some well-cooked macaroni.—-Mince the meat very finely, pee), wash and mince the mushrooms; mix these with the brown gravy; add salt and pepper as desired. Place a layer of cooked macaroni in the bottom of a disli, add tho meat and gravy. Cover with a layer of cooked macaroni, sprinkle thickly with breadcrumbs, add a little butter, and bake in, a steady oven half to three-quarters of an hour, servo hot in tho dish in which, it has been cooked.

Indian Cutlets. —Equal quantities of cold cooked meat and boiled idee by measurment, not weight. To each lib of meat add 2 finely chopped shallots, or a small piece of onion, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful curry powder, and 4- tablespoonfuls tomato or any fruit sauce, salt and cayenne. Mince meat finely, put into a saucepan with boiled rice, parsley, shallot, or onion, salt, pepper, curry powder, and tomato sauce, and cook well, stirring over the fire for three or four minutes. Turn on to a plate, and spread out to cool. Divide into equal portions and shape into small cutlets on a board, using a little flour to shape. Dip into beaten egg, toss in breadcrumbs and wet, fry a deep brown. Drain on paper, arrange on a paper doylev on a hot plate, garnish with parsley. Serve with hot tomato or brown sauce. CHORUS GIRL’S RECORD. Another record has been won VBritain—bv a 64-vear-old chorus rrivl. She is Miss Marie Savage, who left London 2d years ago to go into the chorus of the Metropolitan Ope;a House, New York. She is now the oldest, working chorus girl with a record for long service in tln s capacity. . ' Every season Miss Savage takes her place in the ranks of the choiuShe looks less than half her age. “Years ago when I found there was no opportunity for me to become an opera star.” Miss Savage said lately, “1 decided to do the next best'thing, and become a really efficient member of -the chorus. “J’ve had -id consecutive seasons of chorus singing, and I feel good for another ten. T know the. choruses and most of the roles of about 125 operas, and I o’un sing them m various languages.” Marie Savage is famous for impersonations of duchesses in Court scenes- She , will eventually retire on a pension. HOW TO STOP HICCOUGHS. The ordinary common or garden hiccoughs occur suddenly and usually last only a short time. They arcdue to recurring spasm.- 0.l the diaphragm and generally come on alter an excessively large meal or the very excessive drinking of ah-onol. Various methods may be tried to stop them. (1) Swallow vigorously tuo or three times. I ben take a deep breath and hold it. At the -same time contract your upper abdominal muscles as though you were trying to hold vour brent'll, which, howoiei, you continue to hold. (2) Sip rapidly at a glass of cold water. (3) It you are alone in tin? room you may. without lowering your dignity, lie flat on your stomach across a bardbottomed chair. <-t) Close \°ur ey and then press with your fingers on the eye balls through the lids.

Occasionally, however, none °f these remedies work, and you just have to wait until they go of their own free will. But remember sometimes hiccoughs are a serious matter. li they occur in quick succession and continue for a lorn; time, so that the sufferer is actually distressed and exhausted bv them, one should cease to regard them as a joke. Sometimes it is necessary to call in a doctor, who may actually have to inject. morphia to stop them.

Occasionally, when simple .remedies fail, the" application of ice, or very cold water tf> the. mid' part oi the upper abdomen immediately below the ribs may bring relict. There have been epidemics of hiccoughs oi a most intractable kind. Also hiccoughs sometimes occur a symptom of sleepy sickness. When long continued ■in young or old th°y should, therefore, not ‘be regarded too lightly. KNACK SUGGESTIONS

These quickly prepared snacks for luncheon, supper, or the cocktail party aro specially useful at holiday time. Sausage grilled, brushed with ■ daze and dished on toast, surrounded with dressed watercress and -served with plum, damson or lemon pickle or with Chutney. Grilled sausages skinned ana spread on anchovy toast. Garnish with thin strips of anchovy fillets' and serve hot. Sliced, fried sausages arranged on buttered toast that is spread wth German or French mustard. Sprinkle with grated cheese, and heat under a griller. , ■ , Spread thin slices of cooked ham ivith German mustard and roll round -belled, liard-boiled eggs. Dish on sliced tomatoes, _coated with, mayonnaise and sprinkled w jth chopped celery and apple. Garnish with watercress and parsley. Cooked finnan haddock, finely flaked, heated in butter, seasoned with cayenne, piled on toast and coated with hot tomato sauce- . Sprinkle with chopped gherkins. Bloaters or kippers may replace the haddock.