WOMEN'S WORLD.

Mataura Ensign, 15 January 1914, Page 7

WOMEN'S WORLD.

x BEAUTIFY THE ARMS. A woman who wants her arms to be well shaped must exercise them, and the exercises must be devised to ensure and shapeliness. Golf, tennis, and croquet do exercise the arms, buveach develops only a limited number of muscles, and hence the beauty ■of the arm is often destroyed. Vm following exercises may be recommended: —Stand before a mirror and, keeping the body quite steady, raise the arms over the head until the thumbs meet. Keep the palms directed forward. Do this 20 times each morning and night. * Kxtend the arms straight from the sides of tho body and then, keeping the upper arms fixed, bend the torearms until the fingers touch the shoulders. Hang the arms straight down and then close and open the hands vigorously 20 times. This exercise improves, both the arms and the hands. Hang the arms down and then raise them, palms downwards, until they extend in a straight line from the shoulders. ' { Fix two pulleys to the wall about 4ft high and 16 or 18 inches apart. Get two pieces of rope about 10ft long. Attach weights to the ends (bags of sand or of shot will do) and run tho ropes through tho pulleys. Then attach wood handles to the other ends of the ropes. A large number of pulling exercises can now be performed. Standing with the face towards the wall, pull the weights up 10 or a dozen times. Then sit on the floor and repeat the exercise. Turn the back to the wall and pull on the ropes, with the arms hanging down, raised above the shoulders,' extend from tho sides, etc. These exercises develop the whole arm symmetrically and increase its length and gracefulness. Tho weights should at first, bo only a couple of pounds, but they can gradually be increased. A woman who systematically practices these exercises can give beauty of form to the ugliest arms. Moreover, she develops plumpness and roundness of the shoulder, expands tho chest, and secures great freedom and grace of movement.

WHEN HAIR TURNS GREY. Very little can be done, says a West End physician, to prevent the hair from turning grey, and practically nothing to restore the color once it is lost. That is so, at least when the bleaching i 6 due to age. Sometimes in youngish people the color goes as a result of disease, or debility, or even great anxiety or sorrow, and then there is some hope of effecting a cure. We do not yet know the actual cause of the bleaching of hair consequent on age. Some account for'it with the explanation that what occurs is the filling in of the hair tube with air. But recent investigations show that certain little glands in the abdomen determine the deposit of coloring matter, and when they get out of order the hair turns grey. Possibly a time will come when we can keep these glands active to the end of life and then there*will be no more grey hair.

What to Avoid. J'Al present all that one can do, short or dyeing, is to promote the general health of the scalp and avoid anything injurious.■■•■ The measures-to be - taken are very similar to those for the prevention of baldness. To delay as far as possible the inevitable loss of color one must avoid wetting the hair too often. Men become grey much earlier than women, and I think this is in great part due to their more frequent washing of the head. When the hair is washed it should be done with the very beet soap and warm water only. A woman who wants to preserve the color should never use cleansers, which remove all the natural oil, leaving the hair dry and harsh. When bathing in the sea the hair shouldbe kept dry, for salt has a slight bleaching effect. After washing a little oil should be rubbed into the scalp, the best being olive and coco-nut oils. Cottonseed oil. sometimes sold under the name of olive oil, is not so good. An excellent application can be made by mixing equal parts of lanolin, glycerine, and rose- * iter. Put them in a bottle and shake

Hard water, perspiration, and the use of the curling tongs are probably all promoters of premature greyness and one's correct 'attitude towards them is obvious.

It is said that hair is more likely to turn grey in winter than in summer. Consequently more attention must be given to the scalp in the former season. And as dark people become grey at an earlier age than fair people they should bo especially careful. Forty is the age when the change is to be feared. But many people become grey much sooner. In their case some ■of the following causes mav be at work :—Residence in a hot" climate, rheumatism, neuralgia, general debility, overwork, continued worry, feaT and Borrow. Such people should try to remove the cause.

One must take care of the general health, and if any weakening illness or nervous condition bo present the doctor should be asked to prescribe tonics.

THE INDEFINITE LOVER. It used to be the fashion to assert that any woman could evoke from her suitor a proposal whenever she chose (states a writer in the 'Daily Mail'). A synieal, perhaps Vulgar, theory; at any rate no longer! A modern woman tells me that the emancipation of the modern daughter in tho last qnnrter of a century ha 6 altered the conditions considerably. She asserts that in divesting herself of the eternal vifri.voe of the Victorian mother the eirl has assumed a very businesslike view of marriage—quite rightly -o, and that though she shares th* ryin»p» of her brother's fwends it is her responsibility that thev H&evor advance to the point of a proIbwal. 1 am doubtful if it is so. <

When He Marries. The- modern young man finds that feminine friendships are easy enough for him to make. Women's interest* are. now not unsimilar to his own. Golf, tennis, boating, and the rest, 'all are feminine pastimes as well as masculine. Quite possibly ho indulges in a few more or less frivolous flirtations; but these friendships and these flirtations he takes so much in the spirit of thc'r avowed "chunrminess" that they are woefully unconnected, in his athletically engrossed mind, with the idea of marriage. Then again, it is latterly, to hour, say, of some young bachelor, a favorite in his circle and with a dozen or more women "chums," who at last announces his engagement—and lo! he is not marrying any of the said "chums.''

It has never (to be brutally frank) occurred to him to marry any of them. On the contrary, his financee is somo girl of whom nono of them ever heard—from Dublin or Glasgow or New York or Paris, a girl from anywhere, in fact, but his own Ideality. And why not? But there iis a kind of unfairness, all the same, in this new tendency. One does not say that is unfair to the discarded "chums." Perhaps they thought as little of marrying the ungrateful bridegroom-to-be as he did of marrying them. It is an unfairness more subtle than that —an unfairness to society at large, and an unfairness to the more seriously inclined Might Have Been —the suitor who, conceivably, would have found a wife meanwhile among the bevy of athletic damsels whose companionship was at the disposal of the renegade. The Parent's Point of View.

The girl of 21 with hosts of men friends of the kind who are only friends because she golfs or rows or plays a dashing game of tennis may find that the 30th birthday has dawned and nothing—except a collection of very merry memories—has resulted.

According to old-fashioned conventions this implies wasted time. Per-1 haps that is rating health and happi- J ness rather low; but it must be confessed that the queer, semi-humorous, rather charming and rather selfish attituro towards positive love-making affected by the modern young dilletante or athlete is responsible for many heart-searchings on the part of parents if not that of their daughters. NEW PLUM DISHES. Plum Surprise requires ljlb of plums, 2 sheets of gelatine, 3 stale penny spongecakes, some plum jam, 41b of caster sugar, some whipped cream or custard.

Put the plums into a stewpan with very little water and the sugar, and cook until tender. Strain off the liquor, heat it up again and in it dissolve the gelatine. Cut open the sponge-cakes, spread with jam, press together, and arrange in a glass dish. Pour over them the plum liquor and let it set. Thea arrange the plums on top and pour over and round them whipped cream or custard.

Plum Fool is very easily made though rarely served. Take l£lb of plums, Jib of caster sugar, 1 pint of milk, and the yolks of three eggs. Put the fruit and sugar into an earthen jar, stand it in the oven, and cook till the fruit is tender. Press the pulp through a sieve. Crack the stones and add the kernels to the fruit. Beat the egg-yolks up with the milk and boil gently until thick. When cold mix the custard smoothly with the pulped plums, and turn into a 1 glass dish. I

HOUSEKEEPING HINTS. In England they serve lettuce leaves with afternoon tea. The leaves are eaten with the fingers. They aTe dipped in salt as they are eaten. Fingers are used in helping oneself from the general dish. The leaves should be well dried before serving. "Most people over here make cocoa badly," said the Dutch woman fresh from the land of cocoa-drinkers. "This is the right way to make it: "Into boiling water put your cocoa and sugar. Stirring constantly, let the water come to a full boil high up in the saucepan two or three times or until you see that the cocoa and sugar are thoroughly and smoothly dissolved. Do not let any of the cocoa stay thick and lumpy at the bottom of the pan. Now add the milk .and let the mixture rise twice in a high boil. "Prepare your cocoa in this way and you will find it delicious and it will have such a tempting color too." "It seems the simplest thing in the world to cook rice, but how seldom you get it cooked delicately and appetisingly." And the Southern woman gave her way. "Boil salted water until it dances, and have a saucepan big enough in breadth and depth and full enough of water not to crowd the quantity of rice you wish to cook. "Into the dancing water pour the rice gradually. The grains, should sift into the water, not rush in in bulk, as if they do this they will stick together and you will not have light rice with separate grains. "When the rice is cooked empty it gently into a colander and place this over an empty pan at the back of the stove to dry out the superfluous moisture.

_ "To be as delicious as it should be rice should be cooked just in time to be served. Rice that stands a while before serving will not be so delicate as that prepared just in time to send to the table." FRENCH COOKING SECRETS. "We French people taste food as we prepare it. You seldom taste a dish in the process of the making." said the French cook to the American housekeeper who was extolling the cooking of his land. "You go by role, not by taste. I have watched cooks in this country prepare water for boiling notatoes by simply throwing some salt in. The French cook would not think of doing this. He would rmt a little salt in the water, then he would taste as he added I more until the water was iust saltvi enough. * * j "In making soup, preparing a sauce,,

cooking vegetables, etc.. it is always the same rale —flavors added in small quantities, then more added until the cook's taste is satisfied.

"A French cook would never put a cake into the oven without tasting the dough. A recipe to us is simply a general guide, to be tuned to the taste of the cook. That is one .reason why there is so much individuality in French cooking and why when you go about in French homes the food at one hostess' table does not taste iust Tike that at her neighbor's. That is why inns and hotels-in France are so renowned for a 'specralite' de la maison.' "Another thing that amazes me in the kitchens over here is the way you cook things so quickly. If I had in a, general way to tell the difference between the French and the American kitchen I should say that we let things simmer while vou boil them.

"And, oh, why do yoa cook so muo'i in water, which makes so many things insipid? It is the way you have with most vegetables—throw them into boiling water with some salt. Why do you not vary this monotony by cooking vegetables in fine clear stock ? Have you tasted string beans cooked in stock? I've an idea you'll not cook them in water after trying them that way.

"And then try steaming vegetables instead of boiling them. Put them -ii a colander over a pot of boiling water and steam them until tender, then butter and season. Carrots like that are delicious. French cooks laugh at American water cooking."