Woman's World

Northern Advocate, 7 February 1925, Page 2 (Supplement)

Woman's World

household hints. TO MAKE CARPET LINOLEUM. Take any old carpet that is whole, tut too shabby to use; clean thoroughly and tack it down smoothly on the kitchen floor. Then make a good, thick, boiled starch of flour and water. Rub a coat of the starch on the carpet with a whitewash brush, and in. about 24 hours, or when the starch is thoroughly dry, give it a coat of paint, any colour; dark red is a desirable colour for the kitchen. When dry give a second coat of paint. By giving it a coat of paint once a year it will last for years. HOW TO TEST FUJI. Burn a small piece of the cloth with a match flame. If the'%fabric is all silk, A jet black glossy bead will be left as it slowly burns away. This is due to the animal substance in silk. If the fabric is silk and cotton mixture it will burn much faster, and will leave a grey ash, almost like a fringe along the burnt edge. If the fabric is all cotton, it will turn much faster, and .will leave a alight grey ash, as left by the silk and cotton mixture, but this will not form a fringe,, and will practically vanish almost as fast as formed.

HANG UP RUBBER. Rubber coats and hot water bags and other domestic accessories are best preserved by hanging up in a dark place where the atmosphere is moist, rather than dry. If it can be arranged hang the coat over an open receptacle such as a soup plate or saucer containing kerosene, for the fumes arising from this are a preservative to rubber. KEEPING FOOD COOL. "The very best way to keep butter beautifully firm in summer," writes a country housewife, "is to dissolve about one teaspoonful of borax in very hot water; wring a clean cloth out in this, and shake for a few minutes in the air; the cloth will then be icy cold. Wrap round the butter. This treatment is also successful for meat or cool drinks.'' If you wish to cool anything very quickly, take a vessel of cold water and squeeze the blue-bag into it until it becomes a dark blue colour. Then add a handful of salt, and in this water place your jug of lemonade, milk, jelly, etc. It is a splendid substitute for ice. Another effective substitute for ice is half a pound of nitrate of ammonia, which should be kept in store in case the ice supply fails. It can be obtained from most chemists for a few pence

per pound, and is perfectly harmless in use. One quarter of a pound of nitrate of ammonia added to half a pint of tap water'*'will make a freezing mixture of a temperature 20deg. below zero. Two . ounces to half a pint of water makes a cboling mixture usuallysufficient, to set'a jelly quickly, chill a fruit salad, cup, 'or white wine. One point must be iborne in mind. The food or liquid to be frozen should be placed in a vessel which has the same shape as the one containing the nitrate of ammonia solution, bo that the vessel is surrounded by the freezing liquid. Many failures have been accounted for by the fact that a tall, narrow vessel was placed in a wide, shallow basin. I't should also be noted that while nitrate of ammonia is not poisonous, it has a salt taste, and care should be taken to keep it from getting into the food.

HOME COOKERY. A NEW CAKE FILLING. As a change from the jam and buttericing fillings for home-made sandwich cakes, the following will be found delicious: —■ Boil together 1i cupful of granulated sugar and i cupful of water until a spoonful of the syrup, on being dropped into cold water, forms a soft ball. Cut into small pieces 2oz. of marshmallows, and stir those into the sugar and water. Then beat in the whites of two eggs, having previously whipped them to a very stiff froth. Continue to beat the mixture until it is of a stiff creamy consistency, when it is ready for use as sandwich cake filling, [t is especially good with chocolate or ginger cake. MARRONS GLACES. Use 24 large sound Spanish chestnuts for these.. Slit the skins with a fine-pointed knife, cover them with boiling water, and boil for a few minutes; then take off the outer and inner skins. Make a syrup of 3i teacups of sugar and 2J teacups of cold water. Put this into a saucepan; stir over low heat until boiling. Bring to the boil, then boil gently for 25 minutes. When cooled, this may be stored for

When, the chestnuts are sill peeled, drain them and put them in a stewpan (copper or aluminium) "with enough syrup to cover. Add a vanilla pod, and simmer very gently until the chestnuts are tender.. Put them with the syrup into a basin atfcl •allow them to stand until the following day. Cover the basiji with a cloth, if'Reboil them in the syrup the next day. Then take them out and drain on a ,sieve. Meanwhile, make another syrup of lib of ■ loaf sugar and 1 gill of water. Stir until the sugar has melted, then boil the syrup to 200<3eg. or the crack. To test, drop some of the syrup into a basin of cold water. If it turns very brittle and will not stick to the teeth when 'bitten the right degree is reached. Remove the pan from the fire immediately, dip the bottom for a moment in cold water to cheek further boiling, work the syrup with a spoon against the sides of the pan until nearly cold, and dip the chestnuts into this separately with a fork or skewer. Place them on wire trays to dry. TOMATO TOAD-IN-HOLE.

j This is made with Yorkshire pudding batter; a little is poured into a wellbuttered fireproof dish, over this a thick layer of minced ham is scattered, and on the top of this arrange skinned tomatoes —seasoned with pepper and salt; pour more batter over them, and bake for 35 minutes in a quick oven. Vegetarians may substitute partlycooked onion, finely chopped, for the ham. Apples may be cooked in the same way, putting a layer of batter, a layer of apples (halved, quartered, ancl cored); over these grated orange peel and castor sugar, then cover with more batter. Gooseberries, plums, and other fruit may be used when in season. WHY WOMEN DRESS ALIKE. PERSONALITY IN CLOTHES. Mary flung aside her paper with an unusual show of petulance. "I do wish that men writers' would write less abo.ut our clothes and more about us," she said. "In every paper one picks up there is at least one article discussing, and generally denouncing, our modern ideas of dress. Practically all the writers agree that because we all dress alike we have lost what they ca}l the natural expression of personality. Eve had lota of personality, but she scarcely expressed it in clothes, did she? Such nonsense! Men all dress ailke and have done for years and years, but no woman thinks they are lacking personality in consequence—and no man either. It seems to me that now we have simplified the problem of dressing neatly and becomingly we shall have much more time to attend to the development of personality, and personality developed will express it self.''

And Mary sniffed. Not so very many years ago man was the peatock of tlie fashionable world. Docked in gorgeous silks and sparkling jewels, long curia and marvellous hats, lie spent much time and much money upon his toilet. Indeed*

has not the naive Pepys placed it on record that his wife's clothes cost much less than his? writes Marjory Swift in "The Daily Mail." Why did the masculine fashions, change? Surely because the fashions of a more leisurely age were unsuitable for the rush and scramble of modern life. Why, then, should woman be criticised because she has now reached the same conclusion as men did years ago, because she has decided that by adopting a uniform dress she will have more time to concentrate upon j things of far greater importance? J For that is the real reason why the modern woman has so enthusiastically adopted the modern fashion. It is neat, becoming, and saves time. It relieves her of the tedium of matching silks, of the ineffable boredom of endless visits to tyrannical dressmakers. It leaves her free to express her personality through the medium of life rather than through the medium of clothes.

NEW DANCING STYLES. VARIETY THE KEYNOTE OF SUCCESS. Many enthusiastic dancers are sadly- reflecting that they are out of date, and that they must polish up their danc ing if they are to be successful in the ballroom. For there are new dances. The most popular, it is true, still bear the names of fox trot, one-step, and waltz, but those "dances are continually changing, and really are quite new things under old names. The five-step, the tango, and the "blues" are all of importance to the dancer who wants his or her dancing equipment to be complete, states a writer in the Melbourne '' Argus.'' These also arc changing, and are likely to undergo still further development or modification. Variety is the big secret of the new dances. I do not propose to deal with any particular dance in detail, but the demand for variety is so outstanding a feature of the new dancing style that it must be discussed in its relation to the whole art of dancing. The day is gone when any dance was a series of definite "steps'" to be danced in an unchangeable order. The title of "good dancer" is earned today by the man or girl who can not only perform any and all the steps which convention permits, but can also improvise little adaptations and variations, and pass smoothly from one evolution to the next without danger of entangled feet.

I I sometimes ■ read that modern dancing is just, "walking,' T and certainly one often sees a,* young- inai» trundling Ms partner round and round a room, like an engine shunting a goods train. But that is not dancing! The good . dancer has to have his brain in his dancing, and he must use it all the time. There must be little repetition —no monotony.. More than ever, responsibility rests with the msn. If he does not bring imagination—a touch :of phantasy —to the ballroom, if he J cannot catch the. inspiration of .the j music, his dancing will lack that intangible "something" that characterj ises good dancing. ■ | The new dances make endless demands also on the girl. She must be so supple, so attuned to her partner's dancing mood that she can follow the constant .changes in step almost before her partner has made up his mind what he means to do. Then will be attained that smooth, "skating" motion that is the essential criterion of the best dancing style. The "shaken-before taken" method of dancing, with hunched shoulders and bent knees, "has quite gone. Smoothness and rhythm are essential. Good dancers should seem to be alabaster figures moving on pneumatic castors, so smooth the movement, so effortless the effect. The knees and shoulders need watching if "style" is to be achieved. The knees should practically never be bent at all—a rule that is even more important for the man than for his partner. The shoulders should bo square, and the tendency to hold the left higher than the right—a common fault—should be diligently checked.

■ The man's right hand —flat, and with the fingers together—should rest firmly in the centre of his partner's back, because in t'his position he has more complete control than wh6n the hand is kt the side. His left hand should h6ld her right hand in an easy, unstrainfed position, with the elbow slightly bent. The high position with the arms stretched up above the shoulder looks strained and unnatural. The upper part of the body should be carried erect. A man who leans forward over his partner, or a girl who leans backward, spoils the appearance of the couple. The new boyish dresses, with their straight lines and narrow hems, will be certain t® have their effect on dancing styles, and long steps will have to be avoided if disaster is not to follow. Dancing at present is "quiet," and this "quietness" will become more and more accentuated. There may be "new dances" later on, but the dancer, who achieves a smooth, effortless style will quickly pick up the new ideas as they are gradually revealed. About 1500 million gallons of petroleum aro produced ia the United States every year. j