IN TOWN AND OUT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 30 November 1938, Page 2

IN TOWN AND OUT

OF INTEREST TO WOMEN Items of interest to women will be welcomed for this column. Where names are given every endeavour should be made to ensure that ail are included. As a guarantee of good faith, Items should be accompanied by the name and address of the sender. Forms for wedding reports may be obtained from the Lady Editor.

TO EUROPE AND BACK

WOMAN’S INTERESTING FLIGHT The first passenger to do the return journey from Sydney to Europe by the Dutch Airways is Mrs W. S. Shelton, of Gisborne, New Zealand, who arrived in Sydney last week full of enthusiasm for her experiences. When Mrs Sheldon left her home in New Zealand it was understood by her family—she is the mother of five children—that she was to travel by sea with the K.L.M. line. When she arrived Sydney, however, she decided to travel instead with the Dutch Airways, whose service was just inaugurated. To save her family anxiety, however, she did not let them know she had chosen to travel by air until she arrived in Holland, and they still think that she is returning by sea. “I will let them know that I am back in Australia again,” Mrs Sheldon said. ONLY WOMAN PASSENGER ‘‘Except for one short part of the journey I was the only woman passenger on both flights,” Mrs Sheldon said, ‘‘and I used to watch the men wrap themselves up in their rugs and sleep or read books, wondering how they could resist the fascination and beauty of the scene outside the plane. I never missed any of it, and I never tired of it for one second. ” After arriving in Amsterdam Mrs Shelton spent eight weeks in Holland, two weeks in England, and a week in Germany, and she left Amsterdam on the return jojrney on 29th October. ‘The journey over took eight days,” she explained, ‘‘but I spent three weeks on the journey back. I broke the journey first at Batavia and spent a few days in Java and in Bali. The arrangements for the whole journey were perfect, and I am full of admiration for the efficiency of the Dutch Airways. There was not a hitch of any kind anywhere. I had longed for years to fly, and the opportunity, when I came to Sydney, was too wonderful to be missed. I had hoped to return to New Zealand by air, and was most disappointed to find that the Imperial Airways service to New Zealand, which was to have begun this month, has been postponed until next year. It will seem very dull travelling by sea after the thrill of my swift journey to Europe and back.”

SWEET MIGNONETTE

Sentiment and charm are bound up in sweet mignonette, which is one of the oldest flowers in the garden. Its original home seems to have been Egypt, though other countries produce a wild variety which, however, has not always its sweet perfume. No doubt Cleopatra knew it in her gay Alexandrian gardens, where it flourished along with the lotus and the rose. It was first called the Egyptian rocket when it came over to England from Holland in the eighteenth century, though it got its name, meaning “little dear one/’ in France.

If has been loved and cherished by rich and poor, high and low for thousands of years. To-day sophisticated young modfind a corner for it somewhere—a pot, window-box, bed, or border. It is all tr.e same to this well-loved plant, which i\ of all flowers the most faithful. It only asks to be sown and left alone, for it eschews transplanting. Cut, it will remain fresh and retain its sweetness longer than any of its scented sisters. A pretty story relates to its secret meaning in old sentimental flower-books —a story of love, romance, and charm. A certain Count of Saxony w r as once spending an evening with some friends when for amusement each girl choose a flower about which each young man was set to write a suitable verse. The count had to write his to a spray of mignonette which has been chosen by a girl named Charlotte. He was so charmed with girl and flower that he fell in love with both, married the girl, and added to his family crest a sprig of mignonette with the motto, “Your qualities surpass your charms.” Ever since this meaning has upplied in secret to mignonette, and to this day a gift of mignonette, whether potted or plucked, carries with it the same delicate compliment for the recipient.