NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12854, 1 May 1905, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Tin-'. SKIRKT OK SUOCESSFVf. TRAINING. Mr. Arthur F. Ditffuy, the. American sprinter, who won the Amateur Championship of England for 100 yds four years in succession, writes in C. H. Fry's Magazine on "What, Makes the Splinter." He .says:

—".There is no.secret that T. know of. and I do not believe that my method of training differs in any very important feature from that of hundred* of other runners, Hut there in 110 doubt thai while in training the most, important thing is a man's personal habits. Regular and sufficient sleep, avoidance of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco in "any form, and, in a word, the exclusion of every form of even the mildest dissipation, are the first requisites of getting into form. Then comes the diet. A happy medium should be struck between the vegetable and the meat food, and all foods over-rich in starch and sugar should 'too tabooed, as well as anything that does not agree with the individual's digestion, no matter what it may be. Then as to the exercise proper I would say, first of all, develop the start; learn to start properly with the least possible effort., and .1 great deal has been accomplished. After that comes the development of the stride, and intelligent work will accomplish wonders in that direction. Breathing exercises must not be neglected, and the greatest danger of all to the beginner-that is, tiring the muscles by overwork —must be avoided. Last, and by 110 means least, is the importance of the bath and massage. Nothing restores fatigued muscle to its normal condition so effectively as intelligent massage, and a good 1 " rubber is a, pleasure to the amateur athlete. Training, properly conducted, should not bo an ordeal to bp feared, lint a. process that'brings out all that is best in. the physical man, and stores up a reserve force of vigour that, is. more or less, completely under the control of whoever trains faithfully and intelligently." A l'f.KA FOR " KITCHEN 1 MECHANICS.'* What's in a. name? Everything, says Miss Jane Seymour Klink, who describes in the Atlantic Monthly the result of her experience as a. housemaid in American households. There are millions of people below the poverty line in America, but, although domestic servants earn £50 a year, besides their board and lodging, mistresses are at their wits' end for servants, chiefly because they will call them servants. Miss Klink says:—"To establish a school, and frank'y call it one for the. training of servants. is distinctly against present tendencies ; the name alone would kill it. Train domestic employees, borne workers, household aids, just as much as you can, 'but unless the term servant be left out, possibly even from the signs of employment bureaus, you must combat an unappeasable prejudice. One bright gill who was the cook in a homo where 1 was employed invariably referred to us as 'the kitchen mechanics,' another always called the maid's 'us girls,' still another 'the kitchen people,' and in all association with maids in service I have never heard tliein call themselves servants." Another reason why domestic service is unpopular is because the hours are longer than mist resses realise: —" There is misapprehension on both sides regarding this. Taking the general housoworker as an illustration, her hours from time of rising until she ceases to be '011 call' in the evening are usually from six o'clock a.m. until nine o'clock p.m., 15 hours, with ordinarily every other Thursday and every other Sunday off. Sometimes the Thursday off means going our as soon as the morning's work is done, and remaining until it is time to prepare dinner, thus having the whole day to one's self. Sometimes it means going away diiivilv i.iui imicheoii, and 1 spending afteriiooii and evening out. NometiiiM it means going as soou as possible after luncheon and coining home in time to prepare dinner. The Sunday off geuerally means an early dinner, any time from 0110 until three, and leaving after the work is done, having first left everything ready for supper. Employers do not always realise how much work is done oil the maids' days off. 1 find on my Sundays off I have worked from eight to 11 hours—and' yet it was called 'my day out'—and l 1 had 'not mucin to do but get, the. meals.' Eight hours would las a fair day's work, and 1. never had "less than that, excepting at one place iu Boston. The work was continuous as well, so that when at four or live o'clock .1 was ready for my outing f was too tired to do anything but go and sit; in the park and rest." Miss Kliuk's article is very fair and reasonable. She says when she began her experimental investigation: —'"For one tiling I was not prepared, and that was that 1 should pity my mistress. My experiences as a domestic employee led me to see the difficulties of the employer, more clearly than 1 had ever imagined, through the light of my own mistakescontrasting the service I was giving with what I felt I should give."

EXTINCTION" OK J'KWSIUN.S. Provision is being in tide, in (lie forthcoming French limpet, for (lie, extinction of the pensions conferred '1 »y Napoleon oil li is generals ami iiiiivnliiilrv a. cent Hi t ago. Herlhier, Mussina, Ney, Jieruilotte, Hrouehy, Luunes, and Oudiuofc are anions the historic figures of the Napoleouip epoch whose descendants Jjave drawn pensions for 100 years, and are now to bo bought out at 35 years' purchase. The reform will mean a saving of about 1,000,000 francs a year. A similar step in England would deprive the descendants of Lord Rodney, Earl Nelson, and the Duke, of Sehoinberg of their perpetual jpen4o&»» amounting j,o £7700

per annum. Those conferred on Lords Napier, Ilardinge, Gough, Seaton, and Kcane, cease at the death of the present peers, an (J will relieve the exchequer of an annual sum of £11,000. The Iron Duke's £4000 a year ended at | the demise of the lata Duke of Wellington. But the biggest pension in the world is the £19,000 settled by Charles 11. on) his natural sou, the Duke of Richmond, and still punctually paid to his.heirs, as it lias been these 200 years.