WOMAN'S WORLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14214, 10 November 1909, Page 9

WOMAN'S WORLD.

MARRIAGE ON SMALL; INCOMES. Is it wise to marry on a small income? No, says the wiseacre of fifty or sixty, who shakes his head at the , thought of such folly. "Yes," reply the two young people, who think nothing of venturing into matrimony on a sum that makes the wiseacre gasp with dismay. The truth is that the success of marrying on a small income depends entirely upon how the money affairs are managed. Those who choose to live in a big city can even contrive to gain amusement and entertainment out of their income if they will be content to enjoy l the little things .-net never acquire the fatal habit of envying those with more money. ~ '* ■■, Thare arc many ways of economising in living. The trouble is that even those with small incomes think they must live as other people live, and will refuse to settle in a quarter where rents are low and houses are fairly large, simply because the locality in considered unfashionable. In furnishing the "house, those who, have taste and judgment will find it a good plan to haunt secondhand shops and watch for sales, as in this way really substantial and beautiful things may be picked up at a low price. Another secret of economising lies in the preparation of food. There are a hundred short cuts to economy, but unhappily they are not always true economy.' This question \ should be studied by the wife with the same energy the husband puts into his work. She should j learn the value of the various food products and find what meats and vegetables contain most nutriment. Next she should find where she can get the best value for. her money. She must remember that the burden of responsibility of making both ends meet is infinitely harder to her husband than j her task of utilising the weekly money well. . * -■•« . The ideal division of a small income as worked out by authorities on statistics is as follows : — 20 per cent, for Rent. 10 per cent, for Household Expenses. 10 per cent, for Clothing. 10 per cent, for Amusements. 20 per cent, for Savings. 30 per cent.-for Food. . But from the actual experience of those lining in a large town the rate paid for rent is almost in every, case above 20 per cent, and this, of course, always reduces the sum that should be set aside for savings or amusements. But most people agree that the month s rent should not exceed one week's salary, and, before marriage, every engaged girl ought to encourage her fiance to. save enough for the furnishing of the home. TOILET NOTES. Red arms are always , a source of trouble to their owners, and if they represent a pressing anxiety the first care should be that of improving the general circulation, indulging in sufficient exercises, taking good nourishing food, and avoiding constricted clothing or damp gar- , ments. A* regards the arms themselves, the experiment may be tried with capital effect of washing them night and." morning with a warm lather made jwilh good soap, and rinsing them afterwards in lukewarm water, when a cut' lime' should be rubbed over the skin until a fresh and invigorating reaction sets in. I An alternative method 'which can be recommended is that of I applying a paste of oatmeal and hot water. The finest Scotch meal should be used, a handful being stirred with a wooden stick, a teaspoonful of borax, and a little ■■ ammonia added, the whole well mixed. This should be allowed to cool, then applied to the arms with a complexion brush, and the paste allowed to dry on. It should then be wiped off with a damp sponge, and the arms dried with a soft towel. "•' . Sweet oil represents •. ah excellent skin softener, and will be found always helpful in cases where the hands have become coarsened by the action of hard water or manual, labour. A small basin should be filled with the oil, slightly warmed, and the hands held in it for a few minutes, after which they should be rubbed dry one against the /Other, "in front of the fire. A. little warm lemonjuice applied just after washing the hands is always recommended as an; effective bleaching agent.

PRESERVING HINTS. When preserving fruit in jars fitted with screw-top lids it is always best, after filling the jars and screwing them tightly, to hold them upside down for a moment. If a sharp hissing sound is heard, the fact will be apparent that the rubber screw-band is defective, and a new one should be substituted at once, or air will permeate the cover and cause the fruit to become mouldy. ■ A good wax for sealing pickle jars or bottles can be made of a mixture of two-thirds of beeswax to one-third of resin. The beeswax should be slowly melted, the resin added, and the whole well mixed together. . A small piece rolled into a ball should be placed on the cork of the bottle, and this should be spread over it, by means of a shovel, heated, but not red-hot, a seal or mark of some kind being imprinted before the wax hardens. THE LOVE OF SENSATION. All women seem alike in their love of a sensation. They must have some picturesque element in their lives, and, if nature declines to supply it, they invoke the aid of art. Numbers of men are quite content to plod on in the same rut. Day after day they can see the same people, go to the same places, do the same things without a grumble. No woman is like this. She yearns to be enthusiastic, to be deeply moved, to discover mysteries even when there are none. While a man falls in love because'he can't help it, a woman very often, begins to do so mainly out of inquisitiveness to know what it feels like. '.;■,., Probably woman, with' her greater eagerness and curiosity, supplies a wholesome stimulus to the less impressionable brain of man. She suggests, and '. he carries out the ideas which she would,never have the patience to execute for herself, for his special virtues are perseverance, and concentration, and an irritating habit of sticking to a thing impossible to ' the more superficial sex. NERVOUS CHILDREN. The nervous baby grows up into the nervous child. Unfortunately, very few mothers have ever realised the possibility of nervousness in babies. They seem to think that the nervousness which us. so common in children of the present ■; generation is simply a causeless affliction which has suddenly, for no reason, chosen that particular child for its attention. As a matter of fact, just at this time, when no one is taking the slight-, est notice of the infant's -, brain, the nervous tissues which compose it are in their most critical state. To begin with, the brain grows more in the first two years than in all the rest of life, and during i this period should be carefully shielded from anything which leads to function-i al activity, i.e., thinking or noticing or otherwise using its intelligence. . The habit of playing with the baby, making it laugh and crow to show off its intelligence, may delight the mother, but if; repeated with any frequency is simply paving the w?y for a normal baby to grow up into a nervous child. • The best treatment for baby during its first year is to attend carefully to its physical wants, and to absolutely neglect the fact: that it has a mind at all. There should be no romping or playing, or, in . fact, anything which can interest or"excite its mind.

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIES. Flour should \be bought in small quan- % tities, owing to the fact that it quickly" becomes musty, and for .the same reason 1 ! it should be kept scrupulously free from damp. . If, however a good deal is required at once, it should be stored in a barrel, the- cover of which should be composed of pieces of board, to allow of sufficient air getting through. '' - When gas globes have become very dirty with smoke, they should be soaked in warm water and soda for a while, and then washed with soap and water to which ammonia has been added. Finally they should be rinsed in clear cold water, ? and dried with a linen glass-cloth. If the floor of the kitchen is stained with grease the spots should be cleaned wtih a preparation of Fuller's earth. Make a good lather of soap and boiling water, stir, some Fuller's earth into the suds, and spread over the stains, leaving the mixture on the boards overnight. The next day scour the boards with a strong brush and soap in the usual manner, and the greasa will be removed. If one treatment is not sufficient, the ap-: plication should be repeated. A scrubbing-brush should never be used for cleaning oilcloth, nor should strong soda water or very hot soapsuds be employed. A cloth dipped in a lather made of soft-soap and warm—but not hotwater will be found amply sufficient for removing dust or grease, the soap being' washed off with another cloth wrung out in clean water. Japanned trays or coal-scuttles which have become dull and lustreless may be restored by polishing them with a mixture of white brick and vinegar applied with r a piece of rag. This should then be wiped off with another piece of cloth, and, the article rubbed with a dry chamois leather till a brilliant polish is secured. ■/ ' . ■■-'■ : . - HOW TO BECOME SLIM. One French method for the reduction of superfluous flesh is to drink chickweed water. Take six handfuls of the freshly-gathered . white-blossomed plant for every quart of water. Boil three-' quarters of an hour, then pour over liquorice-wood and the thinly-peeled skin of a lemon. '' A well-known practitioner advocates the use of skimmed milk, which if used J for the entire or principal food, .will ef- .'; fect a reduction of half a pound of sup-i erfluous fat daily.' If strength require '"' it, the milk is supplemented with meat-1 broth, and massage is also recommended ; as part of the treatment. / French women have cheerfully submitted to living' on:,' boiled milk 7 from' three to five \ months.''. and ' have come out of the ordeal radiant ; s with the consciousness of having regained all the grace and beauty of youth- : . ful slight figures. Some reduction methods advise the taking half an hour before meals of a piecn of bicarbonate of'soda the size of a,pea dissolved in half a glass of hot water. This may be taken for three or four days, but must be \ discontinued' for, a like period. To , alternate with, this,-is i a - tablespoonf ill of pure limejuice in ■as % much water, which may be taken with' great advantage before : meals. '