THE FRIENDLY EXCHANGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 889, 15 March 1889, Page 4

THE FRIENDLY EXCHANGE.

In this column we propose to have pleasant chats and interchange of ideas with our readers upon passing matters of domestic and social interest ; and that it may be made an instructive and profitable feature we invite correspondence of inquiry and information on all subjects that can possibly be of service to the home and our common humanity, and the Editress hopes that her appeal will meet with a hearty and generous response. Letters must be written on one side of the paper only, and addressed to “Elise,” New Zealand Mail.

Correspondents will please give real name and address in addition to their nom-de-plume, not for publication but editorial introduction. For the present the Exchange will be published fortnightly, but we hope that sufficient pabulum will soon come in to enable us to make it a weekly issue. Contributions for the ‘ Exchange ’ must be sent in not later than Monday. Dear Elise, —Could you let me have a pattern for baby’s boots that came out in your paper about a year ago. It was called the * Roseleaf ’ pattern, and was very pretty. H. H. Porangahau. baby’s BOOT, LEAF PATTERN. White beehive fingering, No. 13 needles. Cast on 38 stitches, knit 1 plain row. Ist row—Purl 2, make 1, knit 3, knit 2 together at back, knit 2 together, knit 3, miss 1, repeat; finish the row with 2 purl. 2nd and each alternate row—Knit the purled, and purl the knitted and • made stitohes of previous row. 3rd row—Purl 2, knit 1, make 1, knit 2, knit 2 together at back, knit 2 together, knit 2, make 1, knit 1; repeat, finishing the row with 2 purl. sth row—Purl 2, knit 2, make 1, knit 1, knit 2 together at back, knit 2 together, knit 1, make 1, knit 2 ; repeat, finish the row with 2 purl.

7th row—Purl 2, knit 3, make 1, knit 2 together at back, knit 2 together, make 1, knit 3 ; repeat as before.

This is one pattern ; knit as many as will make the leg the desired length. Make a row of holes for a ribbon by making 1 and knitting 2 together all along. From',this time forward you must knit 1, purl 1, reversed every third row to make a dice pattern, and decreasing at the end of each row. Cast on 11 extra at the end of each of the next two rows, making 52 in all. Inorease at the beginning of every row until there are 62 ; do 4 plain rows ; then decrease in the same way until you have only 52 again. Cast off and sew up. Crochet a scollop on the top to give a finish. I believe this is the desired pattern. Elise.

Madam Elise, -1, a man,take the liberty of addressing you upon a subject which is not supposed to be in the province of the sterner sex, viz., the * Ladies Column, which I always read with great interest. I am not a professing cook, but I frequently try my baud at the dainty dishe3 ‘which so often appear in your columns, and generally with great success. For that reason it is only fair that I should supply something in return, and so send you the' following recipe for gruel, which' I have times out of number made'for ladies who, like my wife, are UnAble to'take it made in the ordinary way, and have heyer yet liridwn a casein which my' patient did not enjoy ft, or in whioh it in any way disagreed with her. "'Oatmeal' Gruel. —lngredients, 2 tablespoonfuls oatmeal, § pint of milk, water small quantity, butter size of walnut, sugar to taste. Place the oatmeal in a basin and cover with water sufficient to moisten the oatmeal through. Boil the milk and pour over the moist meal, stir well and strain back into saucepan, stir till it boils, and then let it simmer gently for 5 minutes; then take off the fire and add butter and sugar and serve at once. Yours, &c., Chestnut.

Dear Madam,—As -it is only fair both sides of a case should be heard, will you kindly grant me space to say why respectable girls object to domestic service. Consider tho contemptuous language in whirls

‘ servantgalism ’ is described, or rather caricatured. In most cases it is, no doubt, made up against the poor ‘elavies’ for the want of something better to fill up the paper with. Directly a farmer s or tradesman’s daughter enters service she is tabooed by all in her own circle, as I know by bitter experience. A milliner or dressmaker would as soon be seen out with the hangman as a servant girl, although better born and reared than herself. I know one daily dressmaker, the daughter of a sweep and nightman. She is ‘Miss’where she works, and she either takes her meals with tho family or in a separate room. Certainly not with the poor • slavy ’; for whom there is not even in the matrimonial market the hope of a rise as the upper ten among shopmen, tradesmen, and farmers, have heard so much about ‘servantgalism’ that they turn up their precious noses at us. What a world of pretence and humbug this is, and why is it thus ’ In nine cases out of ten it is the bad temper and bad management of the mistress that makes a bad servant. I should like to write a book to be called ‘ Tales of My Mistresses,’ and I am sure it would rival the * Caudle Lectures ’ for fuu, but I refrain in hopes some more able pen will take up the cause of the much-abused servant girl. Hoping you will find room for this, I am, dear madam, Yours respectfully, A Servant Girl. [We are always glad to give both sides of a question. By all means write the book ; or better still, a few sketches that are to rival not ‘Caudle's Lectures,’but ‘The Greatest Plague in Life.’ — Ed.]

Dear Elise. — I have read with great interest the useful suggestions which have appeared in your ‘Exchange’ in reference to cooking and other household matters ; but I suppose you do not mean to confine your contributors to what concerns the body merely. We areonlya very small community, yet out of our limited number have formed a literary club for ladies, which has been most successful. We meet once a. fortnight (in the evening) and have general and programme committees, who arrange the order of pro* ceeding for each evening. We read and discuss different authors, tbe members taking turns in reading extracts from their works, and writing papers on their lives and various writings ; we have, too, animated discussions on subjects of general interest and have readings from Shakespeare, tbe various characters taken by different readers. Of course these have to be rehearsed, and are excellent practice for those not accustomed to reading aloud. Wo have had occasional lectures from gentlemen, but the club evenings are the most popular. We take out work, so there is no waste of time. The subscription is very low, as our expenses aro small. At the end of our second session, wa had over 60 members. We found we had funds in hand to enable us to offer prizes for essays on a given subjeofc, for readingsand recitations andalso to enable us to take a large room and entertain our friends. The entertainment was most successful, and a pleasant ending to evenings which have been, we hope, profitable to all. The older members have been pleased to see a marked improvement in the younger ones ; they have new subjects to discuss, and it is pleasant to bear tbe interest they take in the various authors whose works we have studied; and it must be an agreeable change to have a wider range than the last dance or tennis match, and it is more wholesome or all of us to have something more satisfying than the latest fashion on the last piece of gossip, which, even if it bo kindly and well meant, is scarcely as edifying as the words and thoughts of our standard authors. L.C., New Plymouth,

Dear Madam Elise, —Would you, through the ‘ Exchange,’ kindly give me your candid opinion whether or not it would be so very disgraceful for ladies to ride like the gentlemen. Some ladies think it would be terrible, but I fail to see anything wrong in it, provided they wear a suitable dress—that is the drawback. Perhaps you could give me some idea of how one could be made. I have thought of several ways, but they do not please me. I think if ladies would adopt the fashion of riding that way, it would be more beneficial for both horse and rider. Hoping you will agree with me, and that you will kindly favqur me with a reply, ’ ' " I am, Yours very sincerely, Equestrian. P.S.—Many thanks for the kind and useful information you often give us in the Mail.—E ; Many pebple, myself included, recognise no impropriety in riding mascqline fashion. It is far more convenient and natural than sitting sideways, and in some countries is the only mode. Have you not thought of the divided Bkirt as a riding dress ? I sent the pattern to a friend in the Argentine Republic, where every woman is an equestrian, and most of them crosswise. She assmes me that it has proved a most comfortable and suitable dress. —Ed.

My Dear Elise,—l have been so busy sewing lately I have not had time for many experiments in the cooking department. Did you ever use tartaric acid for cleaning White 3trfW hate? S washed a very dirty

one the other day with plenty of warm water and soap and a hard, nail brush, and after I had washed the soap well off, I rubbed the whole of the crown and brini well once with dry acid and then turned the tap on it, and put it out to dry, and it was quite as white and good as new, and nice and stiff. Hoping some of your readers will find this hint of use to them. I am, Yours very truly, M.