Finger Nails.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 995, 27 March 1891, Page 5

Finger Nails.

Fortune telling by means of the finger nails, onychomancy, as it is oalled, was not uncommon in ancient times. The practice was to rub the nails with oil and soot or wax, and to hold up the nails, thus prepared, against the sun, and upon the transparent, horny substance, were supposed to appear figures or characters, which gave the answer required. In more recent times people have been found predicting by means of the nails of the hand, and telling the disposition of persons with certain descriptions of nails. According to these sages a person with broad nails is of gentle nature, timid and bashful. Those whose nails grow into the flesh at the points or sides are_ given to luxury. A white mark on the nail foretells misfortune. Persons with very pale nails are subject tohnuoh infirmity of the flesh and persecution by neighbours and friends. People with narrow nails are ambitious and quarrelsome. Lovers of knowledge and liberal sentiment have round nails. Indolent people have generally fleshy nails. Small nails indicate littleness of mind, obstinacy, and conceit. Melancholy persons are distinguished by their pale or lead-coloured nails ; and choleric, martial men, delighting in war, have red and spotted nails. .A man whose left thumb nail bears the fresh impress of an Boz. hammer will quarrel with his own shadow.

Mrs Harrison has made a fresh departure in the social code of ths White House. Last year she decreed that at State receptions the receiving party should march down stairs in martrimomial couples ; each Cabinet officer escorted his own wife, instead of some other Cabinet officer’s wife. This year she has decreed that at all State dinners she shall be escorted to dinner immediately after the President and the lady he takes out, instead of going out, as other hostesses do, after all their guests.

To make Treacle Cheesecake: Line abuttered tartlet tin with a plate or good pie crust,and fill it with the following mixture: —Into a tablespoonful of flour stir four tablespoonfuls of treacle, and, when the mixture is quite smooth, add half a teaspoonful of powdered ginger. Lay twists of pasta crosswise over the top and bake in a moderate oven.