FOR WOMEN ONLY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4871, 24 January 1903, Page 4 (Supplement)

FOR WOMEN ONLY.

There is one littlo matter connected with housekeeping (says the “Scotsman”) which every young wife must strictly observe it sho wishes domestic affairs to run smoothly, and this is the importance of keeping tho receipt of each paid account. Many a homo has been rendered uncomfortable, to use only a mild term, hy an a ten nit being rendered again after Laving been paid “Oh, yes, I am sure. I paid that bill, my dear,” says tho young wife, “Well then, where is tho receipt?” is tho very natural inquiry, and as that, valuable iittio document cannot ba found, of course there is friction. Tho amount may be small, or it may bo largo, but tho carelessness is just the same, and some unscrupulous tradesman may press tiio matter —although I am suro it is seldom done. 2s o matter how trifling tho weekly or monthly sum you ■ pay your butcher, grocer, baker, etc., -ho will always give you a receipt, and it is unjust to him if you lose it. Another thing. As you must bo well aware, prices vary, and by keeping your old accounts you will see what you paid for a certain article a few weeks previously, and at tho end of tho year, when you add up those receipts you will soon bo able to judge how your year’s income lias been expended, for unless some such account 'is kept it is impossible to trace where all the money has gone. Do not trust entirely an account book, although this is very useful for entering small items, but got a receipt for every account paid, and keep it religiously. Hero aro some “don’ts” for girls.— Don’t bo snappy to other girls while your arc affable to young men; don’t stand talking to a young man while ho lolls about sitting; don’t accompany

•him anv part of the way, however short, when ho leaves; don’t let a young man with whom you arc only slightly acquainted incur much out-of-pocket oxpciiso for you. Americans have discovered a new way to health and beauty. AU you have to do is blow soap hubbies. Nothing “rounds out hollowed cheeks and improves tho contour of the scrawny or too chubby throat” like blowing bubbles. The reason is that you have to take deep breaths to do it, arid America is convinced that deep breathing is the one thing needful for beauty. A Parisienuo remarks that a wide latitude and a great diversity of opinion! are granted to every follower of fashion this autumn, hnt iu no department so much us in evening dress. We rni'.y be picturesque in Empire styles, stately in tho robes of Louis XV. 1 or Louis"XVl. days; wo may bo frilly in flounces, or pensive after the very early Victorian or 1830 period. All are oneni to ns, and all are well worn. A now way is suggested for mothers fco study their infant children’s ways, and give their experience, to tho world ami to other mothers. It is by moans of IHt- camera. It is easy enough learning v.o take snapshots and once you can do it, you not only have a record of some of your baby’s happiest moments, but you may profitably note his build, growth, and general appearance, as time passes. To take him climbing up stairs is a study in itself. In an appeal to women to return to the ways of simplicity iu social life, M. Wagner, a Frenchman, says that simplicity means tiio neglect of the extraneous, tho unnecessary, the preposterous complexity which is robbing us of the great things that life offers, and to allow ourselves to ho caught: tip m the maelstrom and whirled round until wo aro giddy. We try to do too much, to keep up too large a circle cf acquaintances, to entertain beyond our nmans, to indulge in a ceaseless round of amusement and look on it as a sort of necessity when it is nothing of tho kind. The first stop towards *t, sweet and sane simplicity is to find out what wo can

do without. At first wc may seem eccentric, penurious, odd, and almost disagreeable, yet there is no other way. tho great thing is to keep ourselves and all within the home boundary happy and well, and this is done largely by refusing to lot tho mind and body exhaust themselves, or the purse cither. If a good face is a letter of recommendation, a good heart is a letter of credit.—Lord Lytton. Give mo the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.—Milton. Tho epochs of our iifo are not in tho visible tacts, hut in a silent thought by tho wayside, as wo walk, in a a'thougbt which revises our entire manner of life, and says;—“Thus hast thou done, hut it were bettor thus.”.—Emerson. People generally talk ir.ost who have least to say. A spoonful of help is hotter than a dishful of advice. Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire—conscience. Arbitrary power is most easily established on tho ruins of abused to licentiousness. If life is not always poetical, it is at least metrical. Happiness is not a matter' of events; it depends on the tides-of tho mind. To. live in constant efforts after an equal life is to live without either rest' or full activity.—Mrs Maynell. The Duchess of Bucclouch, whoso loss of a much-valued bracelet at tho .time of tho Coronation caused quito a commotion, does not hold the. same important post as Mistress of the Robes as slio did in tho last reign. Tho Mistress of tho Robes-to a Queen Regnant is a much more distinguished personage than she to a Queen Consort. During tho lato Queen’s remarkably long reign sho had only ton Mistresses of tho Robes, two Ddchcssos of Sutherland, two Duchesses of Bucclouch, the Duchess of Atholl, tho Duchess of Manchester, tho Duohess of Argyll, me Duchess of Bedford, and the Duchess of Roxburghe. The Dowager Duchess of Roxburgho also acted as Mistress of tho Robes while a Liberal Government was in power.