The Ladies Chain

NZ Truth, Issue 1000, 24 January 1925, Page 14

The Ladies Chain

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ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. "Sister" (New Plymouth): To remove grass stains from cream cricketing flannels, damp the part, rub thickly with naptha soap, and place m the sun. Keep moistening: the part and rubbing- on naptha. Next day wash m the usual way, and you will find the stains have vanished. Information is sought by a country correspondent as to how to prevent a separator from rusting? An importer of cream separators advises that when these dairy appliances are received from the manufacturer they are covered with petroleum jelly or vaseline. He recommends that you should adopt the same course, that is. to cover it with vaseline, after it has been thoroughly cleaned and rinsed out m scalding water, not just hot water. It should then be completely dried, protected from dust and kept m a dry room. In summer time housewives and campers often use tinned fruit ' and meat to save cooking and trouble of preparation."' Here are ways of telling if the fruit and meat are wholesome: Tinned Fruit. — Always plunge a bright steel knife (not stainless) into the contents of the tin. Let it remain | a few minutes and if there be the smallest degree of copper present it will be found on the blade of the knife. Tinned Meat.— A sure and simple method of testing- all tinned foods is to press the bottom of the tin with the thumb. If it .makes a noise like a machine oil can when pressed, the tin is not airtight, and the contents, therefore, are unfit for use. Is there a holiday resort which has not been troubled with mosquitos this summer? Citron ella prevents sandfly bites, but the best way to keep the mosquito at bay is to sprinkle insect powder. For the bites and stings of insects apply liquid ammonia or a mixture of toilet vinegar and glycerine. If neither is at hand use the laundresses's blue bag, damp; - : : : : : r j It is often difficult to procure parsley m winter time. Here is a way of preserving it so that it will keep several months. Wash freshly gathered parsley and put it into boiling water which has been slightly salted and well skimmed. Le.t it boil ' two or three minutes. Take it out and let it drain, and dry it by the fire or m the oven as quickly as possible. Store m bottles m a dark place. When it is wanted for use pour over a little warm, water and let it stand about five minutes. If green vegetables are to be served really green they should always be cooked with the cover off. Vegetables are often made tough by too rapid boiling. When cooking cabbages put about 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs m a muslin bag and place it m the. water m which the cabbage is cooking. The bread absorbs all the bitter juices and the cabbages are digested quite easily. The breadcrumbs also absorb almost all of the smell of the cabbage while cooking-. v *"■..■ * * *'" People who pick up and retain things which have been left forgotten m the train seem to overlook the fact that they are committing theft as well as breaking the regulations. Anything found m the train should immediately be given to the guard or left with the nearest stationmaster. It is •no excuse to say that the finder was waiting to see the lost articles advertised for. Gaily colored parasols are seen everywhere this summer, but they are easily torn and lose their newness. Misplaced spokes should be gummed into place and colored butterflies, birds or flowers can be pasted over the holes. Many women m Paris 'have returned to the hairdressing style of the Second Empire. The hair is waved m close little ripples, and 1 drawn into a chignon on the crown, and a narrow ribbon of pale blue or coral encircles the head. This fashion is far more becoming than the tightly drawn coiffure that allows no hair at all to show round the face. Although the ears are visible, a little curl softens the line, falling just by the ear. • The same idea is followed out m a similar style which has the same high chignon, but the hair is parted m the middle, with a row, of round curls fit on the forehead. As a change from the long drop ear rings, which have been the only ones worn for some time, button ear rings are returning to favor. Pearls, turqoises, of rose diamonds on the lobe of the ear are the most popular. T^iey are larger than those worn formerly, some of the pearls . being, of the same size as the choker necklets with which they are worn. j: j: :: . Turpentine whitens clothes. An amount added to- the hot washing water m the proportion of a dessertspoonful to two gallons of water is about right for any white fabric. A solution of cream of tartar will remove grass stains from a white woollen coat or skirt. Mix with water to a thin paste, apply to the stains, allow it to remain on all night, apply again and hang m the sun to dry. . Some girls have the permanent wave; others the permanent giggle; some have both. Very often red beet becomes accidentally bruised or slightly broken when raw, and bleeds while cooking. To prevent this, scorch well the broken part with a lighted match before cooking, ,and it will not bleed at all. . . ' ■ The following recipe for green tomato pickle is recommended by an Auckland correspondent: Boil to •■ a syrup ,.'3%lb of granulated sugar, ono quart of vinegar and one cinnamon stick. Skin six quarts of small green tomatoes and steam them, m salt water. Spread tomatoes on a platter, and let stand all night. Next mqrning. stick two cloves m each tomato, reheat the syrup and pour over them. Let stand for three days. Pour off the syrup, re-heat and let stand three days more. Then heat altogther and bottle. V | A discussion which was both interesting and important took place at- a "summer school" at Oxford recently, when Miss Eleanor Rathbone's book "The Disinherited . Family" was the chief subject, and . Miss Rathbone attended to hear and answer criticism. Her main- proposition is that male wag-e-earners should be paid m accordance with their family responsibility, not with that of tli eir" industrial J productivity. Mr. p. H. Robertson m debating the subject thought that family endowment offered an excellent weapon for making war on primary poverty, and he proposed that it should be carried out through the machinery of social insurance. He suggested, the sum of 3s per week "to 'start with." He put. forward the -suggestion too, that it would be unfair- to make / the same deductions ' froni the woman worker's subsistence wage of 20s, as .from the gay bachelor's "bogus family

wage" of 40s. The rough estimate of the cost for insuring ten millions of children would bo about *78 millions sterling. That would involve a payment of 4s 3d per week m respect of every insurable male, and this could be broken up into 2s 6d paid by the worker himself, Is by the State, and 3d by the employer. If, which he deprecated, the impost was extended to the, female workers, the cost would work out at rather more than 3s per week per insured person, making Is 9d from the employee, 9d from the State, and 6d from the employer. Miss Rathbone agreed, except that she considered that 6s per week per child was a more reasonable proposition. She claims that family endowment places the "tiller of maternity" m the hands of the State, and that by grading the endowments either downwards or upwards they could encourage or discourage procreation, and by withholding the endowment m the case of feeble-minded couples, they might check the increase of the* unfit. . The matter is a very interesting one. Salt plays a curious part m christening ceremonies m some countries. The Armenians cover a new-born infant's skin with finely powdered salt. After being left on one for three hours, the salt is washed off with warm water. A mountain tribe of Asia Minor leaves the baby covered m this way iov twenty-four hours. The Greeks sprinkle their babies Avith salt at the christening, a custom that also marks the naming of children m some parts of Germany. In countries where this custom persists it is believed that the practice endows a child with health and strength, and that it also wards off evil influences. A correspondent forwards the fol■lowing recipe for Hidden Sausage: Select large potatoes of uniform size. Wash thoroughly; remove the centre portions with an apple corei* and fill the cavity with a small pork sausage. Place the potatoes m a shallow baking pan and bake m a hot oven until done. Potatoes may be pared at first, but then should be rubbed with butter or bacon fat and basted once or twice during baking. Clothing is not correlated with health, and becomes less important as the child grows older, says a British scientist. From which we deduce that the scantily clad young women of the present should be m the pink of perfection physically. When you notice that the unfinished edges of your bath towel are wearing, bind them with braid or tape. This will double the life of the towel. "The feelings of a parent as he. or she contemplates the spectacle of a young 1 ' man or girl . healthily reared, educated and launched with a good prospect of success upon the world — these feelings are perhaps the most completely satisfying that a human being can have." This is the opinion of Arnold Bennett, the distinguished writer, expressed m a recent article. Blotters, saturated with turpentine and laid m heavy clothing will keep moths away. Worn emery paper, may often be given a new lease of life by placing m a warcri oven for a few minutes. This will restore its former roughness. i : : : . . n Linoleum should never be laid straight- from the shop, but allowed to be m a warm room for a few days. Even when it is laid, it should not be tacked m any place for about a week, or it may curl m little hillocks and ridges. If left untacked it will settle down flat. If ivory handles of knives are discolored, clean them with lemon juice and salt. Quite small scraps of linoleum can be cut into neat ovals or circularshaped dish mats, to be slipped into embroidered covers made to fit them.