NOTES FOR WOMEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19066, 11 January 1924, Page 4

NOTES FOR WOMEN.

PAPER PATTERN SUPPLIES, ATTRACTIVE DESIGN.

ONE-PIECE, FROCK.

Patterns supplied on application to “ Patterns,” Otago Daily Times office. The price of the pattern must accompany the application. In some cases the supplies of patterns ore sold out almost immediately, and, as a consequence. fresh stocks have to be ordered. Applicants for patterns whose orders are not fulfilled at once are asked to note that two or there weeks must elapse before fresh supplies are available. SASHES AND SCARVES. Scarves are the latest form of novelties (says an English paper), and find many uses and take many forms. Large wrap scarves of brocade, taffetas, Chine and silk covered with batiked patterns are popular for evening wear, and are smart even for the woman who cannot afford fur or velvet. The ends are gathered in a circle and finished with a large motif of some odd sort and with a single tassel. Gold and silver, blue, pink, and yellow on a white ground, or black with bold designs done in Persian blue, are some of the prevalent colours. The Latest handkerchief is a little square of coloured cambric with a tassel at each corner, while a second set of tassels attach further in, at about 2in from each corner. The tassels are of black or some contrasting colour, which is also used for the printed bonier of the handkerchief. A largo Mousme bow placed at the back of the dross at about the same point where our grandmothers placed their bustles is a fashion much in vogue this winter. The bow and ends can be bought ready to fix on. They are made of wonderful silk or velvet ribbons with large patterns showing on one side. When placed they give somewhat '.ji3 effect of an aeroplane propeller, so rracb so, in fact, that they often seem about to begin revolving. Such a sash in silver on a white dress is charming for a young girl, and has the added virtue of being inexpensive. Bedroom wraps arc made of crepe-de-Chine or lovely printed or embossed velvet. They slip over the head and are caught in at the waist with a sash, op else they may hang straight down from the neck. Embossed embroidery decorates the neck, designs which are widely spaced making the best effect. Inarm lies m the colour and the fold of these negliges, and on this account the ones with anpliqued hems are among the most beautiful. Dainty shoes of patent leather so brilliant that it reflects like a mirror are bound with blue, green, or red leather to match the costume. Two or three straps across the instep are very decorative and add to the comfort of the' shoes as well.

THE CHILD’S CURIOSITY. HOW IT SHOULD BE SATISFIED. A Homo writer attributes to wrong education by parents and teachers the development of bright, promising little children into listless, mill schoolboys and schoolgirls. What is education? The development of a'l our faculties—memory, senses, reasonto enable us to take our right place in society and become most useful and efficient., Competition makes this very difficult even' for the well trained. It is, therefore, necessary to waste no material, no means. Yet parents and teachers do their best to quell tho best of their allies —curiosity. A child must bo curious if he is healthy, clever, and observant, for the world is full of new, marvellous things which must bo explained away, and of grown-ups whoso waj-s and liberties are unknown in the childish world. Confident in tho love, wisdom, knowledge of parents and masters, the child turns to them for an explanation. But instead of being flattered we get angry, we suspect him of being impertinent, of satirising our laziness and ignorance; wo tell him he is a nuisance, that he must keep qniet and not be curious. Masters and mistresses are especially prone to “sit upon” and reduce to silence tho child who asks questions. For the childish mind is not logical, and jumps from one subject to the other. What if the master had to answer, “I do not know?” Would not that undermine his authority? The writer continues: When I first answered “1 do not know” to a question put by a pupil, there fell a silence in the room, and stealthy glances were exchanged. 1 collected all the books on tho subject which wore in the school library, and told them that these were only a very few, that if all were bought they would till the great hall, and that I would be old before I had read them all. Time and again I explained how vast and varied our world was, how small our brain, how short-lived our strength, and that God alone know all. I soon recovered their esteem, and they never suspected mo of being a humbug as they suspected others. Curiosity should be encouraged, and questions answered which betray an honest desire to learn, for it is the quickest way for the child to learn, and it helps to discover and foster inclinations which may grow into a vocation; it permits also to gauge what the child has understood and assimilated of your teaching. But must all questions be answered? No; a child is indiscriminately curious, and you must teach him not to meddle with other people’s affairs. If Joan interrupts your conversation with a visitor, to ask who William Rufus’s mother was, reprove her for bad manners, and suspect the artful child both of knowing who tho lady was and wishing to show off, or else wishing to trip you up. Such a type exists, as also another, who asks silly questions to break the monotony of a lesson. Sometimes the curiosity of tho child takes a direction which, although natural, horrifies partisans of the hush-hush system. Many such questions have been put to me by charming children. Aware of the danger of a public answer, unwilling- to encroach over a parent’s right, I invariably replied that their mother would know more about this than I did. For it is tho mother’s duty to answer these questions. If she does not. if out of prudery she concocts a silly tale, she is wrong. A lie is always wrong, but this one is bound to be found out, and knowledge come from somebody else. It will foster distrust of the mother, and the somebody else may work untold harm to a delicate tender little soul. Choose your time and speak. Birth and death are holy if you only have eyes to see that they are so. PARIS FASHIONS. NEW COLOURS. Indian reds and copper shades are most popular in Paris, and (the correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says) there is much colour worn. The hard crude blues and greens of last year have disappeared, however, and softer shades prevail. Black reigns supreme, but there are already whispers that the early Riviera colours will bo very pale, with white, tho predominating factor. There is a marked tendency towards harmony. Linings, for instance, tone jWi'th the exterior garment*; a sealskin coat, 'will have a printed crepe or foulard, in beige and dark Drown; or a grey squirrel will show a shot brocaded affair of pink and grey. No discordant note is permitted, and the silvered fabrics are specially effective. Tissue" in all forms is utilised, and when not matching linings are full of surprises. Often a border of ribbon or fancy galon is introduced just inside the most luxurious fur coats, and occasionally an insertion of laoe. Such extras must be decorative and uncommon, otherwise ornamentation had best be avoided. Many examples of the new umbrella skirts seem to be taking a definite position in the winter mode, and in nearly all cases there is considerably more fullness in the skirts, although in the case of apron skirts and the the tunic tho underpieoe is always narrow. Many tailored skirts are cut very tight, and split up the side. Other models are finished with a deep separate flounce, so shaped that, although the rest of the skirt is cut slim and narrow, the hem part flares out in the new way. There seem divided opinions as to this tightness of the underdress, for it is not a convenient winter mode, yet any idea of fullness at the feet is certainly out of keeping with the classic “taillour.” But as the new coots even in tweeds are shelving much more fullness, it is reasonable to expect that skirts will in a measure follow a similar trend. The overcoats and long wraps are tut with a very decided “flair,” and many tweed and rougher coats reveal pleats or gathers at the side. Such plans for more fulhiess are always observable in fur; it ia a mode that certainly makes for comfort.

With few exceptions hats are all small, and there is no apparent indication of a change in this direction. Toques in velvet and panne are seasonably trimmed with bands of fur, whereas the neat felt and ribbon hats are the vogue for morning wear. Dark millinery is preferred, black being almost universal wear ; a few dark shades in velvet picture shapes are worn, and generally decorated with a long ostrich plume. WOMEN’S CHANCES IN THE DOMINIONS. A VISITOR’S CONCLUSIONS. “If we are going to have in the future a better distribution of population within the Empire we have got to be clear on two points,” said Miss Gladys Pott on her return to England from her tour of the dominions as n member of the Overseas Settlement Delegation. “People who measure their values in terms of extra wage, whose standards are personal comfort and additional money for any additional work, are not going to make good out there. That is one point. The other is that you will find that English conventions do net exist in the new country, and that that is going to give settlers better_ opportunities than they would have in this country. For the girl who thinks it hard work to carry a bucket of water there is no use.”

Miss Pott said, frankly, that Australia was not calling for professional women, and that teachers and others would be unwise to go out there without money of their own. The s'emi-skillcd girl, such as the typist or clerk, might have to work for two or three years as a domestic servant, before finding a niche for herself. She had spoken to social workers of nil kinds who had kept in touch with. British women emigrants, and had come into touch with hundreds of these women and girls in the big cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane, and with girls working in the “back blocks.” Of those engaged in some employment 93 per cent, w'ere perfectly contented, and although they had had difficulties on arrival and had felt homesick, they declared that they would not '■omc back on any account. A type of girl who was not wanted was the girl who went out with the primary object of marriage. as that meant that she would not put her back into her work. While the prejudice to domestic service there was much the same as in England, Australians were beginning to recognise that it was a. fault to place it on a status below that of other employment. English girl emigrants must bo prepared for a strenuous life, but one in which there were many compensations, such ns greater freedom than was permitted thorn in England, bettor climatic conditions, better chance of climbing the. ladder, and greater importance aa an individual.