LADIES’ GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3017, 10 January 1912, Page 72

LADIES’ GOSSIP.

—No nice woman is ever out of the fashion. At the worst she makes her own. And all fashions of nice women are charming. For the rest, there is no rest. Of course not. All women are nice, and all fashions are charming. It would bo treason to dispute the truth of either assertion. —Daily Express. After a five years’ tight the women teachers of New York have at last won their struggle for equal pay. The victory is enhanced by the fact that the leader in the struggle, Miss Grace Strachaii, was not an underpaid teacher, and her .salary will not be affected by the bill; her efforts were all for others less capable of fighting for themselves-. A child of five" died of jealousy at Yvetot, France, on November 16. Mme. Besnard, the wife of a carpenter, gave birth to her second daughter on November 10. The birth of a little sister made the other child furiously jealous. She had scarcely stopped crying since her baby sister was born, and she was so ill on the night of November 15 that her mother put the baby into another room and took the elder cluld to sleep with her. Next morning the child’s first question was, “Has the baby been sent away?” When-she heard that it was still in the house, she began to sob again, and died in a convulsion of jealous rage. Professor Schillings has appealed to the German women, through the Suddeutsche Monatshift, to wear no millinery which includes plumes or feathers of any kind. The responses endorsing the call came more quickly than the professor expected, and the first published list of “prominent women who will not decorate themselves with feathers” includes the names of the Queen of Wurtemberg, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the Crown Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, the Princess Eitel Friedrich of Prussia, the Princess Auguste Victoria of Hohenzollern, the Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, the Princess Maria Alexandra of Reuse, and the Baroness Hildburg. A romance of the baronetage, is re.calied by the death of the Dowager Lady Agnes Goring, widow of the tenth baronet and daughter of Mr Charles - Stewart, of West Hall, Cheshire. On the death of her husband, Sir Charles Craven Goring, the baronetcy descended to a Tamworth to. bacconist, who died a few weeks ago; He was the fouth son of the seventh baronet, and before setting up as a tobacconist, had

been a sergeant-major in the army. Hie | son. "who succeeded him, served in _ the , ranks for five years, when he was given a commission as lieutenant. Lady Agnes lived to see the baronetcy vacant and filled six times. The motto on the family shield is “They will be born again.” _ j Rich American women are frightfully extravagant in the matter of flowers for house decoration or personal wear. The chief cost of dinner-giving is no longer concerned with the abundance of good ; things which fashion demands. Extrava- j gance to-day lies as much, if not more, in | the setting of a dinner, and in the license which the American hostess of the day shows in the matter of flowers. A florist s bill mav, it is said, amount in a single season to £2OOO, and this does not, of course include any extra fete, such as a ball oi large dimensions or a fashionable wedding. The flower-grower and retailer benefit enormously. Exotic blooms are forced to suit the whims of the moment, the vogue for a particular flower lasting but a short time.

• In a report which has just been published in England by the chief medical officer of the Board of Education, it is stated that about four million out of the six million school children In England and Wales suffer from disease of mal-nutrition, that is, practically semi-starvation. “No social problem can press more urgently for solution than that of discovering how this state of semi-starvation has arisen, and how it may most effectually be remedied,” says The Times. “The report leads to the conclusion that it is too widely diffused to be attributable to poverty in more than a small proportion of the cases; and a more probable explanation seems to be afforded by the extraordlnarv ignorance of English women of the industrial classes concerning food values, cookery, and the general ecanomy of dietetics.”

—The wife of Canada’s Premier is always an important factor in the social life of the Dominion. Mrs Borden, we learn from Canada, was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her maiden name was Laura Bond she being the youngest daughter of the late Mr T. H. Bond. Both her parents were of English extraction, her mother, whose maiden name was Catherine Tregellis Atkinson, being a descendant of an old Cornish family. With the exception of the past four years, when she has resided in Ottawa, Mrs Borden has lived all her life in the city where she was born and educated. It was on September 25, 1889, that she wag married to Mr Borden. All along she has taken a keen and practical interest in political affairs, and she is credited with having contributed not a little to her husband*s euoess, both politically and socially, throughout the Dominion.

Children's Scrapbooks.

An excellent occupation for the little folks when indoors is the making of scrapbooks. It is a thoroughly absorbing occupation and one that tends to the education of the child. Let the little ones be taught to select only such clippings os are worthy of preservation, and a nice discrimination will soon be developed. The children should be provided with the proper materials.

Where Women Rule.

In Prance there exists a department where the officials are women. In this little district of some 500 inhabitants there is a woman stationmaster, a woman in charge of the railway switches, and women railway porters. The post office is in the care of a woman, and the letters are carried by women, while it is the same sex who receive the telegrams and deliver them. The most important of the lot is the village drummer. She wears a special uniform, and goes around beating a drum and crying, out announcements of all sorts of inteiesting events.

Girls’ Clubs.

Miss Elsie Nicholls, B.A. (hon. organising secretary of the Women’s Branch of the Social Institutes Union in I>ondon), remarked recently that it was only natural that girls who returned home tired out from work in factory, office, or shop should seek the streets in the evening fur amusement and By means of girls’ clubs and the influence of their work they aimed to change this condition of things, which was pregnant with dangers. Evening clubs had a strong influence for good, particularly the mixed social evenings that were occasionally held.

Hints and Suggestions.

Always put a cauliflower in plain water, so as to draw out any insects. If salt is placed in the water it kills the insects and they are loft in the vegetable. When'boiling an old fowl or tough meat add a pinch of soda to the water. Simmer gently, and the meat will be perfectly tender. Sweeping linoleum with an ordinary broom is but scattering the dust. Slightly moisten a square of house flannel, tie it over the broom, and then sweep. The best way to peel onions is to hold them under a tap of running water. Iso matter how weak the eyes may be, they will not be hurt if the onions are peeled in this manner. Inkstains on Fingers.—lt is very difficult to prevent ink getting on your fingers when writing, but the stain can easily he got off by rubbing it with a piece of apple. On the weekly washing-day always make a point of soaking the indoor plants for B few hours in tepid soapy water, and washing the leaves carefully. This keeps them nice and fresh, and they very seldom require any water in the interval. To clean ribbon, melt a teaspoonful of powdered alum in about five pints of tepid water, and steep the ribbon in it for about 30 minutes. Then wash it in this water with Castile soap, and rinse with tepid water. Press out the water with the hands, taking care not to twist the ribbon. Finally, iron it when nearly dry.

Llqul dSealing-wai.—Place one ounce of sealing-wax in a jar and pour over it one ounce of rectified spirits and half an ounce of ether. When the wax is dissolved, put all the ingredients into a bottle, shake it now and again, and in a few days it will be ready for use. When pouring this fluid upon paper it rapidly becomes solid and os hard as wax that has been melted, but does not crack ; therefore it is very useful for fastening up parcels.

—Jam-making Hints. — Never use damp or over-ripe fruit. Cheap quality sugar spoils the flavour and wastes jam through throwing up large quantities of scum. Tinned preserving pans are apt to spoil the colour of the jam. If possible use a scrupulously clean copper one, or a castiron enamelled stew-pan. If your preserving pan it at all thin in places, don’t put it directly on the fire or gas, but use a trivet. Boil the jam quickly the whole time; otherwise the colour will be spoilt. Also, skim and stir it constantly. If the fruit is watery, use rather less water —with those fruits which require water in preserving. To put boiling jam into glass jars, dip a teacloth In cold water, then fold it lengthways, and stand the jars on. Next pour the boiling jam into them and let stand a few minutes. This prevents them from cracking. When making jam, marmalade, or anything of the kind, first of all butter the bottom of the preserving pan, and you wili find that the contents will neither burn nor boil over. To make jam or marmalade look clear without skimming it, add a piece of butter the size of an egg about a quarter of an hour before removing the fruit from the fire. The jam will look quite clear, and will not stick to the jars when turned out for use.