LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3494, 22 February 1921, Page 51

LADIES' GOSSIP.

A DANCINC WINTER. This, Home papers say, is a great dancing winter. The end of the war brought a keen revival of dancing, and the practice of holding dances at hotels has been growing in favour. In London dinner-dances at hotels are tending to supplant subscription and even home dances, at which the separate cost of bands, flowers, etc., often mounts up to a large sum, The hotels lay themselves out for this form of entertainment, and at many the arrangements and decorations are charming. In this way dining and dancing can be contrived comfortably under one roof, and the hostess is spared all trouble.

SUCCESS OF MIXED SCHOOLSThe pros and cons of co-education of boys and girls have afforded much dis cussion. Results in London primary schools seem to demonstrate that mixed schools favour the intellectual progress of girls at all The secretary of the Middlesex Education Committee has stated that he is entirely in favour of mixed schools. “VVhile it has been found,” he says, “that boys work as well iu mixed as in boys’ schools, girls work 20 per cent, better in mixed schools. The reason is partly that the presence of boys gives them emulation, they want to show what they can do. Also they are sounder and steadier than when they are only with girls, and not liable to giggle or talk and so wStte time. I found in the records of one year that the boys also worked better at mixed than at purely boys’ schools. Girls are much neater and tidier than boys, and they tend to make the boys tidier.” DEATH OF A NOTED LADY NOVELIST. Mrs B. M. Croker, the novelist, has died in London after a long illness. She was the widow of Lieutenant-Colonel John Croker, Royal Scots, and had spent 14 years in India and Burmah. Her works did much to familiarise English readers with Anglo-Indian ways. Her first novel “Proper Pride” was published in lbbi and it is said that Mr Gladstone, during a stormy Parliamentary debate, wgs seen absorbed in the story. This was a good advertisement for the book, which, when the incident became known, ran into three editions in six weeks. “The Road to Mandalay,” published in 1917, is her best known work. OLD ENCLISH EXHIBITION. With the object of reviving old-time arts and crafts the West Kent Federation of Women’s Institutes recently organised an exhibition in Maidstone. In connection with this a very pretty procession was arranged. Banners of the ancient Guilds were carried through the streets, and groups of young women, wearing the festival dress of olden days, gave displays of folk-dancing. Members of the Westerham Arts and Crafts Guild, wearing simple old English costumes, formed a noticeable groep in the procession, which included representatives from the women’s institutes of many neighbouring towns. A NOVEL CUSOE TO A CHOICE OF A WIFE. It is no new idea that character is shown in one’s manner of walking, and incidentally, of wearing out- one’s shoes, but it is new to find these accepted as criteria of fitness for a partner in marriage. Sir Robert Ba-den-Powell, however, has just been telling a London audience that he chose his wife—‘the bestwife he ever had”—because of the way in which she put her feet down in walking. From the way in which she walks, you can tell, he says, whether a woman is emotional, stolid, nervous, conceited, self-reliant, lazy, and a number more things. The present fashion of short skirts favours this mode of arriving at a lady’s idiosyncracies. AUTHORS AND READERS BROUGHT FACE TO FACE. The big tores which are such an in- | teresting feature of London life are constantly devising new sensations for the shopper. At one of them the latest attraction is little afternoon lecturettes by various popular authors of the moment, the idea being to make writers and theii readers personally acquainted. It is, however, by no means certain that the idea is a good one for the novelist. Impressionable young women may cherish the fancy that the writer of those brilliant novels of passion that so enthrall them is himself a god like creature like those that live in his pages. When they discover that he is bald, short, inclined to obesity, rather careless in dress, and the possessor of a falsetto voice and a sandy moustache, it is too likely that their interest in him will wane, with corresponding disadvantages to the sale of his book. A NEW ACTRESS IN HARDY'S PLAYS. An amateur actress of the greatest talent has been found in Dorchester for the plays adapted from the novels of Thomas Hardy. She is Miss Gertrude Bugler, daughter of a resturant keeper in Dorchester, and is a beautiful brunette, tall and graceful, and sne has as perfect an enunciation as any actress on the stage She has not even been coached by a professional, and like the other actors in these plays, lives the rest of the year without thought of stage or drama. Last year she acted with much charm the part of “Marty South” in “The Wbodlanders,’ but did not come into her own until she played the heroine of “The Return of the Native.” She expressed changing emotions with great skill by subtle gradations of voice and naftiral gestures. The whole performance was much more metropolitan than provincial. Mr Hardy, in spite, of his eighty years, attended the dress rehearsals and showed the greatest interest.

He has no official connection with the pi ays. which are adapted, staged, and acted" solely by local people. A WATCH ANKLET. A lady was lately noticed in Regent street, London, whose toilet was completed by a watch anklet, the watch being small and encircled with tiny diamonds. The correspondent who notes this says he felt inclined to ask the wearer at what angle she would have to kick her leg in order to look at the watch! But presumably it was there for others to look at merely. HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS. Sometimes the pastry at the bottom of jam tarts and custards becomes heavy. To prevent this, brush the beaten white of an 6 gg over the pastry before placing the jam or custard on. This makes it crisp. To fry sausages so that they shall not burn or shrivel, put them into- a saucepan of boiling water, and let them simmer for 15 minutes. This well cooks the meat, and makes it perfectly digestible ; then fry them in well-greased pan ; keep constantly turning until brown. When sewing buttons on, put a pin across the top of the button, and sew over it. Before fastening off pull the pin out, and twist the cotton round the button about twelve times, then take cotton hrough to the wrong side, and well fasten off. Buttons sewn on in this way rarely come off. Before washing new lace curtains, calico, or anthing containing “dressing,” soak overnight m water to which a packet of salt has been added. This takes out all the lime, and saves soap, annoyance, and labour. To bake a cake well, have two caketins the same shape and size. Put the cake mixture into one tin and place the other over it so that the rims meet. Not so much gas is required, and the cakes rise better, as the cooler air caused by opening the oven door is hot allowed to penetrate. To remove paint from woollen or silk fabrics, saturate the spots with turpentine. After a few hours, rub the cloth between the lingers, and the paint will crumble off without injuring the material. If the rollers of the mangle show signs of wear, bind them very tightly and firmly with unbleached calico. This will in no way hinder the work, and will lengthen the life of the rollers very considerably. Care of the Piano.— Extreme heat or cold or draughts are nearly as fatal to the health of a piano as to that of a human being; therefore it should never he placed too near a fire or a window. The best place is a part of the room which is out of a draught and where a fairly good temperature is maintained. A good plan to ensure the correct temperature of the room in which the piano stands is to keep a growing plant there. So long as the plant thrives you can tell that any changes of heat and cold there may be are not sufficient to affect the piano. Great care should be exercised in the choosing of a tuner, otherwise the instrument may be ruined. It should be tuned every three months. The best plan is to make a yearly contract with a good tuner. A piano should never be placed hard up against a wall, as that deadens the Sound, as do also books or ornaments on it. No piano can possibly be heard to advantage in a room which is either heavily curtained or overcrowded with furniture. Never use furniture polish. A wash leather wrung out in warm water is best. The keys should op. no account be washed, as that discolours the ivory. If thev are stained rub the stains out with a little lemon juice and salt. If sticky, rub well with a dry wash leather. Do not lift up the keys when dusting. It spoils the “action.” Do not let baby bang the piano. It is very amusing to watch his fat little fists banging away, but the piano suffers. Above all things, keep the top of the piano open, or rust will in time spoil the mechanism. It is onlv in very large concert halls, however, that it is necessary to have the top of the piano open when | playing for “full sound.”