THE COSY CORNER CLUB.

Otago Witness, Issue 3509, 14 June 1921, Page 48

THE COSY CORNER CLUB.

S E CO X D M E ETIX G. SUBJECT: YOUR FAVOURITE HOBBY OR AMUSEMENT. Dear Comrades of the Cosy Corner, — Though fewer contributions have been sent in than I expected, those which I have received provide ample interest to make this a successful meeting, the hobbies or pleasures written of being numeicus and variously treated. I will begin with Rangiora’s paper on Knitting, vliich will appeal to feminine members, and perhaps furnish useful hints to some. KNITTING. Dear Esther, —Shall I be pictured to the mental vision of my comrades as an old dame in cap and spectacles when I confer* that of late years knitting has displaced the hobbies cf my youth? I have found in it more than passing interest; recreation, and scope for ingenuity arc part of the charm of the clicking needles, and one can fashion the loveliest things. Of course, I am not thinking of the plain monotonous sock knitting that has never appealed to me, but the dainty garments for children’s wear, and the coats and jumpers now so fashionable, with the interest and pleasure of learning and making new patterns. As ore goes about the city ones eyes are always on the alert for new ideas, and if there is no other way cf securing them, a little sketch of patterns made at the time can be worked out at one’s leisure. I hive come home triumphantly with good patterns from sketches made in tram cars! Designs in materials often suggest a new combination, of stitches—that’s the wonder of the work, always just about half a dozen stitches all told form the basis, and yet the combinations and intricacies seem inexhaustible. Knitting is such a companionable thing too, one does not have to sit apart from laughter and talk, counting and giving close attention to one’s pattern, as the crochet enthusiasts seem to do, this is work that can be freely done in company, picked up and put down at any time. Many a row 1 do in a • quiet corner of the ferry boat, chatting to friends as I cross and re-cross the haibour. Fiiendly, too, is the interest it rouses in one’s fellows, knitting hr 1 s made more acquaintances than conventional introductions, and a new pattern many a timid soul to say, “Excuse me. would you mind letting me see how veu do that?” Perhaps a hint or two for the inexperienced may not be out of place, so often in copying directions from books there is a four that the garments will not be found right size when finished. The best way when making coal s, jumpers, and such things, is to have a- paper pattern the size required, and work to that, measuring the inches and finding out first how many stitches go to the inch according to the wool and needles used. It is such a help just to lay one’s work on the paper and shape it accordingly, and any pattern liked can be used, though it is v.eil to remember that these having perpendicular lines are best for vests, jerseys, jumpers, and costs. Little petticoats and pilches want designs with a horizontal effect, otherwise they are apt to sag and look “strappy” when worn awhile. Shawls and a f glia ns are most effective worked in block patterns, of which there is an almost endless variety. If there are any of the comrades who think they couldn’t do fancy knitting, my advice to them is just try! Only a few years ago the friends who now are so enthusiastic over my work sat round laughing hysterically at my clumsy attempts to master “purl and plain,” now I can truthfully say knitting is “a pursuit to be followed with interest and enthusiasm.” RANG I ORA. Yours is an excellent hobby, Rangiora, capable of being turned to such good account in giving help or pleasure to others, besides the charm of the work itself. 1 am fond of knitting for its soothing effect, though I seldom go beyond the prosiac seek or stocking, or plain muffler. You do not mention gloves. I should have thought the fingers would bo very awkward to knit, but friends who knit gloves have assured me of the contrary. I have seen most beautifully neat, well-finished gloves in strong silk, knitted by an old lady; they would wear far better than anything similar one can buy. I have often pitied men for having no easy, attractive handiwork to turn to in old age, invalidism, or lack of other occupation. A man in such circumstances is often dull ancl unhappy, while a woman would busy herself happily with knitting,

crochet, etc. Perhaps with advance towards equalising the activities of the sexes, men will discover that it is not necessari-y effeminate to ply the needle. The number of invalided Goldiers who are glad to their fingers for both pastime and profit is already tending towards this result.

A DIVERSITY OF HOBBIES. Dear Esther, —Hobbies embrace an unlimited variety of subjects and prove as great a diversity of tastes, from a school girl’s fancy of collecting every stray pin upon her daily peregrinations—returning home with her coat front bristling with the trophies of her chase —to the American million acre’s bestowal of public libraries the wide world over. I cannot claim a hobby in the true sense of the term, for where one’s natural inclination leads to work or study that is also a pleasure because it is the true bent, it takes rank under another heading. The artist, the musician, the poet arc such because they must be. They have simply followed their lode-star. Yet there are again many who have made a hobby of their life’s work or work out of their hobby. It can be stated either way, lull a difference lies m the reading. Want of leisure as well as want of means too often kills an interest that might be turned into a pleasurable hobby, and everyone is better for an amusement or pursuit apart from the daily round. Gardening, poultry-rearing, bee-keeping, and! many other occupations of both profit and pleasure could be quoted. Some turn to collections of seaweeds, flowers, specimens of eggs or insects; interest growing with knowledge—there is a wonderful beauty in the grouping of butterflies, their exquisite markings and colouring making them a delight to the eye even of the uninitiated. Then we have postage stamps, and marvellous is their value, specimens of old lace, precious stcn€3 and rare old curios; onlj r these who collect know the joy experienced in a newly-acquired treasure. The lure of the curio must bo very great, and tho “happy hunting ground” for those who can follow its spell on this side of the world, is said to lie in the little island; of Tasmania where small old shops abound full of bric-a-brac, odd, beautiful, old with many years, the heirlooms in some rases of pioneer families who bore with them houses and servants, and household gods complete, straight from ancestral homes to find a new resting-place in a new land. I would like to poke about those little shops. I confess to a weakness for beautiful china —always placing it for table service before silver, exquisite and valuable though the latter may

be— and just the dainty charm of fresh pretty little jugs, bowls, and vases, no whit less charming because their market price is small, hold an attraction all their own. "With some it is the beautiful in pictures—but whatever the hobby may be it should beta! lowed with care to prove a rest to the mind and soul, and in no way become a burden. I would not make a hobby of book-collecting for the mere gathering together of rare old tomes holds for me no allurement—l simply waet my personal friends end those that can be of service t-o mo. I do not say that the gathering would be small, but it would net have the aspect of a public library! Some find their delighT in the beautiful in needlework, and.' very beanHful it can be—others turn to chisel and saw—it is simply the individual expression of what the character feels responsive to. "Wc ail know of Gladstone’s recreation, the cutting down of tr<»es; and: it lias been slated that Queen Alexandra made a hobby of preserving as a specimen of her millinery every hat or ljonnet. that she had worn—lather a terrible hobby* if true! v 1 "■ 'ban one man I have heard of found his pastime in culinary efforts, and made a success of :t. too. Then we have photography. ar. endless .and wide-reaching pleasure; p.nrl in like manner a hobby that can he termed a companionable one because it can give a very s inple enjoyment to many others is that of character read ng eit Vr by the hand or handwriting. But onlv thc*"» w th a quick grasp of character and a rbar retentive mind can make this wertnv - f their studv—given the necessary quabfi■ - 1 ions the results are sometimes truly wonr.-rfu!. Tlie.se w.ll serve as examples. V. o Ir'.ve. also, the useless hobbies—oollectioKß of ancient magazines, oh 1 pipes, nowspap< r clipi ings. d debris < f every d< scripttari become *bn nightmare of every tidy housewife, because they must not be made away with under any conditions. But *bat a pretty general human failing, so wc will net pro lie too far. s one masculine writer remarked: “We have all, more or le«s, got a good deal of the magpie in us.” If we com? to living breathing things there is a wide field —from tho captive Frenchwoman, who made companions of the great grey rats which haunted her cell, to the Hindu . c ne-ke-charmer fluting soft music to the cncliantad ears of his reptiles—though bis is perhaps professedly a trade. In every animal there is distinct individuality soon discovered by those who understand them, and few there arc who do not respond to kindness. For myself, I have a very tender pu’.ce in. my heart for a good horse or dog—and my dog, like my becks, would be a personal friend. If those things which give pleasure could be termed hobbies I would add a love of beautiful shrubs and trees—but that is, I think, an inherited taste. 1 confers to a decided fondness, if leisure would allow, for observing the wavs of insects and little birds, their gyrations and ir-d’osyiic: asies, their modes and manners, and steady business all through. J have not for''o'ten tho days when I used to climb into a iree just to sway there ancl listen t'> the voice of the wind, and can still find magic in the heart of a glowing fire, just a-; the- beauty-colours of daybreak and t by renewal. The glorious mys cry of t; heavens by n'ght lias always I * * 1 11,0 * and a desire that was n longing absolute used to well up in me to gaze nl them through a powerful telescope with pome one there who could read for me “the stars in then courses.” This desire is still there. Perhaps it is only waiting th-.* day and the hour. gabrielle. You have giver, ns a pleasant chat on » variety of hobbies and pleasures, Gabrielle. Many people are to > busy to indub'o in hobbk-s, and when one’s vocation is congenial :«nd engrossing or when one’s practical activities ar.* so vari . us as to give employment to all sides of one’s nature, one does i >t need a hobby. It is those whose work is nr;rh in a groove who need the stimulus and variety of interest given by a hobby. LOAFING AS A HOBBY. Dear Esther, —In considering the question of a favourite hobby or amusement. I find myself desirous of putting in a word or two for what at first sight may be counted rather a shocking occupation—that of loaf ing. Yet that is cn* of my favourite amuse merits, which I may admit without hesitation or shame, because I never have the opportunity of indulging in if to the extent oi making it a vice! Loafing may be a good or bad thing according to one’s character and circumstances. It is dic-tinctly bad t( loaf in hours that should he devoted t< work, and it is good indeed to be the man

or woman who has leisure and inclination to loaf a little in off hours and) to gather the advantages that come to those who can be content to leave hands and brain idle £l*olll ordinary work and play, so that mind and soul may be receptive to things that are lost in the strenuous pursuit of work or pleasure. There are some folk who know nothing of this joy of loafing. They must be always up and doing even in hoxirs of play. The sight of idle hands is grievous. To them it is an evil thing that in any circumstances one should “do nothing. They do not know the subtle and spiritual refreshment of drawing apart from the world of everyday, or that there is good sometimes to be obtained from an utter want of occupation. I will quote two instances of the state of mind of these practical and useful persons, the first being an incident from a book, the second coming from my own personal experience. In the first case the loafer was a woman who had lived through a long fend devoted period of time nursing a dying husband; when her task was finished she spent her days in utter idleness, in the open air and the peace of a lonely moorland. The practical person was tho vicar’s wife, who was greatly concerned over the empty hands. If only she would take a sock to knit, she told her husband, and' she found no- consolation in his tolerant view that the tired body and spirit were finding nature’s cure, and that nature would provide the desire for work when the timo was ripe. My own experience lay in a visit of a night and a day to a house where a practical mistress reigned. The morning hours were wet and four guests had to spend lhe-in indoors. The hostess saw that no bands were idle. Two guests were set to tidy a very much disordered work-basket, two to wind wool for knitting, and the hostess looked in f o the room during the course of her own morning duties, remarking to her diligent workers: “I like to see people busy.” In another household, of a different atmosphere, I knew a much appreciated time of rest after work and strain. A swinging canvas chair in a sunny verandah looking to the -sea, roses in the sunshine, long lazy afternoons upon the beach, the voices of magpies and wattle-birds at dawn and dusk, white clove pinks in the moonlight, the red revolving light of a distant lighthouse, and the sound of the sea across the paddocks at night—all these are precious memories that my loafing time gave to me. “Sometimes to loaf is better than a tonic,” a doctor once said to a girl who had worked too hard, and to whom the ordered, and absolutely necessary, rest came with a feeling of unknown idleness, and I think he was right. But just as a mere amusement loafing holds an attraction for me that more strenuous pursuits lack. To lie in yellow tussocks- and listen to the wind; to watch the breaking waves and sea-birds on the sand; to sit witli closed eyes on a log in the bush hearing myriad bird-voices far and near; tp> stand in the open at night time with the sound of running creeks, imperceptible by day, coming softly through the silence; to watch the flight of seagulls at sunset homing to the river gorges in the hills; to have leisure and quiet to listen to the rising wind at night, are all delicious joys known to the loafer pure and simple. Half of their sweetness would be lost if the knitted sock, literally or figuratively, must claim h&lf of one’s attention. I have known many such joys in the past, but one dear dream of desire has never yet been realised —the dream of a camping holiday by the sea, with meals in the open, long days of loafing, and the voice of the sea at night. Passing from the transient pleasures of loafing to ila real substantial fruits, onemay mention many n. great man to whom just such hours of loafing brought inspiration. Beethoven listening to the storm;

Emerson roaming through the woods and fields of Concord; Richard Jefferies learning the glories- and the secrets of Nature; Charles Dickens “wand ring here and there . , . . now about the city streets, now | about the country by-wavs—seeing many : little- things, and some great things. . . I All furnish examples of men who have j gathered for the world precious fruits from j seeming idleness. I think that loafing, of j the right description, may well take a place in the front rank of hobbies or amusements • eve'. I “I loaf and invite my soul” —didn’t Walt Whitman sav this or something like it. Eye? Wordsworth, n poet more to* my mind, of'.en praises “a wise passiveness, ■” the surrendering of mind and soul to the sweet influences of Nature. In verses written on “the first fine day of March,” lie bids his sister Put on with speed your woodland dress And bring no bocks for this one day We’ll give to idleness. I suppose the lady you tell of—a very objectionable hostess, I should say—would have desired her to take sewing or knitting with her. GARDENING. Dear Esther, —My favourite hobby is my garden, and for many years my greatest pleasures have been derived from my flowers The great drawback about the garden is the small amount cf time I find to work in it —on a dairy farm the work comes in with a rush, and the moments taken among the flowers are snatched eagerly as they come along. My garden is a thing cf beauty in the. spring months and early summer, the rest of the year it presents a more or less neglected appearance. The soil is of a sandy nature, well drained, sloping towards the sun, and here the daffodil and narcissi flourish and bedeck the borders, one clump is now being eagerly watched, the buds have pushed their way through and tho bright yellow is beginning to show. Last year it was July before the same kind bloomed, and in former years I’ve had them bloom by the end of May; of course these are only stray blooms. September and early October see the masses of gold in the foreground with the brown of the wall-flower to make the contrast. The tulips are not the success with me that I have seen in ether gardens in the neighbourhood, neither do the hyacinths bloom so well. The latter, however, have done better these last two seasons, blit my anemones have been a complete failure for two seasons, the foliage comes up healthy and green, and after a | short time the leaves seem to be much larger than ordinary, and upon examining them the back of t Be leaves are covered with tiny spores, these spread over the whole plan' until eventually the whole of it turns yellow and dies down. The bulb remains quite sound, and next year shoots up the same us ever. I’ve been unable to find a remedy for tho. disease, or its name. This year the plants are so far quite free from the trouble, and I'm hoping to have a display of bloom once more. .1 think that is the greatest lesson from the garden, the continual hoping and waiting. Patience is the one great thing taught and learnt in the garden. The disappointments of the one season are the hones of the next, the months of anxious waiting are so often ended in failure, but no one dreams of forsaking the work, and in the end success always comes to reward us. The amateur plods away learning fresh lessons always, gatheiing experience as he goes along. He

finds that those beds which look so gay in his neighbour's garden are a complete failure in his own, while those that bloom in such profusion in his are but sorry specimens in the garden opposite. My neighbour admires my beds of daffodil and na-reisai, while the despair of my garden is to raise roses like those which grow in such profusion at his place. The great aim with any one who has a garden is to plant and sow to have a display as long as possible, and for a guide in this respect there was a very complete list set forth in the Witness of last week. When a garden becomes a mere place of toil and work we should cease to have it as a hobby, but when the hours spent are done in the promise of the brightness of the future, it becomes that which flowers were surely meant to he, a help, an inspiration of the greatness and the beauty of the Creator. ELSIE. Gardening is one of the best of hobbies; beneficial every way as well as delightful. As you point out the cultivator, whether gardener or farmer, learns lessons of patience, perseverance, and hopefulness. Thank you Elsie, for your enjoyable pa [ter. THE PLEASURES OF BOOKS AND MUSIC. Dear Esther, — I never seemed to have the time to take up a hobby thoroughly as there was an endless demand for socks in war time —I knitted many pairs. Then for relief work I knitted a few articles for women and; children. When one thought of the hard, cruel times the boys were enduring at the front, one never seemed to get tired of knitting socks or helping a little those poor women and children of the Homeland. In two ways 1 have found great pleasure from the ‘'daily round and common task” — books and music. A good, entertaining book will be remembered long after you have read it. Good music is not easily forgotten either. Perhaps you have read the poem called “Dickens in Camp,” by Bret Harte. One can picture the scene of the miners sitting round their camp fire in tho back woods of America. After talking for a time one from his pack “a treasured volume drew,” and as he- read of the

wanderings of Little Nell and her grandfather their cares dropped from them like needles from out the lusty pine. How better could one spend a few hours than at a musical entertainment? What is more pleasing to hear than a violin well played? One doesn't need to understand a great deal about music to enjoy it. As we watch the player manipulate her bow we wonder she can make such pleasing sounds come from those few tightened strings. Musicians, like artists, are born, not made. Lovers of music would see their favourite instrument performed on to per feci ion when the Chautauqua entertainers were here. I did not hear them all, but quite enjoyed The Overseas Entertainers. Of that party Miss Helen Eergusson was very popular. It was uncommon as well as pleasing to see how well that slim young lady handled her cornet. This instrument we meet often see played by men. Best wishes for a successful meeting from INVERCAULD. You will see that Rangiora has adopted knitting as her hobby, Invercuuld. But when done in war time, not because one liked the knitting itself, but because cf the use of the articles made, it was serious work. I myself should be at a loss if asked to describe my hobby, for my occupations seem all to come under the heading of work or social duties, or else to be mere relaxation. I have a message from Eve to Gabrielle. “Wo would like to send a special message to Oscar _ and Elsie to tell them what pleasure it gave us to meet them again after so long an absence, and one of welcome to Octogenarian. We hope he will become a regular attendant, for I think we are going to gain great enjoyment from his pen. To all other members we send kind greetI do hope that Octogenarian will continue to contribute, I am sure he could have given us a delightful paper on this week’s tonic. j Owing to the late arrival of two papers I I find I shall have to extend the meeting over ! tv.o issues. I thank heartily all those who have cont’ibuted to this meeting, and hope those who have not been able to do so will bo able to help at coming meetings. The July Subjjecft, “Native Plants,” should be an attractive one to country dwellers. With kind remembrances to all members of the Club, I am, yours in good fellowship, ESTHER. gtfT Descriptions of halls, *«., must be noiorsed by either the Witness correspondent lor the district or by the secretary ot the tali committee. The US. ol any correspondents who do not comply with this rule will be sent to the secretary ht-endorst-ment prior to appearing. WEDDING AT MIDLERS ELAT. A very popular wedding was celebrated in the Roxburgh Presbyterian Church on April 12th, the contracting parties being Victor Anthony Parker, third son of Mr Thomas Parker, of Millers Flat, to Miss Alice Sarah Cockburn, fourth daughter of Mr Walter Cock Imru, of Roxburgh. The church was prettily decorated, and quite a large congregation of friends of the young couple assembled. The bride was given away by her father, and had for her bridesmaid her youngest sister, Miss Georgina Cockburn. Mr Joseph Parker, brother of tbs groom, acted as best man. The bride was dressed in a very pretty gray serge costume, with a white velour hat trimmed with a white ostrich feather. The bridesmaid wore a grey velvet dress trimmed with blue with a hat to match. The officiatingI clergyman was the Rev. L. N, Walker, Roxj burgh. After the wedding ceremony the young couple and their numerous friends proceeded to the home of the bride’s mother, when the wedding breakfast was partaken of. The presents were numerous, including several cheques. The young couple left Roxburgh later in the uay by motor car to spend th-air honeymoon in Dunedin. They intend to take up tlieir residence at Millers Flat.