HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3972, 29 April 1930, Page 61

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.

Fenders are items which rapidly are Ceasing to be household necessities. The marble kerb, the brick kerb, the tiled kerb, or the wooden kerb ousted the fender proper long ago. With the oldfashioned grate or fireside it is as w-ell, however, not to dispense with the oldfashioned fender, for this will assuredly look more in keeping than the modern kerb. In the kitchen, too, wherever a kitchen range is lighted the old-fashioned fender must be left to do its good w'ork Of defending, just as in a nursery where fi. fire is kept lighted the high guard fender should always be left round the

hearth as a safeguard. Some people even go so far as to dispense with a kerb. If the tiling round the grate is attractive, and the carpet or hearthrug is carried right up to that tiling the effect is not as bare or unattractive as might be imagined, but a guard is an absolute necessity for a grate where neither kerb nor fender is used, and the room should never be left without a guard being placed in front of the fire. The little curved pedestals to fit round the edge of a grate are other safeguards, and you may also stand your kettle or your plate of toast on them. Otherwise your brass, copper, or iron kettle-stand should find a place in front of your grate. Toast and hot water will keep iiot on this, but not if you place either below the level of the fire. Round your fireplace at the sides and at eye level when you are sitting down, arrange any tiny prints or pictures of which you are particularly fond. Hung here, you will find time to study them and find, too, many a detail unnoticed when they hung elsewhere. If you are so lucky as to possess a warming-pan, its place also is near the fire, not in the hall, as so many people seem to imagine. A good substitute for this, if you are fond of copper or brass, is the more modern chestnut roaster, which is rather like a miniature warm-ing-pan and which is useful as well as ornamental.

For chrysanthemums, dahlias, carnations, or any heavy-headed flowers it is a good idea to wire them so that the wire forms a cup-like loop that encircles and supports the head of the flowers. This will prolong their lives, and the wire is not in evidence, for the petals fall over and conceal the loop. And at this time of year, when flowers are expensive, it is well worth while taking a little extra trouble to preserve them.

Grapefruit glasses, since the advent of grapefruit into this country, have become popular in many homes. They are inexpensive to buy, and may now be bought in coloured glass as well as plain, cut, and engraved glass. There are, however, many uses to -which you can put your grapefruit glass besides the one for which it is meant. The glasses often enough have been gilded with gold paint and ornamented with barbola work or pen-painting and used as powder bowls, but this is hardly satisfactory, as there can be no lid and the powder puff and powder are bound to collect dust. But painted thus, or left as it is, you will find one very useful on your dressing table as a little trinket bowl. At table they are naturally ideal for a number of things: for serving fruit salad, or for holding mock or ordinary sundaes, if you make them. They are also ideal as sugar basins or sweet dishes, or may be used as finger bowls if these become necessary and if you have none. They make excellent little fruit bowls for the invalid’s or spoilt one’s breakfast tray. They may take the place of a flower bowl on a small table. They are right for violets, but anemones arranged as if they were growing in the bowl are the prettiest sight! To do this a little glass centre-piece must, of course, be placed in the water. The coloured glass varieties are prettiest perhaps and most adaptable to other uses. But those having an engraved design may always be painted over the design. Each colour as it is put on must be left to dry. When ear troubles are first noticed, especially in the very young, see that the sufferer has as much fresh air and exercise as possible. If a child is inclined to sit over books after school hours, it must be encouraged to go in for some robust exercise and a definite change in position. Sitting in one position is bad for the growing child. It causes too much strain upon' certain parts and not enough upon others. Bending over a desk at school and returning to bend over a book at home causes weakness of the back and throat muscles, and deformity of the chest bones and muscles. When the muscles of the throat become unduly weak they fail to perforin their regular duties; the little tubes leading to the ear become clogged with mucus, which causes deafness. This can be remedied if taken in time. A child who becomes deaf after a cold, or seems to be dull of hearing at set periods, is not in a normally healthy condition, and should have strict attention and expert advice.

A gentle rubbing of the throat beneath the ears and of the glands underneath the chin should be carried out night and morning where there is habitual car and throat trouble. This will help to strengthen the naturally weak muscles and keep at bay the catarrh which always gathers where glands are weak. Moving the head backwards and forwards as far as it will go, then sideways as far as possible, will also help to strengthen the throat muscles. Teaching a child to blow its nose in a thorough and methodical manner is important where deafness exists -or threatens. Keeping the nose and the tubes behind the nose absolutely clear of mucus will help a child who is dull of hearing in more wavs than one.