THE SOCIAL ROUND

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 787, 18 August 1916, Page 4

THE SOCIAL ROUND

Miss I'. Tumbull (Wellington) is the guest of Miss llelmoie. Mrs Donald (Leinster Road) gave an enjoyable bridge party on Wednesday evening, amongst 11n' being .Mrs Wigrani, Mis Ronalds, lira and Miss Craeroft Wilson, Miss Cowlishaw, Mrs Godby, Miss McLean and Miss Kathleen McLean (Duuedin >. Miss McLean (Dniiedin), who has tyoen visiting Chiistchnreh, left this morning for Oainaru, whore she will Stay with friends. A very interesting afternoon was •pent at the •'Sunbeam'' Kindergarten yesterday, when Mrs (lard'tier, formerly lady principal of the Technical College Hostel, gave a cookery demonstration to the mothers of the pupils. Mrs Gard'ner has no superior as an exponent of home science, and her demonstrations are always valuable. She prefaced the actual cooking with a short and lucid talk on food values, and then prepared various dishes, and cooked them on an oil stove. She quite revolutionised prevailing methods with regard to the number of utensils used, and showed how the incidental work of preparation may be simplified by using few instead of many, with equally good re suits. The demonstration was followed with the closest attention by the large number present, and at the close Mrs Gard'ner was asked whether she would give another shortly. Mrs Chilton, president of the Sunbeam Committee, moved a hearty vote of thanks to the lady, which was carried with enthusiasm. An exhibition of handiwork by the little pupils—ages from three to live —was also arranged, and evoked much adtniration\aud marvelling. It. was quite wonderful to see the charcoal, plastieene, and cardboard work turned out by such tiny fingers, and is a further evidence of the undoubted value, of Kindergarten work. The story of the "Three Bears" was one, and then there was the tale of the "Frisky Squirrel," illustrated in plastieene, with a dredging of flour to convey to the imagination the fact that it was winter in the squirrel's country. A military cam)) was constructed of coloured paper, with gay tents of pink and green! A detachment; of cavalry was in the oiling, and a Union Jack fluttering beneficently over all. Altogether, it was a quaint and charming little exhibition, and Miss .tones (headmistress), together with Miss Hull (who trains the teachers and supervises the Kindergarten generally) received many congratulations on it. A "Kindergarten afternoon" is always a refreshing circumstance, anyway. Last evening the members of the Fire Brigade and their friends met together for :>.!! evening's recreation at the Fire Station, the occasion being the annual social ami presentation of medals. Dancing was the main item, and this exhilarating pastime was pursued with vigour in the large hall upstairs, supper being served on the ground lloor. Although not as largely attended as in the piping times of peace, the social was very enjoyable, although someone did seize the opportunity to call out the fire engine during its progress. The Mayor (Mr 11. Holland) was there, ami during an interval he presented Jong service honours as follows:—Five years' service medal to Firemen 11. Henry and T, Douse, Station Officers T. Robb and ■J. Shepherd; long service bars to Motor

Driver <■'. Kirk (two years' bar, making ! seven years' service), Fireman .f. Hazard (two years' bar, making seven \ ears' service), Deputy-Superintendent Blake (two years' bar, making 21 years' service). The following speech was delivered by her Excellency the Countess Bcnck-in-ilorff, wife of the Russian Ambassador, at the annual meeting of the Victoria League, London on dune 22, 19I(*>:— • - 1 have come to try and thank you for what you have done for the prisoners of Russia. You have done a wonderful thing in sending men from your distant countries to light in Europe for our united cause of liberty and rig\it, but your sympathy and generous sense of brotherhood have inspired you to do even more. Not content with giving help to the suffering in Belgium, in France, and in Serbia, you are freely helping the Russian prisoners in their misery, cut off from their own people and starved by the enemy. I can find no words to express what this means to them, but can only give you heartfelt gratitude in their name. I know, too, what the Russian Red Cross and suffering Poland owes to the Dominions and colonies of the British Empire. Believe me, that this response from them has profoundly moved and touched the Russian nation. We shall take care that the prisoners themselves hear how friends from Canada, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand were not content to care only for their own prisoners, but remembered also those of their Ally. The people of the British Empire have done that for Russia which can never be forgotten. You will have a place in Russia's heart for ever." Tic very long lace sleeves which are now so fashionable in England are genuine heautiiiers. They are so formed thai soft folds of lace fall over the hands, almost covering them. Some of these sleeves are almost exactly like, those worn by bishops—very full, and with pleated frills, banded in at the wrists. Other models are ruffled up from wrist to elbow, like the sleeves which Sarah Bernhardt used to wear. Boys who enjoy the fascinating adventures and exploits of the heroes of "penny dreadfuls" have found a friend in Mr Charles E. B. Russell, the Chief inspector of Reformatory and Industrial Schools. "There are many children who may be guided through an interest in 'penny bloods' to an appreciation of the great masters of romance," he states in a preface to a "List of Suggested Books" for the libraries of the institutions he is called on to inspect. "Goody-goody or sentimental books and those that point a moral at the end of every chapter are to be specially avoided as bringing religion into ridicule and contempt." We have travelled far from the ideals of the mid-Victorian age, when a. school inspector publicly declares that young girls, instead of being supplied with the sentimental types of books specially written for them, should be allowed a course of the heroic fiction that appeals to the boyish imagination. Mr Russell defends this suggestion by declaring "that the misguided ladies who write sentimental books for girls generally produce sickly, i mawkish, petty trash, and the girls themselves have not a sufficiently ready I capacity for mental rejection, but can | absorb without, a qualm stuff that would make the average boy's brain turn sick! with healthy loathing."