LETS GO GOSSIPING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3795, 14 August 1936, Page 4

LETS GO GOSSIPING

(By

MISS MARY TALLIS.

BEAUTY. THE PRICE OF BEAUTY! iWhat exactly is necessary to beauty? How many bottles and jars should stand on the dressing-table Z' of any woman who likes to consider herself well groomed? How much time is as indispensable to her appearance as the daily tooth-brush-ing? Following is set out a list representing a fair average “Beauty Box” for an attractive woman who looks nicely turned-out at every time of day. How does it compare with your own? For the Hands: Whitening and softening preparation; a good nail brush; manicure requisites. For the Complexion: Cleansing preparation; nourishing cream; face tissues; powder foundation; face powder. For the Hair: A good hair brush; brilliantine (if hair is dry); shampoo, with toning rinse if necessary; clips, curlers, sleeping-net; a tonic lotion (for occasional use). Make-up: Rouge; lipstick; eyeshadow; eyelash preparation; a pair of tweezers for trimming up the eyebrows. Toilet: Talcum powder; mouth wash; deodorant; depilatory. Luxuries: Bath salts; perfume; sachets; eyelash curlers. It is impossible, of course, to give actual prices, for beauty budgets, like all other kinds, have to accommodate themselves to circumstances. Some leading actresses think they have escaped lightly with a good-looks bill of twenty pounds a month; . plenty of office and factory workers manage to look delightful on a few shillings. A fair average sum would be two shillings a week. Some of the preparations cost more than that, of course, but they last a surprisingly long time. Have you noticed, for instance, how long a box of face powder lasts you? Stop for a moment and calculate —it will . be illuminating, if only to show how necessary it is to choose the right shade in the first place. THE HOME. A HOUSE OF YOUR OWN. Have you ever thought of building yourself a house. Of course you have. There isn’t a woman living who hasn’t indulged in day dreams of the last word in bathrooms, sittingrooms, bathed in sunshine, everything planned on clean modern lines, to save work and satisfy the eye at the same time. There is really no reason why you shouldn’t make those dreams come true. ’lt is only a question of getting down to facts and planning the details, of thinking out your cher•ished schemes, and then watching them grow—first under the pencil of the architect, and then actually in ■ trick and mortar. When choosing your site, you must take its accessibility into account, for if your husband or family work in town, they won’t find a threemile walk to station or bus in rain a very good start to the day.’ Don’t go to the other extreme, though, and settle where the traffic may keep you awake all night. Those who really crave for solitude, on the other hand, must be careful to find out that their lovely hillside is not going to turn into a thriving building estate. Gravel is, of course, the best type of foundation upon which to build. Your choice of a site should be made in conjunction with a surveyor who knows the land. You will be well advised to employ an architect who values his reputation, and who will be interested in building you a satisfactory place. Likewise with lawyers and so on; refusal to employ first-rate professional advice may .give second-rate results. • You will receive a specification from the architect or builder, and

.WOMEN’S INTERESTS: THE HOME.

-Special Service to Te Awamutu Courier.)

must make sure that everything you asked for, such as built-in cupboards and special fireplaces or heating systems, is included in it. Anything that is forgotten and added later may be charged for as an extra. There is nothing at all terrifying about having a house built, and once you are satisfied that your architect is out to do his best for you, you can rest assured that it will turn out all right. And when it is all over, and you are installed, what joy to know that it is all yours! No more grudging repairs and improvements that are just a “present” to the landlord. You have put your money into a sound investment instead of dribbling it away year by year in rent for a house that can never be yours. The business part of building a house is simplicity itself. Just choose your site, talk over the plans with your architect, and then get" one of the big building societies to find the capital. All your expenses can be paid by them, and you can repay the money in small sums over a period" of time, just in the same way that you used to pay your rent. But with this difference! When the repayments are completed, you will have something tangible—a real property to be proud of and to leave to your children. COOKING. IN PLAIN ENGLISH. Housewives are sometimes perplexed by French terms. Following are typical examples, with explanations in plain English. A la Bonne Femme: Housewife style, denoting a garnish of fresh vegetables or herbs which usually includes mushrooms, and generally applied to cream soups or fish dishes: e.g., (1) Potage a la Bonna Femme: A puree or cream soup garnished with lettuces, tarragon and chopped chervil. (2) Sole ala Bonne Femme: Usually garnished entirely with mushrooms in a rich cream sauce. (3) Oeufs a la Bonne Femme: Hardboiled eggs, yolks removed, pounded with chopped tarragon and butter, garnished with beetroot. A la Maitre d’Hotel: Chief steward’s style. Simply-prepared dishes garnished with chopped parsley, or with maitre d’hotel butter. Also a cold sauce made from chopped parsley, lemon juice and seasoning, mixed with butter. Parsley butter is the traditional accompaniment to grilled foods of all kinds. It should be placed on the hot food immediately it is dished up so that the butter melts and forms a sauce, e.g. (1) Tournedos a la Maitre d’hotel: Fillets of beef garnished with maitre d’hotel butter and watercress. (2) Grilled steak a la Maitre d’hotel: This is an example of inconsistency in a name, for the first part is in English and the second in French. It is merely grilled steak with maitre d’hotel butter served on it immediately it is cooked. (3) Aigrefin a la Maitre d’hotel: Boiled, steamed or grilled haddock with parsley butter or occasionaly parsley sauce. (4) Hareng a la Maitre d’hotel: Grilled herrings with parsley butter. (5) Sole grille a la Maitre d’hotel: Fillets of sole, steamed or baked and coated with parsley sauce. (7) Carottes a la Maitre d’hotel: Boiled or braised carrots, tossed, after draining, in melted butter with a good sprinkling of chopped parsley added. (8) Ragnons de mouton a la Maitre d’hotel: Sheep’s kidneys, split, grilled and served with maitre d’hotel butter. LAUNDRY. THE SPRING WASH. Although, off course, our household linen and personal linen have to be washed regularly every week, the first bright burst of sunshine tempt:?

the housewife to go through her home to see if she can find anything that could do with an extra special cleaning. She will find’ plenty. During the long, dreary hours of winter, the smoky fires will put a greyness on many articles which washing under winter conditions would not remove. These things are waiting for a dose of sunshine, that magic cleaner, to bring up their sparkling white again. Then, too, the promise of warmer weather means that extra blankets and bed covers will be stored away, and before this can be done, they must be washed. Do not be tempted to tuck them away for a few weeks until you have time to see to them, either, for this will do them harm. Not only that, but you will find that they will be all the more difficult to get clean.

Since blankets are, perhaps, the first job you will decide to tackle, I will make it my first job to tell you the best way to set about them. It is most important how you wash them, for their fleecy whiteness can be ruined for ever by using the wrong materials or by treating them in the wrong way. Set aside a day especially for the task, and let it be one when the sun promises to shine, and a good wind is blowing. Also put aside all other work, for the washing of blankets is a big task which demands a lot of your time and attention. Have plenty of water heated, then prepare a large bathful of tepid water which has been softened with borax, using about 1 tablespoonful of borax to the gallon of water. Put one blanket in this bath of water and allow to steep for a quarter of an hour. See that there is enough water to cover the blanket, and onlyattempt one at a time. At the same time prepare a bathful of tepid water which has been made into a lather with a good make of soap powder. It must be guaranteed not to contain soda, for the latter will spoil your blankets. Now take the blanket out of soak, squeeze the water out of it, and put it into the lather, squeezing and punching the blanket under the water in order to remove the dirt. Do not rub soap on, nor rub the material, for this causes “felting.” If the blanket is very soiled, it may be necessary to use two or three baths of soapy water before all the dirt will come out.

Now prepare the rinsing water—and the rinsing part is most important. Several bathfuls will be required, each of tepid water of the same temperature as the washing water. One of the secrets of washing blankets is to keep the waters at the exact temperature, none of them being too hot. To the last rinsing water add about a teacupful of vinegar. Fold the blanket carefully and pass through the wringer, taking care not to screw the rollers too tight, and so cause the threads of the blanket to be broken. Now give the blanket a good shake and it is ready to be pegged on the line. (See that the line is perfectly clean, by the way). Shake several times whilst drying, and when dry beat lightly with a cane beater in order to fluff up the threads. The blanket will look like new. GENERAL THINGS NOT WHAT THEY SEEM. You have been told how people get lockjaw? They cut themselves between the thumb and the first finger, or they run a rusty nail into a foot. There’s just a grain of truth in this, not more. Lockjaw is due to the tetanus germ, which flourishes in manured fields and which perishes in a wound which is open to

the air. The hands are more likely to be contaminated than other parts of the body, and a wound made by a nail, which thrusts the, germ far in, well away from the air, is just the kind of wound they like—a clean cut is-hopeless for the tetanus germ; he likes dirt and fug. Rust has nothing to do with lockjaw or any other infection, and a wound in the hand is no more dangerous than in any other place. Which, reminds me of that poisoned foot that was caused by the dye on your stocking. Excuse me, but it was the dirt on your stocking which caused all the trouble. Dyes are nearly all antiseptic. Dirt means germs and, of course, it’s more easily overlooked on a dark-coloured garment than a light one. It is well understood that the bumps’ on your head correspond with enlargements of the brain underneath, and can be used to estimate character. They don’t correspond at all. Go and look at a skull in a museum, and see. The bumps are simply extra thick bone and have no more relation to the brain than buttresses on a cathedral have to the shape of the interior. Could you, by feeling the buttresses estimate the piety of the congregation? It’s just as sensible, really. Singeing the ends of the hair keeps it healthy and prevents the nourishing juices from escaping. There aren’t any nourishing juices in hair; they are solid right through, and singeing them only makes them brittle. Tell your hairdresser that. He won’t believe it. HINTS. When flowers are scarce and expensive, an effective table decoration can be made in the following way: Pull up tufts of grass from waste places in the garden and packthese tightly in a shallow bowl. Cut the grass level with the edge of the bowl and then place heads of “everlasting” flowers here and there in the grass, giving an effect of a flow-er-strewn meadow. Keep the grass moist and it will last for a long time. An even prettier effect can be obtained by growing the grass in a bowl from seed.

Applique work can be much simplified by this method: When all the pieces are cut, brush over the back of each with thin starch and put them carefully in place. Leave till dry and press with a hot iron. The starch will not injure the material and will come out with washing.

To strengthen the hair, dilute 1 oz borax and 1 oz camphor in 2 quarts of water. Use this as a hair wash once a week, dipping the ends. The hair will grow thick and even in a short time.

If rugs and carpets persist in curling up at the corners, they can be made to lie flat by sewing hat-wire round the edges underneath. To prevent woollens from shrinking, add 2 tablespoonsful of pure glycerine to the water when washing.

If eggshells are saved and tied up in a white calico bag, then placed in the copper when it is boiling, they act as a bleach, and can be dried and used several times.

To prevent cooking odours from invading rooms beyond the kitchen, fill a tin with vinegar and place it on the back of the stove.