FEMININE INTERESTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18499, 21 February 1930, Page 3

FEMININE INTERESTS.

PERSONAL AND FASHION NOTES. “ Grub Up!”: When I boarded the Friend Ship on the Embankment, says a London correspondent, to have tea with Mrs Ruth Knowles, I heard a clear voice call to me “Hullo! Bill”; and later the same voice invited me cheerily to “Grub up!” (which means in plain English I gather, “Do have some more tea!”). It was Mrs Knowles’s beautiful macaw.

Macaw’s do not generally speak, but such is the spirit of brotherliness and good feeling on this quaint old ship that even the macaw greets you. Mrs Knowles, a charming auburnhaired woman in, I should imagine, the early thirties, has indeed done wonderful work in promoting international friendship with her Honour-, able Company of Friendly Adventurers.

Her scheme is, as many know, to create friendship between the children of different lands by taking parties of them abroad for holidays and receiving foreign children here in exchange.

. So successful was the tour which she arranged of Belgium, the Rhine, and Luxemburg for 150 children last summer that she has just had three large castles put at her disposal for ten years for this purpose—Rheinfels, the largest castle on the Rhine; Schloss Monaise, near Trier; and Ponttor at Aix-la-Chapelle. Within the last fortnight land for cabins has been given her in Holland and Denmark, and only to-day she was rejoicing at the gift of land in Sweden also for cabins.

The movement has grown with such rapidity that Mrs Knowles hopes to take 5000 children for a fortnight each, at £5 per head, to the Continent next summer, and she is already planning for an exchange in 1931 of 8000 children from the Continent and America.

It speaks well for the enlightenment of some school principals that they' regard this travel scheme so favourably as to allow it to count as education, and permit the children to take it in term time in order to encourage them to go.

Princess Mary’s Fashions: Princess Mary is responsible for a shade of blue which has been named after her. It is a little deeper in colour than “Betty” blue. It was Princess Mary, too, who first saw the possibilities of having scarf and bag to match. Last year, when she laid a foundation-stone at Canning Town, she wore a green and blue shot crepe de chene scarf with her long coat, her bag being made of the same material on a tortoiseshell frame. The Princess was also one of the first to herald the return of the blouse, which she has always said she prefers to a jumper. With navy suits she always wears heavy white silk skirts with a tie. As a matter of fact, the new lease of life which has been given to navy blue gaberdine tailored suits for town wear, and thin featherweight tweed suits for the country, is largely due to Princess Mary, who has never faltered in her love of well-cut, plain styles and materials. She has also, by choosing a black riding nabit just lately, set the new fashion in this direction.

A Penny House: How a house was bought with pennies accumulated for seventeen years was revealed in Norfolk, England, as the result of the house changing hands. The house is on the banks of the River Ouse. Some time ago Mrs Newman, the wife of a railway signalman, started saving all the pennies she received in change, and when she had twelve changed them into silver, and later the silver into notes. This went on for several years. One day she was out with her husband and she pointed out the house, which was then in the market. Mr Newman admired it, and she turned to him and said: “Then we will buy it.” Her husband laughed, thinking she was joking, and was almost staggered when she produced the purchase money. The cash represented the saved pennies. Mr Newman, who knew nothing of his partner's thrift, on the death of his wife, took his .pension, sold the house, and went to live near his daughter.

Woman Thatcher: Of interest to women agriculturists is the news that Miss Kathleen Aggett, of Chudleigh, England, won first prize for thatching in competition with men at the Bovey ploughing machines. It was the first time a woman had competed in such an event.

Fclk Songs of Eston'J: The folk songs of Estonia are classed as the country’s main literature, but the books of a woman, Aine Kallas, wife of the Estonian Minister in London, are proving the greatest influence in interpreting modern Estonia to the world to-day. Her works belong to the Finnish literature linguistically, but treat the Estonian subjects, of which the authoress speaks in such an illuminating way that they are greatly valued in the national life of the country.

Women “ Shootists ”: Women do not play a very prominent part in the shooting parties that are a feature of the social round just now at all the big country houses with good shoots, says an overseas writer. Lady Warrender is one of them, Lady Diana Gibb another (though she is better known for her prowess in deer-stalking), and I believe that Lady Ursula Filmer-Sankey, daughter of the Duke of Westminster, shoots on occasions. Among the society women noted for fishing are i Lady Anne Hunloke, the Duke of Devonshire’s newly-married daughter, who received a case of flies and fishing tackle among her wedding presents, and Lady Cranbrook. Lady Anne has done most of her fishing at Lismore, the Duke of Devonshire’s Irish seat.

Pheasants From the King: The patients at a London nursing home had a pleasant surprise. It was there that Princess Marie of Greece had an operation, and the King, to show his appreciation of the kindness and skill with which his kinswoman had been treated, sent enough pheasants from Sandringham to provide a game course for each invalid as well as the staff.

The matron of this home, Miss Heywood, is a very interesting personality. There is a legend that she never sleeps—at any rate she seldom goes to bed before 2.30 a.m.; and patients see her, brisk and cheerful, by nine in the morning. As a surgical nurse she has an enviable reputation, but in spite of the exigencies of her work-she finds time to look after her prize Chinchilla and blue Persian cats, besides a number of fine Samoyed dogs.

How many matrons have “spare” time (the term, requires quotation marks because their work leaves so little of it) hobbies? For instance, the matron of a big hospital for children in Chelsea is often seen working industriously in the hospital garden—often sticking to her task until after dark.

Knee-Length Skirts: Women are unanimous in praise of the comfort of the short skirt.

Yet some of them wear long dresses in the evening and confess they think them charming. This curious discrepancy is apparently a question of psychology. Women want a complete change when the day’s work is done. They can only get this by wearing dresses which are totally different in outline from those they wear during the daytime.

A “Daily Mirror” reporter sought the opinions of several well-known women. A.i praised the short skirt for daytime and all confessed that they liked the new-fashioned long skirts for evening wear.

“I don't think women will ever wear long dresses for sports or during the daytime,” said Lady Lavery, wife of the famous artist. “I think the long trailing skirts are abominable, even for evening wear, but some people look charming in the all-the-way-round long skirts which do not quite touch the ground. Mrs Flora Lion, the portrait painter, said: “I don’t like the longer, fuller skirts for daytime, but I do think many women look nice in them at night. Of course, it all depends on one’s personality. They do not suit everyone; let those who prefer the short frocks wear them still. A long skirt cannot compare in comfort, cleanliness or convenience with the short frocks.”

Mrs Alfred Bossom, an American, who is noted in London for her entertaining, gave the following opinion:— “I think it is greatly a question of psychology. Women want a change and a rest after the day’s activities, and so they get it by the subtle method of wearing very feminine clothes when the day’s work is over. “Besides, the longer dresses are a far better setting for jewellery. I think, too, that women are again craving for a little in their dresses, and you can get this with long skirts, but I can’t bear to think of trailing dresses in the daylight.” Miss Eve Gray, who will be the “Sleeping Beauty” in the pantomime at Drury Lane this year, said that she had always worn picture frocks in the evening because they looked so much more feminine and graceful. “But I don’t approve of long skirts for the daytime, specially for anyone who has a job of work to do,” she added.

New Hairdressing Style: The Paris hairdressers have just evolved a new style. Three-quarters of the back of the neck is done in the small curls that were the fashion last winter, but one side is left quite plain. It is very effective, but very expensive —for it means going to the hairdresser three or four times a week to get the best effect.

Soldier Broderers: The famous long drawing-room in Londonderry House, where hang many family portraits interspersed with alabaster vases that contain hidden lights, will be filled to-day with embroideries and tapestry worked by disabled soldiers, who are expert needlemen. Lady Londonderry not only lends her house every December for the Christmas sale of these lovely things, but she and her daughters help to sell them. The Queen, Princess Mary, the Duchess of York, the Princesses Helena Victoria and Marie Louise always come to the sale when they are in town. Lady Margaret Vane-Tempest-Stewart and her sister. Lady Helen, will probably be in charge of the jars of pot-pourri that are made from flowers on the Mount Stewart estates in Co. Down. Petit point and gros point, both of which the soldier broderers do, are popular these days.