NOTES FOR WOMEN.

Thames Star, Volume LIX, Issue 16736, 12 March 1926, Page 2

NOTES FOR WOMEN.

Items of social interest and topics relating to the home are invited. Communications must be accompanied by the name and address of the writer. Notices of engagement must be signed by one at least of the principals, or by some responsible person, as a guarantee of genuineness.

TWO DRESSMAKING HINTS

Don't leave all the pressing of your frock or coat to the last. Press eneii part as vou go along, as far as possible. A good rule is to press evei’jthino- that you need to tack, and °e verv sure that you get the seams veil pressed before you start lacing up tit edges. Never hem up the bottom of a skirt until you have lightly pressed it.

Don’t he mean with your turnings, it is useful sometimes to let out the seams at the shoulders or under the arms. Sometimes, too, your material may he apt to fray, and then a narrow turning at the seams will spell iuin to the frock. ' Shantung or tussore need very wide turnings.

HOUSEHOLD HINTS

One teaspoonful of ammonia m a teacupful of water, applied with a cloth, will clean silver. Always strain a dye through muslin before adding it to the water.

To Straighten Knitting Needles.— When celluloid knitting needles • become bent they can he straightened by holding them over steam from a kettle and then plunging them into cold water to harden. Never hold celluloid needles over an open flame. To Clean Cut. Crystal.—Rub it well with a damp sponge dipped in whiting ; then take a clean brush and brush it off. Afterwards wash the glass in cold water.

To Renew Oilcloth. —Dissolve a little ordinary glue in water and apply it over-night with a flannel. By the morning it should he hard and dry, with a glossy surface. To Remove Grease from Marble.— Apply a small quantty of T uller s earth or whiting soaked .in benzine. Let it stand on the marble for some time, then wash off. Emergency Measure. —When you haven’t any proper measures handy it is convenient to use emergency ones, so remember the following:—One large egg weighs, usually, .about two ounces, a piled dessertspoonful of flour about half an ounce, and a breakfastcupful of water equals a half-pint. 1

To Wash Knives.—Knives should never be covered with very hot water, as it injures the handles. The blades may he placed upright in a mug of hot soda-water, but the handles should be kept dry. Should they come off, fix them again in this way: Mix some powdered resin with a small, quantity of powdered chalk and whiting. Till the hole with the mixture, heat the shaft of the knife, and ram it in. .When cold it will be quite fast. > /

HOW YOUNG A RE* YOU?

Keep busy and plan ahead, and the habit of keeping young will remain , with you to the end of time. Are you twenty-seven years old, or sixty-five—young ? X know two women, one whose summers number nearly sixty-five, and the other who can speak of only twentyseven birthdays. The elder of the two women reads, sews, pays visits, goes to the cinema and thoroughly enjoys a happy life. She is liked by all who know her because she is sincere, and takes a. real joy in living. She is a true friend, for she helps others to believe in themselves. She encourages their efforts, and does not laugh at their failures. You will notice that she stimulates “interest” wherever she goes. On the other hand, the other woman “simply couldn’t bother about that.” Newspapers do not interest her; she “doesn’t care.”

Does she play tennis, or sing? Oh, no! She never learnt at school, and, of course, “she is too old now.”

Dancing and pictures! Such a waste of time, and—anyway, she wouldn’t bother!

Just think of it! Not vet thirty, and she is letting life slip by without even caring.

I wanted to wake her up. To try and make her see all that she was missing. I felt I must shake her into understanding that -we need never be old. Just being interested and interesting was all the difference between the two women.

One filled every moment, was eager to learn, to talk and to please. While the other one was dull and lazy, because she “couldn’t he bothered.”

When are we old? Not at forty, when there are so many years still to be planned! Holidays, coming round, children growing up, .friends to see and book s to 1 read! v>

Surely not at sixty, when there is a little granddaughter to adore! Need we ever stop growing and loving and learning?

Iveep your interest in something tnat will help you to .live a happy life. Keep busy and plan ahead, and the. habit of keeping young will remain with you to the end of time.

WHAT WOMEN READ

CHANGING TASTES

What do women read?

Having found an immense diversity of taste among my own friends, who range from lovers of “sheik” fiction to students of labour reports,' I began to inquire at leading lending libraries, writes Mrs. Stanley Wrench, in an exchange. According to most 'librarians, women want, above all else, light fiction. Memoirs and anonymous books of (anecdotes .concerning high-placied personages come a good second. “You’ve only to have a nqvel with ‘Love’ in its title and it is constantly in demand,” one librarian told me. “Novel-reading women go by the titles.”

At several big bookshops I was told that, although fiction certainly plays a part, the tastes of women are changing and that much more serious literature is read than before the war. Bookbuying women select works dealing with philosophy, travel and criticism, while verse and belles-lettres, at one time purchased for presents, are now bought by women for their own enjoyment. “Few women buy novels,” said a well-known bookseller. “They borrow them. Then, if the book is worth while, they buy it. Men buy novels to give to women, but if a woman comes in to buy a novel she has usually read it beforehand and likes it well enough to possess it.” Which certainly suggests prudence on the part of women, but means less bread and butter for novelists. However, I was told that fiction-reading has been steadily on the increase among men since the war.

“Men got the taste for novels then just as women got the taste for cocktails,” drily remarked the manager of a great book store. “You will still find women reading fiction, but most of them never buy books of any kind.” And the women of the future?

At home we w r ere packing for a months travel abroad, and I was deliberating what books T dare make room for, when, my nine-years-old daughter brought me two volumes. I looked at them, Kipling’s “Just So Stories,” and a much-worn copy of the “Iliad,” and smiled. With the woman of the future fiction-will be safe.