LADIES' GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5862, 3 May 1897, Page 3

LADIES' GOSSIP.

'■ — ■ ''. ♦ ''■ -■ : ' • , ' i ['.' Canterbury Times."]) A clever doctor used to say that his profession would have very little to do if people would make a practice of eating a couple, of oranges every- morning before breakfast. Most of us have heard, the same ; opinion .expressed ad nauseam, but few of U3 dream of so healthful a habit. We are very fond of arguing that "prevention is better than cure," but we are so oddly constituted that in the matter of health we are., very well content to let things take ; their course until something gets very wrong, and the doctor is called in only to assure us that it is too late for his powers of .interference. Many derangements and illnesses arise from stomachic troubles, and these are precisely what the acids and peptones contained in cultivated fruit will prevent. Apples are particularly beneficial, and this is why we eat apple sauce with roast goose and sucking pig, when the acids in the fruit assist materially- in digesting tbe fats so abundant in this kind of food. In ' their uncooked state apples are even more efficacious; but what I wish to emphasize is that fruit aids greatly in the digestion of all kinds of food, and is, therefore, an exceedingly valuable food in itself. I see that doctors are prescribing lemon juice very largely for patients wiih a weak- digestion, and at Home the practice of drinkinr tea with lemon juice instead of sugar and milk is being followed by those who think it worth while to take care of their health. Women who suffer from a heavy, drowsy feeling in the day-time, when they should be bright and actively inclined; ■would find themselves very wide awake indeed if they would take the juice of a lemon in hot water the last thing before retiring at nigh. Their health would improve, the tired feeling on arising in tha morning would disappear, their complexions would become clear and fresh, all owing to. the virtues concealed in the lemon. The woman who possesses a keen sense of proportions is rarely met with, but when we do find her out she is very delightful. She never falls into raptures over trifles, or passes lightly over serious matters. She feels intuitively for the truth, and wastes no energy over what is worthless. She never exaggerates, and it is her peculiar charm that she is emphatic and insistent only when the gravity of the occasion demands it. Few women are so utterly wearisome as those who, metaphorically speaking, underline every other word, and keep you in a constant fever of expectation for what never comes. The tendency to exaggeration appears in many forms, all of them objectionable enough to the calmly judicial mind. All of us, I suppose, have met with the "gusher" who revels in superlatives. For her a thing cannot be " good." It is " best," " most beautiful," and so on. She goes to a concert, and everything is " exquisite" and "perfect." One wonders what qualifications would avail to describe the performance of Melba or Patti, or Ellen Terry. How little imagination there is in the world after all ! We are persuaded to believe that all the ducklings are swans kr spite of our own judgment. If we refuse to take this view, avo are "cold, imenthusiastic, self - contained." These good people do not see that enthusiasm liiay be good and it may be bad ; too often it is the latter. Noise, exaggeration — which is another word for untruth and gush — are enemies to any true progress, since they divert our attention fromfnets —from seeing th.rrgs as they are, and in their true relations to one another. "Do it now." This motto, which everyone might adopt with the most excellent results, was given to Mr Norman, of the Daily Chronicle, by one of his collego professors, and is now written in largo letters over the desk of Mrs Normal], of the " Girl in the Karpathians " fame. Of course, this fact is not mentioned as any endorsement of the value of this concise little motto, but merely by way of an introduction— if indeed, any is needed in this connection, It would, however, bo a good »l;in to have this sentence written up in our o wn particular rooms as a moral stimulant whenever we feel inclined to put off somo distasteful dv« /. " Our America is here or nowhere," said Emersou, meaning that our great work, discovery ov. invention, lios to our /land. We need not si«h fora world to conouer, or for opportunity to perform a lioroic deed. If we ' have not conquered self, how can wo undertake the greater work ? As for opportunities for performing heroic deeds, we aio stumbling over them every hour, yet never see them, because we are looking somo other way— like the wise man of old, who tell into a deep well while studying the stars as he walked. The above motto is found in many forms, and even in the

earliest times, showing how universal! the principle it inculcates was recognise " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do with all thy might," said the Jewish sag "If t'were done tfwere well i,'\\ cv c dor quickly," said another great seer. "Dc the nexte thinge;" "A stitch in tim saves nine," and so on, but of all thes versions "Do it now " is the most direc and the most forceful ; therefore it is bee adapted to nineteenth century needs. Le us, too, adopt it for our own, and— do i now. There is only one place where it is wise o healthful to sleep, and that is in a well ventilated room. Many people rise morn ing after morning with a dull, heavy fee] ing, and a distaste for thought or exertion yet never dream of removing the viciou cause — bad ventilation. We are ver; much afraid of night air, but forget tha air breathed out of our lungs is in finitely more poisonous than any night ai could be; so we shut down our win dows, close the doors, and then won der why we start each day witl a headache, and a distaste for breakfast The prejudice against night air is a foolisl one,fornightairislittleworsethanthe " da] air" unless it is heavy with mist. If w< open our windows and then place ourselvei in the draught, it matters not whether bj day or by night, the consequences may b( found unpleasant. But there is no dange; if the bed is so placed that the -head ii out of the line of draught. Then th< blind falling before the window divert: the . current of air, and if the doo; is open also, the air in the roon is being replaced all night long It is not enough to open a door leading t< rooms where people have been sitting al day, perhaps all the with a lamj and>a fixe. That would be folly indeed B tter fling wide open all the hall doori and windows • for "at least ten minute; before retiring, then possibly there migh be sufficient Btore of fresh air in the hous< to last through the. night. For the sab of those who have a chronic • horror o: night air, it may be well to call to min< that consumptive patients have often beei cured by sleeping in the night air whei doctors' drugs had proved useless; andw< all know that the hunter or prospector who sleeps night after 1 night in the opei air, enjoys the best of health. We canno over-ventilate our sleeping-rooms, for a' best they can only equal the open-air foi purity. Alas, there is too often a mightj difference between the air in which w< spend half our life, and the air that otu lungs were made to breathe. The rest cure, the: cold water cure anc ever so many more methods for the treat ment of the sick have sprung up amongsi us of recent years, so that nobody : will b< surprised to hear of a new move in this direction. It is no other than the "music cure," and French as well as German doctors are devoting a good deal of attention to thisnew restorative agent. Tht soothing powers of music are well known, and it is probably on this account that it is to be called in to aid in .quelling nervous diseases. Some of these, it is said, have been cured in the space of a few weeks bj the agency of music, and it is now proposed to open a Musical Hospital in Munich. If the theory is a sound one; we should expect musicians to be - noted for ' their calm and equable temperament, but the very reverse is the case, and we know well how highly strung and nervous they usually are. Then what about nervous people who do not like music — for there are many.tc whom music not only does riot appeal, but even irritates, past endurance. Would they be compelled, to listen whether they wished or not to the: strains of the curative orchestra? lt will undoubtedly be very interesting to watch 'the development' ol the new treatment. Some curious and interesting details oi German royal weddings are furnished in a recent number of the Ladies' Home Journal Max von TJinzer, the writer, in giving his experiences as a page at the Berlin Court describes a ceremony of which few people probably have ever heard. It mighi be called the garter scramble, and took place Immediately after the bridaJ pair had retired to their apartments. The company" of gentlemen belonging to, the palace waited in the ante-room after forming a guard of honour, and "presently the doors flew open and half a thousand silken garters, with the monograms embossed on the gold buckles, were thrown out by the ladies of honour. Court etiquette was for the nonce forgotten — generals, courtiers, chamberlains and State ministers scrambled and fought with one another for these mementoes. " The pages," continues the writer, " got the lion's share,' 1 but many of these were eventually begged by the less fortunate dignitaries.