LADIES' GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6091, 31 January 1898, Page 3

LADIES' GOSSIP.

+» „„•. — f" Canterbury Times."] In Germany the servant giri Cfiieatnm is being settled in a way that is eminently characteristic of that nation of good howsekeepeis. A large organisation was formed iu that country s«ine time ago, sailed the Housewives' Union, an admirable associatiou, which devotes itself to- the encou agement of eihcioncy in domestic, we rkera. This is dwu» toy offering prizes for long service,, arcd by the fosterrng- care- it extends to all places where douiestie servants are- trained. Thus, a girl who stays five veaiß at one place receives a priz« of a gold pin,, with an inscription slating tliat she has been a good sfrvant. After staying ten years in one family,. the Union awards her a prize of ten marks — a-bout. teu shillings of our money. For twenty years' service ,she gets a prize worth about a sovereign^ and for thirty years the prize is worth about thirty shillings. Such prizes may seem small to 1 us, but in Germany, where the purchasing power of money is greater, than here, they are ; considered well wouth earning, though, of course, the hououtf of having merited any :of them is eag,enly sought"* and highly prized. The good work done by this Housewives'' Union, is- not limited to servants' wages and work,, fin* it deals with j marketing as well.. For instance, if the- ! priei;9 of vegetables and meats rise,, the j matter is thoroughly discussed by the Association, and if the united housekeepers can. lower them: without doing: anybody an injustice,. they do> so.. How we should welcome the formation of a similar associa<- ' tion. ini New Zealand, Here is a° niagnifi- ; cent opening for the true friends ot our household workers. Let them- combine to imitate,, and,, if possible, improve upon the scheme of the German haue-frau. Swedish embroideries, carvings- and' fur-nitou-6'are becoming popular, fur beautifying homes in the Old Country, and very quaint am- said; to be the effects obtained iby very simple means.. The chief characteristics- of Swedis-b embroidery are its durability. and pioturesqueneFS, and if any of my leaders would like to attempt it I may add that the queer-looking designs of dragons, .griffintvsea-ujiidens-and swans worked! in red and blue on coarse cream, canvas are easy to make,, and 1 effective at the mime time- on- cushions, curtains, andt for chair coverings. With these,, of course ( . there- iss a revival of Swedish furniture,, and! wooden tables,, stools,, chairs and presses made by the local carpenteuace: carved and; stained in exact imitation of the old furniture one sees in Swedish' farmhouses.. The fashion is one tliat we' shall certainly welcome,, if it means-- a. reaction in favour ot 6olid and well-made articles of furniture to replace the elaborate,, but perishable andi dust-6toring: chairs and sofas- with which, we- cram our housesi There is one thing which' I should> like to see m every house, I nearly said in every room, and that is an old fashioned settle or seat large enough, to- seat several people, with a high back, which could be carved or ornamental with' burnt work — the seat forming: a< chest, Convenient/ for holding clothes, music or magazines.. Such a< Beat is infinitely preferable to the- stuffed cosy corner, which, though comfortable enough, is far less ornamental, 'and must p ove a great anxiety to the moth-hating housekeeper.. The matinee hat — that boonito-the paragraphist and the comic paper artist, is at length doomed. Amongst us the matinee, or afternoon theatre performance; is of rare occurrence, hence we are comparative strangers- to 'the woe and mjsery of sitting behind the wearer of a hat; whose dimensions may be anything from four feet by six, or seven feet by nine. Such an experience is a never-to-be-forgotten one. On Sundays we may gain an inkling of what it is like by straining: our eyes through the maze of' tulle, feathers and flowers which form the battlement-like adornment of; four-fifths 'of our lady church-goers, and make it impossible to catch a glimpse of the clergyman's face. But then one can always go to sleep, and Borne people appear, to consider a nap in church to be particularly soothing and conducive to the devotional frame of mind. But no one goes to the matinee to sleep, hence the abuse which has been hurled at the picture hat, so named probably from some idea that a contemplation of its beauties alone should atone for the loss of any portion of the view it shuts out, whether it is the stage, or a bit of fine land or sea scape. Oddly enough it is just a little over a hundred years ago since the Paris prefect of police had to forbid the wearing of high headgear in the pits of theatres or in the front rows of the balcony. His ordinance was worded as follows :—" One daily sees in the pit women on whose high-dressed heads flowers, ribbons and feathers are crowded. These coiffureß intercept the view of those behind them, and give rise to well-founded discontent,, the cause for which must at once be dealt with. Doorkeepers of theatrea are hereby ordered to refuse entrance to the pit to every woman with a high headdress.. The lieutenant of police leaves it to their discretion to decide what coiffure is or is not of a nature- to justify complaint." History has a trick of repeating itself, this hat question has revived, and a troublous one it has proved, absorbing an immense amount of attention: for the last year or two.. Inventive people have racked their brains night and day to find some way out of the difficulty— some plan for allowing people to enjoy the play in spite of the Towers of Babel that invariably confronted them. One genius invented ap opera glass with a deflecting lens, another produced a collapsible picture hat, while a third meditated calling in the aid of the X rays. And now the clever American comes forward with a transparent hat made of glass. It is said to be light, pliable and practically unbreakable — so pliable in^ ed that it can be pleated or ruffled, or sewn into the most up-to-date loops and bows, as well as making the material of the hat itself. Imagine a hat trimmed quite ft la mode, but perfectly transparent. After all, one wonders whether this may not be the latest joke at the expense of the ■matinee hat: it certainly sounds like it. If so, it must prove the death blow of this particular kind of head-gear. It is interesting to know that the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, strongminded as she certainly was, disliked the bloomer dress with all her heart. She was so anxicus that the women over whom she ruled should wear " womanly clothing " that she enacted special laws against i the very short skirts worn by some of her Tyrolese subjects. In order to banish the " shameless dress of the female persons," as in quaint old German she calls the picturesque costume of the Gail Valley, they are to be put into prison on a diet of bread and water, and the clergy are bidden to marry no woman who dares to appear before them, on her wedding day, in these "indecent garments." The Empress was certainly very hard upon her sex, but what she would feel if she could see the fashionable cycling garb of the latter-day Parisienne must be, left to the imagination. One of two things would probably happen —she would expire, on the spot, or adopt it herself.