Women and the Home

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16942, 17 January 1923, Page 10

Women and the Home

CONTRIBUTIONS BY SPECIAL WRITERS

BRIDAL SUPERSTITIONS. “ Something old Something new, Something borrowed, Something bluo,” are essential items in a bride’s tuilet, if she desires good luck. She must be careful not to dress completely in her wedding finery before the day on which flio goes to file altar; nor must she allow her future husband to see her as a bride before she joins him at the church. The bride who wishes to have the upper hand in married life should be carolul that her right foot arrives before his in the house after the cereAn old belief used to have it that a hnion could never be happy if the bridal party while going to chnrch met a monk, a- priest, a hare, a dog, cat, lizard, or serpent. But if they came across a wolf (and managed to evade

it), a spider, or a toad, the? would he sure of prosperity. The origin 'of the custom of throwing the slipper after the husband and wife is lost in oblivion, but. that of the 1 browing of rice has only been popular in recent years. In country places it is still the custom to strew the bride’s path with fl'owers. a very pretty and emblematical idea. VALUE OF THE THUMB. If you have a big thumb it denotes that you possess intellectual strength, good judgment and a firm character. But if your thumb is small it indicates that you are one of those people who act first and think afterwards, and who are ruled by the heart and not by the head. 'Fhe thumb is the most important part of the hand. Without it the hand : s almost useless. Consequently it is not surprising That occultists attach such value to it. The ruling impulses <.{ man. judgment and passion, are to I,< found in it.

Successful men of business, scientists, tool users, and so on have large* thumbs, -while poets and singers have small ones. In old days the thumb was recognised as an important member, and it has always had a special significance. In tile Roman duels upturned thumbs were a sign that the vanquished gladiator was to live, while if they were turned down the beaten rain was killed. And f-o .it is to-day with the sign “ Thumbsup.” BEAUTY THAT AWAKENS LOVE. Beauty is not alone a capriotous gift of the gods that comes with womanhood to the fortunate if it is to arrive at ali. It may dazzle a woman’s admirers at twenty and he gone at twenty-five, leaving only a certain hard handsome-

ness as a token that “ she was lovely Al'ore often it may tarry for years until the stage, at which it- has matured The girl who was almost plain before marriage will startle friends whom .she revisits with something that is very "early the beauty of which they believed her incapable, while the briliant debutante can lose, long before age Haims toll, her first note of distinction. Beauty is not merely a creation of features and complexion. They may help, but they cannot hold. Temperament has much to do with •.he making of the loveliness that compels a man’s admiration and, it may be. awakens love. The eternal appeal of the greatest .Madonnas docs not depend solely on the perfection V>f feature. There is about them an atmosphere of graciousness and peace that sets them altogether above the portrait that is only piquant or pretty. For this reason there are many wnmen who might be beautiful but miss it Women may see in them exquisite i xamples of grace and style and wonder w by their blind brothers are so

strangely unimprecsed. The man, with, unconscious standards of companionship, xnis&es the note of liappiness and unselfishness that would transform a girl with fewer charms into the beauty that is lovable. There is -all the material for loveliness except the disposition* Happiness, more than anything else, when allied with the essentials of form and colouring, bestows the dower of leal loveliness. Perhaps that is why the girl of this century so often achieves beauty. Her freedom and place in the world have brought the thrill of work and purpose into her*life, and the;\ in turn have given her the radiance of a happiness without which she could not he the fascinating person she is. LIVES WRECKED BY GOSSIP. If only gossips realised the evil that they do! Would it deter them? I wonder. The love of gossip is so deejjv engrained in human nature that nothing less than a miracle would kill it. Peo” pie more than tilings interest, the majority. The most stirring events may be taking place in the outside world. But they fade into insignificance if there is a piece of spicy local gossip going. “Have you heard?” “Do you know?” A mysterious whisper and the damage is done. Women are supposed to be the worst offenders. Almost every woman is a born gossip. She delights in tittletattle. She does not demand proof. It is enough tor her to hear a good 6tory which she can pass on. Her imagination gets to work- She remembers things or invents them. When she re-tells the tale sha has added a little colour to it. But many men are quite as bad. You can hear in men’s clubs gossip just as slanderous and venomous ;.s any that passes from woman’s mouth. The purveyor usually takes care to protect himself. “ I have heard so-and-so from a reliable source,” he states. But he does not tell the source. There are certain men who set themselves out always to hear “the lat est,” who delight in scandal, and are never so happy as when they have a fresh tit-bit of gossip with which to regale their listeners. They will distort the- simplest incident or give to it a sinister significance. Not that the gossips are always malicious arid maligant. More ofte-\ they are thoughtless and lighthearted. They start a story out of fun or from personal vanity and the desire to be regarded as well-informed. How many lives have been wrecked by gossip it is impossible to say. Constantly in the Law Courts one gets glimpses of the havoc wrought. Buo for every ca.se made public ten never 6ce the light of dav. There are calumnies that, are hard or impossible to refute. And even the successful refutation in a court of lair often leaves the victim under n cloud. “There is no smoke without fire, * people say. To bring an action, whether successful or unsuccessful, may involve tho prosecutor in ruinous costs. It mav happen that the defendant is a person of straw, and the injured one has to pay the costs of litigation. A man may have to stand his trial for any crime from murder downward-;, through gossip, and he absolutely free of anv offence except that he has got; himself talked about. A woman may have her reputation torn to shreds and never have a chance of vindicating it —through gossip. “Done to death by slanderous tongues.”

TEMPLE’S. Removed. The Corner Shop. Corner of Colombo and Peterborough. Street?. CALE STARTS MONDAY. 10 a.m. Prices, iiooo Stock of Millinery. etc., to clear. Note some of the Bargain*: Children’s Slope 7Tat«. 3s lid. Tulle l? per yard, 40in Net Veilings from. Is. and numerous other articles of Clothimr to clear. NOTE ONLY ADDRESS—--824, COLOMBO ST NORTH. FOB VARICOSE ECZEAIA. Varicose Eczema, dry or weeping, completely banished by Varex No. 2 Treatment. Outfit comprising Lotion, Ointment, Lint, and Varex Leg Bandage, post free, 20s. Never fails. No resting required. For particulars ami free literature, write Ernest Healey,Chemist, Foxton. Local representative. Nurse Curtis, 249, Alanohester Street. 5