Girls' Column

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2076, 3 June 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Girls' Column

A Social Lesson.- The late Professor Morten related once in our bearin',' a rohiikc which lie gave to a high strung Beacon Hill damsA, which is worth repeating for tho moral it carries. The young lady was one of his pupils, and made herself so obnoxious by her haughty and cveu her insolent bearing, displaying her contempt for all about her so markedly, that it became at last quite unbearable. " I knew her mother in France,” said the Professor, whose broken English there is no need of reproducing here, ” and she was a most exquisitely modest and unassuming woman. But the daughter was so insolent that she had to have a lesson; so I said to her : ” ‘ Will you be so good as to remain after the lesson 1 I have something to tell you.’ “ She stays, and in her haughtiest manner she says:— “• You wish to speak to mef’ 11 ‘ You are Miss So-and-so?’ “‘Yes.’ And you live at No, Beacon street !* Yes.’ “ ‘ And your father is Mr. So-and-so V “ ‘ Yes.’ ‘“And jour mother is that lovely and sweet Mrs. So-and-so I have met in France?’ ‘■‘Well?’ ‘“Oh, you are sure there is no mistake?’ I said. “‘ No mistake ? What do you mean 7’ ‘“I am exceedingly surprised that you come of such a family and so well born.’ ‘‘‘Sir!’ ‘“lammuch surprised. I have been sure you came of a new-rich family, some parvenue.’ “’Sir I’ “ ‘ You think, mademoiselle,’ I said, softening my manner, ‘ that haughtiness is aristocratic. Now will you pardon an old man if 1 remind you that the contrary is true ? I have known your mother so long that I dare to be frank with you. You have been very insolent in the class.’ “ ‘ Insolent, monsieur?’ “ ‘ Yes, mademoiselle. You have mistaken ttiis for a mark of aristocracy. So does the daughter of the. Jew money-lender. You had much better copy your mother—your gentle lady mother.’ “ And I made ray best bow and left her to think about it. And she was a good girl after that; a very good girl.” It is a pity this wise and shrewdly-worded reproof could not sink into the hearts of many a girl to-day who foolishly fancies she is asserting the loftiness of her social position by an insolence which only proves that she is not so sure of her standing as to cease to be troubled about it. Beautiful Articles Easily Made Very pretty things can ho made out of common checked glass cloths by working starsof colored wool and cotton in each alternate square—blue stars on the blue checks, pink on the pink. The work is really effective and makes up into nightdress cases, brush bags, cabin tidies, toilet covers, bed coverlets or morning anrons. A nightdress case of checked glass cloth, worked with pale blue stars, lined with pale blue sateen, trimmed round with lace and finished off with a pale blue ribbon bow, makes a very pretty present, accompanied by a brush hag lo match. The same may be done in pale pink. For a bed coverlet several lengths of glass cloth must be joined and the alternate-squares worked over. There should be a lining of pink or blue sateen, and a border of broad, coarse lace or white ball fringe. A morning apron looks pretty in this work, trimmed round with lace and with bows on the pockets. Wool is more effective than ingrain cotton for working (he squares, but it should be the Andalusian wool or line Berlin, that will wash well. A Sweet Posy.— Take two moss rose buds half open, a spray of rosemary, and halt a dozen of tiie llower heads of lavender, to which add a cluster or two of mignonette, three old clove carnations, a small bunch of jasmine, and a few leaves of the sweet scented verbena (Aloysia citriodora). It to the above you add a half opened old provence or cabbage rose so much the hotter, and the result will be a sweet posy that a duchess might like to have near her, and which, if tastefully put together, will delight the eyes as well as the nose. This sort of sweet posy was far more common in the days of our great grandmothers than now. You will notice how carefully the late 11. Caldecott was to give his sweetest of Eighteenth Century maids a dainty little posy to sniff at as they cross their tiny little feet and sit demurely in tiie lino old Chippendale chairs be must have liked, or lie would not have drawn them so well. Welt made put pound is delicious in winter, but during summer time every room in every liouai which has a garden ought to be full of fresh llower fragrance, leaving the mummied odors for the winter of our discontent. You must not for a moment fancy that the above recipe for a sweet posy is a bit of literary labor out of my head, so to say. The truth is, I found it written inside the cover of an old herbal, and I tested its efficiency, and having found it not wanting, 1 offer it to every Lady Corisande, < How to Press Flowers.— A writer in Gardening IHuxtrutrd uses col ton batting instead of bibulous paper in which lo place fresh (lowers for pressing. “ I have had,” he says, “ mucli experience in llower drying, and I have found any kind of paper answer, however carefully used, and for the following reasons : First, the paper—of any kind—is, however lightly pressed, too hard a substance to touch the delicate bloom or surface of the petals of any llower, and at once injures the skin, causing the liquid lo exude and saturate tho ■ which tends to decay it, as well as to ; nr destroy the color. Secondly, pup - s not absorb the natural moisture rapid-;, enough, but remains damp about the Hower, thus allowing the air to pass through, while damp air injures both color and leaf. I have tried a great many different ways, and one only has proved really successful—viz, the use of cotton wool. 1 take a small folio in which I have folds of newspapers, four sheets thick. Between each of these folds I place two sheets of soft tine, clear white cotton wool. I have this out with mo, and as I gather the flowers I want to press, I lay them out carefully between the sheets of cotton wool, tilling the sheet as quickly as possible. I close it up in (he newspaper, carefully turning it up all around the edges. When 1 get homeT take the packets out of the folio, and place them in large books, under good pressure, and leave them as long as 1 deem it necessary. Some flowers need a much longer time—those of a fleshy nature for instance. The great secret is not to allow the air to touch them (by no means look at them to see how they are getting on) until they are quite dry. 1 have scarlet geraniums, violas, etc., which have been done more than two years, as fresh in color as at first, although in constant use on candle shades." To Remove Grease from Paper.— Warm the paper stained by the grease and remove as much of it as possible by the use of the blotting-paper. Dip a soft brush in benzine and draw it gently over both sides of the paper, which must be kept warm. Let this bo repeated as long as the quantity of the grease or the thickness of the paper may render it necessary. To restore the paper to its former whiteness, after the grease is removed, dip another brush in highly-rectified spirits of wine and draw it in like manner over the place, and particularly around the edge, to remove the border that would still present a stain. This process may he employed on paper written on with ink, or printed with printer’s ink. If there he hut a slight quantity of grease, scrape linoly some pipe-day, and on this lay the sherd, or leaf, and cover the spot also with the clay ; then cover the whole with a sheet of paper and apply n heated iron. Use India rubber to remove the dust taken up by the grease. The paper will generally he found restored its usual appearance.