LADIES’ COLUMN.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15973, 15 November 1919, Page 9

LADIES’ COLUMN.

usaruj. uuviv.. To prevent a lamp smoking soak the wick in strong vinegar, and dry thoroughly before using. When baking potatoes, put a small pan of water in the oven, and they will cook much mbre quickly. A small quantity of whitening mixed with methylated spirits cleans and polishes piano keys splendidly. White fish, such as whiting, haddock, or ood,- is more easily 1 digested than oily ■.fish, such as herrings Or salmon. Old jams become new again if the jars are placed in a warm oven iiiitil the hard sugary crust that has formed on top melts. WMh boiling haricot beads do riot put in the salt till the beans are nearly cooked, otherwise they are apt to split arid crack. To blacken tan boots, sponge the boots over twice with ammonia and water, then give them two coats of shoe ink or raven oil. When dry, polish with ordinary blacking After the dustbin ha» been emptied burn a few newspapers arid a handful of straw in it. This will remove all grease and damp, and make the dustbin perfectly clean and sanitary. When making a fruit tart inix a little cornflour with the sugar before adding it to the fruit. This will make the juice like syrup, and prevent it from boiling over. To clean old jewellery make a lather of warm soapsuds, and add to it half a traspoonful of Sal volatile; brush the jeWellery in this, afteiwafds polishing with an old silk handkerchief or a piece of wash-leather. Finger-marks on painted doors may bo removed by rubbing with a perfectly clean cloth dipped in a little paraffin. The place should be aftefwards washed over 'with, a doth wrung out of hot water, and finally polished with a dry duster. If you have covered a pan in which to roast meat never open it to baste the meat. Keen covered from the first to last. The idea is that the pan is full'of steam, which penetrates the fibre lof the m®at. If desired to brown the I outside, leave tie cover off for a short i time in a quick oven, j The rio-ht time to clean any utensil ■ mode of iron or tin is when it is hot. Notice a flat-iron when heat is suddenly placed under it; moisture soon core's out. from it, and then it is time in dean it. A gas stove, iron or tin Vet,lT'S, etc., can ’be rubbed clean while hot in half the time they would take to cleans? if cold. To remove cocoa- stains place the article in the sun, with the stained portion uppermost, then squeeze lemon juice over the mark and sprinkle with salt. Rub in with the tips of the fingers, and leave for an hour or so®| Repeat'ptocess, theft Wash in the usual way. If the stain be very bad, leave in the slln as long as possible, and repeat the application of lemon and salt at frequent intervals. Fruit for bottling must be, in ripe yet quite sound condition.;* Having prepared it in the Usual way, fill it into the bottles, shaking ,it well down; fill each up .with hotewatcr, screw-on the tops-loosely and set them in a large pan of hot water, or else use the copper for this purpose. Bring the water in the bottles to the boil, and let it boil for ten minutes; then allow the bottles to cool, fill up with hot water, screw on the tops firmly, and put away in a cool, dry place. The little black specks that appear on silver articles that have been laid aside for some time should be cleansed with a paste of whitening and olive oil. Then slightly polish with a piece of old silk. In some cases the specks and stains are very obstinate, and it will be best to smear the article with the paste, and allow it to remain on for a considerable time. It should then bo wiped off and polished with either a piece of silk or a soft piece of chamois leather. When srhall pieces of pie-crust are left from making pies, instead of forming them into tarts, as is usually done, secure some round hardwood sticks about 4in long, and, after the pieces of crust are rolled out thin, cut them into narrow strips with a jagged iron, flour the sticks and roll the strips around them, letting one edgb drop over the other. Place these on a tin, and put in a hot oven to bake. When the crust has got partly cool slide the stick out. When serving fill the spaces with jelly, whipped cream, or a marmalade, and the family will be delighted with the new dish. RECIPES CHOCOLATE PUFFS. Use the whites of two eggs, two ounces of ground chocolate, four ounces of soft sugar, two ounces of ground almonds, and a little vanilla. Whip the whites of the eggs stiffly, stir in the sugar and chocolate, then the almonds and flavouring x Beat for a few minutes. Have a board ready covered with sugared paper, drop in small spoonfuls, with a good space between, and bake in a moderate oven till firm and eet. When done loosen with a bread knife, and turn over and leave till dry. BRANDY SNAPS. Quarter of a pound butter, small teacupful treacle, half cupful sugar, the juice and grated yellow rind of one lemon, a tablespoonful of ground ginger, half a breakfastcupful of flour. Boil the butter, sugar, and treacle together, add the lemon juice and rind, the ginger, and the flour. Mix well and keep the mixture warm. Drop in teaspoonfuls on a greased baking sheet. Bake in. a moderate oven. When removing from the oven roll each on a clothes-peg until cold. Drop off the pegs and store in an air-tight tin. RASPBERRY PUDDING. Five ounces of white breadcrumbs, four ounces of castor sugar, one egg (or two), four ounces of margarine, raspberry jam. Beat the margarine and sugar to a cream—of course, butter is better; then add the beaten egg, then i the breadcrumbs. Crusts can bo used, | and in that case should be run through th? mincing machine. W r ell grease a pkdish, sprinkle the inside over with . few crumbs, put in a layer of the mixture, then a layer of raspberry jam, and so on till the dish is full. Sprinkle a few crumbs over the top layer. Put the dish in a moderate oven, and bake the pudding for an hour. Tarn i.it, and sc-rvie with jam sauce.

MARMALADE PCDDTN& Stale bread, marmalade, one pfiiit milk, one egg; sugar Little or muth bread may bo used; of course, a large quantity will make 'it more substantial. Stale slices of bread hud butter do very well for this pudding. Spread each side of the bread with a little marmalade, aiid put in a jiuddmg dish; beat up the egg, add the milk; aiid sweeten the custard to taste. Not much sugar need be used, as the marmalade will add to tile sweetness. The bread used should not be ifi large slides; it is best to cut them up in quite sriia-Il pieces, aiid when the , dish is about three-parts full pour the custard over them- and let them soak for a few minutes; then place tho dish . in a baking-tin oontaiuiftg water and bake it slowly till the custard is nicely set. WOMEN INVENTORS. Tho first patent taken out by a woman was for a process of weaving straw with silk by a Mrs Mary Kiesr, of Connecticut, in 190S (says the Morning Post), and she has, as time went Oil; had many followers in ingenuity, so that at Washington there is a women’s department, with the specifications of the patents arranged in chronological order. British, women patentees come later in the field. It Was not till 1894 that the Comptroller-General of Patents thought it worth while to ascertain the number of" women inventors, and the war has naturally decreased their numbers, but whereas there were nearly 400 applications for patents frolu women in 1913, in 1914 there were 35-D. and in 1917 253, and in 1918 so that the total is-rising again. During the war probably the outstanding in vehtion Was Mrs Hertha Ayrton’s fan for sending back gas and smoke fumes Other inventions of national importance of late years were Mrs Ernest Hart’s for waterproofing fabrics, a discovery of which use was made by the Admiralty, War Office, railway oolnpam-r.s, etc., aiid Mrs Cayley-RobihsOn’s patent for a. semi-gas furnace, which was intended to revolutionise heating, as it is said to reduce expenditure by onesixth cm fuel, consuming all waste prodficts, such as cinder, soot, smoke, and ashes. GIRLS’ FILM CHANCE. PAY FOR ASPIRANTS WHILE TRAINING. “The systematic training of film actors and actresses is one of the meet pressing tasks before British producers m their efforts to make our pictures pre-emi-nent,” said one of the organisers of iffche new ,£1,000,000 company which has formed to make British films on a large scale. “We have already worked out a scheme by which, :n a few years, we ought to have a fine band of Sound actors and actresses, and by which we should be able to discover■ any possible stars. “In the case of girls who wish to become film actresses there are certain, points in appearance which an artist must possess. Their height, figure, hair, eyes —a very important feature—and expression must all be judged from the film point of view. If these are not, as a whole, satisfactory, nothing can make them into film actresses. “Girls who are successful will be given about a fortnight’s trial before the camera to see if they can. a'ct as well as look right, and if they can do what they are told. “Those who pass this test will be given a contract and carefully trr. Ned until they appear in crowds in real films. The main point about the scheme is that they will be paid while they are being trained, and their salaries will automatically increase while they are employed by us.” DYEING -AT HOME. The hot weather is coming, and the children must have their thin summer frocks. But some of us find it a big drain on our purse to buy new material at the price that is now demanded for it; and vet when we look over the little suits and frocks and overalls most of them look woefully shabby and faded with last year’s hot sunshine. When the little clothes are in fairly ■good condition, and yet faded, it is the greatest pity to get rid of them. They can really be made ■to look like new if they are carefully dyed. If they are sent to dye works, you will find it quite an expensive job, besides being kept waiting for a very long time. But why not dye them at home? Home-dyeing is quite an interesting, as well as an economical occupation, and is quite easy, and sure to be successful if a few simple directions are followed. The dyed article is more likely to be a success if it is redipped instead of being dyed another colour; this can be done quite well, however, if it is dyed a colour, which is a deeper shade than the original one. Thus light blue could be successfully dyed purple, or yellow would take a green. Lignt blue could also be turned to a beautiful shade of drab by being dyed not too deeply with brown. Always test the dye on a piece of material first. _ It is far better always, and generally necessary, to not only soak, but to boil the articles in the dye. To do this procure an old zinc bath, or use a fish kettle. Pound and crush up the dye and drop the powder into an old jar, stirring it with a clean stick in enough boiling water to thoroughly dissolve it. Pour this into the bath, and mix with enough water to make the required strength. Stand the bath on the gas stove, and let it come gradually to the boil. Now put in the articles to be dyed, keep the j dye at boiling point for ten minutes, and meanwhile dip the articles in and out of the liquid, especially frequently at first, to make sure that they are being evenly | coloured, and that there are no folds | mid creases in them during the process. After ten minutes lift the bath off the stove, but let the clothes soak in it for another fifteen minutes. Then rinse them in several baths of clean, cold water, but do not wring or squeeze them on any account; Hang them out dripto. dry, and fasten them to the clothes line by tapes stitched to the armholes. These tapes can be pinned to the line. Be very careful not to touch or squeeze at all till they ard perfectly dry when they can be damped and ironed in the usual way, and will be found quite successful.

| GENERAL PERSHING’S KISS. AN EXPERT IN THE ART. “I’d sooner have had that one good kiss from General Pershing than the Croix de Guerre.” said jiretty Kitty Dalton, of New York. Knights of Columbus flower girl, after General Pershing bad kissed her Wheh she presented a bouquet of American Beauty roses to him.“General Pershing did not kiss me on the cheeks,” slit- inodestly deiiibd. “He kissed me full on the lips. I admit having been kissed several times before; but nobody ever kissed me as expertly as General Pershing. Miss Dalton is the girl who has received and refused more than 200 proposals of marriage from soldiers and sailors and marines to whom she has sung. “.'Hie man who marries me,” she states, “will have to kiss me as well as General Pershing does.”