ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue XXIV, 12 June 1897, Page 755

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Notice to contributors.—Any letters or MSS. received by the Editor of the Nkw ZkaLAND Graphic will be immediately acknowledged in this column.

‘ PamsT.' —If you do not—and you are perfectly right—like your children to read * penny dreadfu's,' place within their reach good literature. Here is one great safeguard which has been proved to be reliable. Fill your bookshelves with wholesome, sound books—books which you have first gone through yourself. Let good periodicals and magazines lie about, which your children can take up and look at, at any idle moment. Encourage them to take in some standard work in weekly or monthly numbers, reading the same yourself so that you can talk to them about the various characters, etc. ; and as the children grow older place such authors as Thackeray. Dickens. Scott, Kingsley, Eliot, and similar others, within their reach. Depend upon it that those homes are the happiest where good and interesting books and papers are close to the hands of the children, even though the bookcase does look untidy, and the books become soiled and worn. • Dinadee.' —I am sorry, but your query is quite beyond this column. Consult a good lawyer. It is never safe to give advice of the nature you require without being in full possession of all the circumstances of the case.

‘ Wonderment.’—l must congratulate you on your excellent pseudonym. I have a really novel and practical suggestion to make for your wedding present to your niece, which I think will answer your requirements of ‘ something no one else will give her; something not too expensive, but useful; something I can put fancywork into, as I have plenty of leisure.' Give her a set of the newest style of towels. There is almost no limit to the money one may spend upon towels, if she be so minded ; it is in fact somewhat difficult to select the moderate and reasonable from out the mass of costly and voluminous towels. Many women of leisure who like decorated towels buy fine birds-eye linen and make hems finished with deep drawn work bands, above which they embroider initials. Others work above the hemstitched ends small flowers or a running vine in pure white floss. Some, despite the fashion, consider colour well used a great addition. My advice would be that unless you can afford the luxuries of life and need not count the cost, by far your best plan will be to purchase a supply of fine huckaback hemstitched towels, at from sixteen shillings to thirty-two shillings a dozen, and embroider upon them in pure white silk either your monogram or initials. These will be serviceable and elegant, and not too fine to perform all the functions that a towel should. Then, if you wish for a more gorgeous few, you can embroider upon heavy fringed towels a breadth of reasonable width, in colour or white as you prefer. There is no doubt whatever, I think, that all cultivated women will agree that the monogram of the housewife is the most and bsst desirable decoration that a towel can have. Yet we see dozens of highly decorated towels to one treated in that rational and dignified way. Fringe too, is annoying in the extreme. The lint that it sheds clings fast and is difficult to remove, and it catches and snarls in an irritating way, and it is difficult to launder properly ; yet hemstitched towels, truly elegant as they are, are only now coming up to claim their just place. The demand for these comes from households where cultivated taste governs the display.

‘ Birdie.’—l must ask you to write on one side of the paper only. I have no objection to replying privately if you enclose a stamped and addressed envelope. In that case you had better address your query to the Lady Editor. Darkening the eyes is very risky. An eminent oculist claims that the widespread disease of weak eyes among women is largely due to the tampering with these organs for making them more beautiful than nature intended. The extremes to which some will go in the matter is illustrated by an English woman who was ar" rested in the streets of London for drunkenness. It was found later that she was simply suffering from the toxic effects of atropine, which she had instilled into the eyes to dilate the pupils for a more brilliant appearance. She was determined to be beautiful, and to accomplish the purpose she ran the risk of ruining her eyes for a lifetime. A late fad among women of our cities is to darken the under eyelids with paint to give a more attractive appearance to the eyes. This paint is often made up of injurious principles, which in time makes the flesh around the eyes appear old and wrinkled. It becomes cracked, and then paint becomes essential all the time. The simplest method, if one will darken the eyes, is to use an ordinary lead pencil.

* Dolly.’—l fancy you could obtain what you want at any good grocer. Write and ask for a price list of goods, then you will know iust what you can afford each week.

‘ Old Maid.*—For travelling you will find a little bag the best possible place for your spare money. It should be of chamois with a flap to button well over and have broad seams trebly stitched. You must shape it so that it will be small enough to wear inside the corset, then secure it with a safety pin. ‘Tom.’ —I hope you will not mind my telling you that before you ask a ‘ nice, refined, educated girl ’ to be your wife, you should learn to write a proper letter. Yours was a most curious production. It began in the third person, then wandered off to the first; finally, though there was no address, such as Dear Sir, or Dear Madam, to commence with, it wound up, ‘ Yours very sincerely.’ This is what you should have said:—‘To the Editor : Dear Sir, —Will you kindly suggest some present for a young lady’s birthday ? She is a nice, refined, and educated girl, and I hope to soon ask her to be my wife.—Yours faithfully. Tom .’ Or you might simply have said: “‘Tom’’ would be much obliged if the editor could suggest a present,’ etc. What I would propose is not a book, as ‘educated’ girls get quite enough literature, but a complete toilet set of silver articles, including brushes, manicure sets, hand mirrors and everything that can be used on the toilet table. With such a set as this, there may go a large square of bevelled glass, made like a looking-glass, so that the articles show off when placed upon them.

‘Sleep.’—l am afraid your insomnia will prove troublesome to get rid of. A professor said he alwavs induced sleep by going to the woodhouse and sawing wood awhile. It brought the blood down to the extremities and carried it away from the larger vessels, and then it was not dammed up in the poor gorged brain. ‘ Good for the professor,’ I said ; but what will help one doesn’t always help another. First of all. don’t worrv ; take things easy. lam convinced that worry brings on disease. A woman doctor said to me that she dreaded to treat women with impaired nerve force, which means nervous prostration. She had manv cases of such, and they felt that her treatment was long and tedious, and that they did not get the worth of their money. There are certain things that help to invite ‘ Nature’s sweet restorer.’ A brisk walk warms cold feet. A well-ventilated room is necessary, a good bed, neither too hard nor too soft, and level. Authorities recommend a level head ; but I always like a big fat pillow and head pretty well elevated. Let each suit his own case. Avoid little, close bedrooms, for a high temperature brings on restlessness.

’Mr Pen.’—There is a great demand for houses just now. Had you not better buy a piece of land and build one ready for your bride? It will be miserable beginning life in lodgings or hotels if she is used to a fresh, country life, dairy and chickens. Furnish simply and only one or two rooms, letting her choose the rest of the plenishings. She will have to live in the house more than vou will.

‘Mabel.’—(l) Yes, call after the dance. (2) It is not necessary after that small tea. (3) You need not write your invitations; verbal ones for an informal affair are quite sufficient. Use autumn leaves, crimson and brown silk draperies, and have all sortsof sweetmeats as well a?, the cakes. Scones, daintily made, or nicely cut and rolled thin bread and butter should always be on the table, as some people never eat sweets. You did not ask at all too many questions. Your writing is a pleasure to read.