ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue V, 24 July 1897, Page 131

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Notice to contributors.—Any letters or MSS. received by the Editor of the New Zealand Graphic will be immediately acknowledged in this column. *To Several Cotributors.’—l have written, I think, to most of those who have kindly sent in Society News (other than that received from our nsual correspondents), but if I have omitted any please accept thanks and the following remarks :—Kindly always write on one side of the paper only. Punctuate as follows for accounts of dresses at any festivity Mrs A. wore crimson satin slashed with black ; Miss B. was much admired in blue and silver; Miss C., grey with scarlet facings; etc. Please do not put capital letters to colours. This is a most usual fault, and is very awkward to correct. For instance, a common way of describing ball dresses is like this: Mrs Don. Black skirt. Blue blouse. Mrs Con. Crimson silk with yellow. Mrs Bon. Black.

• Dinadee.’—No, decidedly no to your first query. As regards the second, I do not think anything but patience will cure the trouble. Try plenty of fresh fruit and outdoor exercise. We have discovered a nice way of eating oranges, which seems to preserve the full flavour of the fruit. Peel a ripe orange extravagantly, that is, so as to remove every scrap of white and even cut the flesh. Then slice in thick slices on a clean plate with a sharp knife, and again across into nice-sized bits. Eat with a fork and spoon. It is really much more delicious than broken as usual into its naturally-divided quarters. Some people like bananas and cream very much.

* Atalanta.’ —You could use up your charming present of those blue and white printed silk handkerchiefs in the following ways Mount them as tea-cosies. One folded in half and trimmed with puffings of soft white silk and bows formed of the corners of another square makes a charming glove satchet, others being converted into handkerchief cases. A fascinating little stand work-basket is lined and trimmed with these squares, the effect being especially pleasing.

‘ Mrs B.’—A spare room is, so say most people, an expensive luxury. That is, if you have a spare bedroom, you are always liable to have visitors. It must be nicely furnished, and kept clean and neat, ready for immediate use. At the same time, if the house is small this room seems always wanted when no visitor is in it. Yet the furniture would be messed and spoiled by constant common use. To get over this trouble a London firm has invented the most marvellous compressible furniture. I have seen sketches of the room empty and furnished, and it looks very charming in the latter case. Imagine the entire furnishing of a comfortable bedroom safely packed into a chest 6 feet by 2 feet 6 inches, and 2 feet I inch ! Yet this is really to be seen, and furniture, moreover, that in no way suggests collapsibility. Imagine a suite of 3 feet 4 inch washstand with tiled back, and shelves for boots, etc. ; a 3 feet 6 inch combined dressing-table, bureau, and chest of drawers, with a large swing mirror ; a table, a leather or saddlebag-upholstered easy chair, another cane-seated chair, together with bed and bedding, and toilet set, and a 3 feet 9 inch lock-up wardrobe ; all contained in the modest limits given above, and at a price as relatively modest, though the furniture is in every case of solid wood—walnut, mahogany, ash, or teak, as you may require or fancy ! The point about this furniture is that it is neither glued, screwed up, nor nailed, so there is nothing to get out of order, or to lose. For instance, to fold the drawers the bottom is slidden out, and the whole folds, and packs perfectly flat ; and what you do with the single drawer you can do with the whole of the outfit, and if this' furniture is convenient for rigging up a spare room on an emergency, think what it must be to our kinsfolk in the bush, the explorers, the mighty hunters, the hardworking settlers, who can have their home plenishing brought within the limit of personal luggage, and reduced if necessary to hand parcels !

‘A Mere Man.’—Yes; men or women are equally at liberty to write to this column. I was rather amused at your letter. There are so many men who object to going out to parties at night that I feel a certain amount of sympathy with you. On the other hand, the ladies have a good deal to say. A certain amount of social life is

absolutely essential to all of us—to the old as well as to the young. A woman never grows so old that she ceases to enjoy the company of others, and generally the older she grows the more she enjoys it. It is always a pity to see a man fall into a state which he explains by saying : ’Oh, we’re getting old, and don’t care for so much variety in our lives.’ In the pure unselfishness of his soul he always speaks of * us ’ and • we,’ as if it naturally follows that because he is getting antiquated his wife must keep pace with him in his decline. Men all too often make their wives too old. It is a greater credit to a husbandtokeephiswifeyoungthan tomakehergrowold. His actions and his habits necessarily influence those of his wife. Let him keep in touch with the world, and both he and his wife will be the better and the younger for it. I like to see a man proud of his wife because she keeps young. Old age is beautiful and has its advantages, but a man makes a great mistake when he rushes a woman unnecessarily toward it. And he does it most perfectly when he deprives her of those enjoyments which every man should give his wife, and which he can afford to give her no matter how limited his means. No economy is so false, so hollow and so misguided as that which seeks to withhold one pleasure from the life of a good woman, a true wife or a loving mother. The best home a man can give a woman becomes • poky,’ as one woman I know expresses it, if she is asked to live in it three hundred and sixty-five days out of every year. The good Lord knows that woman’s life in this world is hard enough. She travels a path of endurance and suffering, to which man, be he ever so heavily afflicted, is an entire stranger. It was given to man to make that path as pleasant, as easy and as bright as possible. Every penny which a man spends for the happiness of the woman of his home will come back to him in double, yea, in four-fold measure.

‘ Memo.’—Many thanks for kind remarks and notes. The latter will do admirably, their only fault being that they are written on both sides of the paper, which, were it not for their excellence, would prevent my using them at all.

‘ Alexander.’—Why not have your banns published in church ? This is far better than many of the hole-and-corner weddings of the present day. Were marriages more widely advertised there would be less bigamy.

* Mr S.’—A great deal of the current talk about magazines accepting no contributions other than those signed by famous names, is pure rubbish. Any single issue of any one of the leading periodicals is a refutation of such a statement. Original work will always find ready acceptance at the hands of editors, whether the author is known or unknown. The great trouble is that so little original work is being done by unknown writers. Opinions worth having are never expressed by editors on a simple outline of plot ; too much depends on the treatment.

‘Sweet Seventeen.’ —By all means give him a buttonhole. There is nothing whatever in doing that as you have such a lovely garden.