AS SEEN THROUGH WOMAN’S EYES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue II, 14 July 1900, Page 89

AS SEEN THROUGH WOMAN’S EYES.

Knitted Socks. For these the foot should measure from IOJ to 11 inches in length, and khaki fingering should be used. A good sock in plain knitting, like the sketch, can be made with 4Joz. of 4ply fingering and four steel needles (No. 15), for which 92 stitches may be cast on, 36 on the first needle, 28 on each of the two other needles. Make a good deep welt of plain and 2 pur), and decrease after the 31st round for the leg, being careful not to do this too suddenly, until 82 stitches are left for the ankle, when 30 rows must be knitted plain. For the heel 34 rows should be knitted. Decrease when heel has been made, to 80 stitches, and then knit on till the foot measures 6 or 64 inches from the part where the" stitches were picked up, and then knit the toe. A very comfortable toe is made by first of all dividing the stitches equally on the three needles, and making 3 decreasings at the begin--ning and end of each row. with 3 plain

rows between, then 2 decreasings in the same way with 2 plain rows between, and then 1 row with 1 plain row between till there are 12 or 19 stitches left on the needles, when these should be threaded on the wool, the sock turned inside out, and the stitches drawn together and darned neatly on the wrong side. The toe can, of course, be knitted on two needles, if preferred, but I have found the above give a very comfort-ably-fitting toe. A smaller size can be knitted by casting on 80 stitches, with 4oz. of fingering, but be careful to make them long enough in the leg, and to have a good deep welt. Tam o’ Shanter in Crochet.

This is a most comfortable shape, and is much easier to work than a knitted one. which is a reason I give it when so much is required within a short time. For the materials. 4-ply Scotch fingering will be found to answer very well for it. in dark colours, though a special make of khaki fingering will be found the best to use. For this cap 4Joz. of wool will be required, and a bone crotchet hook, size No. 12, It should be worked rather closely, in either ribbed or plain crochet —that is. either the one top thread of the previous round can be taken, or both, as preferred. Make 4 chain, and join in a circle, and then work 7 double erochet in the circle. 2nd Row: Work 2 double crochet in every stitch of last row. 3rd Row: 2 double crochet in Ist stitch. 1 double crochet on next stitch, and so on for the round. 4th Row: 2 double crochet on Ist stiteh. I double cr. on each of 2 next stitches, and So on. for round. sth Row: 2 double cr. on Ist stiteh. 1 double cr. on each of next 3 stitches, and repeat. 6th Row: 2 double cr. on Ist stitch, 1 double cr, on each of 4 following stitehes. and repeat, "th Row: 2 double er. on Ist stiteh. 1 double er. on each of 5 next stitches, ami repeat. Bth Row: 2 double er. on Ist stitch, 1 double cr. on each of 5 next stitches: continue in this way. working one more plain stiteh between the increase in every round till the crown measures 30 inches round, or ten inches across. Then work four rounds of double erochet without any increasing. Nbfc

£or the following eleven rounds, decrease seven times in each round by missing a stitch, keeping always in a straight line with the stitches, where you before increased, which should make it the right side for the head—i.e., 24 inches round or 8 inches across are suitable measurements. The band comes next, and for this work twelve rows of plain double crochet, inserting the hook so as to take up both top threads of the stitches of previous round; this band will curl over, and does not require lining. The tuft is made by winding a quantity of wool over a card about three inches wide, tying firmly together, cutting nicely into rosette shape, and then sewing to centre of crown. - ■ Lace and Braid Butterflies. A* new fancy in trimming is to make butterflies of ribbon or braid combined with lace or insertion. Butterflies in renaissance or Honiton braid, tilled in with lace stitches, are very handsome for trimming the end of ties, or the yokes or sleeves of fancy waists. They are expensive to buy. but are not difficult to make, if one knows anything of lace work. It is quite possible to make such lace from printed instructions, without any regular lesson, but there are some errors that self-taught lacemakers are likely to fall into. One thing to bear in mind is the fact that all this lace is made on the wrong side; the maker never sees the right side until she takes out her basting threads and removes it from the pattern. All the fastenings and joins in the braid should be very secure; carelessness in this particular will cause it to come apart when washed, or even when

handled. The worker must use fine thread if she wishes a good effect. We recently saw a patient worker making a fine renaissance pattern with No. 40 thread. Of course, the effect was ruined; she should have used No. 120 or No. 150. For Honiton braid No. SOO or No. 1,000 will be found necessary. The design which we offer is made of fine point lace braid edged with picot braid. The stitches are so plain that no specific directions for makirg it are necessary. It may be made of black lace and fine silk thread for trimming white or bright colours, or of white braid and lace for trimming waists of coloured linen. o o o o o Hints on Marketing. •‘A season for everything „ And everything in season." It is very necessary for a woman to be well informed of the prices and goodness of all articles in common use; and of the best times and places for purchasing them. 11 is always advisable to personally do the shopping, and to pay ready money for those things which do not come into the weekly bills. To make tradesmen wait for their money in most cases makes them charge a higher price than they would otherwise do.

A note-book should always be kept to enter purchases made, so that the weekly bills may easily be checked. Groceries are subject to great fluctuations, and it behoves the housekeeper to keep a strict look out. and to note the rise and fall of the markets. Cheap fruit for cakes, puddings, etc., is generally mixed with dirt and small stones: consequently it weighs heavy. AH sorts of materials for puddings, such as rice, oatmeal, etc., should be Imught in small quantities, as they lievonte so soon infested with small insects if kept long.

Candles and soap are much better for being kept six months before using. In buying tinned goods, an eminent physician's instructions are to reject every article that does not show the line of resin round the edge of the solder of the cap. the same as is seen on the seam on the side of the can. in selecting hams, get the shopman to stick a sharp knife or skewer in the meat under the bone; if it comes out with a pleasant smell it is good, but if the knife is dulled and has a had scent, do not buy it. Hams short in the hoek are said to be the best. All vegetables are in greatest perfection when most plentiful, namely, when in full season. Ir. choosing vegetables take the middle size; they are preferable to the largest or smallest; they will be found more tender, ■'nicy, and full of flavour just before they are full grown. • Roots, greens, and all kinds of salads. when first gathered, are plump and firm, and have a fragrant freshness that art cannot give them. Buy rather those vegetables that have earth hanging to them than tose that have been washed. Now as to fruit. It must look firm and not nasty. Fruit for preserving should be as dry as possible. In buying fruit, ordinary care must be exercised. Judge of their freshness by their appearance. The great safeguard is to deal with a man who has a reputation to lose. Fresh fruit of any kind in summer is delicious at breakfast, and is so very wholesome if taken at that time. In winter, stewed prunes or baked apples might take the place of fresh fruit, and every housekeeper should

endeavour to have either one or the other. Watercress makes a nice change, and is useful for garnishing, its cheapness bringing it within the reach ol us all. The Nervous System in Infancy. During the first year of infancy the brain expands with mushroom-like velocity. This period of rapid growth is a practically quiescent one, so far as mental function is concerned. I'he ideal eare of infancy is very like that accorded to a thoroughbred colt or puppy. Systematic regularity rules the lives of these inferior beings in every detail of their management. The same systematic care is essential for securing to the child a stable and equable nervous organisation. The infant's rest, sleep, food, exercise and bath should have at least, as much eare as is given to the same things in the case of the lower animals. Freedom from excitement is a matter not sufficiently considered. To force a child into shrieks of laughter, for example, by grotesque sounds or sights, or by any means, while amusing to the unthinking looker-on, is detrimental to the best interests of the child. Placidity, although not so popular as liveliness in an infant, is a more desirable quality. The bath is at once a means of exercise, anil a tonic to the nervous system. In ordinary health it should not be too warm. The movements of the arms and legs, and even the cry, during the bath, are exercises of value. From the very first the child should be put to bed with the intention that it shall need no further care until after awakening.

While rest and quiet are of great importance. the infant, during its waxing bourn. requires constant attention. although not of a nervous or violent sort. The evils of too much quiet are frequently seen in children’s hospitals, where a child of inferior vigour lies quiet for hours at a time. The infant grows more and more languid. ami comes to exert itself less and less; the apjietite diminishes until foot) is refused altogether. The child mny now sink into a condition of serious ill-health. In cases of this kind the child must be taken up and carried about the ward several times a dav. and encouraged to use its muscles.’ During the early months and years the infant should receive the patient ami gentle, yet systematic and regular. oversight of its mother; or better vet. if she is well, her personal attention. During the period of rapid growth tin* infant needs only the physical aids which promote its bodily expansion. Demands upon its mental organisation are strictly to be avoided. A Gifted Queen. Queen Marguerite, of Italy, is particularly interested in folk lore, and has published many charming sketches under tin assumed name in the Italian journals. Queen Marguerite is far more gifted than is generaly supposed. A leaning Italian artist declared that in matters of art her judgment never errs. “She catches the artist’s idea at once, and is always correct.” She is an accomplished eonnoisseuse in inus.c, and is always to be seen at the concerts of the St. Cecilia Acailemv. and at those of the Orchestral .■society, of which Maestro Pinellj is the director. The Queen is never idle. She draws, paints, studies dead languages. reads, writes and translates living languages, keeps a voluminous diarv. and tries her hand at. every new' kind of work she hears of. and nearly always with success. Queen Marguerite is the possessor of the finest head of hair of any queen in wurope—finer than that of the late ’Empress of Austria. Her pearls arc unrivalled. She has her old clothes sold for charity, an example which distinguished Italian and English ladies might follow with advantage. How to Economise on the Boot Bill. “Prevention is better than cure.” and a very little trouble will make your boots water-tight, so that they will resist the inroads of snow-water and salt-water for some long period. Warm a little beeswax and mutton suet. and when quite liquid stir briskly. When this is cool, rub over the edges of the soles where the stitches are to be seen with a bit of flannel. A pot of this mixture maybe kept, and then slightly warmed before each using. To have a pair of "trees” for every pair of boots and shoes is a necessity, and tin expenditure that will soon r<v pay itself. Immediately after taking off. put the Isiots upon these trees, and if damp set them in a warm room, but on no account near a tire, t are must be taken that your bootcupboard is in a perfectly dry place. I'Tequently one sees the the little cupboard under the stairs made into a boot cupboard, and a very convenient arrangement it is; but should it be in the least bit damp the boots will be found to wear out very quickly. The use of a penny instead of a knife or any sharp instrument is excellent for removing the worst dirt from boots. Smooth, soft kid is extremely easily injured by a careless Ixiot-eleaner. An excellent polish for shabby boots that have seen their best days is made bymixing together equal parts of sweetoil. vinegar, treacle, and lamp-black. Many people ruin their patent leal her-lip|H*d Isiots by allowing them to stand with rain-drops upon them. Directly they are removed from the feet they should be placed on trees, and then wiped with an old cloth; if there is mud upon them it should be removed by a damp sponge first. Milk is perhaps the itest of all polishes for |Kitent leather. Green shoes may be cleaned with vaseline without injuring their colour beyond slightly darkening it. Light tan shoes tire objected to by some people, and these can be easily darkened by an application of ammonia and milk. Jtut long liefore a good pair of tan

shoes are worn <>ut they will probably axsiinir a imwt dismal colour, looking so liojadessly shabby that one is heartily ashamed of them. If you cannot afford to g'ive such shoes away, they can Im* revived by washing* them in lukewarm soda-water. They must not lie made thoroughly wet. ami sh< uhl be rubbed dry as quickly as possible and then polished. Stains on new brown boots are most annoying, and yet with the utmost can* they cannot always l>e avoided. Dirly streaks down the side of the boot spoil its ap|M*arance dreadfully, but these marks are not easy to get rid of unless one happens to know of some special method. The application of ordinary polish will generally make them worse. Purchase some saddle soap, and thoroughly wash the boots whilst they are on trees: allow them to dry. and then polish. Methylated spirits will also remove stains. o o o o o A Man on the Servant Difficulty. Every man thinks he can solve the servant problem. Here are the rules laid down by a man for the guidance of mistresses in their relations with their servants: Hun your household on business principles; servant should have regular hours of service daily. Complete freedom after work is done. Do not be too pretentious with only one maid-of-aIl-work. One afternoon and evening out each week. ( lean, wholesome liedroom. substantial food. Social privileges within reasonable discretion, if you have a young, good-looking capable servant, she probably wants a husband some day. Do not drive her into the street to get courted. Avoid interference with her religious and private life. Do not permit familiarity from the baker’s, grocer’s, and butcher’s boys. Insist on respectful treatment to your servant, and set them the example. Avoid personal supervision while off duty. Do not let slipshod, careless work go unnoticed. A good mistress is always critical, firm, and exacting; but she always appreciates conscientious effort. A New Engagement Ring. “ Giimnel ” rings are very much in favour at present, among newly engaged couples. These rings are made in three, one circlet fitting over the other, and all that is seen by the outside world is a plain gold band unite ! in the centre by two gold hands. When these hands are drawn asunde’two small enamelled hearts, red and blue, are “discovered,” and the date <•’■ the betrothal and the initials of the giver are also to be found engraved on one of the hidden rings. Bangles are also made in the same fashion, and here there is more space for the inscription of loving- words. A Southern Cake. It takes an intelligent cook to make a new dish well. Cooks of the lower order eook only what they learned Io cook in their early years, or else they eook only in a purely imitative and mechanical way. Chinese cooks are of the latter sort. The story is well known of the Chinese eook who was being taught by a woman to make a certain cake which contained one egg The first egg which the lady opened was not fresh enough to suit her taste, and she threw it into the waste-bucket.

After that the Chinaman, who had carefully watched her, always made the cake well, but the first egg opened he always threw into the waste-bucket. A correspondent of the New York “Commercial Advertiser” tells of the difficulties which a Northern lady, who hail moved South, had in teaching the negro servants there to cook the dishes she liked. The blacks would cook welt enough, but in their own remarkable way only. Materials outside their faiuiiiar Southern cuisine they could not handle at all. Finally the lady found a mulatto man cook who had berm to school, and could read. “Now," she said. “I have a man who can cook by receipt!” She gave him a receipt for making cake, written plainly on a scrap of paper. It was for a white cake, but when the cake came on the table it was of a singular golden colour. The

lady called the cook. "Did you make this cake according to the receipt?'' she asked. "Oh, yes. mum.” "Did you put in all the eggs?” “Oh, yes. mum.” “Put in everything?” "Yes. mum—the vinegar, too, and mustard and pepper.” "Vinegar and mustard!” exclaimed the lady. “What do you mean by putting vinegar and mustard into a cake?” Then the man brought the receipt. On the back of the slip of paper was written a receipt for salad dressing, and the intelligent servant had put in everything he found on both sides of the. paper! The lady’s husband took a piece of the cake. and tasted it. “It looks good, and it tastes good.” he said. “In fact, it’s the best eake I’ve eaten in this house!”

Exercise and Beauty. The greatest impediment to beauty xnd the one most constantly met with is a tendency to embonpoint. The luxury and ease of the lives they lead, the small amount of exercise, either physical of mental, which they take, the quantity of rich, indigestible food which they habitually consume, all these thing’s and many more, gradually tend to spoil the figure and features of women by burying them In layers of superfluous flesh. Yet it is comparatively easy for a woman of correct and wholesome proportions to retain them. But she must not be lazy. She must sacrifice some trifles to the preservation of her good looks.

It is no easy thing to diet off some of this “too, too solid flesh" when once it gets a headway in one's system. However, it can lx done. Embonpoint can be treated successfully and healthfully in but one way. all vaunted “reducers” and patent medicines to the contrary notwithstanding. That way is to adopt a correct system of diet and to take a reasonable and adequate amount of natural, wholesome exercise. Any drastic and sudden treatment should, however, be carefully avoided. One of the greatest magnets for attracting health is diet. But here it must be admitted that “what is one man’s meat is another man's poison." The fat woman and the lean woman, the rosy woman and the anaemic woman, the robust, woman and the weak woman—each one must adopt a different regimen. The woman inclined to embonpoint must eschew such fattening food as breakfast cereals, wheat corn and graham breads; meats, soups and gravies containing a suiterabundance of fat; fish preserved in oil. such as salmon, sardines, anchovies, etc.: vegetables containing starch or sugar, such as peas, beans, beets, oyster plant, egg plant, potatoes, turnips and earrots ; sweets, pies, puddings, candles and all farinaceous foods, such

as barley./ macaroni, spaghetti, vermicelli, etc. She should never drink liquors, wines, milk or malt beverages. It is not necessary to enumerate here the things she may and ought to cat. They are suggested by the very things she must avoid, being their diametric opposites. Now, the lean woman can and ought to revel in all these fat producing dishes, always remembering, however, that she must never indulge in anything that taxes her digestion, no matter how flesh producing ami tempting it may be. Who Has the Most to Do? Housewives will appreciate a Bussian story told by Count Leo Tolstoi. It relates that a Russian peasant and his wife, after an earnest discussion of the question which of them had the more ami harder work to do, agreed to exchange tasks for a day. The woman went to the field to plough, and the man stayed at home to do the housework. “Now, mind,” said the wife as she started out, "turn the cows and the sheep out to pasture at just the right time, and feed the little chickens, and look out that they don’t wander, and have the dinner ready when I come back; mix up some pancakes and fry them, ami don’t forget to churn the butter; but above all don’t forget to beat the millet.” The peasant had so much trouble in getting the cattle and sheep out that it was late when he thought of the and irt order that the little chickens mightnot wander he tied them all together by the legs with a. string and then fastened the string to the old hen's leg. He had noticed that while his wife was beating the millet she often kneaded her pastry at the same time. So he went to work to do these things together, and as he had to shake himself a great deal to do it he saw an ex-

eel lent chance to get the butter churned at the same nine i»y tying the cieaui jar to Ins bell.

"By the time the millet is pounded,' he said, "the butter will have come.” lie had hardly begun this triple task when he heard the old hen squawking and the chickens peeping, lie started on a run to see what was the matter, but tripped on the edge of a flagstone, fell and broke the cream jar to pieces. In the yard he found that a prodigious hawk had seized one of the chickens and was flying off with it, and as the chickens and tneir mother were all tied on one string they hung together and the hawk flew away with them all.

In his confusion the peasant left the yard gate open and the pig came in, tipped over the bread tray and spoiled the batter, which the animal then immediately began to devour. While the peasant was looking on in astonishment another pig came in and began rooting amongst the millet. Then, while the peasant was clearing things up as well as he could the firs went out. He had not succeeded in rekindling it when his wife entered the yard with the horse. "Why," she said, "where are the chickens and hen?" “A hawk carried them off. “1 had tied them together so they wouldn't wander away, and the hawk carried off the whole lot." "Well, is dinner ready?" "Dinner? How couki 1 have dinner when there isn't any fire?" "Did you churn the butter?” “No. I was churning it, but I fell ami dropped the jar and broke it. and the dog ate up the cream.” "But what is all this batter that 1 see on the floor?” "Those miserable pigs did that.” “Well, you have had a hard time," said the wife. "As for me. I've got the field all ploughed and I'm back home early.” “Oh. yes,” exclaimed the husband, bitterly, “you’ve had only one single thing to do, while as for me. I’ve had

everything to do all at the same timeget this thing- ready, take care of that, anti think of everything. How in the world was 1 to do it?” "Well," said she, “that's what 1 do every day. Now 1 guess you'll admit that a woman has something to do” Children's Wishes. "If a fairy were to offer you anything you like, what would you choose, am why?" This was the tantalising question written on the blackboard of a London Board school by a lady anxious to make a psychological study of children. One child desired " a nice carriage with four lovely white horses, so I could drive to theatres, parties and balls." Another, even more ambitious made answer. "I should like to live in a palace, and have all that my heart desired.” But answers were by no means routined to this grand style. There was at least one child who would have asked the fairy for nothing more than "new boots and underclothing." Then there were the children who desired nothing so much as "a little dog" and “a nice workbox.” One very good little girl said. “I would ask for nothing else than health and wisdom, because I do not think there is anything half so nice as them two things.” She must have been mortally surprised to see the prize given to a girl who said boldly that she would ask for money. She would not choose good health, this Mammon-worshipper, “because I know it is impossible.” With money she proposed to travel about the world, "and help along poorer people." She would also build a home for girls and boys, "whose mothers and fathers arc tipsy nearly all day long.” A BEAUTIFUL COMPLEXION. Apply Sulpholine Lotion. It drives away pimples, blotches, roughness, redness, and all disfigurements. Sulpholine develops a lovely skin. Is bottles. Made in London.— Advt.