Boudoir Gossip

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 26, 23 December 1908, Page 39

Boudoir Gossip

Looking Pretty at Breakfast. (By-a Beauty Expert.) .1 . The art of “looking pretty'’ at breakfast is worth cultivating. Not one girl tin ten has acquired it. A>nd the tenth Sias a pull over her prettier sisters. bigger than you might realise. She is the port of girl who comes to breakfast as fresh as a large after dancing till four an the morning. She lw bright and smiling when every other face at the Stable is almost melancholic. She is well groomed at 8.30, and makes >the family-beauty look dowdy and dilapidated beside her. She is full of life and spirit when the rest of the family feel good for nothing, and look it, too. How does she manage it? Why do some women go through life, however pretty they may’ be, without Ifliat air of freshness and vigour and attractiveness between 8 and 10 a.m.? It is a matter, first, of health; secondly, of method; and, thirdly, of disposition. The pretty-pretty girl may outshine jus all when she is arrayed in all the .glory of garden-party frock or evening dress. GOOD HEALTH. But the really healthy girl has her innings at the breakfast-table. Clear of skin and bright of eye, with -keen appetite and vigorous health, she is like a vision of perfect health when jshe comes downstairs in the morning. No morning headaches, no restless night, no lack of appetite and early morning temper! Perfect digestion, a good night’s sleep, and healthy circulation, are the first essentials to good-looks and charm at ’the breakfast-table. The girl who sleeps (with closed doors and windows, who takes heavy suppers late at night, or sits up reading till two a.m., pays for it ■Un the morningNine hours’ sleep is the best of all cosmetics from the point of view of the breakfast -1 a ble. The pitiless sunshine shows every little line, every shadow; toilet lotions and face-powders are only sordid at eight in the morning. But a good night’s sleep smoothes the hires and brings out the very best of the face next day. The prettiest girl of 20 would look haggard and old afte rthree nights without sleep, if she managed to survive the ordeal. GOOD HABITS— The girl who is at her best in the morning never lies long a bed. She ds called and out of bed a good hour before bjeakfast is due. She takes a tepid bath, and a cold sponge after. She probably has 15 minutes’ Swedish drill or breathing exercises. She has time to stitch a clean collar ito her blouse, and fasten the button which ds hanging by a thread. Better still, she dresses her hair as carefully as if ehe were* going to a ball. (And she has brushed it for 15 minutes Ithe might before. She is just as neat as a new pin. and her coiffure has all the gloss of the hairdresser’s art. She can enter the diningroom with the. assurance . that she is carefully dressed and well turned out. —AND DISPOSITION. But. above all, the.girl who looks best al the ■breakfast-table is the bright girl, the unselfish, tactful, lovable girl, who known how to soothe the irritability of other people because she makes allowances. She knowS that her mother lias worries, and her father's short temper is due to the fact that he has not a minute Ito spare if he is to catch bio train. So she wets herself to look after everybody else, ami her mere presence restores the family temper like a sunny day in November. She is the centre from Which all the brightness radiates to every member of the breakfast-table. RECREATION. Many people think of recreation as frivolous, indicating a lack of serious purpose in life. As n matter of fact, it is a necessity, in some shape or other, unless one is to grow old before one’s time.

Many a busmens man, on returning home- after a perplexing, exhausting, exasperating day’s work, finds that romping and playing with the children rests his jaded nerves and restores him to his normal condition. I have been as much refreshed by a goo 1 hearty laugh, by listening to good, wholesome fun—stories, jokes—or by spending an evening with friends, and having a good time,, as by a long, sound night’s sleep. Anything that will make a man new, that will clear the cobwebs of discouragement from his brain, and drive away fear, care, and worry, is of practical value. It is the shrewdest kind of business policy to do what will recreate, refresh, and rejuvenate one for the next day’s work. Why should we be serious and gloomy because we have to work for a living? Laughter is a good health-builder. Give me a man or woman who loves to laugh, who enjoys a joke, who sees the funny side of things. It is as natural to want to laugh and have a good time as it is to breathe. There is something wrong about a person who seldom laughs. There is a moral influence in things which amuse and make us enjoy life. No one was ever spoiled by good humour; but tens of thousands have been made better by it. Fun is a food as necessary as bread. —“ Success.” © © © Simple Home-made Beverages. SOME OLD-FASHIONED RECIPES. ‘ To be prepared against every emergency is always the sign of efficient housekeeping. “Pot-luck” in a. small menage, unless it is presided over by an excelk nt manager, is apt to be gastronomic fortune in a very empty vessel, while th<» di Hi culty of providing a substantial enough menu is often complicated by the sudden demand on the wine-cellar, or at least o:» the home supply of summer b'W'vages. In these days, when motoring parries arc apt to descend at the most unexpected times, refreshments are no easy matter, and much in the same way as was done in the old coaching times, when travellers paused at their friends’ houses on route to + own, to keep “open house” is becoming quite a necessity. KEEPING SUMMER BEVERAGES COOL. To possess a store-room well packed with home-made ginger-beer and lemonade, and with the materials for fruit-cups of every description, as well as cider and home-made wines and sherbets, is to be prearmed in a substantial way against any invasion by cycle or motor, the mere fact that the ingredients are for the most part inexpensive making their preparation, financially. an insignificant and simple affair. To keep jars and bottles cool is. however, no easy matter in the dog days. A stone-floored cellar is. of course, best, especially if the vent ila turn is perfect, but in many small country and suburban, as well as town, houses the larder—often on the hottest side of the house—is all the storage room available. If small quantities and frequent brewing are the only solution of the difficulty of storing, cold cloths, frequently wrung out in water, thorough ventilation to the open air. and a sun-screen for the window represent the best method of obviating lukewarm drinks in the hot neither. An excellent plan for cooling stonebottled lemonade or ginger-ale is, besides, to fill a tub with water, and stand the bottles in it up to the. neck, a chub, wrung out. in melted ire, being I hen thrown over the top. with the cni-» in the water all round. HOME-MADE GINGER-BEER. A good recipe for quickly-made ginger beer is that which requires three pounds of loaf sugar, two gallons of waler, aquarter of a pound of cream of tir’ar, an ounce of whole ginger, and two table spoonfuls of yeast; To make if. the water should be brought to a l>oil, pQiired over the sugar, cream of trirtai, and the ginger—which should have been previously bruised—and left tn*stand until. by testing, it is found to have roughed a tepid condition. The yeast ..hon’d bo added at this point, and the beer left

to stand until the next day', when it only requires straining before* it is ready for bottling, and may —if required—b* drunk twenty-four hours later. GINGER ALE WITH LEMON. In another recipe a couple of * lemons gives an acid taste, which is often preferred, the method of making it consisting in putting the pared rind of the lemons, with two and a-ha If pounds of .sugar in a large pan, and in bringing nearly three gallons of water to the boil to which has been added air ounce and a-half of ginger. When the water reaches boiling point, it should be poured over the sugar and lemon, an ounce of cream of tartar stirred in, the whole well mixed, and then covered with a thick cloth. to be left until it has reached the temperature of new milk. Four tablespoonfuls of yeast should then be spread mi a slice of freshly-made toast, and ths must be added to the beer, together wi h the strained juice of the lemons. After twelve hours the ale is ready for straining through muslin to clear it . and finally for bottling, two or three days being, however, allowed to elapse before it is used. In both cases, whether the first or the second recipe is adopted, screw-down stoppers should be used, or failing this, the bottles must be well corked ami the corks secured with wire or strong twine. LEMON DRINKS. Concentrated lemon syrup is one of the most useful bottled beverages, as it is always at hand, ready for mixing at any moment with ice and soda wate r . To prepare ■it for bottling the rind of six Large lemons should be pared finely and placed in a saucepan with three quarts of cold water and boiled gently for about twenty minutes. The juice of the lemons should then be added, boiling continued for a quarter of an hour—the lid kept on the pan—and the liquid strained. Finally six pounds of loaf-sugar and two ounces of citric acid must be added, the liquid returned to the pan and boiled again for five minutes. W hen cold it is ready for bottling. © © © And the Glass Went Down Again An Irish jarvey was driving with an English visitor, who was on his way to spend Christmas with some relatives in Ireland, on a bitterly cold day in December through the wilds of Connemara. They became quite sociable, on the way, and the native, in a burst of confidence, pointed out a shebeen where the “best potheen in Cannacht” might be obtained. The Englishman, only too glad to get an opportunity of warming himself, offered refreshment, which offer was read ily accepted. £ ’.’Tis very cold in these parts. Pat?” observed the tourist. “ ’Tis. yer honour,” replied Pat. II • raised his glass, and the contents speed ily vanished. ”And there's troth in the ould sayin’.” he suggestively added, smacking his lips: •‘•One -wallow never made a summer.’ ” © © © Keep ihe Piano Open. T was talking to a piano expert the other day (writes a housewife) and h told me that many people make a very great mistake in thinking it noces-ary to the good of their instrument to keep it religiously closed when it is not being played on. On the contrary. ho said, it ought to be always let. open, unless, of course, one was -hutting up one's ho:is and leaving the piano unplayed on for some weeks. He -aid that the shutting up of the piano causes the key- to turn yellow, as all ivory will turn yellow, unless kept in a fairly strong light.

Do You Know That—• \ Irish stew is a dish unknown in Ir<> land. Kid gloves are not made of kid, but oft' lambskin o r sheepskin. German silver is not silver at all, iipt of German origin, but has been used I'4 China for centpries. Dutch clocks are of German mantifae* 11< re. Baffin's Bay is not a bay. I urkish baths are unknown to the Turks. There are no leaves in Vallombrosa, Milton to the contrary notwithstanding. Turkey rhubarb should be railed Russian rhubarb, as it is a Russian monopoly. Why are turkeys so called? They di not come from Turkey. Titmouse is a bird'. Sealing-wax contains no wax. Shrew mouse is iio mouse. Rice-paper is not made of rice or the rhe plant. Catgut. should be sheepgut. Bind worms have eyes and van see. Cleopatra’s Needle should be name.! after Thothmes 111. © © © Why He Knew. Teacher: “What kind of o bird did Noah send out of the ark?” Small Boy: “A dove.” Teacher: "I'm surprised to find that the smallest, hoy in the class is the only one to know.” Big Boy: ‘Please, teacher, his fathet keeps a bird shop.’