Boudoir Gossip

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 7, 17 February 1909, Page 59

Boudoir Gossip

Syrup for Preserving. One of the most- important features in the art of preserving is to have the syrup of correct thickness. In one of the farmers’ bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture, Miss Parloa gives some valuable figures. The quantity of sugar contained in the syrup should be determined by the employment of a syrup gauge, which is a graduated glass tube with a weighted bulb registering from zero to 50 degrees. As everyone knows, when the proportion of sugar is large and that of water small the syrup is said to be heavy. When the water predominates the syrup is tight. In boiling the water evaporates and the syrup grows thicker and richer. When the syrup is boiled in a deep kettle the evaporation is not so rapid as though it were boiled the same length of time in a broad, shallow By the use of the syrup'gauge the* proportion of sugar in the syrup may be ascertained at any stage of the boiling. However, it is possible to measure the sugar and water so that you can know the percentage of sugar when the syrup begins to boil. The following table gives the percentage of sugar at the time when the syrup has been boiled one minute. and tells also the kind of syrup suitable for the various kinds of fruit: — One pint of sugar and one gill of water gives syrup of 40 degrees density: use for preserved strawberries and cherries. One pint of sugar and one-half pint of water gives syrup of 32 degrees density. One pint of sugar and three gills of water gives syrup of 28 degrees density: use either this or the preceding for preserved peaches, plums, quinces, currants, etc., One pint of sugar and one pint of water gives syrup of 24 degrees density; use for canned acid fruits. One pint of sugar and one and onehalf pints of water gives syrup of 17 degrees density. One pint of sugar and two pints of Water gives syrup of 14 degrees density; use either of these two light syrups for canned pears, peaches, sweet plums, cherries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. How to Become Beautiful. SOME SEASONABLE HINTS TO WOMEN “The Road to Feminine Perfection,” just published, is a little volume that should find many women readers. Its author, “Mlle. Julie Bon-Ton,” says: —- “Everyone agrees that it is the beautiful woman who rules the world, and the most- successful in life’s battle is she who fights with the weapons of fascination. ... “To be forewarned is to be forearmed. The object of this book is to expose the many pitfalls -that threaten to destroy beauty, and at the same time to erect signposts pointing out the Beauty Spots along the road that leads to Feminine Perfection. ... “Worshipping at the shrine of Beauty, no man wants to be recalled to earth by a too intimate knowledge of all that helps to make for Beauty'. He prefers not to unveil the mystery that shrouds the many charms he adores; all he asks is that his ideal should practise the rites and ceremonies of beauty-—those rites and ceremonies, even sacrifices, that mean perfection in everything appertaining to personal charm, and that she do all that lies ■within her power to preserve the feminine allurements that first attracted him to her. Daintiness, be it remembered, Is quite as important an attribute of feminine perfection as beauty; freshness, neatness and dainty delicacy are so much associated with the ideal woman that they play an uncommonly large part in her powers of fascination." -Mlle. Julie is scornful in her remarks Concerning the “rational” brigade:— “Of the flat-footed ‘rational’ brigade, who stump along on all occasions in stout, ’sensible,’ hygienic boots that know nothing, of such vanities as lie is or nt, the less said the better; in themselves, Such boots are sufficient to quench all

feelings of romance and utterly to destroy all ideals of feminity. “Such utilitarian footgear may be excellent to wear when starting to climb the Alps or set forth on an expedition to the North Pole, but they have no place in these pages, for they are as far removed from the idea of feminine perfection as are the practical and hideous hose that invariably accompany them.” PLAIN WOMEN. The plain woman need not despair: “She may not be able to remedy irregular features, but she can improve a bad complexion. She can also do much to improve her figure and adopt a graceful carriage; pretty hands and feet, t» satin skin, glossy, well-kept hair are all details to be attended to. “Obesity and leanness alike have to be struggled with, and she who would be pretty, though plain, must never allow herself to slip back from the ideal of cultivating elegance and smartness, which, after all, are no mean substitutes for the prettiness denied to a great many women. . . ‘■The second lesson the plain woman will do well to lay to heart is the fact that simple perfection should be the keynote of her toilette. Nothing draws so much attention to ugliness as over-elabor-ation of dress and gaudiness of colour." Concerning wives, the author writes: “The successful wife is the one who strives to preserve this piten of feminine perfection, and to put off the hour of disenchantment—the one who appreciates the fact that it is a far more difficult matter to keep her husband a lover than it was to transform her lover into a husband. . . , “If a woman has to live with a man for the rest of her natural existence, surely it is all the more reason why she should set to work to make herself more charming and more pleasing to him than to anyone else; for it is very Important to her happiness that she should outshine all other women in her eyes. Hers is the greatest gain in this respect, even if hers is the toil of achievement. “What severer strain can a man’s love be subjected to than that of seeing his wife compare unfavourably with every other woman he meets? To see her dowdy and frumpy, ever troubled with the petty cares of domesticity—to return home in high good humour only to have his serenity shattered by a recital of her household disasters?” Wisdom indeed! BEAUTY’S DIET. The woman who would be beautiful, and therefore powerful, should be careful what she eats. He/e is a suggested dietary: “After rising, eat one orange before going for a short walk. “At breakfast take one cup of hot milk, a soft-boiled egg eaten with toast rather than bread, some ripe fresh fruit, honey, or pure jam. “For lunch a cup of unseasoned clear soup, an underdone chop, endive or watercress, salad made without vinegar but with plenty of good oil, salt, but no pepper or mustard; two oranges or some fruit salad. “For tea a cup of milk and water or some very weak China tea. thin slices of brown bread and butter, or brown bread and Devonshire cream. “Dinner—Boiled fish, unseasoned minced mutton served with lightly poached eggs and some spinach; milk pudding, stewed figs, dessert and olives.” Washing, we are glad to note ,is very necessary to beauty, but washing is not the elementary business tile mere man might suppose. “The washing of one’s face is not nearly such a simple process as the majority of women suppose it to be, for face-wash-ing is a serious business if it is to be done thoroughly and efficaciously. The right way to set atout it is to pin the hair back from the brow and up from the neck. “Next fill a big washing basin with really hot rain water, which is the only kind that beautifies and cleanses the skin; then take a camel’s-halr nrusli, dip it into the hot water, and rub it. in some jellied soap made from fine vegetable oil soap, after which set to work to scrub the face thoroughly, beginning with a gentle, short, rotary movement. This must be continued for two minutes, by which

time the entire face, throat and ueck are covered with lather, the brush having constantly been re-dipped and soai>ed during the process. ‘"The next step is to draw another basin of water not quite so hot. and, using a Turkish face cloth or a bath glove, wash the face free from every particle and trace of soap. When this is done, fill the first basin with quite cold water, and with a clean sponge deluge the face well, afterwards drying it very gently in a soft linen towel, the older the better." WORDS OF WISDOM. After that you are clean. Here are a few selected obiter dicta; "The use of cosmetics should tie one of the most profound secrets of the toilet. If a woman resorts to such aids, what need is there for her to let her most intimate friend, let alone her husband, into the secret of ‘how it is done*’ "The mysteries of the dressing-room were never meant to be public property. Who wants to see a beautiful woman cn deshabille, shorn of her beauty, her locks bedraggled in the process of the shampoo that is to make them all the brighter, or her whole face distorted during the progress of her ablutions? "The smartest women are those who dress according to what they mean to do. It is no good to choose a beautiful gown fit only for wearing in a carriage if you have to walk, or to ride in omnibuses; equally unsmart is it to dress in finery in the country, or turn up at an afternoon reception in town clad in a severe serge costume, a motor cap. and big boots. "If only there were more women ready to throw aside their hair dye. their cosmetics, and artificial aids, and to have the strength of mind to declare if they can’t be pretty at least they will be clean, one would find the number of beautiful women in the. world increased by leaps and bounds." Women in Turkey. The exact relationship between a political constitution and feminine attire is not evident at the first glance, but it seems to be none the less true that emancipation in Turkey applies to the women quite as much as to the men. Harem life, while by no mans a thing of the past, has at least been robbed of many of its historic features, and the rules of seclusion, if not abolished altogether, have at least been measurably relaxed. The veil will not quite disappear, but it will be thinner and more transparent, and to raise it will no longer be regarded as a proof of female depravity. Very fpw Turkish ladies have ever been away from the place they were born in; a few have got away, and under the old regime would not have been allowed to return, but now that is all changed, and in future wives will go abroad when their husbands arc sent. The present dress will only undergo a slight modification. Instead of the shapeless out-of-door clonk, the Turkish lady can now wear, well-fitting dresses, or jackets and skirts, and be as smart and trim as her European sisters In public, but she must not wear a hat yet, and her head will be entirely enveloped in a sort of hood attached io the neck of her dress or coat, and made of the same material as her costume. The wusnffl will no longer be shut up in a closely shut force* house on a hot summer’s day. They even already go about in open carriages, and are to be seen enjoying themselves on the water in the afternoons and evenings. But does anyone suppose that Turkish women will be happier than they wore before? They are now fairly on the road toward the nightmare called civilisation, and before long they may even have suffragette clubs ami be fully initiated into the system of trial marriages which prevails here under the protection of our divorce laws. So far as we may judge from reliable accounts of harem life in Turkey, the lot of the married woma*» in Turkey seems to be by no means unenviable. Domestic concord is the rule rather than the exception, and the interests of the woman are protected aw nm°h by the law of the land as by Ihe kindliness and indulgence of the husband. The Turkish woman is now very much in the position of her progenitor Eve when she left th<* Garden of Eden, except that Eve was driven forth, wherens her descendant has gone voluntarily. Iler emancipation may lend to ultimate wisdom. There is a nossii»»Tftv of it. but her progress thereto will be a painful

Opera Glass Bags Are Now Spangled. Opera glass bags are elaborately spangled in fancy or solidly covered with overlapping incrustations of brilliant sequins to make them look like glittering scales. The bags are rather small, and arc pointed at the bottom, while the top above the cord or drawing ribbon is usually cut in scallops. One exquisite bag was solidly covered with golden brown sjKingles and lined with gold tissue. Another one was in silver spangles, with a silver tissue lining and silver ribbons to draw it up. Still another, and one even more elegant than either of these, had crystal spangles over white satin, with an embroidery design in gold thread. White satin embroidered in gold makes a delightfully dainty bag design. There are no dangling ornaments across the bottom of these bags. They are finished perfectly plain, not so much as a cord being used to outline this part. Light coloured velvet reticules display the same style of decoration, and they are carried with gowns or coats to match. Ohl rose velvet, embroidered with dull gold or old ros-v shaded gold, is a novel and fashionable combination. The top of these velvet bags is cut in point like the bottom, and there is always some little embroidery or spangle decoration across the tip of the point and sometimes outlining the sides. The new bead purses and bags are a marvel of colour blendings. The work looks like exquisite tapestry, but with a faint sparkle that characterises beads. A light wood brown makes a charming background for the band of roses.