THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2506, 20 May 1909, Page 7

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

END OF D'IRECTOIRE FASHION

No sooner has the close-fitting gown, modified from the ultra-directoire style, been universally adopted than the dressmakers have begun to plot its downfall. The plotting has been going on for some time past in the innermost recesses of the great Parisian dressmakers’ private apartments. Here the creative geniuses of the art of dressmaking, of r whom there are not more than seven, or at most eight, in France—all of them men— have, as the result of long weeks of labor, arrived at a decision. Curiously enough each “creator” has arrived at practically the same conclusion. It may ho' said with certainty that the death of the dtrectoire gown has been decreed, and that it is to give place to the Louis Quinzo “basket” gown with large flounces of puffs on either- ;siue of the hips and with low waists. Since some women have become so accustomed to the present'close-fitting style that a sudden transition would prove too great a shock, it has been, decided to go •through a kind of intermediate phase. In the coming summer we shall see waists gradually grow longer, while the bottom of the skirt will gradually widen. It has been ordained that the change shall be complete in the autumn of the present year, when the close-fit-ting dress will bo dead and gone, and the flounces, puffs, and long waists of the early part of the reign of George 111. will be in fashion. It is a curious fact that even the most skilled of women dressmakers in Paris admit they would bo lost without tho inventive faculty of man in the matter of feminine clothing. The male artists, employed only by the foremost 'firms, earn salaries of from £IOOO to £ISOO, and the great firms are constantly scheming •to filch them one from the other.

NEW SOUTH WALES ANTIPLUMAGE LEAGUE.

It will come as welcome news to most women that an anti-plumage league has at last been actually inaugurated in New South Wales, and that one of Miss II aw son’s last acts before leaving Sydney has been to sign the membership list. It will be, remembered that the forming of such a league was first suggested last at a meeting of the $ National Council of Women, when it ■ was unanimously decided that the Council would give its support .to any action that might be taken in the matter. Since then Mr. Rothery, secretary of the Animal’s Protection Society, has been sparing no efforts to form the league, with the result that it has now' been inaugurated under the auspices of the National Council of Women and the Animal’s Protection Society of _ New South Wales. A roll of membership has been prepared, with a colored sketch of the birds that most need protection, which Miss llawson, as patron of the league, was first to sign, followed by the other members of the National Council. To this list it is hoped to add the name of every woman in New South Wales, and as the reason of the league becomes known there is no doubt all womanly women will be anxious to join. The object of the league, as set forth Oil the membership roll, is “to help in preventing extermination of the birds of tlie world by appealing to woman to refrain from wearing the plumage of birds other than the ostrich and birds killed for food and birds proclaimed by law as pests, and the signatories pledge themselves to assist in carrying out this object wherever it may be.” • CIOOI) RECIPES. A Very Cheap soup.—Besides being cheap this soup is substantial and very nourishing. Take six large mealy potatoes, two leeks, three ounces of crushed tapioca, one ounce of butter or dripping, a teaspoonful of sugar, one pint of ""milk, and one quart of boiling water. Slice the potatoes and leeks into the boiling water. Boil to a pulp, tbmi rub through a solve and put back into the stock. Shake in gently the iW'"tapioca. Boil for ten minutes, add the milk and dripping with pepper and • salt. Then boil up and serve. Venetian blinds. —The laths of Venetian blinds should always he removed •preparatory to cleaning. Loosen the tapes on the under side of the bottom lath. Remove the laths, rub well with a stiff duster, and then wash each separately in warm soapv water softened with a few drops of ammonia. Rinse m clean tepid water, and dry with soft cloths. Make a paste of pipe-clay and water, apply a thiol) coating to the tapes bv means of a stiff brush, allow it to dry. and then brush off. Apple" Jam. —Peel, core and slice four pounds of good cooking apples. Sift carefully three pounds ea-stor _ sugar, orate the rind and strain the juice of four lemons. Lav the fruit m a stone •jar, sprinkle the other ingredients between the layers, .and then stand the -jar in a pan of water and place in a good oven. As the water in the- pan evaporates it must be replenished with boiling water. When the fruit is quite tender turn it out into the preserving pan and boil sharply for about 20 minutes. This jam can also be made by boiling in the usual way. but must bo well stirred. . + p_ Pickled Mushrooms. —April is the best time for pickHng mushrooms ■which should be freshly gathered and of the small button variety. Cut olt The stalks of as many mushrooms as arc required, and clean the caps by rub--bing them with a flannel dipped in salt. Arrange them in a stew-pan with a little nemx'i and powdered mace sprinkled between the la vers. Place them without the stcwp.au lid being closed, over . a moderate heat, shake them frequently until the juice lias evaporated, covei them with vinegar, bring them almost to a boil, and pack them in tightly

. covered glass jars. ~ Pineapple Preserve.—Use a pound ot to a pound of fruit, and chop the pineapple into as fine bits as possible after peeling and coring it. Mix tn /•su<rar with it. let it stand m a cool % place over night, and in the morning cook it for about half an hour. At the end of this time it should be sort enough to pass through a seive. Strain - it in this way and return to the preserving kettle. Continue cooking it, stirriim almost constantly for about ■i ia lf or three-miarters of an hour longer, or until it becomes a clear, amber-color-ed paste, which will Vie firm when it is cooled. Then put it in email jars and seal. -