THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2588, 24 August 1909, Page 3

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

DRESS REFORM Ft)R THE PLATFORM.

Miss Ethel Loginska, a brilliant young pianist, is pioneer of a new platform garb for women performers. , She appeared at her recital m the Aeolian Hall, London, recently, in a velvet suit, looking for all the world like Millais’ picture of “Bubbles” (only she happened to wear a skirt instead, of knickerbockers). Her jacket was cut luxe a boy’s, with lace at the collar and cuffs. It opened over a vest of blue oilk, with a cascade of lace falling down the ccnti'e. The skirt was short and plain, with no frills or furbelows, but just a row of buttons fi'om waist to liem. ( “I. do not see why men should be so comfortable in their suits and women so ridiculously uncomfortable in their platform go whs,” Miss Leginska said to a reporter. “I have seen,’ she ‘added with n smile, “a certain well-known pianist get so. entangled in her long train at one concert that she literally fell off tlie platform when she had to.make her exit.' ■ • “Trains are all very well for singers, but fox- painists —No. They are so apt to catcli in the pedals, and, perhaps, min one’s peace of mind for the rest of the performance. “The same may be said of tlie decollete evening dress. I have sometimes not been able to give my arms full play because of the tight strap over the shoulder.” Mr. Hugh J’evvton, the baritone, told an “Express” representative that he was decidedly against freak platform costume. “Ladies need not tight laco,” he said; “nor men wear high or tight, collars—but that is quite dress reform enough. . .. ' “You .will never see such well-known artists as Mesdajnos Clara Butt, Louise Dale, Margaret Cooper, Carreno, Evelyn Suart (all these ladies arc beautifully dressed, adopt the short skirt and jacket advocated by Miss Leginska. “We do not find that these ladies fall over their long skirts and get the trains of their gowns wound round the logs of tlie accompanist, or catch in tlie pedals of the piano. “It is not necessary to be badly dressed to be comfortable.”

THE PERIL OF STARCH EATING. Beware of the starch-eating habit. In its own way it is as terrible in its effects as morphine, cocaine, or drink. The most deplorable phase of this strange appetite is that it makes its first appeal' to vain girls who desire to become beautiful. It will come as a surprise to most' people that such a common, supposed harmless, hut not over nutritious food as starch has the power to enslave anyone to its use. Yet it. is a fact that there are many starch-eaters, most cf them young girls employed in public laundries, where starch is easily obtained. Dr. J. R. Gibbs, of London, has made a study of the habit of starch-eating. In the last ten years he has had under observation eighty patients. “I am told,” he says “that in some laundries the starch is kept under lock and key to prevent the employees from eating it. Six months of starch-eating will reduce a rosycheeked, buxom woman to a shadow of her former self. Her cheeks will lose their bloom. Her eyes will turn lustremss. She will struggle hopelessly against, languor and lassitude. Her digestion will become impaired. Her blood will turn thin and white. The red corpuscles in her blood will die. She will become hopelessly anaemic, in which weakened condition she cannot resist -the ravages of even those diseases which under normal conditions are never fatal.” 1

THE TABLE. Indian Trifle.—Boil one tablespoonful of ground rico in half a pint of milk, stir well so that there are.no lumps, add sugar to taste, a few drops qf lemon juice, also the -beaten yolk of an egg. When the rice is cooled a little,' after thoroughly cooking, put in a (dnss dish. Slice-six bananas upon this cover with boiled custard, sweetened and: flavored with a little vanilla, and ornament with whipped cream colored pink with a few drops of cochineal..; - Anchovy Eclairs.—Roll out some of the thin puff paste, scrape, wash, and hone a.dozen anchovies; enclose each in the paste. Bake and then sprinkle With a little grated Parmesan cheese over each, and serve very hot. Broad Bean Soup—Chop an onion into small dice, with a little celery, and place in a saucepan with a knuckle of veal, and a .tablespoonful of chopped loan bam. Cover with water,, and add salt and pepper. Simmer until the juices have been extracted —skimming carefully—and then strain. To threequarters of a pint of liquor allow the earne quantity of milk, mixing tho two together. Melt three ounces ot hut* ter in , a saucepan stir in three ounces of flour, and moisten by degrees with the seasoned milk. Work well over the fire ufitil smooth. In the meanwhile take a pound of new broad beans, skm them, and boil them in salted water for a quarter of an hour. - Then strain —reserving a few—and pour into the thickened white stock- Continue to simmer the beans in the stock until they are tender. Then rub through a tammv, and add more milk and a gill of thick, cream. Season with pepper and salt to taste, and a few' drops of lemon juice. Complete boiling the few beaus which were reserved. Add when soft into the soup, and serve with fried dice-shaped croutons.