THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2624, 5 October 1909, Page 3

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

AWKWARD BUT ATTRACTIVE

Occasionally through beauty of detail, color, ..ad supple materials a * uirass frock attains charm despite its heavy handicap of strange shape and awkwardness, and it does so in the instance of an amber chiffon and net model. The cuirass is of amber net. almost solidly covered with heavy liana embroidery, so that in spite of it; seft clinging foundation it lias substance, and falls in straight, smooth lines. The bodice- and sleeves above the corsage and the full skirt below the embroidered cuirass which runs down in pointed tunic fashion are of amber chiffon.

THE MEN WOMEN ARE ANXIOUS TO MARRY.

For throe years a club for bringing together lonely eligible Londoners lias been ‘in existence in the city of seven million inhabitants. The promoters are now in a position to tabulate, in order of attractiveness, the men women are most anxious to marry. In nine professions clergymen head the list. “They are the most sought after as life partners,” said the reverend founder of the club. Second place is filled by doctors; fourth by army men. Journalists slump to the eighth place, and, last of all, the precarious poet is asked in marriage. On the part of men, the desire for young, pretty widows with incomes is most general. The second batch asks for the artistic girl who likes music, and the third lot seek .“sensible girls. Curiously enough, the woman barred by the man writing lor a wife is the nurse.

JABOTS AND COLLARS

For early summer wear many dainty novelties are to be seen in the way of collars, ruffles, cravats, and jabots. They are generally becoming, and there is no doubt they lend an air of freshness even to the most sombre gown. On the new Puritan collar and cuffs, without which no bodice for a girl’s morning wear will be deemed complete, the vogue which prevails for hand embroidery has a place, and girls are ,-ow making their own bits of finery in their leisure time. The Puritan collars are made in the turndown circular shape, and are carried out in very fine muslin embroidered with quaint Old World designs. As a rule the edges are scalloped with buttonhole embroidery and finished with a frill of Alencon or Valenciennes lace. The newest jabot intended for the smart woman’s wear with tailor-made coats or gowns lias a folded collar band of net or black satin bordered at the top with a box-pieated net frill and finished in the front with a large Hat bow of soft black satin, drawn through an artistic oblong buckle of dull gold or some other metal. Under the bow are full cascades of lace very finely pleated and hemstitched.

A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING

Bread which is too stale to come to the table should be cut into as thin slices as possible, and then put into an oven to brown. It should then be crushed with a pestle or rolling pin, and kept in- a tin with airtight cover, for browning fish or cutlets. Good housekeepers always buy sheets which are a few inches wider than is necessary to cover the beds. This is done with a view to providing for the time when the middle of the siieets begin to wear tmn, and when it is necessary to cut them down the centre and seam the together. When washing fine lace or embroidery collars and cuffs, soaps should never be rubbed on the lace itself, as this almost inevitably ruins the texture. Soap jelly is the best for the purpose, and to make it economically all that is necessary is to collect any old pieces which are 100 small for ordinary use, and place them in a fix proof earthenware jar with sufficient water to cover them, the jar being then lett in a moderate oven for several hours. Fresh water should be added from. c.me to time, if necessary, the soap, when sufficiently jellied, he.ng stored in jars with tight-fitting 1 ids till required. L a rr.g dipped in soapsuds is used to mop up any milk or sauce wfi.c.-i boils over on the stove when cock.ng .s in progress no stain will be leit to occasion trouble when cleaning up next day. If meat is found to bo. slightly tainted cut away all the noticeably taint-d portions, wash the rest thoroughly in cold water containing a little Condy’s fluid or vinegar. Dry it and roast it at once. Never boil or stew if.

AN ELIXIR OF YOUTH

The first and constant aim of every wise woman should be to keep young, although not by means of the acute youthfulness M manner sometimes assumed as a disguise for the relentless advance of years. It deceives nobody; on the contrary, it makes a woman that .is past her first youth thoroughly ridiculous.. Time will not be so easily tricked. But it does deal very gently with some women—with those who bring the imaginative faculties into play"in everyday life, and surround their cares with a little lialo of their own; who constantly muster courage, self-sacrifice, energy ; who bridle vanity ami annihilate self. There is an elixir of perpetual youth which may be compounded by every tactfill, intellectual woman if she will cultivate the power of sympathy. Not only should she throw herself often into the sunshine of bright, hopeful spirits, hut she must let her own face be bright and go through life like a fresh breeze, forgetting her own tribulations in the effort to bring light and sunshine to friends, to servants, to the poor. To possess the power of sympathy is to possess a rarer, sweeter charm than wit or beauty. The woman ambitious to please should also follow with interest the thoughts and doings of to-day; but she must not shrivel to a mere “literary grass-hopper,” continually skipping from page to page of magazines, newspapers, and novels, and indulging immoderately in the mental dissipation of “light reading.” She should keep one little period of the day apart from the worrie s and hurries of existence for the peaceful association of the English classics, and the grace of their beauty will help to develop her into that most fascinating of all people—an “interesting woman/’ But in the cultivating of mind and manner she must not fail to study physical deficiencies as well, and try to lessen them by the aid of harmless though artistic efforts.