THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2721, 28 January 1910, Page 3

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

IRISH EMBROIDERY. WHAT IT COSTS. Miss Martindale, an inspector of factories in Ireland-, has made inquiries into the condition of Irish workers in country places, taking the County of Donegal as her field of study, and the result is a revelation that must destroy much of the pleasure that many people feel in the possession of Irish handworked embroideries, for she shows how / shockingly .inadequate are the wages received by the workers fox' their beautiful work. * Sho found that women who embroidered handkerchiefs were paid at the rate of 7d. a dozen, and that a dozen handkerchiefs would he a fair day’s work for a woman. Monograms could be embroidered at the rate ol half a dozen, a day, and for these half dozen 4d. would- be paid. Initials on handkerchiefs were paid for at the rate of pleach, and about ten of these could be finished in a day. Working on a muslin tray-cloth a woman could earn lOd. for two days’ work; on a side-board cloth she could earn from 4d. to Gd. a day; on a table-cloth, 3s. in four days; and on ladies’ skirts about 3s Gd. in a week. For knitting men’s socks, women were paid Is Gd. a dozen, and a worker could seldom knit more than one pair or one pair and a half a day. The finest socks, which required more labor, were paid for at the i-ate of Is. a dozen. Gloves were paid for at the rate of from 2s to 2s Gd a dozen pairs, a pair and a half being regarded as a good' day’s work. “In handknitting the usual day’s wage varied from Hd. to 4d., but the numbers of hours worked were far longer than in sprigging” (embroidery), and work was said to lie in some cases carried on from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. What made this work nil the more trying was.the fact that it was usually distributed among the outworkers by shopkeepci-s appointed as local agents by the town manufacturers. One district was described as being “almost studded with little shops in which sprigging for distribution to outworkers is to be seen on the shelves and in the windows together with the ordinary groceries and draperies.” This, of course, led to all sorts of evils, the women who took the work usually becoming customers of the shopkeepers and often running info debt for things they only bought because they were to be had for credit.

DECIDES. Danish Pudding.—Soak a breakfastcupful of tapioca in three pints of water for twelve hours, then turn it into a double saucepan, and cook for one and a-half hours, adding a pinch of salt and sugar to taste ; then stir in a breakfasteupful of red currant jelly, and when well mixed turn the preparation into a. mould and leave till set, serving it- with whipped cream. Cream Cheese.—Stir a teaspoonful of salt into a pint of thick cream, wring out a cheese cloth in cold water, pour the cream into tho middle, tie loosely, and hang up in cool airy place for a week. Turn it into a clean dry cloth, lay in a mould, place a heavy weight on top, and 1 leave for twenty-four hours. Turn it about twice while in the mould so that the weight may be evenly distributed. To Keep Piano Keys White.—lt is a good plan to lightly wipe the piano keys after one has been playing for some time, and then close the instrument. so that dust, as well as the sun, may be excluded, as the latter has a yellowing effect on the ivory. When the 'keys have become slightly discolored or dirty ihev may be whitened if sponged with lemon juice and polished with fine whiting, supplied with a piece, of flannel lightly rubbed with soap suds. Daspborry or Swiss Doll.—lngredients : Three ounces of castor sugar, 2oz flour. 2 eggs, 1 teacupful baking powder, a little raspberry jam. Method: Boat the eggs and sugar together for ten minutes, add flour gradually, and lastly, the baking powder. Pour the mixture into a shallow greased tin. and bake for ten minutes in a hot, oven, when done, turn out. spread with jam. and roll up quickly before it gets cold. Sp-inkle sugar on the top. Scrambled Eggs .. and Tomatoes.— These make an Appetising luncheon dish. Take two good-sized tomatoes, pool, and cut them in pieces, and fry them, in a- little hot olive oil. When cooked drain off the liquid, and take four eggs just before tliov have finished cooking, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve on thin slices of toast.