Week-end Chat

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 77, 17 April 1937, Page 16

Week-end Chat

COUSIN

ROSE.

country and _ town.

Dear Everyone— Have you ever wondered what wfong factor in. our upbringing gives people shyness? It is sad that many women; and men too, shake with nerves if they have to say a few wprds before a roomful of people. Yet that person may know each of those people in the room, and would be quite happy to speak to any, or all of them separately. Is it that in the mass we are unkind and otitical ? Arnold Bennett says: "Kindliness of heart is the greatest of human qualities-in friendship. Jfarrow-minded people • are neyer kind-hearted.,, " ' Have you read what' the same writer says about "indulging in gjrief?1'1 He says what we have thought, maybe, but have nqt known' how to express: — "When 1 see a man oi* woman dedicatin'g existence to sorrow fbr the loss of a 'beloved creature, ahd the world tacjtly applauding, my feelihg is certainly inimical. To my idea that man. or woman is not honouring, but dishohouring, the .memory of the departed; society snffers, and no earthly. or heavenly good is achieved. Grief is of the past, it mars the present; it is a- fjrm of indulgence and it ought to be bridled much* more often than it often is. The human heart is so large that mere rer membrance should not be allowed to tyrannise over every part of it." Arnold Bennett may seem hard to eome but he is right when he say s that a misguided loyalty to the past dominates the lives of many of, us Has the frost which killed such vast quantities of fruit in .this district also deprived thousands of birds of their natural food? It is • noticeable that birds which at one time never- came to be fed are now appearing in dozens wherever food is obtainable. StarIirigS are such independent birds as a rule, yet this year they thankfully swarm down from the trees and house tops if a little bread i(s thrown out. Birds are clever creatures and quickly adapt themselves to changed circumstances. A recent hook gives a story which* was told by Lady Alexander Haig who was on. the permanent stafi of the London Daily Mail, and who was sent for a trip np the Thames on one of the pleasure steamers. "As they were passing the Tower Bridge,^' says the writer, "she asked one of the passengers if he could tell her anything interesting to put in an artiele she was. writing. He pointed to the bridge and said, 'Thousands and thousands of birds build their nests there .and, so. clever are they that they build them at an angle so that when (the bridge is opened the. eggs do not. f all out." Have any readers notlced anything specially interesting about the birds that come about us every day in New Zealand? Brief letters on this subject •would be most interesting. • • • • ' Every woman who is interested . in public work and who has the oppor.tunity of going on a supper committee should realise the serious words written in the national report compiled by tho Government on the high death rate from abortion in* New Zealand. The Government report says; "The evil influence of drinking on young people is a contributing factor. " Alcohol" consumption need not be excessive to undormine self-control, and dull the moral sense. ' ' Plain /words thesej, spdken , for the good of New Zealanders, and it is up to Tesponsible people to do all they can to give the yonnger geheratiOn the best chance possible for a healthy happy life. Here is a simple recipe fdr a fruit drink which, if supplied at a party * will certaily not be left to waste. FRIJIT CUP (Keep this for xeference) Juice of 3 dozen lemons, 8 lbs sugar, 1J dozen oranges, 1(1 quarts water, 2 cups cruphed pineapple. Enough for 50 people. • ' • • Interest has been expressed in la»\, week's letter from "Jan. " A Napier .nader sends this extract from an atticle by Susan Ertv-*- — "The woman who, out of scanty materials and under difficult conditions, produces a good dinner, has" as much right to her full portion of praise and appreciation as the woman who gete into the semi-fmals at Wimbledon. But does she get. it? She does not. One of thb btterest things about housework, the care of children, or any common daily task, is the fact that the performers so rarely get thanked or rewarded for putting the best there is in them into it. Some day, when . even the bu'siest have a little more money for T.tte graces of life, and living is looked upon as . an art 'rather than a sordid struggle, niore admiration and praise will be ceded to the woman who excels in it, than now falls to heriot. No woman who was aware of the ugnity of her Own life, the importancl, and propriety of her own work in tho world, would make a habifc ot' waiting for hours in a queue in the rain in order to see a quite iueon'siderable young actress in a daring deshabille and a compromising situation, nnd struggle in the erowd at the stage door for a nearer glimpse of her, nor would she spend « more time and money than she could alford in a feverish determination nev'er to miss her screen favourite. The excited uproar over women who have achieved some sort, any sort, of notoriety is warping her sense of value, and robbing her of her pride in herself. " . * » # • Again, thanks go to all who have con. tributed news and letters to this o.oll uran, and very many thanks for a kiadly gift of nirene bulbs sent from Napier, Letters should be brief nlease.