Week-end Chat

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 166, 31 July 1937, Page 13

Week-end Chat

' "'DOUBTiNG TH0M.1S" '

"ARDENT TREE LOYER"

"ANO^HER ROSE"

' ' "NOT TOO TIDY"

' "NOT SURPRISED"

(COUSIN

ROSS

COUNTRY AND TOWN.

Next woek will you all tell which is your favourite- book — or books ? Many discussiuns are lieard about tko yisiting cducationalists and we have much on which to thihk. A great writer says: "Psychology affects tho modern mind; it gives man a weapou to work with, and a very keen weapon, but that is all. Wliatever Frend, Jung, and Adler may say, souls are noither vvon by psychology nor lost by it. Psychology is a method, not an influence. Of intiuences to-day, as in all times past, there is only one that affects mankind as a whole, and that is what may be called the religious influence. or better, perhaps, the faith by ivhicli the person tries to establish. to liis own- satisfaction his relation to the universe. A reader who has lieard Iectures writes this brief letter. Others may disagree with it. . - « . • - * JDear Cousin Rose, — Recently we in New Zealand have heard a great deal by Iectures, addresges, and radio, of the views of visiting educationalists. Some of these, by the way, hardly seem to have grasped our conditions of life. One point that has beeti much stressed is that we should pay great attention to the psychology oi the child. I tliink many of us always do so. It is part of the bring-ing-up of children. But I am not quite convinced of tlie wisdom of too much attention to t-lic child' s individuality. Ono tliing is quite- certain, in the changes and chances of this life, we are not asked what we should like. Woukl it not be as-.well to subordinate our psychology to the discipline of life. It must come. Can we point to one friend who has al--vays travelled' a smooth path? — V'o.iu\s, etc.,

A country reader ljas expressed inLerest in the aftempt "being niade to, tind out about the '"Men of tlie -Tr.ees" Society in England, and, as lief familybelcng to this, she is supplying some information sqou. Here are uiore "Tree" letters. 1 Dear Cousin Rose,— Most- gladly would I join a society, for the preservation of trees. I believO tliis is the only country where tree-life is held so lightly. Most nations treasure their trees as a valuable asset. One point ,no-one mentioned in your column is the healthfulness of trees — liow they draw impurities- out of the soil. A well-known 'Southern doctor stressed this. He said, . "You should plant. trees and jmore trees." tiow were the Italian inarshes drained ? By planting eucalypti Sometimes trees have to be cu,t down because they have" been planted in unsuitable places. Oaks, for instance, that love to spread laterally, aro oftenx crowded in narrow . spaces. .Many of us are direct descendents of our pioneers who planted. beautiful fcracts of trees. How have we gone so far from the ways of our- foret'atliers? — Yours, etc.,. •

# «= # Dear Cousin Rose, — -Yes, .most certainly yes. 1'd like to join your Tree LeaguGj or whatever you are going to call it. I've loved trees ever since I climbed the great old; walnut which towered over everything on the. lawn in the old home. . I intended writing before. To-day I've been out into the country : and tlie wattle tree's, the poplars, and tho willows arefa wonderful sight. I fancied the willows were grey silken shawls, while tlie poplars, with their regular yet broken edges against the sky, were tlie crochet-. — Yours, etc.,

• . * # Are many of us arm-chair critics? IV is so easy to say what should be done, but .it is seen that when any scheme needs helping along there. are not many who wjll take an active pqrt unless they are sought out porsonaljy. We really do have to be rather, careful about this as our opinions are not .worth much if we won't bother to carry oiir ideas throughl An old English proverb Says : — • "Any silly lifcHe soul Easily can pick a hole," I

Many readers like a word from overseas as it takes one out of the ordinary groove around ,us. An extract from a letter by a New Zealander in New York conlments interestingly. on cus-. toms that are different from us. The writer says. — , , "Among" customs which are kept ,, here but are new to u's'is that of the.' Easter rabbit, which. leaves nesfs with eggs hidden about the place. On Easter Saturday American friends l>ut papex-wool nests about' .our apartment for our children and in tbem were »chocolate rabbits, chocolate eggs, and coloured eggs of all sizcs in jelly bean materiaj.. They had a great timo finding them. Apparcntly the rabbit is a modern survival of the hare which Luna the Goddess of Yostra (and the Full Moon) hunted. Which of the various nations populating America brought the custom with it I don't know." • • • An extraordinary interest in food and dieting has taken hold of New Zealand. Everywhere one goes one hears of the self-denial that is being tried for the first time by overwelght men and women who 'have eaten not wisely but too well for most 'of their lives. Some lucky people have waked up to the importance of what to eat before they have .been forced to this through illness. Many parents -are giving their children the benefit of what they are discovering. The writer on "Food" gives liere yet another -short article : — Dear Cousin Rose, — Last week I wrote on starch foods. I did not mean to imply that these- foods were not gocd foods, they are, but too much of this class js usually eate'n daily. The stibject of Food Salts is interesting. These must not be confounded with common table salt, bqt I refer to such food salts which aronecessary for growth and health/. The chief of these are' potash, lime, magnesia, iron, phoisphorus and sulphur. An established fact in biology is that life lives on. life and it is important to know this wlien dealing with these salts. Table Salt, and lime water for instance are . in an inorganic ordead state and are of no use to the bady whatever. The body can not assimulate an inorganic salt, only plant life can do this. The cycle is thus : the farmer or gardener spreads these morganic salts or cliemicnls on ihe aoil, th^..gi^ss,.. ycv- i JOes and

friiits conveft them into an ofganio 'or Hve forrn and then'man and all animals by eating these resultant ptoducts cff the - soil. is ahle to assimulate. the 'salts contained theredn. An illustration is 'provided by liquid parraffin, . a so-called corrective for constipation. - ' Tliis Js an inorganio • mineral oil in-the same way--as kero- • sene or benzine is, It js claimed thafe 100 per cent of this oil is passed through the body. But when, say, ; qlivo oil, an organic of live oil - ia taken, this is digested and assimulated. It is obvious, therefore, that we should eat plenty of vegetables, ' fruit, and dairy products to keep the bloodstream in a hiealtliy state. Ycgetables, particularly the greens, should be boiled in as little Water as" possible and the - liquid cn no ac- • count thro.wn away. Drink it, it contains valuable earth salts. • • • Dear Cousin Rose, — What are houses for? - To please a visitor or to enable us to follow our respective hobbies and duties in peace and comfort? I must admit that newsp'apers are untidy tliings, and besides alwaya coping with these, our friends seem to have a mania for heaping papers and periodicals on usl Coronation papers came in sheaves for a time till our loyalty was a little shaken! I acknowledge the freedom from dust , and dirt due to an electric or gaa hea-ter, and then go thankfully home to a big old-fashioned fire of "wood . and coal. — Yours, .etc., -

• • • - Dear Cousin Rose, — In answer to ' "Surprised" I may' say that petunias often last two years, and sto^ks.even ■ longer. It depends so much on how you feed and water them, also'onthe variety. I'do not think the Bromp•ton stock Yvould flower- mere than once ; the Intermediate is the best to erow. — Yours. etc..

■ • • • Thank you all" for the increasing interest in. this column. Letters on' any subject are received with pleasure from men -and women readers.