Notes For Women

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12623, 7 December 1926, Page 5

Notes For Women

SOCIAL AND FERSONAL | j The hostesses for the week at the E Community Club are as follow:—To- = day, Mrs Vi. McLeod; "Wednesday, Mrs 5 ■ Broad; Thursday, birthday party; = Friday, Mrs E. Muir; Monday, Mrs G. j McGregor. = Invitations have been sent out by the = Wellington East Girls’ College for their | annual presentation of prizes, to be | held in the Concert Chamber op Thurs- | day, December 16th, at 11 a.m. I Mrs Hawken has returned# to Wel- § lington from the north. ; Mrs.W. H. Price and Miss Kathleen r Price have returned J.o Christchurch | after a visit to Wellington. z Mrs Mabin, Wellington, is visiting = Stratford. 1 Mrs J. M. Ilott has returned to Web | lington from Sydney. : Miss -Pose, ■ who has been the guest : of Mrs Hetrick, Wanganui, has re- : turned to Wellington. : Mrs Burdekin, Tinakori road, is vis- : iting New Plymouth. : Mr and Mrs R. F. Fildes are visit- | ing Auckland. : The following remits for conference | were brought forward by the Christ- [ church branch of the Women’s Tea- | chers’ Association, and were passed by j the council :—(1) - That this council | urges that in view of the primary imI portance of the health of school chil- | dren. better conditions should be pro- ! vided to ensure their personal clean- | lines; (2) that this council urges that ! tho time has come to put into opera- ! tion the recommendations of the j Special Health Commission (1024), by | appointing a trained medical psycholoj gist to deal with the question of the ; sub-normal and mental defectives. " I Lady Menzies, with her niece. Miss | Smith, who came cAer from Australia | with Lady Marjorie Dalrymple, intend j to take motor trips throughout New | Zealand while Lady Marjorie is in | charge of Woodford House, Havelock ! North, for.six months. A cheque for £l3O for the Plunket Society was presented by Mrs W. E. Bush to the president, Mrs W. H. Parkes, at the Auckland Women’s Lyceum Club. The cheque was the result of the successful Old World Dress Parade, organised by Mrs Bush, which was held in the Town Hall Concert Chamber recently on two evenings. Her Excellency Lady Alice Fergusson was present at the Lyceum Club (Auckland) recently, when she gave an interesting address on the subject of the League of Mothers. The lounge was artistically decorated with palms and pot plants and howls of roses and sweet peas. Her Excellency was received by the president ,of the club, Mrs W. H. Parkes. • Among the following teachers re. cently appointed by "the Wellington Education Board are:— Mias H. T. Tolley, assistant, Mangatainoka, and Mrs IT. B. Carr, sole teacher, Saratoga (Marlborough ward). The local association of Girl Guides has issued an invitation for a ■ social evening, to be hdld at the conference hall, Dominibn Farmers’ Institute, on Wednesday, when Mrs W. R. Wilson and Miss Behrens will be the guests of honour., The Mission Active Service Cadets, a company of children proud of the banner of the Riv. T. Feilden Taylor, ■ are making a special effort this year and intend devoting the proceeds to the mothers and babies needing • Christmas cheer. They have arranged a sale work and entertainment, which is announced to take place tomorrow, • Tuesday, in the Y.W.C.A. Hall, between 3 and 5 p.m. and 7 and 10 n.m. There will be afternoon tea, and a jumble stall will be well stocked. The cadets themselves are to presept an entertainment, and all who have the welfare of the Rev., Feilden Taylor’s mission, the Christmas camp fund, and the mothers, and babies at heart, will find much to interest ana entertain from a visit tq the hall. The next meeting of the Lower Hutt branch of the League of Mothers promises to be an interesting one. It will take the form of a Christmas meeting, and Miss Riley, principal of tKo Wellington Free Kindergarten, has consented to talk to mothers and others interested on .Christmas truths fof children, and to show how these can be imparted in the most interesting and ■ effective way to young minds. The league extends a hearty invitation to all women, whether members of the. league or not, to be present on Wednesday afternoon at 2.45 at the Oddfellows’ Hall, Knight's road.

“PARTY” MUTTON Mutton simply lias to be eaten right to the very end in most houses. But. one can take trouble and disguise the fart so cunningly that no one objects. You need about a'pound of cold mutton, three pickled < gherkins, four ounces of fresh breadcrumbs, three ounces of oooked macaroni, a teacupful of thick tomato sauce, four tablespoonfuls of oiled butter. Cut the meat into thin slices; grease a piedish and shake crumbs well over it and have a thin layer of crumbs at its bottom. Then put a layer of meat, sprinkled with salt, pepper, and, if liked, a suspicion of grated nutmeg. Then a layer of the macaroni, tomato sauee, and finely chopped gherkins. Continue these layers' until the dish is filled; then end up with o thick covering of crumbs and ' tho oiled butter. Bake, in-'a quick oven and serve with a frilled paper round the dish. It is so appetising!

CHRISTMASSHOPPING HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM “Coining events cast their shadow before.” Christmas is now beginning the process. Toyshops hopefully bring out the mountains of furry animals that they have had put away since last Christmas; grocers fill their windows with boxes of gaudy crackers; drapers’ shops become veritable forests of seasonable gifts. All these shops ablaze with Christmas goods advise you in large letters tastefully adorned with holly to do your Christmas shopping early, and avoid the rush. Last year X ‘obeyed them. I made a nice little list of people who would expect “seasonable gifts” from me, and sallied forth in the middle of November to do my Christmas shopping. I bought book's for all my brothers, I bought a greenblue pot-pourri jar for Aunt Jane; I bought half-a-dozen embroide»ed handkerchiefs for cousin Flo; I bought comic animals for small nephews and nieces, and for Uncle George I bought an etching. He had told me he was collecting etchings. I put all my presents away in a drawer with a feeling of smug self-satisfaction. I thought with pleasure of the day before Christmas when I would sit calmly at home and watch with a superior smile the frantic efforts of those unfortunates who had left their shopping till then 1 ■

Now listen to what actually happened. I read one of the books I had bought for my brothers. I liked it! I read another. I read another. I liked them all 1 I put them in my bookshelves. I felt I could not part with them. After all, I could buy something else for my brothers. Then came ah evening when I was dressing in a hurry and could not find a suitable handkerchief. I remembered Cousin Flo’s. It happened more than once. To be precise, it happened half-a-dozen times. One. evening I showed to a friend the blue-* green pot-pourri jar I had bought for Aunt Jane. The better to show its effect I put it on a dark oak table in my sittihg-room. The effect was perfect. I knew that • never again could [ bear to see, that table without the blue-green pot-pourri jar. I could buy something else for Aunt Jane. Once or twice I took the had bought for Uncle George out of the.drawer just to look at it. It was rather a nice one. I began to think thftt, the V collecting of etchings must be a fascinating pursuit. This one would look beautiful with a narrow black frame. I had it framed. I hung it in the hall. I determined that it should be the beginning of my collection of etchings. I could buy something else for Uncle 'George. During my visits to the drawer I had begun to notice the expressions on the faces of the comic animals I had bought for my nieces and nephews. They got on my nerves. They maddened me. I realised that I could not give them to any selfrespecting child. I gave them to a jumble-sale and decided to buy something else for the children.

When Christmas week came the drawer was empty.' I rushed out with .frantic haste to join the imorovklont throng who had not obeyed the übiquitous injunction to shop early. Hastily I bought and despatched presents for Aunt'Jane, Uncle George, Cousin Flo, the brothers and nieces and nephews. I had hardly time to look at them. And that’s what I’m going to do this year! THE “COprCATMIROWN UP We all remember “Copy Cats” at school—the children who always echoed and oopied everyone else they saw. Why they were called that I have no idea, but I certainly remember that they were. They were bad 1 enough, but not half so bad as the grown-up ones one sees around. Perhaps these latter are the little “oopy cats” grown up, and time has made them worse and worse and worse. The ones that annoy me most are the unconscious variety, the ones that can’t help picking up tricks. I don’t mind a woman who deliberately copies another woman’s hats and gowns; for all I care she may do so till ail's blue. But I do bar the one who copies her friend’s voice. I know one woman who always talks like the person she has just been with. We will call her Jane. Well, Jane goes out to tea with Mary, and Mary has a rather pronounced drawl. Jane is drawling too, long before she leaves, although when she arrived her tflne Was crisp and quick. It was crisp and qnick because she had lunched with Clara, and Clara talks like that. Then Jane often gets, a habit of shrugging her shoulders, and then she drops it again. When she does it’l know without asking she has lately been seeing May. She is merely a human' reflection of the person she happens to have talked to last. What lier real voice and manner, walk and ideas are Heaven alone knows. I suppose that really she has none! HELPFUL HINTS If your feet ache, mis equal quantities of talcum powder, and bicarbonate of soda, shake into your shoes, and it will .give great relief. If your knitting or crochet needles become rusty, stick them into earth. They will become smooth and bright. Carboqate of soda makes a good mouth wash, correcting acidity. After cleaning brass with metal polish, give it a coat of transparent varnish, and it will remain bright for weeks.