INTERESTING NOTES.

Shannon News, 6 November 1923, Page 4

INTERESTING NOTES.

- > The Ice Ghest. In America the ice-chest is in almost universal use but it seldom finds a place in our households. That is, no doubt, partly due to our uncertain summers. We never really know whether we shall Want ice or hot water bottles, and the average housekeeper reckons to get through the summer by ordinary safeguards against food accidents. Whether she succeeds or not depends upon the weather, but the modern house is not' usually so well equipped for the storage of food as that built in Victorian times which invariably had an underground cellar, in a hot season the ice-chest is - the only means fpr keeping meat, fish, milk, butter, and perishable food fresh; It will pay for itself by preventing food losses, and it will very often do mbre than that as there is no doubt that the summer ailments of the young are often caused by food in which putrification has made more or less headway. Tea and Coffee Habits.

The Continental peasant always has his coffee on the stove, just as there are people in this country who are never without a pot of over-stewed tea on the hob. There is, however, a greater appreciation than there used to be of the evil effects on the nervous and digestive systems of continually drinking strong black tea, and there are comparatively few people nowadays victims of the tea sodden habit. The- medical view is ~ generally that‘there is more harm than good in- tea or coffee, but it depends a good deal upon how the beverage is

made. Tire most common fault in tea and coffee making is the use of water that has been much over-boiled. Coffee should be made with water just reaching or juflt off boiling point, and the milk taken with it should be hot but never boiled. Healthful Effects of Music. Music is a good health tonic and it has been found to be beneficial to patients in hospitals. It is also a well established fact that it helps to dispel fatigue in the schoolroom and workshops. Girls'are very apt to overgrow their strength in the latter part of the school age and they generally thrive best in the schools in which special attention is given to singing and playing. Music is also being introduced into the factory. A London firm employing a large number of girls _on " repetition ’ ’ work has installed a wireless "loud speaker” in the factory so that the ’employees may be. entertained by the music and' other features of tne morning broadcasting programme. Artificial Aids to Beauty.

The modern chemist is said to special: ise more in artificial, aids to beauty than in physic and pills. In former times the rouge pot was a vulgarity, but improving nature is now regarded as legitimate, provided it is not overdone Recently, however, a word of warning came from Sir Lenthal Cheatle, an ’eminent surgeon, that the use of cosmetics, face powders, colouring matter, arid creams, is not without danger to health. Sir Lenthal Cheatle was addressing the Institute of Health on this subject; and he even condemned the use of soaps and scents. Anything, he said, that made its way into the glands of the skiri and set up irritation might ultimately becoirie cancer. Fortunately the healthful out-do'or life nowadays followed by womeri generally is conducive to & naturally good complexion which is always better than one dependent upon artificial aids: Red Hair and Character.

A careful study of the characteristics of school children has led a Professor of the University of London to the conclusion that girls get noisier as they grow older, while with boys the tendency is in the opposite direction. Also while boys grow more shy with , age, girls acquire more self-possession. Red hair, the Professor regards, is alwhys a sign of an amiable desposition, ami he says that boys and ,girls with this characteristic are invariably the most popular and are, generally the most

athletic. By this he means that they are not self-conscious, self-assertive, or of sullen disposition but are generally good tempered and conscientious. Faded. Hair. Hair specialists are of opinion that the tendency among comparatively young people—many of them in the twenties—to show streaks of grey in their hair, is due to an insufficiency of oils and fats in diet during the lean years of the war. It is rarely indeed, they say, that a Spanish woman’s hair begins to fade until she is well advanced in years, and this 1 desirable state of affairs is ascribed to her predilection for olive oil. Not only is food generally prepared with it, and oil served at every meal, but at least once a week the Spariish beauty massages her scalp with olive oil. The hair is (then vigorously brushed jand £ina|Jy smoothed with an old silk handkerchief. As an occasional shampoo a powder is , prepared of orris-root and cornflour mixed in equal quantities. This is rubbed well into the scalp, left for a few minutes a(nd then briisked, out. The Spanish woman never wets her hair. , A Becoming Combination. At the commencementof the Season we were tdld that black, and black and white, were "back numbers” and likely-to remain so. At the moment, however,' no woman who prides herself on being iri‘ fashion fg van is without an all black or magpie toilette. Black crepe satin, figured Crepe de chine, firie ninori showing insertions of <■ chantilly, and crepe georgette -are much seen, while for harder wear, that prim,, old-fashioned material, alpaca, is being used a great deal in white and black. Many white alpaca coat frocks are embroidered in black and white in a pattern resembling chantilly lace, and with them will be, worn black and white hats, black shoes, ; and white gloves, - stitched with black. For the woman \ past her youth, magpie effects are ideal, while the young girls can also successfully don them.