Feminine Interests

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 479, 8 October 1928, Page 5

Feminine Interests

ARE INTIMATE FRIENDSHIPS SELFISH?

THE LOVE-THY-NEIGHBOUR CREED BY PHILIPPA KENDRICK I have sometimes met people whose mental attitude was set sternly against the cultivation of individual and intimate friendships. They held —no doubt sincerely—that we ought to bestow equal love on all mankind; or at all events strive to do so. It is an attitude that, while I do not question its genuineness and innocence of conscious hypocrisy, is one I fail completely to understand. I cannot see how one can attain to uni ! versal love and sympathy unless one has experienced those emotions in respect of the chosen few. Love does not come because it must. Natural love is born, inevitably, of contact with those who evoke it effortlessly —often we know not how or why since reason and logic would seem to |be all against the bond! But there it ! is. It is unnatural to love everyone | equally; and it is part of the wonder :of love that its blind and blissful | bestowal on the unworthy is the only , possible stepping-stone to its wider worlds. Only by the lessons we learn | from those whom it is easy to love, and for whom it is a joy to set self aside, do we attain to any real comprehension of the “Love thy neighbour” creed. The mere intellectual acceptance of that ideal is not sufficient to spur us to its practical expression. We must have seen the nearer vision, succumbed to the intimate spell of the love that is outside the realms of reason or logic or duty. “Duty” love may achieve a certain measure of good citizenship; but it cannot kindle that soul-spark which flames into a truly impassioned love of humanity. Love of our fellows in the mass—to be real and genuine—must spring from the deepened roots, as it were, of the love we give to those who must effortlessly inspire it; from the double growth—the individual love blossoming into the collective—that is its ultimate outcome. To spread abroad over an ever-widening area, the stream must be impetuous at its foutain source. And the fountain source of great love is the overwhelming emotion aroused in us by those one or two beings who truly “belong” and who teach us all there is to know of love’s tireless mission on this weary earth.

SAVOURY HARICOT BEANS Press through a sieve one pound of peeled tomatoes and heat them in a saucepan. Thicken slightly with cornflour mixed with a little of the juice. Add one pint of cooked haricot beans; one large carrot, scraped and grated; and one Spanish onion, cut in thin slices. Season with pepper and salt and add one tablespoonful of sugar. Heat thoroughly over the fire. Grease a fireprof dish and in the bottom place two or three hardboiled eggs cut in slices; pour in the bean and tomato mixture, place some pieces of butter on top, cover the dish and cook in a fairly brisk oven for one hour. Serve hot in the same dish.

THINGS IT IS GOOD TO KNOW When your boy comes home with his “whole knee out,” don’t spend an hour darning the unsightly hole in the stocking, but tack a piece of coarse black muslin a little larger than the hole on the wrong side, and then with black darning cotton weave back and forth through the muslin a few times each way, and the hole is mended neatly. A handful of screw hooks, assorted sizes, are invaluable for kitchen use. Screw one into the end of your bread board, your ironing board. your brushes, brooms and clothes stick, so as to hang them up easily. Put one at each end of your kitchen wall; on ironing day stretch a stout cord between and see how convenient this will prove for airing your clothes. A basket for clothes-pins with a wire hook fastened to the handle will save much time when hanging out the clothes. It may be pushed along the line and will always be handy. Don’t Blame the Flour It is so natural to blame the flour when anything goes wrong in breadmaking that many of the real causes of poor results are overlooked. For instance, poor yeast is probably responsible for more bad bread than is poor flour. Home-made yeasts aro particularly liable to go wrong and produce a bread that has a pronounced acid taste without the flour having anything to do with the matter. To keep raisins from falling in a ! cake, wash and lay on a napkin, and \ when dry dust with flour. Shake off j the flour and add to the cake. Yellow Linen | Handkerchiefs and towels that have become yellow can be bleached by j washing in the usual manner and then letting them stand overnight in a solution of one-half teaspoonful of cream of tartar to each quart of water used. Boiling discoloured linen in buttermilk will also remove the yellow tinge. HAM MUFFINS FOR BREAKFAST This is an American recipe, excellent for those days when the orthodox breakfast fails to appeal. Mix together in a bowl one pint of flour, two teaspoonsful of baking powder, one teaspoonful of salt and one of sugar; stir in a cupful of finely minced ham (three-parts lean and one part fat), and mix the whole to a soft dough with- a cupful of milk. At the last moment add a well-beaten egg, mix thoroughly again, and drop the mixture, a spoonful at a time, into well-greased muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes in a brisk oven.

USES FOR WALLPAPERS Paperhangers invariably' over-esti-1 mate the amount of wallpaper they re-! quire for a room and leave us with 1 three or four unused rolls to lumber ! up our valuable spare space. But occasionally those rolls come In most usefully for one purpose or another, so that iu the long run we are i inclined to be glad that we have them. For instance, if you have an old i screen that does valuable duty in the j nursery—where it is likely to be sub- j ject to the attention of rather grubby j fingers —it is wonderful what a pleas- j ant new lease of life you may give it j ;by a fresh coat of wallpaper. Repair \ any broken places with a backing of I strong brown paper, paste on the fresh I wallpaper with a small quantity of I paste, and lastly, give a coat of size j and another of thin varnish. This will j give you a nice surface, calculated to withstand quite an amount of wear and tear. I Corner cupboards, when lined both j as to the sides and the shelves with i an attractive wallpaper, present, when opened, a fresh, alluring appearance. The wood should be well scrubbed, and any old paper or paint removed, before the paper is put on. When it is affixed, trim off the edges of the shelves with a sharp knife or pair of scissors. Ottomans and pouffes may be treated inside in the same way so that the business of relining and keeping in good, clean order, need not represent any great outlay or trouble. M.L. YOUR “SEWING CHAIR” Sewing and home dressmaking is so much more enjoyable if it can be done in comfort. Your “sewing chair” should be so constructed that its arms do not come in contact with yours as you draw your thread in and out. Its back should be set at such an angle to its seat that, though it spells com fort, it does not mean loss of energy. The table sewing machine, fashioned so that the latter, when not in use, drops down into a well below its top, is exceedingly useful in enambling the non-ornamental to be hidden from view. You can get a table, too, which to the casual observer looks no different from an ordinary occasional table, but which will secrete quite a lot of oddments in the way of half-fln-ished frocks, materials, and so on. When working at night a table lamp of the right height to throw the light directly upon one’s work is an essential. Its shade must be of the type that is adjustable to any angle. Clever little electric lights working from an independent battery can now be obtained for fixing on to the sewing machine, a great boon for those who do not see too well. Some of the furniture designs invented for the benefit of the needlewoman should be carefully examined before purchase is considered. One would hardly recommend, for instance, the new combined-coal-cabinet-and-workbox, since the dust from the bin must inevitably rise on to the drawer built above it. But pouffes and stools that can be used as work receptacles are really practical.