WOMEN'S INSTITUTE MEETS AT BIRKDALE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 607, 8 March 1929, Page 4

WOMEN'S INSTITUTE MEETS AT BIRKDALE

The first annual meeting of the Birk—dale \Vomen's Institute was held in tllé Birkdulc Public Hall recently.

311's. W’ettenhall was elected as president, the vice-presidents being Blesdames Bartlett, Lee and Gilpin.

The following members were elected to form a. committeez—Mesdames Bartlett, Bishop, J. Clark, Collins, Culpun, Dex-men, Dickson, Gilpin, Henson, Hughes, Jeffrey, Lee, Thomas and Bliss Wood.

The committee appointed Mcsdames Deunen and Gilpin as secretary and assistant-secretary, respectively, and Aliss Wood as treasurer.

The nlost important accomplishments of the institdte since its inception are as followz—The work done for the Auckland Hospital Auxiliary and the formation of a public library, conducted in the Public Hall.

The large membership of the instit—ute shows the great intE‘rest that is being taken in the nlovexnent. by resi—dents of the district, and augurs well for its continued prosperity.

BIRDS—OF-A-FEATHER PARTIES

How well I remember, when Manlma was making out her party lists, the despai‘ing exclamations that punctuated the pernicketty process of roping them all in! “If I don’t in'lte So-and~So, she’ll be hurt. Yet she doesn‘t mix with the rest. And Mrs. Blank is Mrs. Brown’s pet aversion, but they’ll both wonder how they’ve offended me if I leave them out! What is a poor soul to do?” We know exactly what to do nowadays, and without wounding feelings or raising false conjectures. For we have all “arts of delightful excuses for giving only small parties, and inviting only a chosen few at a time. Lack of space—accommodation, the servant question, the simultaneous pursuit of a career and domesticity—all are our allies—and help us to keep our enter taining end up, so to speak, with unruft‘led bonhomie. Birds-of-a-i'eather parties enable us to maintain our reputations as hostesses, for they permit. us to gather chosen spirits of the same genre round our limited but festive board. And we can enjoy the easeful company of a succession of different types, and so keep in touch with our jolly old world at various angles.

We can have our tea—parties for the womenfolk we cherish in _our hearts, but who would be lost.in the more Bohemian atmosphere or: our business or professional friends. And the latter. sorted out. in their turn, can come along in small sections—since there are Bohemians and Bohemians—not necessarily akin.

We have grown wise and discreet and far-sighted in our generation. We have not the same optimistic philosophy as our feminine forbears, who trusted to luck that the most diverse elements would “mix” in a party atmosphere, and all would be merry. We are more adroit philosophers because we are more confirmed sceptics where human nature and its limitations are concerned. We know better these days, when so many of us live the sort of life that inevitably engenders certain tastes and predilections, and that sets us a standard, as it were whereby to judge of the interests and points of view that appeal to our fellows. We know the birds of a feather that will flock together. And we do not attempt to mix the parrots and the sparrows; the black swans and the white. That is why parties, these days, are such real good fun without any fussing. What they lack in numbers, and in surface boisterousness they make up abundantly in individual kinship, and in the deeper rapprochements of natures fundamentally attuned. B.S. Keep dessicated coconut in a bottle or jar. It a paper bag is used, the oil will soak into the paper and impoverish the coconut. To cure quickly a bad in the head, wash the face in cold water let tins the water splash into the ’now and eyes. Do this every two hours and next day the cold will have dis. appeared.

STOCKING WISDOM If the stockings are fine lisle—-crepe-lisle for instance—each time they return from the laundry rub the threads of the heels and toes on the right side with a piece of beeswax. You will be surprised to notice how effectively it prevents holes from coming. If a hole does appear tack a piece of net over it on the wrong side and then darn on the right side; tbt repair will be almost invisible, provided you have taken the trouble to match your darning cotton to the colour of the stockings. To set the colour of delicate stockings, soak them in a pail of water containing a quarter of a pint of turpentine. To Stop Ladders When you suddenly find a hole or ladder in a fine silk or lisle stocking, rub a little soap above and below the hole; this stops the ladder from running down the stocking. Silk stockings wear best when they have been laundered before use. Never hang them on the line, but roil in a towel after w-ashing. Soak first in cold w'ater, wash in soapy lather, rinse in cold water, and press when bone-dry, over a damp piece of muslin. To Re-foot Stockings

Cut the stocking right along the seam and across the heel, taking away the worn portion. Then, with the old foot as a guide, out a new foot out of the best part of another old stockingTack the new foot in place on the leg. inside the stocking, and oversew all round with wool, to avoid a. seam. Use for Old Stockings

When quite beyond repair. put a. couple of stockings one over the other and tack in place, making a glove in the same shape as a washing glove. This you can use as a shoe polisher. Stockings split open and tacked to gether make good floor polishers. '