Feminine Interests

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 633, 9 April 1929, Page 5

Feminine Interests

Women the World Over HORSEWOMEN A wonderful feat of endurance was j recently achieved by Mademoiselle j Grossi, who travelled from Paris to i Cannes on horseback, 590 miles, in nine : and a-half days. ' Close behind her rode Madame Mary , Ferand, who was beaten by only five minutes, and both horsewomen arrived a day before they were expected. 'Llie .roads were bad: the weather frightful. It was certainly a marvellous feat, and on one day the winner ■ rode S 3 miles. AMONG THE RELICS Miss Gladys Chambers, an English girl of IS. acts as curator and excayai tor to her father, on whose estate is an ancient Druid encampment. In { the course of her work she has unearthed many interesting relics—axes, spear-heads, arrow-points, and other treasures used in that long-dead past. These have been placed in a museum on the site of the discoveries, and Miss Chambers is in charge of the exhibits. WHERE POPPIES BLOW j It was in 192 G that Lady Haig, widow | of Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, established a poppy factory in Edinburgh to give employment to men inI capacitated from war service, the work to be done on a bonus system. Now the annual wages paid out total £5,000 Originally intended for the making of poppies to be sold on Armistice Day. the factory now turns out "Klean” stuffed toys—those cuddlesome dogs, cats and squirrels so dear to the hearts of little people. Thanks to Lady Haig's personal efforts, the articles made are displayed in the barbers’ shops of 27 Atlantic liners. Two shops for the sale of the goods have also been opened in Edinburgh. LIFELONG ASSOCIATION The city of Bundaberg, Queensland, now has a population of 12,000, a.nd the first white girl to be brought to the district, when it consisted only of cattle and timber country, has grown j up there. She is Mrs. C. Browm. who | accompanied her father, an employe© I of the first district grazier, when he ! went there in the late ’sixties. I IMPORTANT WORK j Some of the most Important work of i the Historical Manuscripts Commis--1 sion in London is carried out by Miss | Ethel Emerson, who is not yet 30. The j commission is the official body which I classifies and publishes private and

public documents dealing with Engrli.- 1 history. Miss Esierson'graduated fron Oxford with the degree of Master o Arts and honours in history. AN ERSTWHILE PROTEGE A recent portrait of Miss Ursul; Bloom, whose new novel. “Tarnish, is now on the market. In private lif

she is Mrs. Gower-Robinsou, and is the wife of Paymaster-Commander Gower-Robinson, R.N. When a child she was adopted by Marie Corelli, who prophesised a great lit to ary future for her. PRIDE IN THE BATH-ROOM White tiles are, of course, the best covering for a bathroom wall, but if the cost is prohibitive you can still ensure waterproof and steamproof walls by using good paint or hard, shining enamel. Colour-wash is not good, and wall-paper is hopeless in a bathroom. The finest covering for a bathroom floor is, in my opinion, cork-carpet; failing this, lino is quite good. Corkcarpet is more expensive, but it is also warmer to the feet and easier to keep clean. If you use lino, be sure to treat it with good floor polish, and have a large cork mat beside the bath. As to the bath itself, a porcelain one is the best of all; it looks nice and wears well. Have porcelain taps, too; they save the labour which must be expended daily upon brass. To clean the bath, use paraffin on a piece of old flannel; this will clean it beautifully iu a few seconds. Many prepared cleaners scratch the porcelain and leave behind a certain grittiness, which is very unpleasant. Vinegar will remove rust spots, and whiting will obliterate stains.

THE BEGRUDGING HEART It has been my pleasant lot to happen across those dear women who can never be truly happy unless the rest of their world is likewise content. Who must share whatever dower the gods have given them with those less fortunate thau themselves. Whose hospitable hearts and harmonious homes hold ever a sunlit welcome for those less richly blest. And it has also been my fate to encounter their psychological antitheses. Women of the type who, even when their own cup is brimming over, can yet be jealous of any happiness that takes a form other than their own. Women who have the allbegrudging temperament, and whose lamentable kink imprints itself on their countenances as on the secret contours of their souls. The outward looks of such people betray their inward fall from grace, which can work irreparable damage with the most faultless features. Charm cannot dwell with a begrudging heart, which can but be likeued to those fermenting agents that turn all sweetness sour. One can understand the brooding, liard-eyed rebellion of those poor defrauded souls to whom life has meant perpetual defeat. One can even understand, reluctantly, the ruthlessness that pushes all claims aside to gain its own objective, when such objective can be arrived at by no other means. Such unscrupulousness is sometimes atoned for in subsequent generosities. But utterly incomprehensilbe, to the normal decent mind, is the sheer abysmal wickedness that, having mercilessly attained its goal by grinding meeker ambitions in the dust, yet grudges a modest meed of joy that may be fairly won, despite all setbacks, by some former victim of its own insatiable greed. This, of course, is the extreme example of the temperament that is irked by any mami-estation of wellbeing other than its own. But unfortunately it exists, and notably, alas, among our own unfathomably perverse sex. 1 have heard men flay it with words like scorpions, and have perforce acquiesced, albiet in silent shame, in their indignant outburst. To an ordinarily male, this wholesale feminine begrudging is at once the incomprehensible and the unforgivable sin. It is the sort of sin tin* makes fair-minded men and women alike despair of any true entente between the two sexes, while so wide an ethical chasm yawns between them. That there are women as remote therefrom as men is a demonstrable truth, thank heaven. All the more pity they cannot escape the general judgment levelled against us as a collective anti-social entity, and that attributes to us a savage feline origin. E.V.

TABLE TOPICS The latest thing in modern tables is known as “The Segment.” Circular in shape, it houses under its top four segment tables, built sufficiently low to slip in easily. The top of each segment is a quarter of a circle, aud the three legs conform accurately to the centre of the maiu table and its si -*ts. In addition, each segment has a lower shelf, so that its capacitj r for accommodilTig odd articles is : doubled. The scullery table with a set of | drawers let in at one side, so that | part of the space beueath the top ; is ••'■'Acd, is another very practical ! proposition, wo" ;,, y of consideration. The cook does not greatly care for the job of scrubbing a kitchen table, and to save this trouble it is worth while to purchase some of the fireproof material which can be cut as readily as a bit of cardboard. A sheet of this, shaped to fit, will enable the table to receive hot pots and pans W -t suffering damage; a damp clCcx removes all marks and stains in a second. As the stuff is compounded from asbestos and cement, its life of usefulness is likely to be a long one. Its surface resembles stone in appearance. Dining-tables with surfaces specially treated to m ' I hem stainless have much to commend them. Neither cigarette ash, split tea. nor hot plates can spoil them. s*G. METAL MODES IN FURNITURE My idea had been to buy a walnutframed mirror for my dining-room, but the assistant was discouraging. “Let me first show ydu our metal-framed mirrors,” he insisted. He showed them to me, aud I succumbed to the circular mirror, delightfully set in wrought steel, that now hangs in my room and is the admiration of my guests. The same thing occurred when I went to buy an oak bedstead for my spare room. It did not take long to convince me that a bedstead of metal must perforce be more hygienic than one which might harbour germs. Had it been an old-fashioned affair of brass knobs and rails, 1 should probably have resisted; but the steel bedstead iu a beautifully simple design with just a discreet touch of colour applied to its burnished surface, was quite another matter. In the luxurious days of the Stuarts, tables covered with highly embossed silver were in vogue among the wealthy. These tables are now being reproduced in a white metal Avhieh wears evenly and without loss of colour. In the “House of the Future” entire suites of furniture ruled ai! but metal from their composition. Good lines, simple forms and great resistance are all desirable qualities—there is a lot to be said for metal furniture. H M.