WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 53, 27 March 1909, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD.

. A WORD FOR ,MOTHERS. THE CHILD'S TRAINING. as a, rule, ,are too prone to believe .that 'their children are (perfection, and i'f by any e'lDan'ee they are unpopular with their |/iay,mates or teacaers, tlney generally'think the blame lies .thwe, <ana net with their own. There are some sensible (mothers, vastly in the mihori'cy, -however, who will be just enough to see- tfuuLts iai their children and -wise eirough to make, effort* to oveibome them, land ,to -this cla«s no •word's of ud'vice will f L>o necessary. Children should be liked by their jplajaLaUs, ajid if they arc not, there is certainly soim/thing wrong with their, dispositions (remarks a«i exchange;. • It -is the duty of the mother to make her lit'Ue ont<s undeibtaml that one of tl>e surest 'plan** of arousing dislike is to. toe sullen and disagreeable kind insist on* having their own way all the time. Children are mora often mistaken than deliberately ungracious. They have uily a. liief experience lyy which to jiulge 'life and other*; and even the sniatllest tboy or girl Uin, leara the*good use* mnd the beauty of It-hat dei'ig'ntful ji.oUui 'of a de'lighWul French woman who wrote that "one of the toios't effectual wa\s of pleasing and waking oneseff loved is to be. cheerful." , Uive vour children a. literal translation of the toielauing of this by ■explaining that they should come down aiAl lave 4 •cheeidul, willing way of lending their toys, and of occasionally gocd*uaturedly yielding a point or a place in a game. As the hdad of 'the household you cannot afford to, be indifferent when you 'see «or hear that your child is not Ji'ving in 'peaiee- iaml goodwill! with her school "chums. Look upon- such a situation seriously, and don't dot your natural love for the child blind you to

the fact that when she cannot get on with others of her own age, the faW Jit's Somewhere in 'her own shortcomings. She inlay be a dear, clever child, but she will not he popular if you have neglected ita show her the injury of such, a habit as that .of using hectoring tones (when pl'aying games, and if you. do not impress upon her the wrong she does Jiertself in l accusing others of trilling ■with lier things when l her Ibook or is mislaid, and of (taking offctace at theslightest spoken word. There k in l every community a, class of people who seem incapable ul receiving any education outside their own limited experience. Life runs along easily enough for them until their children grow up aind 'begin to look forward to soimething broader for themselves. Then the battle for supremacy begins in eairneit. The child seems ungrateful to the mother, and the mother seems tyrtumous to the th'ild. It is very for a mother who has laid down precise ideas of how "her life s'haill be arranged, and finds that life fails to arrange itself acwraiug to hor iplarts, to. discover that., her own daughter is one of the chief opponents at tier ideas. And yet this is exactly 'what havens to the woman roli'o fails to leam ' IProgrcfebion is a law of the. universe, ttnd one who 'attempts to retard its .wheels is sure 'to lie crusted beneath iharn. There is something pitiless in itlie power thlafc so often carries the. child «o 'Jar ibfeyond 'the ■pa-rent. A great deal has beep> said of the duty of children'to their parents, when every thinking mam and woman- must recognise that the, chief obligation is due £roni jtbe parents to. the bhildrea. One obligation. is ito, ikedp 'abteast of the times with the child.

OBSERVATION.

The power of observation plays 20 small part in a boy or girl's future, au«J when -we remember that the greatest discoveries and most glorious victories are the result of attention to detail, ought we not to cultivate this latent power in- our children J Observation does not arise from curiosity. A curious person sees and forgets; an observant one sees with the seeing eye, notes every detail, .questions its* origin, and remembers the scenes as pictures which flash upon that inward eye. Three small boys (pays a writer) parsed our gate a few days ago, and J ■watched them curiously.

•'Willie," shouted a little fellow, "these people have got a new door, and it's time, too"; and the small observer put his head 011 one side thoughtfully. But Willie and his brother, after telling the child to "stop staring," ran on their way- The small philosopher stood still. From my bedroom window I saw his eyes travel over our new door, note the Jeadligbts and the gold paint; not the smallest part escaped his bright eyes. Tire 'Whole form of the door was stamped in'his memory. Ife looked to my window, saw -me there, and ran quickly away. Did you ever see young children looking at a picture? One may gaze at the colors and then turn over; another may point out wonderinglv a bird, a dog. and even a stone. A child i* never too young to note the little things, which, after all, are the most important. Who knows what come of our children may Jbe? Perhaps a second George Steveneon or a Sir 'lsaac Newton. There is a great possibility for our bright Australian boys and girls. Teach them to observe, and leave the rest to the Stature. Even if they are not illustrious, they •will possess that keen observant power •which the quiekly-moving world of today demands, and "which is essential to success in every path of life. There is an old quotation which says of observation, "The ignorant have often given credit to the wise for powers that are permitted to none, merely because the wise have made a proper use of all those powers that are permitted to all."

1 THE PRECIOUS FIVE MINUTES. 1 I once heard that one of the best amaifceur musicians in a large English city, some years ago, was a married lady of bbout forty years of age. Someone asked her how she had managed to keep up her music while *he had t'he cares ©I a large family. Her reply was tliat during the fifteen years she had been practically tied down with a family of seven children she had* seldom omitted a daily practice. ! ( 'l make it a rule," she said, ''that unless I was actually ill in bed or that something serious -prevented, to practise at least five minutes every day. Of course, five minutes •wan the minimum amount, not the maximum, as I at times 'had three or four hours a day; jbut there have been many months in that time when I have not been able to get any more, and I attribute mv retained "technique to those precious five minutes of finger exercises." . This lady had, of course, been a thoroughly trained musician before ehe married, for unequal [practice of that eort would not have made her one. At the same time there are many girl* w'ho have had a good ordinary musical education, and when they marry, because they cannot have two, or even one Jiour's regular practice every day, they give up their music altogether, and it is only years after, when it is too late to ipiek U up again, that they begin to regret the frequently lost five minutes. Kveit five minutes' .singing practice, ivften one can get no more, is sufficient to keep the voice "oiled,' - a«s it iveie, and to keep at bay that disagreeable rustinefts which creeps into it so rapidly tvhen practice is neglected. Five minutes a dav at physical exercise will give a straight back and an upright carriage. Five minutes' good reading T mean solid Teading—will give one food for thought ill abundance for twenty-four Jtoursr. Imagine only five minutes a dav riven to Shakespeare. At the end Of a year he would be far better known than'he is with the desultory 3iour or two given to him yearly. Such a great deal can l>e done with five minutes regularly given. For inHtanee. only five minutes given every day to the care of the hands will make them beautiful and dainty. A thorough manicuring sueli as neglected hands sometimes demand is seldom, if e\ei. required. Just a few touches here and ; there witfr the orange stick and file, a j few snips with the scissors, and a smart polish, will keep them in the best order. Five minutes, too, for brushing the hair, given daily, keeps it far more glossy than twenty minutes or half-an-liour once a week. ' In sewing, five minutes means the stitch in time." Even five minutes in the garden means a score of weeds a way or the pot plants watered. And so on. in all sorts of wav*. where it is impossible to get more time, five minutes regularly bestowed is a most ■wonderful length of time, and works most wonderful results.

Espert dyers can secure more than sixty shaded of ml from the root of the Pereian madder plant; indigo "nearly flsty varieties of blu"; while the flhell x>t tlie pomftgranate yields nearly iorty shade? of yellow.

THE DAXUEKS OF DKY-CLEANLN'U. The London paper* are strongly waging war against the use oi petrol tor dry-cleaning. Like benzine, tiii< oil is largely used by amateur cleaners, and U even more dangerous than that oil. Again and again we have heard of dreadtul burning accidents from the use of these oils, and yet women go oil Usiiw them as calmly as if thvy were harm" b*s. Many think that tsu* long as they do not take the oil too close to a light all is sale, but the real danger lie/in l«ie hiet that lioth benzine and petrol give oil' an inflammable vapor, which Hoats. and, under certain conditions, lean reach a light at a distance. J u v(mt . paratively stili atmospheres, such as that of a room, the heavy vapor will slowly travel distances of ten, twenty, or even thirty feet in a direction induced by a fall of the ground or gentlymoving air currents and if it reaches a light, will instantly Hash kick and ignite the spirit from which it is evolved.

■Women are more exposed than men lo t!hc risks arising from benzine and petrol, not only because tliev use them for dry-cleaning, but because*their daily domestic duties often lead theni into danger. A -woman may be cleaning her gloves in an outhouse, having taken every precaution against lire, when the noise of a kettle or (saucepan boiling over will make her forget her occupation for the moment and rush to turn off the gas, immediately causing the spirit to ignite by her contact with the I ig'ht. Another danger from petrol or benzine results from the careless habit of throwing it down drains, in London several dreadful burning accidents have happened to men working in sewers from the ignition of petroleum vapor given off by spirit which has thoughtlessly been thrown down a sink. The opinion of authorities on the subjeet fc that to teach .people how to use petrol in the home is only one shade less mischievous than teaching children how to play with lire. Words of caution are neglected or forgotten at- the critical moment, and the only safe method is to have all dry-cleaning done only On the premises of a licensed dry-cleaner, where all precautions are taken against accident.

WOMEN IN THE BOOT AND SHOE TRADE.

The chief umpire oi the Arbitration Courts dn the English hoot and shoe trade has decided that a minimum wage shall be fised for women in the future in the same way as it lias been for men in the past. Miss Margaret McMillan, in the "Woman Worker," says: "The award is a tremendous triumph for trade unionism, and is bound to give a great impetus to the organisation of women throughout the country. Some time ago, urged on by its women members, the 'National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives' Union put forward a demand that a uniform piecework list, Vascd on a recognised weekly minimum wage, should be fixed by the local Arbitration Boards for female as well as male workers. Thifc demand was fought bitterly by the federated masters. Once again, apparently, it was urged that a woman was not a person, and the terms of the 1895 settlement aipplied only to men. The union appealed against the employers' interpretation, and Lord James of Hcreiord, who, strangely enough, is a strong opponent of women's suffrage, decided in favor of the woman workers."