WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 67, 15 April 1909, Page 4

WOMAN'S WORLD.

THE ART OF IiEING A HOSTESS. The hosles's who likes to make her entertaining distinctive is ever on the lookout for dishes that are nut served at every dinner she goes to. If she cannot iiU'urd to give many or elaborate dinners or luncheons she aims at making those she does give as unique as possible. In seeking tile unusual, particularly in the menu, care should be taken tiiat the novel dish has more to recommend it than its oddity, also tliat the cook can make it -well. There are some home eooks who Uave the knack of turning out dishes as artistic and appetising as those of a professional, and other who make utter failures of over elaborate cooking, and should not attempt it. The truly ambitious hostess knows the limitations of her cook, and attempts nothing that cannot be done well. She realises that a simple menu in which each item is deliriously cooked and daintly served is more satisfying than course after course of badly prepared food. She sees that the cold dishes are Arctic and the hot ones are far from lukewarm. She knows just what sauce is needed to bring out the iluvours of a certain meat or lish. She realises that the soups should be light if the meat course _ is heavy, and that ices are less indigestible and more iippreeiutcd than a lien pudding. Moreover, the ambitious hostess thinks beyond her menu. If tier dinner has been planned to do honour 10 one guest, who is expected to make conversation more or less general, she will not extinguish him behind masses of high decorations. A conglomerate company of uncongenial I guests will not make a successful dinner, even though a small fortune may have: been spent on the menu and deconuioae. Straining after effect is not the fault of the clever hostess, or at least the evidence of the strain must not be apparent. No matter what time, thought, or eli'ort has gone to the preparation of the feast, it must appear quite as a matter of course.

CHILDREN AT PLAY. " Teach the child to love and observe Nature, and you will give him a fund of happiness and enjoyment for all his life. Begin the teaching with the baby. Set him on a grass plot or a sand heap and he will sit or roll placidly aoout, witn his eyes interested in everything that passes in the garden. As he grows older, let him study the geography of his own surroundings. If he lives among hills or mountains, rivers valleys, or plains, ponds or lakes, teach him to reproduce i these on his sand heap. At night show liim the stars in a simple way and give him some information in regard to tne names and characteristics of the heavenly bodies. One of tlie best means to interest children in the changing seasons and varying weather is to institute a family year book or calendar. This may be made of an old ledger or a sufficient nninuer ot smooth brown paper sheets stitched together. To this boon all the children should contribute, and the day, month And year should be inscribed at tlie head of each page with the divisions ruled off' for the various facts to be recorded. Every day the weather should be chronicled by the children in this year book. A yellow circle, indicating sunshine, may be pasted on by the youngest child, and a gray circle be used for a day of cloud. Black circles would indicate storms, and the moon may lie shown by n gilt circle cut ill the appropriate quarters. The children may be taught to read the thermometer and to murk down in the year book the temperature at breakfast and supper time. For measuring Hie rainfall, an old tin pail may be set in an open space, and the young scientist will delight to record the facts in the treasured book, Mothers or fathers who take their children out for walks should leach them to play the game of " Sharp Eyes." A note-book should be carried, and the parent must jot down at the child's dictation every living thing seen during the course of the walk. The first llower in spring should be chronicled as an event, or the lirst robin or dandelion. Nothing will cultivate the powers of observation more than noticing the progress of Nature, and to the dreamy, unobservant child no lesson could be more invaluable than training them daily to use their eyes.

As for gardening, every child should have a plot of his own, where he can raise (lowers or vegetanlcs or what he will. Every child, in order to develop his own individuality, must choose for himself what he will put in his own plot, and he must be shown how- to use his own tools. Gardening should not be made to dillicult for a young child, and it is as well that he should be encouraged to plant dowel's or vegetables that will soon spring up, or the young gardener is apt to be good discouraged. The parents should also show him Lie joys of transplanting, so that in his walks lie may have the pleasure of finding and bringing home with him a fern or sonic wild llower and settling it in his own plot under proper advice and guidance.

THE GERMAN EMPEROR AND THE LADIiiS.

A writer in the Woman at Home tells that even the dresses worn by his fair subjects receive the Kaiser's attention. At Wiesbaden lately he exclaimed : "In this town all the ladies dress well. But only here ! Ah 1 I wish all German women were as a la mode as the Wiesbadeners." When someone rallied him for picking a fault with his countrywomen, " But I*ll do them this justice,' he added ; " thank Heaven, they don't make up their faces like Englishwomen ! No German lady who respects herseli (lies to the rouge or powder pot." A man of ideals, for his own guidance the Emperor collects maxims that strike him as helpful, and this is but one extract from a series which he has framed and hung up in his den at IJonimten, his East Prussia hunting-box : Be strong in pain ; desire not that which is unattainable or worthless; be content with the flay as it comes ; look for the good in all things ; and take pleasure in Nature and in men as they are. For a thousand bitter hours console thyself with a single one that is neauliful; ever give heartily and of the best, even when repaid with ingratitude. He who is able to learn so to •act is as happy, free, and proud man, and his life will always be beautiful. One of the Emperor's favourite songs is 'Oh, listen to the band!' and he is fond of trolling it out in " a good noisy baritone."

SARDOU'S OPINION OF WOMEN. lihave the highest opinion of the fair sex. I consider women superior to men in almost everything. They possess the intuitive faculty to an extraordinary degree, and may almost always be trusted to do the right thing in the right plac:'. They are full of noble instincts, and, though heavily handicapped by Fate, come well out of every ordeal. You have but to turn lo history to realise the Irnth of what I say. -The Strand Magazine.

A NOVEL WEDDING. All the mciiibers of the Wallon-on-Thames Fire Brigade, in full dress uniform, turned out to the wedding of one of their members, Mr E. K. Roscwell, in the daughter of another, Miss Beatrice Heather, the oilier day. The bride and bridegroom drove lo the parish church seated on the hose box of the brigade's steam engine, with Ihe chief officer and other members of the brigade. Firemen 'from Walton and many surrounding districts formed a guard of honor, with brass helmets and bare hatchets, at Ihe church door. As tile newly-wedded couple left the church they passed under an arch of bright axes, and they were presented with a handsome china tea service by the brigade.