WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 69, 17 April 1909, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD.

THE 'HOUSE-TO-HOUSE MILLINER. Tltf souvenir which the milliner of a hat sends is not cheerful literature (an English writer opines). If hat prices seem out of all proportion to the apparent innocency of a plain hat, it is of little use, however, to complain of guinea and two guinea fees because the shape is only worth 5s and the trimming half-a-guinea. Any one with the scantiest knowledge of the shopping world taows that plate gjass and position count for far more even than fashion and stylt when istimates are «ade.

In America, the idea of dispensing with the h.-avy expense of window-front or house rent had been successfully carried! out, and the "visiting milliner" —a new departure in itha commercial world—is making a fairly good income for herself. At the same time, by evading responsibilities of shop-rent she in anxiety to beginners in their fir it two years, when landlords are insistent in the matter of rates and, rents, and money does not pour into the firm's coffers as quickly as it might. A woman, .who, according to an American contemporary, is making a fairly lucrative business -of house-to-hous:' work, took the usuaKtr»iniug at a milliner's. When she started for herself, she hail, of course, to work up a clientele, but once a few people had tried her and appreciated her efforts, orders and engagements were not long in coming.

Her first order was for children's millinery. In the course of two tours at her employer's house she easily managed to turn out as many as eight hats, which, even deducting the cost of her services per hour, the shapes and the as weli as the gratuitous lunch with which they provided her, could not have added very seriously to tho nursery ; dress budget. In many cases ttie visiting milliner buys all the material for her clients. She finds out what they want, arms herself with patterns, and sallies forth to match and choose, knowing, as a matter of faetr, far better than those she is working for where to get the best value, while 'the difference in ithe wholesale and retail price of hat shapes and trimmings she always gives her clients. People, as a matter of a -bargain all and half her success probably depneds a great deal on her readiness to produce her shop bills, on which a ribbon was a cent or two less per yard than if it had been bought over the counter of the drapery store. There are, <of course, "close" seasons in hat-trimming. Unless people are going abroad, or there are weddings in prospect, 'nothing happens between spring and autumn, and when once winter hats have been bought, there are weeks when the weather is bad, and shabby possessions can be made to last until the early spring. A visiting milliner allows, however, for the slack time, and considers it in the light of a holiday, while she always makes a point of going over to Paris when the early models are being launched. In this wayshe often picks up bargains in the matter of cheap flower? and new feathers, which are of use later on, while she is also free to undertake shopping commissions for her clients, who come to regard her Paris viiiits as the means of ensuring the successful carrying-out of a number of small commissions.

Four shillings as hour is by no means, a prohibitive charge when the milliner is a quick worker, while it is quite possible to earn a» much as £1 or £2 a day in tie: busy season. During, perhaps, a couple of hours, the amount which can be tinned out by a practical hand is nothrn-i short of marvellous. The less travaiUe a hat, the better the success, while'—with an eye to economy—wonder.fiil transformations are made With' old plumes, crumpled ribbon, crushed velvet, and hat shapes in antiquated firms, such patching and remodelling, which the ordinary milliner would scorn to undertake, being brought to a fine vt.

DOMESTIC CIRCLE. The British notion of " home " is said to be as peculiarly national as plum pudding, the Sabbath, cricket, and Christmas pantomime. And it is the glorified important of home life and family ties that help to make the domesticity of King Edward's subjects—no matter whether in the British Isles or dependencies -one of the most envied characteristic of the, British race. Now, however, we are told'that the rush and hustle of the twentieth century are upsetting the traditions of previous centuries, and that already this influence of the home is weakening. That we live too often and too much away from our domestic circles is offered as one reason for the deflection. Another is that in the case of childless marriage, or in the one-child family, the American notion of exchanging housekeeping for boardinghouse or . hotel life is gaining in popularity. Then, again, when all the members of a household are wage-earners the interest iu the home often becomes weakened by the wideness of its spread. Holidays are taken at different times of the year, and it is usual in large families that the members separate instead of gathering at Christmas and Easter time. So new I ties arc formed which tend to break up the most united domestic circle. At the gaum time; while it may be true that all these departures from the old-fash-ioned lines have their effects on " happy home " life, there are other British characteristics which tend to counterbalance. •To begin with, we are at heart a hospitable nation, and in the generality of cases our doors are open to our friends, which is one of the true basis of a realhome life. The hearty invitation "to come and take pot luck " is purely British, and whilst domestic hospitality to stranger or friend flourishes,'so will the love of home, and on grounds both wide and broad.

FIRST .IMPRESSIONS. It had been said that the curtains of a house, as seen from the street, will give to an observant person a pretty correct impression of the character of the she who has the ordering of such things. But just now there is little , variety in curtains, so many housekeepers having adopted the short brise bise frill, no matter what the architecture of the house be like. So it is left for the entry hall to give the visitor an idea as to the type of feminine her hostess represents. Is that hall gloomy and reeking of stale smoke and kitchen odours ? Then she is a person of no innate delicacy—no doubt untidy in her person and equally unprepossessing mentally. Does-the floor show wheelmark traces of prams and go-carts? oils the hall encumbered with the wheelbarrows and tricycles of smalf juveniles? Then she may be classified as typifying the womaß who is overwhelmed by her children, and who has given up the

struggle to "have things nice." The everlasting effort to maintain tidiness and order has evidently proved too much for the poor creature, who has found it impossible to instil the rudiments of method into her offspring. A hall spotlessly clean, but dull and colourless, would denote a good manager, but one devoid of imagination, and without anyartistic side to her temperament. But when opening the front door reveals a bit of bright colour, a well-chosen floor-covering, a good picture or so, and p general air of making the best of tfriugs, then the stranger may be certain that it has been arranged by a woman who has her own ideas, and who appreciates the refinements of life. The treatment of a hall is not always easy for the apparently inevitable hall-staim is too often a hideous piece of furniture, and in many houses it is relegated to a back entry, its former place being taken by a carved bench or rug box, and a convenient table. Unobtrusive, yet artistic umbrella-holders, are a necessity, hut hats should hang on pegs in an unobserved corner.