WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 347, 24 March 1910, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

FASHIONLAND. QUEEN TUNIC. London, February 4. That tin; tunic has come to stay is evidenced once again by the sketcnes of spring fashions which arc even sllowiiij; tunics 011 street and indoor afternoon frocks—black, white, soft-tinted, dull-tinted, of laee, chiffon, net, ninon, satin, silk cashmere —no matter what as long as it's a tunic! Edged with lace, with insertion, galon, aluminium, beading, fringe, Oriental embroidery, bands of silk, velvet or fur, on evening gowns, small dowel's —all these variations, but the foundation must be a tunic. From Paris yesterday a lady wrote of a crowded feminine audience at Saraii Bernhardt's theatre: "It was in the foyer during the entr'actes that 1113- observations were made. I amused myself first of all counting the gowns without either a tunic or something resembling one. They were so lare as to be easily marked out." * * * GOWNS "ON APPROVAL." The long-standing grievance of dressmakers 1 , hat gowns sent out to custom-, ers "011 approval" and "for their husbands to see"are worn at functions and then returned is at last being coped with and should disappear under the stringent measures now being adopted by Chicago uiessmakers and ladies' tailors. On to every gown or opera cloak sent out to customers there is now attached a vivid red label bearing the message: "This article will not be accepted back if this ticket is detached." The ticket is then sealed to the gown with the lead seal that is used on mail bags, and that can only be detached by cutting. As a result of this announcement one well-known London daily sent a man round to interview some of the biggest West End shops to see how tlicy regarded the drastic edict of Chicago. It appears that 110 English firm dare do such a thing, though all said that the dishonest practice is one they know only too well; hats, gowns, cloaks, and jewellery being frequently worn to a restaurant luncheon or to a week-end house party, and then returned with various excuses. Only in the case of a garment being soiled can the customer (be charged with it. The copyist is another to he contended with. Some women think nothing amiss if they get home several hats on approval, let their maids cooy them exactly, and then return the original to the shop.

MTLLIKTCRY TRIMMINGS. ■Small {Towers, such as violets, daisies, rosebuds, etc., are to be much in vogue in the spring millinery, and will appear in clusters on the small turban shapes that we aie told are to be the fashion. Ruched silk shapes are already appearing, and are very stylish and not impossible for the home milliner to make. Picture Lats of shaped straw turned up at the back are also coming in. These, too. are tiimmed with flowers, but large ones. * » » VALUE OF SMART BRESSIXO. A Parisian fashion writer philosophises this week on the wisdom and delight :if dressing as well and noatlv as

possible always-: —"An r l how invulnerable it iialces- us to 'the slinks and arrows of outrageous fortune' that consciousness of being well gowned! Tf if is onlv in a bout of words with an nntidv, impudent,, or untrustworthy servant. we ai'p defenceless when we know that the domestic eve, sharpened by ill. ■will, is notincr small defects in our sartorial tout ensemble. All women realise this more or less. Even George Eliot, who in h.T picture looks an intellectual, mannish frump, savs somewhere. T believe. tint 'the knowledge of heinn- the hest.-rtres<°d woman in a room imiwfs a calm which religion is vain to bestow/' ♦ * * A FACE TOXIC. For the benefit of those readers who value bright* eyes and red lips the following is -'ut from a daily paper: —''The habit of taking a cold shower bath or dashing the body with cold water after the daily hot bath acts as a tonic to

the skin and stirs up the circulation, gives the lips and bright and fiesh color, and the eves a glorious lustre. Trie process of sponging or spraying the cold water must be quickly rerfo"mo<l. and must be followed by a quick rubbing with a rough towel." * * * TULLE AS HAIRPADS. A new idea and one that will do away 'with the necessity for wearing false hair as a pad is the fashion of piling "illusion" tulle exactly the same shade as the hair under it —it is light and cleanly, and gives a pretty pulf effect. • * « A NEW MATERIAL. Voile with a shot effect, one of the season's new materials, lends itself to verv graceful draping, and will be much in requisition for afternoon frocks. Grey shot with copper is a favorite tint, "Foulards, it is predicted, will be much worn, and in new shades of mauve, green and black. * # * TIT-BITS OF FASHION. A pithy little paragraph is the following, culled from a daily paper's description of the first night audience of Sir Herbert Tree's new play, "The O'Flynn": "The most extraordinary ways of dressing the hair were to be seen on all sides. One very prettv girl in a box had covered her head all over with a tight-fitting cap of silk gauze, fastened on one side with pink roses. Tlie coiffure of an-

other wu iian consisted of a broad band of red velvet, and tinsel bands and aig- . rcttes were to lie seen on all sides. Very ' beautiful opera cloaks were to be 110- I tieod, one of dark green velvet, trimmed 1 with sable, being especially admired. A ; rather extraordinary costume which j created attention was of black gauze, covered nil over with large raised gold wheat-ears; and another woman, who was dressed in black, with Venetian red hair, was coiffed with a broad band of glittering jet. TO WHITEN THE HANDS, The woman who loves personal daintiness and knows how valuable an asset soft hands are to her beauty, will value the following recipe, which can be followed out at home: —Make a thin guiel of line oatmeal and pure starch powder, and afterwards dissolve in .t a little borax. Before washing the hands—thi* should be used for every ablution—ado very hot water. Do not try to keep the mixture, but •make, it fresh every day. NOTES FOR WOMEN. LABOR EXCHANGES. London, February 4. This week has seen the opening of twenty-five new State Labor Exchanges in and around London that are founded by the Government in order to bring unemployed people into touch with employers. Only six are far awav from London, these being at Brighton Dover. Hastings, Luton, Heading and Chatham. The others are in the London and SouthEastern Division. Every applicant, 011 filling in a form with the stipulated particulars as to aire. trade, name, class of work asked for. and last calling, is registered, and it is a noteworthy tact that on'iv the questions asked are. expected to he answered. so that the private life of an applicant comes into discussion not at all. A list of employers I having vacancies is kept nv the ex-

chances, and applicants are thus put into communication with provable employers. ■ A lady —M. F.. ' has been appor'Ml for women's cm' ,,,v ''i»ieiit. V. li"n <"-' present system has had a reasonab.e trial, and is proved a success, loans are to he made to working men. which can he repaid liv instalments, and which will enable them to take a situation in a distant part of England, and take with them their families and household B ood3 - , . * WOMEN COMPOSITORS. It is surprising to hear that quite, a number of women are engaged as compositors. They have to go through three or four \ ears' apprenticeship, with payment of a small premium, hut even apprentices are paid salaries. # * * THE "SLAVEY." • Mr. Pett Ridge, in speaking to a fashionable audience, including Princess Marie Lou'se of Schleswig-Holstein, on Tuesday made an ardent appeal for the many little maids-of-all-wor*. cruelly called, he thinks, "slaveys," and during his speech he told the following story: He was at the Cripples' Home at Alton the other day. lunching with Sir William Treloar. There was a heavy down•pour of rain, and Sir William said to a little mn!d who was waiting at tiWe: *Whv. Lizzie, it is almost like the flood." «Ye«'. Sir WWii-m?" sni<l the little ma'-l. "y PS + Vi••» (V-ul. Noah, •••on knw. fir' 3 Mft'tr.* «T neve- li'td "1 ,: nic to look at the paners," replied the little maid, apologetically. *. # * RINKING INSTRUCTRESSES. The popularity of rinlcing has opened up a new sphere for women workers, and this a very pheasant one—that of skating instructors, who can make as much as £3 a week

during the season. Thcv must be proficient skaters themselves, of course, and the principal necessity this season is that they should be able to waltz perfectly. As rinking is in season for more than half the year, and as instructresses may come to terms with the owners of rinks for practices, etc., the new .profession promises a rosy time to teaeliers. FEMININE CONVERSATION. A woman writer in one of 1 lie weeklies discusses very brightly the unfailing contempt which men profess for what they—wrongly—conceive to be the never changing topic of women's conversation i when surrounded by members of their own sex—viz., ''Dress." ''Most women," she says, "who ever do talk about dress to one'another do it rarely, or else with the paltry motive of getting at one another's prevailing garments, but these female cads are rare, and on the whole are rather easily withered. What 1 am amused at is that women who are solely absorbed in the humanities, and preferably the emotional humanities, go on from age to asre letting men tell them to their face that they" only talk about dress and cooking. . . . He is the eternal type, and he lives as securely and lectures his females as pompously to-day as ever. . . . The secret of it all lies in the fact that that is all he wants them to talk about. He is mortally terrified of anything else." # * • A LADY PHOTOGRAPHER. The occupation of taking pictures of chubby babies, pretty women, and feminine festivities has so far been considered one of the successes of women's work. What will be thought of a new departure on the part of a lady photographer who does all kinds of outdoor work? Recently one who was interviewed described some of her experiences. She had an order for a group of shy creatures living in the water, and in order to photograph them she had t(; spend a oouple of mornings on her knees in the grass by the side of a pond. Field mice.

water rats, ducks, snakes, lizards, are all profitable "subjects." Tueii al.so, another department of her \v>rk is on'' that few women could dare —that of taking photographs from giddy heights of gargoyles, scaffolding, etc. For these she gets inauy orders, and the fact that, in her keenness for a good result, she never experiences any giddiness is a valuable asset, naturally. ADULT BABIES. A leading article in the Daily Mirror bewails the 'language of naughty babyhood," the existence of the young of the population of the present day. and opines that not many are entitle.t to say with St. Paul: 'When T was •: child I spake as a child," etc. Instead, the writer thinks, "with many, and 1 pessimist might say with the 117:1 j'-.rit - of people, that would be 110 accurau history of the process of 1 tie 111 in'. 'When I was a man,' each would have to say. 'T spake as a babv, 1 chou:,:ii ; as a schoolboy, and behaved as an Idiot To put away childish things when one arrives at an age of so-called «!i«crelio» is a practice so unusual es 1o des.-rv careful chiouicling, and even the im mortality of canonical Scripture, to he read, for the good of the soul, oil days." HINTS. Cleaning a white felt hat—Heat some bran in the oven, and scrub the hat with this, using a hard, clean brush. If the I hat is very soiled, several applications ! may be necessary. Should the felt be at. all limp, it can easily ibe stiffened by holding it to the fire, or pressing Wltll ft hot flatiron. When knives that have been put away for a time have become rusty, put the -.blades in sweet oil for half an hour, and then dig them in garden soil for several times. Polish with fine emery cloth, and the blades should be brilliant. Before sweeping linoleum or cork lino., tie a soft, damp muslin cloth over the . lirus 1 -. 7 •''is should be tied so as not to crush Iho hairs of the brush, which slio-.M ;,p i,«ed in the usual way. A floor swept in this manner looks beauj tifully fresh and 1 >. and does not , require frequent washing. The best state in which mint. bainthyme and sage and other kitchen me'' cal herbs can be gathered for drying preserve for winter use is ju-t as thr flowers are opening. At tliat p-rio-l <• growth they are found to conbvn rioof the essential oil, on which their Ha' oring depends, than at, any other. The following method of eleaniivr " clock is simple and inexpensive:—T:'V»• bit of ordinary cotton wool, about 'if size of an egtr, pour about a teas;--"" fill of paraffin 011 the wool, find placing it inside the clock, wait for 'l'-" or four davs. If the clock is in workinc order, so much the better. "Vour oWI will, if going, strike as of old. and rb ■ the end of the specified time, if tlr wool is examined, it will be fou'-d hi'-' with dust. The explanation is Hint, th" fume? of the oil lo'o-en the r ' dust, and thev fall and so arc gat.here l to the oil 011 the wool.