WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 226, 6 January 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). MILLIONAIRE AND HIS WIFE. "HE CAN'T DIE TOO SOON. London, November 23" The ease against Mrs. Laura Farnswovth Schenk, tlie maid-servant who became the wife of the millionaire pork (lacker, and is now in gaol charged with attempting to poison her husband, opened last week before a grand jury at Wheeling, Virginia, U.S.A. A nurse named Kline, who was introduced as a detective into the hospital where Mr. Schenk lay soon after the suspicions of the doctors were raised against Mrs. Schenk, related how the accused once complained to her that she was nothing but an "Indian slave," adding that she was tired of the entire Schenk family, whose wits were bound by "money and meat."' The nurse, in reply to this tirade, observed that Mr. Schenk was likely to die at any moment, "He can't die too soon for me," rejoined Mrs. Schenk, who in a confidential voice added, according to the witness, "Will you help me to get rid of him?" The nurse, regarding it as her duty to test the sentiments of Mrs. Schenk, observed, "I am a poor woman and do not know what I might do if it were worth my while." •'l. will give you £201) and see that you never want as long as you live," was Mrs. Schenk's alleged response. The nurse described how the accused went into the town to try to get a "knock-out" pill, but failed in her quest. She declared that, the accused had instructed her if her husband were suddenly to die to "make a grab at his trousers pockets and get the" keys of the safe deposit vault where he keeps his shares and bonds." She .explained that if the keys fell into the hands of his brothers, "I shall not get a cent." "I warned 'Mrs. 'Schenk," the nurse concluded, "not to betray any joy if her husband died, but to procure mourning clothes. To this," she testified, "Mrs. Schenk replied, 'Do not worry, I will get a big veil of double thickness so that people cannot see through it and see me laugh." Mr. Schenk's condition is still precarious.

WOMEN AND GARDENING W'hilfl the woman gardener was a novelty, a good deal was heard about 'her. People wJio engaged one of the ladies fresh from the horticultural college were fully conscious of the daring nature of the experiment (says a London paper). Little by little, now the newness has worn off, the woman gardener has become a recognised institution in many bouses, and the number of women who are making independent livelihoods out of the land steadily increases every year. A fair number of those who train are !drafted off to take posts abroad. There] is an ex-student of one of the large col-' leges who is getting on excellently in the i centre of France. After her training in fruit-farming was completed, she took first of all a subordinate post, going into partnership when she had gained experience. It is only fair, however, to remark that she was partly French, and this no doubt helped her to obtain a footing among the conservative farmer-class of the south, where an English-woman would hardly be able to venture. Another woman gardener is succeeding splendidly in Xova Scotia, where her apple-farm is doing well. Besides the. skill required in growing the fruit, an apple-farmer in Canada -specialises as a packer. A great deal of the trade is export, and boxes and barrels are despatched to England from the middle of September onwards. The immigration authorities are just now, however dissuading the trained woman gardener from attempting to try colonial fruit-farming. In Canada there is a long slack season, and the paid worker on a fruit form has to find other occupation during a portion of the year. The French intensive method of growing vegetables is eminently suited to women in a small way of business. Many women gardeners make a good livelihood by establishing themselves near a town and working up a door-to-door clientele. A boy is engaged to leave the produce twice or three timet a week, collecting the orders at the sama time for the next round. Any surplus, such as a heavy crop of tomatoes or cucumbers, is sent to the nearest town on market day. But it is often the small and steady sales which provide the income.

POLITENESS. A "League of Politeness," an organisation which aims at inculcating better manners among the people of Berlin, has come into being. It was founded upon the initiative of Fraulein Ceceilie Meyer, a young lady who was inspired by an existing organisation in Rome. The i Daily Mail's correspondent states that' Fraulein Meyer called a meeting of in-1 lluential men and women at the Lyceum Club, and the consensus of their opinions was that such an organisation was badly needed in the German capital. In] deference to the parent organisation the Berlin League has chosen the Italian ■motto, "Pro gentilezza." These words will be emblazoned upon an attractive 'little medal worn where Germans are 'accustomed to wear the insignia of orders. The idea is that a glance at the "talisman" will annihilate any inclination to indulge in bad temper or discourteous language. "Any polite person" is eligible for membership of the league. The attempt to supplant politeness for incivility is to be directed especially at tramway conductors, railway ticket collectors, cab-drivers, Customs "and other officials." It is the invariable impression| of foreigners who visit Berlin that politeness is not numbered among the many sterling virtues of the Germans.

ACTRESS' "AWFUL NEWS." Miss Lily Elsie, in a letter to tlie London Daily Mail, says:—Finding myself the daily recipient of numerous letters and telegrams of congratulation from people who are under the impression that I am engaged to be married. I. would like now to he saved from these kind friends. T am not engaged to lie. married to anyone. My intimate friends mu.it know that the reports are not true, but. judge- j ing by the innumerable letters and tele-| grams I receive, there are a great number

of people who seem pleased that I should be engaged to marry, and wish to tell me so. Ido not know one in a hundred of those who have,written to me, and it seems unfair not to tell them that I am still single and free. I have some of the prettiest little things sent me to bring me luck, simple little presents, too, from my humbler but none the less generous friends in the gallery. I feel that I.am taking these things under false pretences, and treating them very badly by remaining a spinster. I must be fair, however, and tell them the true and awful news.

THE HEROINE Experienced novel readers whose memories go back two or three decades can hardly fail to notice how the heroine of to-day differs from the heroine of the past. In the days that are gone the heroin©., of most novels had golden hair and big blue eyes. She wore white muslin dresses and blue sashes, and was always pretty and demure. She had not much to say for herself, but she always sank gracefully and with great propriety into the outstretched arms of the handsome, dark, mysterious stranger at thepsychological moment, and her age generally varied from sixteen to twenty. If at the mature age of twenty-one she was still unmarried, she was considered "on the shelf," and consequently in disgrace, a fit subject for the finger of ridicule to lie pointed at, and a jest for all the comic papers. But to-day it is the woman of thirty and even older who holds the heroine limelight. She has no delusions as to men or life. She has had many men friends and imagines she understands the sex. She chaffs the men on an equality, encourages them to tell her their troubles, is innocent of the gaucherie of youth, and is not so easily scandalised or shocked as the heroine she has supplanted. So the novelists will have it, and ! presumably they believe their readers I want it so. Yet how many there still are who agree with the wit that the only , use of a wife of forty was to change her •for two of twenty? Whatever may be 'the present status in fiction of the goldenhaired girl of nineteen or twenty, it's highly probably that actually she is as I formidable as ever. But of course the novelists must be "up to date."

USEFUL HINTS. To clean light dresses.—Lay flat on a table and cover the spots with pipe-clay. Leave for half-an-hour, then shake off, and apply a second lot if necessary, or try using dry magnesia.

To remove the color from flannel.—-Bail them in soda water to which a little chloride of lime has been added. Rinse very thoroughly after boiling. When washing real lace rinse finally in skimmed milk. This will give it a soft, cnamv tint.

Badly-soiled handkerchiefs should be soaked in strong salt water the night hefore they are to be washed. This simple process will greatly facilitate washing. Lemon-juice will whiten a plain wooden kitchen table that has become discolored. Wash and scrub the boards lirst, scouring well with sand, then rub well with I cut lemon. Leave for a few minutes, and afterwards well rinse. ,

To poach an egg round.—Nearly fill a small enamel saucepan with hot water. Salt it well, and when it comes to the boil stir vigorously until the water moves round and round like a minature whirlpool. Have the egg broken in a cup, and before the water settles dpwn again quickly drop the egg into the centre of the swirling water. When cooked the egg will be found to be beautifully round and an even shape.

Discolored silver.—Silver or plate that has been lying by for some time, or has not been properly cleaned, is often so discolored that it is impossible to remove the stains without whiting or plate powder. But if the whiting or powder is mixed to a rather thin paste with salad oil, and well rubbed or brushed into every crevice, left for a few hours, and the silver then washed and cleaned in the usual way, every vestige of stain will have vanished.

A quick way to clean a sink.—Dip a piece of rag in paraffin and rub the sink well over with this. It will remove all stains and grease. Next rinse the sink very thoroughly with some hot water to which has been added a small lump of washing soda. To clean leather-covered chairs.—Rub with a piece of flannel dipped in paraffin, then with a clean rag.