WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 172, 19 January 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") FASHION NOTES FROM LONDON NOT MATTER BUT MANNER. London, December 1. It has occurred to the writer that, after scanning an American fashion book, instead of railing at most of the fashions that have been in vogue lately as being unbecoming, inartistic and hideous, it is perhaps the wearers, or, more truly, the milliners, who should bear the blame. For while precisely the same styles are sported in America, they show grace and quite a pretty piquancy.- For quite a year past, and possibly more, it has been tke idea with the last two, and still is, to ram any smallish hat or toque down over their heads as if it were a mortal j sin to. show any hair. The American woman wears the same hats, but in their proper place, and allowing her pretty locks to display themselves, perhaps not as much as ever, but certainly to be as of as much importance as the creation above them. COLLARS. Very large collars of quite cape-like dimensions are being worn on outdoor and evening coats, and are very warm and cosy looking on these grey days and nights. Some follow the vogue of onesidedness, and have a narrow cape over the other, terminating in one enormous side rever, cut obliquely, hanging down in a point over the right hip, and strapped on to the cape on the left shoulder with tabs of the coat material and large buttons. Evening coats have the capes finished with fringe or fur. The suggestion that hoods would be worn op coats and skirts has not developed. EVENING SHOES. Evening shoes, heavily beaded over the instep and toes, and tied at one side with a bow of ribbon with beaded fringe ends, are the newest conceits for the winter. Paris, it is said, now wears its shoes heelless, with buckles, broad- toed, and laced about the ankles with ribbons! VOGUE OF FUR. Fur cuffs and collars are being much worn on coats and skirts, and with very fine effect on evening coats. One very beautiful example of the latter was in deep blue corduroy velvet, fastened to a vandyked "skirt" panel of the same material with small silver buttons, the deep cuffs, wide back collar, and strip of fur down each side of the front to the waist being of white fox. A smart furtrimmed walking costume of this week is of mole cloth, the cuffs and fairly wide revers of black fox, a collar and «i4e cascade of creamy lace, and buttons and pipings on the skirt and coat of black velvet. No material is so greatly enhanced, whatever its original richness, by fur as blue, and as there are so many beautiful shares —peacock, sphinx, wedgwood, electric, the wonderful shade known as kingfisher, to mention only a fe'w —and as all these suit very dark ' or very fair people equally well, it is a fact worth remembrance. HOME-MADE FRINGE. Silk fringes can easily be made at home, as the cords for the purpose are sold by the piece. Take the longest possible piece of cardboard of the width required, turn the cord over and over the board, keeping it even, and letting each winding touch but not lap over the last; catch each at the top by a stitch, and cut the other end. Simple knots art a matter of practice. HOME-MADE MOTOR BONNET. A home-made motor bonnet that could be very becomingly worn as a sports hat also may interest readers. One seen this week had a shape of buckram, the crown round and fairly large, the brim nar- : w and turned up at the back and on t!ia left side, and down on the right. The buckram brim was first lined on top and underneath with silk, that underneath being ornamented with several rows of machine stitching. Then the crown was sewn on, and generously swathed with sjlk that can either match or harmonise, as the maker chooses, the "ends" being brought to the sides of the crown, to be covered later with cabochons. These latter, though very effeative, are quite easy to make, and are fashioned on a piece of buckram, rounded in shape, with a round hole in the centre. Silk is ruched over this shape towards the centre, and stitched at the outside, so that a small frill is left. Then a smaller -round of buckram is cut and trimmed similarly, and a smaller, and at last the small centre hole left is filled in with a small piece of silk drawn in like a bag, and making a dainty little rose centre. When these are affixed the hat is done, a hat lining having been put in before the trimming was adjusted. .... _ THE SECRET OF BEAUTY. "I consider perfect health the real secret of preserving one's beauty, and ( next to that I place the happiness which comes from having some congenial occupation to fill one's mind. Some' women complain incessantly of their household cares; but if these are properly attended to they should both afford a sufficient source of occupation and be a pleasure," said Lilian Russell, the famous American beauty, recently. NOTES FROM LONDON FIFTY YEARS A POSTWOMAN. London, December 1. There died a few days ago Miss Mary Hughes, of Almwch, who from 1860 till 1900 was a postwoman, delivering letters twice every day and once on Sunday, and, when the parcels post was instituted, parcels also. A PLUCKY AMERICAN LADY. Mrs. S. T. Andrew, of Washington, wishing to form a law partnership with her son, now a law student, recently matriculated in the Washington College of Law, after winning a law scholarship offered women by the Dean of the College. GIRLS' POLICE CORPS. An unusual scheme is being given a trial, so far with capital results, in lowa, where a girls' police corps has been formed—an institution which has a real connection with the police department of the State. The fair officers' duties are to keep the small boys of the town out of mischief. The girl constables are specially instructed, however, not to interfere in trivial cases, but "to rely on their general influence to put the lads on their honor. THE QUEEN'S DOLLS. Queen Mary, who is the patron of the Children's Happy Evenings Association, and who each year sends a fine collection of dolls to be given to the poor children, has this Christmas sent a group calculated to make the little ones' hearts dance with joy. A boy doll and a girl are playing tennis, with a little green carpet properly marked out to represent the lawn, and a net drawn across. The boy is in white flannels and the girl in dainty muslin. Then there is a girl with a hoop, a girl skipping, a girl carrying a pair of roller skates, an Irish Paddy with a pipe in his hat, a Highland lassie, and a pink doll and a blue one (these two being dressed by the Queen's Ladies-1 in-Waiting). The handsomest of the Royal dolls represents a big girl of four or five years of age, in a flowered muslin dress, with a black velvet hat trimmed with real sable. The group is completed with two "character" babies.

MEN AND WOMEN'S VALUE. The Lancet has lately drawn attention ) to the grave inequality existing between ( men's and women's work as London County Council asylum nurses, pointing out that men working 66 hours receive higher pay than women doing the same work for 72 hours. A WOMAN ASTRONOMER. Mrs. W. P. Fleming, who has beenelected a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, is, it is said, the most successful star discoverer in the world. Out of 25 new stirs discovered in the past 15 years, 9 stand to the credit of Mrs. Fleming. WOMEN POULTRY FARMERS. The largest poultry farm in England is owned and run by a woman (Miss N. Edwards) in Gloucestershire. Asked what she thought of poultry farming as an occupation for women, Miss Edwards said that if women have the pluck and perseverence to grapple with its difficulties and discouragements, start in a small way, and gradually branch out to larger efforts, with experience bought in that best of schools, practice, she thinks there are few branches of work more suited to the sex. COLONIAL WOMEN GEOLOGISTS. Miss Fanny Cohen, 8.A., B.Sc., until . recently demonstrator in geology at the Sydney University, is now doing research work at Cambridge. HOBBLE SKIRTS UNHEALTHY. Hobble and tube skirts and other tight-fitting garments are cited as causes of tuberculosis by Herman Spalding, chief of the Bureau of Medical Inspection, Chicago. Loose-fitting clothes are, he says, proper for maintaining health and happiness, and he recommends that coats and underclothing be purchased about four sizes larger than those to which you have been accustomed if they have been tight fitting. If you have j been wearing a ■ tight-fitting hobble or tube skirt, he advises you to forget the styles and order a hoop skirt. Another recommendation is that when you walk along the streets you shrug your shoulders and allow the cold air to circulate beneath your clothing. If you would have health you must give the skin air, just as you would the lungs. WOMEN OFFICIALS. There is one department in France ! where the whole of the officials are wo-1 men. In this little district, of some 500 inhabitants; there are a woman stationmaster, a woman in charge of the railway switches, and women railway porters. The post office is in charge of a mistress, the letter carriers are all women, and both the telegraph operators , and the messengers are females. The most important personage of all is the village drummer, who* wears a special uniform, and goes around beating a drum I and crying after the manner of the old J English town crier all the announcements of interest to the district. A SERVICE RECORD. A Miss Sophia Green, who has just retired from domestic service with a Waterford (Ireland) family, has established a unique record. She entered, their service when she was 14 years old, and served them faithfully for 70 years! USEFUL HINTS When a colored lawn dres3 becomes faded it can be matje pure white by boiling in water enough to cover, to which have been udded two tablespoonfuls of cream of tartar. So very much time and labor are required to pad scalloped edgings that readers maybe glad to know of a short cut which accomplishes the same results in very much less time. For a plain scallop get a fine white cotton braid. You can easily shrink this by putting it in hot water and cold water alternately. Iron it straight, and stitch it evenly by machine with long stitches to the scallop on the material to be embroidered, i The braid should be laid just inside the j markings. With this help the actual i padding will take but a few moments, and the button-holing will be even and firm. Castile soap made into a jelly, by scraping a cake into a quart of boiling water and letting it simmer slowly until reduced to a pint and a-half, is one of the easiest and best methods of preparing a shampoo for the blonde. It should be poured into a wide-mouthed bottle, and a teaspoonful of glycerinp added while it is hot, and the whole well shaken, then left to turn into a thick jelly. A tablespoonful of this in a basin of warm water will be enough for a shampoo, with two or three rinsings, first in warm, finishing with cold, and the hair i dried, if possible, in the sunlight. '