WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 194, 6 January 1913, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") KNOCKING OUT SUPERSTITIOUS MOTHERS A distinguished London medico, addressing a medical assembly recently, congratulated those present on the fact that ''the old-fashioned, filthy poultice" was as dead as the dodo. During tlie J last decade or two the '''mother" school of doctoring has altered its methods completely; ill short, the present-day home remedies worked on herself when she was a child are practically useless. The poultice is a very striking example. For any pain our mothers used simply to apply poultice*, whose only -merit was that they gave the' sufferer another pain to think about. The modern mother simply keeps iodine -handy, and paints it on. Gatherings and boils, too, used always to'get poulticed. Nowadays the knowing mother gets some boracic lint from the chemist, puts a piece in a clean cloth, pours boiling water on it. and then, after wringing it out as dry as possible, ties it on, putting a bandage of flannel on top to keep the warmth in. Goose grease is another home remedy that our mothers used to swear by, but which is rapidly disappearing. Many a man still young remembers 'his mother energetically rubbing this peculiarly nasty stuff into his chest. But if he were a child again, and had a weak I •chest, the chances are that it would be the much more efficacious camphorated oil with Which he would be rubbed. Xot many years ago anyone afflicted with neuralgia used to be provided by a sympathetic mother or wife with small bags of hot salt, to be held against the cheek. But nowadays no one who has ever heard of aspirin tabloids would think of using bags of salt again. One of the anost deep-seated of home superstitions used to be that a sort throat must be wrapped round with a stocking or a piece of red flannel. Why the flannel should 'be red, or why any wrapping was wanted at all for an internal trouble, nobody knew. Nowadays the mother with a little medical knowledge never wraps anything round a throat at all, and instead of making the child sip hot honey and vinegar or black currant jelly, gets in some formalin tablets to i suck, which not only soothe but cure. Burns are always occurring where children are about. The small boy who burnt his hand 15 or "20 years ago used to have a very bad time of it, as. the flour or oil his mother used to apply smarted nearly as badly as the burn itself. Flour and oil are quite good in their way, but their only merit was that they kept the air out and helped the burn to heal nicely. But the modern mother dips clean rags in a pint of hot wateT in which & teaspoonfui of bicarbonate of soda has been put, and wraps them round the smarting palm or finger. This treatment not only compels the ■ burn to heal properly—bicarbonate of I soda being n:i antiseptic—but also eases j the pain.

CARE OF THE EYES There was never a time when so many young people found it necessary to wear glasses as at present, nor a time when so many oculists flourished. The abundance of literature which can be bought at prices that would have seemed ridiculously low a few years ago, has helped to increase the amount of reading done. Fifty years ago one or two papers a week and a book occasionally comprised the reading matter of the ordinary family. Now there are one or two m;vmmoth dailies and half-a-dozen of the leading magazines upon almost every reading table, and if one does not take time to peruse them one feels that one is far behind the times. Almost every young woman is intricate patterns of crocheting or other fancy Work, to which she turns her attention during the evening hours. All these thing.* tend to weaken the eyes. When the eyes ache and become inflamed they should be cared for at once to keep the injury from becoming permanent. Put half a teaspoonful of boracic acid in a cupful of warm water, and bathe them frequently, and put one or two drops in each eye with a dropper. It clears and strengthens them wonderfully; in fact, this borafcic acid solution is uneequalled for soothing and healing diseased eyes. Avoid walking in the wind as much as possible. Those who live in windy, paririe countries ssfl'er more with their eyes than those living where they are .sheltered from the wind by timber and hills. Wearing heavy veils is also injurious to the sight. After the eyes have been used constantly an fcour or two, close them for five or ten minutes to rest them. One should plan the .work-in such a way that if any part of it must be done after dark, it will lie something besides reading > or sewing. No greater disaster can befall anyone than the loss of sight, and we should sec to it that we do not bring it on ourselves.

WOMEN AND THEFT SOME ASTOUXDIXG- CHARGES. The New York Times is responsible far the statement that the baggage of wonwn is regularly searched at the leading metropolitan hotels to recover tho towels and linen that the guests 'have stolen from their rooms. The 'trunks oa the way down are carried on, as though by accident, to the basement, and there they are opened 'by the house detective, who carefully removes the purploined property, repacks and relocks the trunks and returns them to their owner. Nothing is said to the guest, who is allowed to go upon her way and presumably to wonder what 'has become of the loot when she unpacks her luggage. The hotel people assume that the woman guest may steal if she gets a chance, just as a magpie will steal. They do not resent the theft, but they quietly recover their property. The stealing of silverware is treated differently. The duty of detection' is laid upon the waiter, who knows exactly how much silver has -been placed at each plate, and who notices instantly when a piece disappears and reports the loss to the office. The value is then added to the bill. the. entry being -made without evasion or concealment. The lady's escort can challenge the bill if he likes, birt as a matter of fact he never does, lie pays up as though he had not observed the incriminating entry. Possibly he talks to the lady afterwards, but that woirid naturally depend somewhat on their relationships. And these little occurrences are by no means rare. They happen on -an average onee a day in every large hotel in N'ew York and with almost astounding frequency in Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago.

What makes these women steal? Xo one seems tr> know, except that: "it is their nature, to." as the hymn says. A house detective of a big ISroadway hotel says:— "The trunks we have to rifle to rescue the house linen belong to women 'that in nine eases out of ten could buy up our whole supply with one day's pin money. They don't take, things because they need them. They will uteal a five-cent towel from a hotel to cover the skirt of a Paquin gown. They jusl seem to lose sight of property rights in the matter of hotel linen."