FOR WOMEN FOLK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 206, 8 February 1915, Page 6

FOR WOMEN FOLK.

"BY EILEEN."

" Eileen " will be glad to receive items of interest and value to women for publication or reference in this column.

IN A BOMBARDED CITY. I

LIFE IX THE CELLARS. Madame Lafitte is a regular contributor to the Daily Citixi 11, and it is of interest to note' that she has four," brothers lighting in the French army. She is tin- wife of a member of the Daily Citizen stall. This is what sliu has written concerning the siege of Lille, in which she was beleaguered : during September an.l October:— ! 1 !;:iv j.:- 1 arrived K' London after j an exc thig two months in Lille and an equally I xeit ug escape, tirsl to Mail- j beuge anil then a.'rij ;-. into Holland, ' without passports, it wa-i in September that I first arrived in Uilf. It was then still ill possesion of the French. Life at that lin.e was unite normal. Till! people knew that the Hermans were not far away* a.nd were warned that , they were ]:l,e',y to pa-s through the j town, bat. no one dreamt oi the po-s - ( bility of what eventu-.liy lmpp'm il with ' such dramatic suddenness. On October !i tile pate.; id' tile town were c'oaed, and all m.'ii under forty-eight were ordered to have. We coub! bear lightim; going oil Oilt.-iile j'.e w.-.11;'.. b:ii; imagined it. to be a mer.' matter of patrols. ]Jv the nielst o" ihe !ie*;t dav, bower. \ we knew that the serious situat'on had come, li was then that the shelihig of; the town co'nint r.:" (i. f-M rr't lons, however, for the [own '.v.'i. ordered to surrender. au l tiring v.a : s">*p; iided for twenty-four horns. At the end u; tset (he... the bombardment commenced in I'l.-rihl,' earnest, an;' sV.r three r.wful days and it cntinued. \\ f'iii an hour <>r two ;:reat ftri telle; oi t''e town had bur-'l into masses of fames. Whole streets of houses wore burning fiercely, but nothing could be done as the water supply had been cut oIT. The supply of gas was also stopped, because a large gasometer had been blown on early in the bombardment. But the lack of gas >*.•! not matter, for the town was lit brilliantly by the light of the burning buildings." Many people tried to escape from tile city when the bombardment was at its height. The'r (Lglit must have been a terrible ordeal through the blazing streets, with the shells bursting on all sides and houses crumbling :o ruins around them. I believe that many were killed in this flight from Lille. SLEEPIXO 'WITH EATS IX CELLARS For two or far: e weeks T had '■been | acting a= nurse in the French Ittf-jt'tal. Just before the bombardment commenced, T hail gone into the town, and return to the. hospital was impossible, so I had to join one of the tnanv parties of ]"'oi>!e who were flvii;'; to tin shelter of cellars. During tiie first Tihrht five of us occupVil a tiny damp cellai that seemed to he full of rats. Slee[ was impossible. On the next day w. managed to change our quarters to tin cellar of a neighboring house, and then 2(5 of us. with a number of eats am dogs, spent the remaining two iiays and nights of the bombardment. Wi lived on potatoes and a fevr egg?, am' some of the party managed to sleep ii arm chairs. I slept on the ground with just a blanket thrown over me All the time the roar of the guns am the crackling of the burning houses went on. Looking back on it, the amaz ing thing is how quickly we got usei to it. I learnt, afterwards that. !)!).' houses were burnt to the ground am' that r>OD were seriously damaged. Tliei the Oermans entered the town, and 1 returneil to the hospital. T saw am' heard little to complain of in the lie haviour of the C.erman troops. The first thins they did was to make for aV the shops at which food couhl be ob tained. Then thev set to work to c: tinguish t l '" terrific lire that tile burst ing shells bail caused. The-,- took pos session of nil ti;-' hospitals, placing : Herman in charge of each, but retainim all the members of the French staff: who wished to remain on duty. T stay I ed on for ii"arly six weeks, and had m I cause of complaint. One dernian ofi'iec was nursed by a French friend of min: who had lost her brother at the war When he left, he said he should alwav: remember the kind treatment he had re eeived, ami he left 50 francs for thi French wounded. ESCAPE FROM TiRT'SSELS.

There was another interesting incident. When t!ic French and English wounded were well enough again to lie moved, they were sent away into Herman}-. We had heard much tall; about Oonnau friendliness for. the French and haired for the English, so just before three wounded Englishmen left, we dressed them in French uniforms, hoping that they would tlierehy have a lietter time. I have, wondered since if it was wise, for, of course, none of the poor fellows could talk a word of French. When I left Lille. I had little troulile in getting to Maubcuge, walking most of the way, but now and then riding in peasants' carts. Hut my trouble began later on, when t tried to get a passport in Brussels to ant me across into 'Holland. It wis absolute!',- impossible, and eventually I managed it by (ravelling with a Dutch merchant as his wile. Food had become tremendously scarce and dear. For two months in Lille r had not tasted butter, sugar nor salt, anil all the bread we could get was Mark, sour, and badlv cooked. We used to beg the cook not to put bread in tin- stew, because it spoilt it. flutter was Hs per lb. Tn Manbeuge, the people were only allowed to have ju«t over <;..]]> of black bread per day. and in other places it was worse, f saw numbers of people who had walked all the way t„ Manbeuge from Charleroi to get bread. The journey from Maubiuge to London took me nine days.

lIIXXS.

A Baking-day hint—We arc very fond of apple pies and puddings, but on bak-ing-days, i am far too busy to peel apples, so f prepare them the day before, 1 peel and core whatever [ think 1 shall need, put them into a jar with sugar, and stand either ill the oven when it is fairly hot, or in a saucepan half J nil of boiling water. 1 cook them for about ten minutes, just to prevent the stain from the knife discoloring the:n. tnstead of Wood.—Dried potato peelings will >,ave yorr lire-lighters. luit them into the oven when il U »<>i required for cooking, uml use only l:<i:t" the amount of wood you generally do. There is no unpleasant odor from them. l When making cakus or college puddings, I steam all I'ie iruit tor live or six minutes before flitting it up. Tnis imikcri it soft, and therefore saves much time. Peel, especially, is so hard tluu this tip for softening it beforehand is unite invaluable. To keep a chimney free froi.i soot sprinkle a Lilly over the lire occasionally. The Irun'ng keep the iron- | ing-sheet free from creases i pin it on | to the board with drawing pins. These 1 l:i;id it perfectly secmvly, prevent the risk of it suddenly rucking, and can be easily removed when desired. Damp knives a little before rubbing them on a knifeboard. H gives thein a better polish, and tlicj clean more easily. To Pluck Fowls.—The best way to pluck fowls and game is plunge them into hot water for a few minutes, and plucking is then quite easy, and the feathers, being wet, will not lly about. To clean a greasy hearthstone, sprinkle well with powdered batllbrick. 'Leave for a short time, then brush it oil', and wash the hearthstone in the usual manner. To Prevent it' Burning.—Allien you are making a thick soup or coii!::iij» any starchy food in a saucepan the best way to prevent it from burning or boil--1 ing over is to bring it to the boil 011 the top of the stove, then cover, and finish cooking in the oven. | To wash net or muslin blouses. — Place the blouse in a basin of cold water in which has been disulvcd a [ lump of salt about the size of a walnut. ! Allow it to soak for an hour or two, ' nnd wash in warm, not hot. soanv water.

i Uinse in cold water. When ironing, remember the iron should be only moderately hot, as a very hot iron is apt to spoil the colors. Some people use bran water instead- of soap for cream or string-colored nets, etc. Boil one pound of bran in two quarts of water, and strain. Put tlie blouse in the solution, and move it about until clean. Squeeze ' dry, roll in a cloth, and iron on the j wrong side while wet. Tussore silk and holland "do-up" beautifully if i treated in this way. I prefer to iron ! all my light blouses while damp, as ! they then get just the required amount ! ot stiffness.

Knives can be cleaned in half the usual time if the knifeboard is thoroughly warmed in front of the fire before being ■used.

Paint siaiiH. no matter how hard and dry, can be taken out of woollen clothing with equal parts of turpentine and ammonia.

When chopping suet, if it is sprinkled with a little ground rice it will not stick to the knife, and will chop quite eas'dv.

Soft tissue paper dipped ill milk makes an effective cover for jams, etc. It should be put over the jam at once. The heat will dry it, making it like parchment.

A good way to clean brass is to smili it with strong ammonia. It should then be washed with clean water and dried carefully with a cloth.

A Meat Preservative.—lloil together for four minutes one quart of vinegar, two ounces of Imti j> sugar, and two ounces of salt. When cold, brush the meat with this, and it will keep well.

When a kettle is "furred" inside, fill it with water, and a good-sized lump of borax, and let it boil well. Then pour away the borax and water, and rinse thoroughly with clear, cold water. This cleans the kettle perfectly.

(Australian Almond PufU—Mix together two ounces each of butler, sugar anil ground almonds. Jicut iij> two eggs and add to flic mixture with sufficient milk to make a smooth batter. Butter with patty pans, ] m [f |j][ wli ] t the mixture, and bake in a slow oven for hail and hour.

Canary Pudding-.—Two ounces butter, two ounces sugar, a <|iiarLcr of a pound of Hour, a c|iiarter of a teaspoonful of baiting powder and flavoring. Place the mixture in small darioFe moulds and steam for twenty minutes. Turn out and serve with jam sauce.

Cofi-ee Pnddmg.-Ouc pint of strong codec. Mix with one gill of boiling milk, and pour both over ■:■]>: ounce's of breadcrumbs. Leave for two hours. Now cream three ounce.-: of butter with live ounces of castor sugar; add the yolks of three eggs and the whites of four eggs, beaten to froth. Stir all these into the creamed butter, turn into the mould, and steam for an hour. .Serve hot with custard.

Dandy Pic.—(Wash one ounce of rice and cook it in half a pint of milk till it is :i soft mass, stirring it frequently. Koll out half a pome; of pastry to a quarter of an inch thickness, and line a pie dish with it. Fill the dish with layers of apples, peeled, cored and sliced, mixed with sugar, a little nutmeg and the rice. Do not add anv water. Cover the dish with paste, make a hole in the centre, and bake tiil the crust is well cooked. Serve either hot or cold.