WOMAN’S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1922, Page 10

WOMAN’S WORLD.

SOCIAL NEWS. ITEMS FROM MANY COUNTRIES. An intense display of loyalty marked the Prince of Wales’ visit to Kandy. Ceylon (states an English exchange). The Prince held a Durbar in the Audience Hall, which is one of the most ancient examples of Kandyan architecture. The Perahera procession, in which 132 elephants, several hundred devil dancers, and huge representations of personages in Ceylon mythical history took part, was held at night in the flickering light of over 1000 braziers, held aloft on poles by villagers bare to the waist. The Prince witnessed the weird scene from the balcony of the famous Maligawa Dagoba, where previously he had seen the sacred tooth of the Buddha. Lady Manning, who, as wife of Sir William Manning, Governor of Ceylon, entertained the Prince during his visit to the island, is graceful and gifted and has made herself very popular in Ceylon. Colombo, like Genoa, is essentially a port des etrangers. All sorts of distinguished people com 6 there and are welcomed at Government House. Within the past year visitors there have included members of the Belgian Royal Family, General Joflre, M. Clemenceau, and the Crown Prince of Japan. Lady Feodora Gleiehen, who died recently at St. James’ Palace after an operation, was a great-niece of Queen Victoria and thus a cousin of the King. She was, moreover, a sculptor of real merit and distinction, who had earned her. position by hard work as well as natural gifts. The French Government had recently decided to confer on her the Legion of Honor in recognition of her impressive memorial to the fallen of the 37th Division, which was unveiled at Monchy-le-Preux last October. So well known was she as a sculptor that few realised her capabilities in another medium. An exhibition, therefore, recently held at the Cotswold Gallery, Frith Street, Soho Square, London, surprised many who did not know of her facility in watercolor and tempera sketches. All have a charm and freshness distinctly their own, and as the artist ranges from the Dolomites to Yorkshire moors and Dorset sands, one is conscious of the holiday spirit that was always hers when working in these mediums. A more complete collection of Lady Gleichen’s works, including her sculpture, was to be shown in the late autumn. The proceeds of the first exhibition went towards endowing the studio scheme she was anxious to found for women sculptors less fortunately situated than she was. f

Delightful stories continue to appear concerning the honeymoon of Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles at the Villa Medici in Florence. Florence was quite new to Princess Mary, but, Lord Lascelles stayed at the Villa Medici as the guest of his cousin, Lady Sybil Scott, in 1915, when he was recovering from a wound received in France. He can speak Italian quite well, and to the astonishment and delight of her Florentine household, Princess Alary talked to them fluently in their own language. Both the Princess and Lord Lascelles were delighted with the villa, and with all the arrangements made for their comfort. The long, black limousine of Villa Medici, lined with grey, and always adorned with a bunch of flowers, soon became a familiar sight in the streets of Florence* and “Ecco la Principessa Tnglese” (“Here comes the English Princess”) was a phrase often heard. The chauffeur, Valente, was an ex-soldier, who served with distinction in the war under General Grazioli. A keen-faced, eagle-eyed young fellow, he had been for some time in the service of Lady Sybil Scott. Italians were much astonished by one thing, and that was to find Princess Mary such an early riser. She actually rose for breakfast, a thing that no Italian woman of position ever does. Italians eat very small breakfasts. A tray on the style of our early morning cup of tea is brought into their room before they rise, and that suffices until lunch, which is generally at mid-day. But Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles went down to a regular English meal at nine o’clock in the sunshiny breakfast room of Villa Medici, and they were considered to be marvels of activity.

“Do you ever see the Princess?” was asked by an old woman whose daily avocations sometimes brought her within reach of Villa Medici. “Oh, yes, I often see the Bella Principessa and her sposo,” was the answer given with a bright smile. “And what do they do?” pursued the questioner. “Sono sempre insieme e ridono sempre” (they are always together, and they are always laughing). Can any words give a better description of a happy honeymoon ? Another pleasing incident is recorded of an aeroplane which recently flew at a low altitude over the Villa, Medici and dropped the following message:—“As a combatant, I send my devoted homage to her who. the descendant of an august royal lineage, singled out a man who had the purest and highest claim to nobility—namely, that he showed himself pre-eminent for valor among a race of warriors. From Italian wings descends the greeting of a humble com-panion-in-arms to gallant Lascelles. (Signed) Lieut. Giuseppe Nardini, of the Barraca Squadron.”—Reuter. Barraca was a famous Italian “ace” who was killed in the war. His squadron was celebrated for its valor.

Though Princess Alary and Viscount Lascelles lived as' quietly as possible in Florence, they now and again appeared in public. One such appearance of the Princess and her husband was at Holy Trinity Church, the s.ame church where Queen Mary and her parents used to worship when they lived in Florence over 30 years ago. But in the interval Holy Trinity, which was formerly a very plain and old-fashioned building, has been restored into one of the handsomest English churches on the Continent. and Princess Alary was much struck by if and by the style of the service and the excellent choir. The chaplain. Canon Knollys. is a cousin of Lord Knollys, for so many years private secretary to King Edward and to King George.

Miss Alathilde AlcCormiek, the 16-year-old granddaughter of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world, before announcing her betrothal to her Swiss riding master. Max Oser, is said to be waiting for the consent of her grandfather, who is 85 years old and is now playing golf in Florida. Air. Harold McCormick, the girl’s father who is also one of the richest men in the world, seems to have no objection

to the marriage. The views of Mr. Rockefeller are reported to be opposed on general principles to international matrimonial alliances with American heiresses unless the couple agree to live

in America, where the property rights of women are more liberally safeguarded than in Europe. It is quite possible that as one result of the extraordinary measure of public interest shown in the exhibition of Royal wedding presents at St. James’ Palace, the State apartments there will for the future be thrown open to publid inspection, ae at Windsor Castle. Hitherto the opportunity of viewing the interior of the “Court of St. James’ ” has been rare and exceedingly difficult to obtain, save by the privileged few. The State apartments comprise the old presence chamber, now known as the tapestry room, the old council chamber, now styled the drawing room. Queen Anne’s drawing room, the Throne room, with ? Grinling Gibbons carvings and porphyry vases, and the banqueting room. If it be decided to make St. James’ Palace available to public view from time to time it is to be hoped that the Chapel Royal will be included for the buildings associated with many Royal' marriages and with the names of Purcell and Orlando Gibbons has an interest all its own. A famous necklace, formerly belonging to the Empress Maria Theresa, from the collection of Austrian Crown jewels, was recently bought by an Englishman for £225,000, states the Matin. The necklace is said to consist of 196 pearls weighing about 81b., and the purchaser is described as “a sportsman who keeps a racing stable in France.”

REAL LURES OF LONDON.

NORMAL GIRL’S OUTLOOK. NO CHaRM TN NIGHT CLUBS. “Lure” is the most over-worked word of the day, writes Edith Shackleton, in the Evening Standard. “The lure of the night club.” The phrase begins to roll off our pens as easily as “Hey, diddle diddle,” once rolled off our tongues. Perhaps there is just about as much sense in it. What do we mean by the “lure” of stuffy basements into which it is almost as difficult for the normal girl to find the way as it would be for her to get herself invited to all the dinner parties on Carlton House Terrace? One would look for the night clubs to be made up into imitation of the really jolly places which most people seem to desire. They should have glittering flowery entrances like the Savoy and the Ritz, or gleam with lights like the yawning mouths of the cinema theatres, . where kind commissionaires actually ask one to walk in. And, instead, they are more difficult to find than shelters ever were on air raid nights. London is full of lure, of beckonings to delights —a difficult enough place for any young woman with lively senses who has to l keep her mind fixed on things like earning a living. It is conceivable that even a night club might be a lure if. as one walked home from a dance, it let forth on the Soho streets an odour of eggs and bacon, or, say, fried onions. But cocaine! What is the “lure” of taking nasty white pow’der at half-past three in the morning?

There are countless houses in London that make one long for a jemmy and an invisible cloak, so strong is their lure. They look so like the perfect home, the house beautiful and all the other unattainable abodes that make magazine articles. One gets glimpses of them—the gleam of Adams mantelpieces and old glass, the glow of Dutch bower paintings, and of the log fires Which are to a room what laughter is to a face. It is hard to go by them to drudgery and gimrack—but who is lured by a Soho garret where the communal lipstick in the ladies’ cloak room is chained to the wall?

IN THE SHOPPING STREETS.

There is no hour of the day when London does not spread a lure of some sort. How do so many healthy young women get safely by Kensington Gardens every morning when the friendly babies paint it with delight. One might have expected the babies to be heavily guarded in a town where sp many women are childless. What lure there is in the shopping streets! And, if one ran into Christie’s one might be just in time to see a fifteenth century silver cup sold for a sum that would go on paying a working girl’s wages for ever, or to handle some dead queen’s china shepherdesses. Do those who resist these things lose their heads at the sight of a dingy stairway guarded by furtive bullies? Alost devastating of all, there is in London a lure which is not of London itself, but of the green England spread outside. It is almost due now, and hardened Londoners begin to expect it with aprehension. It is the lure of that mysterious perfume of freshly-eut grass which steals through the streets on spring nights, no one knows whence, making all civilisation seem a mere prophetic vision instead of a present reality.

THE WOAIEN AND THE MEN.

If we did not clap over them the moral codes of our long descent the impulses it awakes to wander anywhere would leave London deserted by morning. But a night club—where most of the women look like insects and most of the men look like slugs? Is there really lure for normal young women in such places? Surely not, since one does not ge\ there without first battling 1 against every normal physical sense and defeating all normal appetite, without exerting energies that, otherwise employed, would get one a reputable position in the happier world outside. When night clubs can make themselves look like a garden party at a Sussex manor-house or a jolly nursery in the bedtime odour of bath soap, or a witty dinner party on the right side of the park or a debutante’s ball in Arlington Street, then they will be “lures” to young women so dangerous and potent that there won’t be "a single girl left out of them to serve in the shops or mind the machines in the workshops, or stay at home to darn all the boys’ socks and turn out the bedrooms every Thursday. Until then, they are not lures.

Cast on with two needles only in the case of a ribbed garment or where elasticity is required. Casting on with one needle and the thumb gives a much neater edge and is the method which should be more frequently used. Cast off loosely. Dozens of garments are spoilt just because the stitchs are cast off too tightly. If there is any difficulty in this respect, a pair of f hicker needles should be used for the purpose. Always increase, or decrease, for shaping, on the third stitch from either end of the needle—never on the end stitch as this spoils the edges for sewing up. Never join with knots, but knit the wool double for about six stitches. If two colors are being used, leave the ends loose and run them in afterwards with a darning-needle. Wool should never be wound into a hard ball, as this will ruin its texture and make it thin. Wind loosely over two or three fingers, withdrawing the latter at frequent intervals so as to change the position of the ball and keep it symmetrical. Experienced knitters will find great interest in making some original garment. It is a good plan to study the ordinary fashion books, and a choice of garment being made, work to the paper pattern. First knit a small piece of fabric for a guide; measure the stitches and ridges per inch, and from them it will be easy to calculate the number of stitches required for the different parts of the garment. And, what is more, nobody else will have one like it.

ANC!ENT WEDDING CUSTOMS.

The bridal wreath dates from the time when Roman brides wore chaplets of flowers or herbs (says a writer in the London Evening News), while those in early English days wore rosemary, or myrtle, or even ears of corn. The orange is a native of China, and has been always regarded by the Chinese as an emblem of good fortune. Its blossom was probably first worn at weddings by the brides of the Saracens, and the custom brought to Western Europe by the Crusaders.

The throwing of rice is part of the marriage ceremony of the Brahmins of India, for rice is the most prolific of grains, and always emblematic of God’s injunction to the ancient Hebrews to “increase and multiply and replenish the earth.” Jews throw wheat, and Russians oats or barley, but corn appears to have always entered into our Western ceremony in some form or another, even from the remotest and uncivilised times. It is in this connection that the wedding cake can be traced. The shoe so often thrown after the wedded couple is unrivalled in its claim as an emblem of superstition, and has always been accounted a lucky symbol, for, as Ben Johnson says, “Hurle after the old shoe, I’ll be merry whate’er I do.” And in Yorkshire, it is interesting to note, the practice is termed “thrashing,” and the older the shoe thrown the greater the luck to the bride. But it is a fact that the custom is really a relic of the Jewish mode of the transfer of land, the symbol of possession, as in the days of /Boaz of old, “concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor,” as anyone may read for themselves. Then again, the wearing of sandals in the East brought the “shoe” to be a sign of parental authority, the obvious and simple means of chastisement which even to-day the “slipper” sometimes seeks to emulate as the pains of childhood may cause some among us “to remember with tears.”

USES FOR MACARONI

There is hardly any use in the culinary hue to which macaroni cannot be put. It can be used for savouries, sweets, salads, and soups. Use plenty of boiling water in which to cook it, and do not soak it beforehand. Have a pan sufficiently large to allow room for it to swell. Boil it till tender, but not broken, and stir it occasionally while cooking. When done, drain off the water, and it is ready for use. Use the water in which it has been boiled as a foundation for soups and sauces. Savoury Macaroni.—Four ounces cooked macaroni, two ounces grated cheese, four ounces minced meat of any kind, seasoning, one teaspoonful chopped onion, two teaspoonsful chopped parsley, half a pint of thick brown gravy or sauce. Grease a pie dish and put in some of the meat, then a layer of macaroni and some of the cheese. Continue these layers till the dish is full. The last layer should be of macaroni. Season and pour in the gravy of thick sauce, sprinkle a little cheese on top, and make thoroughly hot in the oven. Alacaroni and Apple Fritters.—Four ounces macaroni, three large cooking apples, two ounces butter, four ounces breadcrumbs, two eggs, two ounces castor sugar, rind and juice of one lemon, water. Break the macaroni into short lengths, simmer, and drain when tender. Peel and slice the apples, and cook them with the sugar, butter, rind and juice of lemon, and the four tablespoonsful of water. Now beat the eggs with half of the breadcrumbs, and then mix all these ingredients together. Shape the mixture into rounds, and roll them in the remaining breadcrumbs. Fry in boiling fat until a golden brown. Drain on sieve or grease paper, and serve hot. Alacaroni Croquettes.—To a teacupful of boiled pipe macaroni add two/ounces of meat or game and a slice of ham if obtainable. Mince meat, and add to macaroni cut up small. Alake some good white sauce, and reduce it by boiling slowly for a little while into which put a saltspoonful of sugar and chopped shallot, also a sprinkle of pepper and nutmeg; lastly, stir in yolks of two eggs and. when these have set, the juice of a lemon. This sauce may now be mixed with the mince, left to get cold, and then made into balls by the help of a tablespoon; egg and crumb and fry in boiling lard for eight minutes; serve with fried parsley.