LADIES' COLUMN.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 300, 11 June 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

TEACHING CHILDREN GOOD MANNERS. Gkntlb children make gentle men and gentle women, Training children in etiquette and good breeding is almost as essential as religious instruction, because good manners will influence their character to a great degree, and our thoughts and feelings are also governed by our actions. Everyone knows that a rude, ill-bred child is an unendurable nuisance, and will make every place disagreeable, be it at home or abroad, in the parlour or in the train, while, on the contrary, courteous, well-bred, pleasing children are winsome, lovable and delightful. Unfortunately, not every mother thinks it neces-sft'y to teach polite manners to her children. Her boys do not take off their hats when they come into the presence of ladies ; her girls interrupt rudely in conversation. It is a common occurrence in the omnibus to see an elderly gentleman give up his seat to some old person, while a six-year-old youngster spreads over room enough for two, and with his mother looking on apparently ignorant that she is rearing a sou with the selfish manners of a cub. The behaviour of her children is a pretty clear mirror of the mother's own nature. It is from her they learn courtesy, gallantry, and chivalric respect to women. Lookers on at the rude or bad behaviour of the child cannot have a very flattering opinion of that child's home influence. HEALTH HINTS. •If a child is threatened with cold, Btrip his feet aud fairly toast them before the fire for half an hour, till they are thoroughly heated through. Then put him to bed and rub his chest with goose grease or vaseline till it glows, and make him drink a cup of very hot milk. Few colds can survive this treatment. Alcohol will quickly remove an obstinate porous plaster, whose period of usefulness has expired, and will also cause all unsightly traces of its use to disappear. It is said that a dish of cold water at the head of the bed will prevent and cure restlessness and sleeplessness. Towels wrung from water and hung in a hot room will purify the air and lower the temperature several degrees. TO COMFORT AN INVALID. Remember that although starch has its uses, there are invalids who cannot endure the rustle of aprons or skirrs. Then do not say, '* Oh ! this is a gloomy day !" or "It will be many a day before you will wear those boots again." Never seem so absorbed in a book or paper as to give the impression that your patient is only of secondary importance. Enter the room quietly, but not stealthily—as though you belonged there ; never peering slyly through a half open door. Let a few cool, fresh blossoms that are not overpoweringly sweet touch the feverish face. They seem to bring rest with them. Allude not to personal appearance, especially to say, " You look like a ghost," or " I know by your looks you are worse." HOUSEHOLD HINTS. Cleaning Silver : Silver being a soft metal, should always be cleaned with a material without grain or grit, such as whiting. Do not use a strong solution of soda. Simply wash the silver quickly • in soapsuds and dry. When very tar nished mix the whiting with a little cold water ; rub it thoroughly over the silver, allow it to dry, then polish with a soft cloth and brush. Ink-stains in Linen : If you can soak thß stained article in milk soon after the accident happens, and after a few hours wash it thoroughly in milk, every trace of the stain will disappear. This treatment is applicable only to white materials that can bs subsequently washed. Cleaning White Straw Hats : White straw hats may be cleaned with ammonia water, then dried and pressed Glaze from Black Clothes: Benzine and naphta will remove the shiny appearance of tlack clothes. Be very careful in using, as it is inflammable. Have no fire in the room, nor for hours after. Fruit stains may be removed from white goods by pouring boiling water over them while they are fresh. When they have been washed into the goods, soak them in sour milk a day or two, then rub them between the hands in the liquid. FASHION FANCIES. White stockings should always accompany white shoes ; there are very pretty embroidered ones. Tartan ribbons are the favourite trimming for sailor and boat-shaped hats. Check and tartan skirts are cut with the back breadths on the cross. Cornflower and gendarme blue alpaca has largely taken the place of the usual navy serge. Elastic belts are worn by our athletes and sportswomen -is being more comfortable than petersham or ribboo. Silk blouses, with linen collars and Cviffe, are very fashionable. Green leather shoes are now considered better style than white, with white dresses, and the belts should match. Plain skirts, and double-breasted coats with velvet collars, are most fashionable at present, and will come in for spring wear.

FANCY WORK. Crochet Tam o'Shanter.— This cap, which is useful in a variety of ways, is made of two coloured wools, the upper or gathered part being iu alternate stripes of two colours and worked iu tricot. The band is worked in plain and fancy treble stitch and is made of the darker shade of wool. Dark niaroue and white make a pretty cap, the band being of the former only. Make a chain of thirty stitches in dark marone, into which work thirty tricot stitches. '2nd row : Work in the same wool 28 stitches. 3rd row : Take the white wool and work 30 stitches into the preceding 28, and the two stitches at the end of the Ist. row which were left. 4th row: 28 stitches. sth row: Take the.marone wool and work from 3rd row, and so on till 28 double rows of each colour have been worked, then join to the 30 chain, making the join at the back, and fasten off. Take the marone wool and draw the wool through the first marone stitch en the drawn in side of the work, as if to make a double stitch, then pass the hook through the white stitch in the same way rod pull the wool through the two stitches together, so as to make it only one double ; repeat till the round i 3 completed. Make a second round in the same way, which should draw in the cap to the size of the head. Into the last row work a row of treble, passing the hook through the front stitch of the double. Then work two more rows of treble, passing the hook through both top stitches of the preceding rows; join and fasten off Turn the cap to the wrong side, and work two rows of fancy treble, which arc to be turned back the hand of the cap when worn. For the fancy tieble, make one chain, put the wool over the hook and through the work, drawing the wool back as if for treble, then pass the wool over the hook aud the hook through the work again, and draw up the wool, repeat for a third time, and then draw the wool up through the

whole, making one stitch, one chain and repeat. Run a Rtout thread round the upper edge, draw up tightly, and fasten a tassel or pom-pom of wool on the top. COOKING RECIPES. Lightening Sandwiches.—l teacupful flour, 1 do. sugar, 3 eggs, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 2 tublespoonfals milk. Mix all the dry ingredients well together, beat the eggs very light, _ stir them in, add the milk, bake in a buttered tin or on buttered tin or on buttered plates. Split open when cold and spread with jam or leuior. cream. GENEVA "WAFKBS.-r-Ingredienta : 2oz. butter, 3nz. flour, 3oz fine sugar, 2 eggs. Preparation : Beat the butter to a cream, add the sugar and beat well, beat the eggs well, then add them and the flour, alternately beating .ill the time. Drop the mixture in teflspooufuls on to a creased baking sh-et and bake in a moderate oven eight or ten minutes. While hot roll ronud into the shape of a cornucopia and fill with jam and Devonshire cream, whipped cream or grated cocoanuc with a little white of egg and sugar. Dessert Dish of Tinned Fruit.— Place each piece singly uu an earthenware dish, leaving a space between Make a clear jelly of loz. gelatine to nearly 1 quart of liquid, including the fruit syrup or lemon juice and the water in which the gelatine was soaked, strain carefully. When nearly cold pour it gently over the fruit to cover each piece, Next day break it up or cut out neatly with a cutter, pile the different pieces of fruit with the jelly atrached to them neatly on glass dishes. Ornament with whipped cream. Baked Lemon Pudding. Ingredients : Goz. breadcrumbs, 3 tablespooaful3 flour, 3 do. suet, 3 do. sugar, H teaspoouful baking powder, 2 lemons, 1$ oz. candied peel, 1 gill milk, some dripping. Grease a piedish, chop the suet and peel finely, mix the flour, crumbs, sugar, biking power, suet and peel in a basin Add the juice and grated rind of the lemons, mix and add the milk, pour into a piedish, bake 1J- hours. Serve with custard sauce. IT IS BETTER. To do well late than never. To be alone thin in bad company. To go around about than to fall into a ditch. To be wise for yourself than for other people. To be wise to-day than to be foolish to-morrow. To be a giant on the floor, than a pigmy ou a pedestal. To bend the neck promptly than to bruise the forehead. To keep at one thing a long time than to do many things in a short time, To be the builder of our own name than to have it built for us beforehand. To hammer and forge yourself into a character than to dream yourself into none.