LADIES' COLUMN.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 342, 17 September 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

WORTH NOTING. Ckkaking shoes may bo syftened by rubbing soap into the seams. To clean vinegar bottles and cruets, crushed egg-shells in a little water are as good as shot besides being healthier and handier. A little kerosene is an excelleut thing for cleansing a zinc tub. Apply it with a soft woollen cloth, then wash off with hot water no soap in it, and polish with powdered bath-brick. Hold your hands under water when peeling onions; you will not have any trouble with weeping eyes When the food scorches in the saucepau, the latter seems ruined beyond redemption, but n. possible remedy is to take the pan at once from the fire, and set it in a pan of cold water. This treatment, oddly enough, will nine times out of ten remove the burned taste entirely. Never finish a meringue by placing it in a hot oven. It should brown in a cool oven, when it will riso high and be light and spongy. Teach your child to suck sweets and not to bite them. When once they get into the habit of doing this they will greatly prefer it. A good cure for sore or chapped bauds, is to rub in powdered starch after washing them. If very sore, and inclined to bleed, make a paste of the starch, and rub it on. Bicarbonate of soda mixed with water and made into a paste, relieves the irritation of mospuito bites wonderfully. Onions are really sweeteners of the breath after the local effects have pasred away, as they correct stomach disorders, and carry off the accumulated poisons of the system. TALKING ABOUT AILMENTS. don't do it. It is a strange notion which a good many people have, that everybody they know is interested in their physical ailments, Something is the matter with them, no matter how slight, and their greatest apparent delight is to get the ear of some sympathetic listener, and thon pour into it a full account of their particular ailment, If they have been through a siege of illness, the most tedious rainutiaTis gone into, and every symptom is eagerly dwelt upon and explained, until the listeners wonder whether the person did not actually enjoy being ill. There is a certain gusto employed by these people in these narratives of their illness which I always wonder they did not exercise upon the ailments themselves, except that, had they done so probably they would not have had bo much to talk about afterwards. It is not making light of sickness to say that when we are ill we should not forget that we ourselves, are the most interested in that affliction. And the same is true upon our recovery. Our friends may be anxious for us, and good friends always are when we are ill. But they are interested at our recovery ; not in the illness itielf, and certainly not in the most minute details of it. To dwell upon every pain we went through ; to repeat the story of our illness hour by hour ; to compel others to live over in feeling what we have just passed through, is energy wasted, to say nothing of consideration for others, Sympathy we may crave, and the right kind of sympathy we can generally get in this world from some one close to us. But we have no right to trust our afflictions npon others, and dilate upon them just for the sake of talking about them. POSITIVELY INJURIOUS. Everyone of us has his or her own ailments. It is enough for us all to keep well ourselves, and to be compelled to listen to the ailments cf others does not make that task any easier. Besides all this, these unnecessary narratives of personal ailments are positively injurious to ourselves. Physicians all agree that many of the slight illnesses, of which some people make so much, could bo cured if they would but take their minds from themselves. Too many people work themselves into illnesses, or prevent themselves from getting well, by talking about a petty ailment, which, if forgotton, would right itself. I will not say that women, more than men, are prone to this evil. But as the majority of women have more leisure than the majority of men, they are more likely to let their minds dwell upon every little ailment that assails them, and talk about it. It seems to me that one of the most important lessons we can all learn is to refrain from inflicting upon others what is purely personal to ourselves. Let us cease this tiresome, this inconsiderate,, this unnecessary talk about our ailments Cold and hard as it may seem, the fact is nevertheless true, and will ever remain s", that the vaßt majority of people are interested in what is pleasant in our lives, but not in what is unpleasant. ' Pains and sorrows are elements in our lives which are sacred and interesting to ourselves. WHAT WAS EEALLY THE MATTER. A lady patient entered the consultingroom of a well-educated and intelligent physician. The doctor made his usual examination by feeling the pulse, looking at the tougue. &c. In giving his directions, he said : " Madame, you should eat less, and take more out-door exercise." The advice seemed to be too common for the lady, and she resolved to consult a notorious quack in the community. While the empiric knew nothing of the nature of the disease, he had learned how to take advantage of the patient's weakness, and confounded her with a cloud of high-soundins terms. " The only true, and legitimate manner of accounting for your rare disease," he said, " is in the physiological defects of the membranous system, The obtuscness of the spinal abdicator causes the cartilaginous compressor to coagulate into the diaphragm, and thus depresses tlie duodenum "under the flandaugo. Now, if tho disease was caused by the vogation of the electricity from the appendages, the tympanum would dissolve the spiritual sinctum, and the ossificator would ferment in the olfactory, thus becoming identical with the pigmentum. Now, as this is not the case, in order to produce your disease the spinal rotundum must diverge to a point on the elliptical spero. But, as I said before, in order to produce this disease, ligamentum teres must subtend over the digitorum to a degree sufficient to dislodge the stericoietum." The lady replied : " Yes, doctor, you describe my case exactly. I'd like you to treat me." HINTS ON HAT TRIMMING. With a little observation any woman can trim her own hat in the present stylo, good judgment in colours and lightness of touch being, of course, essential. In trimming a hat avoid too much handling of the flowers or feathers, and too lavish use of the needle and thread, as the more lightly tho trimmings are fixed on to a hat the fresher and smarter they look. A very long needle should be used. When buying needles for hat trimming ask for straw needles ; their length prevents the hands getting too near, and so crushing the trimming. RECIPES. • Calk's Foot Pie.— two calfs' feet in plenty of water. Skim well. Then season with two blades of mace, 2 cloves, and one shallot. Let all boil softly until only one pint of water remains. Take up the feet and remove tho bones. Have ready a pie-dish lined with paste (such as is used for a meat-pie) in which place the meat, seasoned with pepper and salt. Arrange on this six hard boiled eggs, cut into halves. Lid tho pie, making a hole in the centre. Set in a good oven.

When the crust is brown the pie is cookedSeason the jelly with silt, and pour as much as the pit) will hold through the holo at the top. Kidney Toast.—Stow two sheep's kidneys with just sufficient water to cover them until quite tender, then remove the skin and Kiistle, and pound them smooth in a mortir. with loz of butter, a f*w grains of salt and c:>yeune, and four or five drops of lemon juice. Make some hot buttered tonst, spread the mixture over it, and put it in the oven to get hot through, when it is ready to serve. Liver can be served in the same way. Creamkd Bkans.—A delicious and novel dish may be made of the ordinary small white haricot beans. Soak a pint of these beans in cold water over night. In the morning put them on the range in enough slightly salted water to cover them, and let them boil steadily until they are broken to pieces, and not a whole bean remain*. One hour before they are required rub tbu Leans through a colander add to the pulp thus formed a white sauce. This is made by cooking together a tablespoonful of butter and one of flour, pouring a large cupful of milk over them, and stirring until thick and smooth, Mix the bean pulp through with this sauce, and hist of all add two well beaten et't's, pepper and salt to taste. Beat all hard for a minute, turn into r. buttered piedish, sprinkle fine bread crumbs over the top, bake in a hot oven until lightly browned. Serve at once. This dish will repay one for the little time and trouble necessary to prepare it.