LADIES' COLUMN.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 351, 8 October 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

MAXIMS FOR THE KITCHEN Clear up as you go along. A good manager looks ahead. Salt brings out other flavours. She who rises late must trot all day.

Tho secret of a light omelette i? to froth tho egKB. To stew well, you must cook long and cook slowly. One egg well beaten is worth two not well beaten.

A firo made of red-hot cindors is the best for broiling. ho one can cook a dinner well who cooks in a muddle.

When a pudding is boiled in a basin, it should fill the basin.

Roasting meat cannot be basted too much or too often.

Pastry, bread, and cake should never be baked in an oven with meat.

The chief secret of making a good silad is to have the vegetables dry. The part which is to bo topmost in the dish should, when, boiling, be downmost in the pan., Saucepans which are filled with water as Boon as done with begin to clean themBelves.

Salted and smoked meat should be put into cold water, brought slowly to tho boil, then simmered. Fresh meat or poultry which is to be boiled and eaten must he plunged into boiling water, boiled quickly three or four minutes, then drawn back and simmered till done.

HOUSEHOLD HINTS. To purify a cistern, tio charcoal in a bag and drop it in. After -washing tho face, never scamp the drying process exposure to air and wind while still damp being very damaging to the complexion. Soak cauliflower, cabbage, etc., in salt water an hoar before, to destroy minute insects that may cling to the leaveß. For cleaning oilcloth, wash with a flannel and soap and water, then rub dry, and afterwards polish with a flannel dipped into a little milk. To wash a glass which has held milk plunge it first into cold water before putting it into warm. The same rule holds good for egg cup or spoons from which eggs have been eaten. The best kind of starch to use for stiffening laces, handkerchiefs, washing silks, or any other thin fabric is made with gum arabic. Put an ounce of the gum into a bottle and ponr over it a cupful of cold water and placs it over the fire until the gum is dissolved; then strain it through a fine sieve into another bottle. When it is cold add half a gill of alcohol, and it will be ready for use. For dainty laces half a teaspoonful of the starch mixed with half a cupful of water will give ample stiffness.

INDEPENDENT GIRLS. Most girls aim at becoming independent some day or other; and, rightly direotel, the wish is a very proper one. To be free from irksome control is not, however, the only kind of independence which we would like to see attained.

Now, the girl who cannot awake herself in stood time in the morning is not independent; she relies on the servant who calls her. No one who cannot dress herself can be considered independent either. Surely a girl who is unable to keep her own hair in proper order is a very dependent individual!

In the same w*y, when a girl grows older, if she cannot make her own clothes, cook food by which her life is maintained, order a home, know when a room is clean and tidy -or the reverse, and be able to instruct her servant, should the latter be ignorant, she is very dependent on other people.

Then it is very difficult to learn many such apparently simple things when one is older, and perhaps, occupied with the cares of life. Youth is the time for laying up stores of knowledge of various kinds. We may enjoy the fruits of our work later on. No one can be said to be reallv independent who" cannot do everything that pertains to her own comfort and' health for herself. It may not alwayß be necessary to use that knowledge bat to possess it is power. Girls study many things—they oannot learn too much—but let the acquisition of real independence be one of the chief aims of their education.

NOTES AND GOSSIP. In Dresden is to be found a widowers' association. In the case of a newly-made widower the association arranges the wife's funeral, looks after the children, if any, and engages nurses, governess, and servants generally. The association is also a club wherein the bereaved husband can find welcome hospitality and cougenial society. The fit of the gowns this season is, says a writer in a Home paper, absolute perfection. I have uever before seen anything like ic. The figure is simply moulded by the dress, as if it had been melted and poured into it. This gives great distinction to the lucky owner of a good figure ; and especially noticeable is the fit at the back, doing justice to the pretty inward curve at the waist and preserving the flatness of the shoulders. Dressmakers indeed seem to have excelled themselves.

There is a wealthy and eccentric woman in Chicago, who owns about £6O 000 worth of jewels which she seldom wears. Oue of the treasures ot her jewel chest is a feather of diamonds. It is 6in long, and is nude almost entirely of diamonds counected by faint threads, which bind without been seen. The feather is complete to the minutest details. Hundreds of small diamonds, but each one a perfectly set stone, are employed in its construction. So delicate is the workmanship that the slightest breath ot air will move the small spreading branches. It looks as though it were constructed of frost crystals which gleam in the sunlight without melting. Apropos of lobster salad, there is a story going the rounds of a lady of money who was determined outshine her neighbours it' the way of piscatorial triumphs. The mid-day banquet had been decided on, and guests invited, and quite prepared to do full justice to Mrs Moneybag's lavish hospitality. All went merry as a marriage bell, the cuisine was perfect, the wine irreproachable; everyone was in- the best of spirits. Then came the hostess's moment of exaltation, -when Chawhjs and Jeames placed on the table a lobster salad standing quito 2ft high. The guests thought what next ? The next was that Mrs M. touched a small button from some invisible corner of the table, and 10, fram the centre of that regal dish sprang a dclicous creamy fountain of foamy mayonnaise sauce, which made one's mouth water. She now goes by the name of Madame La Mayonnaise, but her success is assured.

The American fashion of coloured dinners and tea* has spread to Berlin. The wealthy owner of a luxurious villa recently gave a yellow dinner, carried out strictly to the letter. Fortunately, as no doubt the hostess had reckoned upon, most of the lady guests (and the men too, for that matter) were possessed of the dark hair and eye* which are the prerogatives of the Hebrew ra'J3, so the colour chosen was not so unbscoming as mijjht have becu the case The table linen was old gold with decorations of Marshal Niel roses and silk centre. Gold plato was used and a yellow service. Soup and siuees attained the desired Colour by eggs and butter. Asparagus, frica*S2e, moats brought to a rich yellow shade, mayonnaise, ices, egg-pluus, pineapples, aDd cheese filled up the yellow menu. The wines were en suite ; Moael, champagne, hock, and yollow Chartreuse only were provided. Tiao evening was a great success, and has set the fashion in oartaiu circles here.— Hoano paper.

It is interesting to know that the Queen herself encourages tho modern tendency to revive the fashions of thd days when she wan a nirl. It is she who is responsible for the revival of the almost obsolete spinning wheel, which was associated with so much romance when the century was young. The spinning wheel is now almost a necessary adjunct of " beauty's boudoir"; and many ladies of fashion have mastered the art of using it effectively. The Queen, too, is doing all she can to mako the harp fashionable again; and under her encouragement this sweet instrument is gradually resuming its old spell. The present rage for cameos is already assuming a new form, and instead of resurrecting the time-stained cameos of their grandmothers, ladies of fashion are weannsr exquisite specimens containing profile portraits of themselves, mounted on a background of sapphires and set in a frame of diamonds; or, if tho cost of a real cameo is too great, an efftictiyo substitute is found in the "photographic cameo," in which the portrait is made to stand out in gleaming white from a dark background. These cameos are worn as brooches, as buckles for belts, or aro set in a bracket of plain gold. Another fnshian of fifty years ago is being revived in wearing necklaces of coral. The pale pink coral is in chief favour, add a necklace of carefully selected beads may cost as much as £3O.