WOWAN’S KINGDOM.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 9, 24 January 1905, Page 5 (Supplement)

WOWAN’S KINGDOM.

A CHEAP WARDROBE. One gorat defect of modern houses is the want of cupboards. With a little ingenuity. however, this defect may be frequently remedied at a very little expense. A good cupboard for hanging dresses may be made in a bedroom recess by putting a deal idielf (varnished with some of the excellent varnishes and Stains procurable at any paint shop) a little way from the ceiling, and a second shelf, treated in the same way, across the recess at the bottom, resting on the skirting; along the edge of the top shelf fix a strong cord by a brassin aded. nail at each end. Do the same with the lower shelf, and, having prepared some cheap cretonne, with rings top and bottom, pasn these through the cords, and th© curtains will draw backwards and forwards quite easily. This will make a tidy-look-ing wardrobe at very little cost, while the Gpace underneath, on the level with th® skirting, will be found convenient for boots and shoes. Very good cupboards can be made, at very little expense, with match-boarding, varnished or stained. TO TEST THE HEAT OF AN OVEN. A brisk oven is needed for all pastry. A very simple test will show the right heat. If the cook inserts a piece of whit® notepaper into her oven, and after fiv® minutea takes it out, she will know whatits heat is. A pale yellow hue on the paper will indicate that it is too slow for ordinary short crust or puff paste, though it will do for Genoese paste; but a nice brown colour, decided in tone, shows that th® heat is brisk enough and just right. But a very dark brown dhows too much heat, and the over must be slowed down somewhat. Even when the oven is quite right and the pastry has been made moderately rich, a woman will feel dissatisfied at the appearance, say, of a pigeon pie, or a beefsteak pie, because she misses th® rich brown glass that she has seen on paatry made by practical cooks. To obtain this gloss, she needs a wrinkle. It is produced l by egg-wash. An egg is beaten up with a little sugar, and a small quantity of milk is added. With this wash the pie is brushed over after th® * pastry has been finished and all its past® ornamente have been put on. This is pas-try-glazing. If a little of the paste lias been left over, it should be converted into tea-cake®, a little baking-powder, a few currants, and some sugar affecting the transformation. Then the remainder of the eggglaze will come in handy to brush over tho small buns, and none will be wasted. Thin wash is the secret of the rich brown on shop buns. SHADOW PANTOMIMES FOR CHILDREN. A delightful pastime when you hav® your little friends at your house for a party in the evening is playing shadow pantomimes. This amusement makes lot® of good fun, and it is easy and simple, too. Here is the way it in done: Fix a white sheet across the room, or, what is better, over folding doom, and place a light behind it on the floor. Seat thn. company before the screen, without lights. The actors dance and act behind the sheet, on which their magnified shadows are cast by the lamp. Occasionally they jump ovor the lamp, and thus appear to the spectators in front as if they had jumped upward through the ceiling. Some amusing scenes may bo contrived with a little ingenuity. Chairs and tables may b® called down from above by simply passing them across the light. A struggle between two seeming combatants may tak® place, and one be seen to throw the other up in the air on the same principle. Of course, the actors must promote the delusion by their gestures, moving their hands and feet as if climbing upward. Care must be taken to keep the profile on the screen as distinct as possible, and practice will soon suggest some highly humorous situations. TWIN BEDS ARE HEALTHY. The excellent, wholesome fashion of using two single beds, placed together, in place of the old double bed, was instituted some years ago. There is little more cast in this arrangement, and if tho single bods are placed‘close together, they tak® up only a little more room than the double bed. On the score of health, also, they are to be greatly preferred. It is now generally recognised that no persons, even children, remain as healthy if they sleep with others as they do when they sleep in single beds. We have long known that the young and tho old should not, under any circumstances, sleep together. A healthy person should not sleep with anyone in ill-health, for it is now understood that ill-health may be communicated in this way, oven though th® special ailment from which the sleeper suffers may not be classed under contagious diseases. Delicate children—the ones who are so generally put to bed with some grown person—should certainly sleep alone. HOW TO MAKE PILLOWS. In making sofa pillows, remember that one tick is not sufficient for confining the feathers. No matter how closely woven the ticking may be, the feathena are sure t) get through somehow, unless you have managed to penetrate some of th® secrets of the professional cushion-maker’s art. In the first place, turn the slip wrong side out, and iron it all over with beeswax. Rub the wax on the hot iron and spread it ovor the cloth in this way; then your casing is ready for the feathere, and if over this you put a thin white slip, your pillow is all right for th® outside covering. • For the coming season a very charming cushion is covered with white Irish linen, with a flouncing of lace. Brown linen, with a branch of blush roses embroidered across one corner, makes a very serviceable covering for “siesta” pillows.