BETTY'S DIARY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 49, 31 May 1940, Page 43

BETTY'S DIARY

SUNDAY: Intended to go out for a day’s drive, but Julia got temperamental at the last minute and refused to budge. Decided to spend the day in the garden instead. My special dark velvety snapdragons still making the wall a splash of colour, and by the side of them the marigolds spendthrift with gold. . . Funny thing, nearly all our choice seedlings seem to fade out, while the cheaper variety thrive and flourish. The passion vine, heavy now with ripening fruit, cost us exactly one shilling, while our precious thododendrons at 3/6d a time, and an aristocratic japonica, failed ignobly. But a garden is full of surprises-that is half its charm. MONDAY: Grace rang this morning and asked to come over and cook .a cake in our electric oven, Her brother is in Egypt, and she is sending him a parcel-with his favourite rich fruit cake. She got in touch with a canister-making firm and secured a tin 6in. square and 31in. high to bake the cake in; also a lid for soldering on for safe transport overseas. Grace says a 2lb. fruit cake is the standard weight for sending to the troops, and I am making a note of the recipe: Cream together 2oz. butter and 2oz. sugar. Add three small eggs alternately with the sifted dry ingredients, consisting of: 40z. flour, 14% level teaspoonful soda, 1 level teaspoonful mixed spice, 1 teaspoon essence, 1 teaspoon

brandy. Finally add 12oz. raisins, 4oz. sultanas, and 5o0z. of currants, dates and peel mixed. Bake for an hour and a quarter for about 320° for the first fifteen minutes, and 250° for the remaining hour. If baking in a gas or fuel oven, use moderate oven to begin with and slow for the last hour. Grace cooked hers with a meat tin full of boiling water in the bottom of the oven-an excellent tip when baking fruit cakes. TUESDAY: An amusing experience in the bus today when I took Bill-Jim into town. A Chinese woman next to me who saw that I paid half-fare for him explained that on Chinese railways children’s fares are determined, not according to age, but to size. The guard carries a ruler which he runs over the small passengers. If a child is under 2ft. 6in., it travels free. If over 4ft. it must pay adult fares. WEDNESDAY: Had tea in town to-day with Mamie, Grace, and Jane Brown-all done out in our glamorous best. Mamie fascinated us with her overseas news. When in Hollywood, she met Steve Trilling, casting director and talent scout. He told Mamie that a perfect personality can never be found in one person, though it does exist in a composite of several picture stars. Personality, he said, is no mystery. A faulty one can be remedied as easily as an attack of measles. The perfect personality, he says, is a combination of poise, graciousness, taste in dress, sincerity, ability to converse, neatness, alertness, and a good voice. "Now girls," said Mamie, "let’s go to it!"

THURSDAY: Mother and the Browns came over for cards this evening. Had an annoying mishap while preparing dinner-which turned out to be helpful. Splashed some grease on my new silk stockings. Ellen flew for the eucalyptus bottle, and dabbed the marks with a piece of cotton wool soaked in the oil. It dried almost immediately-with no trace of a stain. Had a further call on the eucalyptus bottle that night. Bill-Jim came home with a croak, so I prepared a warm bath for him with a sprinkling of eucalyptus. Tucked him up warmly-he appears too lively to be sick. Nice evening. Won ninepence at bridge. Jim says I'll soon become a wage-earner. FRIDAY: Perfect day. Spent most of it in the garden, alternately working and taking peeks at my book-collection of short stories by America’s Dorothy Parker called "Here Lies." How that girl can write. Her studies are all of American life, full of subtle humour and gentle ironies — of folks who go on bluffing themselves for years and imagining they bluff other people, too. SATURDAY: Raining to-day, so busied ourselves indoors-Jim reading, me sewing, and Bill-Jim dividing his attentions faithfully between us. To-night saw the much boosted picture "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." It certainly justifies the eulogies. Wonderful study by James Stewart of a young boy scout leader, an inarticulate idealist, flung into the political turmoil of Washington by a bunch of racketeering Senators. A fine picture, sensitive, sympathetic, and delightfully acted by a perfect cast. One of those films that leave us in debt to Hollywood.