WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 81, 10 January 1941, Page 42

WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS

Dear Friends, The new year is already stepping jauntily out and the old year lies behind us-and if we are wise it will stay there. Holiday-makers are still in a festive mood-and the echoes of Christmas and New Year greetings are still in our ears. All the best! Like a glee chorus, the words passed from mouth to mouth; circling in a genial embrace the whole of our Dominion. But this year it held a deeper significance. Not just a cheery greeting — but the expressed hope of ftiend to friend, kith to kin, that the untried new year might deal kindly with them and theirs. So 1941 came in. Not the least of the 1940-41 excitements is the stocking battle that is

continuing to be waged. The whisper that stockings were becoming increasingly difficult to procure started a feminine stampede. Stocking counters were besieged and hosiery sales boomed up. Then quietly, almost unobtrusively, little bottles of pinky-brown- liquid began to appear in the shops. A discreet sign advised patrons that this was the new leg paint-and that if they didn’t use it now-well, the day wasn’t very far off. As evidence, a model leg painted with the "new stocking" stood side by side with a real stockinged leg. Impossible to detect the difference. "But what about the feel?" I asked a young shop assistant. In imagination

I felt Wellington winds assailing my unprotected legs. "The paint,’ she said, "acts as a covering. After all, sheer silk stockings don’t offer much protection or warmth, do they?" I agreed while I denied. I decided I would cling to my stockings-as long as stockings were forthcoming. Experimental laboratories are already working at full pressure on our behalf. The latest synthetic stocking to appear out of America is Nylon, a thread made of coal, water, and’ air. We wonder, fatalistically, what will be next? Seventy-seven years ago the first pair of socks were knitted in England. A mere man lays claim to that distinction, one William Riley. This enterprising gentleman had no pattern to follow. He borrowed a pair of worsted stockings from an Italian merchant and used them asa copy. Imagine counting the rows and stitches? -E

But a Mrs. Montague, a gentlewoman at the Court of Queen Elizabeth, spent ten years in knitting one pair of stockings for her royal mistress. These were gorgeous creations, modelled on the scarlet silk Spanish hose of Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth was so delighted with the stockings that she ordered several other pairs. Mrs. Montague, however, was a business woman. The bill for the stockings eventually presented to the Queen is on record in London to-day-£762/11/1%4. An expensive item-even for a Queen. It is related that William Lee, a young Oxford student, resented so much the fact that his sweetheart was always

knitting when in his company that he invented the first stocking knitting machine. It achieved’ the miracle of producing three pairs in 15 hours. We presume his sweetheart was converted. To-day the aristocrat of stockings is Willys. Exquisitely hand-painted or embroidered with jewels, no two pairs are ever made alike. This artist asks and secures £25 a pair for his masterpieces. Marlene Dietrich once paid him £250 for a specially designed creation for her exclusive wear. Yours Cordially,

Cynthia