The Letters of Annabel Lee

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 33, 2 March 1928, Page 3

The Letters of Annabel Lee

BRAD bly comer TIS Healiti Talks for Mothers, In view of the recent Bundaberg tragedy and the general antipathy to immunising children with serum which is bound to follow in its wake, a series of talks is to be introduced in the women’s hoar at 3L0, under the attspices of the Health Department. In order to enlighten the public, and mothers im particular, on the care exercised in the preparation of serums, and the necessity for their use, leading doctors will discuss the subject over the air during the series. Dr. Vera, Scantlebury will becin the talks on March 2, and she will be followed by Dr. Hl. N. Featonby and Sister Peck, all of the Health Departinent. Mothers will be able to form opinions based on surer ground as to the merits of serums after the talks. Women and the League of Nations. In the dark days of 1916-17 Jolin Oxenham, that choice poct, wrote these words :--'T'he one desire of every true woman’s heart in all the world to-day is~-Peace. What would not women give for peace. that shoukl endure for cyer?. Think of it: a mighty world-wide woman’s feague for peace? A thousand million women pledge for peace. In every land throughout the earth! It could be done. Women could make au end of war for ever.’’ So wrote John Oxenham. His call to service rang through the United Kingdom and lent fresh courage to women of the British race at a time when the heart of woimanhood throughout the world was_ sick with bruisings. ‘To-day, ten years later, it is almost uttiversally acknowledged that it will be women who will put an end to war. Societies innumerable with this aim have sprung into cxistence since 1919. Because the stark reality of war is known in eyery land. With their eyes they saw the brutality and the horror of chemical warfare~-unforget-table siglits. Harbingers of Peace. It is significant that the first conferetice to itivestigate the causes of war was held at the Wembley Exhibition organised by women. Recently the Peace Study Conference was held in Amsterdam-the President a great American woman, says:-‘It is always a slow process to ‘change public opin-jion-when, however, the opinion is world-wide and age-old, the task is colossal---much world-wide study of this question is necessary before nations will willingly give up the institution of war." Yet in all countries and in both Hemispheres there are agencies working towards its abolition. ‘The most important, most powerful, is the League of Nations. Are women sharing in the work? Yes, surelv-indeed the Covenent has been called the Women’s Charter because of the important clause, Article 7, which runs: ‘All positions under or in connection with the League, including the secretariat, shall be open equally to men and women." Outlawry of War. Much could be told of _ the magnificent work by women in co-operation with men in the ceaseless activities of the League of Nations, striving in many ways-di-rect and indirect--to change that ageold instinct towards fighting; the words of the poet have become the slogan of the politicians, and the women of all races are striving all the world over to bring about the outlawry of war, and thereby fulfilling the dream of 1917,.Mrs. Denton Leach from 4YA.

My Dear Elisabeth: Women are poor puppets, I begin to think, jigging along to. any tune fashion chooses to call. Now we are allowing the waist line to ascend, and the skirt to dip down at the back quite a long way. Such an ugly style, don’t you think? Why can’t we emulate the austerity of men’s attire, in which they look so nice, although very hot in these long summer days? Walking abroad of late, masculinity was encountered attired in orange tweed of brilliant hue. Quite a thousand pitigs, when the conventions were thus forsaken, that a more comforting hue was not chosen’ to clothe that podgy form and enhance that tropical complexion. Colour has such enormous value in the scheme of life. Some lovely tints there are that have a quality of music. There is a deep violet, in which some women, but only a few, may walk in beauty, which is as the notes of an organ; gold and green brocade gleams lilke the clash of harmony and discord in Lohengrin; and a yellow georgette viewed recently, quaint in frilliness and vandyked of hem, assuredly should trip, trip to a Boccherini Minuet. Neither the complaint of farmers, nor the retort enthusiastic of lovers of the long day that closes this week, affect me; but after fitful fever of effort in this torrid summer time, greatly I love to stroll under the stars, aware of shadowy vistas that invite; dark ships in the harbour below Wadestown hill, duskily mysterious as the barge that bore Arthur the Good to that Avilion, where "Never wind blows loudly’; some pointing finger, of a crane of infinite utility in busy building hours, but at eventide etched into a gaunt finger beckoning one to dreams. The while from glimmering windows of elaborate flat and tiny dwelling come cheery snatches of wireless music, welding the world in a new cornmunity. Social aspects are revolutionised by this miracle of our time. Upon a recent evening, af a supper party, Richard was the man of the hour, a laughing cavalier indeed, having brought along hig latest toy, a portable sect. This he dumped down casually, made a momentary manipulation; and lo, as we sat on the balcony smoking the best cigarettes in the world, suddenly the night was filled with the music of the Ellwood trio, all adding a chapter to the world’s gospel of gaiety, rounded off by the intriguing supper our hositess provided, she being an artist :

quite without peer in the concoction of savouries the most ravishing, made from such mundane accessories as trotters and tomatoes, macaroni and Davis’ gelatine. To look at her no one would pick her as a domestic Angel in the House, with her otherworld expression of pensive detachment, so deceptive to all men. On this occasion she attired herself in a smoking suit of Chinese blue, very Lido-esque in line, and skilfully fashioned to augment suave gracefulness of form. Another successful covering was a frock of geranium red, dipping here and there at the sides, the drapery cleverly imprisoned by a vivid poinsctta flower resembling a metamorphosed jellyfish, while to the olive-skinned neck closely clung one of those snaky necklaces destined to become ag plentiful as the locusts that plagued Egypt. At this long last there is somewhat of a swing of the commercial pendulum in favour of maturity, as pitted against the cheap salary and inevitable yawness of inexperience. For the past few years youth has had it all its own way; although it may be guessed that some of the positions aspired to ‘were beyond its scope, however well trained for the path of independence; and this the High Commissioner has recognised in a recent appointment to his secretarial staff. In the beginning of the century female Beauty flaunted and flounced; since the Armistice Youth has swept the boards; now, perhaps, Brains are to have their dayEven on the stage youth, as youth, has no particular value, unless allied to conspicuous talent and capacity for work, as in the case of Miss Jean Forbes-Robertson, the latest, and if not the greatest, a very wistful and puck-like Peter Pan. Her Wendy is another example of hereditary gift, being a daughter of the great and tragic Sybil Thorndike. One hears that an attribute of the new Peter is a beautiful, beguiling voice; than which there can be no greater enticement, on the stage and off; and one imagines that the great amoureuses of history were the possessors of that most excellent thing in dame or damosel. Mr. Hugh Walpole has added a third to his delightful stories of a small boy and his faithful hound yelept Hamlet. A pang is felt that the most engaging hero grows a little older in "Jeremy at Crale’; but the same charm is here to which we responded in the other tales of this sequence, the same intuitive knowledge of the simplicities and com-

plexities of childhood, all set forth with a beautiful humanity that knocks at the door of our hearts. Proof of the amazing versatility of Mr. Walpole is given in the extraordinary truth in which he envisages the intimate tiny ambitions, the futile disappointments of sad women travelling towards old age down the sad path of impecuniosity, as in "The Old Ladies"; while others of his books show more than a suggestion of the morbid, which is a curious and surprising facet in the mind of the ereator of the sane and simple Jeremy. We are told that the episodic, gripping, most moving "Escape" is to be the last of the Gaisworthy plays. Which is sad hearing of an author who holds so noble a place in the literature of the world. In direct contrast to the leisurely atmosphere and finished craftsmanship of Mr. Galsworthy, are the manner and matter of Mr. Edgar Wallace. We really are rather spellbound by those stories that spring triumphantly from that mine of creativeness, that driving force of energy and fertility. A born journalist, with a camaraderie embracing prince and prostitute, millionaire of the racecourse and downand out dosser, never was there a better "mixer," not even O. Henry himself. Through a most poor and rough-and-tumble childhood, and heteregeneous environment, the future successful playwright struggled on towards the light, here and there by hook and by crook assimilating food for his invincible flair for journalism. By a stroke of luck he was sent as newspaper correspondent to foreign countries, thereby adding strange types to the cosmopolitan gallery of hig mind. After a struggle overwhelming to a lesser courage, Mr. Wallace has found his place and his public; turning out exciting plays and novels and sketches with as much ease as Johnny Morgan played the organ. Every week there would seem to be something flung full-fledged from his pen, having been dictated at lightning speed to his stenographer, a world champion at his job, as he needs must be. Those who lately waited breathless for the denouement of "The Ringer" know only one side of this challenging versatility; there are detective stories that thrill, and sketches in London types unforgetable in truth and humanity. Your,

ANNABEL

LEE

r Jellied Rabbit. One rabbit, blade of mace, pepper and salt, 1 pint water, 3 hard-boiled eggs, 30%. powdered gelatine, 1 bay leaf. Wash and joint rabbit, put in pan with ~ bay leaf and block of mace, add warm water, and simmer one and a half hours, | Take the flesh from the bones and mince finely, strain hot stock, and pour over gelatine. Stir well, mix all together, and season. Garnish the mould with slices of hard-boiled egg, put in the. rabbit mixture, and allow to set. Turn out and serve. For the Cook. An alarm clock 1s a remarkable timesaver if used regularly in the kitchen. When putting a cake or pudding inte the oven, set the alarm to the time it will need attention. A warning sound ' from the alarm will help when the hour to prepare a meal arrives. Devonshire Apple Cake. Beat loz. of butter and loz. of sugat to a cream, add one large grated apple, one egg, and a breakfastcupful of flour, ’ If not moist enough, add a little cofd » water, Bake in a dict oven for half ait hour and serve hot for tea. ‘This is a great favourite with all at this time of the year. . Sunmmer Lemonade. lib, loaf sugar, loz. tartaric acid, 1 quart water, 30 drops lemon essence, Put the sugar and water into a_sauce« pan. bring to the boil, and let it cool for five minutes. Pour into a basin and let it cool, then add the tartaric acid and lemon essence, Use half a wineglass at a time in a tumbler of cold water. Peach Marmalade, 4tb. ripe peaches, 2}b. sugar, juice of 2lemons. (eel the peaches, take out the stones, and weigh. Put them into a preserving pan and boil quickly for three-quarters of an hour, then rub the fruit through a seive. Return it to the pan; add the sugar, and as soon aa it is melted, bring to the boil and cook quickly ‘for two minutes; then put int some of the peach kernels and cook for five minutes longer. Add the juice of the lemons, and cook five minutes longer. Put the marmalade into pots, cover down, and store away. Two Hints. Serve "bloater paste," instcad of mustard, with an ordinary steak puddin {made without kidney). No one woul dare to recommend such a mixture without trial, nor having tried it fail to reconmnend so appetising a dish. When whipping white of egg to make a meringue covering to a sweet, add one dessertspoonful of water to ome egg. It will double itself and look as if you had used two. for Travellers. When one is staying in rooms, or int any place where there is not much hanging accommodation for wearing apparel, it is a good plan to bore holes in the centre of some wooden coathangers in which you can screw some hooks. On these can be hung skirts, etc. The cup-hooks can easily be ut serewed for packing. Lengthening the Life of Linoleum. When holes have worn in the _ linoleum grind some corks fincly and mix to a paste with liquid glae. Till the holes with this and smooth the surfaces, When it has dried and set rub the top with sandpaper to remove any: rough. ncss and lay on a little stain to match some colout in the linoleum. sata