WHAT WE WOMEN THINK

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 15, 24 October 1930, Page 31

WHAT WE WOMEN THINK

DESPITE the ever-increasing number of women’s clubs, their popu. larity is so great in these days that. most of the London ones are findings it almost impossible to close down foi the usual "dead" season in August . Bven re-decorating schemes have hac to be postponed owing to the difii culty.any one club would have in ac. commodating all the members of an other during that period, One reason for this thriving state of affairs-is the extent to which, women make use of their clubs for wedding ‘receptions or parties, while private. dinner parties have to be catered for nearly every night in the week. So popular has the Ladies’ Carlton:Olub become that the question of limiting the membership hag had tobe seriously considered. n Wellington we have four women’s lubs, all:in a. good. financial position, nd at the annual meeting of one of these a proposal to close down for some weeks at Christmas was defeated by an overwhelming majority. ; * o * HH new carrots now coming into the market are always a welcome addition to a menu, especially when cooked thus: Wash and scrape lightly some young earrots, and cut them into slices. Put them into a fireproof baking-dish with half a pint of stock, two tablespoonfuls of white wine, a pinch of sugar, and a small bunch of herbs, and simmer ‘slowly for half an hour. Then take out the herbs. Work well together a teaspoonful of flour and one ounce of butter; stir this into the carrots, etc. Season to taste. and continue to cook gently for a few minutes longer; then _ sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve. * * *

O HENRY was never at a loss for * phrases calculated to subtract money from an editor. Mr. "Bob" Davis, the New. York Columnist, who as magazine editor discovered 0. Henry, has the following -among his specimen appeals:-‘Dear Mr. Man: I am in need of some cash, and have selected you to produce the same." . And another: "The bearer of this note will be glad to return with evidence calculated to strengthen my belief in the brotherhood of man. The boy can be trusted with a cheque, cash, or postage stamps." He once sent a cheque to Bob Davis drawn on his own bank for fifty dollars. "This handsome steel ‘ engraving," he wrote in the accompanying note, "contains everything exept. a signature. Can you write?" Davis once remarked to O. Henry, fter he had introduced him to a Buffalo Bill sort of character called Jack Crawford: "Give Jack Crawford a list of the editors you want killed." "I

don’t want ’em killed," said O. Henry, "just crippled. andJeft to suffer. Besides, there is only one vital spot in an editor, and nobody knows where that is." HERD is no doubt. that the woman of fifty at the present day looks years younger than the photographs one sees of our grandmothers, whet they were that age. Science is doing so much for health now, that people are living longer and remaining young longer. Certainly, women are being more sensible in their mode of dress.

The tight waist and pinching shoes of the ‘nineties are not tolerated nowadays. Who wouldn’t . have wrinkles with a twenty-one inch waist band, and uncomfortable shoes, of not more than size three! Thank goodness, now size five is the average. PEOPLE are now making an art of cooking; and it is becoming fashionable for all women to do their own; though there will always remain, in spite of fashion, a certain number who are too idle to cook, and whose unlucky family consumes little but tin ned food, and those preparations which give the least trouble and nourishment and easy digestion is never thought of. H{_=4LTH teaching in schools and clinies is doing an immense amount of good; the reasons for cleanliness, open windows, and why the teeth should be kept clean are being thoroughly emphasised. Now Health and Beauty have more chance, although there are still, according to Lady Askwith, some women who think that "an animated skeleton is a thing of beauty, and that lips should look. like a bleeding gash in the face." * * + WHEN you next have a carton of cream save the cardboard container; wash and wipe it, and when dry cover with a piece of brightly eoloured wallpaper, glueing this on smoothly. The pattern on the paper should be a small one. Then take a piece of artificial silk-about 7 inches

square and place on it a heap of bran. Now, bringing the four corners together, sew it into a bag shape. Press this bag of bran well into the carton, so that joints do not show;--it will then form a pretty pin cushion. 2 oe » ITH the coming season we are to see the return of the curl (sayS an Hnglish writer). Women are realising that to wear a long, full gown with cropped hair gives an unbalanced effect. The discovery that long skirts carry with them (togéther with germs and

other odds and ends) the need for saucy curls, may yet lead to a further dis¢ov-ery-that curls imply a need for fancy fans. These in their turn may render a new form of scarf absolutely necessary, and so on, until in a not very remote future the merry-go-round may pause for a moment to take on board a petrol-propelled sedan chair to go with curls, fans, and sundries. FS % * ({HORGE Meredith wrote of his wife, whose patient nature hever responded to his chaffing: "She is a mud fort; You fire broadsides into her, nothing happens." If possible, these are the wives that all temperamental; artistic, and musical men should choose. For nothing is more fatal than for two people to lose their tempers at the same time. e * » D=®AN Inge-that apostle of humour -says, "Do as I say, and not as I do.’ How often would we all like to insist on that. s & * T* the years just after the war Miss Gwendolen Parnell was trying, rather unsuccessfully, to paint por-

traits. Then one day she saw the Board of Trade’s appeal for British toys, to try and capture the trade in which Germany had hitherto held practically the monopoly. She began on wood, but was not satisfied with her efforts, so she turned to clay and later to china, At her first exhibition a small figure of Henry VIII was bought by the Queen for 12/6, and nowadays Miss Parnell can ask and get £50 for similar figures. So successful has she become that she has just signed a contract with an Américan firm to take the whole of her output, = s * {t is rather remarkable how true the forecasts of early writers have turned out. One of Dr.. Johnson’s in "Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia," which was written at top speed to defray his mother’s funeral] expenses, has a striking paragraph regarding the conquest of the air: "Sir," said the mechanist in reply to Rasselas, "he that can swim need not despair to fly . . . Wwe are only to proportion our power of resistance to the differént density of material. through which wé must pass. You will be necessarily upborne by the air, if you can renew any impulse upon it, faster than the air can recede from the pressure." _

L525 most other parts of the body, the eye derives much benefit from an occasional wash or bathe. For this purpose a glass eye-bath should be used and the procedure is quite simple. Fill the bath with a weak solution of boric acid, which is not only soothing to tired eyes but antiseptic. (One dram of powder dissolved in 602. of hot water is the usual formula for the lotion.) Place the bath firmly over the eye, bend the head back and open the eye for the space of a few seconds, Then with the head over a basin and the eye closed remove the eye-bath. For weak eyes this practice carried out daily for some time will be found most beneficial in toning up the muscles and nerves round the eye. [t is interesting to read Mary Gladstone’s opinions of some of the men of her day, whom she has rather vividly described in her diary. of Napoleon III she says he is "a short, podgy little man, very ugly, and a very foxy. expression, but his little eyes look very sharp and clever." However, Joachim, the celebrated violinist, was her idol. Carlyle she described as "a striking old man, inside and out," though she was "disappointed in his poetical tastes." Her most interesting impression is that of Robert Browning. "Mr. B. is not altogether a remarkable person to look at, and talks in a rather too self-confident way. . . Disliked him more than ever; we talked about the ‘Ring and the Book’ and ‘Abt Vogler’ . . He talks everybody down with his dread-

ful voice, and always places his person in such disagreeable proximity with yours, and puffs and blows and" spits in your face. I tried to think of Abt. Vogler, but it was no usehe couldn’t ever have written it." THE present-day worship of science has led to the invention by an American professor of criminology of a "lie-detector.’ This rather startling device is a rubber tube which, when wound round the arm of a supposed criminal, registers on a graph the fluc-. tuations of his blood-pressure, thereby indicating when he is lying or when a chance question hits home. . Should this device be put on the open market, erring husbands will find life more difficult than ever, but for many there will be the possible compensation of @ boom in rubber shares. * _ *# *% T Tourville, on the Riviera, there is a de luxe hotel complete with casino, tennis courts, swimming’ pool, two cocktail bars, and a "dog’s bar." This last consists of half-a-dozen bowls of water of different shades and sizes, placed outside the main entrance. s * s NITA LOOS is rumoured to be writing a "Child’s Life of Oscar Wilde." When tackled on the point, she admitted it was true, adding that she had been doing a lot of research work o. her subject. ON few subjects do people write more frequently to the papers than on noisy motor-cycles, and street noises in

general. In this connection an interesting article in the "British Medical Journal" mentions some experiments made recently to discover the effect of noise on human beings.. It appears that noise produces a .reaction of fear in an infant, raises the blood-pressure of an adult, and may: cause the muscles to contract and remain tense for thirty minutes. The experiment is carried out by a meter which converts sound into measurable electric waves. Obviously noise is bad for us, but can it be abolished? Hxperts declare that at least 75 per cent. of street noise could be eliminated. In New York and Paris zones of silence have been declared in residential districts at night; but even daytime noises could be lessened ap-

preciably by the abolition of strident motor-horns, the greater use of pnejimatie tires, and the substitution of electric welding for riveting. * * bal TPOWARD the end of August the small Austrian town of Salzburg is generally filled with English people. They go to hear the music, and one of the chief attractions this year was "Rosenkavalier," by Strauss, and "Hveryman" set to music, Schillers’s "Kabal and Liebe," and a comedy called "Victoria," by Somerset Maugham were additional novelties. Tickets were at a premium, and many people were unable to obtain seats. Among the lucky ones was Mrs. Philip Snowden, who was upholding the traditions of the Socialist Party by staying with Rheinhardt in his magnificent chateau and going to the opera every night, beautifully dressed. Very little English is spoken in Salzburg, and.even in the hotels the notices are all in German. On the whole the people are not formal, evening dress for the opera being more or less optional. The only incongruous note is struck by the smart night club with.a good jazz band, to which people flock after the

opera.

ALISON