Evening Star Newspaper, January 27, 1929, Page 57

BY MARY MARSHALL. NTEREST in lingerie cerfainly is not to_be measured by its bulk. Never beforé have women worn so few underthings—save possibly in France shortly after the Revo- Jution. It was in those days that ‘women of fashion sometimes amused themselves by laying wagers on the total weight of their apparel, and the woman whose entire ensemble weighed the least was counted the victor—no matter who won the wager. Certainly underthings have never been so light of weight nor so brief. Once a woman of means carried sev- eral large trunks of underclothes when she went on an extended visit. Now @ fashionable woman can tuck away a daily change of lingerie for a two-week visit in the crevices of her hat box. A nightgown and a day’s change might, I suppose, be carried in a jewel case. Frock skirts are certainly longer but —not s0 bloomers and step-ins. It is only as an act of courtesy that one can Your Baby call them bloomers at all. They look more like the puffs that gentlemen of the reign of Queen Elizabeth wore at the top of their skin-tight breeches. Knee-length nightgowns are still not generally accepted—and it may be that by the time we have come to regard the normal hemline for a nightgown somewhere about the knees, the generally accepted longer skirt for émtcek! will make it seem & trifle out of ate. The objection to the generally ac- cepted longer nightgown is that it does look a trifle awkward under a negligee or_bath robe of the shorter sort. However, women have grown ac- customed this Winter to the evening wrap of knee length with the longer evening skirt. Only evening gowns had drooping or uneven hemlines which seemed to go better with the shorter wrap than the even, long hem. And now the lingerie makers are offering the drooping nightgown, knee length ;: tkhe front, nearly full length at the ck. (Copyright, 1920.) and Mine BY MYRTLE MEYER ELDRED. There is undoubtedly a sentiment at- tached to being a slave to one’s chil- dren, but we are not one of those who subscribe to it. Even.a tiny baby must learn that there are other adults who can very well attend to some of his needs and that “mother” cannot al- ways be an inevitable adjunct to every situation surrounding him. It is taken for granted that mothers do need recreation. It sounds beau- tiful for a mother to say: “Oh, I'd much rather stay at home and take care of my baby,” but it isn't good sense. Just getting away for two or three hours will make a mother over. She returns to her tasks with renewed vigor and she has an added apprecia- tion of her baby. He looks sweeter and better to her than he did only two hours before. When she finds that he has been happy and contented in her absence she goes away the next time without that oppressive emotion of im- pending calamity that is bound to at- tack the mother who goes away too little. In fact, the more one stays in one’s four walls the more terrifying anything outside of those walls becomes. ‘There is nothing so insidious and yet 80 tangible as the tyranny of four walls, For the nursing mother the relief bottle is both a graceful means of exit | from regular nursing periods and a Mmethod of apprising his highness that there are “others” beside his mother, From the baby's standpoint relief botties are doubly valuable. Not only is his small stomach introduced to & new food that it will have to grapple with in the not far distant future, but the links of his absolute dependence upon his mother are loosened. Both situations are inevitable in the future. How much better to plan for and look forward to emergencics. Should an oc- casion arise when mother would of necessity be separated from the baby, and his food supply stopped, he would not be inconvenienced by the transition to all bottles nor would those who were put in charge of him. Relief bottles should not be too regu- lar in their occurrence. It isn't strictly a relief bottle if mother gives it to baby every afternoon at 2. A Yottle of that regularly is rightf the begin- ning of the weaning period, for if mother conistently refuses o nurse the baby at one period in the day the milk supply is bound to diminish and first one, then two and inevitably all bottles will be the result. ‘The relief bottle is to be used occa- sionally, and at any period. Thus it becomes useful when mother runs over to see Aunt Nell, or father and mother g0 to the theater or play bridge or go 1o Wednesday night prayer meeting. It is wise to begin by giving this bottle several times when mother is at home. If in addition she lets some it appear simultaneously. But if his howls do not bring mother and in his hunger he accepts this new contrivance and finds it not so bad, after several trials it will become an old story and mother can go away with no fear that she will return several hours hence to a baby exhausted by crying and a house- hold rent asunder because of it. Perhaps some reader is bubbling an- grily at the idea that a baby should have his dependence upon his mother loosened. But this is just another for- ward step. Baby cannot always be held just by his mother; be fed by her, bathed by her, entertained by her. Relatives, friends and strangers are part of life, Baby his to get used to them early or he acquires an unnatural aversion and sometimes terror of strangers, even of relatives. Mother may enjoy this sign of his faith and dependence upon her as the one solid thing in his existence, but we are train- ing baby for the future. Mothers begin their sacrifices very early in life, and one of the earliest is to recognize that she does baby a real injury when she chains him tightly to her alone by af- fi"mn and his initial reliance upon er. Gingham Favored In Latest Fashion Ginghams are looming large on the horizon. It is really amazing to see the air of smartness and the nete of nov- elty that have been achieved in resort costumes made from frocks and' en- sembles of this comparatively inexpen- sive material that has been a staple for children’s frocks and house frocks for so long. Gingham really deserves the favors that have been showered upon it, for there are few cotton materials that take the dye so well as gingham, that fade so little or that do so little shrink- ing. But remember that quality counts in gingham even more than in most other materials. Coarsely woven, cheap gingham shrinks and sags. The better grades do not. Checked and plaid ginghams are especially well liked at present, but there are plain golored ginghams sug- gesting chambray that are also in the picture. All sorts of interesting shades and colors have been used ‘for ‘these new ginghams that we do not ordinarily associate with this material, and the very fact that it is used with the same new resort sports frocks that would be | used on less usual or more expensive | material contributes enormously to its ! good repute at present. Velveteen is another cotton material which has come into a place of distinc- tion. It is no longer used as a cheap one else offer it she has a very excellent opportunity to see how much bedlam young ton is going to raise when a strange food and a strange purveyor of care and precision to make the smart substitute for silk velvet, but is used HERE IS A GROUP OF THE NEWEST THINGS IN NIGHTGOWNS AND PAJAMAS. THE LOU SATIN TROUSERS, A WHITE SILK BLOUSE AND A LIGHT BLUE VELVET JACKET STRIPED WITH SILVER. THE OTHER TWO ARE OF SILK CREPE, THE ONES AT THE LEFT SHOWING INSETS OF METALLIC BROCADE, THE OTHER LACE TRIMMED. A TWO.PIECE NIGHTGOWN OF PEACH-COLORED CREPE WITH BERTHA AND APPLIED HEMS OF ECRU LACE. 1S OF APRICOT CREPE WITH ECRU LACE, AND THE OTHER IS OF BLUE WITH CREAM LACE, HEMSTITCHING AND BLUE EMBROIDERY. Feats Your Child Should Perform ‘The child of 4 ought to be able to dress himself. At least he should be made to take the initiative in the mat- ter, getting help with difficult buttons, laciig of shoes and other more difficult feats. But don't expect that any child of 4 or 5 is going to be made to dress himself unless he has been gradually ven certain responsibilities in dress- ng. g‘he child of 7 or 8 ought, of course, to be able to dress himself en- tirely, even to brushing his own hair, and the child of 8 or 9 ought cer- tainly to be able to assume responsi- bilitles for his bath and to put himself to bed without much assistance. Usual- 1y, of course, some sort of parental as- sistance or supervision is necessary and may be necessary until a child reaches his’ teens. Children older than that sometimes need a little co-operation when it comes to such apparently trivial matters as washing ears and wrists. An Inferiority Complex BY OLIVER ROBERTS BARTON. Madge had shot up like a bad weed. At 18 she was as stringy as a bean —unbeautiful, awkward, pathetic. Viola was exactly 12, and as beauti- fully perfect as a bisque figure. Midyear tests were over. cards were out. In rushed Viola excitedly: “Mother, I'm class leader again, and tomorrow when we're promoted Miss Herron thinks I'm to skip room 15 and go on to 16. What do you know about that!” “Why, I know you're the smartest, best girl in the world, that's what! Just wait till I tell Daddy!” “I'l tell him myself!” And Viola pirouetted to the telephone. In came Madge with the twin to Viola’s brown envelope. “Report?” asked her mother. She held it out and her mother took it and scanned it quickly. No magic red ink on the margin testified that one Madge Murray had been promoted to the next grade. A “65” in history, and Report a “68” in grammar carried their own news. “Failed again, didn’t you? Well, She'll be Viola is skipping your grade. ahead of you now.” Viola had the center of the sta kept it. And Madge, stunned with fail- ure and trylng to bear up under dis- grace, watched her pretty sister grow prettier. At the January mark-down sales, their mother took them foraging for dresses. It was a treat to get things for Viola, she said, but when it came to Madge, “I'd rather do a day's wash- ing!" “Something very plain and dark, she would tell the clerks. “No, I can't tell you the size. Just so it's long enough to cover her legs.” Viola made friends fast. She began to have girls in to spend the night. Rightly they should have heen Madge's friends. They were her age, but they were in Viola's room at school. Another reminder of Madge's failure. Madge never analyzed anything, but and Tlze Ciriswold NG PAJAMAS AT RIGHT HAVE MAROON IN THE CENTER IS THE NEXT NIGHTGOWN gradually her expression changed from one of hopeless perplexity to unhappi- ness and from that to a sort of sharp sullenness, which was not pretty. She was not ugly; quite the reverse. Her gray eyes were fine, her romplexion good, and her features finely cut. But she was one of those girls Who must depend on expression and personality for their charm. She could have been given that with proper sympathy and correct handling on the part of her parents at the plastic age of 13. But they failed her grossly. She will always be “plain Madge.” They helped Viola, who needed no help, and neglected Madge, who needed it desperately. ' Had versed, the moral effect would not have been so shattering, for most younger sisters expect to look up to older ones. But when an older sister is relegated to the background by the good looks and the greater brilliance of a younger sister, the older fl;l has a most em- barrassing and unhappy time of it. It is not only a great mistake,. but it takes the blue ribbon for refined cruelty to lavish praise and attention on the child who is interesting and neglect the one who is net. Crackers and Jam Hold Tea Vogue BY BETSY CALLISTER. F I had some jam we'd have jam €] “and cream cheese, it we had some cream cheese,” observed a young bachelor girl friend of mine after we had been chatting with her in her wee apartment for an hour or so the other evening. Then she added, with a well assumed air of regret, “Only unfortunately we are all out of crackers—and you simply cln'thelb Qank\ and cream cheese with- out the crackers.” The idea was a good one even if it wasn’t particularly satisfying at the time. Jam and cream cheese and crisp crackers—with a cup of tea or coffee—provide informal refreshments that almost every one enjoys. When friends drop in unexpectedly in the afternoon or in the evening and linger for a few rounds of bridge or an hour or two of conversation you will find that they usually enjoy this simple spread quite as much as they would elaborate cakes and ice cream. So it is a good plan to have on hand a few jars of choice jam and some un- opened packages, of crackers—of the saltine or butter-thin sort. Then if you are fortunate enough to have some cream cheese in the refrigerator your 1xerreshmenu are ready. There are ever 50 many sorts of jam to be bought nowadays and it is a good plan to have more than one sort %o offer. Apricot jam is enjoying quite a vogue this Winter. It is often served with wafers or thin slices of buttered toast for afternoon tea when the cream cheese really is not necessary. Black cherry jam imported from Switzerland is_also delicious. Gooseberry jam is liked by many persons and strawberry and raspberry jam are old favorites. For the very, very informal spread you may be content to serve the jams in’ the jars or glasses in which they are sold, but it is a matter of con- venience as well as daintiness to have two or three specially attractive jam jars in which to serve it. Some of these are made with covers provided with a little niche at the side for the handle of the spoon. Many persons like to_have butter with cheese and wafers. It is, you know, the English custom always to serve butter—usually of the unsalted sort— with cheese and crackers, or biscuits, as our English friends would call them. It is always attractive to serve the butter in the form of balls or crisp eurls, made with a French butter-shav- g device. A butter spike or fork ould be laid on the side of the dish in which the butter is served and a flat cheese knife with the cheese. Bread and butter knives should be placed on the individual plates to be used in spreading the cheese, or butter and cheese, on the crackers. ‘The jam taken the jam jar on the Fl“‘ is also spread with the butter knif (Copyright, 1929, Here’s Easy Way to Make Buttonholes The easiest way to make buttonholes is to mark them first lightly with a pencil, using a ruler and measuring them precisely the right length. Be- fore you cut them stitch around with for its own merits. The finger-tip length | the sewing machine—and then cut velveteen jacket is used to complete them. many of the new resort ensembles, After that the actual work of doing the buttonholing is quite simple. Stars Are Reta;in;zd In Vogue of Today ‘The vogue for stars remains. A striking and beautiful _evening _gown is made of deep blue velvet em- broldered with silver stars, Silver and blue—midnight sky. Frock, trimming and color are all in lovely harmony. Lampshades find in stars a most ef- fective decoration. Stars of white or silver on blue ceilings are used in an occasional unconventionally modernis- tic room. And screens of heavy paper, in silver or gilt or blue, arc decorated with stars—silver on the blue, gold on the silver, white on the gold, perhape. A cocktall coat of black net or ette embroidered with silver stars s a most becoming addition to the sleeveless black evening frock. -~ v the ages of the girls been re-|f, FLOWERED BATISTE 1S USED FOR THESE TWO SMART PIECE THE NIGHTGOWN HAS A LACE TOP TRIMMED WiTH APPLIGUED SILK FLOWER. THE STEP-IN HAS A LACE TOP AND BORDER AND IS FURTHER TRIMMED WITH FINE TUCKS. Fashions of Today Will How will the fashions of today look 50 or even 30 years from now? Of course, they will look quaint and old- fashioned and decidedly grotesque. ‘Young girls then will wonder how young girls of today ever consented to dress themselves in such dowdy clothes any- way. In what will this quaintness con- sist? What details of the present mode will seem especially outlandish? Having not the slightest notion of what sort of clothes women will be wearing a generation or two hence, it is difficult to answer those questions—and yet after having spent an entire morn- ing looking at pictures of women's clothes as they have been worn for the last few centuries in Europe, there are certain tendencies of present-day fash- ions that strike one as especially char- acteristic of the day—certain facts of the present silhouette that depart most decidedly from the form of women's fashion—just as the exaggeratedly high waistline of the Empire period did over a hundred years ago or the terrifically wide sleeves and wide ankle-length skirts did in 1830, the bustle in 1880 or the choker collar for daytime wear at the end of the century. I am inclined to.think that even less than 30 years from now present-day clothes will look, more than anything else, bedraggled. They will look as if women had all been thrown overboard and then had crawled back on board through the portholes. ‘That is precisely what present-day clothes do look like after one has sat- urated oneself with the costumery of other periods. There fis, relatively speaking, so little jauntiness, so little perkiness about our clothes when we are most satisfled with dles and hip drapery sag downward at the back in a way that would have been them. Our gir- | i Look Dowdy Tomorrow considered quite pathetic at any other period. Skirts hang askew and neither frocks nor hats are often the same on both sides. = $ Never before in Christendom were] clothes so persistently meager, leaving+ so much of the body bare or relatively 3 so. They take on a few inches more, here only to lose & few there. Eve- ning gowns are longer, but backs are} barer. The fashion for sleeveless day s frocks has been revived for Southern* wear and sleeves will doubtless bel scarce when Summer comes. The bare- « backed tennis frock has set the fashion for many frocks that will be worn off « the courts. : Perhaps this is but the beginning of § a new era in clothes consciousness. We# may all—men as well as women—be on * the eve of a period when clothes will & be far less bulky and substantial than} they have been among Europeans and ¢ their descendants for centuries, and+ then the present fashion for bare legs and bare backs will be regarded as a« real transition rather than a caprice. * ‘The fashion for French heels for all occasions save actual sports will doubt- & less be regarded as a peculiarity of the ; present fashion era. Not since the. period of powdered wigs and panniered | petticoats before the French Revolution 3 have high heels been so highly favored + and then they were the privilege of the & leisure classes. Working girls could not » then afford such luturies as they do} nowadays. s Never since hats came into fashion % to supplant the veiled headdress of 3 the Middle Ages have head coverings « conformed so closely to the contours ! of the head. Thirty years from now % it may secm as if women of today vied } with each other to see which could « appear to have the smallest head. A Plea for Pockets BY ALLENE SUMNER. Something must be done about wom- en's handbags—some system devised whereby one mere female prowling around in her reticule for a street-car ticket, theater ticket, stamp or some loose change can be prevented from holding up a line and making people of importance miss trains, mails, the chance to get into the show on time t.xnd all sorts of greater and lesser mis- aps. ‘Women have been riled for some time at the male idea that they are “slow pokes.” They have audibly resented the wisecracks about. their inefficiency regarding the aforementioned things. Woman defender though I am, I am convinced that the wisecracks are justi- fled, and that something must be done | to speed up the routine of everyday living. Right now woman and her handbag is & block to the wheels of progress. -2 CRACKERS AND JAM ARE MUCH USED NOWADAYS AS AN ACCOM- PANIMENT OF AFTERNOON TEA. A SPECIAL JAM POT MAY BE BOUGHT —ONE IS SHOWN IN THE SKETCH. OR THE JAM MAY BE SERVED IN AN ATTRACTIVE DISH. SOME WOMEN USE THE CENTRAL SECTION OF A CRACK- ER AND CHEESE PLATE FOR JAM AT TEA TIME. Just do a little personal research the | next time, for instance, you go to the post office for some stamps! If the ma- jority of persons preceding you in the line are men, you may get home in time for St. Swithin's day. If, how- ever, beige hose bedeck the legs ahead, youre doomed not to be out of the trenches before Christmas! The woman ahead of me in the post office line yesterday had one simple little letter to mail. She asked the clerk if he could read the address plain- ly. Then she ordered a stamp. As he gave her that, she changed her mind | and decided to take five. Then she be- gan fishing in that most cursed of all accessories, the handbag, to find her money. And the process was long. 8he brought forth a vanity case, a lipstick, her check book, a time table, some rubber bands, some safety pins, some clips, a lead pencil, a handker- chief, a perfume flask, & key ring, box f aspirin. In a frenzy she laid these on e window ledge and they rolled off. A few chivalrous men scrambled $o pick up the loot It was 10 minutes before that simple little matter of buying a 2-cent stamp was attended to. I think that woman was careless and awkward, but I do know that the bags | we carry are fiendishly complicated. We open an outer clasp; we open two or three inner ones and finally, much in the manner of an “Arabian Nights™ genle, peelln, off outer husks till the real pearl is found in the golden casket within the golden trunk within the golden room within the golden palace, “k'"‘y‘ if lucky, find that which we seel Everywhere you go you see women “holding up the parade” because of their’ habitual and modish method of carrying an amazing collection of ‘“es- sentjal” impedimenta around with them. | Men, with their clothes equipped with many pockets in convenient places, do not impede business nearly so much as | Milady, with her one bulging pocket carried in her hand. i e in our skirts just as men have shall wring the neck of any damsel & who holds me up at any window the next time! To be sure, I like my own privileges in this respect. THE DAILY HOROSCOPE Adverse planetary influences will strong tomorrow, when astrologers find the aspects sinister. ‘There may be a sense of being 4 thwarted or retarded in important activities while this configuration pres & vails, and for this reason the utmost * concentration on any task is recom- J mended. Under this rule, dissensions, quarrels and serious misunderstandings are supe s posed to be encouraged. Nations, as % well as individuals, are likely to be af+ 3 fected. . Again astrologers see war clouds and ! government changes, which are really « part of the changing plan on which the J Old World is now moving. The spirit of irritability and hyper- sensitiveness which will affect man persons should be quickly quelled by all who are wise. This is a time to search for the vir tues rather than the faults of persons or nations, but even peace organizations probably will be disturbed by alterca- tions and differences of opinion. At this time men in high offices or sitions much envied may be targets or criticism and even abuse. There is a threatening sign for law- makers, and members of Congress may find new difficulties in seryng their constituents. The seers advise delay in seeking positions or making representations for increase in salaries. The rule is for- bidding. Political rewards also may be exceed- ingly elusive under this sway, which is read as Indicating lack of interest on the part of successful candidates. It is an unlucky day for many things in which women are interested. They will find home the safest place for all who are sensitive to rebuff or failure. Persons whose birth date it is may have a year of many pleasures, but they should resist the temptation to too much money. Danger lies be) their best-liked sporps, : Children born on that day are usual- ly exceedingly buoyant in nature and ° brilliant in mind. Many of the subjects of this sign are exceedingly witty. -~ Lentils and Mushrooms, Cook half a pound of lentils thorough- ly and season with pepper and salt. Skin half a pound of mushrooms. or use canned ones, then put a layer in a buttered dish with butter dotted over | them. On top of this place a layer . of seasoned lentils, moistening each layer with milk. Cover with fine ' . g cesscsnsssvasenys B Y T ana Does it mean we should have m in bread crumbs, bits of butter, and bake their trousers? Something must be done ' until the mushrooms are tender. Cream * pronto, and I don't mean maybe! For I sauce may be used In place of milk.