Evening Star Newspaper, April 1, 1937, Page 58

D—4 = WOMEN’S FEATURES. THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, THURSDAY, APRIL 1 1937. WOMEN’S FEATURES. Silly Customs of All Fools’ Day Have Ancient and Honorable History How About a Rarebit for a Change? e Forerunners of Modern Tricks Resemble Them In GfirreatrMalrglyi Details April 1st Is Also Birthday Anniversary of Skip-it, Son of Benjamin, and Sole Family Rabbit. BY BETSY CASWELL. PRIL FOOLS' day again! A year ago today Benjamin, the rabbit, appropriately enough fooled us by becoming a mother! Skip-it's birthday, therefore, is being celebrated by the younger members of the family with all due ceremony, with parsley, and caulifiower leaves as a special treat for the principal actor! Aside from this very personal observance of the day, the 1st of April ALSO appears to niore or less holds much of interest for those whos like to know a little about the meaning IT generally accepted that the first country to really “set the .ate” was of certain customs and special “days.” Often the origin f such things 4 S France. This nation led Christendom mists of time, and in commencing the new year on Jan- the thread must uary 1, instead of March 25. Before : the change was made the New Year festivities culminated on April 1, when visit. were made, and gifts presented be picked up fur- ther down the line somewhere. Such to friends and relatives. With the l:ntgzoguga;\nh reformed calendar, and New Year day Slomic sa\'fints carried back to January 1, burlesques were made of former ceremonies on claim that the | April first, as a joke on those Who tdea of “April might have forgotten the change. fooling™ began In character, at least, April Fool day when Noah sent the dove from the ark to see if the is said to resemble the Roman Sa- turnalia, when Caius and Manlius and others bent their wits to fooling each waters had com- g | other. There was also the medieval menced to recede. This was said t0| feast of fools, at which the heights have been done on the first day of the | of absurdity were reached. There is, month among the Hebrews which cor- | jn Hindustan, the Feast of Huli, which responds with the first day of Arpil in | cylminates on March 31, and at our calendar. The rather vague as-| which it is the custom to send people sumption was that, to commemorate | on errands and expedition. that are this mistake on the same day every | so arranged that the “sendee” wil' be year, those who had been in danger of | surely disappointed. This i§ certainly forgetting the lesson taught by the | a close cousin of some of our present- flood, must be punished by being sent ' day pranks! on some fruitless errand, such as that | The English, very likely, borrowed of the dove had proven. This seems | their April fooling ideas from the pretty far fetched to me, but lots of prench, and delighted in sending peo- Betsy Caswell. Nippy Cheese Or Sausaggz Combined With Shrimp, Oysters a Gopd Dish Spring Evenings Bri i dish could be. Light, zestful, y (call it rabbit if you like and last year's Spring frock, there are give it a fetching new character One delectable way is to combine it with shrimp and name it SPRING RAREBIT. Melt a generoqus lump of butter in a frying pan and saute one fnely- chopped, medium-sized onion until clear but not brown. Add shrimps, cover the pan, and cook very slowly until they are hot. Avoid *‘frying” them. Remove pan from fire and add one minced cucumber pickle and one diced canned pimento. Keep pan covered. Melt a little butter in top pan of double boiler and stir in one-half pound diced cheese and one cup cream or top milk. Season with one-fourth teaspoon salt, one-fourth teaspoon dry mustard, one teaspoon ‘Worcestershire sauce. S8tir con- stantly until cheese is melted and sauce thickens. Remove from fire and beat in one well-beaten egg. Arrange shrimp mixture on toast triangles, cover with the sauce and serve immediately. Sprinkle a little fresh chopped pickle and pimento on top for color. Garnish plates with parsley and pickle fans. The recipe serves four. * ok X % ND if you care for the aroma of sea breezes in Spring you may numerous ways to work it over and™ ng Appreciation of Light, Unusual Dishes for Informal Meals. HE cheese rarebit probably is as nearly designed for Spring as any et thoroughly satisfying, it can be as upsetting as a hare's paw to the drowsy appetite. A true “rare bit" be absolutely within your rights) of the sort for which prizes are offered during the crocus season. The base of the rarebit is. of course, a nippy, melting cheese, but like cheese and a few pinches of salt and red pepper. Stir until cheese melts, then stir in oyster liquor with two well beaten eggs. Cook until thick. Add the oysters .nd remove from fire. Season with 1 teaspoon Worces= tershire sauce and (if desired) 2 tea- spoons sherry. Serve at once on toast, crackers or rusks Spiced sour pickles will add a flavor and dash of color to this rarebit. Gar- nish plates with parsley and “pepper” the sauce lightly with paprika. Serves four. * ok K x SO EXCEEDINGLY Welsh and hearty is this rarebit that it is suitable for dinner regardless of what the arbiters cf cookery would have to say about it. They would offer it as a chafing dish supper suggestion, which is really a fine thought. But without the chafing dish or the neces- sity for serving supper, keep it in mind for dinner some fine Spring eve= ning. BROILED SAUSAGE WITH RARE- BIT. Broil 12 link sausages and place in_warm oven. Beat one egg well with 1 tablespoon | Worcestershire sauce, one-fourth tea- spoon dry mustard, pinch of red pep- per. Heat 1 cup of ale and add to it 1 pound grated cheese, stirring con- other guesses along these lines are | ple upon what they called “sleeves | Just as incredible! | less errands’—and in roaring with | It does seem to be generally con- | laughter at their confusion after= ceded, however, that the observance of | ward. For instance, an ignorant rus- All Fools' day is at once younger and | tic would be told to apply at the older than the time of Christ. It is | village bookstore for a “History of older if looked upon as a day set| Eve’s Grandmother”; at the grocer’s apart for amusing oneself at the ex- | for a pint of pigeon's milk: at the pense of others, and younger if this | cobbier’s for strap-oil; at the butcher’s amusement be especially associated | for hen's teeth: or to “Hunt the with the 1st of April. | Gowk”—which was done by send- waft them to the luncheon or supper table via a delicacy called: OYSTER RAREBIT. Cook 1 pint oysters in their own liquor, Drain and reserve the liquor. This concoction of shrimp, pimentoes, pickles and onion in a well made cheese sauce would wake up the drowsiest of Winter-dulled appetites. Perfect for a chafing dish supper party or for an informal luncheon—and sure to please the masculine palate. A Failure stantly until cheese is melted. Beat in egg mixture, blend well and remove from fire. Place two sausages on pieces of | toast with grilled tomato rings and Keep oysters hot. | slices of dill pickle and green olives. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in double | Cover with rarebit and serve at once. boiler and add one-fourth pound diced | Serves six. New Daytime Frock Attention Cook’s Corner BY MRS. ALE DINNER Fish Puffs \DER GEORGE. MENU. Creamed Green Beans Buttered Carrots Peach Conserve Jellied Piquant Salad Sliced Bananas Spicy Cup Cakes Coffee FISH PUFFS. 1 cup bread 1 teaspoon crumbs. minced parsley. 1 teaspoon salt. 114 cups milk 1, teaspoon 1 cup fish, cooked. paprika. 2 eges, beaten. 3 teaspoon 2 tablespoons celery salt. butter. Mix the bread with the seasonings | end milk. Cook slowly for 4 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and fill buttered custard cups. Set in a | pan of hot water and bake 30 min- | utes in a moderate oven. Unmold | carefully and with al creamed vegetable or a thick creamy fish sauce. JELLIES PIQUANT SALAD. 1 package lemon- 1, cup chopped flavored gelatin cabbage Bread surround mixture 14 cup chopped 123 cups boiling sweet pickles water 14 cup chopped 8 tablespoons vin- pimento-stuffed egar olives B tablespoons sugar 1% teaspoon salt Dissolve the gelatin in the water. Add vinegar and sugar. Cool and add the remaining ingredients. Pour into e mold and chill until firm. Serve on lettuce and top with salad dressing | or mayonnaise. - ~ ‘r‘ Y ax > sesseey, ¢ Trseseevry S TN 29 e L% giaaie NEPe o op When you've finished your Spring sewing, you'll have lots of scraps that seem to be too small for any practical purpose. You will find they are just the thing for a quilt design like this, though, because the blocks are made up There are not so many sections that the of a number of small sections. making will be an endless job, howev no time at all you can have a quilt of The pattern envelope contains complete, easy-to-understand illustrated directions, with diagrams to aid you; need. or coin to cover service and postage. Editor of The Evening Star. 4 (Copyrish ; NeeoLewors Arirs 999 £ 904 N 2 <38 ing some poor dolt with a letter to one acting as a confederate of the “fooler,” who in turn sent hir on to | another wag, who passed him on to | a third, etc., until the victim suspected the trick, or some kindly soul told | | hir. about it! | | * % * ALL of this is closely akin to our own idiotic customs of telling a ting soul to call a certain number ask for Mr. Lvon—the number, of course, being that of the Zoo tele- phone. In the old days they had “April | Fool candy,” just as we do now, made | | then of gun cotton and cayenne pep- | per—nowadays it mostly soap; | tr the | boys put bricks under hats for the unwary toe to discover, and the pocket- book-tied-to-a-string trick seems to be | one of the oldest on record. In 1860 one of the prize jokes was perpetrated in London. A group of tricksters put their heads together, and toward the latter part of March many prominent personages received through the mail the following invita- tion bearing the stamp of an inverted sixpence on one of its corners for of- ficial effect: “Tower of London—Admit bearer and friend to view annual ceremony of washing the white lions on Sun- day, April 1. Admittance only at white gate. It is particularly requested that no gratuities be given to wardens or attendants.” Sunday morning a sucession of cabs and carriages rattled around Tower | Hill for hours, greatly disturbing the | Sabbath peace and quiet of the neigh- borhood, in & vain attempt to discover the white gate! So—if your child has told you in a horrified tone that you have soot on your nose at the precise moment when you are farthest from a mirror, or if the hems of your dress and slip have been stuck together with rows of pins during the night—don’t be too cross— just remember that you are just an- other in an ancient and honorable line of Fools! a8 4 e N 4 er, so get a few bits together, and in these 934-inch squares. also material and how much you will To obtain this pattern, send for No. 449 and xncloSe 15 cents in stamps . Address orders to the Needlework t, 1937.) Is Signal For Help Poor Marks Call for Aid, Not the Word “Disgraced.” BY ANGELO PATRI OGER did poor work in his arith- metic and spelling and didn’t seem to care when the teacher re- proached him and marked both papers with big round zeros done in bright red. “Very well, young man. You take both these papers home and have your mother sign them. Let her see what a lazy boy you are. She’ll be just as much ashamed of you as I am. And as your classmates are. Won't she, children?” “Yes, Miss Acorn.” Roger indicated that he didn't care. Just lifted an eyebrow and shrugged a shoulder. He had good control of his feelings if he hadn’t much under- standing of the cost and selling price | problems. He wouldn't show them how bad he felt, not for the world. He took the papers and folded them elaborately before he tucked them in- to his pocket. When he went home for lunch he handed them to his mother with a careless, “Miss Acorn told me to give you these.” “Why Roger. This is awful. Aren’t you ashamed? I am. I feel disgraced. That I have a boy that gets such marks. I'm disgraced.” Nobody knew that Roger hid in the play room and cried himself into a headache. Everybody was too busy being disgraced to think about what was happening to him, or how to set about helping him to get a good mark and be glad about it. Feeling ‘“disgraced” is a weapon that must be kept well guarded and rarely if ever used, for its use is likely to be devastating. Its deadli- ness is not apparent until its work is past undoing. It makes bewildered children search for ways of escape. They bite their nails and invite fur- ther “disgraces.” They suck their thumbs and twist their hair, fall into the clutches of St. Vitus dance, all because somebody felt disgraced in- stead of feellng useful to a failing child. Such children are among those who try to cheat their way to high marks. They cannot win them by their own efforts and they see no way of escap- ing that dreadful, “I'm disgraced; your disgraced; they're disgraced,” save by the really disgraceful method of cheating. When a school child cheats you usually will find the reason outside of the child’s own desire. Somebody has felt disgraced and wrathful and the child has been afraid to have the experience repeated. This is often responsible, too, for the changed marks on report cards, the most awful of school sins. It threatens so many evils, this chang- ing of marks, signing of names, planned deception that school people are atremble at sight of it, and no wonder. Most of it can be eliminated by feeling helpful rather than dis- graced. A failure is @ signal for help. Ana- lyze the child’s work. Find the failure, search for its cause and teach him. Let there be.no disgrace about failure in school lessons. The place for that is in a lack of effort, and that is very rare. Able children do their best. Save the disgrace weapon for funda- mental failures in ethics and good morals. Use it only as a last, des- perate resort, and not then if you can call up spiritual reserves. Let the word rest. Be helpful. (Copyright, 1937.) Olive-Green and Black. PARIS (#).—Both the Grand Duchess Boris of Russia and the Countess Galard de Bearn of France have chosen the same green-trimmed afternoon ensemble from Molyneux. The black angora wool dress is slit in front to show an underdress of olive- green crepe and is tied around the waist with an olive-green sash. Green crepe also faces the inside of the black angora jacket., The jacket is three- quarter length and has a collar and cuffs of black sstrakhan. Today’s Effect of High Waistlines and Low Necklines Very New. BY BARBARA BELL. AISTLINES are up, neck- lines are down, and the effect is stunning, as can be seen on today’s model! A little yoke in front ends in a bow that flirts with the high V-panels of the waist. Plenty of gathers for softness on both waist and sleeves. The buttoning is high in the back, and no belt is needed. The youth- ful grace of this frock is becoming to sizes from 12 to 40. Wear it for daytime and informal evenings both. It sews and launders like a dream, and it wouldn’t hurt to make several editions, with a grand choice of bright new cotton sheers such as voile, organdie, dotted swiss or dimity. Barbara Bell pattern No. 1280-B is available for sizes 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 40. Corresponding bust measure- ments, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40. Size BARBARA BELL. ‘Washington Star. Inclose 25 cents in coins for Pattern No. 1280-B. Size Name —_— ) J 1280-B 12 (30) requires 4% yards 39-inch fabric. Every Barbara Bell pattern includes an {llustrated instruction guide which is easy to understand. 8Send 15 cents for the Barbara Bell Spring and Summer pattern book. Make yourself attractive, practical and becoming clothes, selecting de- signs from the Barbara Bell well planned, easy-to-make patterns. In- teresting and exclusive fashions for little children and the difficult junior age; slenderizing, well cut patterns for the mature figure, afternoon dresses for the most particular young women and matrons and other pat- terns for special occasions are all to be found in the Barbara Bell pattern book, (Copyright, 1937.) Chiffon Headbands. NEW YORK (P)—Here's a new idea for your chiffon handkerchief. Take two of about the same size—in colors that harmonize—and twist them, in turban fashion, to fit your head. Pleat Variety. NEW YORK (). — Pleats— little ones, medium-sized ones and wide ones—mark many of the season’s dresses as strictly 1937. As a result, the sun-burst skirt silhouette ranks at the top in popularity. Focused On Limbs Beauty Requirements for This Season’s Shorter Skirts. BY ELSIE PIERCE. [ CERTAINLY hope that skirts will never go back to kneecap heights, Because I can't see where the ex- tremely short skirt adds one bit to womanly grace. What's more, the shorter the skirt, the harder it becomes for the average figure to wear it. I think that skirts covering the calf or at least the mid-mark are a lovely length. But, Paris is pretty definite about the fact that skirts are shorter. So more demands are being made on beauty. Let's see what the shorter skirt does and we'll know just what its beauty requisites are. First—it focuses attention on calves and ankles. So if your legs aren't pretty enough for you to be proud of EAR DOROTHY DIX: Which is“the better—a marriage for love or a marriage for con- venience? JOHN C. P. Answer—There are two schools of thought on this subject. One con- tends that it is better to pick your | mate with your head than with your | heart; that in those countries in which the marriage of convenience is the rule there is far less divorce than there is in the United States and England, where the love match pre- vails. They point out that romantic love lasts but a short time and that after that is gone those who have married just because some pretty face or stal- wart form caught their fancy, or they | were drawn together by some physical | attraction, have nothing left. Whereas | those who have married suitable indi- | showing them off, you had better start immediately to exercise them and get them a trim eyeful. Other- wise, you'll be too self-conscious in your short skirts Second—if you are a bit on the plump side, even if it is basking in Fashion's favor this season. Have the will to be an individual at the risk of being called a prude. Unless you want to look squatter than you are. If you are extremely tall, you may imagine that the short skirt was made especially for you. But that’s a mis- take. For extremely short skirts make the very tall individual look ludicrous and have quite the same effect as very low heels (which the very tall woman should never adopt). Both seem like obvious contrivances to make one look shorter. They seem to be an admission that one is ashamed of her height—and that according to modern beauty standards, is not justi- fied. This season shoes are joining skirts in making beauty demands. By focusing attention on the legs, the short skirt automatioally draws the eye toward the shoes. And shoes are more elaborate than they've been in years . . . combinations of leather and cloth, high colors, intricate treat- ment. All this means that the feet are coming in for the lion's share of attention. If you toe out, or if you are “pigeon-toed” people will notice these idiosyncrasies now more than ever. If your shoes run down readily at the heel be sure to keep them in repair. If you are adopting one of the high throated elaborates or the cut-out heel and toe touch or similar new wrinkles in shoes, look to your posture and your walk. Yes, skirts and shoes are making us that much more conscious of our beauty! Manners of the Moment 'HIS seems to be the open season for men’s coats. But were against ever having an open season for them. When it's too warm for a man to but- ton up his overcoat, he should go with- out one. g And we'll tell you why. When a girl stands in a crowded train, or & crowded elevator, she doesn’t like to b-ve a lot of strange men’s coats em- bracing her. She doesn't really like to share a man’s overcoat at all unless it’s & man she knows terribly, terribly well. And yet at this time of the year a girl is forced to share all sorts of men’s overcoats, all over town. It really isn't fair. Perhaps the thing for a girl to do, when she finds herself enveloped this way, is to untie her scarf and offer him one end of it. She could say, “As long as you're giving me part of your overcoat, can’t I offer you a part of my scarf?” But really there’s not much she can do except to urge her own men folk to keep their overcoats to themselves when traveling in crowds. (Copyright, 1037.) beware the short skirt | | viduals, who were in their own class and who could advance their inter- ests socially and financially, have a | solid fcundation on which to build a prosperous life. | This is a good, sound, logical argu- ment in favor of the marriage of convenience, provided one is cold- blooded enough to expect nothing of | marriage except a working partner- ship. It is a wedding cake without the frosting on the top and it seems to me that it would be pretty heavy and clammy and lie heavy on the stomach if you had a lifetime diet of it. Such a marriage has no thrills to it, no raptures, no sweetness, noth- | ing but just plain duty and making | the best of your bargain. No doubt the marriage of conven- | ience does last longer than the love | marriage, taking them both by And‘ large, because it has less exposure to | the emotions in it. Those who g0 into such a marriage do not expect so much of marriage or of each other, | as do the romantics who vision mar- riage as an Eden on earth. Nor are | they likely to be jealous, and that| makes for a placid and peaceful life. But they never know the rapture that comes of loving and being loved. They never see the glory ana the circling wings that the love marriage does, even if they only glimpse it for a short time, and that is what really makes marriage worth while. ® When you want to be the he Magnet.” It knows more about has a right to know! Its lure subtle as intuition. $55 to a purse flacon at $1.00. Dorothy Dix Says Marriage for Love or Convenience Has Proponents and Opponents. | bands. of the story, wear L'Aimant, “The inine fascination than any fragr It is a star in Coty’s series of Dromatic Perfumes The trouble with the marriage of convenience i8 that it is never safe. A man and woman may thir money, position and comfort are worth more to them than sentime; and then suddenly, without warning, Cupid plays a joke m them and they | find that they are wildly, madly, pas- sionately in love, and their good, suit- able wives and husbands are anathema to them and that their marriage of convenience is a hell on earth. The ideal marriage is the combined love match and marriage of convenience, a marriage in which a man and woman pick out the mates who not only come up to their ideals, but who fire their fancies. * * x % EAR MISS DIX: We are two girls, 20 and 21 years of age. Both of us are employed, one a beauty operator and the other a stenographer. For the last several months we have been going with two young men of good standing in the community who wish to marry us. Both make jood livings and are net spendthrifts. ‘What is your opinion on the subject of marriage? Should we continue to work and not marry? Or should we marry and give up our work? Or should we marry and still hold our positions? MARY AND GEORGIA. Answer—Evidently you are not very much in love with the boys or else you would not debate so coolly the advisability of marrying them, as they seem to be unusually desirable hus- If that is the case and you are in a state of mind where you can take 'em or leave 'em, as the phrase goes, leave ’‘em The only thing that justifies a girl in marrying is to be so much in love with a boy that he looks better to her than anything else in the world. As for choice between your work and a husband, the same rule applies. Take the one you are most interested | in and get the most pleasure out of. Generally speaking, a husband is a better choice than a career. A woman has to work a long time and be un- ustally successful before she can earn for herself the comforts her husband gives her. When you marry give up your job unless you especially need the money. Making a home is a two-handed job that is big enough for any woman roine fem- ance is os