Fiction
189 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON! W.C.1
Telephone TEMPLE BAR 2468 (100 LINES)
MAY 28, 1 9 5 5 VOLUME 36, NUMBER 937
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FROM
the hillside garden we could see all the apple, orchards of Kent,
cloudy with pink and white blossom. Over head lilac and laburnum swayed
in the warm breeze.
Everywhere
one looked there were flowers-tulips, forget-me-nots, hawthorn and, on
the lawn, the silver sheen of unmown daisies.
"If
only," said my host, "we could save the laburnum for December and the
lilac for January, and the forget-me-nots say, for February, there would
still be blossom and to spare for May."
He is a thrifty man, and is always slightly unnerved by the wanton extravagance of blossom time.
But nature, unlike him, has never had much use for the thoroughly human virtues of prudence and moderation.
"You shall have all or nothing," she says grandly and just for this glorious moment she gave us all.
Personally I would not change her. But then thrift has never been my strong point either.
THE EDITOR
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BLOGG’S BOUNCING BRONCOS
Losses on the roundabouts? Make them up by writing us a guinea-winning letter
When I joined the W.R.N.S. some time ago I had my doubts as to whether I should be able to settle down to service life, make friends and accept discipline, for I had never been away from home before and was inclined to shyness.
I need not have worried, for within a month I got used to being away from home and having to stand on' my own feet.
Now, after eighteen months, I've done many exciting things, and been to places I never dreamed of seeing. I've learned more than I ever did at school and made many friends of both sexes (including the boy who will be my fiancee in two weeks time) and I wonder how I ever endured the dull life of Civvy Street.
Of course, I'll be back there some day, but I know how to get the best out of life now, and how to get along with people by thinking of them, and not of myself all the time._ Wren."
We don't think you need worry at all, about. Ciyvy Street or anything else being dull.
Beauty, says the poet, is in the eye of the beholder, and the same thing applies to friendliness, interest, excitement, fun, all the worthwhile things.
If you put into practice all you have learned in the past eighteen months, we think your fiancee is going to be a very happy man.
A three year old who often comes for a walk with me adores cats. When we visited some friends he was delighted to find they had a cat, but disappointed that he couldn't coax her out from under the sofa.
After trying unsuccessfully for some time he asked seriously: .. Do you think she would come out if I made a noise like a piece of meat?- , Miss P. A. (Ashford, Kent).
My daughter, who recently left School, works in an office where there are two blind people on the staff.
I feel it is a privilege for her to work with them, for their happy dispositions and proud independence are a good influence on her.
My daughter longs to help them at times, but she is learning to be tactful and knows when to offer help and when to be unobtrusive. Mrs. W. S. (Mitcham, Surrey).
AFTER we read this letter we thought for time about people who, deprived of the use of their eyes, never the less brave the daily rush hour to travel to and from their place of work.
Just for a second or two, on a crowded escalator, we closed our eyes. And if ever we find ourselves in one of those moods (most of us get them) when we feel really sorry for ourselves, we're going to do just that again.
It's a quick cure for self-pity.
I have a lovely little house
Thatched with kindly deeds; Friendship keeps its windows bright,
The garden grows no weeds; Children's laughter furnished it-
Their funny, loving ways I've woven into curtains
My husband's love built up its walls,
He strengthened every brick
With courage, kindliness and hope
(They're strong and warm and thick).
No storm, no flood can harm my house
No earthquake shake apart
My little house built with such love:
It's safe within my heart.-
Mrs. M. M. (Wootton Wawen, War).
Peel and core some large apples, place in a greased tin, and fill the centres with any favourite jam.
Cover the fruit with well-beaten egg white, and then coat each apple in a mixture made of equal weights of castor sugar, ground almonds, and cake crumbs. Bake in a fairly hot oven for twenty minutes, and turn out a really delicious sweet that everyone enjoys. Mrs. J. H. (Alloa, Clackmannan).
WE have heard a similar recipe, but without using ground almonds. We feel the nutty flavour though, would be an added delight.
It has always been my lot to hand over the morning papers to the menfolk of the house, and wait patiently while they read every line before grudgingly, discarding them.
So imagine my glee one morning, during the newspaper strike in April when I propped up my copy of WOMAN against the teapot and proceeded to read.
I could feel the agony of suspense as to whether I should give it just a quick glance or read it thoroughly. After enjoying most of the tit-bits. I decoded to leave the serious reading until later, and I left them to the argument for possession that followed.
So one woman, at least, Didn’t really dislike the newspaper strike Mrs. N. Q. (Birmingham).
QUITE a lot of other women, too, judging from our postbag.
We feel it's a pity, though, that some husbands and wives don't seem to exchange a word for days on end unless there's a newspaper strike, or the radio or television goes wrong!
I recently gave up my bus seat to an elderly woman.
She promptly turned to her companion
and said: “No wonder she gave me her seat. It's a wooden one! "
So you see, it is not only the younger generation, that can be' rude.-Miss P. M. (Luton, Beds).
WE never thought it was. Real downright rudeness (and we quite agree this is a good example of it) comes, in our opinion, largely from stupidity: the very rude are usually too mentally limited to realize how shocking their behaviour is.
But politeness still pays. ,You've had (once your understandable annoyance subsided) a good laugh, and now you're getting a guinea as well.
Please share a feminine secret me a mere male.
Why, when my dear wife washes in the bathroom, doesn't the water drip off her elbows on to the floor?
She appears to wash in time honoured fashion, without undue care, and leaves the bathroom quite dry. Yet when I try to follow suit, I'm very sone slippers awash.
Any advice would be most welcome, as I'm due to be relegated to the kitchen (with tiled floor) any day now.-Mr. G. D. (Cottingham, Yorks).
WE'D love to help, Mr. C. D., but frankly we don't know the secret. We suspect it comes into the same category as: why can men pack parcels better than women? Why do men squeeze the tube of toothpaste from the end, women from the middle? And a whole host of other intriguing puzzlers.
But we could offer a practical suggestion: why not treat your bathroom to one of the new long handled synthetic sponge mops? So efficient, so simple you'll find yourself splashing just for the fun of mopping up.
Once, in a railway carriage, I sat opposite a woman who, I thought, was the most ill natured person I had ever seen. Her mouth was so small and tightly drawn that you could scarcely see her lips.
I have just had all my teeth out and when I looked in the mirror I was at once reminded of that woman.
So perhaps I misjudged the poor soul. Perhaps she, too, had had her teeth out and was selfconscious about the wide open spaces.
I shall think twice, in future, before making snap judgments.-Mrs. M. M. (Fauldhouse, W. Lothian).
WE ourselves are firmly against judging people's characters by their facial expressions. The reason for this is that our nearest and dearest assure us that we always turn on a look of scowling ferocity when we are thinking something out.
"You look," as a painfully candid brother once said, "as if you were fighting, back to the wall, against the whole world. And when you're through with the world, I shouldn't be surprised if you took a swipe at the wall."
Whereas, in actual fact, we wouldn't hurt a fly.
Use narrow velvet ribbon for shoulder straps, with the velvet side next to the skin.
You won't be annoyed again by slipping straps on undergarments.- Mrs. M. (Nuneaton, Warwicks).
IF strong ribbon is used for the brassiere strap, slips can be fastened to the same strap by means of hooks and eyes, saving the unsightly crisscross of ribbons that spoils the look of some transparent blouses.
Is your filing cabinet put to as strange a use as ours?
Today's contents include Beetroot, boiled; Cakes, miscellaneous; Hake, silver; Hearts, sheep's; Liver, lamb's; Puddings, black; rolls, Vienna.(Please note alphabetical order).
Such is the lot of a boss who employs four housewives as clerks!
Best wishes to your, magazine, which, incidentally, has its very own drawer in our office filing cabinet.- Mrs. A. H. (Manchester).
WE should prefer just to print your letter, Mrs, A.H., without going into the point raised in your first paragraph.
Strictly without prejudice, though we don't mind admitting that it is sometimes a little difficult to find any space for the files.
My last day at school was tinged with the regretful thought of probably never seeing the majority of my school pals again.
That was two years ago. Now, as I sit typing letters in my office, it occurs to me that via the typewriter I am perhaps in continual contact with my old friends.
After all, somebody at the receiving end has to type the replies to my letters, and I wonder how many of my "opposite numbers" are girls who shared my carefree schooldays.- Miss H. W. (Loughton, Essex).
A FASCINATING thought, Miss H. W. and one that has set us speculating, too.
For who can tell that Mrs. X, whose letter we read with a view to inclusion in WOMAN TO WOMAN, is not the Polly Bloggs down whose gym tunic we split the rice pudding?
Seriously, though, some schools have old girls' associations, and these have to be started by someone. So if you feel that way, why shouldn't you be. the someone?
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Our address is given page 3. Letters sent to "Woman to Woman" must be original not copied or rewritten from other publications; neither should they be duplicated to other editors. Subject to these conditions, a guinea (about $2.93) is sent to each reader whose letter is published
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The average price of a new home then was $10950 about 2.65 times the yearly average wage of $4130. Which was about 2.17 times the price of a new car $1900. And the future was progressive not regressive
