Hats lead in fashion news. And never have they been more diverse, planned, each one, for a particular age and type. Therefore choosing a hat becomes, not merely a pleasant task, but an artistic pastime. It reminds one a little of the type of newspaper competition where the reader is asked to sort out, and match in pairs, a medley of hats and film star faces.

It is a fur and feather season. A cap or toque may be entirely of fur, or, even smarter, of plumage. Felt, velours or velvet almost of necessity adds a soft touch of fur, or the sheen of wings. Fur or feathers, again, are ideal for the matching muff.

We will see the “dolly” hat with the spring, but for the winter season crowns are high and trimmings well to the front. Hats are perched well forward, to show a charming nape and brushed up hair.

Illustrated are hats for three ages. The young girl wears a high, pointed toque of ermine and astrakhan. It is so simple, but so — different! And how the fur enhances the fairness of her skin and the sparkle of her eyes!

The young matron dresses in more sophisticated fashion. Notice the forward dip of the black astrakhan toque, the height of the feathers, the flattery of the muff she holds to her face. I have seen a similar toque and muff in royal blue plumage—so new, so soft, so different, and just right for this fair type of beauty.

The older woman wears velours, cleverly fashioned for dignity and the forward tilt. The plumage gives lightness and smart height. The veil is subtly flattering.

Street Wear.

With the hat problem still ahead of us (but with some definite ideas on the subject) we plan the most necessary part of our winter wardrobe—street clothes.

Top Coats: Maybe we want a warm, fur-trimmed top-coat. Styles are delightful, and made for the new hat we have in mind. Interesting because of the new line they give, are bloused backs and dolman sleeves. Many of the belts and tie sashes are extremely narrow.

Fur runs riot. Quite conservative, though, is the luxurious square draped collar. Prim indeed—and very young—are Peter Pan collar and cuffs. But fur can make whole sleeves, or slip from the shoulders down and around the arm. Fur can border the front edges and form a matching barrel-muff or flat muff-bag. Fur can be used for stole fronts reaching to the hemline and held in place by a narrow tie-belt. This same stole is detachable for wear with another coat or a frock.

A delightful black coat for a young girl buttons down the front and has a narrow sash. The sleeves are covered with black lamb almost to the shoulder. Black lamb edges a little hood which can be folded down to make a draped collar.

Fur Coats: Fur coats, nowadays, are just as carefully “cut to fit” as any other garment. Most of the new coats are in a loose three-quarter or seven-eighths length. Women find them lighter to wear and much smarter.

Favourite furs are calf-skin, broadtail, Indian lamb, ocelot.

Tweed Coats: For hard wear, and for travel, nothing is more suitable than the three-quarter or full length travel coat with skirt to match, or the suit with matching coat. Tweed coats this season have exaggerated shoulders which sit comfortably over suits. They fasten with large buttons from page 58 neck to waist. They have patch pockets and full backs, perhaps with a mannish slit from the centre back hem-line.

Suits: Suits are trim and quite unobtrusive. Curved back seams make coats fit better than ever. Coats are longer, following men's tailoring trends. High revers suit the very young, but the usual long revers are better for the older woman. Skirts have pleats or a slightly circular cut.

Sports suits may have slim jackets and full-pleated skirts. An interesting suit has a striped wool tweed coat and plain skirt. Another has a six-buttoned coat and four fancy flap pockets.

The necessary colour accent is given by scarf, bag or gloves.

Two-piece Outfits: Line and trimming are important. One dress has diagonal tucks from shoulder to hip, meeting at the narrow front panel which carries a row of buttons on the bodice and breaks into a pleat in the skirt. The three-quarter coat has a high collar trimmed with Indian lamb which curves at the front towards the armhole. Novelty pockets have a touch of Persian lamb.

A slim frock with an imitation cutaway front, has an accompanying coat with a blouse top. The flat neckline, the yoke and the front edges are trimmed with corded bands of self-material.

Rain-coats: So that you won't feel too deflated on a wet day, there is a new quilted oilskin, resembling cloque. A velvet collar helps to combat the rainy-day feeling.

About Glass.

I was very much attracted the other day by a glass tray with bevelled edges. Showing through was a delightful chintz.

I began to think about household glass, and to find out the latest developments in its use. I wondered why glass tables have become so popular, and, from a collection of furnishing photographs, found the answer. Glass tables and glass wagons are specially suited to the small room because they apparently take up no room. Light passes through them and the eye is not obstructed by the solidity of wood.

Table glass becomes more and more popular. Side plates and desert dishes, table mats, a “block” centrepiece with trenches for flowers, candlesticks, may all be of glass. One may even obtain a complete heat-resistant glass dinner-service.

A new concealed-lighting idea is to have electric-light bulbs in glass wall bowls which also contain flowers.

“Middle Age.”

Women of middle age are now awakening to the fact that life is not over at forty, but that this is the period when the experience of former years may be enjoyed. Food science is becoming extremely popular, and experiments have proved that the need for vitamins is as great after forty as it is in childhood. People over forty are apt to study the vitamin question more in relation to the young members of the family than to themselves, and have thought of their own food as only the necessary eating of three meals daily in order to “keep going,” disregarding their nutritional value.

Correct nutrition promises to become more and more important in the prevention of middle age ills—blood pressure, diabetes, arthiritis, etc. It is also generally recognised that bones and teeth (if the latter have not been ruthlessly invicted) are rebuilt throughout life and that the need for calcium and vitamin D does not diminish with age.

It is a gratifying thought that bones are rebuilt throughout life. If our bones are modernised after the swing of the pendulum to middle age, a mode of living should be planned so that middle age may be a healthful and useful period of life. It is not much use having “young bones” if the heart, liver, arteries, etc., are slowly but steadily marching downhill. These should be brought up to the standard of the bones—“As old as our bones” will be the future slogan.

Activity is necessarily lessened at middle age and food consumption should be correspondingly reduced.

The production of vegetables for the use of the family is very important, as they help so much to maintain the health and vigour that is essential if we are to maintain our share towards the founding of a healthy and prosperous people—keeping your own “cabbage patch” has decided advantages in the way of pleasant exercise and the obtainment of food valuable for the mineral elements.

Fruits as well as vegetables should be included in the daily diet. Use meat in moderation, and include less starches and sweets in the menu for the “middle aged.”

Correct nutrition, however, is not the whole story. Proper exercise, sufficient rest and a relaxed mind are also important.

If you have not acquired a hobby by the time middle age has overtaken you, then adopt one immediately and “bring it up as your own.”

In conclusion, the position may be summarised as follows:—

1. Learn the value of avoiding those foods which do not agree with you. 2. Appreciate the value of moderation and the futility of worry. 3. Live simply. 4. Exercise moderately. 5 Take into account the pleasurable aspect of eating which is essential to nutrition. 6. Self-adjustment is an important factor in mental and bodily health for mal-adjustment means neurosis and sooner or later neurosis means ill-health.

Appearance.

It is a rueful moment when you notice that your hair is undeniably turning gray. Of course, we all know that grayness is ageing, but it takes a “back seat” when the person has the spick-and-span look. Untidiness is doubly disagreeable when your hair proclaims that you are old enough to know better. If everything about you suggests freshness, you have a permanent kind of attraction.

Skin, coiffure and measurements must stand on their own merits. Don't let your skin get that dreary, uncared-for look. The three things necessary for it are: cleansing, stimulating and lubricating. Also make room in your diet for more vitamins, and indulge in moderate outdoor exercise.

Coiffure.—Keep up your interest in your hair, and try all the latest methods, finding out which will perk up your appearance.

Measurements.—Discipline your appetite, and exercise to outwit the middle-age symptoms.

Stuffed Dates.

These are easily prepared and highly popular. Pit the fruit and replace the page 59 stone by a piece of candied pineapple, crystillised ginger, or a walnut half, a brazil nut, a cube of chocolate, a glacá cherry, etc.

Stuffing for Goose, Duck, Pork or Vegetarian Nut Roast.

Chop two large onions, and shred finely five or six sage leaves. Boil these together for ten minutes, then drain well in a sieve. Now put them in a saucepan, with three ounces of breadcrumbs, an ounce of butter, and pepper and salt to taste. Let the stuffing simmer very gently for about twenty minutes, stirring from time to time. Cool and use as required.

Mock Chicken Rissoles.

Three ounces Brazil nuts in place of the usual left over scraps of cooked chicken. Make a sauce by melting an ounce of butter in a saucepan, stirring in a dessertspoon of flour, moistening with a gill of milk, and cooking gently for a few minutes, stirring all the time.

Off the fire, stir in the Brazil nuts, two cups of breadcrumbs, pepper and salt, and a pinch of ground mace, and a few drops of lemon juice. Mix thoroughly, turn the mixture on to a plate and allow it to cool. Now shape the mixture into several rissoles, dip them in beaten egg, then in very fine breadcrumbs, and fry in boiling fat. Drain well. Serve hot with peas and mashed potatoes.

Honey Roly-Poly.

One and a-half breakfast cups flour, 1/2 cup suet, 1 teaspoon baking powder, pinch of salt. Mix to a paste with water, roll out and spread with honey, then a layer of currants, roll up, tie in cloth, and boil for one hour. Or it is very nice put in layers in a basin, covered with buttered paper, and steamed for one and a-half hours.

Jam Pudding.

Take 1/2 lb. dripping, 1/4 lb. jam, warmed together, add 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoonful baking soda, pinch of salt, 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon spice, fruit to taste. Any kind of jam will do. Steam for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Currant and Rice Fritters.

Half cup milk, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons currants, 1 tablespoon flour, 2 tablespoons boiled rice. Sugar and nutmeg. Mix flour with milk, add other ingredients, and then the beaten eggs. Fry in boiling fat.

Mock Pate De Foie Gras.

1 1/2 breakfast cups cooked calf's liver, 3 tablespoons minced lean ham, 4 slices uncooked fat bacon, 3 teaspoons chopped parsley, a small grated onion, salt and pepper, 2 well-beaten eggs.

Mince finely the liver, ham and bacon, add the parsley, grated onion salt and pepper. Mix gradually with the beaten eggs. Grease a plain mould or small baking tin and sprinkle thickly with breadcrumbs; bake in a moderate oven for one hour, then let it get quite cold. Turn out and cut in thin slices when needed.

This is a good luncheon dish and also makes delicious sandwiches.

Salmon Loaf.

llb. tinned salmon, 1 breakfast cup of fresh breadcrumbs, 1 1/2ozs. butter, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 2 teaspoons chopped parsley, 1/2 cup milk, 1 or 2 eggs, seasoning.

Remove all skin and bone from the salmon, flake with a fork, warm the milk and butter, pour over breadcrumbs and let soak for a time. Then mix with the salmon, add parsley, lemon juice, salt, pepper and egg yolks. Beat the whites stiffly and stir gently in at the last. Put mixture in a greased tin, cover with greased paper, and steam slowly for an hour. Turn out when cold and serve with cucumber or lettuce.

Green Pea Salad.

One lb. cooked peas, two small lettuce, two tomatoes, salad dressing.

Mix the peas and dressing together. Tear or slice the lettuce finely and arrange as a border round the peas. Garnish with sliced tomatoes.

Apple Salad.

Four apples, two sticks celery, chopped nuts (one cup), dates, half cup, bananas, two, cream dressing.

Make the cream dressing; take one gill of salad dressing and beat in two tablespoons of cream. Cut the fruit, etc., into dice and serve with the cream dressing over. Garnish with tiny sprigs of celery tops and chopped nuts.

Clapbread.

Take 2 lbs. of fine oatmeal, and knead into a firm dough by adding hot water. Cut into three or four separate pieces. Roll out by adding dry oatmeal into thin round cakes. Bake on a floured tin in a slow oven.

Savoury Omelettes.

Half a teaspoon of mixed sweet herbs and half a teaspoon chopped parsley, added to plain omelette mixture. One teaspoonful finely grated onion, half teaspoonful finely chopped parsley, pinch of mixed herbs added to the eggs when beating them. Cook as plain omelette.

page break