London, Mar. 20.
Is it any wonder that the one inexhaustible topic of conversation in England is the weather? A. week ago we had been going through four or five days of the bitterest nortneast winds of all" the winter. A. friend, motoring from London to Southampton, found thick snow between Alton' and Alresford; and in Devonshire many roads were blocked with snow and villages cut off from all, communication.
Yesterday and to-day we are almost in summer heat, people sit hatless and coatless in the parks, and the Kenwood Bathing Belles invent new poses for the spring _photo-raphers. "Cast no clout Ull May 15 out" is an old, well founded maxim, But ard'to obey in such "balmy, The profusion of spring flowers renews its never-failing wonder. AS matter of fact many daffodils have failed to flower this year, owing last summer's drought. But there seems to be a greater number of varieties than ever, and that, without aspiring to bulbs. that cost 10s apiece and. demand a hothouse to them. selves.
Until this year I never much cared for double daffodils. But we have some now which have converted me, very pale lemon in colour, smaller gracefully The name. also than most doubles, and most
"Narcissi Beauty." It may not be as new as it seems to me, but I pass it on, as it is a hardy grower and one of the most beautiful flowers T have seen.
Have you ever heard that snowdrops are unlucky? T had not, until a long correspondence on the subject began recently in "The Times." It seems to be a very old superstition that snowdrops bring ill-luck, par-Yicularly in Scotland. This year they have been. particularly profuse and fine, and most of us will risk the curse for the sake of their loveliness.
Athletic Young Women Last week. in connection with the Jubilee, T touched on the tremendous growth' of athletics among girls during the past 25 years. On Satur-Gay the annual team competitions of the British Association for Physical Training were held at the Guildnall when over 300 gine took part, swinging Indian clube and doing; "physical Jen" of all kinds, with! the grace of: panthers and the "precision of drill. sergeants.
The Marquess of Aberdeen who gave away the prizes commented how "we think much more of good looks, good health and good-looking limbs than people did 20 years ano." Well, the limbs are more in evidence, of course. But the most interesting feature of these competitions war that nearly all the girls are employed in factories and offices, some even in domestic service. Most of them Fanged about twenty of 21 years old, But there was a good sprinkling of older, married women: one of best and most youthful looking was the wife of a City clerk, aged 34, with three children. She' says. that "physical training makes housework easy' and ensures a happy marriage."
wicked impulse makes one wish to- know what the husband and three children think about Abnormal enthusiasms in the mis. tress of a house are rarely comfortable for the other inmates, The Law of Averages On the same day as these com. petitions, crews of women from Oxford and Cambridge were racing each other on the Thames, when. Oxford won by six seconds, The winners are described as a sturdy. Joking lot" and one of them "a fair counter-part" of Bankes, the giant oar-breaker of this year's Oxford men's crew. "From a purely sclentifle point of view, a marriage between the two is clearly indicated. But by all laws of human probability, we know that she will marry five-foot.nothing and he a Dora Spenlow, and both of them will be, hopelessly bullied by their diminu. tive partners.
'Two years ago it was still the smart thing to, be living in a mews. to parade one's poverty in keeping with the national bankruptey and entertain in the attics thay had. housed our grandparents' stableman Now with industry recovering we can return to the front rooms: but with revival of agriculture the general ery, they must be made to look ax rural as possible.
The fashion is particularly for cottage-like dining rooms, T have lately seen one which has been made perfect representation of "ye olde village tavern." 'The floor is of red tiles, innocent of carpet; the fre. place is all brickwork, whitewashed: the chairs are of the' simplest form with rush bottoms; there is a nye oak dresser, covered with pewter mugs and "ching whiskey barrels: curtains of blue and white linen hang before the windows.
It must have cost a mint of money.
Yet modern decorators have put it in our power to change our Interiors to our taste at wonderfully moderate cost. If your floors are plain. deal boards you can have a! parquet. covering put down, abou! half an inch thick, which it is Practically "impossible to tell from the real thing, for less than the cost of a good carpet. If you. wish to Panel your walls, there is a new composite stuff which can be mould-by touching it (it is much colder than wood); or you can buy the mest beautiful "thick papers, several different.shades, which, with Palms need not often be repotted but those that have out-Grown their quarters can be rerubbed or repotted now. Cut away straggling roots and repot in @ compost of equal parts of garden soil, big sand and leaf mould. When kept in the house, they should be put out in the rain at least once a fortnight to get the dust washed from their leaves: if this te neglected they cannot breathe and must die—a catastrophe which is beginning when the edges of the leaves turn brown, Those in the House through the winter—as Caryora for instance must be—should be given two months of summer in the open. under a tree, thin wooden battens to mark the Panels, present a most handsome effect,' Nothing perhaps has ever fequalied, in calm grace and dignity, the Georgian domestic architecture, both externally and internally. But, of course, it was for the few wealthy people. Nowadays, even on a small Income, rooms may be made really charming and tasteful, though of the outside of most new houses, the Jess said the better, By the way it Is rather humiliate Ing to see that the £500 prize for the best design for a kitchen, which to be shown at the Ideal Home Exhibition next. week, hasbeen won by a man, a. 'T.year old retired architect, against the efforts of no fewer than 20,000 women!
To-day's Debutantes The shortcomings of the modern girl have had such a long rest latterly, that the "speech delivered at an educational conference a ay or two ago by Miss Marguerite Steen, the novelist, has quite the ring of novelty about it.
She concentrated particularly upon the Young Girl who has Just left School, whom she accused of lack of concentration; indistinct intellect. tual values; bad taste in actions, manners, art, literature, music; and staggering timorance of "everything not connected with herself personally: in general of being "wholly maddening."
Some of Your readers may remem: ber when "Rita" wag making. handsome income by denouncing the "Sins of Society." "In the years. mediately following the war, Dean Inge launched similar trades against the deplorable decadence of the times. "That was the day of the Bright Young Things, who certainty seemed rather noisy and silly. Nearly 3,000 years a certain Hebrew prom phet laid him down under a juniper tree and prayed that he might dle because of the apparently irreclaiin= lo decadence of his fellow-counteymen: for which he was suitably rebuked. Read almost any book of oth century memoirs, and you will bbe struck by the extreme mildness of society's sins to-day as compared with the past, There was never a time in all probability when Miss Steen' acensations might not have seemed as much, or as little, justified as now. Actually there is) a good deal of reason to think that the average Young girl of today Is much keener minded, more apt to take an inter-tst in things outside her own little circle than her predecessors were. healing, as well as cleansing, Caticura Soup is recog. nized in millions of homes throughout the world as the best protection against skin troubles.
Every member of the fam-should use Cuticura Soap regularly.
Sample each Soup, Olctet, and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.