HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1957-09-11, Page 6-
PRETTY BUBBLES—Allen Simmons assumes a m editative expression while producing fragile
soap bubbles. Wide-eyed Allen shows that whatever fads ,for children come and go, soap
bubble-blowing remains a perennial favorite.
a Roman Catholic and decided
to call On the Pope,
Mounted on horseback, she
rode into Borne dressed as an.
Amazon,. On her second visit,
she paid her respects to His
Holiness with dirty face, un-
kempt hair and a scarf Pinned,
over a man's coat,
She had a strange collection
of followers, and when displeased
thought nothing of flogging her
servants with a whip, Christina's
"circus" caused trouble wherever
they went and many European
courts were thankful to see her
go,
She spent money lavishly but
had to curb her extravagance
when the Swedish government
stopped her allowance, Once
again she went to" Rome and
settled there, The long-suffering
Pope made her an allowance
and, surrounded by cardinals,
she made a sort of court for
herself,
In middle-age, Christina fell
violently in love with Cardinal
Azzolino; to avoid scandal, they
declared their love to be platonic.
Their love letters were written.
in code; but all Europe knew
the truth.
The Cardinal was certainly
loyal to his strange mistress, and
when she died in poverty was the
only one left to mourn her.
TABLE TALKS
eJaue AncIDCWS.
Trouser.ed Women'
First women to wear trouser*
were the belles of ancient PerSjav
who,. judging frOm old prints,
looked rather nifty in them, al,
though some of them rather ran
too fat.
It was the famous Mrs. Amelia
Bloomer who pioneered trousers .
for Western . women with the,
introduction of the ""Bloomer's
costume in New York in 1849,
It was her way of protesting'
against the crinoline, Her bloom,
ers shocked our great-grand,-
mothers when they were young..
London women who first ventur-
ed to wear them made them,
selves the butt of many jokes.
when they walked about the •
streets,
With the birth of the cycling
craze, bloomers suddenly became.,
respectable,' Whether Mrs.
Bloomer would have liked woe
men in today's jeans, •several.7.
million of whiCh are now sold.
every year, is another matter,
She could certainly not have
foreseen that in 1957 there would:
be a craze ,among yonug girls
in her native Roston,,Massachu-
setts, for . wearing frilly bloom-
ers with swirling, square dance
skirts. These modern bloomers
are in white, pink,. cream or blue
with pretty-colored bows and
embroidery or lace saround th.s
leg edges,
Man-Made Islands
Floating On Lake
For two hours we followed
narrow tortuous paths, now
winding among hills of red
earth, where cotton and indigo
grew in abundance, now run-
n
ing through valleys, sbetween
erdant plantations of rice, Soon
we caught sight of the lake
Ping-hou, whose blue surface,
slightly ruffled by a light breeze,
glittered in the sun as if covered
with innumerable diamonds.
Three boats were lying ready
for us,
Our party was soon embark-
ed; long sails made of bamboo,
and folded like fans, were quick-
ly hoisted, and we pushed off.
The wind being insufficient, its
place was supplied by numbers
of rowers; toward noon, how-
ever, the breeze strengthened,
and carried us rapidly over a
magnificent lake. We encoun-
tered boats of every size and
shape, carrying passengers and
merchandise, as well as numer-
ous fishing smacks, distinguished
by the black nets hung on the
mast, The various vessels pas-
sing and repassing with their
yellow sails and striped flags,
the vague indefinite murmur
floating around, . • . all this pre-
sented a most charming and ani-
mated picture to the eye.
We passed several floating
islands, those curious produc-
tions of Chinese ingenuity, which
no other people seemed ever to
have thought of. These floating
islands are enormous rafts, gen-
erally constructed of bamboos,
which resist the decomposing
influence of the water sfor a long
time. Upon the raft is laid a
tolerably thick bed of vegetable
Reign Of Terror
Hits Holiday Isle
Sicily's dreaded secret society,
the Mafia, is on the march again
and a new campaign to break its
power has been begun by the
authorities, who fear that, apart
from the bloodshed involved, the
terror reign will deter holiday-
makers from visiting the island.
The Mafia has terrorized Sicily
for more than a century. It is a
close-knit brotherhood of mur-
derers,. kidnappers and gangsters
and until recently its power was
thought to be declining.
But there have been fresh out-
breaks of killings and violence.
Mass trials have recently re-
sulted in 205 members or "em-
ployees" of the gang being de-
ported to the Lipari Islands off
the northern coast of Sicily.
Telling Time
In Odd Ways
Clocks in the shape of animals
with rotating eyes are being
manufactured by a German firm.
A slit in the right eye acts as
the hour hand and another in
the left eye is the minute hand.
As the eyes rotate these record
the time against the eyelashes
round the rims.
Because of the constant turn-
ing of the eyes, the face seems
to be changing all the time.
There has already been a big
demand for these novel clocks
and the firm's employees are
working overtime producing
them.
Pink-faced clocks are being
made for use in some American
factories. It is hoped that they
will make the hours of work
seem rosier and less long, said
a maker.
Money once used on Yap, a
Pacific island, could not be car-
ried in a man's pocket. The is-
landers' coinage, known as
wheel money, consisted of solid
stone wheels. The largest coin
ever made can still be seen on
the island. It is 12 feet in dia-
meter and 18 inches thick.
At various times, over the
years, this column has brought
to you recipes for favorite dishes
from mnay foreign countries.
But never, so far as I can re-
member, have we had any from
South Africa. After this week,
however, this can no longer be
held against us.
South Africa is a land of
golden sunshine and beautiful
fruits. Some of the satisfaction
felt by farm workers of all races
who gather the luscious grapes,
colorful oranges, plums, and
peaches seems to find expres-
sion in the dishes which appear
on their tables. *
The tradition of the well-
cooked meal, which was an art
in old Cape kitchens, was per-
haps best exemplified by Hilda-
gonda Duckitt. She was said to
be the "Mrs. Beeton" of the
Cape, and is to this day recog-
nized as a leading authority on
the art of cooking. Her homely
recipes live on wherever true
South African cookery still lin-
gers.
Hildagonda's father was the
son of an early Cape settler,
William Duckitt, anc her mother
was a Miss Hildagonda. Versfeld.
She was born on her parents'
farm, "Groote Post," in the Dar-
ling district. * * 4,
Some of the following recipes
were originally taken from
"Hilda's Where Is It," and they
come to you with a subtle at-
mosphere of 'the early Cape 'set-
tlers which still lingers on.
Kegeree
(An Indian way of dressing
cold boiled fish.)
% pound boiled fish
2/4 pound rice
2 eggs
2 ounces butter.
A little cayenne, pepper, salt,
and nutmeg
Wash and boil the rice; break
the fish in pieces, taking out all
the bones; put the butter, fish,
and rice into a stewing pan with
cayenne, salt, and a little 'nut-
meg. Stir well, then add the
eggs (well beaten). Stir over
the fire until quite hot. Serve in
a hot dish.
Dutch Milk Tart
Rich short crust:
8 ounces, flour'
y2 ounce sugar
5 ounces butter
1 yolk of egg
Pinch salt
Cold water
'
:)/4 pint milk
4 ounces sugar
2' ounces butter
2 eggs
1 ounce cornflour (cornstarch)
1 stick cinnamon
Make the pastry in the usual
way and with it line two flan
rings or a pie-dish. Line care-
fully with greaseproof paper and
'rice to keep the pastry in shape.
Bake in a hot oven until cooked;
remove the pastry a little before-
hand to allow it to dry off.
Prepare the filling as follows:
Mix the cornflour and sugar to-
gether and break down with a
little of the cold milk; heat the
milk with the cinnamon, add the
cornflour and cook for 10 min-
utesn add the butter; allow to
cool and then add the beaten
eggs. Pour this into the pastry
cases, sprinkle powdered cinna-
mon and sugar on top. Brown
in a moderate oven.
* * *
Pumpkin Fritters
8 ounces mashed, cooked
pumpkin (dry as possible)
1 egg
Pinch of salt.
2 ounces flour (or enough to •
thicken the pumpkin)
1 teaspoon baking powder
....Mix the pumpkin, baking pow-
der, flour and salt. Add the well-
beaten egg. The mixture must
be rather slack. Fry in lard In
a frying pan. Sprinkle, thickly
with sugar mixed with a little
ground cinnamon, and serve
with cut lemon.
EVER ONWARD—In her.haste to
dispose of all the good things
to eat, freckle-faced Lillian. Fair
banks, nine, bites into a hot
dog while her half-consumed
hamburger is temporarily for-
gotten.
Really Suffers In
Cause Of Beauty
How would you like to shiver
in a skimpy bathing costume in
a made-to-order snowstorm;
bake under a battery of hot
lights which make the atmos-
phere as hot as the Sahara; sip
alternately piping hot and icy
cold. drinks; chain-smoke in-
numerable cigarettes; dip your
face in water and, finally, clamp
the nearest male in an armlock
and implant a kiss lasting near-
ly half a minute full on his
mouth!
There are pretty girls by the
score who make a very good
living in. Hollywood film stu-
dios by acting as stand-ins and
stunt girls for the stars. But the
job chosen by pretty Janie
Grant calls for much more pa-
tience and stamina.
Janie is a human guinea-pig.
She has been on the pay-roll at
Max Factor's Hollywood make-
up studio in this capacity for
several years.
On her , are tested all this
firm's newly created beautify-
ing requisites and Janie has to
subject them to every predict-
able form of cosmetic wear and
tear to make sure that they
have the glamorizing power,
lasting quality and skin-caress-
ing purity demanded by a bil-
lion-dollar cosmetic firm.
If a new make-up formula
passes the rigid tests imposed
upon it, via Janie, a new aid to
baeuty is pronounced to be a
healthy and lusty infant. If it
doesn't, the formula is rejected,
and the chemists start all over
again. Janie likes her unique
job.
She never knows what she
will be asked to do next. Usu-
ally she is guinea-pig for just
one cosmetic at a time. Creams
and lotions are tried out on her
.to check their softening powers
on her skin; a new formula for
eye make-up is exhaustively
applied to test it non-irritant
qualities.
And the reason for the
changes in temperature she has
sometimes to endure is part of
the rigorous test to determine
how certain cosmetics will re-
act to extremes of heat and cold,
humidity, dryness and wind.
The King Who
,Was A Woman
Christina of Sweden was the
MOSt talked of woman in her
day, Her eccentric behaviour
and appearance was discussed
*4 over Enrope
At birth, her body was cover-
ed with hair and her crying was
SO gruff that the servants rushed
to inform the king, that his long-
ed-for heir had arrived,
When the ,mistake was dia..
eovered, nobody dared tell him,
until at last his sister, the 'Prin-
cess Catherine, plucked up
c Mrage. From that moment
Gustavus Adolphus treated
hristina as if she were a boy.
. Her mother, Queen. Marie
' !Leonora, hated the ugly baby
sight, and such strange aeci-
'ents happened to the child that
aispicion was aroused. After a
alcony fell on the cradle, nearly
?using Christina's death, the
Ling took over her upbringing.
She was educated exclusively
by men and studied for over
12 hours a day. Later she became
a blue-stocking and her wide
range of knowledge was legend-
ary. When the king was killed
in battle, the little Princess cried
for three whole days and almost
ruined her already weak eyes.
At the age of 17, in 1632, she
took the oath as. King of Sweden.
Brilliant arid erratic, Christina's
energy exhausted the members
()f her court. She never needed
more than four hours' sleep, and
all her spare time was spent in
riding, hunting, doing physical
exercises and dancing until the
small hours.
It was regarded as a permance
to dine with her, for she drank
only water and ate so sparingly
that after a few minutes at table
she would rise and her hungry
guests had to do likewise.
When the handserne young
French Count Gabriel de la.
Gardie visited the Swedish court,
he swept the young Christina off
her feet with his polished charm.
Hitherto, she had met only elder-
ly men, statesmen and scholars,
and she fell head over heels in
love.
The first rumors started. It
was said that he became her
lover, even that she had two
children by him. But the proud
monarch would never admit her
love openly and her reply to
the rumors was to find him a
wife and send him back to Paris.
Gradually Christina began to
assume the masculine pose and
style of dress for which she be-
came famous. Her wardrobe con-
sisted mostly of riding clothes
cut severely in a man's style.
She boasted that it took her only
15 minutes to wash, dress and
do her hair. A startling admis-
sion in so foppish an ,age.
Her ministers urged her to
marry and provide Sweden with
an heir. She hated the idea of
sharing a throne and finally ap-
palled statesmen by announcing
that marriage was repugnant to
her and she intended to remain
single all her life. Her words
caused great consternation and
made her unpopular. At last,
rather than marry, she agreed to
renounce her throne in favor of
a cousin.
The last act of her reign was
to free all the dangerous
criminals from prison. After the
abdication, Christina had her
long hair cut off like a man's.
"Cut it „short," she ordered.
"Should I who have given up a
throne mourn the doss of my
hair?"
Dressed as a man and calling
herself Count Dolma, she left
Sweden and started on a series
firf travels and adventures which
surrounded her name with scan-
dal. Even her first visit abroad
caused talk. She had become
The unrivalled scenic splendor
of the Rocky Mountains in Al-
berta is a perpetual magnet for
artists and color camera enthu-
siasts.
* *
Bobotee
(A delicate minced curry,
Malay or Indian.)
2 pounds of meat
2 onions
Large slice white bread
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 dessertspoon sugar
6 or 8 almonds
ounce butter
Salt
Mince the meat; soak the
bread in milk, and squeeze out
dry. Fry the onions in the but-
ter, add curry powder, and fry
that. Add sugar, salt, lemon
juice Mix together meat, bread,
and milk, well-beaten eggs, and
all other ingredients—Pour into
a buttered pie-dish. Stick a few
shredded almonds all over it,
and lay two or three lemon
leaves on the top. Bake in a
moderate oven about 1 or 11/2
hours. Serve with rice.
*
Koesisters
((Batavian or Old Dutch Re,
Cite.)
3 breakfast dips of float
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons elimaition
1 teaspoeetiiiM 6irlatipleeS
eggs`2
w
cup Of tat arid batter' melted
Tablealtoon of YeaSt,
knead all Wan together,, arid
let it gelid tor half an hem',
then roll out Oh a board. Cut
each Igoe 'ester about 1/2 inches
long, let them boil in boiling
fat. When done, dip, the cakes'
into a syrttp made of -3 cups of
sugar and 2 cups of Water; well
belied and flavored. With cheria-
triOri. Will keep for itiotithS.,-
TRIBUTE TO SACRED TREE—Providing a spectacular and rare
sight, paper replicas of the sacred Bo tree are carried by cyclists
in Kalutara during full moon religious ceremonies held once
a month throughout the. island of Ceylon. The Bo is regarded as
sacred because it is believed to be the tree under which Buddha
sat and meditated. The paper trees "are a specialty of Kalutara
and are seldom seen elsewhere.
SWEETHEART SAYS "NO"
Valiantly holding out against
lucrative offers from TV for such
films as "Tess of the Storm
Country" and "Rebecca of
Sunnybrook Farm", "America's,
Sweetheart" of the silent sereen,
Mary Pickford, 64, told a press
conference: "I don't think I'll
ever let my old pictures be
shown on TV. We were watching
them at Pickf air (her luxurious
Beverly Hills home) once when
Lionel Barrymore was alive and
everyone began to, laugh at our
funny clothes. There were tears
in Lionel's eyes."
soil; and thanks to the Patient
labors of a few families of aqua-
tic agriculturists, the astonished
traveler beholds a whole colony
lying On the surface of the water
—pretty houses with their gar-
dens, as well as fields and plan-
tations of every sort. 'The inha-
bitants of these floating farms
appear to enjoy peace and abun-
dance During the leisure time
which is not occupied by the
culture of their rice fields they
employ themselves with fishing,
which is at the same time a
pastime and a source of profit;
and often, after gathering a crop
of grain from the surface of the
lake, they cast their nets and
bring up a harvest of fish from
its depths; for these waters
teem with creatures fit for the
use of man, Many birds, parti-
cularly svaallo-ws and pigeons,
build their nests in •these float-
ing isles, and enliven the peace-
ful and poetic solitude.
Toward the middle of the lake
we encountered one of these is-
lands On its way to take up a
fresh • position, It moved very
slowly, though there was a good
deal of wind, and large sails
were attached to the houses as
well as to each corner of the
island; the inhabitants, men,
women and children, lent their
strength to aid its progress by
working at large oars; but their
efforts did not seem materially
to increase the Speed at Which
they moved. However, these pe-
culiar mariners do not probably
trouble themselves much about
delay as they are sure of aleep-
ing On land, at whatever pate
they may go. Their migrations
are often without any apparent
motive. — From "A Journey
Through the Chinese Empire,"
by M. Huc; from Vol, II of "Re-
collections Of a Journey' through
Tartaty and. Thibet,"
Bit'S BY 714E MILL
it would
atilatant Darrell Wilsosit
tonteMplatea the fact that it fake :hien about 30 yearts
counting at the rate of One a second, to tally the nearly one
billion steel bb's` Which act as radiation shielding in a new
nhat COW' at d radiation and nucleonics labbratary. The bb's
tons of thetii—are picked between half-inch-thick Meet
walls Spaced 1d inches apart. The new hot tell? developed by
Westinghouse, Will be used for a variety of research projects.
tuncly Park in New Brunswick
Offers Many diversified activities
including, trout angling, sea
bathing, hikhig and trail
-DARK AND' LONELY stkl fO N1= By day:knot-hers Watch'. Their .children at play, and the elderly'
test in HiOtiriddn ,Park, the Washington Heights section of NOW York. By night, 'cleacEy•
:Silence MIS, the abandoned place of fear. A land,balidenian watches the shadows.. For
here 15-yearaold crippled by ,polio, and Unable to run,' Was stabbed to death.' fey
tedii.age gang., :Nightfall and fear have' emptied ibis, pork, tiut the police are there' trying'
fd check the awful rise lit juvenile