Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1950-7-19, Page 7The Fasting Woman Of Tlatbury A very large number of women embark .on a slimming dict at least note in their lives, and many of them spend a great deal of time in talking about their weight .and their efforts to reduce it, Most of them sem to agree that dieting is the most efficacious way of doing so. R ettncing and dieting, in Most cases, stout, to mean moderate starva- tion, troy Christian, a schoolmaster Who enjoys delving into local his- tory, in a recent BBC broadcast told a remarkable tale about a woman who, in the early years of the nineteenth century, dieted so rigorously and for so long that she became lemons. The lady was Anti Moore, known as the Fading Wom- an of 'rstbury. She was about forty when she came to 'rutbury in Staf- fordshire. Her looks were fading, her farm labourer husband had deserted her and her past was best ignored. It was towards the end of 1806, when she was forty- five, that she claimed to have lost all desire for food. This was really t natter of necessity for she was extremely poor. After a time she found that she could exist without food for comparatively long periods without any apparent loss of strength. In the following spring Ann, who possessed considerable intelligence even though her morals were open to question, decided that her growing local reputation might he put to some commercial use. She took to- her bed, with occa- sional sips of tea and the Bible as her only means of sustenance. kis June she finally renounced all food and shortly after this was said to be "'gradually diminishing her liquids." Fifteen months afterwards two doctors investigated her claims and sixteen of the town's leading citizens, watching in pairs for four hours at a stretch, stayed at her bedside for sixteen days and, in case any fraud might be in the off- ing, the bed and its occupant were moved to the house of a member of the investigating committee. It ]las never been found out how Ann managed to deceive this "watch committee' but it can only be sup- posed that one of them was a friend who smuggled food to her. Whatever her methods were she managed to convince them that Merry Menagerie-ByWaltDisney 'Poor guy's been marooned there two days now!" she had gone sixteen days without food and the last thirteen without drink. In the next five years she be- came a national figure and visitors came from all over Britain to gaze and marvel at her. Even the poet Wordsworth . and his sister came to call and other distinguished and fashionable visitors left behind to- kens more tangible than mere respects; It was estimated that at one time Ann made some four hundred a year from then. In 1812 a Scottish doctor called Alexander Henderson came to call. IIe was unimpressed by the previous ete- quiry and demanded a more search- ing investigation into the remark- able powers that Ann was alleged to possess. Ann was unwilling to submit to another ordeal but even- tually had to agree and the new test began in April, 1813. The watchers were all clergymen, doc- tors and magistrates who left nothing to chance, even placing a weighing machine under the bed and keeping a careful record of Amt's weight. On the ninth day this dropped alarmingly and it scented that she was about to die. The watch was called off and Ann's slaughter sent for. Two hours later the patient became much better and protested vigorously that there had been no deception, bat later on she broke down and admitted that she had taken some nourish- ment during the previous five years. Christian said that on reading the evidence in old newspapers it would seem that Ann Moore did truly possess extraordinary powers of fasting and it was not really sur- prising that an astute Woman des- perately short of money should turn her unusual talent to good account, especially when she could make a good living from it without doing a stroke of work. She left Tutbnry in disgrace after her exposure and was not beard of again until she and her daughter appeared at a house of correction at Knutsford, charged with stealing from their lodgings. "We are sot told what site stole," Ka Christian. "I wonder if it was food?" The mostenviousthing about women is men, Made Millions From Sewing Stitches If all housewives had to choose a machine which they considered had proved of the greatest benefit to humanity during the past fifty years, which machine would gets most votes? Probably the sewing mach- ine—the invention that put an end to mass slavery of the needle, The sewing machine was not the product of one man's genius, but its history is as moving as any in the story of human invention. It began with a London cabinet- maker named Thomas Saint, who, in 1790, constructed a machine for sewing leather, or, as he put it, "for quilting, stitching and making shoes, boots, splatterdashcs, clogs and other articles." Forty years later a Frenchman, Bartelemy Thimonnier, produced a contraption made of wood which used barbed needles, ,for stitching gloves. He began business in Paris as an army clothier. But other people in the trade were afraid that the machine would cause widespread unemployment, His workshop was invaded and every machine in it was smashed, compelling the in- ventor to fly from Paris. In 1834 Thimonnier produced a new and more perfect machine and to earn his daily bread he demon- strated it in towns and villages as ,a curiosity. Shortly after, a rich Frenchman who believed in him and his inven- tion, started a firm for its manufac- ture. All promised well until the Revolution of 1848 broke out. This stopped the business, ruined both men and Thimonnier died in a poorhouse a few years later. Elias Howe is the man to whom most credit is due for producing and marketing the first really prac- tical lock -stitch sewing machine. But his final success was only achieved after great hardships. Howe was born in Massachusetts in 1819, and when he was twenty- two years old the idea of the lock - stitch occurred to hint, For three years he. experimented with a num- ber of bent wires instead of needles. Then a friend lent him sone capital in return for a half-share in the invention should it prove a success. Thus aided, Howe complet- ed his first machine and actually made himself a suit of clothes with it. Sure of his ground, he took bold steps to boost his invention. IIe challenged five of the most expert sewers in a Boston sewing factory to a match, ALMOST ASSAULTED Each of them had to sew a certain strip of cloth, and Howe undertook to sew five strips, torn in halves, before each man had completed his one strip, To the antarement of everybody Ilowe finished his five seams be- fore the others had completed one. But threats instead of cheers followed the victory, He was ac- cused of trying to take the bread out of the mouth of the honest working -ratan and narrowly escaped beim assaulted by the angry mob. However, he managed to get away with the precious machine under his arm. The experiences of Howe and Thimonnier were almost identical. Howe toured country fairs, exhibit- ing his "clever toy" for a trifling fee. The Ladies Were Unshaken—:Police officer D. F. Copley assists two very stili, slightly dam- aged young ladies from the scene of an accident. The young ladies, who happen to be undraped window mannekins, never lost their composure when the auto of Thomas McKnight careened onto the sidewaile and crash ed through the glass window, In the end, despairing of doing any good in .America, he persuaded his brother to go to England to see if he could sell it, There were literally millions of pounds in that machine, yet Howe was only too glad to accept an offer of £250 for the patent, which his brother obtained from a staymaker named Thomas. Thomas, however, wanted certain alterations made and Howe came to England to execute them. He was paid three pounds a week while the experiments were being made. But at the end of two years he had failed to achieve what Thomas wanted and everything was abandoned. Howe found himself penniless again and had to leave his machine in pawn to pay his passage home. When he got back to America he found a number of ingenious inventors producing or experiment- ing with sewing machines, and some of them had deliberately infringed his own patent rights. Somehow he raised enough money to redeem his pawned machine in England and then took legal action against all who had infringed his patents. The litigation both in time and expense was tremendous, but it ended in victory, It is said that Howe, who left London in debt, received before his patent expired in 1867, more than two million dollars in royalties alone. A number of names take the stage after Howe, but the one which finally dominated the scene was that of Isaac Singer. Singer was a mill- wright employed in a New York factory. MADE A FORTUNE One day a sewing machine was sent in for repairs, and after examin- ing its mechanism, Singer decided Ile could make a better one. Instead of a curved needle, as was used in earlier models, he ad- opted a straight one and made several other improvements. Soon Singer's machine was being turned out by the million on bout sides of the Atlantic, And when he died in 1875 Singer left an estate valued at $15,000,000. ton Stomach—hospital officials were dumfounded when this X-ray of an unidentified patient's stomach revealed the presence of spoons, bedsprings, 12 pieces of steel and beat wire, two brolc- fen light bulbs, pins and neeclles. For good measure, the patient topped off lis swallowing spree with a dash of salt—still in the metal shaker. e II � e1a� Andrews. Every ycar more and more famil- ies are buying or building home freezers, or else patronizing the quick-freeze plants that are being established in so many places. Na- turally, there are more acid more requests for information about quick freezing fruits at home. * * * Not being as thoroughly familiar with the subject as I'd like to be— and intend to be before too long— I'nt passing along these hints and instructions from one who is a real expert; and I do hope you'll find what she has to say- both in- teresting and helpful. * * 5 What fruits can be frozen? Prac- tically all. Bananas are an excep- tion. Pears aren't satisfactory to freeze, either. But most of the com- mon fruits and berries freeze all right. It's been my experience that fruits are easier than vegetables to freeze successfully. However, one needs to be more particular in freezing than in canning. There are certain things that must be ob- served in freezing any fruit. * * * First, fruit trust be sound—and ripe, Riper than for canning, yet not soft or mushy. Just right for eating, that's the idea, because it will taste the same when you take it out as when you put it in. * * * Second, work with small quanti- ties. I'll prepare 6 or 8 pints, at the most, keeping the rest of the fruit in a cool place until I get these into the freezer. (Or into the re- frigerator, if they have to go to town to the locker.) We have a 6 cu. ft. home freezer, and I find that 14 pints is about all it will freeze satisfactorily in one day. If I have more, it must go to the locker plant in town for the quick freeze. Overloading a freezer is hard on the motor. Also, it slows up the quick freeze, which may result in a poorer product. * * * I have read that 25 pints at a time is maximum for a 20 cu. ft. freezer. But I think,it should surely handle 30 pints if you get it really cold (10 to 20 below) before using, * * * My freezing experience began with strawberries—some 12 years ago. You can prepare them several ways, some of which we like better than others. We don't care for the berries frozen whole—something is lacking in their flavor, If I have nice berries and am not too rushed, I slice then mice. If berries are small, or the time short, I'll just crush them slightly. They taste equally good, either way, * * * I use a household scale, when freezing fruit For such as straw- berries and raspberries, where no syrup is used, I add one potted of sugar to four pounds of berries. However, sonic like the sweeter pack—one to three. - * * .5 I do raspberries (both red and black) the same as strawberries— only stn careful to keep theist whole. You wash all berries gently in cold water—ice water, if possible. Then dra!e dry. Next spread berries out in a large shallot} pan and cover with sugar, Use a pancake turner to gently nhix the sugar and berries. * * * You (tear that red raspberries arc the only ones for freezing. But I've done black raspberries—nice plump ones—and they were delicious. In- ferior ones may torn out too seedy. That's where the objection conies to freezing black aures. * * * What does best for containers? I like to put my frozen fruit into glass freezer jars because I have them, The new plastic containers also work fine. * * Peaches is another on the list of our favorite frozen fruits. Two years ago, I froze them in a syrup made of 5 cups cold water, 2 cups light corn syrup and 2 cups sugar. The heavier consistency of the corn syrup helped exclude air and so prevent darkening of the peaches. * * * Last year I tried an ascorbic - citric acid mixture (A -C -M), ob- tained at our freezer supply store. I used it as directed, in a sugar syrup (1 pound sugar, 1 pint water, and 6 level teaspoons of the A -C- M). The peaches kept perfectly. * * * This year I avant to try some both ways, to compare for flavor. If any slices rise out of the syrup, they will darken. So I crushed a piece of cellophane and placed it in the top of each package before closing That kept the slices pressed down into the syrup. * * * We are especially fond of Bing cherries. So last year, for the first . 'EN Tit sM Gordon Smith For A Healthy Garden The cleaner and healthier a gar- den the less liable it is to be attacked by pests, Frequent culti- vation and proper spacing of plants is most important. A little chemical fertilizer, spe- cially recommended for the garden, will also help to keep plants ro- bust. As this may burn if it comes in direct contact with roots or leaves it. should be applied care- fully and according to directions. Fringes about the flower or vege- table garden should not be ne- glected. If weeds are allowed to thrive there they will spread. In any case they are liable to harbor a lot of insects and other pests which will give trouble at the first opportunity. If possible trim with mower or scythe, or at least spray with some chemical weed driller. Another precaution is to have a sprayer or dust -gun handy and the chemicals to use with them. It is a simple matter to control hugs or disease if one counter-attacks at the first sign, Still Time $'or Planting There are all sorts of vegetables and flowers, bout seeds and plants, that can still be started in most parts of Canada, Beans, beets, car- rots, spinach, lettuce and corn are in this category, Many experienced gardeners stake a practice of plant- ing these regularly up to the first week in July. Where a long, open fall is assured the the summer wea- titer not too hot, even peas can be included. With flowers it is advis- able to get well -started plants. A little extra cultivation, chemical fertilizer and perhaps some water- ing during dry weather will push any tate plantings along quickly. They May Need Support Tall plants and those with big, heavy flowers should be supported or they are liable to go down just when approaching their most beau- tiful development, Winds and heavy rains can wreck havoc with such things. For bushy flowers lite Peonies, wire bent in the shape of a hoop and supported about a foot or so from the ground is excellent. For slender, taller plants such as tomatoes, d a It Ilea delphiniums, three to six foot stakes are recom- mended, These can be stained green or brown and won't be noticeable, In tying plants to these, very soft twine or special raffia or tics are used, The main thing is to support firstly without binding the soft plant too tightly. titan, I tried freezing a few pints, The result was so good, 1 hope to do snore this year. * * * I'm told they may be done whole. But I like to have it so they may be used in jello, so the seeds must come out. 1 packaged then in a 40% syrup (3% caps sugar to one quart of water). This year I'm going to use ascorbic arid nn these cherries, too. * * * One rcannot use slipshod meth- ods in preparing stuff for the freezer. Still, it's really easy when you get onto it. There's one handi- cap, 'tis true, in using fresh frozen fruits. Once thawed out, you can't store leftovers (unless cooked). Even in a refrigerator, they de- teriorate rapidly. Especially straw- berries, * * * RULES FOR FREEZING FRUITS Fruits must be sound but ripe. Freeze small quantities at one time. Measure sugar or syrup accur- ately. Containers for fruit should be liquid -tight, Label sealed containers. Freeze solidly at sub -zero tem- perature. Grand Old Lady— Queen Mother Mary Queen Mary took an active part in the upbringing of both the young Princesses. It was she who used to take them on their most excit- ing sight-seeing tours—to the Zoo, the Tower of London, the British Museum, the Bank of England— and always enlivened the proceed- ings and amazed officials by telling the children more about what was to be seen that the people in charge could possibly have done! But when, as a girl in her 'teens, Princess Elizabeth became a prey to intense shyness, her greatest ally and friend turned out to be her grandmother. Queen Mary un- derstood only too well the torture of having thousands of eyes fo- cused upon you, for she herself has always been shy by nature. It is, in fact, recorded that the first time site met Queen Victoria she burst into tears. Now it is a habit for the Prin- cess to take many of her problems to her grandmother. The telephone lines between Buckingham Palace and Marlbor- ough House are constantly busy, too, for the King still "goes and asks Mother" whenever he is in doubt. Outside the Royal Family, there are malty important people who make a point of seeking her advice, knowing that, in addition to a wealth of experience and knowledge, Queen Mary still has an up-to-date grasp of current affairs. Mr. Attlee might well echo Stan- ley Baldwin's heartfelt remark of many years ago: "If only I had Her Majesty as Chancellor of the Exchequer!' For Queen Mary has natural administrative ability and a flair for efficiency. She still at- tends personally to the Marlbor- ough IIouse accounts each morn- ing, scrutinizing every item with a critical eye, just as she did at Buckingham Palace. Far from being born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, Queen Mary learned econ- omy the hard way. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Teck, COI were never well off and Iter mother was SO generous to anybody she thought might be worse off than herself that the family resources ' became very seriously depleted. When Princess May, as she Was then known, was sixteen, the family went to live in Italy because it was cheaper than London. 'There Queen ldary acquired her love of art ---and trained herself to sew, rook and les el) house. Kindness and Wisdom Site inherited much of her mother's warm -pearled generosity and kindness, but tempered'it with wisdom. The dealers front whom. Queen Mary has bought many of her finest antiques know that it is useless to try to overcharge iter. But once she notleed a Paisley shawl in a shop window which ex- actly matched one of her own. 'VViten she learned that the shawl belonged to a Lmtduu taxi-driver, (Queen :Mary made Iter own price— considerably higher than the true value. On the other hand she was overjoyed when .site found that the kind of teapot King George V liked the best a very ordinary brawn china one—could be bought for a shilling or two. Despite her great age, she is far from being old-fashioned in her out- look and for many years has used make-up. She enjoys a glass of sherry before lunch or dinner and smokes a cigarette with obvious pleasure—but never in public. As a girl she loved dancing, and only gave it up because her husband did - not share her enthusiasm. The theatre, the cinema and art shows are her chief relaxations to- day. She is so inveterate a theatre- goer that the rest of the Royal Family ask her advice about the best shows to see—and she never leaves, after the performance, with- out first having the cast presented to her. When, last Christmas, she took Princess Alexandra of Kent to a charity performance of a panto- mime, site immediately spoke to a French down in his own language. I think site would have been pleas- ed if she had head his comment: "I have never heard an English- woman spealc my language so well!" She is not as keen a radio -fan as the rest of her family, preferring to read (history, biography or a historical novel) or to sew. Since the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, site has lived a quiet yet far from secluded life, carrying on the many activities in which site is most interested—her own pet charities and welfare schemes. Her tastes are simple, Iter two favorite dishes being roast beef and boiled eggs. War -Time Activities During the last war she was "exiled," for safety and on se- curity grounds, to Badminton, Glou- cestershire, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort. At first site worked off her boundless en- ergy by knitting hundreds of scarves for the men of her regiment. Then wood -cutting was started on the estate and Queen Ilary was to be seen each morning at one end of a huge double saw, with a soldier manning the other! Many times during her public life the hearts of the people have gone out to Queen Mary, bat never has there been a greater upsurge of love and admiration for her than when, after the Abdication of iter beloved eldest son, she sent a mes- sage to the nation, asking us not to judge him too ]tastily, but always to remember his great services. Mother and Daughter Act—Lassie and Lady, mother and daughter collies belonging to C. F. Sharp, combined to present 23 collie paps to the Sharp household within 48 hours. Lacly, above, had a 10 -pup litter,. four more than her mother had ever produced, Not to be outdone, two days later, Lassie, below, gave birth to 13 puppies, At last report, all 25 collies were • doing fine.