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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1960-04-14, Page 6Royal 'Christenaaig. It 4ea ua Affair! In the diplomatic bag front Israel e bottle of ordinary water was recently flown by 'plane direct to the Queen, Yet in reality this was no ordinary water, for it was specially taken front the River Jordan , . , and Jordan water has been used in sacrament at royal christenings for a hundred years. The Queen herself was bap- tized with it, crying lustily in the Archbishop's arms, at the silvt:i-~silt fent in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace. Princess Margaret was similarly sprinkled when fast asleep. Prince Charles was equally sleepy when christened at one month old, while Peiraco.s Anne wets an extremely wide-awake two -month-old. It is fun •at this time to trace back through the "cradlecade" of royal christening;. At pre- sent --day christenings, the. royal babies still wear the beautiful robe of creatne Honiton lace and Spitalfields ;;!II: made for Queen Victoria and used for practically every royal baby since. So fragile that it can no longer be cleaned, it is normally kept In an air -tight box. When the Arehbishop of Canterbury splashed it a little at Princess Margaret's christening ceremony, it was noted that Queen Mary rightly looked anxious, ThLe. was a small mishap, how- ever, compared with the disaster that befell the guests at the christening of Queen Victoria's last baby boy, A sudden out- break of measles among the eld- er children also infected the royal guests and the Queen and the germs spread a measles epidemic far and wide through the Courts of Europe. Royal christenings were never again held on an elaborate scale and they have increasingly be- come pleasantly quiet family affairs: Back in the bad old days it is recorded that Henry III expect- ed gifts in cash for his first-born and courtiers who failed to open their purses were sent into exile. Icing Henri VII first ordained that the christening chapel door should be hung with cloth of gold, afterwards sold to benefit the clergy. But Charles I staged the most magnificent christening ever seen for his infant son, af- terwards Charles II. All the streets and courtyards around St. James's Palace were r a,ered with red carpets in or- der that guests and clergy should not soil their shoes. The interior of the Palace became a blaze of gold, a cradle itself was fashi.: in gold and silver and set with priceless jewels. Earls and viscounts carried the christening gifts in procession. The royal heralds proclaimed in For Tiny Tots No tot can ever have too many nsunsuits. Easy to sew and em- broider for boy and girl You'll quickly finish one for a boy; a similar ruffled one, only for a girl, Pattern 564: transfer; pattern pieces sizes 1, 2, 3, 4 in - eluded. Send THIRTY-FIVE CENTS (stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for safety) for this pattern to Laura Wheeler, Box 1, 123 Eighteenth St., New Toron to, Ont. Print plainly PATTERN NUM- BER, your NAME and ADDRESS. New! New! New! Our 1060 Laura Wheeler Needlecraft Book is ready NOW! Crammed with atxciting, unusual, popular de - !Signe to crochet, knit, sew, em- broider, quilt, weave — fashions, some. furnishings, toys, gifts, Team: hits, In the book FREE esea 3 quilt patterns. Hurry, send cents for your espy, full the new Prince's names and titles to the crowds outside. The ceremony Iasted five hours, with prayers and anther= padding it out. No fewer than seven nurses took turns to hold the baby. Even a hundred years ago royal christenings were at- tended by Garter Icing of Arms and all the heralds in their state glory. At the first christening at Buckingham Palace, the proud father had a cold. Skating on the Palace lake the previous day, Prince Albert—later Prince Consort ---went through the ice and had to swim for several minutes to reach the side, while ladies-in-waiting screamed for help and only the Queen had the presence of mind to stretch out a helpful pole. Almost a year later to the day a second christening took place at Windsor. This time it was the heir to the Throne — later Edward VII. Queen Victoria felt that it was not sufficient to use a makeshift chapel at the Palace when Windsor offered the properly consecrated chapel of St, George. A new chapel at Buckingham Palace was ready only just in time for Queen Victoria's third baby, the great-grandmother of to -day's Duke of Edinburgh. Even then the place had its in_ conveniences. There was scarce- ly room for the choristers and the Palsce private band, who thus had to play in an adjoin- ing room. When he worked out the pro- cessional details, too, Prince Al- bert discovered that there would be an appalling squash at the door. So a second doorway for the use of the Royal Family had to be constructed still so new for the christening that paint specks brushed off on to the Prince's field -marshal's uniform. The gold plate was brought out for the grand banquet held afterwards in the Picture Gal- lery, Another Victorian christen- ing was marred when an eccen- tric old aunt forgot where she was and insisted on kneeling at the Queen's feet. "Imagine our horror;" the Queen's diary noted. Then there was the strange oc- casion when an Indian princess — daughter of the Rajah of Coorg-also had a Palace chris- tening, Princess Gauromma was near, ly grown up, but it was dgiided, to give her the Christian flame, of Victoria. The Queen herself was godmother and the Arphbia shop of Canterbury gravely per-: formed the ceremony. In more modern times, George VI was christened in church at Sandringham. At a crucial mo- ment he began to cry and this made his elder brother howl in sympathy. Every child in the church then set up a cry and it is said that the ceremony ended in a flood of tears. Queen Victoria, however, was delighted that the child was named Albert, after her lament- ed husband. Few people know the Queen's full names—Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, derived from her mother, her great-grandmother, and her grandmother. The names of a new baby are, in fact, never an- nounced till the christening. The beautifully scrolled gold font is kept at Windsor but brought to London for a Palace ceremony. The gold bowl also used in the ceremony is report- ed to date from Edward III. Though a modern royal chris- tening is a simple ceremony, in fact it is still richly steeped in royal tradition. The top tier of the Queen's own wedding cake —or to be precise, one of the seven cakes used at her wedding —was strangely surmounted by a silver cradle containing a baby doll. The poetic symbolism be- came apparent, however when the cradle was used on christen- ing cakes for both the present Prince of Wales and Princess Anne, Modern Etiquette By Anne Ashley Q. What is the proper thne for the host and hostess to take their seats at .the dinner table? A. The. hostess always seats herself first, this being the sig- nal for the guests to seat them- . selves. The host is always the last to seat himself. • Q. When is the abbreviation "Messrs," used in leiter writ. Ing? A. This is the abbreviation of the French word for "Misters" and is -used only for. letters ad. dressed to two brothers, never to father and scan — "The, Messrs John end George Kent.' Q. Would it be proper to in- sert the announcement of a broken engagement in our local newspaper? A. Yes, and especially if the announcement of the engage- ment appeared in that paper. ft could be read something like this: "Mr. and Mrs. Fred L. Fox announce that by mutual core sent the engagement between their daughter, Mary Elaine. and Mr. Thomas ,I. Winters is at an end," • TAKE TWO — No, Yoko Tani doesn't have a twin sister. She's looking In a mirror. The Oriental actress was on hand to attend a Rome premiere of her new film, "White Shadows," c w�n-ctoL%r.e P. Ctet.i e "They don't make good cof- fee!" That was a headline that caught my eye in a magazine just recently. And I thought immedi- ately — who sets the standard for good coffee—or tea, or farm- ing, or housekeeping, or being a good mother? Isn't it just a mat- ter of comparison? We all have our own idea of what a good cup of coffee should be and if what we are given is different we say the person responsible doesn't know how to make good coffee. I don't like the way English peo- ple make coffee and yet it never occurred to me until just now that my English friends prob- ably don't like my coffee either. The same applies to tea. Some like it weak, some like it strong. But who shall say which is the better cup of tea? You can follow that line of reasoning through every phase of life. Some folk like to live in town; some in the country; others in suburbia. Does that make one way of living any more "right" than another? The same applies to politics, and so we have liberals, conservatives and communists. Every member of each group thinks his is the right party. So, too, in the world of religion. We are often divided as to doctrines, yet all members of every Christian faith are trav- elling towards the same goal but often by a different route. And then take farming—dairy farming, Some farmers swear by registered Jersey cattle, others (at one time that included Part- ner) wouldn't have a Jersey on the place. Farmers wanting to get the most for the least favour Holsteins; others anxious for less work go in for Shorthorns, . Herefords, or Durhams. For a general purpose breed there are Ayrshires. But who is to say one breed is better than another? Or take housekeeping and raising a family. There are mothers whose floors are always shining and never a thing out of place. But look around for a magazine or a .hook and there isn't one in sight, Apparently house-proud m o t h e r s haven't time ler reading. Her opposite is the woman in whose home you can hardly find a place to sit, there are ass many papers and magazines around. Her children are net always as tidy as they might be but they scent -to be healthy, carefree youngsters and mother is never too busy to listen when they come running in with, to t.ncm, a big story to tell. And the way children ere trained. I have several families in mind. In two of them the chit• dren • are raieed by the. clock; they have their Meals before the adults eat, at exactly the sante time day after day. On the rare occasions when. there is a lime disruption in the family schedule the rhilrlren are whiney and care not r•dlnist. Tater world is in chaos h ran..;; supper was an hour Tale, In another family a time schedule is never even thought of. If the family wants to go somewhere they pick up and go. The children are fed when and how an opportunity arises. Hot dogs bought at a lunch counter; ice cream cones taken out to the car. If they get tired they fall asleep in the car — and wake up ready for anything. Bedtime is an elastic affair; fine if they are tired, if not they go on play- ing. The children take every- thing in their stride; regular or irregular, it's all one to them. They adjust to almost anything. Which parents will eventually raise the better family? That's a question, isn't it? Probably one to which neither you nor I know the answer. Along these lines our grand- sons are an interesting study in contrasts. Yesterday Ross was left for a few hours with Aunt Dee and his cousins. He is a quiet little fellow and after a while he stood at the window and started to cry. Jerry, six months younger, got a kleenex and wip- ed away Ross's tears!' Friday night the three broth- ers were here — the first time for three weeks. Eddie was out otf the car before it had properly stopped. Climbing on to his grandfather's knee he said — "I like you Granpa — and I like grandma too." Dave also was in a hurry and cracked his head getting out of the car. He raised a lovely goose -egg. Jerry was nonchalant, wandering in as much to say "What's all the fuss about anyway?" I don't know whether they are being brought up right or not. Sometimes we have our doubts but they are Dee's and Art's boys, not ours. Our children sometimes look back and tell us where they think we made mis- takes. We seldom went out at night because we thought chil- dren were better at home and in bed. Perhaps we over -did it. I don't know, It's just the same as making coffee, isn't it? We make coffee to suit our taste but maybe when we have visitors they say to themselves — after they get away — "Well, they sure don't make good coffee!" SALLY'S 550151 'Don't suffer so, ilat•ling, The insurance w;)t take care of It all," Your Children Ma y Pia( pkinnger "Look what 1 found in the field, Mommy!" The wise mo- ther prick.; up her ears when she heats this remark from one of her offspring. Magpie -like, children pick up all sorts el things when they're cut playing. Scraps of colored glass, metal, pipe and wood are treasure trove from construction site, and dis- used quarries. If what junior found was a pencil slim metal cylindrical ob- ject it could be a blasting cap -- and a blasting cap could be da.e. gerous. If blasting caps are found by children or inexperienced adults they should be reported .immedi- ately to the police or fire station. Before the authorities arrive wrap the cap in a large wet soft cloth such as a blanket, scarf, towel or piece of flannel, Place it in a safe place where the children can't reach it, Re- member not to smoke while handling a blasting cap. There are two types of blast- ing caps; those for use with safety fuse and• those set off electrically, called electric blast- ing caps, The first type has an open end and is detonated by the flame from the fuse. It Is about one and a half inches long and is made of aluminum. The electric blasting cap has two wires covered with coloured plastic or cotton insulation ex- tending out of one end. The cap shells themselves are sometimes coloured red or green and are from one to five inches long. Both types may be recognized as small metallic cylinders made of either aluminum or copper. They are designed to explode and are loaded with powerful and sensitive explosive charges for this purpose. Children should be familiar with the appearance of blasting caps and impressed with the fact that they should be left alone and their whereabouts reported immediately to a grownup. Throwing stones at them, light- ing snatches near them or throw- ing them ,in a bonfire could be the cause of serious accidents. Leaflets showing what thes,- caps look like may be obtained from: Public Relations Depart- ment, Canadian Industries Li- mited, P,0, Box 10, Montreal, Quebec. A little time and trou- ble spent in briefing your youngster could prevent then from making heartbreaking headlines. After A1I — What's A Broken Leg? "Help!" cried the lovely young redhead, 10 o k in g frantically around at the rush-hour crowds. Her stiletto heel was firmly wedged between the slats of a Toronto subway esculator. To the rescue came a good- looking young man who was standing behind her, With a sharp tug, he released her foot from its trap. But at the same time he was caught in a far more tender trap. They fell head over heels in love and this spring they are to be married! Because they add glamour to otherwise quite ordinary legs, stiletto heels have been respon- sible for starting many other ro- mances. But this revolution in feminine footwear has brought its troubles as well. Thousands of working hours are lost every week because girls break thou heels in buses and trains on their way to work mud ha\R: to limp home far an, other pair of shoes, - The manager of a large .Lon- don store keeps a burly commis- sionaire at the ready to rescuer girls who get trapped in the eat - ranee floor grille. But stiletto !reels cause worst havoc in restaurants and stores. Where fitted carpets are laid. Every time a girl swings around on her heels site digs two deep holes into the pile. Now an enterprising manufac- turer has produced a stiletto heel -proof carpet made of extra - strong nylon. Two -toned Easter eggs are gay and easy to make, First one end of the, harclboiled egg is dipped into a dish of food colour- ing then the other into a second colouring. The jagged edges of the join is concealed by a band of household cement sprinkled. with glitter. Rickrack braiding or strings of sequins may also be used for decoration. Incident- ally a dash of vinegar added to the colouring will make it more intense. Look! Jiffy -Cut PRINTED 4. --AL a.4 JIFFY -CUT blouses. Pin pat- tern to fabric — presto! Cut out complete blouse instantly. Top off all your skirts smartly. Printed Pattern 4784: Misses' Sizes 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. Size 18 top style tea yards 35 -inch; mid- dle 11/a yards; lower lVz yards. Jiffy -cut in one piece. Printed directions on each pat- tern part. Easier, accurate. Send FIFTY CENTS (stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for safety), for this pattern. Please p r i n t plainly SIZE, NAME, ADDRESS, STYLE NUMBER. Send order to ANNE ADAMS, Box 1, 123 Eighteenth St., New Toronto, Ont. ISSUE 15 — 1960 HEADING HOME — Dorsey Green, 5 is escorted by an FBM agent in Washington, D.C., after she was found with Elmer Pollard and his wife, Cola, who Darsey's parents soy kidnapped the child.