The Seaforth News, 1957-09-12, Page 2The King Who
Was A Woman
Christina of Sweden was the
most 'talked _ of woman in her.
day, : Her eccentric behaviour
and appearance was discussed
all over Europe.
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 dis-
covered, nobody
is-covered,'nobody dared tell him,
until at last his sister, the. Prin-
cess Catherine, plucked up
courage. From that moment
King Gustavus Adolphus treated
Christina as if .she were a boy.
Her mother, Queen Marie
Fleonora, hated the ugly baby
on sight, and such strange acci-
dents happened to the child that
suspicion was aroused. After a
balcony fell on the cradle, nearly
causing Christina's death, the
king 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 and erratic, Christina's
energy exhausted the members
of 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 pennance
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 handsome 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
en 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
Tong hair cut off like a man's.
"Cut it short," she ordered.
"Should I who have given up a
throne mourn the loss of my
hair?"
Dressed as a man and calling
herself Count Dohna, she left
Sweden and started on a series
of travels and adventures which
eurrounded her name with scan-
dal. Even her first visit abroad
caused talk. She had become
s
a Roman Catholic and decided
to call on the Pope.-
Mounted on horseback, she
rode W into Rorie 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
oervants 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.
Really Suffers In:-
Cause
n PCause 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 lime, 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 unrivalled scenic splendor
of the Rocky Mountains in Al-
berta is a perpetual magnet for
artists and color camera enthu-
siasts.
BB'S BY THE MILLION Laboratory assistant Darrell Wilson
Contemplates the fact that it would take him about 30 years,
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
"hot cell" ata radiation and nucleonics laboratory. The bb's
--35 tons of them -are placed between half -inch -thick steel
walls spaced 15 inches apart, The new hot cell, developed by
Westinghouse, will be used for a variety of research projects.
PRcTTY 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.
F' : TABLE TALKS
ses�
AuItMira
dam A,ndtiew.
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, ant her mother
was a Miss Hildagonda Versfeld.
She was born on her parents'
farm, "Groote Post," in the Dar-
ling district.
* * *
Some of the following recipes
were originally taken from
"Hilda's Where Is It," and they
come to you with r. 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
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.
* * *
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 thr t- lemon
leaves on the top. Bake in a
moderat, oven about 1 or
hours. rice.
Serve with ri
* * *
Iioesisters
((Batavian or old Dutch Re-
cipe.)
3 breakfast cups of flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinna,non
1 tsaspoon mixed spices
2 eggs well breaten
V cup of fat and butter melted
Tablespoon of yeast.
Knead all well together, and
let it stand for half an hour,
then, roll outon a board. Cut
each Koesister about Y4 inches
long, let them boil in boiling
fat, When done, dip the cakes
into a syrup made of 3 cups of
sugar and 2 cups of water, well
boiled and flavored with cinna-
mon, Will keep for months.,
Dutch Milk Tart
Rich short crust:
8 ounces flour
Vs ounce sugar
5 ounces butter
1 yolk of egg
Pinch. salt
Cold water
Filling:
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-
utes;; add the butter; allow to
cool and then add the beater}
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 Iittle
ground cinnamon, and serve
with cut lemon.
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 screen,
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 Pickfair (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."
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.
.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.
Trousered . Women
First women to wear trousers
were the belles of ancient Persia,
who, judging from old prints,
looked rather nifty in them, al-
though some of them rather ran
too fat.
It was the famous Idrs. Amelia
Bloomer who pioneered trousers
for Western women with the
introduction of the"Bloomer"
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 wo-
men in today's jeans, several
million of which are now sold
every year, is another matter.
She could certainly not have
foreseen the) in 1957 there would,
be a 'craze among yonug girls
in her native Boston, 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 around the
.leg edges.
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,
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.
DARK AND LONELY NIGHT -By day mothers
rest in Highbridge Park, in the Washington H
silence fills the abandoned place of fear. A
here a 15 -year-old boy, crippled by polio a.nd
teen-age gang. Nightfall and fear have em
to clr(i k the awful rise In juvenile, crime.
watch their children at play, and the elderly
eights stiction of New York. By night, a deadly
lone policeman watches the shadows. For
unable to run, was stabbed to death by a
ptied this park. But the police are there trying