In Praise Of The Car

Europe will be yours, and you its discoverers. Throughout its length and breadth, through its cities, by its lakes, over its mountains, following step by step its tortuous histories, the road will lead you, year by year, in absolute content.

The motor-car is the greatest gift of modern science. It is the gate of freedom, the window of hope - anything you please, but always the desired, in its particular way, to each individual. Go out, then, upon the road, no matter whither it leads. Transpose happiness for Rome, and you know the destination of each broad, sweeping highway of the Continent, each hedge-bound, wandering lane of Surrey.

Some Suggestions

As some mundane, necessary advice may be acceptable, I give a few rules which many happy years of roadfaring have proved sufficient.

1. Never depend upon luggage sent in advance. Take with you in the car enough to last you for at least a week. If you propose staying a fortnight in Tours, take with you enough to last ten days, and have the rest sent on by train.

2. Join the Automobile Association (£2 2s.) and leave the business of passing the car through the French Customs to that all-powerful body. They can do it better and more expeditiously than you can yourself.

3. Take a luncheon-basket with you, and stock it every day before starting out at a handy charcutier. It is better to picnic by the wayside than to eat in an hotel. Avoid staying, either for meals or for the night, in big towns. They are dear and dull.

4. Make friends with the proprietor and his wife wherever you stop for the night. You will be more than repaid in civility, attention, and the corresponding modesty of the bill. A friendly gossip with Madame about the affairs of the day, her children, or the excellence of her cooking, will win her ample heart, and give you a life-long friend.

5. Never drive too far in one day. The splendid road may tempt you to do two hundred miles before sunset, but it is unwise and takes the keen edge off your enjoyment. Stop when you feel tired.

6. Never hurry.

By Edith O'shea

An Interesting Hobby - Materials Required - How to Plait - Finishing Off - How to Make a

Tidy and Blotter

The hobby of straw plaiting is a very old one, which when once learnt is never forgotten. The plait illustrated here is by no means a difficult one; it is that still used for men's straw hats, and when used in conjunction with the straw woven into various patterns many pretty and useful things can be made. Some of the articles that look particularly well in this kind of work are mats, tidies, writing-pads, tea-cosies, and such things.

The materials required for straw plaiting are bundles or specially prepared straw, a sharp penknife, cardboard, gum or paste, and stiff paper. The knife is required for splitting the straw when necessary

The straw is quite inexpensive, and is bought in fair-sized bundles in fairly short lengths. It can be obtained in natural straw colour or red, blue, or green, the natural coloured being 8d. a bundle, and the coloured Is.

All that is needed for the work is the straw a knife - a penknife would answer the purpose quite well - for slitting the straws open, a box weighted with sand to hold the ends of the straws flat in position while weaving them in and out of the pattern, a piece of cardboard cut the size and shape of whatever article is being made, a bottle of gum or paste, and some stiff paper. Should the straw prove brittle and too dry, it can be soaked first for a little while, and then allowed to get dry before using. This will make it more pliable, but care must be taken not to make the coloured straw too wet, as it is apt to dull the colour.

The first illustration shows a small circular mat. For this twenty-four straws are required, twelve coloured and twelve natural.

A small circular mat in coloured and natural straw, useful for placing under a hot dish or plate

First split these open to make them wider, then place six coloured and six natural in

The front and back of the mat are here shown, together with the plait for the edging. The back of the mat is formed of a circle plaited in natural straw and pasted on to the front, which is of mingled colours

How the actual plait is worked. The straws must always be held with the ends upward

How to commence the plait. Two straws are needed, which are numbered as shown above alternate rows of two, with the ends held firmly down by the weighted box. Then take the other twelve, alternating them as before, and weave in one at a time, under two and over two of the other straws. Cut out the size you wish to make the mat, whether oval, round, or square, in stiff cardboard, also in the stiff paper. Turn the straws over and paste the stiff paper shape on to them, then turn on to right side again, and place the cardboard shape over the pasted straw, and with a sharp knife cut round the cardboard through the straws; this gives one side of the mat.