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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 5 (August 1, 1935)

[section]

My Mrs. Brown always has them—not the hands she holds, but the hands she has. The hands she holds vary abominably, especially when she is my partner, and at times I have no admiration for them whatever. But the hands she has excite the envy of most of the married women in our bridge circle.

“How do you keep your hands so perfect?” sighs Mrs. Jones. “I always feel like hiding mine under the table. House-work does play up with them so.”

“A holiday is the only way of improving mine,” chimes in Mrs. Smith, “but unfortunately one can't always live a life of leisure.”

* * *

Meanwhile the smooth, white hands of Mrs. Brown are busily dealing the cards. She is no leisured lady, as I have cause to know. She probably uses her hands more than either Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Jones, but she is wise enough to protect them as much as possible, instead of thinking of them only when playing cards.

* * *

Mrs. Brown's secret is no secret really. Here is the recipe:—When washing dishes, floors, clothes or peeling potatoes, Mrs. Brown wears rubber gloves. She always chooses these two sizes larger than her usual size, in order that they may pull on and off easily and thus last longer. Before removing the gloves, Mrs. Brown soaps them, washes them under the tap and dries them. She then carefully rolls them off, dusts a little cheap talc powder into them, and puts them aside, away from heat and sunlight. Well-treated, a pair of rubber gloves should last three months.

* * *

Of course, Mrs. Brown has special pairs of gloves for various household tasks such as dusting, polishing and cleaning grates. Mrs. Brown's dusters are always so clean that I see no necessity for protecting her hands while dusting—but she must be right.

She has special leather gloves for gardening, and she never allows a sudden enthusiasm for weed-pulling to find her without her gloves. There, I think, Mrs. Brown triumphs over the rest of us. She is consistent, whereas we, who also have gloves, are too lazy or too impatient to wear them.

* * *

Mrs. Brown does not bother with elaborate hand lotions. If she notices her hands becoming dry and the skin peeling at the corners of the nails, she rubs warm olive oil into her hands before retiring, and wears an old pair of gloves in bed. Gloves again! The secret of it all is just—gloves!—plus a careful and regular home manicure.

* * *

We laughed at ourselves when Mrs. Brown told us her “secrets” because, of course, we had known them for years. Now, of course, we're all going home to set our gloves in order and make sure the olive-oil bottle is in its place.