The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-05-15 00:00:00

FINGER NAILS.

If finger-tips have a language of their own, so have
the nails (remarks a recent writer), and the manner of
keeping them is as eloquent as all the rest. Some
keep them long and pointed, like reminiscences of
claws; others bite theirs close to the quick; some
pare and trim and scrape and polish up to the highest
point of artificial beauty; and others, carrying the
doctrine of nature to the outside limit, let them grow
wild, with jagged edges, broken tracts, and tagnails
or "black friend" as the agonizing consequences.
Sometimes you see the most beautiful nails, pink,
transparent, filbert-shaped, with the delicate filmy
little "half-moon" indicated at the base—all the
conditions of beauty carried to perfection, but all
rendered of no avail by dirt and slovenliness; while
others, thick, white-ribbed, square, with no half-
moon, spotted like so many circus horses with
" gifts " and "friends" and the like—that is without
beauties and with positive blemishes—are yet pleasant
to look at for the care bestowed on them, their dainty
perfection of cleanliness being a charm in itself.
Nothing, indeed, is more disgusting than dirty hands
and neglected nails, as nothing gives one such a sense
of freshness and care as the same members well kept.
But one of the ugliest things in nails is when they are
bitten, which, to judge by what one sees, is a habit
having irresistible fascinations to those given over to
it. It is an action, by-the-way, that has more than
one significance. It may mean consideration, doubt,
hesitancy; or it may mean anger or annoyance; or, as
a habit, it may point to the not remote possibility of
madness. In any case it is ugly to look at, and worse
than ugly in its results—bare finger tips ith the pro-
jecting cover gnawed to the bleeding flr , belonging
to the list of things mutilated and wil y spoiled
therefore taken out of the category of t igs ugly by
nature, and hence misfortunes for which sufferer is
in nowise accountable.—Pictorial World.
SERGEANT BATES AG

esh,
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thin t
the
AIN

An American paper, the De Witt County Gazette, makes
the following announcement respecting Sergeant Bates :
"While the sergeant was bearing our national flag
in triumph from the borders of Scotland to the Guild-
hall, London, there was a general expressien substan-
tially to this effect: 'Sergeant, we honour and admire
your countrymen, and respect their flag, as we have
fully demonstrated to-day. Would they, however,
show as much respect for our flag, if csrried in as
public a manner as you are now carrying the stars
and stripes? Thousands expressed their doubts, and
thousands emphatically asserted that i England's
standard could not be carried ten miles publicly on
American soil without sustaining insult. These were
the expressions of people, who honoured the national
emblem as no foreign flag was ever befor4 honoured.
Therefore, to prove this belief groundless, the sergeant
will go by boat from Toronto to Oswego, from whence
he will carry the British Union Jack unftirled to the
New York city hall. He expects to reach, New York
about the Ist of July, and will embark for (England in
a week from that time. On the 2nd day of August he
will fly to the breeze the great Republic's glorious em-
blem of liberty at Calais' France, and will then com-
mence his long-expected continental toils under its
starry folds, in the interests of international harmony,
terminating at St. Petersburg, Russia, which distant
city he expects to reach some time in October."