St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-09-23
ddlestUarb tbe Course Of empire takes its 0dap.'
?, FLOYD COUNTY, IOWA. THURSDAY SEPTEMBER %, 1858.

first time one of these charming places
| was disgusted, but the mistresses of
the house did not perceive it. Mir
rors being very scarce in these coun-
tries, the ladies bedizen themselves in
the strangest possible guisc. They
thrust o number of beicwelied pins
into printed cotton handkerchicfs and
then roll them round their heads. They
pay :.ut the slightest attention to their
hair, and only the very great ladies
who have visited the capital possess
combs AS for the many colorcd
paints, of which they make an inn
moderate use, they can only regulate
their distribution by mutual assist
ancc, and as the women living in the
same house are so many rivals, the
great object is to render them ridicu-
lous. They put vermilion on their
lips, rouge on their checks, nose, fore
head and chin, white wherever there
is vacancy, and blue round their
eyes and under their nose. Stranger
still is the manner in which they paint
their eyebrows. They are doubtessly
told that, to be beautiful, the eyebrow
should form large arch, and they
have thence concluded that the larger
the arch the more beautiful is the eye
brow, without inquiring whether its
position is not irrevocably fixed by
nature. This being the case, they al
low their eyebrows all the space be
tween the temples, and paint on thcll
foreheads two immense arches, which,
starting from the top of the nose run
across the forehead. Some young &C.
centric beauties prefer a straight line
to a curve, and trace a broad black
band across the forehead but these
are exceptions"
A depiorable effect is produced by
this painting, combined with the indo'
lence and want of cleanliness among
eastern women. Each feminine face
is very complicated work of art
which cannot be renewed every morn
ing. Even the hands and feet, paint
ed of an orange color, fear the action
of the water as injurious to their beau
ty. The multitude of children and
servants, especially negresses, who
people the harems, and the footing ol
equality on which mistrcsses and ser
wants live, are almost aggravating
causes of the general want OF clcanli
ness. We do not refer to the children
alone as predisposing causes OF dirt
but just imagine for a moment wha
would be the state of onr drawing
rooms if our cooks and kitchen mald
+ came to rest from their labors on on
, sofas and easy chairs, with their fee
. on our carpets and their backs agains
, our walls. Add to this that windo,
the majority Of windows are close
with oiled paper, and that whcrcvc
paper is valuable the windows ar
, done away with, and the ladies col
! tent themselves with the light pen'
= trating through the chimney, which
: more than sufficient to smoke, drln
n coffee, and whip naughty children
:. the only occupation in which the mo
y tai houris of Mussulman believers eve
indulge. 1t must not he assumed, how
3 ever. that these rooms are so Yer
1 gloomy. AS the houses are nev'
more than one story high, the chit
news never extend beyond the roc
# and being very wide, it is often poss
BILE, by bending, to see the sky abo,
= them. The thing most wanting
1T these rooms is fresh air; but the
m dies make 40 complaint about it. n;
&c urally chilly, and unable to war
o. themselves by exercise, they stay
hours crouching over the fire, quite
I" gardless of the risk they run of sui
re cation.