The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-06-08

every novel Arrangement of the hair tnat was
imported from abroad.
The conouest of the Gernanic tribes brought
in the most fantastic modes and Influenced much
the feminine taste OF Rome, and 1t was under
that Influence that eold-dust was generally used
as hair-powder by fashionable women.
Nothing is more natural than that women Of
fashion should create fashion by their simple
preference or taste, Just as Is done in our days.
And lust as naturally, as soon as that fashion
has lost, by general prevalence, the distinction
which is lie greatest charm, another newer one
is tried discussed, aud adopted. Natural flowers
were tayorlle ornaloent i I0r 9 e tne nalr. Tue
fragrant fowers-at their evening entertain.
ments They also wore chaplets of flowers
around the neck and bosom, SO as TO lnhale the
delicious odor which, when yielded by the head
wreath, must be lost to the wearer. Aisingular
iastidiousness forbade all women TO appear in
public by daylight with flowers upon them.
They might not even carry bouquets under legal
penalty. Was it because they might have beel
considered ss victims q? Those hower-wreaths
and chaplets were woven with exquisite art, and
always intended to be symbolical when sent,
halt withered and yet fragrant, to some bashful
iavorite. Fresh flowers would not have been
welcomed by the jealous suitor, who loved to
imagine that he found something of her whom
he ado, ed in The iastdrooping and finger crum-
Piled petals which had mingled with her
beauty. II was also the custom to COM
plete a message OF love and to fix
a rendezvous by forwarding either apples
or figs bitten into. To-day, in the East, ladies
still wear chaplets of orange-blossoms around
their olive-skinned shoulders, and TALL asleep
caIessed by the faint, languid odor.
But, with that same passion Tor beauty in
dress which now, as then. lies at the very heart
of q woman's nature, nothing could be more
unlike our modern female costume than that OF
the Roman women. Their ideal was natural
ness, and hence genuine beauty OF form. They
did not wear corsets nor hed they the remotest
idea of barrehng up their busts with wnale
homes or steel. Next to the skin they wore a
garment of finest cambric, very much like the
OIorfn 0lo ctr Inf har L
called StrOphiu11, which served 10 support the
bosom with that grace we so admire in antique
paintings. The makers OF that part OF a womans
wardrobe we're a. much paroniZed by Pompeian
| bellies as our French corset-makers are to-day
| patronized by women OF elegance. Over that
band was worn a sort OF jacket with long sleeves,
| and n ade OF the finest white wool.
When at home, the tunic cCvered the whole,
| and the length OF that ample, flowing drapery
measured somewhat the virtue OF the wearer,
| for it seems that The 'purple women" of those
| days preferred TO wear their tunics very short,
! TO show their legs laden with bracelets, while
! the Roman matrons heightened The vesture by
| tlounce embroidered with cold. The tunic was
| fastened around the waist by belt artstically
| hidden under some folds of the tucked-up dra-
| perry. For the promenade. women of fashion
| wore a mantle the beauty of which was best
| displayed by the sty lie IN which it exposed the
| right breast, and was thrown over the left
| shoulder. Those mantles were invariably white,
| and so fine in texture that the ncorrigible
| Petronius speaks OF them as of woven WIND"
| Fashionable Roman women also wore white
| kid boots. The purple women" generally wore
| sandals, so as to let their feet be seen-those
| finely shaped, large Roman feet, which our mo-
| dern taste would admire more had they been
smaller
Extreme care was bestowed upon the nails of
| tha feet and hands. There was one special slave
| invested with the resron ibility of keeping the
! nails of her mistress properly pared, cleaned,
| and tinted. Women never wore gloves, yet they
| delcately cherished their hands and fingers.
| They kept them beautiful, not by idleness alone,
| but ny variety OF cosmetics intended to render
| the skin soft, smooth, and fiower.kc. And as
the customs Of those days made the fingers Of
| women speak eloquently In adrot gesticulation,
| the beauty of the hand could not he overlooked.
Horace makes fun OF some original wag inde
| pendent enough 10 cut his own nails, and dis
pense with the services OF barber or slave.
| In looking at some of the jewels of Fompeii,
| one is surprised to find how very fond were the
| ladies OF the snake form, and how they pre-
| ierred having rings and bracelets representing
| seIpents. Gold serpents were among the
amulets, more or less decent, thdt hung from
! necklaces, and were used TO conure away dis.
tTessing influences. Even living snakes were
| petted by Roman bellies, who carried them
| arotnd their arms, and, for coolness' sake, even
let them lie curling on their bosoms. For cool
ness sake also, did they carry smooth rock
| crystal balls In their hands, while the slave
famed their heated faces and necks. After the
| fashion OF carrying those crystal balls had be-
come so universal that the Alps failed 20 yield a
| sufficient quantity OF crystal, yellow amber was
! substituted. Juvenal tells us that the amber
ball was never so much priced, and never so
delicious TO hOld, as when il issued fragrant
! warm from The hand of a air girl.
Fans and parasois had their place among the
| appurtenapces of a woman's toilet, and were
considered obi. cts of luxury by their magnii-
| cence and delicate Workmanship. The fans
were mostly made of very thin pieces OF pre-
| Cious wood or ivory, covered all over with the
| mnutest down OF the raIest OF birds.
| Well, ne have lC oked long enough TO be made
sad, INTO the icacine'ionS and ollies of tie
| poor heG hen women who were smothered in
| the ashes of Pompeii so many ages ago. Their
volcanic tomb has preserved all these silent wit
nesses to show how the passions the ambitions
| the vanties OF women are ever the same and
how even the tIinkets with which they bedeck
themselves express the same notions or beauty
| and use the eame materials, and almost the same
| iolms. Only the lovely persons for whom smcL
ex'raVae ant expenses were ipcnr1ed, such inf :
me me qe1cacles bestowed such untring thought
Sied So g. Use lovely women Themselves
WV y on, passed away so utterly.