The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-06-23
QheGnteILiqetaeE.
A RRAUT1FuL WoMAN.
THEARTOF OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
The Form, the Rect, the Hands, &c.

The Form, the Feet, the Hands, dc
The July number of Ha'Per's Maya
zine has another one of those peculiar
and interesting articles, n few extracts
from which Will be sure to delight oul
lady readers, for whose especial edit
cation we print it. Our masculine
readers when they come to this car
turn to the next page:
In ancient times it was the human
figure which gave shape to the dress
nowadays it is the dress which gives
shape to the figure. The Greek woman
of antiquity, conscious of the beauty
and grace of proportion to which shC
attained by a consummate physical
culture, scorned articles of the dress
maker in which our modern danes de
light. She, rejoicing in the full posses
sion of her natural charms, had no mo
tive for concealment, and thus was
content with mere cover OF her naked
ness for decency's sake, and a protec
ton against the weather. She carlessly
threw upon her shoulders or wound
ABOUT her waist loose cloth, which
falling as it might, could only assume
folds Of grace aud beauty, as 1t flowed
over living model of both.
THE MODERN. WOMAN.
The modern woman is essentially the
work of her dresSmaker, as man is OF
his tailor, She is SO distrustful of her
own natural physical qualities that she
resorts to all kinds of artificial substi-
tutes. AS far as the surface and those
other parts that are visible are concern
ed, there is hardly a bit of the natural
woman left AS we ordinarily see her,
she is nothing but chignon, paint, pad.
ding, and boots; or false hair, white.
lead, vermillion, cotton, and leather.
with high heels, like stills, and lifts her
head of false hair to a height not her
own; she borrows her bushes from the
paint-pot, and her sentiment or the
look of 1t from the powder-box; her
bosom heRves with signs of cotton, and
her whole figure swells and stirs
with an emotion of starch and crino-
line. Abandoning nature, and trust
ing herself completely TO the hands OF
the hairdresser, the mG2tua- maker,
and the other artiticers CT modern wo-
man, it is not surprising that she has
been made marvel of ugliness and
ill-proportion. The present art of fe-
male decoration seems to turn resolute-
ly from every indication of natural
grace, and perversely to follow the
monstrous suggestions of distorted
fancy. What u prodigy of ugliness, for
example, is the present fashion of
dressing the hair! 1t is caprice, not
taste, which admires any such perver-
sion OF natural proportion as that NOR
bid growth OF fashionable chignon.
NATURE AND FORM.
There can be no beauty in anything,
and especially in woman, which is not
regulated by the laws of nature. Ac-
in studying and approaching
=, 90, Ia
figure, we shall never lose sight of this
truth. Our purpose is to show how
woman can secure for herself that
beatty of form which nature intends
her 10 possess. We shall accordingly
do our utmost to establish her in The
of this her innlienable right,
but not say word in favor of any
claims she may make to the artificial
of fashion.
The figure of woman has probably as
much Influence as the face upon her
admirers. Most men, whose estimate
of the female sex is entirely of a sem
sual kind, prefer we'll developed
form to the finest countenance. That
physical grace which La Fontaine de-
clared to be more beautiful than beauty
depends chiefly upon the contiguration
and movements of the body. A har-
mony in the proportions OF all the
ness and succulency of substance, a
and undulating surface, a su-
pleness in movement, and what the
French call abandon in repose, are
to the beauty of the female
form,
THE SHOULDERS,
From the neglect of various precau-
tons IN childhood, which seem trifling
but are very important, there are bat
. Ia a..
shoulders are either too round, or one
is higher than the other; the neck is
sunk too deep in the trunk or twisted;
the figure is too thick. 100 thin, or all
of Il piece, as it were; and the limbs are
more or less distorted. When the
of a young girl show ten
dency to become too round she must
be- made to throw her elbows we'll In the
renr and her chest forward, and to sleep
OH her back. An hours exercise every
day, under the eye of judicious teach
er of female gymnastics or calisthenics
Is an excellent preventive ofthis, as of
all other female deformities.
HOW TO CARRY THE NECK.
The neck should be carried straight,
but without stiffness; in such way, in
fact, that the fieshy part below the jaw
may form as 1t were n double chin.
contrivances, in the shape of
brides, martingales and collars, have
been resorted to in order to keep chill
dren's necks straight; but they are of
no use. People who are in the habit of
carrying weights upon their heads,
like the negro women OF the South, are
observed to be remarkably upright. It
has, therefore, been advised to make
children do the same, with the view of
giving straightness to their figure.
This, If done with moderation, will
probably prove advantageous.
HIGH HEELS.
Narrow shoes with high heels, which
are now all the fashion, are serious OBJ
stacles to a good figure. Without a
solid basis it is impossible to sustain
the form In an erect posture, and
poised, as our young girls are, upon the
stills in fashion, it is not easy to pre-
serve their equilibrium. They thus
bend forward or backward.
to the right or to the left, until in the
course of time, they become perma-
manently misshapen in one direction
or the other. H-F
A BEAUTIFUL ARM.
a woman's arm is beautiful when,
enlarging from a delicate
wrist, it becomes round and plump,
with rather more fullness of the outer
than inner side. 1t is seldom sufh-
GENTLY developed in the modern
woman of fashion to reach the standard
OF classical beauty. She does not use
her limbs, and especially her arms,
to give them the muscular
growth of which they are capable; and
there is 10 more expressive illustration
OF the effects of exercise and incidence