American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-01-02
A Chapter on Broadway Beauties-The
Use Of Cosmetics.


der to secure the approval of the men,
We have heard this artless confession
made many times, and are willing to &C
cept it IN the good faith in which it is
offered When a man sees woman
deliberately and extensively dressed-for
the present we leave good taste out OF
the question-leading gospel life ac-
cording to st. Worth, he experiences
certain feeling of qualification upon
learning that all the extravaganza has
been committed solely upon his account.
The only proviso is that he is not expect
ed to pay the bills, when, in addition to
q gorgeous toilet, he perceives that the
woman who has attracted his eye has
washed her face with oriental cream,
tinted her lips and cheeks, and possibly
the lobes of her ears, with carmine, has
penciled her eyebrows and dyed her
eyelashes, has possibly swallowed some
of Fowler's solution for her complexion,
and employed belladonna to lend brill
fancy to her eyes, and finally, with aure-
ated tincture has turned yellow hair
which erring nature made black; when
he beholds all these latest improvements
introduced into that frail tenement
that French fiat-which the soul of or
binary womanhood usually inhabits, and
when he is informed that all this is done
for his sole delectation, is he not bound
by every tie of honor to feel particular
thrills of gratitude and to proclaim this
thing of paints and paddings the most
unselfish of her sex? 1t is to be feared
that the majority of men are not given
to such amiable emotions as these. We
do not incontinently fall down and wor
ship those who take too much pains
to please. Our alteration is little
more intense when we are a trifle
snubbed and disregarded. If you want
to know the opinion of the average male
pedestrian along Broadway respecting
the average girl or woman who prom
enades there, keep your ears open and
walk slowly along that thoroughfare for
a couple of hours every fine afternoon.
You will hear sarcasm, bitter testing and
scurrility; but not particle of gratitude
or appreciation. The fact Is that men do
not appreciate powder and paint. They
forgive them when they are artistically
applied, SO as to conceal or obscure the
sallowness and wrinkles which are
POLITICALLY generalized as the "ravages
of time" Men may even fOrbear harsh
criticisms when these aids to beauty are
meagerly employed by some young
Calypso who has not yet learned to place
full confidence in that wealth of face
with which nature has gifted her. But
no man, unless he be an extraordinary
great fool, condones that lavish applica-
ton of Lubin and Gourard which top
dresses the features with an aromatic
alluvium- The reason that Hebe is so
very sweet is that the shadow of a rose
is on her cheek, and no paint is on her
lips. Psyche would cease to be peren-
nially charming if she once made up her
at an apothecary's- How different from
the Aldabella of to-day, whose only
charms are those on her watch-chain.
Aldabella, like Janus, is double-faced;
but, unlike that divinity, never shows
both faces at once. One is known only
to herself, her Maker, and her
night-cap; the other is evolved, for
the admiration of the world, from va
rious little bottles Aldabella keeps under
lock and key. If the mouth of one of
these bottles could speak, what a tail it
would have to tell, The attitude which
a woman who babitually paints and pow
ders assumes toward herself is an inter-
esting point in psychological study, and
we venture to commend it TO Mr.. Lewes
as a subject for one of his foot-notes in
his " Problems of Life and Mind" We
suppose that, like drinking, the addiction
to cosmetics increases by insensible pro-
portions We can imagine the beauty OF
sixteen tinging her young lips for the
first time, with fear and trembling. How
brilliant the white background of the
teeth looks in contrast with the deepened
crimson OF the Laughing mouth. Fair is
that complexion as a magnolia leaf, but
here is Prof. Canker's Extract OF
Lilies" the constituents of which are
purely vegetable, and which sells at thu
ridiculously-low rate of $3.50 per bottle
So the poor little fool goes on, pit-mark
ing up her features then making up hel
form, destroying the soft bloom and ten
der outlines of youth, mincing alons
Broadway, installing the glances o.
compassion and disgust and the ogling
of impudence for admiration and eulogy
If girls like this understood the contemp
with which men regard them if they knew
how utterly such resources fail to awaken
the admiration desired, possibly the sal,
OF cosmetics would cease, and we should
have the opportunity of contemplating
form, face and hair as nature mad,
them. As you pass down Broadway yo,
see faces literally blue from the chemica
action of paste and lotions Perhaps tn
worst symptom in the young girls VIII
employ makeup is the unblush
ingness with which they brace
ti,e thing out. As you walk be
side Lulu you can detect, throug
her veil. and without an eye-glass, tn
powder hanging in pearly spangles b.
meath her eyes and on the contour of he
cheeks If your glanoes have any inte
hgence she knows that you see it, an
she remains blushless in the virtuou
consciousness that it is there AS a mean
OF extorting admiration from manhood!
We acknowledge with shame and cor
fusion of face that there are men, youn
and old, who do not disdain the use G
cosmetics. Has not Tennyson himsel
written poem satiriZing this weakness
of Bulwer's, and is nothing to be said j
favor of practice to which, if there
any truth in report, the author {
"kenelm Chillingly" was addicteds
long intervals we have met with a woma
liberal enough to admit that men had &
much right as women to the rouge-pl
and powder-puff, and that if a NAL
chose to make his face up no woman wa
justified in blaming him, SO that b
did it artistically. Now this is just tn
point we are struggling for in regard I
the ladies. We have no objection I
their softening a tint here or deepenin
employ too lavish hand. Oh, ladie
finish when you've had enough. Com
not into our presence with the odorife
Gus dust upon your forehead as thic
as dew-drops on David's sandals. Ye
terday afternoon my friend Verdi,
and walked down Broadway from til
Fifth Avenue Hotel to Union Square an
back again. During the promenade I'll
only natural female face we saw was tn;
belonging TO poor sewing-girl, SO bad
scanned with the smallpox as to /
beyond the redemption of the dermatol
gist. Even the dowagers wore ey
brows preternaturally larched, and Il
tionD were hilarious with Bloom
YOuth Is there not aomethinp innate