The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-06-18

TMk UD1 o. OUD11nOD ANW AAS -
ueautafua mamas ana Dset-Perfeot Nails
The Manicure.
Irrom tho Cincinnati Inouirer1
Human decoration II an art in itself,
vet \ eadly abused one, because Il ID ex-
arrcroted 20 great extent. One Of the
mc,et remarkable specimens OF this art
I ever saw was the eccentric Duke do
Brunswick. Now, were 10 Duchess
Instead Of Duke, / would pass It BY, but
IL is 90 seldom that the male sex resort,
even In their old age, to artificial means
oan not refrain from citing this rare ex-
nmple. The Duke and his suite were ct
Venice In 1860, and occupied apartments
In the same hotel with me In fact they
we're vis-H-vis. The Duke, when ne had
fecOrnted his frame, was tall, stout,
rosy-cheeked brunette, with Q heavy
Ino;1etache and rich black fav0rites, and
at distance appeared to be man about
thirty years OF age, and would be DEEM
cd handsome by most people. He was
sixty then; he had no hair on his head,
took him three hours to prepare his
face. He had an artist who was, In
every sense Of the word. an excellent
pupil and perfectly skilled In the art OF
decorating the human frame. A por-
trnit which the Duke had In his younger
days was the model for him In his ad-
yanoed years, and every part. was
wrought to make him resemble this pic
ture. In brief, IL was successful at
tempt. I have met few men who have
used art In their make upi" perhaps
they had an overstock OF 1t in their
mental composition. But the fair sex
what would the druggists and peri1iners
OF the present day do without them 7
Nevertheless I stand aghast to see the
BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRLS,
whose youth In itself 10 "human deco
ration, plaster their smooth brows with
powder, paint, and other cosmetics, un-
til they resemble the wax dolls IN toy
shop It is harsh truth. yet TACT,
that American youth use more cosmetics
than any other women In the world.
And this IL strikingly true In certain
cities. I give Louisville the palm, for
the respectable ladies OF this city, with
few exceptions. young and old, paint,
powder. and dye. / see every day the
wife OF Il most respectable merchant.
leader OF fashion. who celebrated her
golden wedding a long time since. wad-
ding along with golden curls. rosy
cheeks, and eyes, Cleopatra-like, pen
cilled and daubed with charcoal. .aping
youth, and clinging to the dilapidated
relics of her former beauty with painful
tenacity. The habit Of biting the lips Is
cause Il renders them colorless, rough
ems them. and finally causes perceptible
wrinkles. and Injuries their. shape. "A
large mouth is only beautiful when the
teeth are fine. The teeth, strange to
say, are now often neglected by women
whose means and time permit them to
take excellent care Of them. know
Young -belles--just out Of their
teens, who, from gross carelessness,
neglect their teeth, until pain and decay
force them to visit a dentist. There is
not q feature In a woman's face that re.
uuires more care than the mouth and
teeth; they are as useful ss the eyes,
and equally ornamental. Ladies', take
care Of them.
THE BEAUTY OF THE HANDS
10 a beauty that often stands alone, be-
cause pretty hand is an unusual sight.
The loveliest hands / ever saw were
those OF the duchess OF Geneva. In
1867. saw q marble cast she had taken
OF them, which was much admired In
artistic circles at the time. The Italian
women are very careless OF their hands,
and I have, with great surprise, seen
ladies OF rank unglove their hands in q
carriage. church, and at q promenade.
when the nails were literally clothed In
dirt. apd naturally. seeing this among
was not surprised to see the hands OF
the middle class quite as bad, II not
worse. In Egypt the middle class stain
their nails and hands so much that 1t is
hard to tell when they are clean, but
the lower class have the most perfect
shaped hands ever saw. In France,
particularly in all the large cities, the
women In nearly all classes take partic-
ular pains with their hands. 80 much 50
that they 60 regularly to what Is called
manicure-that is, q person who makes
the care Of the hands q speciality. In
Paris this profession is most lucrative,
and there are at least six hundred men
and women engaged In 1t. For the
enough to know something of this novel
yet not new calling, ] give brief
description Of how they manage their
affairs. Ten years ago I was ct the
French institution Of Madame Michel,
at school, and while there quite shocked
my teacher by asking her one day to
trim my nails. why, mademoiselle, "
said she, 'you should have q manicure. =
| I was 80 abashed at the mistake made
in asking her to do such 2 thing that /
naively answered, "Will not my knife
do as wellP" "Oh, no, said she; I'VE
will have manicure here In the morn
ing; your nails require shaping" !
supposed
THE MANICURE
was . steel instrument used for pairing
the nails; so retired with ungratifed
curiosity till tomorrow, when at an
early hour the steward informed me the
manicure" Is here. 6uppostng It to be,
according to the French dic.ton, , mascr; -, J;
''Oh, excuse me, mademoiselle, he never
comes to the sleeping apartment. he
always waits In the reception ROOM"
came down, and there stood the instru-
ment to shape my irregular nails-a tall,
lean, dark-skinned individual, with
flowing jet locks, beard and imperial.
ascorfinn. T wau ofruok dr1ynh with