The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-02-21
PERSONAL ADORNMENT.
For the Ladies Exclusively.

1t is not an easy task to dress well at
home and abroad, when we possess but
small share of dame fortunes purse,
and therefore many women take little
heed to their home adornment, if they
can only appear to better advantage on
the street. But l think that every wom-
an should strive to be becomingly dress
ed every day-shOuld wear Il nicely fit
ted and clean dress, whether it be of
cotton, wool, or silk, and should put on
a clean collar and cuffs, and have her
hair dressed neatly; then her general
appearance must necessarily be attrac-
tive. To be sure, there are many women
who are forced to rise so early, and Ia
Dor SO continually, that they feel as if
they could not possibly spare the time
needful to make becoming toilet, but
must throw on an old, faded wrapper,
without any lingerie, and tuck up their
back hair in the most expeditions man
ner, leaving the front either brushed
plainly back from the forehead, or in
hairpins or curl-papers until towards
night, when, perhaps, they will find time
to put on a cleaner dress, and arrange
their hair so that they do not look quite
Ikea scarecrow, when the evening lamps
are lighted. The habits of slovenliness
are very easily acquired, and when they
have taken possession of you they can
not be laid aside without struggle; and
the want of time in the morning to make
a careful toilet Will surely produce hab-
its of careleSsneSs, so that it is especially
needful to guard against them, and to
make it point never TO come to the
breakfast table in such a gIise that you
would not be willing to appear before
your friends. You are unjust to your
family and yourself if you do not strive
to make yourself as beautiful to them as
to others; and if you once commence
the good work, and rise half an hour
earlier so that you can have your hair
tidily arranged, and your collar well
adjusted, you find that the task Is nOtSo
hard one as you supposed it to be.
"Clean dresses, collars and cuffs, and
the hair arranged handsomely every
morning!" exclaims some reader.
"Why, how can we always attend to
such things when there is so much to do
in the mOrning?"
reply that calico is very cheap-six
and quarter cents will buy very pref
ty prints; and nine to ten yards will
make handsome wrapper with a Span
ish flounce. Linen is also to be had at
very reasonable prices; collars and
cuffs are easily made, AID any girl of
twelve years ought to know how to
wash, starch, and iron them, and not
make them labor to the already over
worked mother; while the hair need
not be crimped until it looks like furze
bush, or "banged'' over the forehead
in such q way as to make you look like
an idiot. Such rolls of false hair, such
braids of jute "rats'' and all the other
denominations, worn above the brain,
can not but prove injurious to it, and
doubtless they are the cause of Mt least
half of the headaches from which wom-
en- suffer such tortures.
So let me beg of my fair readers to
make a bonfire of all their coils and
braids, puffs and false curls, and con-
tent themselves with the hair that ma
ture has bestowed upon them. If they
choose to dress it in soft waves over the
forehead, it will, perhaps, prove an ad-
dition to their charms; but to initiate
the negro's wool so closely, is surely
great mistake.
One can dress neatly and tastefully,
at small expense, if a little calculation
is made in the purchasing of needful
articles Three calico dresses can be
made to do duty in the kitchen for three
times as many months, if they are wash
ed when slightly soiled, and mended
when slightly torn. Five dollars will
purchase years. supply OF white and
colored aprons, cuffs and collars, and
also underclothing of good cotton. 1t
| is the poorest economy, however, to
purchase cheap calicoes and cOttons;
far better to pay the highest prices at
I the outset, and then wear them long
time. 1t takes just as many hours to
make up light, fimsy cOttons, as to
/ make those of a close, firm texture, and
the latter will wear three times as long.
Therefore impress it upon the mind Of
/ the head of the house, if he does the
/ shopping, to purchase the most expen-
sive cottons for family use.
/ The proverb, the destruction OF the
poor is their poverty is perfectly IL
/ iustrated in this case; and the man who
can afford to purchase a good quality Of
/ materials for his family, and fails to do
so, also illustrates the prOFerb, g penny
wise and pound foolish"
In the matter of boots and shoes there
is also great waste. Good thick shoes
are necessity for all classes in the win
ter, and it is poor economy to buy
cheap, ready-made articles, if better
can be procured; yet in summer time
such shoes or boots are only weari-
ness to the wearer, and they should al
ways be replaced by lighter slippers or
s'ties'
SIovenliness at home is, am sorry to
say, a growing evil in our midst Every
wife remembers that in girlhoOd she
! took Mains 10 attire herself as neatly as