Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-07-10
Is YOUR HAND PRESENTABLE?
The Fashions in Finger NaiIs-How
They Can be Trained, Etc.

They Can be Trained, Etc.
Are you waiting for any one, sir?"
suddenly and severely asked a little
Frenchman as he darted out OF door
leading to a second floor suite OF rooms
near Bars
In view of the fact that the visitor, who
was Republican reporter, had but just
assembled the stairs and was engaged in
frantic endeavor to recover his second
wind, the interrogation was superfiuous
and provoked reply that the party OF
the second part had not as yet COM
menced to wait, was, in fact, the person
ification of a new arrival, whose object
was to find manicure.
"But we don't treat gentlemen's hands,
messieur," replied the little man, making
an abortive effort to increase his stature
and thus prevent the intruder glancing
over his shoulder into the mysterious
rooms. Fortunately the reporter had
had his brogans retapped, and conse-
quently overtoWered the excited proprie-
tor. From this vantage ground was seen
a well-knoWn society belle in BARRIERS
chair undergoing the Cleveland shingle
act at the hands of a male artist. An
other lady was having periwig soldered
upon her bald head, and in a further
room was still another submitting to the
manipulations of an assistant manicure
The reporter deplored thenecessity which
forced him to intrude, but pleaded his
case upon the broad base OF humanity
and was smuggled in, much to his own
and the evident embarrassment OF the
lady patrons.
"There are about five hundred ladies
in St. Louis who patronize manicures,"
said the wife OF the manicure, petite
and charming English blonde, ''but only
about one hundred are regular customers.
In order to have beautiful nails one
should visit the manicure once a week.
You see the instruments are few, but the
greatest care must be used in using them.
We charge 81 for each treatment, and as
there are ten nails and each one occupies
fully five minutes, the charge is very
moderate"
The reporter then visited the Woman's
Exchange, on Locust street, in search of
a lady who used to operate under the
auspices of the organization, but she had
returned East, where the business is
much more profitable, owing to the fact
that there ladies and gentlemen have
their hands treated regularly, and so do
not occupy so much time at each sitting.
The only other operator in st. Louis is
a lady living on Ewing avenue, and to
her the reporter applied for further infor-
nation.
Finger and toe nails can be trained,
shaped, altered, polished and beautified
to an amazing extent. Gentlemen have
usually prettier nails than ladies', because
they take better care of them. (The Wis
itor suggested, for instance, that the men
were not given to scratching each others
faces. Acceded to- Ladies' hands are
always better in winter than in summer,
for the reason that they are oftener
gloved, and then sewing spoils the finger
tips and nails. Lawyers, doctors, Jour-
nalists, bookkeepers and insurance men,
all ought to have beautiful nails, because
there is not much wear and tear upon
them. l have a patient who bites his
finger nails horribly, and l am afraid l
cannot do anything for him. 1t is owing
to excessive nervousness that he has
fallen into this habit He wants to get
married, but is afraid that this habit
would be an unfailing source of annoy
ance, as it would be an easy thing for his
wife to fall back and harp upon after each
domestic upheaval, and he hates repris-
ais"
The proper color for a delicate and well
kept nail is pink, like baby's, but there
is no particular style in the matter of
length. A woman who plays must wear
her nails short, on account of the keys of
her piano or organ or the strings OF her
lutte or harp. Women of a literary turn
may, however, indulge in long nails.
From the day that Lots wife turned
into a pillar of salt, filbert nails have
been considered very swell and the "ro-
fund taper" but if nature insists one
NAV wear oval nails with impunity. AS
to trimming the nails square, oval or
pointed, it's all a matter of taste, as the
song says. There are as many lotions,
tinctures, salves, enamels, paints and
powders for the finger nails as there are
for the cheeks, but aside from the TACT
that man or woman cannot hlmsen
or herself trim the fingers of the
right hand with the left, the
writer saw nothing in the actual
cutting and filing of the nails which was
out of the ordinary way. Scissors, files,
emery paper, cuticle knives and pol
isher comprise the kit of the manicure In
addition to cosmetiques as numerous as
the dollars in ones purse. There are
fifty-two manicures in the metropolis,
and about two in each city of the size OF
st. Louis, besides number OF travelling
manicures who work the summer resorts.
A popular firm which deals in surgical
instruments stated that there was not
much demand for manicure instruments
by private parties now, although there
was craze that way last Christmas, and
search at the Mercantile and Public
School libraries failed to produce any
works on manicure.-St. Louis Repub-
RcGn.