Wichita eagle., 1889-02-14
Luxurious Appointments That Rival
Those Of tho Tabled East.

Luxurious Appointments That Rival
Those of tho Tabled East.
The luxurious habits of New Y ork women,
says the Times, of that city, have grown
nearly to rival the stories told of PoppBa,
who had bushels of fresh rose leaves picked
every night to sleep on, and who took a
daily morning bath Of asses milk to keep
her skin soft and satiny. This Is not quite
the form that luxury takes here, but the
amount of time and labor spent in the care
Of the person and the preservation of beauty
Is something calculated to surprise the peo-
pie who give it no attention. The maid has
ceased to be sufficient attendance, her time
being more or less absorbed by the toilet
and cognate matters, SO the present plan Is
to engage the services of a woman who goes
out by the day or hour, and whose cards
read: Ladies' Toilets" She has entire
charge of the persons of her customers, and
it is her duty to see that they are kept beau
tiful. Once or twice a week she rubs,
combs, brushes, clips and cleans their hair,
undertaking to keep it soft, sleek and thick.
She manicures the nails, and uses and rec
ommends such unguents as are warranted
to keep the hands soft and white. She is q
pedicure as well, and keeps her custom
ers' feet in as perfect condition as
their hands. She has a thousand
different devices for identifying the face,
and undertakes to ward off wrinkles by
her rubbings and enolients. She trains
eyebrows in the way they should go, re-
moves superfuous hair, induces eyelashes
to thicken and lengthen; keeps the skin
smooth, fresh, and fair, and declares she
can make the lips keep their bloom without
the use of rouge. She looks after the
figure, too, having a system called the
Swedish movement" by which she tight
ems up flaccid muscles, rounds thin threats
and lean arms, and removes any of the dis
fgurements of outline that have resulted
from tight lacing and the abnormal ten
dency of flesh to any one part of the body.
She reduces flesh, too, and undertakes to
develop symmetry. Her principal occupa-
ton, however, and the one best reished by
her luxurious employers, is the massage
bath The tub is filed with warm water,
quite as hot as can be comfortably borne,
and into this is thrown bath bag, consisting
of little sack of cheese-cloth, loosely filed
with almond meal, powdered orris root,
and grated soap. The wateriturns soft and
milky as the contents of the bag dissolve,
and the skin is rubbed with the bag,
which makes smooth, violet perfumed
lather and leaves the flesh as soft as
chilj's. The bather is rubbed dry and rolled
in big sheet of Turkish toweling, and then
every inch Of the body is carefully
rubbed, kneaded and pinched with hands
moistened in violet water, which impreg-
mates the skin with faint, fower-hke per-
fume. This takes the place of exercise in
great measure, and women who are too in
dolent or too busy to walk or practice in
gymnasium find this keeps the SKIN in
equally good condition and is more lux
urious method of setting the blood to circu-
lating. Another fancy of these dainty
women Is to sleep in silk. They have long
abjured any other wear for underclothes,
and now there are being shown in the shops
that cater to all the new Wilma of the sex
sets Of silk sheets and pillow-cases in all
colors. With these 20 the beautiful East
Indian blankets, woven entirely of raw silk,
and down spreads covered with surah or
satin. These sheets and piliow-cases are
hemstitched with crest or monogram en-
broidered in one corner. Some of them
have delicate vine embroidered along the
edge or broad band Of Aranu work. They
are of all delicate colors and white and
black. Mrs. George Gould, who has
passion Ior vloIets, mas several se,s Of these
silken bed furnishings of pale lilac, with
wreaths of Parma vlolets embroidered all
around them. The Hindoo blanket is a
deeper purple and the violet colored down
spread is perfumed with sachets Of violet
powder.