Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-09-29
THE cHILDREN's EYES.


And you'll kiss me without reply.
-Bdydrd Taylor.
THE CHILDREN's EYES.
A wise and thoughtful mother sends in
the following sensible suggestions in regard
to very important subject "AIlow me to
say a few words about the children's eyes.
Years ago, when the children studied their
lessons from the books, we did not hear
very much about their eyes giving out
Let us consult our black-boards and see
what they can tell us about this world
wide subject. Dear parents and guardians
all over the broad world, how many hours
through the day are your little children
sitting in school, staring at blackboard
upon which are placed by the teacher
most of the lessons for the day; many
times the lines being so fine and pale they
could not be easily read more than half or
two-thirds the way across the room; but
the children are required to see them all
the way across and in the remotest cor
ners. Many of the children, when first
looking at the board, do not see much of
anything, but after looking very sharp
for few seconds, the lines reveal them
selves. This, my friend, means strained
eyes, and strained eyes mean weakened or
diseased optic nerves-possibly no eyes at
all, depending entirely upon the severity
and long-continuance of the strain. Even
when the work is quite distinct, the dis
tance is many times so great for those who
hay hot -,
waves, coming between the poor, tired
optics and the hoard, cause the lines to
waver and flicker; and especially is this
the case when the light is poor and the
ventilation bad. Anything put on the
board, whether for young eyes or old,
| should have large proportions and broad,
clear lines throughout, so that no extra ef-
forts will have to be made to discover
it. Remember, too, that there is great
| difference In eyes; one child will readily
| see what another cannot without a fatal
strain. | know whereof | speak, for my
own eyes were nearly destroyed through
this same practice, and | know several
others who have suffered a like fate"
MEN AS MoDIsTEs.
Women, as rule, dress in order to at
| tract the admiration of men, not so much
to please other women. If this be true.
and undoubtedly it is, let US see in what
| direction the masculine taste generally
| runs. Nearly every man is gifted with
| instructive good taste, though utterly un-
able to tell why one style pleases him better
than others, or why one woman's attire
seems to him the perfection of elegance,
and another, equally costly, impresses him
as dowdy and common Says a close OBJ
I! server: at is men who approve of black
gowns, small bonnets, no bustles, flesh
gloves, dainty shoes and long wraps. A
man may see the use of short Jacket,
but he can find no elegance in It. He
understands that a long cloak, made of
rich material, softened by fur or sparkling
with jets has about it nameless some
thing that gives queenly look to the
plainest woman"
Man has always abhorred the bustle-
| that expression of fashion which would
make vulgar the Venus de Medici. And the
one man who rules the fashion, because he
understands the harmony of color, the
perfection Of line and the value of stuffs-
| Worth-always refused to put bustles in
| the gowns he created. You think it odd
for a man to be modste? Men wrote the
| best descriptions we have of the beautiful
women Of Athens. A man (her physician)
wrote that famous Book of Beauty so
priced by Cleopatra No less man than
Ovid wrote the book of a thousand CO.
quettes.
A woman notes the richness of velvet,
the frou-frou of silk and the genuineness
of lace, and may be able at a glance to
| estimate its cost to farthing, but a man
watches the litheness of the figure that
| carries it, and realizes how well suited it
| is to the woman inside of it. He sees the
| folds as they cling, and he knows that he
would shudder if they stood out stiff and
and straight by reason of an abom-
| ination of wire or hair-cloth beneath
them. Men are curiously alike in
| their opinions of women's dress. and
| centuries have not changed them
much. You may be sure that when
| Mother Eve sat down to make the first
| frock of fig leaves, sewn together with
| grass for thread and a thorn for a needle,
| Father Adam watched to see that it was
suited to her; that the "beauty curves"
were brought out by smooth leaves
and the angles hidden under gathered
ones. 1t was man who drew the
line of beauty; to-day it is a man-Hen-
ner-who paints the most beautiful
women. Female artists can do lovely bits OF
| nature, wondrous bits of still life
and good portraits-but not one of
them can paint upon canvas really beau
tiful woman. And in the matters of dress
that all-importrnt matter to many,
which engrosses their undivided attention
women are satisfied with model ex-
plotted by the newspapers, by the or
binary dress-maker, by the photo
| grapher and the bouleyardier But men
look for something more-they demand
the clear eye, the white skin, the shape,
the contour, the woman herself, in the pro-
fessional beauty; and at least the shape
and contour in all other women.
IN MY LADY's CHAMBER.
| favorite material for portieres and
hangings in chambers and summer rooms
is awning linen. 1t is easily made up,
easily laundried, costs very little, and is
really very artistic and efiective-in its
| proper sphere. The color should be
chosen to match the carpet, as we'll as the
wallpaper. If ornamentation is desired,
the white or light stripe may be worked
in self-colored cotton, in coarse herring
bone or 'feathered" stitch The length
wise stripe may be worked on the curtain
itself, and separate stripes may be put the
other way, across the top and bottom,
worked in by herring-bone stitch. They
should be hung on plain, unvarnished
poles, with brass rings
IL you are so fortunate as to have some
old-fashioned eounterpanes-those home
spun ones our great-grandmothers used OF
red and white, or blue and white, honey.
comb pattern-you will find them most
effective for bedroom portieres.
Another kind are made of white cotton
canvas, embroidered with bold designs in
blue fax. At the top and bottom are
placed alternate bands of blue denim and
the white canvas-each embroidered in q
simple pattern with flax of the opposite