The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-09-01
WORK AND WAYS OF NJ
Vacations and Remuneration of Those
Engagedin Writing for Newspapers.
Other Lines of Business Pay Better-Proft on
Cosmetic Articles-The Glass of Women
Who Prepare Them-Jeweled Corsets.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal

6acredly, ana Heu 10 the WlluerneSS- Lie
is short. letters are long. If man is i'm
mortal till his work is done" as the school
notices used to tell US, life insurance may
be dispensed with for some time to come in
the present case. Whether all the homely
women travel in summer and the good
looking stay at home. or not, / think some
thousands of the former. all freckles, eye
teeth and deep. leathery wrinkles, have
gone on the same railroads. If one were a
cosmetic onsuelo, it would be o temptation
to take a van, like the quack vendors. and
travel from town to town, applying freckle
washes, face bleaches and wrinkle pastes.
What hosts for a whimsical genius, and
what a missionary work in general. To
our correspondents at onces
1t Is out of the question to answer all let
ters which desire private reply, were time
and strength given up to them. Still
those wishing personal letters should at
least risk stamps on the chance, for if
the answer TO their inquiries is not worth
postage to them, it annot be worth taking
time for. A letter was lately received from
Ireland imploring directions for removing
personal blemishes. in heart-moving terms,
but the evidently well-educated writer
quite overlooked ocean postage. l don't
know why authors time. should, in the
Adirondack phrase, be considered worth no
more than setting hens time. If people
imagine that authors write because they
are good for nothing else. it will do to re-
mind them that this may be true of a good
many writing folk, but those who make
the truest success of writing are usually
capable or making more money In common
business. Mr.. Isaac Bromley wrote the
wittiest articles, political and other
wise, for the Tribune years ago,
salary was reduced, a year or two, when
that was thought too much. Mr.. Bromley
left newspaper work and took q railroad
office at a salary of S10,O o where he is con-
sidered we'll worth the sum. So q news
paper man told me-. / know a newspaper
woman, very bright and cute, whom the
Jealousy of INSCRIPTIONS women writers,
without half her talent at anything but
lying. edged of the Boston press into other
Business, where she is able. to clear $50 a
week, which is thrice more than any of her
rivals are doing. Two or three women l
declined to help forward in the crowded
field of newspaper work-your thanks, if
with me until they found themselves sub
stantlally placed in other work with three
times the salary they could possibly hope
Tor in journalism. So please inquire
WAtAAh II VAO udN 10
q very moderate price for an authors
time, who could make five times as much
outside OF newspapers, and if a letter of
advice often takes hours of study and
writing, isn't that reply worth postagef
Another rule which writer's soon find them
selves forced to observe. is never to notice
letters without the writer's real name and
address. 1t is not remarkable that women
eions they send. Bear in mind, it is an af-
front to yourself to write a letter you are
unwilling to sign and nearly as much to
receive II, and all such are quickly dropped
into the waste-basket.
Women are queer about their own inter
est often. For instance. n writer pa
thetically deplores q disfgurement of face
and person, which she fears will render
9 tsa an object OF dislike to
She has been minded to break off the
engagement on this account, but to do so,
she says, will be to break her own heart.
She has found a proprietary remedy which
factory way, but she grudges the price, and
comes to me to tell her how to reach the
same effect for nothing. Now here is q de-
feet which is likely to cost her uture hap
piness. and q safe remedy whose virtue
she knows. Does she ever balance the W
things and ask herself whether she would
rather let her life's hopes and affections go,
or pay even 800 to be without blemish and
happyi. Even a servant girl will often pay
AAo nh - " Wolk
worth her hard earnings. If good looks n
:contentment with ones self, and the gain of
a husband are not not worth a dozen bottles
of depilatory, even at So a bottle, the price
of q silk gown, they can't be worth troub-
ling about, and l decline to spoil other peo-
pies profits.
The papers have had a good deal to say
about the price of certain cosmetics in
proportion TO the cost of material. To be
consistent they should also attack all ar
ticles sold by druggists, for it has long
been one of the proverbs of trade that no
business was more profitable than the sale
of drugs. The story has gone from Maine
to California about the Norwood druggist,
near Boston, who put up a lotion for
a friend. charging 25 cents. See
here" says the buyer, you needn't spoil
The last time / had that lotion put up in
town. they charged me S1.25." 81 guess /
won't suffer-" said the druggist. dryly, II
only made "a cents on the bottle" They say
s since df tRsn. tI a"s doesn't n e gone max. d0w .a
much money. bat it is pertinent to
say that the cost of bare material
IS usually the least Item in cosmetics or
medicines. People leave out the rent of
buildings to manufacture and sell them in,
the cost of the mere putting up, clerk hire
ana advertising. which often costs more
than all other expenses put together. Put
these things together. and q medicine or a
cosmetic at 81 u bottle will be no moro ex-
pensive than n sewing-machine, or n hay
cutter. or a pound of tine cheese. 1t is odd
how people weekly pay charges in a dozen
directions for necessaries of life which they
grudge bitterly for the essentials of refine
ment. which nobody compels them to buy
at all.
The law of trade is that necessaries of
food and comfort are to be sold as near cost
as possible. and profits made from luxuries
which peoples can buy or go without. as seems
good. Yet we are every one of us having
s cents q pound for the hundred weights of
sugar used yearly. when the Scientific
American tells US sugar can be raised at n
profit in Kansas for 1l2 cent q pound. Bo-
rax had been sold conteltediy for wears at s
cents per pound, when it suddenly took a
Jump to 20 cents. a year or two ago. / sun
pose because it is as plenty and cheap as
sand in the Western States. Copperas' the
best disinfectant for family use, costs a few
mills a pound. but we pay at least 8 cents.
The bar soap women use for the laundry
costs more than their cosmetics in proper
ton to the expense of manufacture and put
ting on the market. Curiosity led me to
look into these things lately. 1t is quite
the thing lately for women of fash
ion to get their cosmetics from private
hands. from some clever gentlewoman who
prepares her own special recipes. Her
preparations go by worth, not show. The
bottles are not manufactured for her. or
put up in charming boxes. They are as
nkeiy to come in old sarsaprilla OF salad
bottles. without much satin ribbon tied on
the corks. But the generous bottles and
numbers. with directions in delicate hand