The Dickinson press., 1890-09-06

of the Isainbow-An Ordeal Which to
the Uninitiated Is Akin to Torture.
The fads of progressive New York
women will kill me yet. Last week l
took a ''pac!s," and am nearly dead.
Lost twenty pounds and the power of
locomotion for twenty-four hours. My
lips and eyelids turned electric blue and
my complexion is pale green with. ecru
mottling. wanted some lnedicine-a
big dose-with diet of lettuce, prunes,
Graham rolls and hot water to see if
could put down the rebellious biliousness
of my skin and put on a silver gray
gown. l went to see the bathing mis-
tress in the Hoffman house, who used to
steam and knead the Jersey Lily and
who did several hundred dollars worth
of grooming for the beautiful Duchess
of Marlborough. She told me that I
fought to get packed"
"Where to-" asked.
"Good looks! You can come here for
night or will go to your house and
give you a pack that will make your hair
curl"
gave her my card and made arrange
ments to be ready for her two days later.
Her parting command was: "Take q
five meal fast to rest your system, and
you will DO tho color Of lily when I get
through with YOU" She did not say
what color or what kind of q lily at the
time, but have since learned that the
model shc had in mind was the tiger lily.
TIE "PAcK" DESCRIBED.
took the fast, and the day she arrived
was us hollow as a pipe stem, and tho
weakness of the traditional cat was mus
cular vigor compared to the general gone
ness of my interior. A small mountain
of comfortables and blankets was COL
lected, my bed was stripped and covered
first with rubber and then pongee
sheet. Over this was laid wet sheet
wrung out of boiling water in which l
was folded like prehistoric mummy.
The sensation was little smart at
first, and had lurking fear that tho
original hue of whiteness. was being
scorched from my spinal column. Salts
fed of my mistake relapsed into state
of passivity and the mistress of the bath
transferred the mountain of blankets
from the floor to my bed. Then she put
cool, wet napkin on my head, and
there l lay with the weight of Atlanta's
on my already caved in anatomy and
every pore in my body streaming like a
country pump I tried to think 1 was
having fun, for it was day off and it
has always been my motto to make my
own sunshine.
Do what 1 could with roy thoughts
felt the blood pumping into my brain
and making violent and forcible efforts
to escape. The stately mistress of the
flesh brush made me keep still, chang
ing the cold cloths ON my head, slipped
morsels of crushed ice down my throat
and encouraging me by frequent reitera-
tions that was doing well and would
have q beautiful color. stayed in tho
pack three hours and perspired until /
thought there was nothing left of me
but the last breath. Then dropped off
of something-I don't know just exactly
what-and when l was about to get a
glimpse of heavenly things with q lot Of
short wasted early empire girls and
small dimpled boys in feather trimmings
floating about in atmospheric noncha-
lance l was rudely shaken and told to
open my mouth. That ended the pack.
THE SENSATIONS AFTERwARD.
was dosed with French brandy,
rubbed with alcohol, polished off with o
pair of bath mitts that had the grain Of
radish graters and put to bed again be-
tween warm sheets.
The packer gave me cup of bouilloa,
a chop, roll and glass of claret, and
stayed with me until finished the first
1norsel of food had tasted in fifty hours.
Bidding me keep quiet and stay in bed a
day Or two she relieved me of a s. bill l
had been saving for crimson parasol
and went off. When l looked in the
glass saw reflection that beggared tho
horror portrayed by the impersonators of
Vioiatta and Camille in their last scenes
was sort of OK heart red with mot
Ting of yellow fever and black plague
patches done in the fashion that Limoges
vases are under glazed. My eyes were
on fire, the lining of my lids was white
and green, my nostrils were pinched and
my lips shriveled and were onion blue in
tint.
Briefly, was horror. looked like
a resurrection. Mentally was as idiotic
as the ushers in the Bible wedding. But
had been packed" and there is some
satisfaction to a crack brain to know
that she has one less fad in the gamut of
fooldom to investigate. have given up
the ideal Of gray frock and buckled
down to diet of rare roast beef, boiled
onions, rice pudding and vegetable soup,
for until recover some of my lost flesh
have no use for anything but Spanish
scarf and an ulster.
But will you believe me when tell
you that these packs arc taken regularly
by the fashionably progressive women of
New York every day in the week? It's a
fact.-New York World.