The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-11-11
TO HAVE PRETTY HANDS.
How to Whiten, Mold and Improve
the Fingers.

Augusta Prescott in Baltimore Sunday News.
Any woman can have pretty hands who
is willing to go to the least trouble with
them The hand is easily nodded and
can be shaped or whitened, or the texture
changed, almost at the will of the owner.
In the first place the hand has rounded
palm and five graceful fingers that are
bound to be pretty, no matter how treated.
The only things to be done are to make
the flesh soft, the skin white and the nails
an oval which shall be becoming to the
style of the hand. Strange to say these
are the most difficult things to accomplish
unless one knows exactly how; and the
easiest if the secret has been learned. But
of ultimate success there need be no
doubt
Who ever knew society woman who
puts herself daily in the hands of pro-
fessional beautifer, to be the possessor of
homely hands And who ever saw the
carefully .groomed" woman of the stage
other than charming with their gloves off?
This goes to show that pretty hands are
merely matter of knowledge and treat
ment. instead of heaven-sent gift.
Ladies who do great deal of fancy
work and much of the home-sewing, usu-
ally have hands of which they are ashamed
because they are rough and thin and eften
red, often having a dried look. If at
each washing they were to be rubbed
lightly with speck of cucumber cream or
with mutton tallow prepared in an egg
shell as our grandmothers knew how to
prepare it, the roughness would soon dis
appear and they would become very soft
and pleasant to touch.
Redness is sometimes caused by the
roughness and goes away when the hands
become smooth. But it is more often
made by tight cuffs, tight armholes and
tighs lacing. 1t will disappear within
week after the cause is removed. Some
times it is the sign of poor circulation and
indigestion, and in this case doctor must
prescribe and the hands will slowly improve
in color.
But if none of these things can be the
matter and the hands are still red and un-
pleasant to look upon, then must come the
process of bleaching, which can be fully
carried out without inconvenience or trou-
BILE of any kind.
The best hand bleach is pure soap. Get
enough to fill teacup when shaved fine
ly-castile is very good for this-and melt
with pint of water until it is thin soft
soap. Add little cologne and set away
to cool in big jar. Now when washing
the hands, lather thickly with this soft
soap and hold them in water which is only
warm. Wash off the soap with hot water
and after shaking the hands well dry them
in box of cracked oatmeal. Rub softly
until thoroughly dry and then dust them
lightly with a towel; and if, in one week,
the hands are not beautifully white, they
may be given up as the only hands in the
world that are wholly incorrigible.
Bony hands, even, can be improved.
The skin of the hands is very susceptible
- IL, ooI &c ,,,,,ttoo +ollo,, a.oo,, or n
quantity of good almond oil is diligently
rubbed in twice day for ten minutes at
time, in a month the hands will begin to
be plump and pretty. Vaseline is not so
good for this, as on some skins it is apt to
produce light, though undesirable, growth
of hair.
Our grandmother's way of preparing
the mutton tallow cream was to take the
untried tallow fresh from the sheep and
extract the oil in a small tin on the back
of the stove; after which it was poured
into egg shells in which two clover leaves
and sprig of sweet lavender and lem
on-verbena leaf had been placed. These
dainty egg shells of sweet mutton cream
were given in the by-gone days to the
bellies as choice gifts; the refined tallow to
be rubbed each night into the wrists to
make them fat and fair and pretty enough
for jeweled bracelets. The Duchess of
Sutherland, the famous beauty. used to
use this cream.
While the hands are being treated, and
until they become pretty, it is mistake
to load them with jewelry. Nothing ac-
centuates homely hand like big ring,
and nothing makes thin one look scraw-
nier than bracelet. Even pretty hands
should choose their ornaments carefully,
wearing close rings instead of knob-like
ones and never crowding one too closely
upon another, for fear of the horribly de-
formed effect which o-mueh-beringed
hands often have.
The cleanest people usually have the
most untidy fnger-nails. "And yet |
clean them every ten minutes" they say
as they hide their hands in modification.
The reason for the trouble is this: I'm
derneath the nails next to the "quick,,"
there lies thin skin which if disturbed,
becomes ragged and often sore. Particles
of dust easily collect in the raggedness and
the result is that the more they are cleaned
the more disagreeable they become.
The remedy is to leave them alone for
few days until they are healed, and after
that never to scrape the nails at ALL Every
time the hands are washed little soap
should be scraped from the soap ball un-
derneath each nail and then lightly washed
out with soft nail brush. This keeps the