The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-05
CARRIE CARELESS
Tells What a Girl Does When She "Re-
tires" at Night.

of me at tie matinee, the PROTEST, patri-
clan, little blonde l had seen tor many a
day. Her composed, yet viyaut profile
under a tiny Whit Of lace, and baby tips
aud May flowers fell into my line OF vision
against the dark, burning face, pale and
plain, crowned with cloud Of somber hair,
OF the greatest woman in New York to-
! day, Eleauora Dus9.
The little face nearest me is piquaut,
placid, not over-interested in the tragic
story OF Camille which the Italian was tell
ing MS with her eyes and hands and body,
rather than with her words, which we
couldn't understand.
Just think Of it,n she whispered, while
! Camille, upon the stage, shook with con-
| sumptive'S cough, and chung, palid and
gaspIng, in her lovers arms. Since Xmas
I've been getting fearfully out of condition.
Flabby aud crow-footed and too much
emotion, and positively pale in the morning
| after dances. Look at my wrinkles, dear, "
! and she lifted her peschy cheeks and opened
her eyes very wide in order that the faintest
| ghost Of wrinkle" might be smoothed from
| the white-veined skin.
"But since Ash Wednesday, she con-
tinued, "Tve trained every blessed night
and morning. 1t took me just exactly two
hours to get ready for bed last night and an
hour and half to dress for breakfast this
morning By Easter I'll be all right again. b"
| This without coquetry, and penslvely pat
| ting dark, golden hair, tiutfed into curls so
Rrtful that nature herself would have TO
look twice to see il she might honestly thank
! herself for them.
Two hours to get ready for bed A man
| can't grasp the reason for it, and girls tell
! only their best bosom friends the mysteries
! of their training" for CONDITION"
| But the processes are wonderful, and no
other girls than American have ever gone
| through them reigiously. and so. why keen
| them from the rest OF the world any longerl
Aud the fact Of IL is, girls, that the men
can't fling stones at us, because they are
swsrming to a certain house in New York
where they may obtain q growth OF hair
on heads long bald. and diminution Of
their middle-sged girth. during hours
| specially reserved for them.
! Now, l shall rehearse the tale Of the
| blondes bewitching, dizzying beauty. In
the fret place, she was born with an apti-
! tude for good looks; but that, after all, is
! not the main or necessary thing.
1t is eternal vigilance which is the price
of prettlness. and hundreds OF girls here are
both creating and preserving their charms
| by cheerfully paying that price,
There are many methods, and some
rules clash, but the flowers of the
systems, like the blonde, unfold after
| this manner. Perhaps there has been
! last tiresome weeks before Lent when
dances and dinners have sent the girls home
| so late and so tired that they have slipped
! straight from the heap of clothing fallen
| about their feet into their nightrobes and
thence sleepily into bed, without a thought
of the goodnight apparatus all about them.
! Indeed, it will never, never do, and so when
Lent arrives the backslider announces that
she is going to bed at O'Clock And she
does. or rather she walks upstairs. locks her
door, lights every gas jet in the room, turns
| off the heat and prepares 60 train"
Slowly she removes her jewels-if she is
| not too ardent a penancer To wear them
and waves her hands to herself in the mir
ror and smiles gently, then broadly, then as
widely as she can. Then she grimaces fu-
riously and owls, screwiug her brows,
| rolling her eyes and drawing in her cheeks
| with lo1g inhalation.
She repeats this maniacal operation two
| or three times, then beams upon herself
naturally and graciously, with the con-
! vlctlon that the unused and undeveloped
| tissues of her face have been fattened aud
! toughened by tine coItortions.
Next comes off the dress, and the maiden
| peers at her white neck and shoulders and
| takes q deep, tull breath to betray the Turk
| ing place OF some unwary bone.
| But she doesn't pause here, for while her
corsets are on nothing worth while can be
accomplished
Off comes the lace undervest skirts are
loosened, lingerie aud shoes are leisurely re-
moved until she stands in scientific atti-
| tude, clad only in her close-dtting tights
What PuZzlinR things happen next If the
maiden feels stiff she falls unexpectedly and
with dull thud on the floor; or she kicks
| Deliberately, studiously and righteously,
and always before The mirror. Ten
minutes is the time for the exercise after
w hn la ha har
with her hands ciasped high above her head
How she can stretchl She rises
from her heels to her toes,
initiates her chest, lifts her
waist, throws back her head, touches the
tips OF her fingers above it and counts ten.
She sinks with her breath, and before TAX
ing another, places her hands quickly on
her hips aud bends forward. back, and to
the side with her heels IN military p sition.
After that she drops her head on her CHEST
and rolls it until it rests against her Shout
der or hangs down her back.
Fifteen or twenty minutes OF these pre-
liminAries and the girl il ready for the
room, perhaps, but in the bath or dressing
room more likely, she has rugged flying
rings aud behind sIlken draperies rowing
machine or oommoner pulley weights.
The mystic shrine whore the ultra dew
otees fly beyond the gaze of a curious world
LOOKS like a silk-huEg padded gymnasium.
And the inmate who is "golng to bed"
swings by one hand from the rings, lifts
herself to her chin, studies every pose quiz
ideally in the long glass and practices diff
hcult twist until it is scientifically exact
All this in her tights, black stockings and
sandals. Her hair has tumbled long ago,
her face is flushed ana she is tired, no
doubt about It, But she swings and jumps
and pulls until time is up, and then, presto,
she 10 the old-fashioned maiden her grand
m other was, soft little feminine in femi-
nine ways.
long wrapper covers the tights, and
stiff brush strokes the hair fifty times Il
is braided and rolled in silk and tucked no
carefully before the warm face Is plunged
into hot water and hot cloth is tipped
against her chest and arms. She follows this
aolution with a plunge into cold water,
which she dashes against her breast aud
throat. She s2onges her entire body
quickly, briskly, aud rubs it dry with a
huge towel. Quickly she snatches her be-
frllled nRhtgoW WI and slips 1t over her head,
tying the ribbons hastily, for she must not
hnger now. She runs 70 the mirror,
smoothes her eyebrows and rubs them
with OIL She turns a few drops OF come
pure, old-fashioned cosmetic, like cucumber
cream and roses, or elder flower, into her
palm and rnbs it carefully in other face
pores; she rups more on her hands, makes
mystic passes to relax her eyes. smiles low
ingly at her warm. pink reflections, turns
hn kaI