Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-28

we could see ner
quite plainly-the clerk and 1. She was
very pretty indeed, and as she passed you
there came from her a faint fragrance that
was not perfumery, yet suggested it, but at
the same time you felt sure that the odor
was not that which was used to disguise
more disagreeable body odors but the ex-
quisite fragrance that comes from a per-
fectly clean body and well-kept clothing. The
tall, willowy figure of the fair daughter of
a southern Congressman was simply gown
ed. and she had about her none Of the
marks of a woman who has plenty of
money to spend; in fact, 1 knew that she
was an economical girl. and that the beau
ty that everybody remarks is not en-
HANGED by costly attire.
TT costs a lot Of money to be physically
pretty, doesn't it?' continued my clerk, as
she made out my check. IF / was rich as
looking like dowdies. I'd be as beautiful as
as Cleopatra! And she slammed the little
tin box into the carrier and sent it off with
Deng to emphasize her remark
that she had formed her ideas of Cleo
patra's beauty on the representations of the
female member of the royal Ptolemys that
she had seen behind the footlights, and that
for that matter, thought the Serpent of the
Nile beautiful woman. That Is of
course. as one looks at beauty: II a woman
can De considered as the glass Of fashion
ana tne mold or form who is barely five
rect In height. has the complexion of an
indian, red crinkly hair, thick lips, a fiat
turned-up nose, and eyes cut the wrong
way, tnen Cleopatra may have been con-
sidered q beauty. for that is her picture, ac-
cording to the historians who mention her
personal appearance at ALL 1t was not the
comelness of her face and form that at
tracted men to her, but her musical voice
strong oh -
manner. But l was talking of the clerk
and not Cleopatra.
o.. n you were rich. what would you do
ton / put to her. while 1 was mentally
sizing up her capacity for making some
nan miserable. If she had her longed for
beauty.
Wen would be clean, and that in f.
smile.
Can't you be that now?" I asked her.
Cleanliness Akin to Wealth.
Mercy, no." she said. with a shrug, as
she began to straighten out the tumbled
laces we had been turning over TT costs
money to be clean. These women who
preach dress reform and beauty culture
make me tired. Why, IL were to follow
all the rules they lay down for the care
Of my body alone, to say nothing of INV
clothes, / would have to go off and take a
VOW OF perpetual seclusion. Personal clean
Illness means clean clothes and lots OF
them. 1t means hot water, private bath
tubs, Individual toilet articles, and-oh, 1t
means everything that have not, and can
never hope to have. II 1 were rich, would
take Turkish bath once each week, a
vapor bath every two weeks, a milk bath
once a month. a hot bath every morning
with cold shower bath to finish it off
and hot foot bath morning and evening
After l had followed up that practice for
few months"
You would be ready for the embalmer,"
I suggested.
NO. indeed. I would then feel that 1 was
system, and could begin to live. Then 1
would have camePs hair tooth brushes, and
palm oil SOAP and violet water by the gal
lon for my baths. and refined alcohol for
strengthening baths and silk sponges, and
linen towels like velvet for fneness. 1
would have maid to brush my head and
keep my scalp in perfect order and my
head as shining silk and as sweet as
new-mown hay. 1 would have a boy to
take care Of my shoes and keep them in
good condition, and to brush my gowns
and wraps the minute took them of, and
hang them away to air, so that the tobacco
smoke off the man who sat next me in the
church, or the fried meat and potatoes of
the woman who stood by me in the street
car In q gown that had hung in the kitchen
closet. would have time to evaporate be-
fore I wanted the garments again. My
maid should be trained to her business, and
know exactly how to dress me for any par
ticular function, so that 1 need never once
think Of my clothes after they had been
fitted. would not even want to buy them.
/ would take long carriage rides every day,
sea voyage twice year, have a dentist,
chiropodist and manicure at my nod, but
no doctor; would not need one, for would
live on healthy food, mostly fresh fruits and
green things, and would never be sick"
Draws the Line on CaIisthenics.
At this point this altogether original
young lady gave signs OF having run down,
and as there were a few things that she
seemed to have forgotten, l suggested that
she seemed to have left no place in her
cyclopedia Of health for Delsarte or gym
nastics Of any kind.
IT don't believe in Them" she said smil-
ir gly, as the tin box came clicking back.
IT think the world has gone mad on the
Subject of physical culture. Women defy
all the laws of science and health until
outraged nature will endure no more, and
then they turn to massage and Delsarte
movements, contortions and calisthenics, as
one with a torpid liver turns to castor Oil
and quinine. Instead of the ounce Of pre-
vention they prefer a drastic five pounds of
cure, and they do not seem to take into
consideration the discomfort to themselves
and their friends that this recuperating
process engenders. I do not need physical
culture because have to work; every bone
in my body aches from over exertion when
evening comes, and 1 desire nothing so
much as a couch or a hammock and abso-
lutte and unqualified rest. 1t is only the
lazy rich woman who needs physical Gull
ture. She thinks that it is beneath her
dignity to perform any kind Of labor or to
exert herself in the least, and so, from in
action, her muscles get soft and her flesh
flabby, and then she begins to get fat just
like pig that is shut up in a pen and
stuffed.
"A certain amount Of active labor is
necessary to good health, and the girl who
Is longing to develop her muscles and her
body can find more rational and helpful
ways to do it than by spending hours daily
in q gymnasium. Society would be cleaner
and home life happier and better II women
were less artificial, and nature had little
more show. Here is your change. One
fifty from two Nothing more? Call
again." And / was dismissed, much to
my regret, for I found this young
woman both original and and enter
tanning. l often find such girls in the
shops. Indeed. I have thought sometimes
that the shop girls were more original than
any other class of working women. I pre-
with so many phases of human nature In
the course of the day.
told the girls about the young woman's
theories that evering, and they were al
most unit in declaring that she is a most
level-headed young person.
BY Helping Others.
II have had practical demonstration in
my own case" asserted Louise. II gave up
my calsthenics this winter, partly because
I wanted the money for our charities, and
quite as much because I had not time for
them, IL I continued the work among the
objected to my giving them UP, because l
down I 70 Kn n