The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-12


skin IS pure and clean as If the owner had
Just emerged from running water, and
over the delicate, sensitive surface the
passage OF the emotions is as clearly visi-
Ole as that or the heecy clouds. in sum
.mer sky
/ 1t IS not paint" said a lady who had
Oeen most vigorous in her early denuncla-
tions. Il have examined her as close as
II am 70 you, and she never tlnched or
turned hair. Besides when the lamp
shade caught fire, / noticed that she
turned as white as a sheet and she would
only have looked blue under the paint if
1T were paint. But 1 was determined to
md out; so gushed over her good deal
ana nndIIy kissed her That satisfied me-
ANY one who has ever tasted paint will
know what mean. She hasn't vestIge
'oi II on. Aud yeti is not natural, FL
swear She must take something for it.
What does she take} Camph0r, perhaps
l have heard of girls taking camphor TO
make them look delicate"
Now, it happened that this second con-
lecture was also inaccurate. This mar
Velous complexion was due to a slow
course or self-poisOniug Of a character
very similar TO the process employed to
produce blue carnation or a yellow as
ter. In the latter case certain chemical
liquids are poured into the bud at an
early stage of its development. In the
~ mo- a. oCAAC ID the Au-LG llltug Gui-
ployed, and the lady in whom we were
interested was confirmed consumer of
THIS particular poison, administered.
1t was IN consequence Of this discovery
that became an inquirer into the ways
and methods Of the arsenic-eaters of
Sydney.
1t seems that the origin of this PERM
clous habit may usually be traced to the
FOLLY OF mother, who, in her anxiety
that her girl should grow up without the
least trace of the "bush' from which the
family mad perhaps some what recently
emerged, administered small doses of
arsenic to her as a child, in order to ''im-
prove and add delicacy to her complex
ion. Sometimes, However it happens
that the mother is not to blame, and it is
the vanity of the individual girl or
woman, whiehis solely responsible. She
begins taking arsenic, Just as young men
take pick me7ups, when she thinks that
she is lookiug-'a bit oil CO4Or =" The re-
suit is pleasing, and she repeats the expe-
riment until the habit grows on her, and
1t would require strong effort of will to
break herself of it.
Moreover, the feminine weakness
which first suggested she use of arsenic
offers almost inSupera Bile obstacles to any
effort to dispense with il afterward. The
action OF the drug is purely temporary,
and IN order to perpetuatG its effects must
be taken continuously BiSuse is. more
over attended by a species of reaction,
under the influence Of which the skin
loses all its artificial delicacy and be-
comes coarse in appearance, Opaque in hue
and rough to the touch. A few weeks suf-
hce 10 transform a beautiful fairy-like
creature, vino seems too delicate and
ethereal for earth, into a fright who looks
as if she had exhausted her youth in riot
Gus living before entering on an unlovely
old age. One glimpse of her face in the
glass, after short period of earnest war
fare with the perniclOus habit is usually
enough to break the resolution of the
most repentant arseuic-eater and send
her back to the stimulant which alone
can make her attractive again
The proverb which connects suffering
ana beauty was never more strongly il
Illustrated, however, than by the case of
the confirmed arsenic eater. In the first
place, this particular poison, unlike opium
and others which are also used to minis
ter to the excess of GENERALIZATION, does
not operate pleasantly during the process
OF absorption. 1t does not sooLh the
nerves nor stimulate the sense of pleas
ure, nor induce delicious visions of mi
rage-hke happiness. On the contrary,
it is nasty TO the taste, and has ten
dency to produce internal pains and
cramps, which increase as years roll on.
table drug is regarded with
precisely the same feelings that &C
company visit to the dentist. Like
Hans Andersen's mermaid when she had
gained the human feet which she longed
for, the unhappy victims of their own
vanity pass through life in state of in
termittent torture, until at last the ener-
waited constitution is unable to resist any
longer the attacks of the terrible cramp
which results from the use of the drug,
and they diesel poisoned by slow de-
| grees. As arule they do not live past
| 45, and they die in misery. Yet in spite
of this the list of those who indulge IN
| the habit is steadily growing, and the
| known horrors of the end have no effect
in deterring others from-imitation.