The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-03-20
SPECTACLES AND EYEGLASSES.
The Old Fashion More Economical
and Relia bic Than the New.

The Old Fashion More Economical
and Reliable Than the New.
Most people have prejudice against
spectacles, writes one who has suffered with
lame eyes to the New Orleans Picayune.
They make one look so old. They spoil
the expression of the eyes, and leave a
mark across the nose, and are uncom-
Portable over the ears. So it gener-
ally happens that when ones eyesight
gives out and everything grows woefully
indistinct, eyeglasses are resorted to. 80
much more convenient than spectacles!'
said friend to us the other day. Eye
glasses are a sort of compromise between
youth and age, and as long as a person
wears eyeglasses he may be regarded as
not so very old. For when old age unmis-
takably sets in then we cease to think so
much of appearance and cry out for COM
fort, and there is more real comfort in one
pair Of spectacles that will stay on your
face right where you put them than there
is in a dozen pair of eyeglasses, which are
always flying off on business of their own
just as you want them.
Eyeglasses are made on purpose to
break. They are always catching into
something. The springs are frail as a spi-
der's web. The bows are as brittle as mo-
always falling out, and If you happen to
be near sighted you might hunt till the
next Fourth of July without finding them
again. When nothing else happens to
them, the string breaks, and they get
under foot, and somebody steps on them,
and you are couple of dollars out and as
good as blind, with no dog to lead you in
the paths of safety. In hot weather you
can't keep the slippery things your nose
to save you.
If you perspire your nose has no attrac-
ton for India rubber or celluloid. Just as
you are looking at something and f1atter-
ing yourself that you have got exactly the
right focus, down go the glasses and you
have to rub your nose up. for the same
thing is going to be repeated again and
again. Another characteristic of eye
glasses is the fact that when they are
wanted most they turn up missing. You
may look and hunt and hunt and look;
and when you don't need them you will
find them hanging serenely to your but
tonhole or resting composedly at the table
at your side. AS an item of expense they
are formidable. Your boots do not cost
you any more per year. The cigars you
smoke are not more expensive by the
month. They are always in a crippled
condition They need the doctor continu-
ally, and you no sooner get the spring
mended than the bow breaks, and when
that trouble is remedied you lose one glass,
and by the time that is fixed the ''catch"
gives out, and so on. A man is never safe
with less than three pairs of eyeglasses at
a time-unless he wishes to be left with
out sight. They are the most perplexng,
unreliable of all friends, and the person
who is dependent upon them is to be
pitied. Those who wear them for style
and we are sorry to say that there are
some such consummate fools in the world
must have a relish for self torment, and
owe themselves an awful grudge for
something. And people who have good
eyes, who can laugh at glasses and the
wearers of them, ought to be devotedly
thankful and pray that the time may yet
be afar off when they shall fall under the
curse of eyeglasses.