The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1895-03-06
PAINT AND POWDER.
Used From Earliest Times, In Spite Of
Laws and Priests,

Used From Earliest Times, In Spite Of
Laws and Priests.
Tho art of ornamcnting or embel-
fishing tho face most probably dates
back to the days Of tho first man
and woman, and if history tells us
nothing about Mother Eve having
made use of it we arc inclined to
think that that is because history is
defective and not because the art
was not known in those days.
Ono of the earliest known forms
of personal establishment is that of
painting the face with bright colors.
It is most probable that this origi.
mated in a desire to instill fear into
tho hearts of ones enemies rather
than from motives of vanity, but
that which served to brighten men
seemed to attract the women, so it
gradually came about that warriors
painted their faces even in times of
peace.
Among tho Fijians the first dress
of an infant is a thick layer of Oil
paint all oyer tho body, the face be-
ing painted red with tho exception
Of tho nose, which is allowed to re-
main in it's original color-that is,
black. Tho we'll to do people divide
the face into four parts, each being
painted q different color.
Time brought a development of
the art Of improving the appearance.
Glaring colors gave way to more re-
fined cosmetics and more compli-
Gated method of using them.
It became the custom to use cos
metics. Everybody used them
kings, queens, rich women and poor
women, warriors-even the mum
mics were painted.
Later Oh, when Roman civilization
!! was at its height, the Egyptians still
claimed to hold their position as
chief makers and users of cosmetics,
and the Roman expresses paid largo
, sums for the mysteries of tho kos
metikon which were sold by tho
charlatans of the temple of Isis.
In Nineveh people resorted to tho
! process of enameling the counte-
nance. The face was first washed
| and thoroughly dried, then covered
with a whitish paste, which dried
hard and shiny like enamel.
The Jews made great use of such
preparations for personal adorn.
ment, as we see by the second book
of Kings (ix, 3W. The prophets also
speak on this subject and threaten
the punishment of heaven on those
! who thus sought to improve the hu.
NAN face.
Although tho Crock men thought
moro of physical strength than of
artificial beauty, the women believ-
ed in red and white powders, and
the poots go so far as to say that We
nus herself on ono critical occasion
did not hesitate to have recourse to
artificial establishment.
During the time of the Caesars the
use of cosmetics increased to an
] alarming extent. The men wero bad
us the women.
i Phyllis, tho maid of the beautiful
Soema, actually wrote treatise on
the most efficacious cosmetics.
The Germanic and Frank ladies of
the middle ages were noted for their
desire to have arms and hands of
ivory whitencss and cheeks of rose
tint.
The English ladies of the twelfth
century chose to appear with pale
faces, to obtain which they had re-
. course to cosmetics and to cupping.
But tho Florentine ladies excelled
even tho Romans. They had 300
methods or preparations for the sim
pie purpose of hiding wrinkles-in
fact, the use of cosmetics reached
such pitch that the priests thought
it necessary to pronounce against
them.
! Then the fashion changed, and ev'
erything was made white. Faces
were powdered, hair was powdered,
and both sexes seemed to vie with
each other as to which should use
tho most.
A later method of adornment was
the patch" This was first used te
show up the delicacy of the com
plexion, but in a very short time il
had developed to such an extent tha
there were at least 20 in common
use, with such names as "sympa
thetic PATCH" "love patch, y ma
, jestic patch" etc.
If in this generation cosmetics ar
not SO much used as formerly, no
body will dispute that they still play
an important part in the toilet
Berlin Nord und Sud.
Vinegar.
Vinegar ia fatal to MANY kinds O