The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-15

time was occupied in taking care of the
kings perukes. Before the king rises.
writes a contemporary, THE barber pre-
sents him two or more perukes, of diff
ferent lengths, for him TO make a choice,
and these perukes are all shorter than the
ones he dons in the afternoons for the
king changes when he goes TO mass, after
he has dined, when he returns from the
hunt or promenade. when he goes to sup
per, and so on until he retires." DevOt-
ing so much time to his wigs, he was
shaved but every other day II was only
during this time that false hair and pc
rukes were worn, that it became the Gus
tom to go bareheaded. Before, men and
women kept their hats and coiffures on,
even in the house. Men, during the time
of Louis XIV carried the plumed hats
more willingly in the hand than on the
head, and they were often called cha
peaux de bras. The usage to salute with
bearing the head was introduced very late
in France 1t was impossible to take off
the casque which was fastened to the
armor with leather bands and the civil
coiffures were quite as inconvenient to
take off. The first salutes were made with
the hand, pushing the headgear a little
from the forehead; that was the origin
of the military salute. 1t was also the
custom to wear ones hat at the table, for
it was considered uncivil to be bare
headed.
In the seventeenth century it was good
usage to kiss lady as you saluted her.
1t is probably a remnant of that fashion
of France to kiss ones parents and rela-
tives even in the street when you part
from them. That to foreigners has al
ways seemed queer thing to do. When
we study the history of usages. as well
as the political history of nations we find
that all things have their origin
! Engravings of the time of Louis XIV
show us that men saluted each other
bending almost double and letting the
/ plumes of their hats sweep the dust. But
professors of clvilities taught gentlemen to
rise slowly, for if the one saluted hap
/ pened to salute also there might be a
/ humping of heads. The most humble of
! salutes between men was the inferior man
| bowling to the superior and kissing his
/ thigh. Henri " was very fond of melons,
1 and his maitre d'hotel while the king was
still a table, bringing melon exclaimed:
! 'Ah your majesty, kiss my thigh, for
/ bring you a delicious melon" Ministers
and courtiers not only bowed
fbTT kissed the hens ms Of Of ''''' their
/ dresses. When received by Marie The
reese, wife of Louis XIV, the ambassadors
/ of Venice saluted as she entered the room,
bowed a second time in the middle of the
floor, then a third time with the kissing of
the queens dress. and, finally a fourth
/ time with the presentation of a compli-
ment. In the presence of royalty cQurters
were not allowed to salute each other
During the time of Louis XIV, for it
was during his reign that all regulations
! of politeness and civilities were formulat-
/ ed, it was considered Inbred
| to knock at the door OF
| the apartments it was customary to
| scratch at the door instead of knocking,
/ and generally to scratch with the little
/ finger of the left hand. In order to do ii
| more conveniently courtiers allowed the
He e Nnaf 70, oil
length, and it afterward became a sign of
/ good breeding to have that grow as long
as possible. We sometimes to-day meet
a person who has allowed the nails of
his little fingers to grow an unusual
4 length. He, doubtless, is not aware that
he is following a custom which was re-
ceived in polite society ages ago. 1t was
already out of usage to say God bless
/ you" when anyone sneezed; but to be
/ polite one had to bow low before the per-
son in great silence. 1t was also the Gus
( tom to leave a company without saiuting
| anyone, not even the master of the house,
/ for fear of reminding others that it was
! growing late. Apropos of this habit, it is
/ amusing to note how nations love to at
tribute indicate usages to each other.
| In France, leaving a house without SaIut-
l ing the host is called seen allier Pan
| glaise, and in England and America TAX
ing French leave.
/ 1t is not known who was the first wo-
man who wore black patches. des mouches,
| to enhance her beauty. The origin of the
| fashion, however, was recently found in an
/ old book At the end of the sixteenth cen
! fury toothache was cured with small ad-
hesive plasters applied to the temples, and
/ these plasters We're covered with black
court plasters. 1t was soon noticed by the
women that those plasters enhanced the
/ complexion, and during the time of Henry
! w not only women covered their faces
ole 4F,eT ar1H
ward the little babes, who frequented the
womens boudoirs made it a practice to
! dot their faces with moches. Women who
had sought refuge in converts did not
/ scruple to cover their faces with black
court plasters. Nine. de MaZarin, DESTROYS
| to separate from her husband, retired to
/ a convent. When, one day, he happened
/ to call on her she made her appearance
| with her face covered with black patches.
| Upon his request to remove them, she be-
/ came indignant and said that conscience
| had nothing to do with dress, and she kept
them to prove that it was not her intention
to offend God with the wearing of
I mouches. During the reigis of Louis XIV.
all the women carried a gold, silver or
ivory box in her pockets, which contained
a small looking glass, rouge and black
/ patches and these were cut in all shapes,
round. square, oval There were also stars
suns and moons. A woman could have the
/ armament on her face; she could also have
a menagerie, for the patches assumed the
shapes of insects and animals.
During Marie Antoinette's time people
at the theaters made war upon the high
head dresses as they do now upon high
hats. The bourgeois women also wore
high head dresses and eternal quarrels
were the consequences In the parquets
of all the theaters. Visine. who was then
director of the opera, forbade any high
head dresses in the amphitheater and in
the parterres. But the chief incon-
venience of high coiffures stuffed with
cushions, saturated with pomade, cover
ed with powder, supported with props
and held tight with hundreds OF pins,
was a diseased head land parasites, which
gave the women such intolerable Itch
ings, that it became admissible in polite
society to tap ones self on the head to
stay the itching. In a book written at
that time upon usages or polite society,
it was written that modesty and decency
demanded that women should not touch
her head, and that was the reason why
she should not put on great quantities
of powder. for it engendered yermin, and
it was not polite to scratch ones head.
Still, the evil increasing, someone in