Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-30
HOW ID CARE FOR TIE HAND
Scrupulous Cleanliness lmpera-
 tive and Necessary
BEGIN IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
To Train inc Fingers and Nails--Sits' Method of Manicuring Recommended.
 Avoid Steel
BY DIANE DE MoRNY.

NCopyflehteu, Io9), Dy Dlane de MOrny.)
 The artistic hand with it's delicate. tapering fingers, is like the poet, "born, not made" and every woman may not hope for this ideal second face" as the hand has been cleverly called, but there are no hands pertaining to womankind really barred from greater or less de- gree of beauty. Care and scrupnlous cleanliness are soon repaid in the toilet of the hands. Even the housewife, who must perforce on occasion do rough, manual work, is included in this state ment. It is more or less true that 1t takes five generations to form an absolutely patrici1n hand, but l do not agree with even so great a master as BalZae that "persons of superior intellect always have beautifully formed hands" There is beauty of the sun and another beauty of the moon." and I have seen literary men and women who had not beautiful hands, and empty-headed ladies and gen. tlemen who had.
 Characteristics of Perfect Member.
 The perfect hand should be modcr- ately plump, with a scarcely perceptible dlmple over the articulations of the Iin- gers; the fingers rather long than short and gently tapering, the nails oval in form and not too long. Long finger nails are claw-like, and only in countries where it is considered an actual disgrace to do any manual labor are the long finger nails considered mark Of aris- tocracy or elegance. Tn China, for ex- ample, the long nails are symbol of mo- bility; the longer the nail the nearer the emperorS throne and the more utterly useless the hand of the owner. The hand and nails if cared for properly in youth, will always respond to such treat ment, and whether they belong to the aesthetic, practical, romantic or logical order, as classified by the professors of ehromancy, they will be pretty and may be useful as well as decorative members of society.
 Training the Hand
 To all my readers who may be so for tunate as to have little children growing up about them, l beg to say word as to the importance of the early and great care the little hands require. Children form habits most destructive to the beauty of both hands and feet, unless corrected. have never been able to un- derstand why we do not teach our chil- dren to be ambidextrous instead of so early inculcating in them the practice which renders the left hand compared to the right one an almost useless mem Der. Doubtless, few generations ahead of us will have appreciated the advant- ages cl ambidextrousness, and it will be the occasional person who will excite comment by being "right-handed."
 From birth the little fingers should re- ceive careful attention and the tiny nails should be cut in an oval form, which will aid in developing taperng points. It is ruinous to permit children to bite the nails; the best remedy is to rub little extract of quassia on the finger tips each time the hands are washed. The bitter taste is very unpleasant, but harm less. and the habit is soon broken if the treatment is persistent.
 Many grown women as well as childern are really afflicted with rough hands Often this condition is produced from carelessness; sometimes. however, the skin is extremely susceptible. In wash ing the hands use a pure soap, contain ing no free alkali, and always rinse all the soap carefully and thoroughly away. If soap is irritating, as it sometimes is, no matter how delicate or pure, try the following paste, called by the French amandine. It will be found delicious and very healing:
 Amandine.
 Put into a large marble mortar two ounces of gum arabic and six ounces of white honey; triturate, and when the mixture has been rubbed into q thick paste, add three ounces perfectly neutral almond shaving cream. Then continue the trituration until the mixture has ba- come homogeneous. Two pounds of fresh cold-pressed sweet almond oil are next allowed to flow from a can above it into the mortar. but only as rapidly as if can be incorporated with the mass; other wise, if it enters in too large quantities, the blending is imperfect and the anna dine becomes oily instead of jelly-like and transparent as it should be when the manipulation has been skillful. The per fume consists of one-half drachm altar of bitter almonds to every pound of the paste. A little altar of roses may also be added. As soon as finished it must be put into earthen jars and closely sealed.
 This is a delightful compound, but it is a little difficult to make without labord- tory appliances. Unless you wish it for continuous use it will be better to pur- chase 1t. Take care not to buy the dark colored so-called amandine. It should be a pure, creamy-white paste. Almond meal has been In use for the toilet by French women for years. It came into yoge about a decade since in America, and is easily made at home. Proceed as follows:
 Almond Meal
 Almond powder-One pound.
 Cuttle-fish bone (powdered)-Five ounces.
 Curd soap (air dried, powdered), white