The herald., 1897-07-25
! HOME ART FOR
PRETTY FACES.
Shirley Dare Tells Women
How to Enhance Beauty
by Safe Methods.
GOOD WASHES EASILY MADE.
Old Virginia Specific for Clearing
the Complexion = Spartan
Methods Unpopular.

bi-chloride of mercury is the staple tot
let lotion now before the public. who
are assured that though it is not good
to leave around where children can
reach it. still it is perfectly safe for tot
let use. Bi-chloride lotion rubbed on
scratch on the arm has been known to
produce boils. and many a woman who
reads may learn the cause of her in
famed and pimply face lies in her tot
let bottle. All face washes having
grayish or a dark sediment contain
this bi-chloride. so risky in the one or
two per cent solution used as antiseptic
in surgical cases that it is the constant
effort of surgeons to find a substitute
as effective but less dangerous There
is no necessity for making it the spe-
cific for the complexion, when a dozen
other drugs answer better Possibly it
requires more skill to name the one
most suitable for particular cases.
1t Is to be wished the business of spe-
cial toilet treatment might attract
more women of intelligence and good
principle. We all prefer to see women
with the best compilations possible, but
we distinctly prefer that they should
not submit themselves to the hands of
luc iSlOTdHt OF ndlI-tduRnt.
If you would like little domestic art
to take the taste of all this out OF your
mind. you can experiment with some
simple lotions which require just care
enough to be interesting. Wash care
fully two large lemons-for you don't
know what dust is in their pores or
what hands they have gone through.
Wash them with brush and cold wa
ter. and rinse and wipe them before
using for any purpose. Then cut them
with q silver knife into thick slices
without pairing, and boil in filtered wa
ter In a porcelain or stoneware covered
jar. Use two or three times the water
needed to cover the lemons, and boil
briskly for fifteen minutes. Without
uncovering. leave it over night strain
through linen or cheesecloth, bring to
a boil three minutes, and use hot for a
face wash after bathing with warm
water and soap. The decoction should
be bottled and corked, and a cupfuI
brought to the boiling point every time
it is wanted. Use hot as the face can
bear, diluting with boiled filtered water
If it Is too strong. A good lotion should
never make the face smart, but soothe
the skin. This simple wash is antisep-
humors. besides having a tonic effect
when left to dry on. At night, sleep
without washing it off; during the day.
sponge the face with it half a dozen
times. leave it to dry, and then wash
in warm soapy water;-or rub with
mild face pomade not of lard or cocoa
butter. You should know that the use
of cocoa butter by South American
IN In tgit rIx
wrinkles and mustaches which too Of
ten replace the exquisite skin of girl
hood. One need not suffer to be beau
tiful; we have changed all that, but
we must use. care.
But my pretty neighbors, If you ask
a specific for gaining that clear COM
plexion which is the keynote of beauty,
the oracles are dumb. The development
of a complexion is an all-round process
in which care and expensive efforts fail
IL some Insignificant. undreamed of es-
sential Is sighted. Twenty-Five years
ago, in the renaissance of toilet art
women took up its study with the be-
lief that 1t was principally a matter of
daily baths and clean skin; this was
great step toward the desired end
but not the only one. Girls took cold
tubs and hot scrubs, showerbaths and
hour-long full baths,--feeling vastly
better for some of the experiments but
they were still far from looking better
as they wished. So they concluded that
diet was the all-important thing; and
girls and women heroically left off eat
ing what their souls delighted in, candy,
coffee, mince pie, fruit cake, fried po-
tatoes. and made dishes. They ate in
stead husky bread, and porridge which
would be a prisoners punishment, and
RECALLED themselves on desserts of boil
ed rice and baked apples. But insipid-
ity is not a virtue in the sight of the
powers which make women, and the
useless self denial did not result in
lucid threats and glowing cheeks. Then
it was asserted that fresh air was the
indispensable,-and the girls walked
walked, walked, hours each day in pa
tient dulness. for five or six months,
still without finding beauty in their
mirrors at the close. They felt better,
it is true; but they wanted the out
ward and visible sign of the inward
well-being. Most of these ardent dis
ciples of beauty soon fell away from
their Spartan methods. and took to cold
cream and facepowder and French
rouge; others went to the specialists,
and looked pretty for awhile, but they
did not stay pretty. And in these days
all women do not feel justified in spend
ing the time and money necessary to
keep up a specialized beauty. Suppose
a man had to pay from one to five dol
lars every time he was shaved!
The reasons for failure in attaining
the finest success are delicate and ap-
parently difficult to divine. Still, on
going over the ground carefully in de-
tail, we are sure to pick up the points
overlooked, -some neglect of the subtle
conditions which insure good looks. The
culture Of beauty is a progressive art.
like every other art, and yearly some
new discovery overcomes the causes
which enervate and disfigure. and adds
to the stock Of human vitality. What