The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-03-08
G deas for 1Noinen



Almonds are very soothing TO the skin,
and many foreign women used crushed
almonds instead OF soap for Their faces
and hands to keep them fair, soft anil
white. Oil Of almonds. also. may pe rub
bed into tae skin at night, and is better
than cold cream. especially If really pure
oil of almonds, and not G mere imitation.
AS for the se-ealled almond s0ap it is
very rare that the almond has any part
in ii. 1t somewhat resembles almond in
its edor, but this oder comes from ben
zole, which is taken from tar oil and
other substances not Injurious TO The
skin. hal not so beneficial as real almond
powder, a nut quantity OF which forms
a paste in the water, and is 4 splendid
beautiher. says the Philadelphia TPress."
Basil, though not a cosmetic plant, is 4
Kin beautIfier, because it pufifes the air
wherever ii grows, and pure air is a skin
beaatiher. In india this plant is sacred
TO Krishna, and is named after the nympn
beloved by Krishna. 1t was he, in fact,
who changed her into the plant. 1t is also
! sacred to vishnu. and necklets and ro-
saries are made of its stalks and roots.
No Hindoo house is without it; it absorbs
the carbonie acid of the air, and gives
forth its disinfecting. vivifying xygen
BenzoIn is a genuine cosmetic of nature.
1t is the gum of the benzoin tree. The
best benzoin comes from Spain. It is the
franklncense of the Jews and the incense
of Roman Catholics. Ffindus, Buddhists,
Mohammedans, etc. The Chinese fumigate
their houses with it,. and. owing to its
grateful perfume. vanilla omade ami
pastilles are made with it. As a cosmetic
it has no superior. A few drops added to
water makes what is called ~svirginal
milk" which, used as a lotion, keeps the
kin wondrously soft and fair and pre-
vents premature wrinkles. Cedar wood
in powder or as a tineture is excellent for
the teeth, and imparts an agreeable per-
fune to the breath.
Citron is another substance that can be
used with advantage to the face ana
hands instead of soap. No toilet table,
indeed. ought to be without it. and if the
fingers and nails are well rubbed in 4
quarter of citron every time the hands
are washed they will never reeuire the
manieure's aid. During the day, indeed,
il is better to rub the hands with eitron
than to use water.
Cucumber is another of natures own
cosmetics. Never throw away cueumbe
peelings. Boil them and use the water
for the toilet. Here also a slice of cueum-
Der may be used instead of soap, with adj
vantage to the skin. Dill water is as good
as rose water for the complexion and for
some skins perhaps better; it makes the
skin paler.
Still another of natures cosmetics is the
elderfiower, famous for its cooling quail
ties. IT makes an exquisite wash for the
face and an excellent oil for the hair.
Lavender is not precisely a cosmetic,
yet a few drops in the toilet water are
very refreshing. The hygienic virtues OF
lavender are well known.
All spices are air purifiers and air cool
ers. It is a fact that very few epidemics
visit places filed with the perfumes OF
spices-cloves, mace, cinnamon, etc. A
room perfumed with spices and euealyp-
tus remains cool on the hottest summer
day. and defes diseases resulting from
impure air.
There is no better antiseptic in nature
than musk-real musk, of course. The
Chinese use it also to dye their hair and
eyebrows.
In a thoughtful paper ON "a Waste OF
Education" in the March "Woman's
Home Companion" Brand Bunner Hud-
dlesten speaks of the tendency of women
70 hermit their talents to rust out:
mental culture MAJ be the most costly
or the most valuable gift of parents to
their children just as they care for II
after they get it. 1t is. certain that few
would equally neglect a material property
of like monetary cost as they often do
their educations. This. too, when money
ia the very shortest tape-Iine by which a
mental gift may be measured. Perhaps
it is due in part to the mistaken IDEA that
when we have quilted the school-room
we carry with US a stationary fund OF
knowledge that will, or ought to be sum-
cient for our future.
Look at the piles of hard dollars and
the illimitabic hours of time spent every
year in the study and practice of music
alone; except for the good they are to
teachers and to the makers of musical
Instruments the half might as well be
wiped out of existence at one clean
sweep. A decent little eternity might be
made out of the time And this continues
to exist ard repeat itself generation after
generation in the very face OF the fact
that music is an Incompatible addition 70
home life. and on that account, If for no
more lofty and selfish reason, ought to
be perfected and never neglected by
women.
How many Of your women friends Will
undertake to entertain even the family
circle with a creditable performance!
Usually their pianos stand idle from the
period Immediately succeeding their mar
rage until there are daughters old enough
to be put at lessons; then the old folly
will be repeated. What folly? MOI the
placing Of children to study music or any
other accomplishment that is for their
good or that the purse will permit. Let
them have all the advantages within
reach, but also teach them appreciation;
the folly consists in fostering through ex-
ample, and by a tacit acceptance of the
existing state of things, the idea that it
can be other than a sinful waste OF time
to acquire a good thing and then neglect
it. No one has any business to learn a
thing that is not worth remembering. 1t
is foolish from a merely utilitarian point
of view. Thus it may not be possible or
desirable for every mother to teach her
own children, though sorce count 1t a
sweet privilege to 90 so, yet 1t pays them
to keep thoroughly pested, if only to
Judge of the Wuality of work being done
by the teaehd3 and to supply thai home
cooperation which is so needful to the
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