The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-01


| perfumes. Those who have made one door
a part of themselves aren't. but they are IN
the minority. A customer comes IN ana ASK
what is the latest in perfume. A salesman
tells her, say heliotrOpe, ard she an
'stOh. / can't use that. for It reminds me
of Mrs. SO-and-So, and l detest her
Violet is good suggests the salesman.
Too common and too tnsipid. she an
swers.
- Did you ever try tuberose or jasmine?
the salesman asks. .
oh they remind me of funerals; I can't
use them. she eXclaims, and so does Inds-
| nolia. Lilac; L think I'll try lilac somehow
that carries me back TO my childhood, ana
then it has no musk in it,
" oh, no, no musk in 1t, answers the
salesman without qualm, and the custo-
mer goes of to saturate herself IN MAC as
| long as her supply lasts
1t is astonishing how much some women
spend on perfumes. Perfumed flannel Tor
lining wardrobes and bureau drawers IS
very fashionable just now and very eXpen-
SiVe. In Paris violet flannel sells Tor Il
francs a yard and heliotrope and other less
favored odors for francs while here 1t
brings as high as SIS yard l know one
woman who buys forty yards of the violet
scented flannel year. 1t has an advantage
over sachet bags inasmuch as there IS no
powder to sift through on ones clothing.
1t is not at all uncommon for woman
to buy fifteen or twenty pounds OF orrls
powder at a time with which to scent her
belongings, and from two to five pounds
Of violet or heliotrope or rose sachet
powder of the greatest strength is not con-
these things come under the head of dry
perfumes, as do the highly scented tablets
which women use in the bath, and the per-
fumed medallions which some women now
wear suspended about the neck or in the
pocket These perfumed medalliOns were
fashionable in EliZabeth's time also, and
soon became mediums for the most exquis-
lite devices in jewelry and were offered as
gifts as we offer lOcketS or pendants to-
day However, these amuletS probably orig
mated with the East Indians, for the ancient
Persians used solidified perfumes almost ex-
clusively and were fond of burning them.
Bran bags combined with perfumed soap
are also popular for the bath, they not
only leave pleasant scent about the per
son. but the bran is supposed to soften and
Whiten the skin.
ONE-PERFUNE SCHEME.
"A great many wealthy women carry out
what the trade calls the one-perfume scheme
in everything Say woman has a weakness
for violet. She uses violet bran bag, a violet
tablet or violet toilet water in her bath:
she has her wardrobes and bureau drawers
lined with vioet-scented and colored flannel;
her clothing is laid away in violet sachets;
she wears violet amulet about her neck:
violet extract scents her handkerchief, and
her hair dressing is strong with the odor; if
she smokes she perfumes her breath after
her cigarette by allowing a violet breath
tablet. to dissolve in her mouth her face
powder and tooth powder are violet and she
mas punches of artificial violets with a scent
that cannot be detected from the real
around her boudOir, and violet oil is burned
IN a perfume lamp. When the atmosphere
becomes heavy to her mind she burns violet
pastllleS to purify it, All this costs her hun
dreds of dollars, but money is no object to
such people, and they boom the perfume
business; When such women give entertain
mentS they ike to lmpart to the different
rooms in their houses the sense as well as
the appearance of what the rooms represent
For example, they burn sandalwood in a
thereby
sian atmosphere, they claim. I've heard
some of their men guests say afterward that
place on record
The majority of people can afford to use
olIy wet perfumes, with perhaps little
sachet powder. In these the greatest sales
probably are in German cOlognes, which, to
my mind, doesn't speak we'll for the publics
sense of smell. Or course, it is an undis-
puted point that the French excel in the
art OF pertumery. l agree with an old gen
tleman customer who has been coming here
fO1. wears for a oar+oi, EN,o,ob IL
always says the same thing when we hand
him the bottle to examine, and it is this:
" All, this is the scent which one would
give his mother or sweetheart. OF course,
your cologne is good. 1t is the cologne
man would use himself. And the German
cologne! BY heaven, that's the cologne one
would buy to give his enemy
That's very good distinction, / think,
though some German colOgneS are fine. Do
you see this English violet water?" the au-
thority continued. This bottle holds four
ounces, and the other day a woman came
in here and said she'd take three bottles.
BY the way she asked after having
them charged. how much is that a bother
when told that it was 81 a bottle she
gasped, Why, only this morning put
whole bottle that friend gave me into my
bath
"A woman conspicuous socially. who
writes a great deal, came in one day and
asked for a bottle of eau de Chypre. This
perfume is said by some to be so named
after the Island of Cyprus, which was the
resort of the fashionable, learned and re-
fined during the national career of Egypt,
Greece I tn
believe this, because it was at the time of
the crusade that the famed eau de Chypre
was introduced into Europe. Well, this
woman asked to be allowed to examine a
bottle of it. L knew her very well, and L
said:
You are the last woman in the world
that L should expect to see using eau de
ChyPre.'
"Then l quoted passage from one of her
novels in which she said that women who
used this perfume were not nice. I've for
gotten the exact quotation. She laughed
heartily, but she bought the perfume, very
strong one, containing extract of musk and
ambergriS also.
"Only yesterday a woman came in and
asked for some extract of Chypre. The man
who was waiting on her looked confused for
q second, but recovered himself quickly,
. Madam, I'm very sorry we have no ex-
tract of sheep but we have extract of mutt
ton and beef, both, and can recommend
either"
"The woman showed her social training
''Old-fashioned folks are fond of lavender,
and do not use it too prodigally. With the
taste for lavender which they acquired from
our grandmothers, they seem also to have
inherited their idea that to perfume ones
self too highly is vulgar There is almost
no waste in making perfumes Toilet
waters, shaving creams, dentifrices and
many of the dry perfumes already men
toned are made from the refuse. The bust
ness of putting up perfumes, wet and dry,
has become q wonderful art, and accounts
largely for the constantly increasing de-
mand for such things. 1t used to be suffi-
cent for a perfume to please the sense of
smell; now it does not find ready sale I'M
less it also pleases the sense of sight. The
bottles and their labels in which wet per-
fumes are sold and the boxes which contain
soap and powders are study in them
selves
"To go back finally to the present fashion
in perfumes. / should say that more women
use perfumes to-day, and stronger ones,
than ever before in the history of our coun-
try certainly. but the truly refined know
how to use them with an art that is allur-
ing and beguiling in the extreme to mans
senses.
Answered Prayer.
I asked for bread; God gave a stone instead;
Yet while I pilfow-ed there my weary head