Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-10-19
VANITIES OF THEINSANE
COSMETICS. WIGS AND CURL PAPERS
IN DEMAND IN ASYLUMS.

bF1ck Dust IN Lieu OF rouge - crazy
Women Who Are Fastidious in Re-
gRgd to Their Toilette Rivalry of
Dress Among the Mentally Unsound.
1t Is a curious fact that many insane
women are possessed with an insatia-
bic vanity and mania for makeup"
says the London Express.
Sometimes the only way to keep the
peace with such patients is to allow
them certain freedom In the use
of cosmetics.
A wave Of unmanageableness often
passes over the woman's side of an
asylum If the material of new uni
form dress deserves the title Of dowdy.
Many insane women will tear
sombre brown gown to shreds. But If
1t is pretty blue or a smart red, they
preserve 1t carefully against spots akai
dust
The effect that dress has on the in
sane is so well known thar the Lunacy
Commissioners make special comments
In their official reports to the Lord
Chancellor on the colors and materials
of the gowns supplied to women in the
various asylums.
Very clever devices to obtain cos
metics are resorted to by patients
infected with the mania of vanity, who
have been accustomed to artificial aids
to beauty.
They soak paper roses in water and
use the tinted result as a check red
derer. Or they put the red covers of
books borrowed from the asylum Ii
brary in basin OF boiling water and
bottle the carmine fluid for future face
use. Fresh flowers of reddish tinge
are crushed and used on faded checks
and wrinkled skins
One former society beauty. now in
an asylum, is perfectly tractable so
long as she is allowed to water a curly
false fringe and to use modified
amount of rouge and powder. If these
are taken away she becomes suicidal
and refuses to cat.
Another notable example Is that of
an old woman with gray hair, who
becomes homicidal when she is de-
prived of a beautiful golden wig suited
to girl of seventeen. The expert
ment was tried one, but so much vio-
ience resulted that the Commissioners
recommended that she should be al
lowed to retain her headdress.
Before admission to the asylum she
had poisoned three persons. But the
wig and plenty of pink powder keep
her peaceable and content.
The friends of patients who find
their happiness in personal decoration
bring them small packets of cosmetics,
or rather they smuggle them in, for
such articles are contraband and
against the rules. Though their minds
are gone, the patients are clever
enough to make little holes In their
mattresses and to invent most cunning
hiding places for their treasures.
In those cases where restriction Of
toilet appliances increase insane out
breaks, the attendants let these little
beauty stores pass by unnoticed. So
long rs the make up is not too evident
the attendants do not interfere.
Strictly speaking curl papers are net
allowed In asylums. AS a matter of
fact their use is overlooked. Curled
fringes and wavy locks often make all
the difference between peace and re-
bellion. The ingenuity displayed by
feeble minds in turning everyday arti-
cies to facial use is often surprising.
Brlckdust, scraped from the asylum
walls, and powdered hearthstone have
frequently figured in lieu of rouge and
| powder. A spoonful of red currant
/ jam provided a weeks roses for pale
cheeks. Indeliable pencil, coal dust
and black lead make dark stain for
colorless cyelashes and outline def
cient or white eyebrows.
y handful of flour, begged from the
Kitchen, is an excellent substitute f0
toilet powder, while gray or faded haL
Is sometimes tinted with a strong de.
coction of tea leaves. A tendency to
tight lace to such tiny proportions as
to interfere with sanity and bodily
health is another foible of the woman
with unhinSed mind. Abnormal waists
are counteracted by lacing the corset
with elastic
An insane asylum would not seem
TO o1fer many temptations to its in.
mates to rival one another In dress and
beauty But generations of women ma.
tlents appear to make themselves hap.
py by following q feminine instinct
/ to ha nnpSpnallx, o+.,,