The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-05-30

the feshy tips of fingers whose nails
are too short.
Long finger nails are very breaka-
BILE, but one can train the nails to
stand great deal. Do not cut them
into sharp points, but let them be
slightly curved or rounding. Let
them grow as long as you please, or
as long as you can. Those employ
ed, or who do housework, will find
that it is not convenient to wear ex-
cessively long nails.
Rubbing the nails every night with
oils strengthens them and keeps them
young looking. AS age comes on the
oil in the nails seems to fail and the
nails become brittle and crack.
By rubbing a little good oil into
them every night the natural oil is
restored and the nail becomes young
again. This also keeps them in good
color and quite pink, without the use
of nail powder or nail rouge.
In cutting the nails do not cut
them at the corners. Let the ends
or corners, grow up square, for this
supports the sides and makes the fin
gers tapering.
Tapering fingers never have the
corners of the nails clipped. The
corners are allowed to grow long to
support the flesh of the fingers.
Tapering finger tips must always
have long, semi-pointed nails, not
sharp by any means, but growing out
in long oval. Pretty nails must
also have moons at the base and the
moons must be delicately white and
clear, without spots upon them.
Very many finger nails are marred
by the presence of white spots. These
are enormously attributed to various
causes. One person will tell you that
the white spots are caused by acids in
the blood.
Another will solemnly assure you
that the spots are lucky spots, de-
termined by fate and bound to bring
JOY or woe, as the case may be. Still
another misguided person will inform
you that the spots indicate health and
that their presence is absolutely ne
cessary to good constitution.
Now, as matter of fact, spots
upon the nails are caused by blows
upon the nail. The white spots are
bruises or scars and are never seen
upon the hands of those who take del
icate care of the nails.
Manicuring will often cause these
white spots. The orangewood stick
is pressed into the base of the nail so
hard as to injure the soft delicate
matrix. The result is white scar
when the nail grows out.
A young woman who takes the best
of care of her hands was showing her
nails to a manicure. At the base
were long white marks, and the tips
of the nails had unsightly white spots.
The manicure, wise far beyond her
generation, pointed out to the young
tue neaII- IIdcI conIS- rIIcIc, SHOWING ucr
that they had been made with the
orangewood stick and the cuticle
knife.
"Let both alone for a month, 4"
said she, "and you will have no more
of those white marks
To press the skin down at the base
of the nail use no other instrument
than a soft towel. Soak the fingers
a long time in soft water in which
there is little boracic acid.
Let the first water be soapy one.
Dry the fingers, pour in clean hot
water and soak the finger tips again.
This time soak them for five minutes,
if you can spare the time. Take out
and wipe upon soft towel, pressing
down the flesh at the base of the
nails until the moons show.
It may take the moons month to
come forth from their hiding place,
but if you persist, they will surely ap-
pear. Remember that every nail has
its moon it is there, although you
may never have seen it and it is only
necessary to coax it forth.
AS for cutting the cuticle, it is an
operation that is never necessary.
The cuticle protects the nail and is
required for its preservation. If you
cut or clip it you make it ragged, and
the result will be the troublesome lit
tie hang-nails which make the fingers
sore and are disfguring to the finger
tips.
In summer the hands are apt to
grow dark and coarse. For this there
is nothing like the free use Of fruit
acids.
Take the juice of cut lemon and
apply it to the backs of the hands, or
use a ripe cucumber. Scrub the
backs of them with the split interior
of a cucumber and keep on scrubbing
them until they are free from blem-
ishes and clear in tone. The tonic
efficacy of cucumber juice upon the
skin is we'll known.
Nor must the value of cold cream
be underestimated. The woman who
will rub bit of cold cream into her
hands every night, not forgetting to
force little bit under the fingernails,
will insure for herself set of white
finger tips.
In cleansing the nails, use very
soft nail brush. Many women keep
a toothbrush for that purpose, as it
is smaller and reaches the finger tips
best. This brush will cleanse the
nails perfectly, and the use of the
orange wood stick, or of the nail
scraper, is never needed.
For washing the hands, the little
soap bags are best of all. To make
a soap bag, gather all the odd bits Of
toilet soap, scented and unscented,
and let them dry in the sun.
When perfectly free from moisture,
take them and rub them to powder.
If the bits are placed in a strong linen
bag and pounded with a hammer,