Evening star., 1936-11-14

harem who taught cosmetic lore to
the Crusading knights. They retold
1t to their women-folk, much as the
women Of the ancient nations had
passed 1t on to one another, without,
Of course, being too explicit as to
their source of information. There
were neither cable services nor press
correspondents to discredit the yer.
sion any homecomer chose to tell.
Chypre, the subtle and still popular
perfume, takes its queer name from
Cyprus, the island that lies in the
crook of tie Mediterranean's arm, off
the coast of modern Syria. Lying di-
rectly in the path of the Crusading
hosts, 1t figures prominently in the
movement. All that concerns us,
however. is that the knights brought
TASKS Of its perfume back to their
ladies.
Thus, through the great conflict
Of the Middle Ages the vogue for
artificial beautifying was rediscovered
for the women of the far-away West,
and by the time of Elizabeth (l558.
1909 it was practiced by courtiers
and commoners alike. No high-born
lady Of that day considered her bed
chamber fully furnished without its
sweet Golfer" This was the name
given to the highly perfumed box in
which makeup materials were kept,
y
SWITCHING us almost simultane-
ously from one century to another,
the movies have taken all strange
ness from time, and through the
miracle of this medium we are de-
lightfully familiar with famous folk
like Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stu
art. The latter to whose fame Holly
wood has so lately added, guarded
her beauty in ways that make US
gasp. For a beautiful complexion
in her day this was one treatment
suggested: FIRST to take a very hot
bath to induce excessive perspiration
and to follow this up by washing the
face with plenty Of wine to make it
fair and ruddy." Because of the ex.
pense involved, this procedure was
followed mainly by the older danes
at court. The young ladies, less fear.
full Of fading beauty, had to be con.
tent with washing in milk. Mary,
however, 5athed in wine, and went
the length of asking for an additional
allowance on this score.
At this time the cosmetic art had
entered such another golden age as
1t knew under the ancient empires
and has come into again in our day
there were in-between periods in
which the practice was not openly
favored. but it never at any time
died out. Powder and patches be-
came international passwords, and
their synonym was perfume. in which
everything was stepped. Of course,
there were reasons, none too delicate,
for the general use of scents.
Bathing had never attained the popu.
larity in the cold West that it knew
in the warm East. Personal stand.
ards of cleanliness were vastly diff.
ferent from what they are today
and an overdose of perfume was the
only solution of other centuries for
the non-bathing problem.
Every castle and most of the large
houses had still room or distil-
ling room, where the ladies dabbled
with essences and creams. Perfumed
gloves, imported from Italy, were le
dernier cri. Queen Elizabeth had a
cloak Of perfumed leather, and lent
her approval to the craze by wearing
everything perfumed.-even her shoes.
The colonizing era was only some half
dozen years in the distance, and what
ever the men brought to the New World
from the Old. their women certainly
took with them what they had learned
about beauty culture" in the glamor-
Gus age.