Evening star., 1937-01-16

cdIIlS lOI Illul t1e uOIlOr OF prophet as
well as scholar. I'VE are ripe for a
new epoch Of artifice," he anticipated.
mo longer is a lady of fashion blamed,
If, to escape the outrageous persecu-
ton of time, she fly for sanctuary to
the toilet table. Surely it is laudable,
this wish to make fair the ugly and
overtop fairness, and no wonder that
within the last five years the trade of
the makers of cosmetics has increased
immoderately."
So, half a dozen years before the
twentieth century davned, the hand
writing Of changing opinion was ap-
pearing on the wall of crumbling
prejudice. and Beerbohm, in q little
gem Of literature, sought to pass on
the message to uncomprehending hoi
polloi.
Fashion" he wrote, "has made
Jezebel surrender her monopoly OF the
rouge pot" And he put the crux Of
the vital new question into this SEN
tence: "Our thanks, too, should be
given to science for Kidding us Of the
old danger that was latent in the use
Of cosmetics. Nowadays, they cannot,
being purged Of any poisonous ele-
ment. do harm to the skin they make
beautiful"
60 MUCH for Beerbohm's prescience
- in 1894, when the old century lay
a-dying and progreSsives and reaction
aries alike awaited its successor with
bated breath. Thanks to him, we see
the way paved for the coming Of a
new social savior. The bright prom
ise of physical salvation and its
countless fulhllments have marked
the longing for personal improvement
as one of the major achievements Of
our age.
Allowing that the daily newspaper
IS "the poor mans university" it is
equally true that the most accurate
guide books to the practices and GUS
toms of other times are the then cur
rent magazines.
Go back to Harper's Bazaar Of
1868, for example. A search through
page after page for mention of cos
metics results in these few lines:
1.-THE Toilet Wade Mecun, contain
ing full and complete directions for
manufacturing all the requisites of the
toilet, including perfumes, pomatums,
oils, tooth pastes, powders, etc, etc.
Sent postpaid for Is cents by w. Hep
burne, 102 Nassau street, New York" I"
The words, few as they are. seem
to hide behind the smallness of their
print, and the "ad" Is squeezed into
the back page of the publication.
Between 1868 and 1900, however, a
change Of revolutionary proportions
has taken place. Open a fashion
magazine of the period, say, at ram
dom. No need now to hunt for cos
metics advertising. In large, artisti-
cally spaced type it confronts the
reader from every other page. And
1t is fascinatingly different from the
copy" prepared today. One face wash
is guaranteed to remove Moth, tan,
freckles pimples, blackheads. Pre-
vents wrinkles, oiliness and aging OF
the skin. Makes it soft and beauti-
full Agents wanted" How weighted
with significance are these last two
words. BY the first year Of this mir
acle century this coSmetician and her
ilk were out to make beauty bust
nessl
X X
I 900!-The Boer War was sputter-
ing to a finish in far-off South
Africa. The sand in the long hour
glass Of Victoria's reign had almost
drained. But for few practical
dreamers such big events were blot
ted out by a vision Of gold in jars
and bottles-containing complexion
creams!
It Is not possible to identify the
first female who tapped the vast vein
Of cosmetic wealth, but, as the Scots