Evening Star Newspaper, April 28, 1894, Page 18

OME PEOPLE think that a modiste is a kind of a lay figure, automatically constructed to man- ufacture gowns out of the greatest quantity of cloth im- aginable, and that she need not be bur- dened with brains! That is where people make a great mis- take. A successful modiste is a born diplomat. She has to be, to hold her “finicky” customers. A woman comes in and says that she has material for a new gown, and “how shail it be made?” Nine times out of ten she has purchased the goods because it caught her fancy, and, liking it, she concluded to have a gown, when she really does not need one, so does not know for what purpose she will use it. Whether for visiting, street, or a house Gress. Now, of course, the dressmaker who understands her business can tell at a glance how certain materials will make up, but she will not tell her customer at once. She goes off on a dreani-like description of @ gown she has just finished for the wife of this official, and one for that, till she gets her customer to talking of dress in general, and then she brings her to talk- ing of certain fashions in puckers and frills, till she has found out the very thing that the customer has in mind, and then she will remark that, if it was her gown, she would make it so and so, and the cus- tomer will remark, delightedly, that those are just her ideas exactly! Then after she has got the customer committed to certain likes and dislikes, she begins to get in her fine work. “Overskirta are being worn a great deal, does madame like them?” Now madame has expressly said that she does like them, and reiterates her opinion with a questioning inflection in her voice ‘Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. Talip Gown for a Matron. thmt shows that she is already wavering. And yet she has been thinking for two months just how she would have an over- skirt made for her next gown, that would copy fair one that Mrs. Cleveland wears with her brown visiting gown. “A figure like yours can bear an over- skirt very much better than a woman that ig so much stouter,” says the modiste, in- sinuatingly,“but here isa design that would be quite fetching on you, you would bear it off with so much grace!’ And before the Geluded madame knows what has hap- Pened she has subscribed to a combination of fashions in sleeve and skirt and bodice that she would have repudiated ten mo- ments before entering the modiste’s. Character Even in Dres: Now, that sort of sophistry would be all right if the modiste had a particle of regard for the peculiarities of her customer; but ine cases out of ten she has not. You can tell a “dressmaker’s* woman the minute you set eyes on her, for she will be gotten up in the very latest “agony,” and it will give you another kind of agony to see her. This is an ase of individuality, and the wo- man who hopes to be singled out from her kind must accentuate herself in some way. If she has business capacity of conspicuous Quality she goes in for stocks and real es- tate; if she is very bright mentally, she adopts literature; if she is simply energetic without particular bend in any direction she goes into an office or store, but at tl game time m a success of what she does undertake do. And so it is, or should be,with the woman who has the time and the money to devote to gowning herself. She should make everything that she wears express her individuality. It should be fashioned for her, on designs modified and adapted to her figure, and should become so much a part of her na- ture that when her friends see certain fab- Fics in the shop or designs in the books they will say, “How much that looks ike Mary;” or, “This must have been de- signed for Helen.” If women understood the alphabet of art, they would not buy even so small a matter as a veil until they had tried its effect under a strong light. And yet they go on in a perfectly madden- ing way, wearing purple veils, and awful petunia shades, and baby biue and plush pink, till one is almost of the opinion that while the codes of a century are getting such a combing down, there ought to be Popular Pink and Black. n the rules or the | ake it a high crime | woman to go wit- | tingly, litation and malice | aforethought, king a guy of her-} self. | Taste Stapped in the Face. The for sioned by | seeing a wor y who actuaily set my teeth om edge with her rank violation of all e7- ~ ‘THE EVENING STAR, the ethics of art. Not because she was shabbily clothed, however, for she fairly shone in her new raiment, not a piece of which came off the bargain counter, either, for it Was redolent of “novelty,” hence cost twice as much as the same thisig will cost in two weeks from now. She wore two shades of brown in gloves and shoes, her dress was green, her belt was gilt filigree, her shirt waist showing through her green velvet bolero, with its gold braid trimming, was changeable red surah, her collar and cuffs were white, her necktie was a light green, with yellow spots; her hat was a sailor oil- cloth, with violet and lace trimmings, snd she wore a purple veil. To caj she was of uncertain age, ha‘ thirty in inches or more, and had unlovely expression on her face. On the whole, however, one could not ex- pect anything but an unlovely expression from a woman who would slap taste in the All in Blue and White. face in so wanton a manner. Such people ought to be suppressed; there is absolutely no excuse for their existence in this artistic age. The poorest little clerk in one of our great stores can make her pittance of wages go further and make a tenfold more artistic showing than that woman did. Overskirts are not prime favorites. That is official. You can have them if you want to, but they are too floppy for most women. An always was the most per- verse thing to coax into graceful lines, and very few care to bother with them. The short woman should shun them religiously. But coats! My, but they do take on airs. There is the cutaway! I have seen two or three this last week, and, in my judgment, if you are not blessed with the form of Juno, and the action of Diana, you would better shun the cutaway. Very few men can wear it and look well in it, and it sets even worse on a woman. The trouble with it seems to be that the tails hang toward the back in a distressing manner, and seem to be out of place, and unless a woman parts them just as a man does when she sits down they get wrinkled. The 23 " coat, which is double breasted and comes to below the knees, the skirts meeting in front, is a much more stylish garment, and more generally becoming to the average woman. ‘The Merit of the Prince Albert. ‘Then there is the Prince Albert! Women have them made almost exactly like men do, and they are a graceful coat. That is because of their semi-flowing lines. The Prince Albert, when made by a tailor who understands his business, is the most dis- tinguished coat that a man can wear, and urless a man is absurdly short and his coat ridiculously long he will look well in it. They cover up ungraceful proportion in both men and women, yet do not con- ceal good points. A man who will look like | sak: a Bowery “tough” in a short sack coat Severely Elegant. will emerge a gentleman when he dons a Prince Albert, and a woman often under- goes the same transformation from an “Eton” to a long coat. “Rich but not gaudy” {fs not now applied to bodices, for they are both rich and gaudy, and expressed in a “fancy” that would make the head of old Polonius swim if he could see them. Some of these bod- ices are sights, but the most of them are a success. You may follow out almost any caprice in the garniture, and if you can resurrect a becoming old style after which to fashion it, you are welcome to do so, and it matters not the age or the century that gave it birth. It is considered quite the proper thing to have at least two bod- ies to one skirt. One is for street wear and the other is more elaborately fashioned, to answer for ceremonious occasions. This is especially adapted to the uses of a woman who is traveling, and does not like to be burdened with a lot of lug; e. One dress can be made to take the place of two. A woman of good taste always travels well gowned, hence it is not much trouble to transform her attire into the require- ments of more elaborate functions. For a Stout Woman. It looked for a time as though there would be no evening affairs that would re- quire sumptuous gowning this spring, but, as is often the case, all such calculations have been disappointed, and some very handsome gowns have been made recently for future social functions that will be given on a grand scale. One is for a ma- tron, and is particularly well adapted for @ stout woman, as it is fashioned on the princess order, which takes all fullness away from the hips. The trained petticoat is of heavy yellow bengaline, and the prin- cess body is of changeable yellow and green taffeta. The effect is almost start- ling, as the long, soft points of the green- ish-yellow silk part over the rich petti- coat, and are caught with bows of yellow ribbon. It makes you think of a tulip, but you will finish by liking it, as I did. The big puffs on the sleeves are of black velvet, and the lace is creamy duchesse of uncertain age and palpable richness. The rich effect would be even deeper if the bodice and points were of the black velvet. A very strikingly elegant toilet for a new married young woman is the fashiona- ble combination of pink and black. The underskirt is black satin, lustrous and heavy. The bodice and overskirt, with its graduated points, are of pink liberty silk. The bows are black satin, and so are the sleeves. A tiny little cap at the top of the shoulder is of pink silk, and from this falls a bertha of black bourdon lace. For ® young lady a long trained gown of blue con agra blue of the sky just washed rain—is looped high ‘on the left side over a petticoat that is ruffied to the waist with narrow plaitings of white lace. ‘The belt is of silver fil set with tur- quoises. Over the puffed blue sleeves falls a deep cap with white lace, and there ‘s a pointed bertha of the same. : For the Buds. For a stately young woman in her first season is a gown of pale green moire. It is almost severely plain about the skirt, which is just walking length, but the waist is the now familiar blouse style and is of je green taffeta belted with folds of moire. The puffs of the sleeves are.of the moire, and the lower part is wrinkled taffeta, finished with a narrow So Very Young. lace ruffle over the hand. A full ripple of pale green chiffon falls over the to of the sleeve, and the slightly round neck is finished with a simple shirring. A very young lady, who has not as yet got away from her doting mother’s side, has a slip of pale pink silk, over which is a blouse-waisted white chiffon mist, called by courtesy a “gown.” It is belted with a sash of white moire, tied at the left of the front and again in a big bow two- thirds of the way down the skirt, where it holds the chiffon to the silk slip. The neck is high, of course. Sensible mothers do not let young daughters wear low-neck- ed gowns. Full chiffon caps fall over pink silk sleeves, which are a oe he a perhaps, but they are to met by long white gloves. BELL BALL. ——— ‘WOMEN WHO FLIRT. A Habit Some.Are Born With That Others Acquire. From the Philadelphia Times. The born flirt is not dangerous. She may appear so, but in reality her little coquet- tish, fascinating ways are not the culti- vated wiles of e siren, but are as natural to. her as breathing. In all probability when her eyes first opened upon this world she smiled at the doctor, and through her babyhood and childhood up to the time she was considered a woman that guileless smile wrought hevoc with every man who came within the circle of its sunny in- fluence. She doesn’t think she is flirting. She is merely enjoying herself. Men have always paid her a certain amount of homage, and that she intends to have up to the day of her death. The born flirt need not be beau- tiful, she need not be even pretty; but if she Possesses that personal magnetism that counts for more than symmetry of contour, men will adore and she will let them to the end of time. All women dubbed flirts are certain to come in for a considerable amount of un- kind criticism from those who do not un- derstand them. The unconscious flirt will, however, after awhile disarm her worst enemy, for if time is taken to study the little lady the strange phenomenon will be discovered that she flirts just as much with women as with members of the oppo- site sex. Her pretty ways are irresistible to men and women alike, and so she goes on smiling and magnetizing all who come within her power, and those who came to censure remain to praise. But oh! what a different character is the deliberate flirt, the woman who coquets with intent to kill, who lets ‘flirtation run into romance, and then with one strong blow destroys a man’s hopes just for the e of seeing the card house she has built up scatter into its component parts before her very eyes. She is the type of woman who separates husbands and wives, who sows discord in hitherto happy families, who enjoys making sweethearts unhappy and younger women envious. She is a schemer who plans her campaign deliber- ately, not a little skirmisher who uses her ‘Weapons on all-alike. The flirt by design is a dangerous person. She loves to wound. She delights in the cries of those who have been pierced by the Garts from her havoc-dealing eyes. Her victims are fewer than those that come to the net of the born flirt, but their suffering is real, their pain bitter. The natural flirt will go on flirting with her own husband after they have been married twenty years, but the other one, if chance or design brings her a man whose name she is asked to bear, no longer wastes her time on him, but lvoks around for some one else’s hus- band to practice her wiles upo ee WHAT POINTED TOES DO. And the Apparatus Devised to Rem- edy the Evil. From the Philadelphia Times. The fathion of wearing pointed toes in boots and shoes has caused a very pain- ful curvature of the toes, from which a great number of people are at this pres- ent moment suffering. The great toe is bent in and pushes one or more of the smaller toes out of position, raising them on one joint in a form which has caused the doctors to call them “hammer toe: Surgeons have provided for this an ap} Tfatus which is to be worn all night, and, if possible, during the hours of leisure in the daytime. This consists of a splint resembling a sandal, which fits along the base of the foot and is provided with tapes passed under and over the toes in such a fashion as to bend down the joint that has become raised. The cure is almost a painless one, and, if taken in time and persevered in, may what is an extremely painful operation, that of cutting the tendons underneath the toe. —__+ e+ — —___ Little Prigs. From Harper's Bazar. A conceited child is a decidedly disagree- able object; the more so that conceit is not a natural development of childhood. Yet when we see the pains taken by most peo- ple to make little prigs of their children, the wonder is not that a few become stilted and eager to show off their accomplish- ments, but that the majority remain spon- taneous and charming. In many families a clever speech on the part of a child is seized upon by his ad- miring elders, repeated in his presence with delighted comments, re-repeated to visitors who happen to call, and, in fact, told over and over till it becomes weari- some. The child's vanity, thus fed, grows with great rapidity, and the next clever speech Or the next pert retort is made with a view to the audience. If it is not received with acclamation the little speaker feels disappointed, and in a way defrauded of his just rights. “Talk more about me!” insisted a little five-year-old the other day, when there occurred @ lull in the conversation of his mother and a friend. Not to mention the boredom endured by the polite visitor, who is expected to listen to the recitations, songs and piano recitals of little learners in season and out of seaso4, the children themselves get a wrong point of view when constantly called upon to take a prominent part in the entertain- ment of company. The proper place of children, so long as they are in the nursery and the school room, is in the background, and a very beautiful feature of the back- ground they are when brought up well. To force them and their studies, their amusements, even their precocity, upon the direct attention of older persons not im- mediately belonging to them is a mistake. It makes them little prigs, or little pedants, and in either role they are not attractive. SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1894-TWENTY PAGES. SOURCES OF BEAUTY Some-Look Upon the Bath and Its Aocessories as Important, OTHERS LAY STRESS ON CONTENTHENT Serviceable Occupation is Said to Be a Beauty Breeder. SENORA SARA’S CHAT Writtes Exclusively for The Eveuing Star. g&> WOULD LIKE TO be as pretty as she is!” That is what a tired young clerk said to me one day recently. I was buy- ing a bit of lace, and @ pretty young wo- man came and bent ever the laces for a moment and = then went to another part of the store where ? we could see her quite plainly—the clerk and I. She was very pretty indeed, and as she passed you there came from her a faint fragrance that ‘was not perfumery, yet suggested it, but at the same time you felt sure that the odor was not that which was used to disguise more disagreeable body odors, but the ex- quisite fragrancé that comes from a per- fectly clean body and well-kept clothing. The tall, willowy figure of the fair daughter of southern Congressman was simply gown- ed, and she had about her none of the marks of a woman who has plenty of money to spend; in fact, I knew that she ‘was an economical girl, and that the beau- ty that everybody remarks is not en- hanced by costly attire. “It costs a lot of money to be physically Pretty, doesn’t it?” continued my clerk, as she made out my check. “If I was rich as 01 of the women are who come in here looking like dowdies, I'd be as beautiful as— as Cleopatra!” And she slammed the little tin box into the carrier and sent it off with a to emphasize her remark. I was interested It amused me to find that she had formed her ideas of Cleo- patra’s beauty on the representations of the female member of the royal Ptolemys that she had seen behind the footlights, and that she, like most other women, and men, too, for that matter, thought the “Serpent of the Nile’ a beautiful woman. That is, of course, as one looks at beauty; if a woman can be considered as the glass of fashion and the mold of form who is barely five feet in height, has the complexion of an Indian, red crinkly hair, thick lips, a flat turned-ap nose, and eyes cut the wrong way, then Cleopatra may have been con- sidered @ beauty, for that is her picture, ac- cording to the historians who mention her Dersonal appearance at all. It was not the comeliness of her face and form that at- tracted men to her, but her musical voice, keen wit, strong mentality and charm of manner, But I was talking of the clerk and not Cleopatra. “If you were rich, what to make yourself beautiful?” was the ques- tion I put to her, while I was mentally sizing up her capacity for making some bane if she had her longed for ‘Well, I would be clean, and that in it- if is beauty,” she said, with a little le. “Can't you be that now?" I asked her. Cleanliness Akin to Wealth. “Mercy, no,” she said, with a shrug, as she began to straighten out the tumbled laces we had been turning over. “It costs money to be clean. These women who preach dress reform and beauty culture make me tired. Why, if I were to follow all the rules they lay down for the care of my bady alone, to say nothing of my clothes, I would have to go off and take a vow of perpetual seclusion. Personal clean- liness means clean clothes and lots of them. It means hot water, private bath tubs, Individual toilet articles, and—oh, it means everything that I have not, and can never hope to have. If I were rich, I would take a Turkish bath once each week, a vapor bath every two weeks, a milk bath once @ month, a hot bath every morning with a cold shower bath to finish it off, and a hot foot bath morning and evening. After I had followed up that practice for a few months—” “You would be ready for the embalmer,” T suggested. “No, indeed. I would then feel that I was getting some of the impurity out of my system, and could begin to live. Then I would have camel's hair tooth brushes, and eg oil soap, and violet water by the gal- ion for my baths, and refined alcohol for strengthening baths, and silk sponges, and linen towels like velvet for fineness. I would have a maid to brush my head and keep my scalp in perfect order and my head as shining as silk and as sweet as new-mown hay. I would have a boy to take care of my shoes and keep them in good condition, and to brush my gowns and wraps the minute I took them off, and —_ them away to air, so that the tobacco smoke off the man who sat next me in the church, or the fried meat and potatoes of the woman who stood by me in the street car in a gown that had hung in the kitchen loset, would have time to evaporate be- fore I wanted the garments again. My maid should be trained to her business, and know exactly how to dress me for any par- ticular function, so that I need never once think of my clothes after they had been fitted. I would not even want to buy them. I would take long carriage rides every day, @ sea voyage twice a year, have a dentist, chiropodist and a manicure at my nod, but no doctor; I would not need one,for I would live on healthy food,mostly fresh fruits and green things, and I would never be sick.” Draws the Line on Calisthenics. At this point this altogether original young lady gave signs of having run down, and as there were a few things that she seemed to have forgotten, I suggested that she seemed to have left no place in her cyclopedia of health for Delsarte or gym- nastics of any kind. “TI don’t believe in them,” she said smil- irgly, as the tin box came clicking back. “I think the world has gone mad on the ‘bject of physical culture. Women defy i the laws of science and health until outraged ‘nature will endure no more, and then they turn to massage and Delsarte movements, contortiot nd calisthenics, as one with a torpid liver turns to castor oil and quinine. Instead of the ounce of pre- vention they prefer a drastic five pounds of cure, and they do not seem to take into eonsideration the discomfort to themselves and their friends that this recuperating process engenders. I do not need physical culture because e to work; every bone in my body aches from over exertion when evening comes, and I desire nothing so much as @ couch or a hammock and abso- jute and unqualified rest. It is only the lazy rich woman who needs physical cul- ture. She thinks that it is beneath her dignity to perform iy kind of labor or to exert herself in the least, and so, from in- action, her muscles get soft and her flesh flabby, and then she begins to get fat just lke a pig that is shut up in a pen and stuffed. “A certain amount of active labor is necessary to good health, and the girl who is longing to develop her muscles and her body can find more rational and helpful ways to do it than by spending hours daily in a gymnasium. Society would be cleaner apd home life happier and better if women Were less artificial, and nature had a little more show. Here is your change. One fifty from two. Nothing more? Call again.” And I was dismissed, much to my regret, for I found this young woman both original and and _ enter- taining. I often find such girls in the shops. Indeed, I have thought sometimes that the shop girls were more original than any other class of working women. I pre- sume it is because they come in contact with so many phases of human nature in the course of the day. I told the girls about the young woman's theories that evering, and they were most a unit in declaring that she is a most level-headed young person. By Helping Others. “I have had practical demonstration in my own case,” asserted Louise. “I gave up my calisthenics this winter, partly because I wanted the money for our charitie: nd quite as much because I had not time for them, if I continued the work among the children that we had to do. Mamma objected to my giving them up, because 1 always run down when I do not take a great deal of exercise, and the kind that one gets in heated rooms at teas and would you do dinners and dances is not invigorating, you | sugar. know, but I never felt better in my life than I do this spring. And just look how we have worked! Why, I have learned to sweep, and make beds, and dust, and soothe sick babies, and play nurse with one. I think sometimes, when I look oyer the winter, that our poor people have done us more good than we have them. We gave them bodily succor, but they taught us something worth more than that, with- out knowing it, perhaps, but a valuable lesson all the same. , one evening that the mind was more than meat, and the soul more than raiment—at least, that was the substance of it, and if we are not better in mind and soul for the ex- periences of the past winter, it is because we are impervious to improvement. At least, so it looks to me.” “That is true,” replied Bobbie, earnestly. “I have not many social triumphs to record, but I feel some way as though I have been of some account in the world, and the sen- sation ne apie pleasant. We = grown in—I don’t want to say ‘grace,’ what is the word to use, Elaine?’ ee “I think ‘grace’ is exactly the word, Girlie,” said Elaine, with a loving pat. “It is a good old church word that means to ex- pand and improve, to become better, more fit for a useful life, and less a ‘cumberer of the ground,’ to put it in the real old Methodist style. I suppose every woman wants to be beautiful,” she went on thoughtfully, “God must have planted the desire in our hearts, just as He gave men the desire to be strong and big of stature. But women do not begin early enough in life to realize all that is required to make a woman beautiful. Our bodies are only pieces of delicate mechanism, and if we wait for some parts of it to get rusty from disuse, we must expect to find that we can- not accomplish as much with them as we could if we had kept all the tiny muscles oiled for action. So much is expected of women now, socially, professionally and in- tellectually, that they need to have their physical powers well under control to know how to rest, how to react from the demand of our very exhausting life; how to care for the very delicate bodies have inherited from mothers who never took care of their bodies at all. The health and vigor of a nation can never rise higher than the health and vigor of its mothers. The health of the women sets the standard.” “But Elaine!” remonstrated Jennie. “I thought you favored physical culture.” Useful Occupation Counts. “So I do, child, for ‘the lazy rich,’ as Sara’s clerk put it. But for strong, vig- orous young girls like we are, I have a very small opinion of it. Walking, riding, dancing, tennis, und the small household duties that each one of you ought to have, whether you need to do them or not, would be amply sufficient to keep you healthy unless you willfully override some law of nature. In that case you are the loser, for you know that nature exacts her pen- alty for every infringement of her laws, and that sooner or later you have to pay. The aim of all physical culture is self knowledge, self preservation and self im- provement, and unless one begins to study these in youth, the process in later life will not be any more satisfactory than patching up old plastering. 1'm afraid that that young lady wouid find herself long on cleanliness and short on health, though, if she ever got a chance to put her theories | into practice. I am a fish for water, but its | use can be abused. 1 think, on the whole, that I would rather err on the side of too much, however, than too little, Think how perfectly awful to have go out to the world the report that you had contracted a pois- onous skin disease through wearing hose too long without washing! That poor Eu- ropean princess will wish now that she had not had such costly and frail black lace stockings and a few more common sense ones, that could be washed once a day.” “Bathing so much is an awful lot of trouble,” said Jennie, “I am half inclined to dress without bathing sometimes. I get in a hurry, and it does take such a lot of time.” Points in Bathing. “Don’t you dare to do such a thing,” stormed Mary, who came in just in time to catch the last remark. “I wish you could have had the object lesson that I had today. You would sooner think of go- ing without your bangs than your bath. I was waiting in the members’ gallery at the House while mamma was talking to some one and a lady came in and sat down by me. I think that she was a lady, but no woman who has the real instincts of a lady would carry about with her the palpa- ble inference that she was living in a house where a bath tub is a novelty. I couldn't stand it, so moved to another seat, and had the misfortune to sit beside a woman with thick, long hair, and the odor was positively so offensive that I had to move again. That woman’s hair would have been beautiful if it had been clean, but it was musty and sour and dingy with dirt. Ugh! it makes me sick to think of it.” “Tell us how often we should bathe, Elaine. I really didn’t know that one could bathe too often,” said Nora, who had been unusually quiet. *Why, Nora, it would be perfectly ab- surd to undertake to lay down rules in a sentence or two that would do for all of you. I can stand a hot bath once a day and a sponge bath besides, just before re- tiring. Some of you may not be able to take a hot bath once a week, and so have to take the tepid bath; a shower bath is good for some systems and for others it is simply cruel. I can’t endure a shower bath. A woman of vigorous habits should take a good soap bath in a tub and rubbing once a day. Never directly after a meal and never when she is tired. But she can select the hour for Jt that seemed most convenient. More delicate women may have to take the sponge bath entirely. If you want per- fectly refreshing sleep dip a towel in soft, cool water and give the body a thorough rubbing just before retiring. I do not think that it is a good plan to take the full bath just before retiring. Early in the evening or in the morning is the best time. If the methods that I suggest are followed no woman will make herself a malodorous nuisance in company.” “Elaine, do you believe that any amount of bathing or dieting or physical culture will make a woman beautiful; unless she has a sweet nature behind it all?! it was Bobbie who asked the question, and Bobbie has a disposition as lovely and lovable as the snow drop. The Abiding Place of Beauty. “No, Ido not. You know we talked about that once before. A woman of unlovely disposition would be unlovely yet, though she had the face of the Sistine Madonna, It is not the regularity of feature, nor the richness of color of those great master- pieces of Raphael that appeal to us so di- rectly, but the soul that seems to animate the beautiful eyes and the transfiguring glow of saintly perfection that shines over all. His madonnas are ideals of all that is tender and sweet and true in woman. In them you see, besides the beautiful body, the reverent spirit, loving heart, and ra- diant personality that made her fit to be the mother of Christ. I think that those who choose the best and beautiful in life are certain to reflect it. While, on the other hand, as some one says, ‘Every de- pressing scene, every unreasonable loss of self-control, leaves two wrinkles and eight gray hairs.” Study yourself and determine what lovely traits are possible for you, and then possess them by intelligent persis- tence. With God's help get a soul in tune with all that is lovely and of good repute, make your body vigorous and fine and then by healthy exercise, helping yourself and others, strive to make a beautiful picture of yourself.” I wonder how many women there are who see the practicability of such theories? It is not of much use to “see” them unless one practices them. SENORA SARA. —_——. London Clubs for Women. From the Chicago Evening Post. Clubs for worcen are springing up all over London, The best known are the Alexandria, the Pioneers’, the Writers’, the Victorian, the Somerville and the Univer- sity. The Alexandria was one of the earli- est established. It owns a charming club- house in Grosvenor street, and its welfare is carefully superintended by a general committee. The Pioneers have their hab- {tation in Cork stre2t. While to a certain degree discriminating in the choice of its members, it is one of the special features of this club that it is ever ready to throw open its portals to all those who as guests or members are honest and earnest in pro moting any good or trustworthy cause. The Writers’ Club is located in Flee: street, and, “aided by the efforts of Lady Jeune and Mrs, John Strange Winter, has flourished exceedingly.” The Victorian Club is in Sackville street, and is especiaily de- | signed for the use of ladies whose homes are in the country, but whose employment may lead them to London, and who do not wish their expeditures to exceed a certain limit. The Somerville is in Oxford street and its membership exceeds six hundred, and it boasts an attractive program of weekly debates. The University Club, in Maddox street, has as one of its regulations that women that have graduated at some unt- versity shall alone be eligible as) mem- bers. A DELICIOUS DRINK, Horsford’s Acid Phosphate. For a right Horstord’s Ac ood and lasti cool drink, Phosphate wil ee water take aud HOUSEHOLD CHAT A Bad Wife Described and Also a Bad Husband. TUE ABOMINATION OF COOKING BUTTER Some Suggestions That Will Save the Housekeeper Dollars. CAKE FROSTING IN COLORS Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. Teach children that they are never un- der any circumstances to enter a private room where the door is closed until they have knocked. This breach of good man- ners is one that is committed by at least half the world of civilized people, and is one of the most annoying. se 8 & © If you want to be particularly economt- cal in the use of soap, buy it in quan- tity, and put it away to harden. Good hard soap will not waste as fast by half as the green soft stuff that a woman sends out and buys in a great rush just before beginning the day's wash. Buy at least a dozen bars at a time, and put them on the top shelf of the pantry where the air can get at the bars and dry out and harden them. 2 © © @ Never live’ up to your income, whether it be of money, time or strength. A lit- tle leeway in each will give you a longer Jease on life and a greater enjoyment of its blessings. ee The true test of good society is the ab- sence of personalities in conversation. * 2 © # We are always sighing for wealth, as though money would pave the way to un- limited store of happiness. Wealth will purchase luxuries, but happiness cannot be purchased. It lies within, and middle- class people know more happiness in a minute than a rich man sees in a year. Why? You tell. c . When you see an unlovely, cadaverous woman with deep lines all over her face and a complexion that looks as though it had been through the tanning process, you can just make up your mind that ehe has put in her life worrying, fretting, fault- finding, giving way to her temper and holding long, bitter grudges, All such pas- | sions have their effect on the liver, poison- ing the blood, enlarging the spleen and setting their unmistakable sign on the face. The same is true of a man, and you will find that not many people love either. “26 ew The people who make a failure in life are those who, having a ten-dollar income @ week, live as though it was twenty. The successfai ones get ten a week and live as though it was only five. * . 8 8 © Here is the way that one writer regards a bad wife.” A bad wife is a shackle to &@ man’s feet, a palsy to his hands, a bur- den on his shoulders, a smoke to his eyes, vinegar to his teeth, a thorn to his side, and a © to his heart.” The cynical creature not go on to remark, how- ever, that a Lad husband ts a fiy blister to &@ wife's heart, and a stench in the nostrils of the community. oe ee After you have been frying doughnuts, or fritters or anything of that kind, shave off a few slices of potatoes when you are done with the grease, and drop in the sizz- ling fat; let them cook an instant, and then set on the back of the stove to cool very slowly. In the course of half an hour remove to a place to cool more rap- idly, and just before it gets beyond the pouring stage strain through a cloth into a clean jar. You will find that the jard is nearly as sweet as ever, being only a little darker, which does not hurt it for frying cakes in again. o°* ¢€ © © ‘When you hear the cook telling the mis- tress of the boarding house that you are patronizing to buy some “cooking” butter, just leave the hostelry as soon as you can pay your bill, for you will have dyspep- sia in less than a month. What in the world any woman wants to her vi- ands with poor butter for’ is something that no sensible person can guess. It is @ universal practice, however, for women to ask for cooking butter, as it is such hor- rible stuff by the time it has reached that stage that it can't be used for anything | but wagon grease or cooking, so it is sev- eral cents cheaper than the prime article. It is such ridiculous economy, for bad but- ter smells to heaven, no matter what shape it ig dished up in, and simply ruins what might otherwise be palatable dishes, . ec 8 A very nice way to serve dried beef.when you want a hot dish of meat in a hurry, is as follows: Put the shaved beef over the fire in a pan of cold water and let it come to a boli quickly; while this is being done have over the fire @ dish of sweet milk. When it comes to the boil put to a pint of milk a tablespoonful of butter and a bat- ter made of a tablespoonful of flour stirred smooth and thin in a little cold milk. When this has cooked thoroughly, dip the beef into the milk gravy, put the stew in a a hot dish, pepper, and serve. If the is not very salt, cook it in only enough water to keep it from burning, and use @ little less milk and a little more butter, and pour the milk gravy over the meat, as the more juice of the meat you get the better. This is a nice breakfast dish served up poured oer nicely browned, toast. Men make laws, and women make man- ners. If you don’t believe it, just observ: the manners of the men in @ community where the women do not hold them strictly accountable for their actions. oe Herbert Spencer says: “We do not yet sufficiently realize the truth that as, in this life of ours, the physical underlies the mental, the mental must not be developed at the expense of the +w-* Few seem conscious that there is such a thing es physical morality. Men’s habitual words imply that they are at liberty to treat their bodies as they please. The fact is that all breaches of the laws of health are a we ve The varnish on morocco may be restored to its first estate by varnishing the leath- er with the white of an egg put on with a ca pean uo ee ee It is all right to have an orderly house- hold, but such order is not worth the hap- iness of the whole family. Order should @ smiling presence, and not a sour tyrant or @ specter. | se @ © Very few women know how to take care of a hat or bonnet 80 as to keep it fresh looking. In the first place, never try to have a hat that is to be worn com- monly much trimmed. Put as much rib- bon on it as your conscience will let you, but for goodness sake be sure it is a color that will stand wind, ~, Gust and rain. If you want your cake frosting to be very white, squeeze lemon juice in it; if you want a lovely pink, color it with a few drops of strawberry or cranberry juice; if yellow is desired, use orange juice, first straining it. se © @ If you have a rush-bottomed chair with the bottom “rushed out,” don’t send it to the cabinet maker, but fix it yourself. Take all the cane work out and put in its place two thicknesses of heavy canvas. If the wood is hard, you must bore the holes for the small nails at least half through. Dou- ble the canvas under at the edges, and lay a piece of leather over it, into which the nails should be driven, then they will not cut the cloth, Then make @ fancy cushion and tie it to the four corners of the chair. It will be useful as well as ornamental. One lady has four such chairs. She em- broiders beautifully and made four chair seats of black broadcloth, exquisitely em- broidered. Then she got from a second- hand store four disreputable-looking old chairs, of which the frames were scuffed, but having been of splendid material were strong and sound as to joints. She exer. cised her taste for painting by gilding one, and its cushion is gold and black; the second is pale blue enamel with pink roses painted on it and the cushion is black with blue bells; the third is white and gold, and the fourth is ebonized. 2 © we Did you ever eat scalloped eggs? If so, you know they are very good indeed. Here is a recipe that has been tested and not found wanting. Take as many hard-boiled eggs as are needed, and have prepared a quart or so of grated bread crumbs—of course the quantity of both must be regu- lated by the size of the family. Butter a deep, dish with good, sweet butter and lots of it, cut the eggs in élices and put in a is oH tt ee Z i . If the baby seems fretful without try sing ita drink of water. ? i ut i ful It gets thirsty The water stomach and sad just as often es the mouth. The tired woman who has given her life to her dear ones, and has come feel that she is not appreciated, ought drop everything and go away from home for a time. Contact with the world gives ly. In mingling with new often find that is 80 touch leery of whi we never dreamed, heartache so much deeper ours, care so much There is nothing so bed in this life one could not find something worse. + @ Tt is od4, but true, that a woman never Says that she is » but aa He hungry, always “that will seem when put in water. Rinse them in water before cooking. . . Sugar of lead is said to be a good thing to keep lawns and other print goods from fading in the wash. A teaspoonful to a bucket of water is about the % When it has dissolved, put th Ptabrie In, wood EZ S| for Aya Wash carefully in water that is soft, or made by borax or ammonia. “a ——— IT BRINGS DEATH. Why Miss Boggs Did Not Wear a Ture quoise jue Bonnet. “What a dear little bonnet,” cried Mrs. ‘Twiggs, as she kissed Miss Boggs in af- fectionate greeting. “I suppose you brought it back from New York with you. Import- ea? Yes, [ thought so; those French women are inimitable.” “Yes,” saad Miss Boggs, sadly, “it is quite pretty still, but not half as stylish, nor as becoming as when it was trimmed with turquoise blue velvet.” The tiny head-dress referred to could hardly be dignified by the name of bonnet. It was @ little, crownless thing, with a corenet of jet, and at the back a broad bow “fon hardiy’ tonnging anythi pret can e than “that lovely shade “of pink? “hire Twiggs replied, with her usual tact, “but it ae =~ blue ‘ge | and more , why, . b. have it changed?” itn — “Because my méther haf a able superstition on the pens Morey = blue on hi ‘“@ “A superstition? How very 044.” tt, Dut T cannot conquer It jast ae sas The day after I came home frost New York, I put on my nice little bonnet to make a round of calls. On my way <lowastairs I met our housekeeper, Bridget, who, you know, was my nurse, and who feels her- self a privileged charac’ simple. According to an old Irish saying, to wear light biue on a hat brings certain death to some mem- ber of the family of the wearer during the year, Hence the tears.” a anyone ever hear anything more ab- eunt?” “That is just what mamma said, when she heard of it, but alas! it made a lasting impression upon her, just the same. Later in the day she that the light blue not nearly as becoming as al- most any other color; she thought magenta. much june Peas Was BO —hardly ladylike, better. And she calls herself strong- x 9 woman.” 3 “It is ridiculous, certainly,” said Mrs. a. gti 2. I wil aot have blue on spring hat, h—the idea is ug so very But She Made a Most Important Diss covery. Did you know that a woman—a mere woman—made the wonderful anatomical discovery of the reason why a woman has @ Soprano voice and a man sings in the lower register. Eliza Orchard Connor tells the story—it is a German one, says the Chicago Post. It seems that Mrs. Emma Seller, a native of Wurtzburg, when left a ‘widow with two children to support, re- Solved to become a teacher of singing, but suddenly lost her voice, Then she determined to find out why; also to discover, if possible, the correct method of singing, so that others might not lose their voices. For this purpose she studied anatomy. Surrounded, however, as she was, by the idiots and bigots who would cut off all intellectual pursuits from women, she was obliged to study in secret. She dissected larynx after larynx and spent years in her search, trying to for one thing why women’s head could reach high C, while men had no 8 Prxt length t len er search was rewarded. She discovered under the microscope one 4ay two small wedge-sh: cartil whose action produces the highest tones of the panen Voice. She made her discovery pub- le. It excited great attention among scien- ists. But so cruel was the prejudice of her time that she did not dare fet the world krow @ woman made the discovery, and wrote an account of it. Her own brother, a yey Ee the treatise in the high- est terms till he found that his own sister written it Then he dashed it down, saying: in a rage, that she would be better atten to her housework. Mme. Seller's portrait, a marble relief, is in the of the American Philo- Sophical Society of Philadelphia, of which she was a member. Here is a case for the paraphrase of an old saying: “Put not your trust in brothers.” Mehetable. From the St. Louis Republic. ‘They tell to me ‘tis Oona: brooks, of merry birds prOOKS, ol ‘and biushinr, new-born howers. But melodies and blossoms, dear, To me are only dreams Of music fied aud fowers dead, For mid these rosy beame wane uve ga cuten ee clasping one enother, cuipty bande are renching orth Prom vorid to the other sa CLIFPORD BROWARD oo “Unealied For.” From Lite.