Evening Star Newspaper, October 31, 1936, Page 24

Torture of Conducting A Food Column While Trying to Really Diet| Neither Office nor Home Is Happy Place for the Determined and Miserable Reducer. BY BETSY CASWELL., ICTURE of a woman's editor on a diet: Eighteen days to go—that's a dreary prospect! P) 80 bad if only I didn’t have to Just to make sure, editorial slip.) That lunch yesterday—one hard- boiled egg and six slices of cucumber —after the poorest excuse for a break- fast I have ever seen perpetrated upon the human race! thing I was so busy all day that I didn't have time to listen to my tummy com- plaining that it thought my throat was cut and supplies were being re-routed. I must admit a cowardly mo- ment, though, when those new pictures of roast beef and rolled mutton chops were put on my desk. It was almost too much. Betsy Caswell. And dinner—(a misnomer if there | ever was one) that was offered to me | with flourishes and due formality last night. The table all properly set with lots of lace and silver, and candles, and service plates, and glasses—then what did I get, I ask you? Just what?!! Why, two eggs—no more— in a neat and infinitesimal little om- elette, with one lone sprig of parsley —which I wasn't allowed to eat—and one raw tomato, daintily sliced, with no dressing. Water in the glasses— not even tomato juice or pineapple Jjuice! Ducky, hunh? A great meal for a working woman! * x x x 'HE problem was to make it last out the never-ending period through which my daughter sat across from me and consumed thick and aromatic vegetable soup, two chops, lima beans, a baked potato—how that baked potato did scent the air—I al- most foamed at the mouth over that! I can’t bear to think of the dessert she had, even now. That half of grapefruit they presented to me with great formality certainly lost appeal in the face of the gingerbread and whipped cream she was working on! When planning the meals hereafter during this session of torture, I must remember that aromatic foods are OUT. Definitely. I can close my eyes to what the rest of the family are toying with, but I can’t very well put & clothespin on my nose at every meal. Funny, though, when I am on a diet everything smells delicious. Oh, dear! Last night was horrible. I couldn’t sleep much, and when I did those dreams of begfsteak and fried potatoes almost killed me. I'm going to put padlocks on the icebox and pantry doors and give the keys to the cook. I might take to walking in my sleep, and if I did, I know exactly what ter- ritory I'd explore. * kK % 'HIS morning was better, though, and I really felt encouraged by A Word of Warning Superstition Has Made Life a Bit Diffi- cult for BY MARY ALLEN HOOD. HENOMENA of nature fright- I ) ened the ancient inhabitant of this old earth. He thought that they were caused by angry gods and neglected spirits. To keep them in a good humor he gath- ered with the rest of the tribe to make them feel at home and wel- come. The party was held once a year, after the crops were in. Weird incantations, ceremonies of the moon, movements with fire and the strange things one sees in smoke, all made | up the feast. At its conclusion the ancient villager thought he had done all that was necessary to appease the supernatural for another year. He probably looked under the bed before he turned in for the night, Just the same! From this sprang our Halloween. Christianity did away with the old gods and substituted devils, witehes and demons. With the substitution came the fear of the cat. Kitty's lived a dog's life ever since. She got mixed up in the affair at the beginning and has stayed to the bitter end. Her presence was krown to the early Celts and Romans. The Egyp- tions made a goddess of the feline. Fable has it that Noah was upset “at the way the mice were increasing and eating up the cargo. He asked for help. Kitty was the answer. When the ark docked was impatient to it, and look at all the beautiful still-lifes of it. still-lives? I don't guess so—but maybe I should consult Mr. Webster some time, Never know when I'll get pounced on for making an E It was a good | It wouldn't be write about food, and see it, and smell (Or would that be the scales when I found a pound had bit the dust. That is, I felt better until I saw that breakfast. That little meal is guaranteed to take the starch out of even a newly laundered stiff- bosomed shirt quicker than a wink. Another thing that hurt was when I had to plan all the household meals again. My diet schedule sat right up and looked at me, and it was awful, trying to keep my mind on my work. | I ended up by ordering all the things I yearned for. Wonder why the cook laughed and said she'd attend to or- dering what they needed? Goodness knows, I didn't plan much for them, according to the way I feel myself! | My clothes aren't any looser, I'm afraid, but, anyhow, I feel awfully delicate and fragile. I'm sure I really have lost more than the scales showed. Fifteen pounds and eighteen days to go sounds like a lot, though, to ac- | complish, The whole trouble is, this business of having to run a food column and be in such close contact with things to eat all the time. It really is cruelty | to animals! Look at that picture of | a deep apple pie that is sitting on my desk this morning! It would tempt | the most satisfied eater—Ilet alone a | poor, starved wretch like me. I feel| sorry for myself. * % X ¥ 'AKE that article and picture on chocolate cake away. I can't | bear it! What on earth can I write about? Something I don't like much | would be the solution. But—that's | | the trouble, right now there isn't a | blessed thing to eat that I'm not just | | crazy about! | No, I can't talk to the man about going through that hotel kitchen—I can't! I've done it so often, I know | | just what will happen—especially | | when they take me to the ice box | where the cooked lobster is kept. No— I'd disgrace myself. You go and have a good time, dear. Eat everything |you can lay your hands on for me. But don't you dare come back here |and tell me about it! It's a good thing I've got good substitute tasters | | and testers around here. What have I got in the box for lunch today? Hope it's better than yesterday. Hunh! One hard-boiled egg, and what's this? Three leaves of lettuce? Well—that tears it. I may like rabbits, but not necessarily want | to eat like one. | _ Before this great and lengthy repast I'll just take this copy upstairs. My, ! I really do feel sylphlike and slender. | Hope somebody notices. Ah, a pal— “Hi, Betsy, how are you? Looking great, this morning. Put on a few | pounds, haven't you? Getting ready for the cold weather, I expect! Ha! Ha!” Ha! Ha! My foot! That's the pay- |off! I'm going out to lunch and eat the place down! Felines. Sl happen to cofs on Haloween leave. She leaped for & dry spot. The dog (feeling his responsibility) grabbed her by the tail and bit it off. To witness we have the tailless Manx cat. When witches were discovered kitty was found with them. Fiery orators told the populace that the devil walked the earth in the person of a black cat. Many an elder- ly lady and her cat were burned be- cause the cat seemed attached to her. There’s an old saying that & witch can change herself into a cat nine times. The cat at the age of 20 auto- matically became a witch. When the witch reached the age of 100 she was switched to a kitty. It's a case of ‘'who came first, the chicken or the egs?” In order to carry on her supernat- ural work & witch must be possessor of three items—a coffin nail, parts of a goat, and a black cat. Every sable cat in the village was regarded as walking evidence of foul play. Cats of other shade were looked upon with suspicion because of their relatione ship. Halloween is just & time for fun to- day. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of the old superstition left. Just let a black cat cross the path of one- third of the country’s population and it may meet a sudden end! Better There aren't any such things as ghosts, but we still whistle when we cross & graveyard in the dark. keep kitty home tonight. She’s safer. | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1936. FIFTEEN POUNDS AND EIGHTEEN DAYS TO GO—MAYBE! On Milady’s Dressing Table in Ancient Days e T . 1. Pots and tubes for kohl (eye-shadow to you), and combs used by the ladies of Rome in about the year 100 A.D. 2. Ear studs in fashion about 1409 B.C., and hairpins and stibium pencils used by the beauties of 2000 B.C. 3. Vases for unguents and precious oils which were used nearly 2,000 years before the dawn of Christianity. Parent Who Would Be “Honored” Must First Win Child’s | Respect and | Love. BY ANGELO PATRI I READ in the papers that a college | professor says that it is out of | date for children to honor their; parents. Now, how are parents to ex- | pect to get obedience and respect from | their children when such things are said by professors and when children read them out of the papers to LheXrL parents?” There is a lot more of this in the letter that a troubled parent wrote. | Obedience without question, respect that is shown in silence in the pres- ence of the father, seems to be the ideal relationship in the family circle here. Parents who still cling to the notion | that they own their children body and | soul, that they have but to command to be instantly obeyed no matter what the feelings or the status of the child may be, should realize that that sort of thing is dead and gone forever. Children do not belong to anybody in a property sense. They are free as spirits, which, indeed, they are. Force and fear never bred respect in the minds or hearts of children. It was possible, and in the past com- mon, for parents to hold their children in subjection by the power of their will and authority. But it was never possible to gain the love and respect and devotion of their children that way. The children suffered and were silent until they could get free. Then they left, never to return as children to their parents. What parents want is not authority over the bodies of their children, but influence over their minds, communion with their souls. The big stick will never bring this to pass. Only parental saffection and the under- standing that this brings to parents will do that. Saying “Yes, sir”-and “No, ma’am” may sound respectful in the ears of authority, but they are merely the gesture of helplessness in the face of tyranny for most children. What respect do parents want? Not this surface thing, not the auto- matic bowing and backing. They want the overflowing love of their children that is expressed in spon- taneous service. Anything else is useless because it cannot serve. Serv- ice is born of love or it is no more than the labor of slaves. The time to teach obedience is in the infancy of children. Then we insure it for their safety. But it is not set by force and fear. It is set by the co-operation of parent and child, The first step is the winning of the child’s understanding of the parent’s good will. He asks the child, Dorothy ~—Star Staff Photo. Courtesy Library of Congress. Dix Says Children, When They Marry, Are Very Apt to Resemble Their Parents. EAR MISS DIX: Girls are always asking you how to pick out a man who will make the kind of a husband they want. I give them a rule that never fails. Judge a man by his family. Every girl who is thinking of marrying should spend a week with the boy friend’s people before she | makes her final decision. If she can give them the O. K. it’s all right, and she can go ahead without fear. But if their manners and their customs | and the way they treat each other gets on her nerves, she will save her= self a lot of grief by calling their affair off and giving him the air. You never find a canary in a crow's a handsome youth's faults, she is not in love with his family and can plain- ly see their shortcomings. What they are, he will be. So I say to girls, get a line on Algernon’s family and take the tip they hand you. EDNA. Answer—There is much good hard horse sense in this advice. We are all what heredity and environment have made us. Any cautious and in- quiring youth or maiden can get a very fair picture of what sort of a | wife or husband any girl or boy will make by getting a close-up on her’s or his family picture. The old saying, “like mother, like daughter, like father, like son,” holds true in a great majority of cases. ‘What mother is at middle age Marjo- rie is mighty like to be also. If mother has let herself get fat and slovenly in appearance; if she is a sloppy housekeeper and a poor cook; if she is wasteful and extravagant, don’t marry Marjorie unless you are willing to look at a frump the re- mainder of your life and risk your digestion, and see half of your salary going to the garbage can. For Marjorie has not only probably in- herited mother’s lack of energy, but also she has been brought up in the ways of untidiness and doesn't know what good cooking and thrift are. * x ox % Il". ON the other hand, Marjorie’s mother is & notable housekeeper and manager; if at 40 she is still good looking and takes an interest in comb- ing her hair and fixing herself up, and particularly if she is tolerant, broad- minded, interesting and well informed, then you will be safe in marrying Marjorie and the chances are a thou- sand to one that she will make you not only a real helpmate, but also a companion of whom you will never tire. Boys are likely also to make the same kind of husbands that their fathers are, because a son takes his cue from the way he has always seen his father treat his mother. If John has always seen his father put his mother on a pedestal and treat her | will assume toward his wife. But if John’s father has been niggardly and tyrannical to his wife and if he has made a slave of her, John will walk roughshod over whatever girl is un- fortunate to marry him, and make a doormat out of her. * % ¥ X% EVERY rule, however, there is an exception. While it is generally true that girls make the sort of wives their mothers are, and boys make the kind of husbands their fathers are, now and then there are girls and boys who are so horrified at the way their parents do that they go to the other extreme in the way they treat their | | wives and husbands. nest and while a girl may be so | blinded by love that she cannot see | I have ‘known men who had stingy fathers, but who were prodigally generous to their wives. One of the tenderest and most considerate husbands I know is a man | whose youth was spent in aching pity for his gentle mother because of his father’s harshness and coldness to her. I have known women who were meticulous housekeepers because their mothers had been slovens, and others who were almost yes-yes women be- cause they were so determined not to be naggers and arguers and fault- finders as their mothers were. is a good idea to pick out your mother- in-law or your father-in-law first, or at least find out whether Marjorie or Tom consider Mother or Father an example or an awful warning. Th;fi{.-?ou Cards and Stationery BY EMILY POST. JEAR MRS. POST: My employer is a young professional man who has recently, been divorced. He re- ceives many formally worded invita- tions to debutantes’ dances and other general parties, and has asked me to write acceptances and regrets on the typewriter. I don't believe this is proper, but before saying anything to him I would like to know just how such invitations should be answered by me. Answer: Nothing could be more im- proper than replying to such invita- tions on the typewriter. If he hasn't any personal writing paper, order some for him—double sheets of paper with his house address or merely his initials die-stamped at the top. White paper probably, as this is most con- servative, stamped in either black or grey or dark blue or red. And then write his acceptances or regrets by hand. MRS. POST: Is it necessary for me to thank people for send- like & ladylove that's the attitude John | Ing My Neighbor Says: 1t table silver is placed in hot in use. If they are left ing the bristles become bent and will not do their work prop- erly. * Powdered pumice stone moist- ened and rubbed over a bathtub will remove stubborn stains with- out injuring the surface. (Copyright, 1936,) ézgfiifi. g So it | I Challenge in Much-Used Superlative Generally Defines| “the Tops” in Everything. BY ELSIE PIERCE. DO believe you hear it more than any other word during your wak- ing day and it's the word you dream about, if you remember dreaming at all, when you are sound asleep. Beauty, or beautiful, or beauteous; but always the root 1s “beauty.” It's used everywhere, by every one and applied to everything from the infinite charm of a lovely woman down to an inconsequential toy. The other day I presented a delightful 4-year-old with a tricycle. The young tear ducts almost overflowed as he said, “Thank you, thank you; why, why,” and he groped for a word, “it's a beauty!” A hair dresser creates a very special coiffure for a very special customer and an equally special hat, and when it is finished he gazes with frank pleasure at his own handiwork. And he says, “See how that emphasizes this line of hat, how it brings out the shape of your head, madame, and your, if I may say so, your lovely features. It is individual and it is, well, it is a beauty!” A dentist filling a space between two teeth—a delicate job. Or fitting a gold inlay over a half-gone tooth. Or matching precisely the shade in a false tooth. And what does he say? A study in dental ceramics? Per- haps. But more than likely he will say “Fine, isn’t it? And it's only in the raw. When the job's done it'll be a beauty!” The optician or optometrist fits a pair of glasses perfectly; the glass itself to the individual's vision; the shape of the glass to the individual’s face and features. And again the word “beauty” is bound to enter as he nods in approval at the addition of the glass to the picture, and I mean addition for glasses have & way of adding to one’s looks nowadays rather than taking away. And so on and on. I could cite you hundreds of examples. To an artist “beauty” is a by-word. To the vast beauty industry the word is the very life work and inspiration for more and more creations that enhance and glorify. We say a woman is beautiful, her gown is beautiful, her home is beau- every inch a beauty! (Copyright, 1936.) rely rolled and over= the way handker- Beauties of Ancient .| Greece. and Rome Used Cosmetics Generously | |Tinting and Bleaching the Hair Very Much in Favor, Together With Curling It Elab of cosmetics. The fourth will took her tub in the river. | of their river bath. | History of the Egyptian People,” the | historian, Wallis-Budge, explains that “the heat and the scorching winds from the south made careful attention to the skin absolutely necessary, for health of body and content of mind depended on it.” Castor oil was the body rub of the poorer classes, but the “upper ten” used the finer oils, fragrantly per- fumed. And the ceremony of the bath, with all that followed it, was handed on in due time to the Greeks. In the 1,400 years between the founding of Athens in 1500 B.C. and the sub- jection of the Greek states to Rome in 146 B.C., Greece was gaining some- thing besides world leadership. She lnrned eternal renown for the beauty {of her women. The Greek figure, which still holds the palm for perfec- tion, was not altogether a matter of chance. Arnold J. Cooley, writing in “The Toilet and Cosmetic Arts,” some 70 years ago, advances the interesting | theory that “the imaginary food and drink of the gods . .. were figurative allusions to the benign influence which diet and drink may be said to exercise on the human frame.” Nectar and ambrosia!'—mysterious beyond measure in our text-book days, were maybe just | poetic terms for roughage and fruit | juice. In complexion care, face masks were | highly popular among our gorgeous Greek sisters. A paste made of crumbs | of bread soaked in milk formed the ordinary type, which was spread on linen nad left on overnight. Yet in a nation whose standing in poetry is | supreme, we look for something more | ethereal—and find it—in narcissus | bulbs and honey. This was the finer version of face softener. * %k X THE kohl which the dark beauties of Egypt had depended on for several thousand years remained the despite the dangers said to have at- tended its use, and chalk or lead per- sisted as face powder. Superfluous hair was a problem then as now, but they went after it with homemads depilatories and rude tweezers. Cal- cined pumice stone retained its popu- larity for smoothing the skin and also as a dentifrice. The Roman chapter in the long romance of cosmetics is even more interesting than those that have pre- ceded. All the celebrated writers— Ovid, Martial, Juvenal, Catullus, even Horace and Cicero—have made in- valuable contributions to social his- tory in the comments they have left us on the cosmetic practices. To us these men are the immortals of literature, but to their own- age they were writers of “best sellers,” using poetry and epigram as channels of expression, for the novel was un- { known until little more than two cen- turies ago. By the time her country's legions had conquered the known world the wealthy Roman matron devoted a shocking amount of her day to making up. A French writer, Dr. Constantin James, Las placed us under an ever- | lasting debt of gratitude for the data | he has included on this score in his | “Toilette d'une Romaine.” Published |in Paris in 1865, this volume is a | happy combination of scholarship and | readability. He tells, for instance, ihow Martial, “enfant terrible” of the Titans of Roman literature, pokes fun the opportunity of working out a color you will need. " The Evening Star. favorite eve darkener of the Greeks, | ‘Well, knitters, here’s a new model for your jiffy needles. flatteringly youthful collar and the new short sleeves that Paris dictated. It is made of soft gray-blue yarn with smocking and lacing of very light blue. ‘The smocked yoke may seem difficult, but it really is very simple, and gives orately. (Editor's Note—This is the third in a series of articles on the history appear shortly on this page.) BY GAEL RENFREW. HEN Pharaoh's beautiful daughter found the baby Moses among the builrushes she was begininng her toilette for the day. In 1936 we would turn on a tap, but in 1751 B.C. or so, the lovely Egyptian ‘The discovery of the baby must have disrupted the routine for that day, but we can picture the high-born lady | and her handmaids on other golden mornings, enjoying the refreshing ritual In his “Shortg, at the practice of taking out false teeth “‘as one removes a dress!” The Romans not only had false teeth, but knew something about filling them with lead and gold. * x * x \,IART!AL also has left it on record “"7 that the women of this time used hairpins, of wood for every day and of gold for better. Their combs were of ivory or wood and in addi- tion to hand mirrors of burnished metal they carried pocket mirrors in the folds of their garments. Women’s hair, ever her crowning glory, has come in for much discus- sion by the celebrated Ovid. He is | quite interesting on appropriate styles in hair-dressing, advising one coiffure for the oval-shaped face, quite an= other for the round face, etc. He knew what he was talking about, tool The Roman grande dame required three slaves to do her hair, one for the combing and curling, another to do the perfuming and a third to dress it a la derniere mode. Being dark beauties by nature, but fickle, like other feminines, the Ro- man women were not satisfied until they had bleached their hair. For this purpose they used a soap brought from Gaul, the country that is France to us. Ovid quotes a recipe for a face mask, comprising barley bean flour, eges, and narcissus bulbs. Save for the last item, how modern it sounds. He also advises a mixture of roasted lupins, beans, white lead, orris root and some other ingredients for remove ing blotches and pimples. Like the poor, these seem to have always been with us |~ Even Cicero of the stinging speeches in the Roman Senate mertigns that “plucking of the eyebrows is bee seeming.” The women of his day were even at that little dodge! * x ox x ‘HORACE the ace of the epigram- makers, has contributed to the subject of rouge. The Romans, he tells us, used three kinds. “minium (red lead), carmin (carmine), and a substance extracted from certain resie due of crocodile.” | “The light vermilion which the blood refused. it is art that gives it.” ex- plains Ovid. whose preference seems to have been for a skin “the pallor of exquisite marble.” But Martial and Juvenal are bite ingly sarcastic on this question of artificial color. “You have a beau- tiful color.” says the former, “but not a beautiful skin.” We know, only too | well, that there's a difference. Lest we forget the men, here is what is said by an interesting bulletin pube lished by the State of California Dee partment of Education in 1933: “In the history of ancient Greeks and | Romans we first learn of beauty cul- ture as a trade. Barber surgeons performed, for men, many of the serve ices of the present day beauty shop. Manicuring, trimming of the beards, and hair, shaving, removing super- fluous hair by use of depilatories, and removing warts, were the most pop- ular operations.” As in countless other instances, the wheel of custom only turned half way when women could frequent beauty shops. It has turned full cycle, the last year or so, now that beauty parlors have been established for men. It has a scheme to match a suit or hat. ‘The one pattern gives every stitch for each of five sizes—12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 years—so you won't be puzzled by increases and decreases. The pattern envelope contains complete, easy-to-understand directions, with diagrams to aid you; also what needles and what material and how much > ‘To obtain this pattern, send for No. 384 and inclose 15 cents in stamps or coin to cover service and postage. Address orders to the Needlework Editor of S