The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 28, 1896, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 1896. ° 19 WHAT )JOCTOR. SAYS THE ABOUT THOSE DOTTED VEILS Hurt the Eyes and Bring Premature Wrinkles Dropping In the other day for a chat vith my friend, the doctor, I found her stting at her desk gazing, with afrown letween her brows, at the door through vhich an outgoing patient bad just passed. ‘What is going to become of our w¥omen ?"” she asked by way of greeting. “Easily answered,” I replied, as I took a stethoscope from a chair and seated | myself. “They are going to vote. Ai'terl that—the deluge.” The doctor’s frown deepened. My levity was evidently ill timed. “If they’re not carerul,” she said, 'they will have neither eyes to read the baliotnorbrains to under- | stand its meaning.’ I understood then that the doctor wanted to taik, so I waited, and presently | she continued: “That woman wWho just went out is the eighth who bas come to me this week with practicslly the same set of symp- toms. She complained of feeling sleepy all the time, of a slight—very slight—dizzi- ness. As one of the eight expressed it, | which she at once began to talk was fu'l of interest for me. But alas for my pow- ers of attention. Just before one eye, as she gazed at me, appeared a large and wholly irrelevant ball of chenille, ke a sort of supernumerary pupil, from behind which the actual one peeped, giving my dignified friend such a wayward appear- ance that I fell to wondering the while she discoursei upon the highest humar rights whether if I tipped & wink at that dubious - looking, black - spot- ted eye its owner would not instantly reply: “Thanks; I don’t mind if [ do.” Entering a streetcar I noted a staid, el- | derly matron, upon thetip of whose nose appeared a particularly wicked little sprawl of threads, outlining a shamrock in the meshes of her veil. One did not need to be a memier of the A.P.A. to feel that the design was hideously unbe- coming and out of place. Beside her sat a pretty golden-haired girl, whose face was disfigured by an arrangement in purple, with white spots, and in the corner were ‘She wasn’t exactly dizzy, butsheseemed as | two middle-aged women wearing sailor if she would beif she made a quick move.’ hatsand veils, one white with huge black They sil bave something of this sensation and s/l complain of & peculiar headach ‘way back inside the head,’ and all have T with a tendency to tearfulness in th es. Every last one of them is de- veloping a tiny, yertical wrinkle just abtove the nose and a bunch of little fine ones at the corners of the eyes.” “It all sounds alarming,”’ I commented, seing something in that line was expected of me. ‘“How do you account for all these symptoms?’’ “By this,” and she reached across to where her bonnet lay upon a table and plucked therefrom a bit of net studded with occasional round, black dots. ‘“We're all wearing these things and they’re putting our eyes out.” “Why do you do it?” I repliea, full ot conscious rectitude, for my veilhad no dots. “Have to wear this. The girls do my shopping. I take what they bring me, for I've no time to do anything els But you have no such excuse.” “Oh, y as [ began to demur—*but that coarse mesh you have | fore your eyes is nearly as bad as lhe; The doctor was fairly launched now. “Has it ever occurred to you,” she | asked, *'to wonder why you meet so many more women than men who are wearing glasse: I murmured something about the well- known studious tendencies of the new woman, and the doctor lapsed into inele- | “Studious grandmothers!” she ed. *“It isn’t study; ’tis folly that es spectacles upon the noses of our If men covered their faces with black, or white, or red, green or blue net, eckled all over with dots, dancing in t of the eyes, they would soon be com- ing to the doctors with the same chain of symptoms these women describe. The dot need not be directly in front of the to do the mischief. In fact, it does ost less harm there than on the side the nose, for instance. Such an object, | visible, yet not directly within the range | of vision, is always a distracting object to | e sight. t only the eye on the side | here the dot is is strained in the | effort to see the thing, but the one on the | opposite side partakes of the effort. This | is a peculiarity growing out of the con- | wome! eye spots, the other black with big blobs of | white spattered here and there over its | surface. The effect was such as to make | both ladies appear decidedly rakish. Ia the course of the day I saw blue veils, red ones, gray, green, pink and yellow, | with dots of all shapes and sizes, from the | big, fluffy balls, nearly the size of my | thumb’s end, to the minute specks that gave the wearer an appearance of being ;dreadlully freckled. There were veils | with borders and veils without; veils com- | ing to the chin and veils making a wad beneath it, but in nearly every instance the wearer sported, a3 well as her veil, a troubled frown between her brows, and I | wondered if the doctor was rigut, after all, {in attributing feminine wrinkles to the | omnipresent veil. | But the veil, particularly in this cli- | mate and when our summer winds do blow, is an absolute essential to the street toilet of a woman who does not wish to look like the witch of Endor and scare the school children when she takes her walks abroad. Hair will blow and scraggle in the merry breeze, and comfort and tidi- ness alike demand the veil. Moreover, there are very few women to whom a veil is not becoming. Some of them even look well despite the dots. Every one of them looks weil wearing one of the numerous sorts of plain veils that are made for and worn by the sensible few. Plam; soft, dainty tulle, thin, delicate illusion make light, com- fortable veils that shede the eyes, keep the hair in order, do not interfere with | need of a cellar. vision and impart a pleasing softness to every complexion. Tulle, in fact, plain, inexpensive tulle, makes the most becom- ing of all veils. Itmay be as fine as one chooses, edged with lace and rendered a | thing of costliness ana fashion, but, un-| marred by the obnoxious, sight-destroying, mirth-provoking dots that make it ugly. | But wrinkles, wesk, red-rimmed eyes, dizzy heads, impaired brains! These are a terrible price to pay for the fashionable folly of a summer season. What if the doctor’s prediction should prove true, and the nes woman, when the ballot is placed in her hand, should find herseif without ey~2s to read it or brains to comprehend its meaning? PeNELOPE POWELSON. AM I DRESSED CONSPICUOUSLY? dodge that. The oldest child, Otto, aged 9 when his father died. could help some, but was not strong enough to accomplish much. Very well, then, the mother would dig the cellar herself. Seizing the pick and shovel and barrow she went at the | work with a will, and the dirt flew in such way that the neighbors from pity turned to admiration, and the talk of that part of the town began to be about ‘“‘plucky Mrs. Christy.” Attached to Mrs. Christy’s home is suffi- cient land*to make up a good-sized garden. It was necessary to haul ashes for leaching from the water works, and Mrs. Christy did this. When the soap was made there was no stinc in its use. Floors, windows and lintels were made to shine with the additional aid of “elbow grease’ stoutly and skillfully applied. During these enterprises Mrs. Christy put in much of her well-directed time working for others. She is laundress, housecleaner, cook or nurse, and good at all. She did not permit this land to lie idle, | an income which is fully utilized by her but dug it up, raked and hoed it over ‘with her own hands, planted seeds and raised her own vegetables, instead of buying thrift. She has n ot been satisfied to dwell amid unsightly surroundings. Some time ago she wanted her house painted. That These garious ofcupatiolis bring her There was no way to | could all be made at home, and Mrs. | was very low, but it was all that she could | Christy knew how to manufacture that | | necessary article. then afford to pay, for even with economy | the demands upon her purse were consid- erable considering her resources. The man started in on the hou se-painting job. At the end of the second day he took his | pay, Mrs. Chri: insisting upon paying | him daily, and went away not to return. | He assigned no reason. \ s left the house in a condition where Mrs. Christy was compelled to go ahead. She saw no reason why a woman should fall from a ladder. She had no idea that a woman’s muscles were incompetent or that her eye for colors was poor. More- over, she was aware that if she perscnally applied the paint it would be well rubbed into the wood. Perhaps it was just as James A. Maloney, commerclal traveler, ap- peared in Judge Conlan's court yesterday to answer the charge of battery preferred agafnst him by Alice Hendricks, who is employed in & candy-store on Kearny street. She is a pretty girl, 16 years of age, aud Monday evening, while walking along M=rke% street on her way to her home on Turk, Malbney accosted her and asked her to have dinaer with him. She walked on, when he fo'owed her, grabbed her by the arm and again asked herio dine with him. She notified Policeman Coleman and Maloney was arrested.—From THE CALL of. Friday, June 17. If strange men ever followed me or spoke to me on the street, instead of hunt- ing a policeman I would hunt a looking- glass and study myself to find the reason. Long ago, in my schooldays, when the snow was on the ground, the girls used to cluster near the door and as soon as they had thrown a bail with effect or washed some luckless urchin’s face they would run into the house, where the boys were not allowed to bring snow. If thegirl was caught out and had her face washed in re- turn she was very likely to take it amiss and tell on the boy. There is a parallel between this little re- miniscence and the stories of some of the women and girls of this City who cannot walk down a crowded street in a bright light without being followed and accosted. They, too, throw snow and run, and if they are followed they tell the teacher. Some of the glamor thrown over the girl world wears off during years of labor in that world. Girls are plain flesh and blood, with faults and vanities a-plenty. They are not angels here, nor shall be. This sacred mantle of womanhood is too oiten laid on and off like a suit of armor. Let a woman be ever so unwomanly, | flirt ever so desperately, use her eyes ever so promiscuously, invite remark ever so boldly, the instant some great, horrid man takes up the gauntlet she has thrown down she drapes herself in her mantle of helpless innocence, climbs up on her ped- estal and cries, ““I am a woman.”’ Of course she is a woman. None other would crawfish so. New woman? No, sir. That much criti- cized mortal isn’t in thisgame at all. She doesn’t devote her thoughts and her eyes wholly to the other sex. It is the- dainty bits of femininity who think it is horrible to want to vote, and who have no patience with the bold crea- tures who can speak from a platform. It is the tendrils of ivy that ask no other lot than to cling to some tall oak who are con- stantly finding themselves insulted. I have made a study of the women who tell me that men are insulting and not chivalrous, 1 shouldn’t wonder some- times. There are men and men; there are women and women and women; also, there are insults and insults. Perhayps I do not see them as plainly as I ought; certainly I never go about with a lantern searching for them. I know once an old white-headed man spoke to me as I waited for acar. He said my face took him back to the face of a dear friend, and would I wear the rose he of- fered me? I took the flower with a few as kind words as I ever speak and went my way. What was my astonishment to find out later that I had been insulted. Maybe 80, but I can bear up under it, though I much prefer to believe that my face did remind grandpa of one heneath the sod. ARE THE MEN OF SAN FRANCISCO RUDE TO WOMEN ? Is the Modish Woman Dressed Conspicuously ? peaceful bovine. From the expanse of her shoulders her waist slopes- in, to the en- tire exclusion of her liver—a liver is not good form nowadays; she either strides or tiptoes along, carrying on her dome of reason (?) a fluff of impossible crinkled hair, and perched on one side of it a mass of dead birds and feathers that might be taken for a taxidermist’s sign. Some male cynic dares to gaze at her in sneering wonder as to which extreme of society she belongs. Heis a rude starer and should be'given a barred window to stare through. Circus posters are put up to be stared at. Are respectable women never wantonly insulted ? They are. There are men whose very glance is pollution. The only way to purify them is by fire, and that 18 prohib- ited, at least in this world. They are of & feather with the females whose existence we ignore; and with eyes that see not we * may pass these male animals by. They have no smirk for the' woman who never knows they are near. An angry look is as much satisfaction to them as an answer- ing smile, but complete oblivion is a frost that kills them.” There is always the possibility of a little encounter with the youth tottering under a too heavy load of the rosy. He is too imbecile to be taken tragically. It one could only take him to a nice clean pig pen! There is a golden mean between a smile and a slap in the face or a police court. A few quiet words or a grave glance of pity’ does mcre than all the publicity and scan- | dal of an arrest. Something in the face and the airof a | girl or the lack of that something deter- mines the attitude of men and other ani- mals toward her. What it is I will not undertake to explain; it is an ineffable something that resides in the personality, ! not put on and off to suit the occasion. Thousands of bright, busy working-girls daily and nightly pass up and down our streets in perfect freedom and immunity from danger, while a few are “insulted’ time after time. Draw your inference. The men of San Francisco are civil. For such a motley company gathered from the corners of the earth they are more than civil. In the frequented streets a woman is just as safe as in the bosom of her family; in the darkness of the Super- visors’ intelligence she is at least as safe as her young brother; more so. I know whereof I write. At 18 a girl just out of school came alone to the big city and, with a lively curiosity and a rustic independence, showed herself the sights, stadying all sorts of queer places and people, knowing no chaperon but self-respect, no limit but her own judg- ment. Expecting neither worship nor persecue tion from men—in fact not considering them at all—she received what she ex- pected. Growing older, year after year she has traveled the streets of San Fran- cisco at seemly and unseemly hours with a face that never vet stopped a clock, and the first rudeness has yet to be offered. ‘When you want a helping-nand, a bit of information or a direction, to whom do you turn? The nearest man. And you get what you ask for. truction of the eyes. The probability is that man was once a one-eyed creature, and ‘the anatomical sympathy between the two eyes is still so perfect that they act together always. Thus, a blind eve. tnough it sees nothing, works just as hard in its vain effort to see as does- its pertect mate. It ‘looks’ just as constantly, even when shut, as the good eye, and needs rest at night just as much. The constant stramn upon eyes distracted and teased by such an object as an occasional doton a light veil is an active brain irritant, suffi- cient to produce marked mental effects. I might tell vou ti:e exact effect if I thought you would remember it, but it has grown so fashionable of late for physicians ‘to hurl big technical phrases at their pa- tient= that our pet terms are beginning to | yun off the chronic cases like water off a duck’s back. we women are hurting our brains and our eyes, and lining our faces with premature wrinkles by wearing dotted veils.” “Wrinkles” is alwaysa dread word in feminine ears,rand it remained in my mind as I went forth, haif-doubting, but determined to make a note of the veils worn by my sister women. It was hardly possible that these trifles light as air could be prod ve of such serious mischief. The first woman I met was veiled with a wonderful creation in delicate white illu- sion, edged with lace and dotted with a black pattern of the conventionalized fleur-de-lis, each design more than half an inch long, It was striking in_effect, but I felt sure I should not have noticed it but for the doctor’'s little lecturz. Curionsly enough there was the redoubt- able vertical wrinkle between her brows, and at the corriers of her eyes were faint crowsfeet. Palpably, the lady was squint- ing, and, eaually, it was apparent that the cause of her visual obliguity was a par- ticutarly fetching fleur-de-lis exactly upon the ridge of her nose, where both eyes could catch tantalizing half- glimpses of its beauty. A few mo- ments later I met a friend, full of enthusiasm over a new. movement for the elevation of the race. She was earnest, dignified, eloguent, and the subject upon It is the truth, though, that | | HOW | A TOLARE 'WOMAN OVERCAME | ' THE WOLF | Mrs. C. C. Christy of Tulare has blue s and strongly marked features which indicate courage and force. Four years ago ber husband aied, leaving her with six small children and little money. All | at once, therefore, the problem of how to | support a large family was thrust upon the widow. The young Christys had lusty appetites and a strongly marked propen- sity to wear out shoes and clothes, and in them also inhered the certainty of outgoes | for schoolbooks, for doctors’ bills and the | thousand and one miscellaneous expenses which aggregate a considerable annual total. old proverb, “have the spirit of conquerors within them.” Mrs. Christy did not bother with proverbial sayings of course, cal way. The skill which had enabled her to turn things to the best advantage {in ber family when Mr. Christy lived speedily was applied on broader lines. | There was some life insurance money { coming in, but not a very large amount, | from the policy, upon which her husband had paid premiums. Her first invest- ment, made after a lot of careful consider- ation, was in a home in a pleasant quarter of the town. Her new home was not palatial nor very pretentious, but it was comfortable and Mrs. Christy saw that it could be so improved that it would be also very attractive to the eye. There was a cellar to be dug. What money remained was not to be expended for paying for help. No, prudence { prompted that this should be reserved as far as possible, for a “rainy day” might come when ready money would be indis- “‘They who face battle bravely,’” says an 1 but immediately went to work in a practi- | this article. What she has put her hanas to has been done with all her might. in one enterprise has made her successful looks but also it is very productive. Thrift and economy suggested that soap them from the Chinese peddlers, as so| was something new for her to attempt, many others do. The prophetic poet who | and she turned over the problem in her told about “tickling the soil with a hoe,” | mind as to how she could get the work | that the land might *laugh into harvest,”’ | done at least cost. could not have imagined any one better | that she would buy the paint and hire calculated to wield the boe faithfully than | some one who was out of work to put the the brave lady who 1s the subject of | paint on the sides of the house. She finally decided It will probably please and amuse the The | disciples of the “new woman,” relf-reliant thoroughness which has characterized her | and competent, to learn that Mrs, Christy, driven by the force of circnmstances, dem- man who applied for employment to do the painting. The price she offered him well, she reflected, that she should do the | work. Anyhow there was no other way | out of the dilemma. Mrs. Cnristy put on | old clothes and wpt for that house in | dead earnest. She applied more than one | color, for pleasing effects, and then stood | off and admired the contrast. When she | had finished the job and the ladder was put away she had the proud distinction of | being the only woman in Tulare who had furnished ocular demonstration that she in all. Her garden patch is not only | onstrated that a woman of the present can actually paint a house from top to pleasing to the eye because of its thrifty | day can do this sort of work. She hired a bottom, inciuding the roof and tankhouse, | Her children are bright, well dressed and well behaved. pensable. But there was the pressing MRS. C. C. CHRISTY. THE PLUCKY TULARE WOMAN, AND HER HOME. 1 I always bow to him as we pass, and he raises his hat with a grace some much younger men would do well to cultivate. There is a young matron who, like my- self, is often compelled to be on the street late, sometimes to cross the bay at mid- night. I aske¢ her one day if she had found the men of San Francisco rude. “No,” she said, “I have always gone on | my way unmolested. but only yesterday Mrs. X. and her sister complained to me that they are shadowed every time they go out together in the evening. Don’{ you think tbey 1magine some of it?"” Knowing Mrs. X. and her sister Lopined that it might be true and yet be no evi- dence of rudeness in the men. “Once something happened that dis- turbed me,”” went on the voung matron. “It was in Oakland one night; a very tall negro smiled familiarly and raised his hat.”” I laughed as 1 pictured Major Waters going from a successful cake-walk, full of the milk-punch of human kindness, scat- tering smiles and bows like blessings right and left. When I explained, the young matron laughed too. *“I am so glad you told me. I was afraid I had somehow made myself conspicuous.” Conspicuous. That is the key to half of it. if we make it the study of life to look striking how can we hope to escape com- ment? Given a cause, an effect must follow. I know by sight a girl. I call her the black and yellow girl. I pick her outin a crowd, meet her on this side of the bay and the other, in the center and in the suburbs, and I never mistake her. She may be a good, modest girl. If she isshe should sue her clothes tor libel. There is one “woman’s right” thatis not yet taken advantage of by the masses, though it is conceded even by the Demo- crats—the right to dress quietly, modestly, naturally. A woman is going down the street in a dark dress with vivid plaid sleeves, which make by far a larger hole in the atmos- phere than the person herself, and which would drive into frenzy any naturally I bave been answered tersely, even | gruffly. Well! Before I accost a woman I must take her measure—classify her. The stately, well-dressed lady of quality may distrust me. The equally well- dressea hanging-on-to-the-edge-of-society person is likely to snud me. The keen- eyed woman with a purpose in life will answer me with the same business man- ner she has for men. The kindly middle- class woman has a sweet, motherly way that is oh, so comfortable. I'll ask her first. ‘Women are being slowly educated up to the fact that they are simply human beings walking among other human beings called men, meeting the same dangers, pro- tected by the same laws, subject to the same conditions. That there are those who rail at the advanced woman and cling to the days when “‘She trembled and burst into tears as his eyes fell upon her” proves that we still need teaching. It all reminds me of a paragraph in the funny column. Two south-of-Markets were gazing at a bloomer girl, one of the dashing kind. The first one cried, *‘Get onto de bloomers, Jimmy; ain’t dey loud enough to make a feller deef?” “Aw, go on!’’ answered the other, “'Taint de bloomers, it's de gal.” OriveE HEYDEN. A COUPLE OF SUMMER. JOKELETS, The man with the vegetable wagon stood on the front step. “Want an ything in my line?”’ he asked. “No,” was the reply. ‘*‘De lady of de house says she don’t want no mo’ dealin’s wif you.” “Why?” *‘She says yer 1s too Inharmonious; dat yoh strawberries ain’t fresh 'nuff, an’ yoh is altogeddah to o fresh.”—Washington Star. He prided himself on speaking twelve tongues ; He could trace to its root any word you might name; But he read, twice through, a baseball report, And then couldn’t tell what they did in the game! —Chicago Record,