Our Behaviour/Part 4/Chapter 1

IT is the duty of every woman to make herself as every man to render himself pleasing in appearance. This duty of looking well is one we owe not only to ourselves, but to others also. We owe it to ourselves because others estimate us very naturally and very rightly by our outward appearance, and we owe it to others because we have no right to put our friends to the blush by untidiness or uncouthness.

If a gentleman requests the pleasure of a lady's company to the opera, she has no right to turn that expected pleasure into a pain and mortification by presenting herself with tumbled hair, ill-chosen dress, badly-fitting gloves and an atmosphere of cheap and offensive perfumes. So, again, if the gentleman comes to fulfill his appointment with ​shaggy hair and beard, tumbled clothes, soiled linen and an odor of stale tobacco, she may well resent such an appearance as an insult.

Duty, therefore, has even more to do with attention to the toilette than vanity. We are bound to turn our personal attractions to the very best account, and to preserve every agreeable quality we may have been endowed with to the latest period of our respective lives.

No lady or gentleman ever neglects the minor details of the toilette. Upon these depend, in a great degree, the health, not to say the beauty, of the individual. In fact, the highest state of health is equivalent to the greatest degree of beauty of which the individual is capable. It is a false taste which looks upon a fragile form and a pale and delicate complexion as requisites for beauty. The strength and buoyancy and vigor of youth, the full and rounded curves of form and features, the clear complexion, fair in the blonde and rich and brilliant in the brunette, tinted with the rosy flush of health,—these constitute the true beauty which all should seek, and to which all with proper care can at least partially attain.

The first necessity in properly performing the duties of the toilette is to have a regularly-appointed ​dressing-room. This room, of course, in many instances, is a bedroom as well; but that need in no way interfere with its general arrangements.

The walls should be decorated with a light-colored paper, with window-curtains and furniture covers all in harmony. A few choice prints or water-color drawings may be hung on the walls, and one or two ornaments may occupy a place on the mantel; but it should be borne in mind that the room is to be used exclusively for dressing and the toilette, so that everything interfering with these offices in any way should be studiously avoided.

The furniture of a lady's dressing-room should consist of a low dressing-bureau, a washstand, an easy-chair, placed in front of the dressing-bureau, one or two other chairs, a sofa or couch if the space admits, and a large wardrobe if there are insufficient closet conveniences.

On the dressing-bureau should be placed the lady's dressing-case, her jewel-box, ring-stand, pin-cushion and hairpin-cushion. This latter is very convenient, and is made in the following way: It may be round or square, the sides of wood or card-board, loosely stuffed with fine horsehair and covered with plain knitting, worked in single Berlin wool with fine needles. This cover offers no impediment to the hairpins, which are much better preserved in this way than by being left about in an untidy fashion. ​In addition, there should be a tray with various kinds of combs, frizettes and bottles of perfumes. There should be neither bottles of strong perfumery, such as musk or patchouli, nor hair-dye nor cosmetics, neither pots of hair-oil nor powder-puff nor rouge. A bottle of pure sweet oil, marrow or bear's grease may be tolerated, to be used on very rare occasions hereafter to be described.

The washstand should be furnished with a large bowl and pitcher, soap-tray, small pitcher and tumbler, china tray containing two tooth-brushes and nail-brushes, sponge-basin, holding two sponges (large and small), and a bottle of ammonia.

On the right of the washstand should be the towel-rack, on which should be found one fine and two coarse towels and two more very coarse huckaback or Turkish towels. Beneath the washstand should be placed the foot-bath.

On the wall should be hooks and pegs at convenient distances, from which may be suspended sacques, dressing-gowns, dresses about to be worn, or any other article of general or immediate use.

The various articles of a lady's apparel—dresses, skirts, crinolines, etc.—should be hung neatly away in the closet or wardrobe. The underclothing should be folded and placed in an orderly manner in the drawers of the dressing-bureau. The finer dresses are kept in better order if folded smoothly and laid on shelves instead of being hung up.

The appointments of a gentleman's dressing-room are similar in most respects to those of the lady's dressing-room, the differences being in trifling matters.

A gentleman's wardrobe need not be so large as a lady's, but it should be well supplied with drawers to contain pantaloons and vests neatly folded. Indeed, no gentleman who wishes to make a tidy appearance will ever hang up these articles.

The pegs and hooks in a gentleman's dressing-room are for the convenience of articles of a gentleman's toilet corresponding with those occupying the same place in the lady's room.

A gentleman's dressing-bureau should contain the articles used in a gentleman's toilet—razors, shaving-brush, shaving-soap and a small tin pot for hot water, together with packages of paper, on which to wipe razors. Cheap razors are a mistake, as they soon lose their edge. A good razor requires no strop. It has been suggested as an excellent plan to have a case of seven razors—one for each day in the week—so that they are all equally used.

A boot-stand, on which all the boots and shoes should be arranged in regular order, with boot-jacks and boot-hooks, is a necessary adjunct to the gentleman's dressing-room.

A couple of hair gloves, with a flesh-brush, may be added to the toilet appurtenances.

In most of our city houses there is a separate bath-room with hot and cold water, but country houses have not always this convenience. A substitute for the bath-room is a large piece of oilcloth, which can be laid upon the floor of the ordinary dressing-room. Upon this may be placed the bath-tub or basin.

There are various kinds of baths, both hot and cold—the shower-bath, the douche, the hip-bath and the sponge-bath.

Only the most vigorous constitutions can endure the shower-bath, therefore it cannot be recommended for indiscriminate use.

A douche or hip-bath may be taken every morning, winter and summer, with the temperature of the water suited to the endurance of the individual. In summer a second or sponge-bath may be taken on retiring.

We do not bathe to make ourselves clean, but to keep clean, and for the sake of its health-giving and invigorating effects. Once a week a warm bath, at about 100°, may be used, with plenty of soap, in order to thoroughly cleanse the pores of the skin.

After these baths the rough towels should be vigorously used, not only to help remove the impurities of the skin, but for the beneficial friction which will send a glow over the whole body. The ​hair glove or flesh-brush may be used to advantage in the bath before the towel is applied.

Before stepping into the bath the head should be wet with cold water, and in the bath the pit of the stomach should first be sponged.

There is no danger to most people from taking a bath in a state of ordinary perspiration. But one should by all means avoid it if he is overheated or fatigued.

Next in importance to the water-bath is the air-bath. Nothing is so conducive to health as an exposure of the body to air and sun. A French physician has recommended the sun-bath as a desirable hygienic practice. It is well, therefore, to remain without clothing for some little time after bathing, performing such duties of the toilet as can be done in that condition.

The next thing to be done is to clean the teeth. Besides this daily morning cleaning, the teeth should be carefully brushed with a soft brush after each meal, and also on retiring at night. Use the brush so that not only the outside of the teeth is white, but the inside also. After the brush is used plunge it two or three times into a glass of fresh water, then rub it quite dry on a towel.

Use no tooth-washes nor powders whatever. There may be some harmless ones, but it is impossi​ble for a person of ordinary knowledge to discriminate between them, and that which seems to be rendering the teeth beautifully white may soon destroy the enamel which covers them. Castile soap used once a day, with frequent brushings with pure water and a soft brush, cannot fail to keep the teeth clean and white, unless they are disfigured and destroyed by other bad habits, such as the use of tobacco or too hot or too cold drinks.

On the slightest appearance of decay or a tendency to accumulate tartar, go at once to a dentist. If a dark spot appearing under the enamel is neglected, it will eat in until the tooth is eventually destroyed. A dentist seeing the tooth in its first stage will remove the decayed part and plug the cavity in a proper manner.

Tartar is not so easily dealt with, but it requires equally early attention. It results from an impaired state of the general health, and assumes the form of a yellowish concretion on the teeth and gums. At first it is possible to keep it down by a repeated and vigorous use of the tooth-brush; but if a firm, solid mass accumulates, it is necessary to have it chipped off by a dentist. Unfortunately, too, by that time it will probably have begun to loosen and destroy the teeth on which it fixes, and is pretty certain to have produced one obnoxious effect—that of tainting the breath.

Washing the teeth with vinegar when the brush ​is used has been recommended as a means of removing tartar.

About toothache it is only necessary to point out that it results from various causes, and that therefore it is impossible to give any general remedy for it. It may be occasioned by decay, by inflammation of the membrane covering the root, or the pain may be neuralgic, or there may be other causes.

Relief in cases of decay may sometimes be obtained by thrusting into the cavity with a needle a little cotton-wool saturated with creosote or oil of cloves.

When there is inflammation, relief is often gained by applying camphorated chloroform, to be procured at the druggist's. This has often succeeded when laudanum and similar applications have entirely failed.

Tenderness of the gums, to which some persons are subject, may sometimes be met by the use of salt and water, but it is well to rinse the mouth frequently with water with a few drops of tincture of myrrh in it.

It may be added that foul breath, unless caused by neglected teeth, indicates a deranged state of the system. When it is occasioned by the teeth or other local cause, use a gargle consisting of a spoonful of solution of chloride of lime in half a tumbler of water. Gentlemen smoking, and thus tainting the breath, may be glad to know that the common parsley has a peculiar effect in removing the odor of tobacco.

Beauty and health of the skin can only be obtained by perfect cleanliness and an avoidance of all cosmetics, added to proper diet and correct habits.

Our somewhat remote maternal ancestors were very chary in the use of water lest it should injure the complexion. So they delicately wiped their faces with the corner of a towel wet in elder-flower water or rose-water. Or in springtime they tripped out to the meadows while the dew still lay upon the grass, and saturating their kerchiefs in May dew refreshed their cheeks and went home contented that a conscientious duty had been performed. And so it was, though a different duty than the one they congratulated themselves upon. The May dew did them no harm at least, and they had been beguiled by a stratagem into early rising.

The skin must be frequently and thoroughly washed, occasionally with warm water and soap, to remove the oily exudations upon its surface. If any unpleasant sensations are experienced after the use of soap, they may be immediately removed by rinsing the surface with water to which a little lemon-juice or vinegar has been added.

It is not necessary here to speak of various cutaneous eruptions. The treatment of these belongs properly to a physician. They are usually the result of a bad state of the blood or general derangement of ​the system, and cannot be cured by any merely external application.

The following rules may be given for the preservation of the complexion: Rise early and go to bed early. Take plenty of exercise. Use plenty of cold water, and good soap frequently. Be moderate in eating and drinking. Do not lace. Avoid as much as possible the vitiated atmosphere of crowded assemblies. Shun cosmetics and washes for the skin. The latter dry the skin, and only defeat the end they are supposed to have in view.

Moles are frequently a great disfigurement to the face, but they should not be tampered with in any way. The only safe and certain mode of getting rid of moles is by a surgical operation.

Freckles are of two kinds. Those occasioned by exposure to the sunshine, and consequently evanescent, are denominated "summer freckles;" those which are constitutional and permanent are called "cold freckles."

With regard to the latter, it is impossible to give any advice which will be of value. They result from causes not to be affected by mere external applications. Summer freckles are not so difficult to deal with, and with a little care the skin may be kept free from this cause of disfigurement.

Some skins are so delicate that they become freckled on the slightest exposure in the open air of summer. The cause assigned for this is that the iron in the blood, forming a junction with the oxygen, ​leaves a rusty mark where the junction takes place. We give in their appropriate place some recipes for removing these latter freckles from the face.

There are various other discolorations of the skin, proceeding frequently from derangement of the system. The cause should always be discovered before attempting a remedy, otherwise you may aggravate the complaint rather than cure it.

Beautiful eyes are the gift of Nature, and can owe little to the toilet. As in the eye consists much of the expression of the face, therefore it should be borne in mind that those who would have their eyes bear a pleasing expression must cultivate pleasing traits of character and beautify the soul, and then this beautiful soul will look through its natural windows.

Never tamper with the eyes. There is danger of destroying them. All daubing or dyeing of the lids is foolish and vulgar.

Short-sightedness is not always a natural defect. It may be acquired by bad habits in youth. A shortsighted person should supply himself with glasses exactly adapted to his wants; but it is well not to use these glasses too constantly, as, even when they perfectly fit the eye, they really tend to shorten the sight. Unless one is very short-sighted, it is best to keep the glasses for occasional use, and trust ordinarily to the unaided eye. Parents and teachers ​should watch children and see that they do not acquire the habit of holding their books too close to their eyes, and thus injure their sight.

Parents should also be careful that their children do not become squint- or cross-eyed through any carelessness. A child's hair hanging down loosely over its eyes, or a bonnet projecting too far over them, or a loose ribbon or tape fluttering over the forehead, is sometimes sufficient to direct the sight irregularly until it becomes permanently crossed.

A beautiful eyelash is an important adjunct to the eye. The lashes may be lengthened by trimming them occasionally in childhood. Care should be taken that this trimming is done neatly and evenly, and especially that the points of the scissors do not penetrate the eye.

The eyebrows may be brushed carefully in the direction which they should lie, and when the hair is oiled, which should be but seldom, they may be oiled also.

In general, it is in exceeding bad taste to dye either lashes or brows, for it usually brings them into inharmony with the hair and features. There are cases, however, when the beauty of an otherwise fine countenance is utterly ruined by white lashes and brows. In such cases one can hardly be blamed if india ink is resorted to to give them the desired color.

Never shave the brows. It adds to their beauty ​in no way, and may result in an irregular growth of new hair.

The utmost care should be taken of the eyes. They should never be strained in an imperfect light, whether that of shrouded daylight, twilight or flickering lamp- or candle-light.

Many persons have an idea that a habitually dark room is best for the eyes. On the contrary, it weakens them and renders them permanently unable to bear the light of the sun. Our eyes were naturally designed to endure the broad light of day, and the nearer we approach to this in our houses, the stronger will be our eyes and the longer will we retain our sight.

The writer of this book recalls a person whose eyes were failing him, until he thought himself threatened with blindness, and in consequence he avoided the light as much as possible. He consulted one of the most eminent oculists in the country, who told him, among other things, to avoid dark rooms and accustom his eyes as much as possible to full daylight. He followed these directions, and his sight immediately improved.

Some persons have the eyebrows meeting over the nose. This is usually considered a disfigurement, but there is no remedy for it. It may be a consolation for such people to know that the ancients admired this style of eyebrows, and that Michael Angelo possessed it. Tennyson speaks of his friend Hallam thus:

It is useless to pluck out the uniting hairs; and if a depilatory is applied, a mark like that of a scar left from a burn remains, and is more disfiguring than the hair.

If the lids of the eyes become inflamed and scaly, do not seek to remove the scales roughly, for they will bring the lashes with them. Apply at night a little cold cream to the edges of the closed lids, and wash them in the morning with lukewarm milk and water.

It is well to have on the toilet-table a remedy for inflamed eyes. Spermaceti ointment is simple and well adapted to this purpose. Apply at night, and wash off with rose-water in the morning. There is a simple lotion made by dissolving a very small piece of alum and a piece of lump-sugar of the same size in a quart of water; put the ingredients into the water cold and let them simmer. Bathe the eyes. frequently with it.

Sties in the eye are irritating and disfiguring. Foment with warm water; at night apply a bread-and-milk poultice. When a white head forms, prick it with a fine needle. Should the inflammation be obstinate, a little citrine ointment may be applied, care being taken that it does not get into the eye.

There is nothing that so adds to the charm of an ​individual as a good head of hair. The complexion and the features may be perfect, but if the hair is thin and harsh they all pass for little. On the other hand, magnificent locks will atone for other deficiencies.

The skin of the head requires even more tenderness and cleanliness than any other portion of the body, and is capable of being irritated by disease. Formerly, the use of a fine-tooth comb was considered essential to the proper care of the hair, but in general, to the careful brusher, the fine comb is not necessary.

We repeat, the hair should be brushed carefully. The brush should be of moderate hardness, not too hard. The hair should be separated, in order that the head itself may be well brushed, as by doing so the scurf is removed, and that is most essential, as not only is it unpleasant and unsightly, but if suffered to remain it becomes saturated with perspiration and tends to weaken the roots of the hair, causing it in time to fall off.

The hair should be brushed for at least twenty minutes in the morning, for ten minutes when it is dressed in the middle of the day, and for a like period at night. In brushing or combing it begin at the extreme points, and in combing hold the portion of hair just above that through which the comb is passing firmly between the first and second fingers, so that if it is entangled it may drag from that point, and not from the roots. The finest head ​of hair may be spoiled by the practice of plunging the comb into it high up and dragging it in a reckless manner. Short, loose, broken hairs are thus created, and become very troublesome.

Do not plaster the hair with oil or pomatum. A white, concrete oil pertains naturally to the covering of the human head, but some persons have it in more abundance than others. Those whose hair is glossy and shining need nothing to render it so; but when the hair is harsh, poor and dry, artificial lubrication is necessary. Persons who perspire freely or who accumulate scurf rapidly require it also.

Nothing is simpler or better in the way of oil than pure, unscented salad oil, and in the way of a pomatum bear's grease is as pleasant as anything. Apply either with the hands or keep a soft brush for the purpose, but take care not to use the oil too freely. An over-oiled head of hair is vulgar and offensive. So are scents of any kind in the oil applied to the hair. It is well also to keep a piece of flannel with which to rub the hair at night after brushing it, in order to remove the oil before laying the head upon the pillow.

Vinegar and water form a good wash for the roots of the hair. Ammonia diluted with water is still better.

The hair-brush should also be frequently washed in diluted ammonia.

For removing scurf glycerine diluted with a lit​tle rose-water will be found of service. Any preparation of rosemary forms an agreeable and highly cleansing wash.

The yolk of an egg beaten up in warm water is an excellent application to the scalp.

Many heads of hair require nothing more in the way of wash than soap and water.

Beware of letting the hair grow too long, as the points are apt to weaken and split. It is well to have the ends clipped off once a month.

The style of modern coiffure is so perpetually changing with every breath of fashion that it is useless to say much about it in these pages. It may be well to hint that when fashion ordains extravagance in style of wearing the hair or in the abundance of false locks, the lady of refinement will follow her mandates only at a distance, and will supplement the locks with which Nature has provided her only so far as is absolutely required to prevent her presenting a singular appearance.

Young girls should wear their hair cut short until they are grown up if they would have it then in its best condition.

Do not by any means use any dyes or advertised nostrums to preserve or change the color of the hair, or to prevent it from falling out or to curl it. They are one and all objectionable, containing more or less poison, some of them even sowing the germs of paralysis or of blindness.

A serious objection to dyeing the hair is that it is ​almost impossible to give the hair a tint which harmonizes with the complexion.

If the hair begins to change early and the color goes in patches, procure from the druggist's a preparation of the husk of the walnut water or eau crayon. This will by daily application darken the tint of the hair without actually dyeing it. When the change of color has gone on to any great extent, it is better to abandon the application and put up with the change, which, in nine cases out of ten, will be in accordance with the change in the face. Indeed, there is nothing more beautiful than soft white hair worn in plain bands or clustering curls about the face.

The walnut-water may be used for toning down too red hair.

Gentlemen are more liable to baldness than ladies, owing, no doubt, to the use of the close hat, which confines and overheats the head. It may be considered, perhaps, as a sort of punishment for disregarding one of the most imperative rules of politeness, to always remove the hat in the presence of ladies, the observance of which would keep the head cool and well aired.

If the hair is found to be falling out, the first thing to do is to look to the hat and see that it is light and thoroughly ventilated. There is no greater enemy to the hair than the silk dress-hat. The single eyelet-hole through the top does not secure sufficient circulation of air for the health of the head. It is ​best to lay this hat aside altogether and adopt a light straw in its place.

It would, no doubt, be to the advantage of men if they would take to going out in the open air bareheaded. Women think nothing of stepping out of doors with head uncovered, men scarcely ever do it. We are of opinion that if the health of the brain and hair is to be paramount we should learn to consider hats and bonnets, and especially hats, as worn merely as hostages to the proprieties, and not at all as necessities, while we should seek to do without them on every possible occasion, in doors and out.

It is conceded that artists and musicians may wear their hair long if they choose, but it is imperative upon all other gentlemen to cut their hair short. Long hair on a man not of the privileged class above named will indicate him to the observer as a person of unbalanced mind and unpleasantly erratic character—a man, in brief, who seeks to impress others with the fact that he is eccentric, something which a really eccentric person never attempts.

Those who shave should be careful to do so every morning. Nothing looks worse than a stubbly beard. Some persons whose beards are strong should shave twice a day, especially if they are going to a party in the evening.

The style of hair on the face should be governed ​by the character of the face. Some people wear the full beard, not shaving at all; others long Cardigan. whiskers; some moustache and whiskers or muttonchop whiskers, or the long, flowing moustache and imperial of Victor Emmanuel, or the spiky moustache of the late emperor of the French. But whatever the style be, the great point is to keep it well brushed and trimmed and to avoid any appearance of wildness or inattention. The full, flowing beard of course requires more looking after, in the way of cleanliness, than any other. It should be thoroughly washed and brushed at least twice a day, as dust is sure to accumulate in it, and it is very easy to suffer it to become objectionable to one's self as well as to others. If it is naturally glossy, it is better to avoid the use of oil or pomatum.

The moustache should be worn neatly and not over-large.

In conclusion, our advice to those who shave is like Punch's advice to those about to marry: "Don't!" There is nothing that so adds to native manliness as the full beard if carefully and neatly kept. Nature certainly knows best; and no man need be ashamed of showing his manhood in the hair of his face.

The person who invented razors libeled nature and added a fresh misery to the days of man. "Ah," said Diogenes, who would never consent to be shaved, "would you insinuate that Nature had done better to make you a woman than a man?" We ​forgive the covert sneer at womanhood in consideration of the defence of the beard which it implies.

A beautiful hand is long and slender, with tapering fingers and pink, filbert-shaped nails. The hand, to be in proper proportion to the rest of the body, should be as long as from the point of the chin to the edge of the hair on the forehead.

The hands should be kept scrupulously clean, and therefore should be very frequently washed—not merely rinsed in soap and water, but thoroughly lathered, and scrubbed with a soft nail-brush. In cold weather the use of lukewarm water is unobjectionable, after which the hands should be dipped into cold water and very carefully dried on a fine towel.

Be careful always to dry the hands thoroughly, and rub them briskly for some time afterward. When this is not sufficiently attended to in cold weather, the hands chap and crack. When this occurs, rub a few drops of honey over them when dry, or anoint them with cold cream or glycerine before going to bed.

As cold weather is the usual cause of chapped hands, so the winter season brings with it a cure for them. A thorough washing in snow and soap will cure the worst case of chapped hands and leave them beautifully soft.

Should you wish to make your hands white and ​delicate, you might wash them in white milk and water for a day or two. On retiring to rest rub them well over with some palm oil and put on a pair of woolen gloves. The hands should be thoroughly washed with hot water and soap the next morning, and a pair of soft leather gloves worn during the day. They should frequently be rubbed together to promote circulation.

Sunburnt hands may be washed in lime-water or lemon-juice.

Warts, which are more common with young people than with adults, are very unsightly, and are sometimes very difficult to get rid of. The best plan is to buy a small stick of lunar caustic, which is sold in a holder and case at the druggist's for the purpose, dip it in water, and touch the wart every morning and evening, care being taken to cut away the withered skin before repeating the operation. A still better plan is to apply acetic acid gently once a day with a camel's-hair pencil to the summit of the wart. Care should be taken not to allow this acid to touch the surrounding skin; to prevent this the finger or hand at the base of the wart may be covered with wax during the operation.

Nothing is so repulsive as to see a lady or gentleman, however well dressed they may otherwise be, with nails in any degree shady, so that you are tempted to exclaim, in the language of the nursery poet,

​It always results from carelessness and inattention to the minor details of the toilet, which is most reprehensible.

The nails should be cut about once a week—certainly not oftener. This should be accomplished just after washing, the nail being softer at such a time. Care should be taken not to cut them too short, though, if they are left too long, they will frequently get torn and broken. They should be nicely rounded at the corners. Recollect, the filbert-shaped nail is considered the most beautiful.

Never bite the nails; it not only is a most disagreeable habit, but tends to make the nails jagged, deformed and difficult to clean, besides giving a red and stumpy appearance to the finger-tips.

Some people are troubled by the cuticle adhering to the nail as it grows. This may be pressed down with the towel after washing; or should that not prove efficacious, it must be loosened round the edge with some blunt instrument.

On no account scrape the nails with a view to polishing their surface. Such an operation only tends to make them wrinkled.

Absolute smallness of a hand is not essential to beauty, which requires that the proper proportions should be observed in the human figure. Many a young girl remains idle for fear her hand will grow larger by work. The folly of this idea is only equaled by that of the Chinese woman who bandages the feet of her daughter and does not permit her to ​walk lest her feet should grow to the size Nature intended them. What are our hands made for if not for work? And that hand which does the most work in the world is the hand most to be honored and to be admired. The hand which remains small through inaction is not only not beautiful, but to be despised.

With proper care the hand may be retained beautiful, soft and shapely, and yet perform its fair share of labor. The hands should always be protected by gloves when engaged in work calculated to injure them. Gloves are imperatively required for gardenwork. The hands should always be washed carefully and dried thoroughly after such labor. If they are roughened by soap, rinse them in a little vinegar or lemon-juice, and they will become soft and smooth at once.

People afflicted with moist hands should revolutionize their habits, take more out-door exercise and more frequent baths. They should adopt a nutritious but not over-stimulating diet, and perhaps take a tonic of some sort. Local applications of starch-powder and the juice of lemon may be used to advantage.

If one would see a representation of a perfectly-formed foot, let him turn to the pictures of Guido and Murillo, who probably had for models the shapely feet of Italian and Spanish peasants, which never had known the bondage of a shoe.

​If a modern artist succeeds in painting a perfect foot, it must be looked upon as the result of inspiration, for surely he can find no models among the shoe-tortured, pinched and deformed feet of the men and women of the present day.

The writer of this book not long since had an opportunity to examine the feet of a modern fashionable lady—feet which, encased in their dainty gaiters, were as long and narrow and as handsomely shaped as the most fastidious taste could require. But what a sight the bare foot presented! In its hideous deformity there was scarcely a trace of its original natural shape. The forward portion of the foot was squeezed and narrowed, the toes were pressed together and moulded into the shape of the narrow shoe. The ends of the toes, with the nails, were turned down; the big toe, instead of standing a little apart from the others, was bent over toward them, and its outline formed one side of a triangle, of which the little toe and the ends of the intermediate toes were the second side, and the end of the big toe the junction of the two sides. In addition to this, the toes and the ball of the big toe were covered with corns and calluses.

This deformity and disease, existing, no doubt, in many a foot, we are called upon to regard as beauty when hidden in its encasing shoe!

A well-formed foot is broad at the sole, the toes well spread, each separate toe perfect and rounded in form. The nails are regular and perfect in shape ​as those of the fingers. The second toe projects a little beyond the others, and the first or big toe stands slightly apart from the rest and is slightly lifted, as we see in Murillo's beautiful picture of the infant St. John.

A perfectly-shaped foot can hardly be hoped for in these days, when children's feet are encased in shoes from earliest infancy and Nature is not allowed to have 'her way at all. In those country places where children are allowed to run barefoot during the summer there is still some trace of beauty left; and instead of its being regarded as a misfortune to be thus deprived of feet-covering, it should be esteemed an advantage.

The feet, from the circumstance of their being so much confined by boots and shoes, require more care in washing than the rest of the body. Yet they do not always get this care. "How is it," asked a French lady, "that we are always washing our hands, while we never wash our feet?" We trust this statement of the case is not quite true, though we fear that with some individuals it somewhat approaches it. The hands receive frequent washings every day. Once a week is quite as often as many people bestow the same attention upon their feet.

"How dirty your hands are!" exclaimed an astonished acquaintance to Lady Montague, whom she met in public with hands most decidedly unwashed.

​"Ah!" replied that lady, in a tone of the utmost unconcern; "what would you say if you saw my feet?"

And what would we say if we saw many people's feet? That they needed washing, certainly. A tepid bath, at about 80° or 90°, should be used. The feet may remain in the water about five minutes, and the instant they are taken out they should be rapidly and thoroughly dried by being well rubbed with a coarse towel. Sometimes bran is used in the water.

Few things are more invigorating and refreshing after a long walk or getting wet in the feet than a tepid foot-bath, clean stockings and a pair of easy shoes.

After the bath is the time for paring the toenails, as they are so much softer and more pliant after having been immersed in warm water.

Some people are troubled with moist or damp feet. This complaint arises more particularly during the hot weather in summer-time, and the greatest care and cleanliness should be exercised in respect to it. Persons so afflicted should wash their feet twice a day in soap and warm water, after which they should put on clean socks. Should this fail to effect a cure, they may, after being washed as above, be rinsed, and then thoroughly rubbed with a mixture consisting of half a pint of warm water and three tablespoonfuls of concentrated solution of chloride of soda.

​People who walk much are frequently afflicted with blisters, and many are the plans adopted for their prevention. Some soap their socks, some pour spirits in their shoes, others rub their feet with glycerine. The great point, however, is to have easy, well-fitting boots and woolen socks. Should blisters occur, a very good plan is to pass a large darning-needle threaded with worsted through the blister lengthwise, leaving an inch or so of the thread outside at each end. This keeps the scurf-skin close to the true skin, and prevents any grit or dirt entering. The thread absorbs the matter, and the old skin remains till the new one grows. A blister should not be punctured save in this manner, as it may degenerate into a sore and become very troublesome.

To avoid chilblains on the feet it is necessary to observe three rules: 1. Avoid getting the feet wet; if they become so, change the shoes and stockings at once. 2. Wear lamb's wool socks or stockings. 3. Never under any circumstances "toast your toes" before the fire, especially if you are very cold. Frequent bathing of the feet in a strong solution of alum is useful in preventing the coming of chilblains.

On the first indication of any redness of the toes and sensation of itching it would be well to rub them, carefully with warm spirits of rosemary, to which a little turpentine has been added. Then a piece of lint soaked in camphorated spirits, opodel​doc or camphor liniment may be applied and retained on the part.

Should the chilblain break, dress it twice daily with a plaster of equal parts of lard and beeswax, with half the quantity in weight of oil of turpentine.

The toe-nails do not grow so fast as the fingernails, but they should be looked after and trimmed at least once a fortnight. They are much more subject to irregularity of growth than the finger-nails, owing to their confined position. If the nails show a tendency to grow in at the sides, the feet should be bathed in hot water, pieces of lint be introduced beneath the parts with an inward tendency, and the nail itself scraped longitudinally.

Pare the toe-nails squarer than those of the fingers. Keep them a moderate length—long enough to protect the toe, but not so long as to cut holes in the stockings. Always cut the nails; never tear them, as is too frequently the practice. Be careful not to destroy the spongy substance below the nails, as that is the great guard to prevent them going into the quick.

It is tolerably safe to say that those who wear loose, easy-fitting shoes and boots will never be troubled with corns. Some people are more liable to corns than others, and some will persist in the use of tightly-fitting shoes in spite of corns. Though these latter really deserve to suffer, it is still our duty to do what we can to remove that suffering.

​The remedies for this evil are innumerable. There is no doubt, however, that corns are the result of undue pressure and friction. According to the old formula, "Remove the cause, and the effect will cease." But how to remove it? As a general preventive against corns adopt the plan of having several pairs of shoes or boots in constant use, and change every day. Each pair will press on the feet in a different way. When the corn has asserted itself, felt corn-plasters may be procured of the druggist, taking care that you cut the aperture in them large enough to prevent any portion of them pressing on the edges of the corn. Before long the corn will disappear.

The great fault with modern shoes is that their soles are made too narrow. If one would secure perfect healthfulness of the feet, he should go to a shoemaker and step with his stockinged feet on a sheet of paper. Let the shoemaker mark with a pencil upon the paper the exact size of his foot, and then make him a shoe whose sole shall be as broad as this outlined foot.

Still more destructive of the beauty and symmetry of our women's feet have been the high, narrow heels so much worn lately. They made it difficult to walk, and even in some cases permanently crippled the feet.

A shoe, to be comfortable, should have a broad sole and a heel of moderate height, say one-half an inch, as broad at the bottom as at the top.