Glass Tffrjj L 
 Book , . -___ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
THE 
 
 PRETTY GIRL 
 
 PAPERS 
 
 By 
 EMMA E. WALKER, M. D. 
 
 BOSTON 
 LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
 
 1910 
 
Copyright, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 
 By The Curtis Publishing Company. 
 
 Copyright, 1910, 
 By The Circle Publishing Company. 
 
 Copyright, 1910, 
 By Little, Brown, and Company. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 Published, October, 1910 
 
 Electrotyped and Printed by 
 THE COLONIAL PRESS 
 C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 
 
 ©CI.A273552 
 
of TEvttyi (Eltm* 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGE 
 
 I. The Ideal Bedroom 1 
 
 II. Feminine Odors 10 
 
 III. BATHrNG WITHOUT A BATH-ROOM 17 
 
 IV. What Girls Wear .... 30 
 V. Girls who " Come to Pieces n in 
 
 Public 36 
 
 VI. Feet and Shoes 43 
 
 VII. The Shampoo and Other Things . 52 
 VTII. A Talk about Superfluous Hair, 
 
 Hair Removers, and Hair Tonics 64 
 IX. What the Advertised Cosmetics and 
 
 " Beautifiers " Really Are . 72 
 
 X. The " Second Face " . . . .83 
 
 XI. The Window of the Soul (1) . . 93 
 
 XII. The Window of the Soul (2) . . 99 
 
 XIII, The Making of a Beautiful Mouth 107 
 
 XIV. The Greatest Charm of All . 
 
 XV. The Girl of Underweight 
 
 XVI. Those Extra Pounds . 
 
 XVII. Is Candy - eating Harmful for 
 
 Girls? 
 
 XVTTI. The Girl across the Aisle 
 
 XIX. Dust Disease and Colds 
 
 114 
 122 
 127 
 
 132 
 139 
 148 
 
viii 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XX. 
 
 Dangeks that We Mat Avoid . 
 
 155 
 
 XXI. 
 
 How to Overcome Nervousness 
 
 160 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Crushes among Girls . 
 
 167 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 A Girl's Athletics in Summer . 
 
 174 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Summer Emergencies . 
 
 181 
 
 XXV. 
 
 During Vacation .... 
 
 190 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 The Girl in Business . 
 
 197 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Beauty's Necessity 
 
 209 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 The Skin: Its Enemies and Friends 216 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Christmas Joy that Girls Can Give 223 
 
 XXX. 
 
 A Little Talk about Marriage 
 
 232 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 If You Would Be a Pretty and 
 
 
 Healthy Bride .... 
 
 239 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 How Four Thousand Girls Found 
 
 
 Health 
 
 246 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Physical Culture in a Nutshell 
 
 262 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Little Ways to " Pretty Up " 
 
 272 
 
THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 THE IDEAL BEDROOM 
 
 The other day I read that it takes two hundred 
 years of outdoor life to make a beautiful woman. 
 The English dairymaid, who has the inheritance 
 of these two hundred years, gives us proof in 
 the milk and roses of her complexion. Only 
 recently have the women of our country appre- 
 ciated the effect of outdoor life on health and 
 beauty. 
 
 But next to outdoor living, sunshine and fresh 
 air in the bedroom are the great beautifiers. 
 The essential elements of a healthful bedroom 
 are sunshine, fresh air, and cleanliness. No- 
 where in the house do we need sunshine more 
 than in the bedroom. Sunlight is one of the best 
 disinfectants that we have. So, in the selection 
 of this room, the exposure should always be 
 considered. 
 
 Experience gives evidence that living in sunny 
 
2 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 rooms is a distinct aid in attaining a wholesome 
 skin. The cause of obstinate face eruptions has 
 been, in certain instances, traced to living in 
 sunless rooms. Ever since our first physiology 
 days, we have been told that each person should 
 be allowed at least three thousand cubic feet of 
 fresh air an hour. But an English writer puts 
 it in a more interesting way, telling us that if 
 we had to purchase every morning the necessary 
 amount of air food, and if we wished it left like 
 milk in quart bottles, there would be delivered 
 more than eighteen thousand quarts every day; 
 indeed, we should need seven hundred and fifty 
 quart bottles for every hour, and twelve quart 
 bottles for every minute. Imagine one's dismay 
 if the air man should fail, or go on a strike, or 
 even be late with his precious wares! There 
 would be nothing left for us to do but to use 
 over material that had already been used once 
 or oftener by ourselves, or even by other people. 
 
 It is surely most unpleasant to feel that we 
 are taking the refuse from some one else's lungs! 
 But this is what we do without any compunction 
 when sleeping in a close bedroom, and when 
 attending many, indeed, most theatres, concerts, 
 and public lectures. 
 
 May not the poor complexions of so many 
 
THE IDEAL BEDROOM 3 
 
 Italian girls be due to lack of ventilation in 
 their bedrooms? For the Italian is notoriously 
 afraid of night air; to her, night air means 
 mosquitoes, malaria, fevers, and other ills. Do 
 you remember the little incident of his Venetian 
 life, related by one of our modern writers, who 
 made an official complaint against a thief enter- 
 ing the open window at night? On learning 
 that the American kept his window open after 
 sundown, the authorities dismissed the case with 
 a shrug of the shoulders and the comment: " An 
 American custom." 
 
 To admit the fresh air is not sufficient; a 
 provision must be made for the exit of the 
 stale air. The ideal bedroom has an important 
 ventilator, an open fireplace. If, besides the 
 fireplace, a door is left ajar, the ventilation will 
 be quite satisfactory, but better still is the 
 ventilation secured by means of the windows. 
 If two windows face each other and both upper 
 sashes are lowered for several inches, there will 
 be a continuous current of air passing through 
 the room, without much draft on the bed. For 
 hot air rises, while cold air falls; the air, then, 
 that is in the ordinary sleeping-room will ascend 
 and pass out of the top of the window, while 
 the fresh, cooler air will come in to take its place. 
 
4 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 And just here is a point worth remembering: 
 warm air is not necessarily impure air, just as 
 cold air is not necessarily pure air. 
 
 If there is only one window in the room, 
 ventilation may still approach the ideal. Drop 
 the upper sash a few inches and raise the lower 
 three or four inches. A strip of thin wood, or a 
 piece of cardboard, six or eight inches wide, is 
 then placed over the lower opening, but a little 
 way from it. In this way we have three points of 
 vantage without incurring the risk of any special 
 draft, — the upper and lower opening and the 
 lower space between the two window-sashes. If, 
 however, there is need of special protection 
 against air currents, the method used for hospital 
 beds may be employed. A little curtain of sheet- 
 ing made to fit the back of the bed is tied at the 
 four corners by strips of tape. In this way there 
 is protection at the head of the bed from any 
 draft. The curtain may be renewed with the 
 sheets. 
 
 Since some of us cannot have the ideal bed- 
 room, it is often necessary, especially in the city, 
 to use a little ingenuity to conceal defects. If 
 one of your windows opens out on a blank wall, 
 or on an ugly prospect, you may insert into the 
 window space a white lattice frame, over which 
 
THE IDEAL BEDROOM 5 
 
 a hardy vine is trained I know of no prettier 
 climber than the English ivy. On waking up 
 in the morning such an outlook will give pleasant 
 thoughts, starting you on the right road for the 
 day. A hanging- basket, too, is a great joy, 
 bringing to the city girl a bit of Nature. Some 
 one may object that there should be no plants 
 in the sleeping-room, but it has been estimated 
 that the atmosphere of a moderate-sized room 
 is not as much vitiated by one hundred average 
 growing house plants as it is by the burning of 
 one common candle. 
 
 It is well, however, to remove all cut flowers 
 from the bedroom over night. It leaves the 
 air of the room pure, while the flowers themselves 
 stay fresher. 
 
 A true saying it is that the habitation of an 
 individual reflects the inmost character. On 
 the other hand, the surroundings in which we 
 live have a marked influence on the disposition. 
 Have you not tested for yourself, as you first 
 opened your eyes in the morning, the soothing 
 effect of a well-ordered room? Before going to 
 bed it is an excellent plan to put the room in as 
 perfect order as possible. 
 
 Try to keep the bedroom for sleeping purposes 
 only. Crumbs are an abomination in a bedroom. 
 
6 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 If you are living in one room, it will not be very 
 hard to limit luncheons to fruit. And if you are 
 living at home, no food need be kept here. 
 
 Sleeping by one's self is almost essential to 
 health. When compelled to share your bedroom 
 with another girl, separate beds should be used, 
 leaving, if possible, three feet between the two 
 beds. The bed should never stand against the 
 wall. It should be pulled out a little on all 
 sides, in order that there may be free circulation 
 of air. 
 
 I do not believe that it is really necessary to 
 say anything about feather beds, because they 
 are so little used in these days of advanced 
 hygiene. As to the mattress, you will find that 
 if quilted very closely it will not need to be more 
 than about half the thickness of the ordinary 
 mattress; indeed, if you have a thick, old mat- 
 tress, you can have it made over into two, 
 placing the tufts about four inches apart. This 
 mattress, also, will last far longer than an ordi- 
 nary one. 
 
 Far better forego all drapery about the bed, 
 although, if you feel that you must have a canopy, 
 let it be of dainty muslin that can be frequently 
 laundered. 
 
 Great danger lurks in damp bedclothes. 
 
THE IDEAL BEDROOM 7 
 
 Damp linen offers encouragement to microbes. 
 For this and other reasons, bedding ought daily 
 to be well aired and sunned. Feather pillows 
 are kept sweet by exposure to fresh air. Sun 
 draws the oil from feathers. 
 
 And now as to the walls of this habitation of 
 yours. Painted walls are the most hygienic and 
 satisfactory. In hospitals a pale yellow or drab 
 has been found very pleasing to the eye. A solid 
 color is always the most restful. Have you not 
 had the experience, when ill, of chasing some 
 grotesque figure around and around with your 
 wearied mind, until the very pattern was seared 
 into your brain? Oil-painted walls can be wiped 
 down daily with oiled cloths. These walls are 
 practically indestructible. The ceiling ought to 
 be light in color. 
 
 A hardwood floor in the bedroom is most 
 advantageous, and rugs are preferable to carpets. 
 Choose a closely woven rug, that it may hold 
 as little dust as possible. The summer rug is 
 made of grass or fibre, such a floor covering 
 being both satisfactory and inexpensive. Then, 
 too, it can be taken up and cleaned every week. 
 
 The brooms should always be dampened when 
 used; but a carpet-sweeper is better, gathering 
 up, as it does, all of the dust without scattering 
 
8 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 it through the room. When dusting, use a 
 damp cloth, never a feather duster, which has 
 no place in a hygienic house. 
 
 Keep your dust-cloth clean, washing it out after 
 its use. 
 
 Girls often ask: " Do you not think that 
 there is a great deal of nonsense in all this talk 
 about microbes? " Not when you know the 
 results of scientific research. The street dust 
 of large towns has been found to contain bits of 
 straw, hay, pollen of plants, fragments of cotton 
 and wool, fibres and hairs, wings and other parts 
 of insects, microbes, tiny particles of iron and 
 other metals, sand, coal-dust and lime. The 
 dust of our rooms is of much the same character, 
 showing, also, scales from the skin. We know 
 from experience how even in a room that is 
 supposed to be thoroughly clean, innumerable 
 tiny particles can be seen dancing through a 
 ray of sunlight. Many times the germs of 
 tuberculosis have been cultivated from the dust 
 taken from a room where a tuberculous patient 
 has lived. 
 
 How important is it, then, to have in your 
 bedroom only things that can be thoroughly 
 cleansed. Thus will be banished much bric-a- 
 brac and many knickknacks, such as the numer- 
 
THE IDEAL BEDROOM 9 
 
 ous photographs cherished by so many girls. 
 Think of the amount of dust that such objects 
 accumulate, even in a short time. Let the 
 pictures that you have be plainly framed and 
 glass covered. 
 
 The ideal room for a girl asleep is dark, since 
 light is a stimulus even to closed eyes. If you 
 have not the old-fashioned, dark green window- 
 blinds, dark shades offer an excellent substitute. 
 By using a little ingenuity, the necessity for 
 artificial light in the bedroom will diminish. 
 Going to bed by candle-light is very restful. 
 Thoroughly air the room after the light is put 
 out before getting into bed. 
 
 And one point more. The ideal bedroom is 
 without plumbing, for although modern plumb- 
 ing is supposed to be perfect, there are many 
 uncertainties. If you do have running water 
 in your room, leave a little in the bowl and spread 
 a damp towel over the top of the basin. 
 
 There is no place where the note of harmony 
 will have a more beneficent effect upon our 
 spirits than in the room where we spend one- 
 third of our lives, in leisure, rest, and sleep. 
 
II 
 
 FEMININE ODORS 
 
 If a fairy were to offer you the gift of daintiness 
 or of beauty, which would you choose? 
 
 Hardly is the question asked when I hear 
 the myriad answers that come floating in, the 
 thoughtless girls clamoring for " Beauty, beauty," 
 while in gentler tones I hear from wiser lips 
 the whisper; " Daintiness I would choose! " 
 
 But, you thoughtless girls, think a moment. 
 Whom do you seek to charm in this world? 
 You needn't tell me: I know. And do you 
 attribute to beauty the greatest power? Then 
 you haven't heard what men say about these 
 things. Ask your brother what he thinks. If 
 he has never told you before, you will probably 
 have a shock. For, believe me, this is a matter 
 of common remark among the other sex. To 
 them even beauty is repellent when it has not 
 the setting of dainty personal habits. 
 
 And what do we mean by dainty personal 
 habits? Perhaps the breath is the flag which 
 
FEMININE ODORS 11 
 
 flaunts itself most conspicuously in the face of 
 him who comes to storm the citadel. 
 
 You have all experienced the necessity of 
 avoiding the offensiveness of the breath of a 
 friend. Is there any characteristic which so 
 stamps one as the odor of the breath? I recently 
 heard a man say that the average girl's breath 
 was to him appalling. The sweet breath seems 
 to be the exception. " Take the average girl 
 three hours after eating," he said, " and it is 
 astonishing how few girls with sweet breath one 
 will find." And what is the cause of it? The 
 breath is almost without odor in health, although 
 there is a fragrance from certain glands along 
 the edges of the nostrils. This odor is charac- 
 teristic of individuals, the delicacy of the odor 
 varying with the refinement of the person. But, 
 however offensive the breath may be, it is a 
 symptom only. 
 
 As there is apt to be a disagreeable taste in 
 the mouth and a coated tongue, a girl who has 
 an unpleasant breath is generally conscious of 
 it herself. Gastric or intestinal disturbance 
 is one of the commonest causes of this evidence 
 of neglect. The ordinary habits of our daily 
 life are greatly to blame for the condition. 
 These habits can and must be broken, if you 
 
12 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 would have your breath as sweet as Nature 
 intended it to be. 
 
 In the first place, allow plenty of time for 
 your meals. It is better to eat even a little less 
 than you desire, and slowly, than to " bolt " 
 an ordinary meal, as so many American girls 
 are in the habit of doing. Eat sensible food. 
 Nothing will so quickly upset your stomach 
 as excessive candy-eating, especially between 
 meals. A simple diet, then, is of first importance 
 in keeping a sweet breath. Hurry and worry 
 must be banished from the table, for food cannot 
 be digested properly when one is indulging in 
 either of these vices. It will be easier to spend 
 more time at your meals if you keep before you 
 the object of this care — a dainty breath. Lei- 
 surely mastication will aid greatly the quest for 
 wholesomeness. So will copious water-drinking 
 between meals, by keeping all of the eliminative 
 organs in good order; and proper exercise. 
 
 It seems almost superfluous to speak of the 
 care of the teeth, and still many unpleasant 
 odors are directly traceable to carelessness in 
 this regard. Particles of food lodging in cavities 
 or between the teeth, even more than de- 
 cayed teeth themselves, give rise to unpleasant 
 breath. 
 
FEMININE ODORS 13 
 
 Habitual mouth-breathers are very likely to 
 have an unpleasant breath. 
 
 Of course, in certain cases there may be other 
 causes for offensive breath, such as disorders 
 of the mouth, nose, throat, or lungs, all of 
 which need special medical treatment. 
 
 One cause more, and a potent one, is disturb- 
 ance of the mental equilibrium; if you are a 
 nervous girl you have doubtless discovered what 
 this means. Almost instantaneously, on the 
 experience of some emotion, the mouth becomes 
 dry and unpleasant. But you say: " How can I 
 possibly help such a thing as that? " By living 
 a quiet, normal life. 
 
 Hardly less noticeable are the so-called body 
 odors, any one of which is easily located. In 
 running over the different odors that come from 
 hair, axillae, feet, soiled clothing, and so on, 
 each one in turn seems more disgusting than 
 the last. One cannot keep herself clean and 
 sweet without the greatest care, and it is a 
 glaring fact that fastidious cleanliness is an 
 exception among even refined girls. 
 
 I have in mind now a girl, a college graduate, 
 well brought up, who has had every advantage, 
 and yet friends are forced to associate various 
 odors with her personality. Could she know of 
 
14 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 this impression in the minds of those about her, 
 she would be horrified, for she is now totally 
 unconscious that her neglect is so apparent. 
 
 I do not think that any one can be absolutely 
 dainty without at least one entire daily bath, 
 and several local ones, followed by a good rubbing. 
 The axillae need the most careful attention and 
 so do the feet. In the matter of shields and 
 stockings, eternal vigilance is the watchword. 
 Be sure that if you yourself can detect an odor 
 it does not remain unobserved by those about 
 you. 
 
 A girl was telling me the other day about a 
 friend who belonged to her dancing-class. She 
 said, under her breath, that none of the men 
 wanted to dance with this girl because they said 
 she smelled so " goaty." I cannot help wishing 
 that I could tell her to take local baths, sometimes 
 with salt and water, sometimes with alcohol. 
 
 Washing is not the only way of keeping the 
 hair sweet. Sunning and airing will do much 
 for it. The dry shampoo — that is, powdering 
 the hair and scalp with ground orris-root — also 
 imparts a delicate fragrance and helps to absorb 
 the superfluous oil; but this method cannot be 
 kept up indefinitely, and can never take the 
 place of washing. 
 
FEMININE ODORS 15 
 
 Not long ago I went into a girl's room. She 
 was in her lounging-robe, and had changed her 
 heavy walking-boots for bedroom slippers. I 
 really suffered before rinding an excuse to take 
 my departure. 
 
 Have you ever caught the mingled odors from 
 a closet where a careless girl's clothes are hang- 
 ing? It will pay you to be extravagant in your 
 laundry. Indeed, it is easy for any one to wash 
 out small things, like stockings, so that there will 
 always be a fresh pair to put on daily. 
 
 The seat of very many of our sensations is 
 in the skin. Scientists tell us that the condition 
 of the skin as well as the condition of the clothing 
 next to the skin, has a very powerful influence not 
 only upon our physical, but also upon our mental 
 life; and does not the spiritual depend greatly 
 upon both? Exquisite cleanliness, then, reaches 
 far beyond the limits of attractiveness. 
 
 And now about perfumes. A man said to me 
 the other day: " Girls have the strange idea that 
 men like the odor of sachet powder and perfume, 
 whereas they detest it. To have a delicate 
 suggestion that a woman's clothes have been 
 near some agreeable powder or sachet in a 
 drawer is pleasant, but to have strong perfume, 
 soaked handkerchiefs, sachet bags, and such 
 
16 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 things carried around is perfectly repulsive to a 
 man, and when this sachet odor mingles with a 
 bad breath and the average body odor, the com- 
 bination, and it is not an unusual one, is ab- 
 solutely abhorrent." 
 
 A strong perfume is one of the earmarks of 
 vulgarity. When you choose the sachet to 
 lay among your things, buy the most delicate 
 one possible, and it is a pretty fancy to keep to 
 the same one. Let the odor from it, a mere 
 suggestion of some flower, mingle its fragrance 
 with the sweet smell of freshly laundered linen. 
 
Ill 
 
 BATHING WITHOUT A BATH-ROOM 
 
 A bath-room is not a necessity for bathing. 
 If it were, many girls, not only those living in the 
 country but in the city as well, would be in a sad 
 plight. 
 
 One of the daintiest, freshest girls I ever met 
 had to depend upon the kitchen pump for her 
 water supply. She lived on a lonely farm, and 
 when I asked her how she managed to keep 
 herself always so sweet and clean she said: " My 
 cosmetics are very simple. Every night boiling 
 water from the big kettle, with a liberal supply of 
 soap, gives me my cleansing bath, and in the 
 morning cool water from the pump tones me up 
 for the day." 
 
 I knew how hard she had to work, so I ven- 
 tured to ask: " But are you not too tired some- 
 times to go through with it all? " 
 
 "I am often tired enough to drop, but years 
 ago I made bathing a habit, and I would as soon 
 think of going to bed with my clothes on as with 
 the stains and grime of my day's work." 
 
18 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 This girl had simply made cleanliness a matter 
 of habit. And although she was not naturally 
 beautiful she was as refreshing to look at as a 
 flower. 
 
 " When I was doing settlement work in 
 Chicago last winter," wrote a young woman not 
 long since, " I had the good fortune to make 
 friends with a little girl whom I bribed into 
 taking a daily bath, and this was our plan. 
 She was to have two basins of water, one quite 
 warm and the other cool. Each basin was to 
 have its own wash- cloth. With the warm water 
 she was to take a soap scrub, rinsing off first 
 in the same water, reserving the cooler water 
 with its fresh cloth for the final rinsing. She 
 gave herself a good rub-down with a Turkish 
 towel at the last, vigorous enough to make her 
 whole skin glow. The reward for three months 
 of this daily routine was to be a violin, for the 
 child was very fond of music and had long 
 coveted this prize. I knew that she was con- 
 scientious and that I could trust her, and the 
 bargain was made that she should not skip one 
 day. If I could tell you of the change in her 
 complexion at the end of the three months, I 
 am afraid that you would accuse me of moraliz- 
 ing." 
 
BATHING 19 
 
 I thought at once of girls in the city who live 
 in the typical boarding-house hall-bedroom, 
 where the morning bath has to be of the " sponge 
 variety." 
 
 Any girl who is living in a house without a 
 bath-room has various makeshifts to choose 
 from to supply the deficiency. A good-sized 
 papier-mache wash-tub is inexpensive, and light 
 enough for any girl to manage. A tin tub also 
 does very well. 
 
 But if the family wishes to invest in something 
 more elaborate, an excellent substitute will be 
 found in the combination of folding tub, tank, 
 and heating apparatus. It will take half an 
 hour to heat about twenty gallons of water which 
 the tank contains. The length of the tub varies 
 from five to six feet, being large enough for a 
 full plunge bath. This apparatus, when closed, 
 takes up about three feet of floor space and 
 stands about six feet high. It can be moved 
 like a sewing-machine or any other piece of 
 furniture, and although it is not cheap, it will 
 last for years. 
 
 Another full-length tub, which is made of tin, 
 has a wooden bottom with a roll-top. There is 
 a waste pipe at the end. When not in use the 
 contrivance is hung up by a ring. 
 
20 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Vapor baths may be had in many varieties, 
 and for very reasonable prices. 
 
 A girl who spent her vacation last August in 
 the hills of Connecticut told me how she managed 
 her bathing without a bath-room. 
 
 " We have those luxuries all the year, and it is 
 fun to go without them in vacation. I take a 
 two-quart tin pail with me, so that I can always 
 have hot water any time and anywhere within 
 a few minutes. The best alcohol lamp I have 
 ever used cost me just twelve cents. It is made 
 in the form of a metal cup filled with asbestos; 
 over the top is fitted a piece of wire netting. 
 I buy a pint of wood alcohol which costs, as 
 a rule, twenty cents. Two tablespoonfuls 
 of the alcohol will thoroughly wet the as- 
 bestos, and will boil two quarts of water. Of 
 course there must be a standard to support 
 the pail above the flame. I happened to have 
 one of these that belonged to another lamp." 
 
 The danger from the use of an alcohol lamp 
 can be avoided if you are always careful to set 
 it out of a draft, and if you use a lamp like the 
 one just described, which does not enclose the 
 alcohol. A wise precaution is to place the 
 lamp in a sink or in a pan. This entire combina- 
 tion may be bought, if desired. 
 
BATHING 21 
 
 In England, even when there are bath-rooms 
 in the house, it is a very common custom to have 
 what is called a tray or sponge bath in the 
 dressing-room. This is made of tin, is four or 
 five feet in diameter, and has a shallow rim. 
 It is like a bread pan, only much larger. It is 
 called a tray bath on account of the shape, 
 while the other name of sponge bath is given 
 from the fact that the bather almost invariably 
 uses a sponge. The so-called tray may be 
 partly filled with water, the sponge dipped into 
 it and squeezed out over the body, or one may 
 step into the tray and use water from a basin 
 on one side. This tray is large enough to sit 
 down in. If you are unable to find such a 
 tub, it can easily be made by an ordinary tin- 
 smith. 
 
 The portable bath is more expensive than 
 those made of tin or papier-mache'. It is a 
 rubber tub and may be folded up into a small 
 space. English people almost universally use 
 this while traveling, and an English officer is 
 never without one. It is a great convenience, 
 too, at the shore, where a salt-water bath is not 
 in the house, and one wishes to use the sea water 
 in the room. 
 
 Another convenient portable tub is the old- 
 
22 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 fashioned sitz-bath. An English woman, in 
 recounting her childhood experiences to me the 
 other day, said that when her family went away 
 on a trip, especially to the shore, they took a 
 number of these sitz-baths along with them. 
 They were utilized en route for stowing away 
 various articles that they needed. This bath 
 is made of tin, one end rising high enough to 
 cover the back. They are very convenient, 
 especially for bathing children. 
 
 A district nurse visiting a tenement house 
 family one day found a very sick child, whom 
 she felt must be put into a hot bath at once, 
 but the family had absolutely nothing that 
 could be used for a tub. It so happened that 
 this young woman had a rubber sheet in her 
 bag. She took it out and fastened the edges to 
 four chairs, letting the middle of the sheet sag 
 down toward the floor in the form of a bowl. 
 In this improvised tub she gave the baby its bath 
 and probably saved its life. This gave her. an 
 idea which she later worked out. She had a 
 frame made which folded up on the principle 
 of a camp-chair, and to which a rubber sheet 
 was attached in the form of a basin. Much on 
 the same principle is a larger folding tub made 
 of water-proof material attached to a wooden 
 
BATHING 23 
 
 frame. When folded, the package is not larger 
 than an ironing-board. 
 
 Space does not have to be considered by the 
 girl living in the country. With a little ingenu- 
 ity, there is no excuse for neglect of the daily 
 bath, even if there is no bath-room in the house. 
 If she cares to take any trouble she does not 
 even need ingenuity to rig up a shower bath, 
 that may be used at least in warm weather. 
 A good substitute could be made by attaching a 
 rubber tube, with a sprinkler at one end, to a 
 spigot in a tub or any convenient receptacle 
 holding enough water for the bath. The recep- 
 tacle is raised on a platform and is filled for 
 each bath. It is a good plan to put pieces of 
 charcoal in the bottom of the tub to keep it 
 sweet. Since such an outfit once planned can 
 be used indefinitely, one can afford to go to a 
 little trouble in arranging it. 
 
 In a certain camp up in the Catskills, located 
 near a stream, the water is pumped by means 
 of a force-pump up into a tank, which is raised 
 on a platform in a small bathing pavilion. A 
 partition runs through this little house, so that 
 two people can take a shower at the same time. 
 
 Wherever there is a faucet, even if it is the 
 one at the kitchen sink, it is a simple matter 
 
24 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 to arrange a shower bath. A sprinkler attached 
 to a rubber tube is all that is necessary to com- 
 plete the apparatus. One can stand in a tub 
 drawn up beside the sink and take the shower 
 in this way. If the water from two faucets, 
 hot and cold, runs out through one opening, as 
 is sometimes the case, the temperature of the 
 shower can be regulated at will. However, if 
 the outlets are separate, you can buy a rubber 
 " Y tube " when you get your sprinkler, and 
 the two branches will fit over the faucets. Or 
 it would be a matter of very slight trouble and 
 expense for the plumber to make a tube con- 
 necting the two faucets with one outlet. 
 
 One day last summer, from my perch in a 
 skyscraper, I watched two children on a neigh- 
 boring roof. The boy appeared first, climbing 
 out through the scuttle with a shout. He was 
 suitably arrayed for the downpour for which 
 he was longing with all his little heart. The 
 costume consisted of a pair of old, short, white 
 trousers and a sleeveless shirt-waist. His sister 
 soon joined him and she, too, wore an improvised 
 bathing-suit without sleeves and abbreviated 
 as to skirt. They paraded up and down, anx- 
 iously scanning the sky. There had been one 
 or two little sputters of rain, but more was 
 
BATHING 25 
 
 promised by the lowering clouds. The expres- 
 sion on the children's faces afforded a graphic 
 weather bulletin; when the sun gave any sign of 
 coming out the disappointment was unmistak- 
 able. Before long, however, the sky darkened 
 in earnest, and as the drops began to fall, these 
 city waifs danced around the roof in high glee, 
 reveling in their natural shower-bath. 
 
 But to play having a shower-bath was not 
 exciting enough for these imaginative youngsters. 
 It was plain to see from their antics that they 
 were pretending to have a surf dip. They must 
 at some time in their brief existence have been 
 taken to the shore, for they went through all 
 the motions of swimming, diving, walking back 
 to the shore and digging in the sand. The roof 
 was both beach and surf. They raised their 
 faces and caught the rain joyously. They went 
 so near to the cornice at times that I held my 
 breath, but back again they pranced around the 
 friendly arm of the tenement-house chimney. 
 It did seem pitiful, and yet, I thought, why 
 should it! They were enjoying the blessing of a 
 soft-water shower — a bath hard enough to get 
 in many a model bath-room. 
 
 The children of the roof were unlike another 
 tenement-house child of whom I recently read. 
 
26 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 He was having an outing at a seashore fresh-air 
 home. But he was not making the most of his 
 privileges. As he sat digging his toes into the 
 sand on the beach, one of the attendants asked 
 him if he didn't want to go into the water. 
 
 He said, " No, ma'am," with public-school 
 politeness." 
 
 " You're not afraid, are you? Don't you 
 bathe at home? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," he answered proudly. " I 
 get an all-over every week in the wash-tub." 
 
 " G'wan! " said a bigger boy who had run up, 
 dripping and shivering, just in time to hear the 
 little fellow's answer. " Yez means the dish- 
 pan." 
 
 Truly, water has charms for some that others 
 always miss. 
 
 A civil engineer who spent some years in the 
 Philippines describes his method of bathing. 
 " I used a five-gallon oil-can for my shower. 
 The bottom was perforated by driving a small 
 nail through the tin over the desired area. A 
 bar of wood was fitted into the top, between the 
 sides, and held by means of two nails driven 
 through the sides of the can into each end of 
 the bar of wood. A rope fastened to this and 
 passed over a pulley served to hoist the can and 
 
BATHING 27 
 
 hold it in place, the rope being held by means 
 of loops which were worked over a nail on the 
 wall. As the floors of the dwellings are made 
 of bamboo, the water runs off as soon as it 
 falls." 
 
 Such a can arranged over a large tub may be 
 easily used in a kitchen, without much water 
 getting on the floor. 
 
 This arrangement is very similar to one 
 described by a major and surgeon in our army 
 in telling of his life while in Cuba. He said that 
 they used a tin hard-tack box. This also held 
 about five gallons and was perforated. Many 
 times they covered the perforations with a 
 piece of tin, so that the time of the flow could 
 be regulated. Sometimes the little protector was 
 put inside the can over the holes, and although 
 it did not entirely prevent the water from coming 
 out, it did so to a great extent. A string attached 
 to the piece of tin could be pulled when the 
 bather was ready. Another way that they 
 managed these showers was to have a little slot 
 on the bottom of the can outside, through which 
 a cover was pushed, and moved away, when the 
 bather was ready for the shower. 
 
 A more conventional apparatus used for the 
 same purpose is made in Europe and used in the 
 
28 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 far East. It consists of a cylindrical can, 
 twelve inches in diameter, holding about five 
 gallons. A little stopper closes the inside opening 
 to the sprinkler, and is so arranged that the 
 pulling of a chain leading outside, to which it 
 is attached, displaces it just enough to allow the 
 water to flow. As soon as the pull ceases, the 
 stopper falls back into place. 
 
 When one has no bath-room, it is convenient to 
 lather the body with soap and water first from 
 a basin. After this any one of the improvised 
 showers may be used for rinsing. 
 
 A shower that any girl can arrange without 
 difficulty may be taken from a large watering- 
 pot, which is suspended a little higher than the 
 head. A cord is attached to the neck of the 
 spout, and the pot is tipped to any angle at the 
 bather's will. By standing in a tub, the floor 
 is spared. If one is camping, this idea can be 
 easily utilized out of doors. A shower house 
 could be made by tacking sheets around three 
 or four trees or around stakes set up in the form 
 of a square. 
 
 But even this does not compare with the rare 
 privileges of those far-away days in the country 
 when, after much pleading, we were allowed to 
 don a suitable costume and stand under over- 
 
BATHING 29 
 
 flowing eaves for a brisk, rain-water shower. 
 No possible bath in later years could ever equal 
 in fascination the delights of those gambols 
 under the hard pelting of a warm summer 
 rain. 
 
IV 
 
 WHAT GIRLS WEAR 
 
 It was the custom in the Southern town, in 
 which I spent my early days, for the young 
 girls in school to don fresh gingham dresses 
 when the first warm spring days appeared. I 
 often go back to those times with pleasure, and 
 wish that it were more the custom nowadays 
 for girls to wear the simple wash gowns that we 
 used to love. I remember that two or three 
 of us decided upon a special day when we 
 should all appear together in the new gowns, 
 lest our solitary embarrassment be too ex- 
 treme. 
 
 However, the convenient shirt-waist now 
 supplies this need to a great extent. There is 
 no garment, I believe, that in many ways is .so 
 hygienic as the much-abused shirt-waist. I 
 cannot imagine anything to take the place of 
 this garment in the wardrobe of a girl who is 
 either working or traveling. By its use the 
 appearance of the dress can be changed from 
 day to day, and from morning to evening, for 
 
WHAT GIRLS WEAR 31 
 
 several weeks, even though there may be but 
 few gowns at the wearer's disposal. 
 
 Many a girl looks more attractive in this simple 
 costume than in any other which she may wear. 
 
 Perhaps no one class of people is more attract- 
 ive in appearance than trained nurses. And 
 this fact is doubtless greatly due to the extreme 
 neatness and freshness of their apparel. Noth- 
 ing adds more to the appearance than perfect 
 neatness and finish in all the details of dress. 
 In a hospital that I recently visited, a charac- 
 teristic uniform for the nurses had just been 
 designed by the matron. One of the girls, in 
 showing the attachment of the skirt to the waist, 
 said the matron had so planned it that never a 
 safety-pin peeped from beneath the belt. If girls 
 realized how such a little blemish spoils the 
 whole costume, they would be careful about the 
 minutest detail. It is imperfections that catch 
 the eye. 
 
 Surely the short skirt for street wear appeals 
 to sensible girls, both from the hygienic point 
 of view and from that of good taste. I was 
 reading yesterday of the examination of the cocoa- 
 nut husk mats on the floors of a city's street- 
 cars. Single fibres an inch and a half long 
 were computed to hold from three million to four 
 
32 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 million microbes; and yet this estimate is said to 
 compare favorably with that of many other floor 
 coverings. Can you imagine, then, any girl who 
 knows this fact, sweeping a long skirt over these 
 mats, or pavements, or steps, or theatres, or other 
 public buildings? If you can once be convinced 
 that you are, in truth, street scavengers, when 
 you wear such clothes, you will be only too 
 anxious to wear skirts of a sensible length. 
 
 Please do not for an instant think that I am 
 advocating that peculiarity of dress known as 
 mannishness. The greatest charm of a girl is 
 her femininity. Nothing is more to be deprecated 
 than the aping of mannishness. Men have only 
 contempt for such imitations, and women de- 
 spise them. I have in my mind now a girl who 
 affects masculine attire just as far as she can. 
 She wears her hair short, and over it slouches a 
 soft felt hat that she takes off and puts on 
 just as her brother does. It is needless to say 
 that she attracts ridicule wherever she goes. 
 Such peculiarities are most disadvantageous to 
 a girl, especially if she is in business of any kind 
 or engaged in a profession. People wish to 
 deal either with a man or a woman, never with a 
 caricature of either. 
 
 Great care should be taken to adapt the cloth- 
 
WHAT GIRLS WEAR 33 
 
 ing to the climate and the weather, especially 
 in the early spring days. May-day always 
 brings visions of the cold ; raw weather that we 
 have all experienced so often in trying to carry 
 out May-day frolics. You may object that wool 
 is too irritating to your skin. Then get a soft, 
 fine quality, or some material in which wool is 
 combined with silk or cotton. In the summer- 
 time a very light-weight wool is a great protec- 
 tion, even in tropical climates. 
 
 Linen is the coolest of our ordinary materials, 
 being a good conductor of heat, allowing it to 
 pass off quickly from the body. Smooth-sur- 
 faced goods, closely woven, are cooler than 
 soft, furry fabrics. The latter, even though 
 made of cotton, are warm on account of their 
 weave. 
 
 As far as possible dyes in clothing that comes 
 next to the skin should be avoided. As to colors, 
 white is the coolest, and for this reason is very 
 much worn in warm weather. Then come yellow, 
 red, green, blue, and black. 
 
 Avoid all extremes of fashions. Exaggeration 
 in dress is always vulgar. Study your person- 
 ality in regard to dress. Do not sit down and 
 think how plain you are, but learn to bring out 
 your good points by wearing becoming clothing. 
 
34 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 If you have no faculty at all for this yourself, go 
 to some one who possesses the gift and get her 
 to help you out. Certainly there is some friend 
 with an artistic sense who will know what best 
 suits you in hats and gowns. When you have 
 found a becoming style, do not be too anxious to 
 change it. There is never any advantage in 
 following the extreme of fashion, especially if it 
 is not becoming to you. This does not mean 
 that you should defy fashion, for there is hardly 
 one of us who can afford to do that. 
 
 One of the worst faults in clothing is to have 
 it too tight. Very tight clothing interferes 
 with the circulation. It does not allow for 
 proper ventilation of the skin. If clothing is 
 so snug as to retain carbon dioxide and the waste 
 organic matter, it will not be long before the 
 functions of the skin are disturbed, and the body 
 made a prey to disease. Ventilation of the 
 skin is most important. The proper exposure 
 of the body surface to comparatively low tem- 
 perature is as valuable a general tonic as is the 
 application of cool water to the skin. The air 
 bath supplies this need. There should be a 
 circulation of air under the clothing sufficient 
 to dilute and disperse the insensible perspiration, 
 the effete organic matter and the carbon dioxide. 
 

 WHAT GIRLS WEAR 35 
 
 All garments that are suspended should fall 
 either directly or indirectly from the shoulders 
 or the hips. 
 
 Opinions concerning the advantages and dis- 
 advantages of wearing corsets differ very widely. 
 Many good authorities believe that there is no 
 harm in the modern, scientifically made, straight- 
 front corset. But be careful that it is scientifi- 
 cally made, and that it fits. 
 
 Tight waistbands help to make ugly hips and 
 prominent abdomens. The wearing of tight 
 collars and stocks results in scrawny necks, and 
 often leads to severe troubles of the throat. 
 Tight garters leave in their wake many serious 
 consequences; and tight gloves produce ugly, 
 red, cold hands; while tight, ill-fitting, high 
 heeled shoes torture the girl who is foolish enough 
 to wear them. Red noses are very often the 
 result of impaired circulation, due to clothing 
 that is too tight. 
 
GIRLS WHO "COME TO PIECES" IN 
 PUBLIC 
 
 Not long ago, at a Glee Club concert, I sat 
 behind a girl with delicately tinted cheeks. 
 This might possibly have passed unobserved had 
 she not also touched up the lobes of her ears to 
 correspond. I watched these two spots for 
 some moments, but the heightened color remained 
 the same. I was convinced, and then looked 
 for other evidences of the make-up. They stood 
 out one by one. On looking across her cheek, 
 as it was turned to the light, there was that 
 characteristic appearance always present after 
 the use of powder. The eyebrows were distinctly 
 penciled, and although she was not a " bleached 
 blonde," still her hair had been " lightened," 
 as could be seen from the contrasting dark- 
 ness of the roots. She might have been a 
 pretty girl, but as it was she was most unattrac- 
 tive. 
 
 Perhaps the artificial touches to a toilette are 
 
GIRLS WHO " COME TO PIECES " 37 
 
 more frequently evident in a large city than they 
 are in smaller towns. However this may be, I 
 never go out on the street without noticing a 
 goodly number of girls who make this mistake. 
 To be sure, many times these little artifices are 
 most skilfully manipulated; they will, neverthe- 
 less, be detected by the trained eye. 
 
 Such toilettes always raise a question in the 
 mind of the observer. You have the disappro- 
 bation of your own sex when you do these things, 
 but to a man they are revolting. " Do you know," 
 said a man to me the other day, " that when I 
 find I'm out with a girl who is painted, it gives 
 me the gruesome feeling that I am walking 
 around with a wooden Indian, — like the old 
 fashioned ones they used to have in front of the 
 cigar stores." It cannot be pleasant to a dainty 
 girl to feel that she has put on such a coating of 
 " complexion " that it can be rubbed off on 
 the handkerchief. 
 
 Fresh is the memory of my father's annoyance 
 when, in girlhood days on starting out to walk 
 with him, I fastened up the buttons of my gloves 
 after closing the door behind me. I have 
 noticed in many men the same evidence of 
 annoyance regarding the finishing of a girl's 
 toilette in public. And another of their pet 
 
38 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 complaints is that some girls are always " coming 
 to pieces." 
 
 One who arrives early at the theatre has 
 leisure to observe many of these idiosyncrasies, 
 as well as various mannerisms that go with them. 
 One girl will be running side-combs through her 
 hair; another will be rearranging hairpins and 
 patting her aigrette. 
 
 Still another girl, as she walks down the aisle, 
 grasps her skirt at such an angle that the placket 
 gapes widely. And, oh, the innumerable belts 
 that do not make connections! And the multi- 
 tude of safety-pins that are exposed to the public 
 gaze! And corresponding in numbers to the 
 misplaced belts and pins, the wearers futilely 
 struggling to get them into place! 
 
 Now and then a girl finds it necessary to 
 fasten her blouse in public, and I have even 
 seen a schoolgirl on a shopping expedition 
 rearrange her shield. Such a thing seems 
 incredible, but it is only too true. She was 
 attending school in New York, and was called 
 by her teachers " that awful girl." They were 
 always in terror as to what she would do next. 
 
 What a common sight it is, especially in the 
 summer, to see a man fastening up the lacings of 
 his companion's shoes. If you do not know how 
 
GIRLS WHO " COME TO PIECES " 39 
 
 to tie shoe-laces so that they will not become 
 loose, any shoe clerk will tell you. 
 
 These things are so common that they are 
 a matter of public comment, and are always 
 very noticeable where there are many girls 
 together. This is, unfortunately, only too appar- 
 ent in girls' schools and colleges. 
 
 The Dean of a very large college in one of our 
 great cities considers this subject of such import- 
 ance that he makes a yearly appeal to his 
 students, bringing their attention to these 
 matters in detail, at a students' mass meeting 
 called by him for the purpose. 
 
 The mother of one girl, when taking her 
 daughter to college, was so impressed by the 
 untidiness of many of the older girls that, 
 drawing her daughter to one side, she gravely 
 remarked that if any of these evidences of 
 neglect were noticeable in the girl when she 
 came home for the Christmas vacation, she 
 would be taken out of college permanently. 
 
 Many girls say, as an excuse for carelessness 
 in dress: " No one knows me in this part of the 
 country, so it does not make any difference how 
 I look." This is the plea of many Americans 
 abroad, who have thus given an undesirable 
 reputation to the manners of our country-women, 
 
40 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 It is probably because of this feeling that 
 carelessness in appearance or manners is some- 
 times observed in high places, but it is never 
 safe to think that " no one sees me." A woman 
 of international reputation was observed riding 
 in a street-car with a toothpick in her mouth, 
 that she used diligently from time to time. Too 
 careful attention cannot be given to the toilette 
 of the teeth, the nose, and ears before leaving 
 your own room. 
 
 And this reminds me of another thing: some 
 girls think that it is sufficient to wash a soiled 
 face, leaving the neck and ears with the dis- 
 tinctly visible high- water mark. But you may 
 say: " I have never seen these horrible things.' ' 
 Then it is because you are not observant- 
 Fastidious men depend upon their barbers to 
 complete many of the little niceties of their 
 toilette, such as the extraction of blackheads 
 from the ears, and other details that are impos- 
 sible for one to attend to by one's self. It is no 
 less necessary for a girl to be overlooked, at 
 least occasionally, by a professional attendant. 
 
 Avoid such little mannerisms as handling the 
 face, scratching the head, pulling on the hair, 
 biting the nails, rubbing the nose, and other 
 similar tricks, which, when once indulged in, 
 
GIRLS WHO " COME TO PIECES " 41 
 
 become habitual, especially when one is absorbed. 
 Such habits are disgusting to those around you, 
 and detract very seriously from the charm of a 
 refined woman. 
 
 Men often pass judgment as to girls' capacity 
 for housekeeping on no more important evidence 
 than the wearing of run-down heels. It is a 
 trite, but still true comment that many girls 
 who have exquisite taste in dress as far as gowns, 
 coats, and hats are concerned, fail when it comes 
 to the details of shoes and gloves. It is a 
 common occurrence to walk behind a beautifully 
 gowned girl, whose shoes are unspeakably shabby, 
 worn off at the heel, unblackened, and minus 
 several buttons. 
 
 Other girls do not hesitate to wear skirts 
 with ragged edges, braid pinned on with safety- 
 pins, tattered dust ruffles, especially if they are 
 silk, and soiled ruchings. A certain mother 
 said, when her daughter asked if she thought 
 a collar " would do " to wear again: " If there is 
 any question about it, put it in the laundry." 
 
 You may think this attention to details very 
 tiresome and carelessness concerning them unde- 
 serving of so much criticism. If this is your 
 attitude, you would better change your point 
 of view. A girl of my acquaintance, who was 
 
42 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 engaged to a young man when she entered 
 college, caused him so much discomfiture by 
 her carelessness in personal appearance, that 
 his mother made a journey to the college every 
 two weeks for the purpose of getting the fiancee's 
 wardrobe mix) some kind of order. The task 
 became so hopeless that the engagement was 
 finally broken. And who will say that it was 
 not justified? 
 
VI 
 
 FEET AND SHOES 
 
 Ever since babyhood days we have been told 
 that the well-shaped, well-shod foot is a most 
 important sign of good-breeding. But how many 
 of us are trained to recognize a perfect foot? 
 Too many girls judge of the foot by the shoe. 
 And the ordinary standard of a beautiful shoe 
 is the type worn by a French woman in her 
 carriage or at home. Not stopping to reason, 
 we Americans straightway follow after like a 
 flock of sheep, donning this tiny, high-heeled 
 foot-covering for the hard work of daily wear. 
 
 In these days of distorted feet, distorted 
 foot-wear, and distorted ideas, it is so difficult 
 to find a perfect foot, that we are obliged, per- 
 force, to go back to the ancient statues to dis- 
 cover a worthy model. The next day you go 
 down town, look in the window of an art store 
 for the winged Mercury, Venus, or the Apollo 
 Belvedere. Then can you examine a perfect 
 foot to your heart's content. 
 
 At night, after taking off the stockings, spread 
 
44 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 your toes out. I mean this literally; can you 
 spread them or have they lost their muscular 
 power? Note how far they have strayed from 
 the strong, beautiful type with which Nature 
 has endowed most of us. 
 
 A baby's foot is not yet disfigured by the 
 modern shoe, and although its outlines are some- 
 what padded by layers of fat, the marks of 
 perfection stand out clearly. Baby's foot may 
 be classed with that seen in ancient statuary. 
 The great toe stands out by itself, a distinct 
 interval showing between it and its neighbor. 
 The direction of this toe is either straight for- 
 ward, or a little inward. There is given no 
 chance then for the prominence of the " bunion " 
 joint. The other toes, straight and symmetrical, 
 are tipped with pearly-rose nails. In the most 
 beautiful type of foot, the instep is high with 
 graceful arch; the softly rounded heel delicately 
 tinted. Not many girls of this age of " civiliza- 
 tion " can lay claim to such a member. As to 
 the size, do not let that trouble you, for feet to 
 serve us well must be large enough to carry their 
 burden without weariness. 
 
 It is worth while to examine not only the 
 shape of baby's foot, but the movements of the 
 toes as well. Down they bend, then up. Again 
 
FEET AND SHOES 45 
 
 they spread apart. When the child is old 
 enough to walk, the toes practically dig into 
 the ground. With the toes, too, baby is able 
 to grasp objects. A most marked contrast is 
 seen in the foot of the grown-up. Instead of 
 flexibility and the power of spreading apart, 
 the toes are generally crowded together, and 
 practically powerless to perform any of the 
 movements for which they were made. The 
 adult foot has indeed been well likened to a 
 shoemaker's last. 
 
 Some of you have doubtless seen unfortunates 
 born without arms, who have substituted for 
 this loss marvelously trained feet. In an art 
 gallery in Antwerp, some years ago, I saw such a 
 man. He cheerfully filled up the working hours 
 by painting with his feet. Others similarly 
 afflicted have developed the foot muscles to 
 such a wonderful degree that they have been 
 able to write, play ball, paint, dress themselves, 
 and do countless other kinds of useful work. 
 
 In school days we learned that the foot con- 
 sists of twenty-six bones, various muscles, liga- 
 ments, and joints. Naturally, if the bones are 
 displaced, if the muscles lose their strength, if 
 the ligaments are over-stretched, the foot will 
 be weakened and disabled to such an extent 
 
46 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 that it cannot perform its work. We have 
 already spoken of the arch of the instep, but there 
 is another arch across the foot just back of the 
 toes. This structure relieves from jar the joints 
 above, and preserves from injury the nerves, 
 blood-vessels, and other delicate tissues lying 
 under the instep. Muscles in the sole of the foot 
 act like a bow-string, resisting the tendency of 
 the body-weight to break down the arch. 
 
 When the foot is crowded into an up-to-date 
 shoe, the muscles are first hampered, and finally 
 rendered almost powerless. Then do the toes 
 lose their freedom of action, and the foot be- 
 comes hardly better than a mere pedestal. And 
 the " pedestal walk " develops. For one of the 
 principles of a" good " foot is the healthy con- 
 dition of the muscles. Is it then any wonder 
 that a foot so abused becomes unable to do its 
 work? Is it strange that the ligaments give way, 
 allowing the bones to become displaced? Is it 
 remarkable that the foot loses its spring, becom- 
 ing weak and flat? Are you surprised that you 
 cannot walk with comfort any more? 
 
 The widest part of the perfect foot is at the 
 toes. A glance at your own shoe will convince 
 you whether these " willing servitors " of yours 
 have been clothed comfortably, or have been 
 
FEET AND SHOES 47 
 
 " adorned " with the so-called " prison cells of 
 pride." The usual modern shoe is narrowest 
 across the toes. This shape is responsible for 
 many bunions, for in such a shoe the great toe is 
 crowded against its neighbor, thus throwing into 
 prominence the joint at its base. 
 
 As to high heels, if you are interested to see 
 their effect in your own case, get a block of wood 
 shaped like the ordinary " French heel." Stand 
 in front of a mirror, with one bare foot flat on the 
 floor, and put the block under the heel of the other. 
 In place of the entire sole, excepting the arch, 
 bearing the body weight, the ball of the " high- 
 heeled foot " bears most of the weight, only a 
 little being thrown on the heel. The arch is 
 greatly exaggerated, with severe straining of the 
 muscles and consequent pain. 
 
 In X-ray pictures representing the same foot; 
 first in an ordinary French shoe, then in a sensi- 
 ble shoe,the difference in length, by actual meas- 
 urement with a tape, is shown to be one-half an 
 inch, the shorter foot of course being that in the 
 high-heeled shoe. The height of the instep is 
 increased three-fourths of an inch; while the heel 
 of this foot is raised above the ground an inch 
 and a half. 
 
 The girl who habitually wears such shoes be- 
 
48 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 comes easily tired. Naturally she grows irri- 
 table and nervous. On account of the uptilted 
 heels, the upper part of the body is thrown for- 
 ward. Good position for deep breathing is im- 
 possible, for shoulders sag forward and chest sinks 
 in. The upper parts of the lungs do not get 
 their share of pure air, and offer good ground 
 for the germ of tuberculosis. The effects of 
 wearing high-heeled shoes are indeed far-reach- 
 ing. 
 
 Many " cure-all " devices troop forward for 
 flat-foot. " You certainly have rheumatism of 
 the feet," says one; " You need a course of bath 
 treatments," says another; while a third pro- 
 nounces his dictum: " Dislocation of one of the 
 vertebrae is accountable for all this trouble in 
 the feet." And so the victim of flat-foot is tossed 
 from pillar to post. She is fortunate if she early 
 falls into the hands of one familiar with both the 
 trouble and the measures for its relief. This 
 condition in its first stages is not correctly diag- 
 nosed in fifty per cent of the cases. Among the 
 early symptoms is a feeling of weariness and 
 vague discomfort, although there is no definite 
 pain. When this weakness is first felt, it is no- 
 ticed only after standing some time. Resting or 
 walking relieves it. Later there is aching, often 
 
FEET AND SHOES 49 
 
 lessened by walking on the outer side of the 
 foot. 
 
 The girl with flat-foot now begins to observe 
 advertisements flaunted everywhere for the cure 
 of rheumatism of the feet. It is well to remember 
 that although rheumatism and gout are among 
 the predisposing causes, the presence of these 
 diseases can always be detected by symptoms 
 elsewhere in the body. The treatment of flat- 
 foot belongs in the hands of an orthopedic 
 surgeon who has made a careful study of the 
 condition. 
 
 A most helpful measure for one suffering 
 from flat-foot is the tiptoe exercise. Spring 
 to the toes, then rhythmically drop to ordi- 
 nary standing position. Nothing so relieves 
 feet strained from standing as springing to 
 tiptoe. Practise this with feet bare when 
 possible. 
 
 Tracings of footsteps along a straight line show 
 the angle at which the foot is turned. You can 
 easily see this for yourself by making a chalk line 
 on a bare floor. The best position, with feet 
 pointed straight ahead or nearly so, is the strong- 
 est one, in which the arch is firmest. It has 
 been called the four square position, for a tracing 
 around the feet will form a square, bringing to 
 
50 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 mind " A tower that stood four square to every 
 wind that blew." In countries where people 
 carry burdens on the head, and where they are 
 accustomed to walk barefoot, the straight-foot 
 position is the common attitude. Then is the 
 body perfectly balanced. 
 
 Troubles of the feet are far more common and 
 cause more suffering and injury to the general 
 health than most people realize. " Keep your 
 feet dry, warm, and free from blemishes " is 
 one of the foundation stones of good health and 
 comeliness. 
 
 Stockings often do as much harm to the feet as 
 shoes, for if too small they may exert pressure 
 sufficient to deform the foot. Stockings should 
 have a separate pocket for the great toe. The 
 wearing of fresh stockings daily is one prevent- 
 ive of cold feet. 
 
 But how about corns and bunions? The old 
 Latin name for corn was nail. A corn is in 
 reality a nail of horn, for in shape it resembles a 
 cone, and is made up of cells like those of the 
 outside horny layer of skin. The point of this 
 horny nail is directed downward, pressing on 
 the nerves and delicate tissues. No wonder it 
 hurts! Of all methods of treating corns, cutting 
 is the worst. The pressure that has caused the 
 
FEET AND SHOES 51 
 
 corn must first be removed. After this is done, 
 rare is the corn that will not succumb to a nightly 
 water dressing or bread-poultice. Another simple 
 measure consists in soaking the feet twice a 
 day in warm water containing a little baking- 
 soda. It is a well-known fact that bottle- 
 washers, whose hands are in such a solution 
 hours at a time, have their nails almost destroyed. 
 In writing this I am well aware that many 
 sufferers will not try this method because it is too 
 simple. Another objection is that it costs noth- 
 ing. Nor does it offer the satisfaction of using 
 drugs ! 
 
 And bunions? Here, too, pressure must be 
 removed, the toes straightened into normal 
 position, and kept there. In order to cure 
 bunions and corns, then, we must hark back to 
 proper stockings and shoes. 
 
 But as some one has truly said: " Vanity and 
 common sense are unevenly matched foes." 
 
VII 
 
 THE SHAMPOO AND OTHER THINGS 
 
 While in a hairdresser's shop the other day 
 with a friend who wished to have a switch made of 
 her own combings, I was much impressed by the 
 reply of the proprietor, who said: " We never 
 use American hair in any of our work; it never 
 wears well. All of our hair we import from 
 Europe, most of it coming from the heads of the 
 peasants." These statements set me to thinking, 
 for it is only too true that American girls are 
 greatly troubled with disorders of the scalp. 
 
 One of the great secrets of the whole trouble is 
 that girls do not give enough time and systematic 
 care to the hair. To be sure, the modern, high- 
 strung American is not apt to have such a 
 luxuriant growth of hair as the stolid, phlegmatic, 
 European peasant, for nervous people as a rule 
 have less heavy heads of hair than their sisters 
 of the opposite temperament. It is all the more 
 necessary, then, that you assist Nature in caring 
 for your crowning glory. Even in the every- 
 day routine great injury is done to the hair, and 
 
THE SHAMPOO 53 
 
 such treatment kept up for three hundred and 
 sixty-five or seven hundred and thirty or ten 
 hundred and ninety-five times a year is sure to 
 show its results after a while. 
 
 It is often said that statistics are of no special 
 value, but if I could gather all of you about me 
 to take a peep into the letters that come to me day 
 by day, you could not fail to be impressed by 
 the number that ask concerning the care of the 
 hair in its every detail. 
 
 Although the loss of fifty or sixty hairs every 
 day is perfectly normal, nevertheless moulting 
 seasons for the hair are not normal. The results 
 from the ordinary way in which a girl combs her 
 hair would make one fancy that such was the 
 case. In order to keep hair vigorous and in 
 good condition, it must be cared for with great 
 gentleness. 
 
 There are so many of us that we can offer all 
 shades, from the old-fashioned towhead to the 
 blue-black of the raven's wing. In the olden 
 times the color of the hair was considered a mark 
 of temperament; the black-haired person was 
 supposed to have a " bilious temperament " and 
 to be strong and vigorous. The light-haired 
 individual was thought to have the " lymphatic 
 temperament," weak and indolent. Light hair 
 
54 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 was considered a beauty, but it also indicated 
 weakness, and its owner was supposed to need 
 protection; while the brunette, with brown or 
 black hair, showed strength and vivacity. The 
 possessor of deep red hair was called sanguine, 
 having a violent temper. It has been noted 
 that the oil in red hair often has a strong odor. 
 There is considerable oxide of iron in black hair, 
 and sulphur is found in greater quantities in red 
 or in light hair than in black. 
 
 But it is not alone in color that variations 
 occur, for one girl will have an oily scalp, while 
 another has a dry one: one has fine, silky hair, 
 that distracts its owner by matting down and 
 lying close to the head, while fluffiness is the 
 bewitching characteristic of another, envied by 
 all her sisters. This girl is apt to say compla- 
 cently, when the subject is broached: " Yes, I 
 suppose I am fortunate in having curly hair, 
 though I never think much about it till I see 
 the other girls struggling with curling-irons and 
 crimping-pins." 
 
 The question " How often shall I wash my 
 hair? " is very old yet ever new. The harm 
 sometimes attributed to the shampoo depends 
 not so much upon the frequency as upon the 
 method. At the medical school our professor 
 
THE SHAMPOO 55 
 
 of dermatology once said: " It stands to reason 
 that if the face must be washed frequently to 
 keep it clean, so must the scalp. The scalp 
 does not differ essentially from the skin of other 
 parts of the body; it needs intelligent treatment, 
 that is all." 
 
 If you are exposed to much dust, or if you 
 happen to live in a " soft coal country," then 
 your hair will need more frequent shampooing 
 than will that of the girl who lives in the heart of 
 the Adirondacks. The girl who is a stay-at- 
 home in a country where hard coal or wood is 
 burned will not need to wash her hair nearly so 
 often as the girl who lives in a busy city, where 
 soft coal soot floats about; nor as often as she 
 whose business calls her into the suburbs on fre- 
 quent railroad journeys. Neither will the girl 
 with dry hair have to shampoo it as often as the 
 one with an oily scalp. 
 
 You can see, then, that the hair might be 
 washed under certain circumstances once or 
 twice a week, or you might be able to keep it 
 fresh and sweet by means of brushing, dry sham- 
 pooing, and sun and air baths for a month, with- 
 out a regular shampoo. As a rule, I think that 
 once in two w r eeks is not too often. 
 
 If the scalp is healthy, a shampoo of hot soap- 
 
56 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 suds will cleanse it. Use the purest unscented 
 soap that you can find. With the finger-tips rub 
 the suds thoroughly into the scalp and through the 
 hair. Thus you will avoid making the hair 
 sticky — a condition almost sure to follow when 
 the cake of soap itself is rubbed on the hair. 
 
 You can also massage the scalp gently but 
 firmly. Circulation is thus stimulated, and there 
 is no better way of nourishing the hair than by 
 causing the blood to course vigorously through 
 its vessels. Now is a good time for moving the 
 scalp back and forth on the tissues underneath; 
 the scalp-bound girl will do well to remember 
 this. If the hair is thick and heavy, or long, fol- 
 low the plan of arranging it in loose plaits before 
 shampooing. Discouraging tangles and snarls 
 that so commonly follow the shampoo are really 
 not necessary if the proper care is taken during 
 manipulation. 
 
 Many girls rub the hair on itself while attempt- 
 ing to massage the scalp. Friction is good for 
 the scalp but not for the hair. A professional 
 shampooer systematically parts the hair along 
 every inch of the scalp, beginning at the crown. 
 In this way she is sure not to miss any part of it. 
 This method is easily followed at home. 
 
 After the scalp is thoroughly gone over, the 
 
THE SHAMPOO 57 
 
 hair itself needs attention. Again, remember! 
 Use the suds only. Wash the braids gently be- 
 tween your hands. You are lucky if there is 
 some one to do this for you, for however thin or 
 short your hair may be, there is no doubt but 
 that some one else can shampoo it better than 
 you can yourself. I have often known of girls 
 who have exchanged this service for each other. 
 
 And now for the rinsing. And this can hardly 
 be too thorough. Do not economize either in 
 water or in time in this part of the shampoo. 
 Hair is often imperfectly rinsed after the using of 
 several waters, even including the spray. The 
 last two or three waters should be gradually 
 cooled, so that the pores will contract and there 
 will be less danger of taking cold. Sometimes a 
 little alcohol rubbed into the scalp at the end will 
 accomplish the same purpose. But after all, the 
 glow that follows the brisk manipulation of the 
 scalp with the balls of the fingers is the best pre- 
 ventive of any unhappy after effects of the 
 shampoo. 
 
 The method of drying by the hot air blast is 
 falling into disrepute; for after it the hair be- 
 comes dry and lifeless. Shaking the hair in the 
 sun and gently rubbing its strands through 
 soft, warm, smooth, lintless towels will leave 
 
58 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 it in the best condition, and with a lustre that 
 no other treatment will give. Some people use 
 a linen Turkish towel instead of the ordinary one 
 with great satisfaction. Half-worn, soft towels 
 with a smooth surface are also excellent. 
 
 The best effects of a shampoo can never be 
 gained on cloudy, damp, or rainy days. The 
 sun has a great deal to do with the condition of 
 the hair, and that is one reason why the hair 
 should never be washed at night. Sometimes 
 hearing is permanently affected by carelessness 
 in this regard. Hair ought never to be " done 
 up" until it is perfectly dried. Wetting the 
 hair to make it smooth is apt to cause injury 
 at the roots. 
 
 Many up-to-date hairdressers use the " hot 
 water brush " for drying the hair, declaring its 
 effects to be most satisfactory. The brush is 
 made of metal; the " bristles " are small tubes, 
 containing the hot water which is poured into the 
 empty back. The handle is then screwed on, 
 and you have an apparatus that distributes 
 warmth throughout the mass of the hair, quickly 
 drying it. 
 
 If your complaint is a dry scalp, then at the 
 end of the shampoo get some one to spray the 
 scalp and hair ends with a little sweet oil from 
 
THE SHAMPOO 59 
 
 an atomizer. A good shampoo lotion may be 
 made by shaking up one ounce of green soap 
 with twice the amount of cologne water. 
 
 Should the ordinary shampoo not be convenient, 
 some time when you are traveling, or when the 
 weather is persistently gloomy, freshen up the 
 hair by taking a dry shampoo. There is nothing 
 better for this purpose than pulverized orris 
 root. Part the hair at half-inch spaces and 
 sprinkle the powder generously on the scalp and 
 through the hair, letting it stay for half an hour; 
 then brush it out. 
 
 Indian meal will be just as cleansing, but its 
 odor is not so attractive. 
 
 Just a word here to the girl who goes to the 
 professional shampooer. Always use your own 
 brush and comb, which you will, of course, keep 
 clean and sweet. Many evils follow careless 
 habits so common in this regard. 
 
 Gray or white hair must be kept scrupulously 
 clean to be attractive, for perspiration makes it 
 smeary and yellow. The curling iron, too, tends 
 to give it a yellow tinge. In shampooing white 
 hair, it is well to add a little bluing to the last 
 rinsing water. Experience will teach the right 
 proportion for one's own tint of hair. Use just 
 enough to make the hair a pure white. 
 
60 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Scalp massage has already been referred to, 
 and one of the best movements is that suggested 
 to the scalp-bound girl. The scalp should be 
 kept soft and flexible, so that it can be easily 
 moved over the skull. By this massage, and 
 by the stimulation of circulation, both of which 
 can be accomplished in a few moments every 
 night before retiring, the scalp can be kept in 
 healthy and vigorous condition. 
 
 There are various other movements advised. 
 Brace the thumbs against the face just in front 
 of the ears, then, with the finger-tips making 
 little circles, start from the edge of the hair 
 about the temples, moving firmly up to the 
 crown of the head. Next, rest the thumbs near 
 the crown of the head, and make the tiny circles 
 with the finger-tips from the forehead to the 
 crown. Once more, place the balls of the thumbs 
 in front of the ears, and work with the finger-tips 
 from the crown down to the nape of the neck. 
 In this way the entire scalp will have been 
 covered. 
 
 Again, steady the head against one hand, and 
 work with the finger-tips of the other hand from 
 the crown to the hair line. A movement with 
 both hands is accomplished by laying the palms 
 flat on the sides of the head above the ears, with 
 
THE SHAMPOO 61 
 
 the fingers pointing backward. Lift the scalp 
 firmly while the whole hand makes large circles. 
 This movement may be applied to different parts 
 of the head. It is suitable for the young and 
 vigorous, but should not be tried on the old and 
 feeble. You will soon learn to move the scalp 
 only, and not to injure the hair by undue fric- 
 tion. If you have the opportunity, go to a prac- 
 tical masseuse for a few lessons. This is the 
 surest and easiest way to learn the knack of 
 scalp massage. 
 
 But now comes a question from one of our num- 
 ber who, though still young, finds her hair grad- 
 ually turning. I have read somewhere of a cele- 
 brated American physician who said that the 
 best thing to be done when the hair begins to 
 turn gray is to admire it. Truly this is the 
 most sensible thing to do. If you are still young 
 and find a white hair here and there, I would 
 advise you to pay special attention to the care of 
 your hair as well as to your health in general. 
 Then let the hair take its own course, for dyes 
 are not only apparent; they are many times 
 positively injurious. 
 
 So much has been written about the effect of 
 one's general health upon the appearance of the 
 hair that I hesitate even to refer to such a thread- 
 
62 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 bare phase of the subject. However, let me tell 
 you of a most interesting article written not long 
 since by an English scientist on the means of pro- 
 longing life. He declared that he had observed 
 individuals with whitening hair who, after hav- 
 ing devoted several weeks in the summer to an 
 outdoor life, especially mountain climbing, had 
 been rejoiced on coming home to notice that the 
 hair was returning to its original color. 
 
 Another authority declares that systematic 
 deep breathing will soon show its good effects 
 upon the condition of the hair, keeping at bay the 
 blanching spectre. After all, this does not seem 
 far-fetched, when it is considered that the hair 
 must share in the general state of the health. 
 Deep breathing is merely a method of prolong- 
 ing life by feeding the body with oxygen. Why 
 should not the stimulation of this life-giving ele- 
 ment ascend to the hair, imparting its regenera- 
 ting effect. In any case, deep breathing is 
 always beneficial, and its effects can but be 
 good. 
 
 If the hair will turn despite all precautions, 
 make the best of it. Some of the most strikingly 
 beautiful women one ever sees are those whose 
 hair has prematurely lost its color. Nature is as 
 skilful in harmonizing our color schemes as she is 
 
THE SHAMPOO 63 
 
 in harmonizing those of the trees and flowers. 
 We shall do well to follow her leading. 
 
 The hair needs local airing and sunning just as 
 much as the lungs need oxygen, but the sunning 
 must not be overdone, for it is very possible to 
 fade the hair by exposing it for too long a time 
 to the brilliant rays of the sun, especially when 
 one is near the water in summer. The scalp is as 
 susceptible to sunburn as is the skin of the face 
 and hands; in cases of thin hair the danger is 
 greater than when there is an abundant suit. 
 
 You are well aware that in the case of an ani- 
 mal, a dog or a horse, for instance, the hair imme- 
 diately shows the effect of ill health. Many 
 times, in the case of falling hair, the first step to 
 restore its beauty, is to build up the general 
 health. Since hair is a form of skin, does it seem 
 strange that proper diet, plenty of outdoor exer- 
 cise, deep breathing and frequent bathing, all 
 have a very great influence on its beauty? 
 
VIII 
 
 A TALK ABOUT SUPERFLUOUS HAIR, 
 
 HAIR REMOVERS, AND HAIR 
 
 TONICS 
 
 Many girls who are tempted to try depila- 
 tories — hair removers — so freely advertised 
 throughout our land, may like an insight into 
 the nature of such preparations. These nos- 
 trums are ofttimes made up with certain pro- 
 portions of lime. In many instances the remedy 
 is a paste, and directions are given for rubbing 
 it over the afflicted parts, letting it remain a few 
 moments, after which it is to be scraped off 
 with a dull-edged spatula; you are promised that 
 the hairs will come off at the same time. Perhaps 
 they will, but what good have you accomplished? 
 Your great desire is to kill this ugly growth, and 
 the only way possible of accomplishing the 
 result is to destroy the hair papilla. 
 
 The application of the paste has at best des- 
 troyed only the part of the hair that you can 
 see. It has not affected the root, and presto! 
 
SUPERFLUOUS HAIR 65 
 
 in a few days you have a growth that is coarser 
 and more beardlike than before. 
 
 Perhaps, instead of using some " secret rem- 
 edy," you prefer to go to an " institution," where 
 all of these defects are " magically " removed 
 by " skilled doctors." Hundreds of thousands 
 of dollars are yearly expended in advertising 
 by men who own and conduct these establish- 
 ments. The girls who go to these places for 
 treatment are helping to pay for these advertise- 
 ments. Very often the " doctors " who are 
 employed are unscientific men working for very 
 small salaries, who were not able to get along 
 by themselves in the legitimate practice of 
 medicine. As a rule they are incompetent and 
 do not give any satisfaction whatever, for they 
 have neither the anatomical knowledge nor the 
 skill that comes from experience in treating 
 such troubles. 
 
 The girl who goes to them for the removal 
 of superfluous hair soon sees a new crop appear, 
 and the method — electrolysis — is then blamed, 
 rather than the advertisers. 
 
 In the hands of the most skilled physicians 
 almost no scars are caused by electrolysis and 
 hardly any pain. Pain comes from the use of 
 improper batteries — the strong street current 
 
66 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 often being used in the work — and from the 
 use of improper methods. 
 
 Do the hairs ever return after proper treatment 
 by electrolysis? A certain proportion of hairs, 
 from one-half to one-eighth of those removed, 
 will probably return, though I have known of 
 fifty hairs being removed at one sitting with a 
 return of only two. However, as only a pro- 
 portion of the hairs removed will return, a 
 limited number of treatments is sure to eradicate 
 them entirely. 
 
 Oftentimes, when hairs have been pulled out 
 and cut off repeatedly, the irritation has so 
 strengthened the root that only a part of it is 
 killed by the first treatment. 
 
 Cutting, shaving, and pulling out the hairs, do 
 to a certain extent stimulate them. The hair 
 is never again as silky, glossy, and fine as it was 
 in the first place. It assumes a more masculine 
 aspect. The hairs take a firmer hold. Any- 
 thing that produces a redness — that is, that 
 calls more blood to the parts — has a tendency 
 to make the hair grow. 
 
 Finally, the application of certain so-called 
 " skin foods " is sometimes followed by stimula- 
 tion of the hair, whether the oil in the cream is 
 animal or vegetable. 
 
SUPERFLUOUS HAIR 67 
 
 In investigating the subject of " hair removers," 
 I began to hear about the so-called " hair 
 tonics," and it was not long before I realized 
 two truths: first, that, for the most part, many 
 of these " hair tonics " are perfectly worthless, 
 and, second, that when they are not worthless 
 many are dangerous. I was surprised at the 
 prices charged for these " tonics," and deter- 
 mined, by the friendly aid of a chemist, to find 
 out how much they cost to make and what they 
 were sold for. Here is a list of six of them: 
 The first sold for seventy-four cents; it cost to 
 make six cents. The second sold for eighty- two 
 cents; it cost to make eight cents. The third 
 sold for one dollar; it cost to make eleven cents. 
 The fourth sold for one dollar; it cost to make 
 nine cents. The fifth sold for one dollar; it 
 cost to make twelve cents. The sixth sold for 
 one dollar; it cost to make eleven cents. 
 
 One " hair tonic," selling for one dollar, 
 contained: water, six ounces; borax, one drachm; 
 and one teaspoonful of rock salt. This was 
 colored with a little carmine, and the cost of 
 making it was about three cents. Yet this is 
 one of the most popular " hair tonics " on the 
 market, and eagerly bought by thousands of 
 girls and women! 
 
68 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 I happened to know a doctor in New York 
 who was a skin specialist, and I was told that 
 scores of girls and women go to him each year to 
 undo the ravages and serious results that accrue 
 from the use of hair " restorers " and " tonics." 
 I asked this doctor if he ever had occasion to 
 treat any cases where hair " restorers " had actu- 
 ally poisoned girls and women. 
 
 " Not only have I such cases constantly," said 
 the physician, " but that girl who has just left my 
 office, and whom you saw being supported b}^ a 
 maid, was partly paralyzed from the use of a 
 very well-known ' hair-renewer,' so called. I 
 have a patient who used a ' hair wash ' that 
 poisoned her. It began with an eruption on the 
 parts where the ' wash ' had been applied. An- 
 other girl I am now treating was silly enough to 
 use a preparation which, it was alleged, would 
 bleach her hair. She developed a severe case of 
 inflammation of the scalp, face and neck, and is 
 now suffering from neuralgia. 
 
 A girl in a fashionable millinery store wanted 
 to color her hair a Titian red, so she bought 
 a dye that was put up in two bottles. It was 
 not the first time that she had used this prep- 
 aration, and as she had never before experienced 
 any trouble from it she had no fears about apply- 
 
SUPERFLUOUS HAIR 69 
 
 ing it again. A patch of eczema, however, ap- 
 peared on her scalp; it spread and spread till not 
 only the scalp was one mass of eruption, but the 
 loathsome disease finally extended over her en- 
 tire body. For three weeks the girl was unable 
 to leave her room, and several months elapsed 
 before the trouble was cured. 
 
 One reason why we do not hear more about 
 the evil effects of hair dyes is that the girls who 
 use these preparations are very sensitive about 
 speaking of their effects. Even when poisoned, 
 such girls will go quietly to a doctor for relief, 
 and the tale of woe travels no further. 
 
 " I cannot imagine," said this doctor, " what 
 possesses women to run such risks by tampering 
 with these dangerous preparations for the hair." 
 
 " A woman's hair is very dear to her," I ven- 
 tured. 
 
 " Exactly," he returned, " and that is why I 
 marvel at her willingness to risk the danger of 
 these preparations." 
 
 " You think, then," I asked this man who 
 knows, " that many of these hair ' lotions,' 
 1 tonics,' and so on, are divided into the two 
 classes: the one dangerous and the other worth- 
 less? " 
 
 " Absolutely," he replied with decision. " I 
 
70 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 have analyzed many of them, because I have had 
 cases come to me from the use of almost every 
 preparation on the market. And there is not a 
 single one, not one, that I have ever come across 
 that is worth two cents or that is not dangerous. " 
 
 " Why are they useless? " I asked. 
 
 " Well, take what are called ' hair removers. ' 
 The best authorities state that those preparations 
 act only on the hair above the surface, not on the 
 roots. They destroy the shaft well down into 
 the hair follicle only. None of them destroys 
 the hair papilla. Therefore they constitute only a 
 closer kind of shaving, but, as they cause more irri- 
 tation than shaving, their final effects are worse. 
 The hair, of course, returns, and returns stronger 
 than ever, for, as every man can tell you, shav- 
 ing stimulates the growth of the hair. The 
 same way with these ' hair removers.' A woman 
 might just as well shave herself as to use these 
 1 removers.' And shaving would be a thousand 
 times safer." 
 
 " And the others are dangerous because — " 
 I continued. 
 
 " Because they contain either lead or other 
 metallic substances which are poisonous, or they 
 have in them a strong caustic alkali that irritates 
 the skin. The whole business should be forbid- 
 
SUPERFLUOUS HAIR 71 
 
 den by law, since women do not seem to be able 
 to shun the use of these things, dangerous as they 
 are." 
 
 " Then what shall a woman do if her hair be- 
 gins to fall out or turn gray? ". I ventured. 
 
 " Go to a reputable doctor, for such a condition 
 may often have nothing to do with the hair. It 
 may be due to some irregularity of the system, 
 some impoverishment of the blood, some defect 
 of the circulation. The result is shown in the 
 hair, but the trouble does not lie there. That 
 lies in the body, and a woman can go on until 
 doomsday using a ' hair tonic,' a ' restorer ' or 
 what not and it will not reach the seat of the 
 trouble. She is not well physically; her body is 
 ailing — not her hair; it only shows there." 
 
 And, from all the inquiries I could make, ex- 
 tending over several months of careful work and 
 investigation, I found the words of this doctor to 
 be all too true. There can be no question of the 
 danger or worthlessness of many of these hair 
 remedies. A woman undoubtedly either wastes 
 her money in the purchase of them, — and that 
 is the least consideration, — or in their use she 
 courts danger. 
 
IX 
 
 WHAT THE ADVERTISED COSMETICS 
 AND " BEAUTIFIERS " REALLY ARE 
 
 Many girls will doubtless be interested to 
 discover the true inwardness of some of the 
 well-known secret preparations for sale on the 
 market to-day. One of these is a " balm." It 
 is put up in a cheap glass flask, tied with a bit of 
 ribbon. The ingredients of this " magic beauti- 
 fier," besides water, are oxide of zinc and corro- 
 sive sublimate, the latter a deadly poison. The 
 price of the flask with its contents is $1.50, a sum 
 gladly paid by many a poor girl. The real cost 
 is not more than ten cents. 
 
 Another preparation is a moth and freckle 
 lotion. It is made up of " corrosive sublimate 
 in almond paste or emulsion with water." It is 
 also sold at the modest cost of $1.50, its worth 
 being at most ten cents. 
 
 Then a soap, scented and stamped with a 
 certain magic name, sells for fifty cents. In 
 reality this article is only an ordinary toilet 
 soap, usually selling for ten cents a cake. The 
 
ADVERTISED COSMETICS 73 
 
 " cream " in this series is a mixture of glycerine, 
 zinc oxide and mercuric chloride (corrosive 
 sublimate) scented with rose. These famous 
 preparations have been the means of coining 
 thousands of dollars for their ingenious pro- 
 mulgator, while in reality they are ordinary, 
 cheap preparations condemned by physicians 
 especially on account of the corrosive sublimate 
 found in most of them. 
 
 Many powders contain lead. Indeed, some 
 have been found by analyses to consist almost 
 entirely of carbonate of lead, commonly known 
 as white lead. A certain dermatologist tells 
 of an experience he once had at a mineral bath 
 resort. He was called in haste to attend a 
 well-known actress. On entering the room, he 
 found the patient literally " black in the face " — 
 and neck. She was in the habit of using a 
 cosmetic containing lead. Consequently the 
 effect of her first sulphur bath was most appalling. 
 The discoloration affected not only the surface 
 of the skin, but also showed itself deep down in 
 the pores, and she was a sorry looking sight. 
 When sulphur comes in contact with lead on 
 the skin, the effect is disastrous to beauty. Soap 
 and water have no effect on such discoloration, 
 which looks like indelible ink. The sebaceous 
 
74 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 matter in the pores gets mixed with the lead, and 
 the ordinary blackhead looks fair in comparison 
 with the result. The only way to get rid of 
 these little black plugs is to squeeze them out. 
 But discoloration from the use of lead powders 
 is one of their least harmful effects. 
 
 A girl came to a physician one day with all 
 the symptoms of chronic lead poisoning. Her 
 hands and arms were weak and unsteady. She 
 found it difficult to write, and walking had 
 become a task. She suffered from colic and 
 her digestion was deranged. There was a 
 coppery taste in her mouth every morning on 
 waking. An ugly, dark blue line at the margin 
 of the gums was a telltale landmark. 
 
 The girl grew worse until she could neither 
 pick up nor hold anything with her hands. 
 Weakness in the hands was first noticed at a 
 " taffy-pulling," where she dropped a skillet 
 of hot syrup. At last she could not extend her 
 fingers, and what is known as " wrist-drop " 
 developed, that is, her hands dropped at the 
 wrist and she had no power to raise them. So 
 weak was her back that she could not hold 
 herself up, but leaned her body over in the old- 
 fashioned " Grecian bend." The first physician 
 consulted thought that the trouble was spinal 
 
ADVERTISED COSMETICS 75 
 
 disease, and fitted her with a brace; but her 
 condition grew worse and a second physician was 
 called in, who, after a careful examination, 
 pronounced the condition chronic lead poisoning. 
 This is only one of many similar instances. 
 Delirium and convulsions have been caused by 
 the long continued use of lead powders. Many 
 powders warranted to be free from lead contain 
 other very injurious ingredients, and disfiguring 
 eruptions are sometimes caused by them. What- 
 ever powder is used, it should be absolutely fresh; 
 for even starch, when stale, is irritating. Talcum 
 is as innocent as any adherent powder. A 
 certain powder purporting to consist chiefly 
 of bismuth contains none of this mineral, but 
 is made up of chalk and clay. Nearly all 
 bleaches contain mercuric chloride, always 
 risky to use, as it is a deadly poison. 
 
 " But," you ask, " what about the Pure Food 
 and Drug Act? Hasn't that made any differ- 
 ence? " 
 
 Fortunately for foolish girls it has, and many 
 preparations formerly harmful are now simply 
 worthless. A certain bleach is made up of water 
 and Epsom salts, costing the maker about three 
 cents. Another bleaching lotion is a concoction 
 of Rochelle salts and lemon juice. This lotion 
 
76 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 is sold for two dollars a bottle. A face rouge 
 is a mixture of a poor quality of rose-water 
 and ammonia, brightly colored with a little car- 
 mine. 
 
 A certain modern " mole-remover " consists 
 of water and a little perfume. The directions 
 on the bottle are: " Apply this to the mole or 
 wart with a toothpick, using care not to apply 
 too much. Rub gently with toothpick until a 
 soft jellylike substance appears. Allow to re- 
 main on for a minute or two, then apply ordi- 
 nary vinegar in the same manner to prevent 
 scarring. A scab will then form which will drop 
 off in a few days, after which, if the surface is not 
 entirely smooth, repeat treatment. Allow the solu- 
 tion to get on no other part than that treated." 
 Of course the only thing that can have any effect 
 on the mole is the acid in the vinegar that you 
 furnish yourself. 
 
 If girls would only talk with a physician about 
 the danger of starting malignant growths simply 
 by the irritation of moles and warts, they would 
 realize the danger of tampering with such blem- 
 ishes. 
 
 Recently I talked with an old German chem- 
 ist who at one time was employed for several 
 years in " beauty parlors and institutes," where 
 
ADVERTISED COSMETICS 77 
 
 they claim to do all sorts of things to make girls 
 and women beautiful. 
 
 One day, he said, a girl came in who was going 
 on the stage, and as her skin had begun to wrin- 
 kle she wanted to have the wrinkles removed. 
 The " Doctor " said he could do it. Then he 
 used what is called the " paraffin treatment " — 
 that is, he injected paraffin in six places on each 
 side of her face. This was to get rid of both the 
 worry wrinkles and the scowling wrinkles on the 
 forehead, the crow's feet at the sides of the eyes, 
 the lines each side of the nose, and the laughing 
 wrinkles at the corners of the mouth. And the 
 last injection was on the chin, because the 
 girl had what the " Doctor " called jowls. The 
 German said that after the " Doctor " got 
 through with her she was a perfect scarecrow. 
 When her face was still she looked as if some one 
 had dabbed her in those places with a stick of 
 white chalk. There were twelve perfectly white 
 streaks. But when she grew excited or laughed 
 or moved her face, the spots turned a blood red. 
 The " Doctor " got twenty-five dollars from her 
 for all this, and she was such a looking fright that 
 she never could get on the stage! 
 
 Another girl came in one day, and the " Doc- 
 tor " injected some paraffin into the skin of her 
 
78 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 nose to change its shape. " No one knows what 
 happened," said the German, " whether a vein 
 was struck or what, but the girl had the most 
 dreadful looking nose that you could imagine. 
 It was all black and swollen and was in a terrible 
 condition. Ihe girl was in agony. She came 
 several times, and each time she was worse, until 
 finally the ' Doctor ' refused to see her." 
 
 Another girl wanted to have deep wrinkles 
 around her eyes removed. So they took a tuck, as 
 it were, in her scalp, but they made it too deep 
 and instead of smoothing out her temples, it left 
 her with the corners of her eyes drawn outward, 
 so that she looked as if she had been cut on the 
 bias! 
 
 The men at this " institute," said the German, 
 professed to make crooked noses straight. He 
 said scores of women would come to be treated 
 for their noses, and that some weird looking fea- 
 tures were turned out, for they often cut the 
 noses in the wrong places! 
 
 He told me, too, of a young opera singer. 
 Thinking she would have a few lines in her face 
 filled up, she went to this " Doctor's " parlor. 
 After the work was done, she had red bumps in- 
 stead of faint lines, and, of course, she had to 
 leave the stage. 
 
ADVERTISED COSMETICS 79 
 
 Another girl he knew was an actress. She 
 was very pretty, but her nose was a little tip- 
 tilted; so she had an injection of paraffin, and it 
 made a lump on her nose that looked like a 
 goose egg. It disfigured her so that she has 
 never been able to get a position since. 
 
 Then I asked the old German how it was that 
 this " beauty parlor " could show you such a 
 number of photographs of people who had had 
 their noses fixed over. One photograph would 
 show a woman with a bad nose, and the other 
 would show the same woman with her nose 
 straight. 
 
 The old German laughed. " First they take 
 an ordinary photograph/' he said. " Of course, 
 that shows all the wrinkles, the bad features 
 and the bad nose. Then they take a photograph 
 of the first photograph, and this last one they 
 touch up themselves, just as they like, and the 
 result is, of course, just what they want to make 
 it. But it is not a real photograph, although 
 it may look like it." 
 
 Various processes are advertised for rejuvenat- 
 ing the skin. One of the most painful of these 
 is the iodine treatment. By it the skin is peeled 
 off and the tissue underneath left raw. When 
 healed, the new skin is more sensitive than a 
 
80 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 baby's and as expressionless as a wax doll's. 
 Within a few months thousands of tiny, linelike, 
 crisscross wrinkles appear, until the face wizens 
 up like a shriveled apple. Another method, 
 making use of carbolic acid, sometimes gives rise 
 to carbolic acid poisoning. 
 
 The other day, at an afternoon tea, I saw a 
 woman with a most curious-looking complexion. 
 Although the skin had no blemish, it looked so 
 thin and so tender that one felt that a finger 
 touch might cause pain. The woman's face had 
 evidently been peeled! But the original " old 
 expression " still remained. The contrast be- 
 tween the babylike skin and the real age of the 
 face called forth the remark that " Age showed 
 through a mask of kittenish juvenility." 
 
 Beware of using tinted cosmetics! A certain 
 pink lip salve in common use, although doing 
 no harm when the skin is not broken, is injurious 
 when used on a cold-sore or on cracked lips. 
 
 Carmine, after long-continued use, turns the 
 skin dry and yellow. Vermilion is an active 
 poison. But whatever is used that would choke 
 the pores of the skin should be applied after a 
 bland cream is rubbed in. One of the best 
 creams for general use is that made according 
 to the official formula. 
 
ADVERTISED COSMETICS 81 
 
 Rouge for theatrical purposes is indispensa- 
 ble, but it should contain no harmful ingredients, 
 and it ought to be removed as soon as possible, 
 
 A certain preparation advertised to produce 
 rosy cheeks without the help of rouge consists 
 of a powdered silicious sponge. Examined under 
 the microscope the preparation is seen to be 
 made up of multitudes of tiny silicious needles. 
 
 These sharp spines stick into the skin ; irritat- 
 ing it, thus causing it to redden. 
 
 Many freckle lotions are either worthless or 
 harmful, often containing mercuric chloride in 
 injurious quantities. 
 
 Many a girl's complexion is ruined beyond 
 repair by the use of injurious cosmetics. Never 
 mind if these tempting powders and " balms " 
 do masquerade under attractive names; do not 
 be tempted to use anything of the sort without 
 first consulting a physician. 
 
 Have you not often noticed the effect on the 
 skin of poor physical condition? Perhaps no 
 other part of the body so quickly shows it. 
 Physicians are realizing more and more the 
 connection between the condition of the health 
 and the appearance of the skin, and do not treat 
 lightly the case of a girl who presents herself 
 with a blotchy complexion. The trouble is not 
 
82 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 merely superficial, but demands skillful insight 
 and treatment. The cause of this condition 
 must be removed before the complexion will 
 be clear. Overeating, constipation, a sedentary 
 life, the breathing of impure air, lack of sleep, 
 nervous overstrain, violent emotions, such as 
 anger — all these are bound to show their 
 unpleasant effects sooner or later in the skin, 
 the index of what is going on throughout the 
 whole economy. 
 
THE " SECOND FACE" 
 
 It is remarkable how much can be told from the 
 hands of a man or a woman by one who has made 
 it a subject of study. Many suggestions con- 
 cerning the health, habits, occupation and char- 
 acter may be gleaned from the mere grasp of the 
 hand by one who is a keen observer. There are 
 several characteristics apparent to even the most 
 indifferent. If you shake a hand that is cold and 
 dry, are you not immediately conscious of an un- 
 comfortable sensation? Do you ever wonder 
 what these characteristics indicate? They may 
 mean anemia, or starvation, or very likely they 
 are an index of feeble circulation. 
 
 If, instead of being cold and dry, the hand is 
 cold and clammy, and tremulous as well, then you 
 may suspect dyspepsia, hysteria, melancholia, or 
 some depressing emotion such as worry or terror; 
 or this condition may be due to tea or alcohol or 
 tobacco. The tuberculous patient often has a 
 hand that is hot and dry and very thin. The 
 hand of one suffering from cancer is often dry, as 
 
84 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 is also that of the person with chronic kidney 
 trouble. Sometimes excessive sweating of the 
 hand is an indication of chronic disease. The phy- 
 sician gets many valuable hints about his patient 
 from the condition of the hands. 
 
 Occupation frequently leaves its stamp. How 
 quickly you can detect the hand of a seamstress 
 by looking at the pricked and blackened left index 
 finger. There are often corns on the left finger- 
 tips of violinists. 
 
 In some people there are certain brown spots 
 on the backs of the hands. These spots do not 
 disappear when put under pressure. This ap- 
 pearance has been noted in the case of certain 
 diseases, such as tuberculosis. The hands nearly 
 always grow red in one subject to rheumatic gout, 
 no matter how white they may formerly have 
 been. You have often noticed the joints dis- 
 torted from rheumatism. Sometimes, indeed, 
 the whole hand is left swollen and out of shape 
 because of this disease. 
 
 In its power of expression the hand stands next 
 to the face. A modern writer on the hand says: 
 " That it is what it is, the most active physical 
 representative of the personality of every human 
 being, entitles it to a regard and care which it am- 
 ply repays." It is in direct communication with 
 
 - 
 
THE "SECOND FACE" 85 
 
 the brain, and it naturally expresses what is in 
 the brain. 
 
 The perfect hand has two essential character- 
 istics, beauty and usefulness. The beauty of 
 the hands depends quite as much upon the con- 
 dition of the health as does the beauty of the 
 complexion. Hands are fully as expressive of 
 character as is the face. A pretty face loses half 
 of its charm, if the hands show lack of care. 
 Well-groomed hands are a very potent element 
 of fascination, that mysterious quality so coveted 
 by all girls. A hand to exert its greatest influ- 
 ence must be a " capable " hand. It must look 
 as if it did its share of the world's work; undevel- 
 oped, it amounts almost to a deformity. 
 
 All girls cannot have classically beautiful hands, 
 but there is not one who cannot, by her own 
 efforts, have attractive hands. 
 
 The prettiest hands that I ever saw belonged to 
 a woman who did all the work, including the 
 washing, for her family of seven; so, although 
 housework may have fallen to your lot, do not 
 despair. There is still a great deal of hope for 
 you if you are really in earnest about keeping 
 your hands dainty. This friend of mine never 
 purchased high-priced toilet preparations, for she 
 was a genius and used what was easily accessible. 
 
86 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 After having her hands in water, they were al- 
 ways dried with powdered starch. When her 
 hands were not very much soiled, soap was passed 
 by, oatmeal being substituted. This was just 
 the ordinary breakfast oatmeal, put into little 
 muslin bags holding two tablespoonfuls each. 
 When used, the bags were soaked and squeezed 
 in the water. Hard water she had to contend 
 with, so this was always boiled before using in 
 order to soften it. Into the basin of water a few 
 drops — about a dozen — of the compound tinc- 
 ture of benzoin were put. For both oatmeal 
 and benzoin tend to whiten the skin and make it 
 soft and delicate. 
 
 Before polishing the stoves, a little lard was 
 rubbed under and around the finger-nails, pro- 
 tecting them from the grime of the blacking. 
 Unavoidable stains were removed immediately 
 with the skins of raw tomatoes, or lemon juice; 
 and ink stains with the fumes of a burning sul- 
 phur match. Sometimes the head of the match 
 was wet and rubbed on the spot. When obliged 
 to keep her hands in water until they were 
 shrunken, into vinegar they went, coming out 
 from this bath in normal condition. Before 
 doing work that would discolor the hands, 
 vinegar was rubbed over them and allowed 
 
THE "SECOND FACE " 87 
 
 to dry, for the vinegar forms a protective 
 coating. 
 
 Many an onion she peeled and many a codfish 
 she shredded, but they had no terrors for her, for 
 she knew that the unpleasant odor could be re- 
 moved by rubbing dry mustard over the hands, 
 or by putting them into mustard water. 
 
 A pair of chamois gloves were worn whenever 
 it was convenient, for the texture of the chamois 
 keeps the dirt from penetrating to the skin, thus 
 offering a great protection. Before putting 
 down carpets or cleaning house, this wise person 
 ran her nails over a cake of softened castile. 
 After the work was finished she had but to press 
 gently on the nails to remove the bits of soap 
 that had proved such good protection. 
 
 Her toilet cream was a specialty of the neigh- 
 borhood, and was made up of mutton tallow, 
 lemon juice, and honey. These ingredients were 
 put on the back of the stove to simmer until thor- 
 oughly mixed. A favorite paste was made of 
 camphor, honey, and powdered sulphur. An 
 occasional use of cornmeal helped to keep the 
 hands smooth. This was sometimes used for 
 drying the hands, and occasionally in place of 
 soap. 
 
 Girls who spend their days in household du- 
 
88 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 ties may find a certain amount of diversion in 
 matters of the toilet so easily attended to. 
 
 The nails, in order to indicate good circulation 
 and general health, should be clear pink in color. 
 If this changes to a dusky shade there is sug- 
 gested a deficiency in the action of the heart 
 and lungs, or it may be that the body is not suffi- 
 ciently nourished ; this condition sometimes occurs 
 also in cold weather, or in persons who are very 
 feeble. It has been said that salt air quickens 
 the growth of the nails, and there is also a tradi- 
 tion that great grief destroys them. It is well 
 known that often the nails are pale in those suf- 
 fering from tuberculosis, are yellow in cases of 
 jaundice, and purple in certain disturbances of 
 the circulation. 
 
 Although in most towns one can generally 
 find a professional manicure, still such work is 
 never so cheap but that a girl feels she can econ- 
 omize by doing it herself. The process is very 
 simple and so are the implements, although 
 these may be as elaborate as you wish. One 
 needs a pair of curved nail scissors, a nail file, an 
 orange-wood stick, a chamois buffer or polisher, 
 a little vaseline or cold cream, and a box of nail 
 powder. The nails should be manicured twice 
 a week, and this, together with a little daily 
 
THE "SECOND FACE" 89 
 
 care will keep them in good condition all the 
 
 time. 
 
 First, the hands should be washed with warm 
 water, not hot, and a mild soap. White castile 
 or the fine French toilet soaps may be used, or 
 any good soap that you have found agrees with 
 your skin. Dip the fingers for a moment into 
 a bowl of warm water into which a little benzoin 
 has been dropped. File the nails to an oval 
 shape — do not point them — being careful not 
 to go down into the quick at the side. Avoid, 
 also, going too deeply under the free end of the 
 nail, as this will shorten its normal length, and 
 so will leave an undue stretch of dull white 
 surface. 
 
 Next, with the orange- wood stick, gently remove 
 any foreign particle from beneath and around the 
 nail, pressing back the skin from the root. Do 
 not use any force, for this will cause a bruise and 
 there will probably soon appear a tiny white spot, 
 the bane of so many girls. Never use a metal 
 instrument for cleaning the nails, as this scratches 
 them and roughens them so that dirt is easily 
 ground in. 
 
 Many manicures condemn any clipping of the 
 cuticle, but this is sometimes necessary, espe- 
 cially when there are hangnails, or agnails, as 
 
90 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 they are properly termed. Such little wounds 
 offer an excellent starting-point for infection, 
 and should be carefully avoided. They are com- 
 monly found on the hands of girls whose skin is 
 dry, or on hands used for very hard work. White 
 spots, too, are far more likely to occur on nails 
 that are too dry and not well nourished. In 
 such a condition it is a most excellent plan to 
 rub cocoa butter or mutton tallow thoroughly 
 into all parts of the nail every night. This will 
 help not only to keep them in good condition, 
 but it will do much to prevent white spots, and to 
 keep the skin from growing up in that ugly way 
 over the dainty white crescent. Now for the 
 last touches. 
 
 Although it is not absolutely necessary, a little 
 emery board is a great convenience in beveling 
 off the edge of the nails, and in taking away any 
 tiny rough point that may have been left after 
 filing. The nails are then ready for polishing. 
 
 A bit of vaseline or cold cream is first rubbed 
 over them, and the powder is applied. A little 
 vigorous rubbing, not hard enough to heat the 
 nail, will put on a suitable lustre. Avoid too 
 high a polish, as this looks artificial. The liquid 
 enamel sometimes used is likely to be too highly 
 colored and gives a varnished look. If the skin 
 
THE "SECOND FACE" 91 
 
 about the nails is sensitive, it is a good plan to 
 apply a drop of sweet oil, or a bit of the ointment 
 of oxide of zinc, that is very healing. Put this 
 on with a wooden toothpick. 
 
 After polishing the nails with the buffer, dip 
 them again into warm soapsuds, and with a very 
 soft brush run over the nails in order that every 
 particle of the powder may be removed. After 
 carefully drying, the nails may be given their 
 final touch by rubbing them on the palm of the 
 other hand. 
 
 If you go to a professional manicure, she will 
 probably use an antiseptic into which is dipped 
 the orange-wood stick. This precaution should 
 always be taken, as infection is very easily car- 
 ried by wood. I have a friend who was severely 
 poisoned by a stick that had not been properly 
 treated in the hands of a manicure. The use of 
 pumice-stone for the removal of stains is often 
 advised, but even the prepared block of pumice 
 sometimes injures the skin. It is far better to 
 make a soap ball yourself in the following way: 
 Shred up a cake of castile soap, and put it into a 
 little water on the back of the stove until it melts; 
 then stir in about a teaspoonful of pumice-stone 
 that has been twice pulverized. The grain of 
 this is so fine that it cannot cause any injury. 
 
92 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 After this mixture has partly cooled, it is moulded 
 into a ball or cake. Whenever you wish to use 
 it, the ball should be dipped into warm water 
 and rubbed on the stains. 
 
 If you are unfortunate enough to bruise a nail 
 badly, hold it in water as hot as you can bear for 
 half an hour. In this way you will generally be 
 able to prevent the settling of the blood under 
 the nail. If you burn your hand, and this will 
 not happen often if you take the precaution of 
 wearing gloves, dust dry baking-soda over the 
 injured spot, binding up the hand with a damp 
 cloth. This is an excellent remedy for burns. 
 
 If obliged to wash your hands so frequently 
 that they begin to show injurious effects of soap 
 and water, try cleansing them with olive oil or 
 cold cream. The beautifying effects of such an 
 emollient are well known. A girl with very ex- 
 quisite hands says she has not washed them with 
 soap and water for years. She uses only olive 
 oil for cleansing them. 
 
 No girl can afford to neglect her hands, espe- 
 cially at night, when the application of a little 
 cold cream or mutton tallow will work wonders 
 before morning. 
 
XI 
 
 THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 
 
 (1) 
 
 On the first morning of a delightful visit to the 
 Catskills one summer, my eyes opened to the 
 most exquisite light filtering through grass-green 
 shades. The whole tinting was one with the 
 restful tone of the tree-tops that surrounded the 
 house on every side. 
 
 At breakfast I spoke to my hostess of this, and 
 she answered: " Yes, Doctor, I had those shades 
 painted." 
 
 A few days later, while on a little trip to Massa- 
 chusetts, to my discomfort I woke with the earliest 
 dawn. Instead of the soft hues of Nature that 
 had soothed both eyes and nerves in my friend's 
 mountain home, the brilliant rays of the sun were 
 intensified by the bright yellow curtains through 
 which they shone. Surely much of our comfort 
 depends upon the treatment that our eyes receive. 
 
 A subdued light is always desirable when the 
 eyes are not being taxed by work, but reading, 
 
94 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 studying, and sewing, and any labor that requires 
 keen eyesight, are best done in unobstructed 
 daylight. You who have to use your eyes many 
 hours each day, by a little care will be able to 
 lengthen the time of their usefulness by many 
 years. 
 
 In our daily tasks it is well, every now and then, 
 to raise the eyes from the book or needlework 
 and to let them rest for a moment or two upon 
 the most distant object in view. This little 
 manoeuvre is wisely practised by those who are 
 using the microscope. 
 
 If you live in a city, and are fortunate enough 
 to have your room on the upper floor of a sky- 
 scraper, you need only lift your eyes to see the 
 distant horizon. Perhaps your window com- 
 mands the view of river or harbor, where the 
 boats are plying up and down. However, if your 
 view is not extensive, help yourself out by having 
 some landscape pictures hung on the wall beyond 
 your desk, and look at them now and then, seeing, 
 not the flat surface of paper or canvas, but the 
 sky, the woods, and the mountains which they 
 represent. 
 
 When away on your vacation next summer, 
 especially if you go down to the shore, where the 
 glare of sun and water is so uncompromising, 
 
THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 95 
 
 the dainty sunbonnet, which of late years has 
 not been in high favor, will be most comfortable. 
 Its shade affords great protection to the eyes. 
 
 But we cannot all stop working when the sun 
 goes down, and the evening light is, therefore, 
 an important consideration. If you use a kero- 
 sene lamp, be sure that it is a good one, properly 
 shaded. The student lamp is satisfactory. 
 
 One of my college friends could not sit in the 
 body of the church and look up at the minister 
 without the most painful fatigue. She could, 
 however, go up into the gallery of the old-fash- 
 ioned New England church and look down with- 
 out any discomfort. 
 
 It is a great temptation, if you have slightly 
 overstrained your eyes, or if they are inflamed 
 from any other cause, to rub them when you 
 wake up in the morning. Resist this inclination. 
 If you feel that an eye-wash of some kind is nec- 
 essary, you will find equal quantities of camphor 
 water and a three per cent solution of boric acid 
 a simple and effective one. This lotion should 
 be filtered and used with an eyecup. While 
 holding the glass by its stem, lower the head 
 while the rim of the glass is fitted around the 
 eye. Toss the head back and raise and lower the 
 eyelid slowly ten or fifteen times. 
 
96 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Another simple lotion, that you should make 
 every time you use it, or at least every few days, in 
 order that it may be perfectly fresh, consists of 
 one scant teaspoonful of boric acid crystals to a 
 pint of boiled water. This also is used with the 
 eyecup. It is convenient, when buying the bo- 
 ric acid crystals, to order about two ounces. 
 These lotions may be used when the eye is 
 slightly inflamed from overstrain, or dust, or per- 
 haps as the result of a cold. 
 
 Last summer I took a young girl who was 
 slightly near-sighted to consult an oculist. Af- 
 ter a careful examination the specialist decided 
 that as long as the patient was not using her 
 eyes for any close work at the time, glasses were 
 unnecessary. Feeling so well satisfied with the 
 result of the interview, I was much surprised, on 
 coming out of the office, to hear my friend say: 
 
 " Well, the doctor didn't tell me anything dif- 
 ferent from what the optician said about my 
 eyes a year ago. Why should I pay a big fee for 
 the same advice? " 
 
 I have found it very difficult to reason with peo- 
 ple who hold such views. Hardly, till a girl 
 studies the eye thoroughly herself, can she real- 
 ize the necessity of the utmost skill in an ex- 
 amination of this organ. It is only a physi- 
 
THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 97 
 
 cian who has given years, not only to the study 
 of the eye itself, but to the body and its dis- 
 eases in general, who is capable of giving an expert 
 opinion. In many cases it is the oculist who 
 first finds evidence of some serious, obscure dis- 
 ease; and in many other cases the general phy- 
 sician, when he detects certain symptoms which 
 puzzle nim, sends the patient to the oculist for 
 final confirmation of the diagnosis. 
 
 So really, when your eyes begin to bother you, 
 even ever so slightly, the most intelligent thing 
 you can do is to consult a conscientious oculist. 
 For although you may notice only a slight con- 
 gestion, the specialist may discover some growth 
 that ought to be removed, or some diseased con- 
 dition that needs immediate treatment, or he 
 may find that an operation is necessary for the 
 future usefulness of your eye. 
 
 I so often hear people say: " I don't intend to 
 go to an oculist until I can't put it off any longer, 
 for as surely as I go he will find something the 
 matter, even if my eyes are in perfect condition. 
 I know he will make me wear glasses if I go to 
 him, and I hate glasses and don't mean to wear 
 them." 
 
 It does not make you any older to go to the 
 oculist, and it may save you much trouble later. 
 
98 
 
 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 You cannot be too careful in your choice of this 
 expert, but having once decided upon the best 
 one that you know, you should lose no time in 
 consulting him if you detect any possible trouble. 
 
XII 
 
 THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 
 
 (2) 
 
 It is said that one of the striking charms of 
 Empress Eugenie's face is the downward tilt 
 of the outer corner of the eye. This is an ex- 
 ample of the well-known fact that the beauty of 
 the eye depends more upon its setting, appendages, 
 and lustre than upon shape or color. For, 
 generally speaking, the differences in the size 
 and shape of the eyeball are comparatively very 
 slight. 
 
 Classically beautiful eyes are placed widely 
 apart, the distance between them being the length 
 of the eye itself. The old masters' conception 
 of womanly beauty found its expression in their 
 portrayals of the Madonnas, whose eyes are in- 
 variably well apart. 
 
 Although there are many senseless traditions 
 as to the meaning of different characteristics 
 of the eye, such as its variation in color, in setting 
 and so on, nevertheless, the eye is the feature 
 upon which we depend in great part for our read- 
 
100 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 ing of another's character. It is the part of the 
 face through which the soul seems to shine. The 
 eye is so magnetic that we are often mistaken 
 in referring to it expressions that really come 
 from the eyebrow, the moving of a lid, or even 
 those emanating from a more distant feature of the 
 face. The eye is the magnet which draws toward 
 itself all of the varying fascinations of the face. 
 
 It ought to be a comfort, then, to every girl to 
 feel that in large part the beauty of her eyes is 
 under her own control. As far as the eye itself 
 is concerned, its chief beauties are its expression 
 and its lustre. Color is a subordinate factor. 
 While the expression of the eye is dependent upon 
 the character, the lustre depends upon the bodily 
 condition. Those girls who are so interested in 
 the effect of drugs — such as belladonna — upon 
 the eyes, would find a few nights of " beauty 
 sleep " worth all of the drugs in an apothecary's 
 shop. The tint of the white of the eye is a far 
 more important element of beauty than is the color 
 of the iris. It is here that the physician so often 
 finds an indication of over-fatigue or of disease. 
 Almost any girl could pick out the yellow eye of 
 the bilious sufferer. The desirable tint of the 
 white of the eye is not an ivory white, but a deli- 
 cate violet tint. 
 
THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 101 
 
 I cannot resist the temptation to speak here of 
 the effect of deep breathing on the lustre of the eye, 
 for good circulation plays a most important role. 
 
 Girls are beginning to realize what beauty a well 
 cared for eyebrow adds to the appearance of the 
 eye. I have a friend to whom nature gave heavy 
 black eyebrows that met over the bridge of the 
 nose. They gave her a positively sinister appear- 
 ance. By means of electrolysis she had a number 
 of hairs removed, thus separating the brows. 
 The whole character of her face was changed 
 and improved. 
 
 If your own brows are moderately heavy and 
 dark, you can easily see, by ruffling them up and 
 placing the hairs in different positions, how dis- 
 tinctly you can change the expression of your 
 face. No one knows this better than the actor, 
 who depends much upon the arrangement of 
 this feature for the expression which he wishes 
 to portray. Tiny eyebrow brushes may be 
 bought for keeping the brows smooth. Some 
 girls have to contend with an erratic growth of 
 these hairs, but do not despair, for patient train- 
 ing will overcome these natural tendencies. 
 Every time that the toilet of the face or the hair 
 is made, the brows should be gently brushed, so 
 that they will lie in a delicate curve. For the 
 
102 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 obstinate hairs that will refuse to grow in the 
 proper direction, the application every night of 
 gum arabic solution will work wonders. 
 
 Scanty eyebrows are a great trial to their pos- 
 sessor. I know two girls who were distressed in 
 this way. One persistently rubbed vaseline into 
 her brows daily for a year, while the other made 
 use of olive oil in the same way. Delicate arch- 
 ing brows resulted in one case, while a luxuriant 
 growth was produced in the other. The same 
 treatment very carefully given will often act simi- 
 larly on the eyelashes. 
 
 Puffy eyelids which will not disappear with 
 strict attention to the laws of health generally 
 indicate some disturbance that needs the per- 
 sonal supervision of a physician. It may be that 
 the liver is out of order, or it may be that the 
 kidneys are not properly performing their work. 
 Such a symptom should not be neglected. In 
 other cases this unpleasant condition is due to 
 inflammation of the lower lids. 
 
 Dark rings under the eyes, the despair of many 
 girls, depend primarily upon some disorder of the 
 circulation. I know of many cases in which this 
 trouble has been corrected by early and long 
 hours of sleep. This appearance, too, is more 
 common in girls with very thin skin. 
 
THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 103 
 
 An astringent mixture composed of twenty 
 grains of tannic acid to an ounce of glycerine 
 applied to the relaxed tissues under the eyes by 
 means of a bit of gauze, night and morning, helps 
 to restore the natural tone. A simple massage 
 movement consists in pinching up these flabby 
 parts between the thumb and forefinger. This 
 also diminishes the dark rings. 
 
 The colored people in the South sometimes 
 complain of " wild hairs " in the eyes. This ex- 
 pression refers to ingrowing eyelashes, a source 
 of great irritation. If you are ever troubled with 
 a " wild hair," its removal will afford instant 
 relief. 
 
 The disagreeable watery eye does not neces- 
 sarily indicate a chronic disorder, for sometimes 
 it is due to over-fatigue alone. Catarrh or an 
 ordinary cold may be its exciting cause. 
 
 A good lotion to use in simple cases is made 
 up of ten grains of sodium borate, one drachm of 
 camphor water, and one ounce of distilled water. 
 A few drops of this may be put into the eye three 
 times a day, by means of an eye dropper. The 
 easiest way of inserting it is gently to pull the 
 lower fid out and slightly downward. The entire 
 drop is then easily retained, and distributed over 
 the surface of the eye. 
 
104 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 In extracting a foreign body from the eye, the 
 person should be told to look down. By grasp- 
 ing the lashes of the upper lid gently, but firmly, 
 it can be easily turned back. If the offending 
 particle is in this part of the eye, it can generally 
 be quickly taken out by means of a twist of linen 
 or of tissue paper. If nothing is found here, the 
 lower lid should be grasped by the lashes and 
 pulled slightly downward and outward. The 
 eye should never be rubbed outward. 
 
 Pink-eye, a common disease, and trachoma are 
 contagious affections of the eye often found, es- 
 pecially in school children in large cities. Such 
 diseases should receive the most careful atten- 
 tion. In the home separate towels and wash- 
 cloths are absolutely necessary in order to guard 
 against the spread of the contagion. 
 
 Tiny black specks, known in medicine by the 
 Latin term of " flitting flies," frequently give 
 rise to much anxiety. If you are troubled in this 
 way, however, do not worry, Oftentimes such 
 a symptom is of no significance. Sometimes it 
 means that you should take more exercise and be 
 more careful of your diet. It is always more 
 satisfactory, of course, to know what the oculist 
 thinks about it. For if there is any obscure trouble 
 that needs his attention he will quickly detect it. 
 
THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 105 
 
 As soon as the pus of a stye is formed, an out- 
 let should be given to it, for until this is done it 
 will not get well. If you do this yourself, use the 
 point of a sharp needle that has been dipped in 
 boiling water. In the beginning of a stye, cold 
 applications may be helpful, but in the later 
 stages hot applications are more desirable. 
 
 No one but an oculist is capable of intelli- 
 gently treating eyes whose muscles are weak, or 
 those with short sight or long sight. He has to 
 perform many tests in order to determine just 
 exactly the kind of glass that is necessary. Spec- 
 tacles have long been considered better for the 
 wearer than eye-glasses, but the latter are now 
 so skilfully adjusted that the advantage of the 
 spectacle is really inconsiderable. 
 
 The heroine of a novel that I have just been 
 reading is characterized by the way in which 
 she moves her eyes. Instead of moving her head 
 to look at an object on either side, she moved her 
 eyes only, which gave her a treacherous, catlike 
 expression. 
 
 The manner of moving the eyes, the lids, and 
 the brows may easily degenerate into manner- 
 isms. Many girls look ten or fifteen years older 
 than they realty are, owing to some unfortunate 
 mannerism of raising the brow and wrinkling 
 
106 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 the forehead, or, it may be, of lowering the brow, 
 thus causing the deep furrows between the brows. 
 
 You are fortunate indeed if you live at home 
 where your mother will tell you when you are 
 beginning to form one of these ugly habits. I 
 know a mother who sometimes suddenly tells 
 her daughter to look in the glass without changing 
 her expression. And the girl is startled to find 
 the contortions and unpleasant expressions that 
 she is unconsciously harboring. 
 
 Such tricks as that of " batting " the eye are 
 generally as unnecessary as they are disagreeable. 
 Squinting the eyes often comes from imperfect 
 sight. It brings wrinkles in its train. 
 
 There is nothing that so undermines one's 
 confidence in another as a shifting expression. 
 A clear, steady gaze is a source of great power, 
 for it invariably inspires confidence. For the 
 color of the eye we are not responsible, and it is 
 well for us all that tastes differ and that the stand- 
 ard of beauty is comparative. Some admire the 
 quiet intellectuality of the gray eye, while others 
 find the soft brown of the dark eye more fasci- 
 nating. Each color carries its own attraction, 
 and from it the eye gains something of its peculiar 
 charm. 
 
XIII 
 
 THE MAKING OF A BEAUTIFUL MOUTH 
 
 Although we must accept at the start the 
 features that Nature has given us, be it known 
 for our comfort that the mouth is essentially self- 
 made. This feature has been called the visible 
 seat of the emotions. Even the eyes have not 
 the gift of smiling to nearly such a degree as the 
 mouth possesses. Take the picture of a face 
 with sad expression, and paste over the depressed 
 lines of the mouth smiling lips. The entire ex- 
 pression of the face is changed at once, although 
 the eyes themselves have not been altered. The 
 delicacy of expression and the infinite shades of 
 meaning that play about a beautiful mouth are 
 our inheritance through generations of civilized 
 ancestors. The muscles of the animal's mouth 
 are used for sucking and chewing. There is 
 even a greater difference between the mouth of the 
 animal and that of man, than there is between 
 the animal's forefoot and the human hand. Mus- 
 cles must be exercised before they become adept 
 in any function. In vain would we look to the 
 
108 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 savage for expressions of emotions which are 
 alien to him. The muscles of his mouth are not 
 trained to express the tenderness and refinement 
 that is such an intimate part of our lives. 
 
 The German philosopher, Kant, in his advice 
 to parents, says: "Children, especially girls, 
 must be accustomed early to smile in a frank, un- 
 constrained manner; for the cheerfulness and 
 animation of the features gradually leave an im- 
 pression on the mind itself, and thus create a 
 disposition towards gaiety, amiableness, and 
 sociability, which lay an early foundation for the 
 virtue of benevolence." 
 
 The reflex effect of smiling is easily tested when- 
 ever you feel especially irritable or blue. Per- 
 severe in turning up the corners of the mouth at 
 such a time, either by working the muscles volun- 
 tarily, or by coaxing them by means of the fingers. 
 A natural smile will come in spite of your disturb- 
 ance, and the clouds will begin to chase them- 
 selves out of your mental horizon. 
 
 The other evening, when dining out, I was 
 extremely impressed with the power of beauty 
 that lies in mere expression. I met a middle- 
 aged woman whose every feature was common- 
 place, even to an ugly shade of red hair. But 
 the fascination of her face grew upon me irresist- 
 
MAKING A BEAUTIFUL MOUTH 109 
 
 ibly until I fell to analyzing its cause. This 
 was her smile, which expressed such intelligence, 
 such a keen sense of humor, and above all such 
 sweetness, and such a charitable attitude to all 
 mankind, that I was won in spite of my first 
 impressions. 
 
 Just as a continual frown of discontent will 
 result in ineradicable wrinkles that even massage 
 cannot iron out, so, fortunately for us, amiable, 
 wholesome thoughts will exercise the " pleasant 
 muscles," until the mouth becomes curved into 
 sweet and winsome lines, and the inheritance of 
 undesirable contours will melt away in our in- 
 dividual expression, for " form is merely crystal- 
 lized expression." Ruskin says: " There is not 
 any virtue the exercise of which, even momen- 
 tarily, will not impress a new fairness upon the 
 features." 
 
 German women who are devoted to music 
 and to nature more frequently have good mouths 
 than those women of other nationalities, among 
 whom personal beauty is more common. 
 
 The girl who is bent on making her mouth 
 beautiful should not fall into the error of assuming 
 a continuous grin. Muscles always kept on the 
 stretch finally lose their original contour, and 
 distortion and wrinkles result. The inane gig- 
 
110 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 gling in which so many young girls thoughtlessly 
 indulge is an enemy to beautiful facial expression. 
 The emptiness of such a habit, I feel sure, reacts 
 upon the brain. 
 
 The Persian philosopher, Sahadi, says: "The 
 mouth is a grotto where pearls are priceless." 
 There is a solid foundation to that old tale about 
 the blind man who said that he felt sure that one 
 of his acquaintances who was continually laughing 
 must have a set of beautiful teeth. 
 
 One might think, from the appearance of some 
 teeth, that they were accorded by their possessors 
 an unimportant position in the scale of beauty. 
 Yet the expression of many a face is vulgarized 
 by uncared for or neglected teeth. Not only the 
 appearance of the teeth counts in the sum total 
 of beauty, but also the manner of exposing them. 
 Gums were not made for exhibition, and the girl 
 who smiles so carelessly that she raises her upper 
 lip nearly to its attachment needs to study before 
 the mirror till she can smile without making her 
 friends think of a savage. 
 
 The care of the teeth can never be taken in 
 hand at too early an age. Neglect in infant days 
 does not hold as an excuse for us in later years. 
 So much of health and beauty depends upon the 
 condition of the teeth that their preservation 
 
MAKING A BEAUTIFUL MOUTH 111 
 
 should be a matter of great concern. The shape 
 of the jaw and so of the face, on the side of 
 beauty, and the digestion of the food, on the 
 part of health, hark back to the teeth as a start- 
 ing point. 
 
 A German scholar who has put much time on 
 this subject has examined a great many people 
 among the industrial and working classes. He 
 has found dental decay to such a degree in the 
 teeth of the bakers, that he has been able in many 
 cases, before asking the occupation of the patient, 
 to tell it himself from the condition of the teeth. 
 
 He states that no other class of people could 
 compare in this respect with the bakers, excepting 
 a few children of confectioners. The acids that 
 result from the fermentation of starch in the 
 mouth are as injurious to the teeth as those 
 formed from sugar. Scientists have proved by 
 experiments that saliva at blood temperature 
 that contains starch forms as much acid in as 
 short a time as does saliva containing sugar. 
 
 Indeed, it has been found that saliva containing 
 bread or potato produces more acid, and that in 
 a shorter time than an equal quantity of saliva 
 to which sugar has been added. One could not 
 conceive of keeping meat fresh by leaving it 
 for some time in a cup of saliva maintained at 
 
112 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 blood heat. But every time that we fail to 
 cleanse the teeth after eating, or even nibbling, 
 we are establishing similar conditions. 
 
 Not only is it a necessity to keep the teeth and 
 mouth as clean and sweet as possible, in order to 
 avoid dental decay, but for another reason even 
 more potent, — that of the general health. The 
 mouth is the " portal of entry " for a great many 
 diseases. It is a most common occurrence for 
 physicians who make careful examinations of 
 the microbes that are in the mouths of perfectly 
 healthy people to find among them those of 
 diphtheria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and many 
 others that are known to be the cause of deadly 
 diseases. 
 
 To some of you this may be a new idea. If it is, 
 I am sure that the question you are asking is: 
 " Well, then, what keeps us from having the 
 diseases? " The power of resistance possessed by 
 healthy tissue is our safeguard against such 
 inroads. This truth holds, too, in relation to the 
 teeth themselves, for the greater their power of 
 resistance the less they will be affected by caries. 
 
 A great deal of work has been done on the 
 subject of mouth disinfection, and in consequence 
 many mouth washes have been suggested. A 
 simple but good one is composed of benzoic acid, 
 
MAKING A BEAUTIFUL MOUTH 113 
 
 30 parts; tincture of eucalyptus 150 parts; al- 
 cohol, 1000 parts; and the oil of peppermint 7.5 
 parts. Enough of this lotion should be added to 
 half a wine glass full of water to make its appear- 
 ance distinctly cloudy. 
 
 Another one is composed of borobenzoic acid, 
 5 parts ; menthol, 5 parts ; tincture of krameria, 
 15 parts; cologne water, 50 parts; rectified 
 spirit; 100 parts. From 30 to 45 drops are added 
 to 3 ounces of water and the lotion is then ready 
 for use. 
 
 Too much reliance, however, must not be 
 placed upon the bactericidal power of a mouth 
 wash. Nevertheless it is a preventive of which 
 it is well for us to take advantage. The use of 
 the tooth-brush helps to keep the gums in healthy 
 condition, for its friction makes them firmer and 
 more resistant. The teeth should be cleansed 
 both in a horizontal and in a vertical direction — 
 the back and front, and the biting surfaces. A 
 good dentifrice is also a necessity in the care 
 of the teeth, as well as the employment of den- 
 tal floss, and a quill or wooden toothpick. 
 
XIV 
 
 THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 
 
 Last summer I attended a tennis tournament 
 on Long Island. As a group of us sat chatting 
 before the game was on, a Frenchman who was 
 a member of our party noticed three stunning 
 girls who took their places toward the end of the 
 court. " Ah! How chic, how distingue, char- 
 mant" he cried, lapsing into his native tongue 
 in his enthusiasm. " If only they knew how to 
 speak," he added, as their high-pitched voices 
 penetrated our ears even at that distance. This 
 is only another instance of the foreigner's disap- 
 probation of the uncultivated American voice. 
 But although every American girl has had this 
 dinned into her ears since childhood, not many 
 of us take the pains to overcome this almost 
 national defect. 
 
 The following comments are attributed to 
 Madame Marchesi, the celebrated vocal teacher 
 in Paris. " Why, oh why, do American women 
 all speak through their noses? When a young 
 girl comes to me to have her voice tried, before 
 
THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 115 
 
 she opens her mouth, I am lost in admiration 
 of her flowing tresses, her pearly teeth, her rosy 
 complexion, and her stately bearing. How 
 suddenly am I called down from heaven to earth, 
 when I hear her say in a clear, nasal tone: ' Are 
 you Madame Marchesi? ' Why do you Americans 
 all have such nasal voices! " continued the great 
 teacher. " It cannot be the language, because 
 the English women have exceptionally beautiful 
 voices, but America sends us only shrill and 
 high-pitched tones." 
 
 The common theories for this condition are 
 well known to you all. The Puritan ancestors 
 cannot in justice be made to bear the entire 
 brunt of this fault, even though they were accus- 
 tomed to exhort and speak in nasal singsong 
 tones. 
 
 Climate, we must admit, is oftentimes indi- 
 rectly the cause of an unpleasant voice. Never- 
 theless, we must come back at last, — in spite of 
 all interesting theories which excuse us from bear- 
 ing the responsibility of our own shortcomings, — 
 and confess that we alone are at fault, and that we 
 alone are the ones to bring about a more desirable 
 state of affairs. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius showed centuries ago the 
 successful path to the attainment of an attractive 
 
116 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 speaking voice: " Nobody is ever tired of ad- 
 vantages. How to get into conformity with 
 the laws of Nature, is certainly an advantage." 
 To conform with Nature's laws we must first 
 cultivate a correct position. When the body is 
 erect and uncompressed, the breathing muscles 
 are left free to do their most effective work. 
 Much is said about the different methods of 
 breathing. Most women are credited with the 
 habit of chest breathing. We are told to culti- 
 vate the abdominal or masculine method, but 
 many of the best authorities think that still a 
 better plan is to cultivate the entire muscular 
 system by suitable outdoor exercise. In this 
 way the habit of correct deep breathing is de- 
 veloped without special effort being directed to 
 any one method. When the head is held erect, 
 the larynx or voice box is carried forward, and 
 its cartilages are so placed as to be in the most 
 advantageous position for sending out clear and 
 harmonious sounds. Speakers and singers are 
 taught to keep the lungs well filled with fresh 
 air. Musical tones demand a plentiful supply of 
 oxygen. When you are too tired to breathe 
 properly, don't try to talk. Yogi practice in 
 the Orient, which includes a system of deep 
 breathing most scientifically taught, invariably 
 
THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 117 
 
 brings to the devotee a voice that is rich and 
 sonorous. 
 
 In my observation, men are more sensitive to 
 the modulations of the voice than are women. 
 The other day at an afternoon tea, as a friend 
 passed by me on his way out of the room, he 
 stopped a minute and said: "Can't you get it 
 to these girls some way that they ought to modu- 
 late their voices? It almost drives me crazy to 
 be in the room with them, especially when they 
 laugh!" And at breakfast the other morning, 
 another man said, indicating with a slight nod of 
 his head a feminine literary personage who was 
 holding forth on the pros and cons of the recent 
 war: " Does that ever stop? I'm thankful I 
 can go somewhere else for lunch! Does it go 
 on forever? " 
 
 If these same girls at the afternoon tea only 
 realized it, they could all talk just as much and 
 hear themselves (and very few people do listen 
 to themselves) and each other even better if they 
 all spoke in softly modulated voices. There is 
 a certain peculiar quality of voice which dis- 
 tinguishes each person and which he cannot 
 modify, called by the Germans, the " color of 
 the sound." The English say: " You may be 
 deceived by a face, by a voice, never! " The 
 
118 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 voice is even more distinctly characteristic of an 
 individual than is the face, but one need not 
 fear that training it will detract from its individu- 
 ality. That is the quality that one loves in one's 
 friends and which is never lost. Without doubt 
 a dislike of useless noise increases with refinement 
 of the senses and the mind. Goethe hated noise, 
 especially at night. Franz, the brilliant song 
 composer, had hearing so delicate that it was 
 destroyed by the whistle of a locomotive. Scho- 
 penhauer sums up this whole question: " Intel- 
 lectual persons, and all in general who have much 
 esprit cannot endure noise 1 . Astounding, on the 
 other hand, is the insensibility of ordinary people 
 to noise. The quantity of noise which any one 
 can endure without annoyance is really related 
 inversely to his mental endowments, and may 
 be regarded as a pretty accurate measure of 
 them." It is the making of so much unnecessary 
 noise attributed to Americans that causes foreign- 
 ers to judge us as an uncultivated nation. 
 
 Up to about fifty years ago, many conflicting 
 theories concerning the mechanism of the voice- 
 producing organs were advanced. There had 
 been many unsuccessful attempts to see the action 
 of the living larynx. But in 1854, Manuel 
 Garcia, a great Parisian singing teacher, really 
 
THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 119 
 
 saw his own vocal cords in a small dentist's mir- 
 ror which was pushed into the back of his mouth. 
 It was two years later when Czermak, a German 
 medical professor, began to practise systema- 
 tically on himself and on his patients with the 
 laryngoscope. After he had convinced himself 
 of the real value of the invention, he traveled 
 through the chief cities of Europe, and demon- 
 strated to the leading physicians how indispen- 
 sable this instrument is in the study of the throat. 
 If you have never seen such an image in this little 
 mirror, you will be interested to look at the picture 
 of the vocal cords in some medical book. 
 
 When the voice has been wrongly used, or over- 
 worked, the cords become congested. " Clergy- 
 man's sore throat " may be the result. Or it 
 may be that only temporary hoarseness follows. 
 The latter condition is often the result of a cold. 
 Whenever hoarseness is present, one should stop 
 using the voice at once, for this trouble may 
 become chronic. Medical attention should be 
 given immediately to such a condition, for the 
 longer this is put off the harder it will be to cure, 
 and the more permanent will be the injurious 
 results. Go to a physician for this treatment. 
 Nothing is more harmful to the delicate structures 
 of the larynx than frequent colds. Impure air, 
 
120 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 laden with dust or smoke, is very irritating to the 
 vocal cords. 
 
 By means of the voice we have a stronger in- 
 fluence on other people than in almost any other 
 way. A teacher in a " model school " who has 
 under her care more than sixty little children 
 is considered by the visiting critics to be a marvel- 
 ous disciplinarian, and it is a fact admitted by 
 the faculty that it is her voice which gives her 
 this wonderful power of control over all these 
 restless little people. She never raises her voice 
 above her usual well-modulated speaking tones, 
 but its serenity and richness are irresistible. 
 
 The voice nearly always tells us how the speaker 
 is feeling. It is practically impossible, when one 
 is feeling downcast or anxious, to use a tone that 
 is bright and cheery, for fear and languor lower 
 the voice. Surprise takes it away, admiration 
 prolongs it, while hope makes it sonorous. Per- 
 haps you have noticed, too, that embarrassment 
 sometimes causes hoarseness. Whispering is 
 said by vocal teachers to be bad for the voice. 
 This is one argument against such indulgence by 
 choir-singers. Outdoor speaking and singing 
 you should always avoid, especially in the night 
 air. It does seem too bad when one thinks of 
 the straw rides and sleighing parties and barge 
 
THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 121 
 
 picnics, when singing and laughter add so much 
 to the gaiety, but if you are still in your teens I 
 am sure that you do not realize what harm even 
 quiet talking in damp night air does to your voice. 
 If you live in the city, it is well to remember not to 
 use your voice on board the trolleys when they 
 are running. Never talk against any loud noise, 
 for you are sure to overexert your voice at 
 such times. 
 
 A successful vocal teacher who makes a spe- 
 cialty of training the speaking voice never allows 
 her pupils to clear the throat or to cough, urging 
 them to form the habit of swallowing when any 
 irritation is felt in the throat. She insists that 
 the muscular effort in speaking shall be thrown 
 upon the lips rather than upon the throat, and 
 she, with many other teachers, gives exercises for 
 increasing the mobility of the muscles of the lips 
 and face. 
 
 Beauty refers to sound as well as to sight; and 
 however beautiful in face and form, a girl is not 
 truly beautiful without a sweetly modulated 
 voice. 
 
XV 
 THE GIRL OF UNDERWEIGHT 
 
 There are not many girls who think that their 
 weight is just right. One is too thin, and another 
 is too plump; and the great problem is: " What 
 can I do to turn the scales in my favor? " A 
 great deal may be accomplished by a girl to bring 
 her figure to normal proportions, and the earlier 
 she begins, the easier will be her task. There is 
 always a reason why a girl is too thin or too 
 plump, and the secret of applying the right 
 remedy lies first in discovering the cause — even 
 if " it runs in the family." 
 
 It is not uncommon to see two sisters with 
 little difference in age, living in the same house- 
 hold, — the one very thin, the other over-plump. 
 So there must often be some underlying cause 
 aside from the general manner of living, that 
 in certain cases, it must be admitted, can be 
 combated to only a degree. This cause is often 
 the temperament with which a girl is born. 
 Just think about this a minute, and if you are 
 like one of " Pharaoh's lean kine," are you not 
 
THE GIRL OF UNDERWEIGHT 123 
 
 very energetic, nervously so, I mean? Isn't 
 your ambition much greater than your strength? 
 Do you not plan ahead far more work than you 
 can possibly accomplish? You " rush " through 
 life, not taking time to enjoy your own memory 
 garden. And then, above all things, do you not 
 worry and fret when you are not able to live up 
 to your ideals? There's a very old-fashioned 
 term that expresses the attitude of many a 
 " Martha," called " stewing." This is one of 
 your greatest obstacles, and you must overcome 
 it, for it will be only too easy for the lines to 
 come at the best, and they cannot help coming 
 when they are coaxed and cuddled by fretting. 
 Wrinkles have been appropriately called " fret- 
 work." 
 
 Seek after cheerfulness, then, thin girls! Do 
 not " enjoy poor health." Get all the brightness 
 possible out of life, and what is far more to the 
 point, put all the brightness into it that you can. 
 Have you ever seen a plain girl suddenly become 
 very pretty and attractive? I have, and for 
 the reason that after living for years an aimless 
 life she suddenly found some absorbing interest. 
 What a beautifier this is, many of you already 
 know. Be enthusiastic about what you do; you 
 can never be happy or at your best at any time 
 
124 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 without enthusiasm. But stop at that point, 
 and do not fret about results! 
 
 Most of our annoyances are decidedly faded 
 after a good night 's sleep. Almost invariably 
 a thin, nervous, wiry girl needs long hours of 
 sleep, and often she is the very girl who does not 
 get this rest. You are probably weary of being 
 preached to about " beauty sleep," but when all 
 else has failed to coax a little plumpness, I have 
 known girls to find sleep the magic touch that 
 brought them both health and beauty. " Beauty 
 sleep " is not confined to the early hours of night. 
 It means much for a thin girl if she can snatch a 
 short nap after lunch every day. Even without 
 sleep the mere relaxation of stretching one's self 
 out on a couch is beneficial, and eases the tension. 
 Relaxation, rest, and sleep are good friends of 
 the thin girl. Ten hours sleep at night! And 
 comfortable warmth always, for cold is a foe. 
 A glass of warm milk taken at this time, sipped 
 slowly in order that large curds may not be 
 formed in the stomach, helps along the good 
 work. A raw egg is well added. The milk 
 drinking is one of the favorite directions given 
 by a noted skin specialist to his thin, nervous 
 patients, and he lays great stress upon it. It is 
 one of those simple expedients that are so often 
 
 
THE GIRL OF UNDERWEIGHT 125 
 
 of great value, but which, on account of their 
 very simplicity, especially because they require 
 no money to carry them out, are cast aside. 
 
 But several girls chime in: " You see, I can't try 
 that because I do not like milk; it does not agree 
 with me! " Now such statements are not often 
 true if you take a little pains. Dilute the milk with 
 lime water, a dessertspoonful to a glass of milk, 
 and I am confident that you will find it easy 
 enough to take in nine cases out of ten. Girls 
 who do not care for milk often like cream. Butter 
 and olive oil, too, stand in fine in the thin girl's 
 dietary. 
 
 " Besides milk, what else shall I eat? " is so 
 often asked. Nourishing and easily digestible 
 food is the answer. You can eat with benefit 
 many of the favorite but forbidden viands of 
 the plump girl. 
 
 Besides avoiding extreme mental strain, the 
 thin girl must not overexert herself physically. 
 She must make herself as comfortable as possible, 
 laying aside all pet worries. This does not mean, 
 however, that proper exercise is not in order. 
 " Muscle is the plastic material of beauty." 
 The thin girl needs her quota of deep breathing, 
 as well as plenty of outdoor sunshine. In order 
 to get herself into condition to assimilate the food 
 
126 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 she eats, she must take plenty of oxygen to in- 
 vigorate all parts of her body. She ought to 
 keep her body in order both outside and inside, 
 being sure that it does not become clogged with 
 waste matter; for this clogging is one of the 
 quickest ways of preventing the organs from 
 doing their right work. Like a furnace choked 
 with cinders and ashes, the body in such condition 
 cannot take care of fresh fuel. 
 
 The method of massage for the thin, nervous 
 girl is quite different from that used to reduce 
 weight. Massage for thin people is given to a 
 great extent for the purpose of soothing the 
 nervous system, not for stimulation. The mani- 
 pulation is firm, but quieting; and the muscles 
 are actually picked up to develop them. Finally, 
 if special parts only need development — if you 
 are thin " in spots " — the many appropriate 
 exercises designed for such purposes will be a 
 great help to you in your quest for symmetry. 
 
 To sum up for the girl of underweight: Sleep, 
 relaxation, rest, plenty of warm sunshine and 
 fresh air, exercise below the point of over-fatigue, 
 massage, a nourishing diet, and the determination 
 not to " stew." 
 
XVI 
 
 THOSE EXTRA POUNDS 
 
 How often I hear girls remark: " But I don't 
 see the sense in saying that exercise will make a 
 thin girl fat, and a fat girl thin! " It does seem 
 illogical, doesn't it? But the reason for it, appli- 
 cable also to several other directions that may 
 be given in common to both kinds of girls under 
 discussion, is that the body must be kept in good 
 condition before it will be able to seek its correct 
 level, so to speak. Exercise in moderation will 
 develop the muscles of the thin girl and help her 
 assimilation, while in the case of the plump girl 
 it will use up her excess of fat. The stout girl, 
 too, must see that the criminative organs do their 
 work well. 
 
 It is often noticed that fat girls have small lung 
 capacity. In certain instances their lungs are by 
 nature undersized and the chest expansion is 
 small. Deep breathing is as necessary for the 
 stout girl as for the thin one. Indeed her exercise 
 should be far more vigorous than that of her thin 
 sister. I know one girl taking special " reduction 
 
128 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 training," who is swathed in flannel before she 
 begins to exercise. Naturally, she perspires 
 freely at the time, and her weight is gradually 
 coming down to normal, for perspiration is an 
 important factor in reducing weight. For this 
 purpose tether tennis, rowing, bowling, golf, 
 walking, and hill-climbing may all be recom- 
 mended. 
 
 Exercise should never be taken directly after 
 meals, neither should a nap be indulged in at this 
 time. Rather let some light mental or bodily em- 
 ployment fill up the hour. Do not confine your- 
 self to one kind of exercise. Vary it so as to 
 bring all of the muscles into play. Massage, 
 judiciously used, will help greatly to hasten the 
 various changes in the body cells, thus getting 
 rid of superfluous tissue. As a rule, stout girls 
 do not seem so sensitive to little things, either 
 mental or physical, as thin people, and massage 
 in, their cases is regulated accordingly. Rolling 
 on the floor, a form of self-massage, is a fine 
 reducer. Throw down a rug. Now roll over 
 and over in one direction several times, then 
 reverse. If judiciously taken, Turkish and Rus- 
 sian baths are beneficial. 
 
 On the whole, it is better to be too thin than 
 too plump, for an excess of fat may cause serious 
 
THOSE EXTRA POUNDS 129 
 
 mischief. It makes one heavy and awkward, 
 and finally the " fat walk " — the waddhng gait 
 you know so well — develops, and I beg of you 
 to avoid it! But more serious than this are the 
 effects on circulation and respiration — the puff- 
 ing from exertion — that you are beginning to 
 feel on going up-stairs. Then, too, the organs 
 of digestion, as well as other vital parts, suffer 
 sadly from an excessive accumulation of fat. 
 
 According to the laws of proportion, fat should 
 constitute about one-fifteenth or one-twentieth 
 of one's whole weight. This may vary ten or 
 fifteen pounds either way without any special 
 significance. But if there is much less than one- 
 twentieth, the girl is lean or lank, while if there 
 is much more than one-ninth or one-sixth the 
 unhappy term " obesity " looms up before us 
 with all its clumsy bulk. For we are not like the 
 bear that stores up extra fat in the summer and 
 autumn against the day of need. He finds in 
 this store of fat his food and winter overcoat. 
 We have a bountiful dietary at all times, and 
 clothing suitable for the season as well, and it 
 should be our aim, after attaining normal weight, 
 to keep it. 
 
 The condition of obesity was recognized many 
 years ago, when William Harvey, the physician 
 
130 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 who discovered the circulation of the blood, 
 ordered for a patient with the name of Banting 
 a certain diet that has ever since been called the 
 Banting method, commonly spoken of as ' Bant- 
 ing.' At least half of this dietary consisted of 
 lean meat. Only two ounces of bread a day were 
 allowed. Fresh fruits and vegetables made up 
 the remainder. 
 
 As has been suggested, the tendency to accumu- 
 late an unnecessary amount of fat in a large 
 number of cases is a personal peculiarity merely, 
 not amounting to disease. If you possess this 
 peculiarity, let anti-fat remedies alone. 
 
 You must adopt and live up to two principles: 
 The amount of food that you are accustomed to 
 take must be reduced; as much vigorous out- 
 door exercise must be taken as you have time to 
 give to it. Never less than an hour should be 
 devoted to muscular activity. A three-mile 
 walk is a matter of course in the battle with 
 obesity. 
 
 Do not sleep too much. Learn to move 
 quickly. Do not lead a luxurious life! It isn't 
 good for plump girls. 
 
 Although it is not always the case that fat girls 
 overeat, it is a general rule that they are too in- 
 dulgent in the matter of food; especially are 
 
THOSE EXTRA POUNDS 131 
 
 they prone to between-meal nibbling. There 
 are few girls of this class, however, who do not 
 resent such a suggestion. They generally con- 
 fess to a rather poor appetite. 
 
 Great common sense is necessary in the regu- 
 lation of diet, for individuals vary widely in 
 the power of assimilation. A good general rule 
 is to reduce the amount of food to such a degree 
 that the fat girl may lose about a pound a week. 
 When the normal weight has been reached, the 
 amount of food may be slightly increased so that 
 the weight will remain practically stationary. 
 Slow mastication will piece out limited rations, a 
 very moderate amount of food satisfying hunger 
 if you learn to " Fletcherize " fairly well. 
 
 The girl who goes without dessert at the table 
 because she is dieting, but who makes up for it, 
 as did one girl, by eating candy in her room, will 
 not meet with brilliant success in the effort to 
 become slender. " Fat and forty " is the result 
 of ignorance and indolence. On the other hand 
 I do not believe in the no-breakfast fad. 
 
 At the best, strenuous measures are never 
 wisely undertaken by a girl herself. Before fol- 
 lowing them she needs sensible medical advice. 
 
XVII 
 
 IS CANDY-EATING HARMFUL FOR GIRLS? 
 
 So many girls ask me how to decrease weight 
 that I have carefully observed for some time the 
 general habits of those who are too plump. There 
 is no question in my mind but that in most cases 
 stout girls are very fond of sweets, especially 
 candy. For any girl who desires to retain a slen- 
 der and graceful figure this is one of the first 
 articles of diet that must be cut off. 
 
 In a book on diet by one of the best authori- 
 ties on this subject, I was interested to read that 
 he gave by exact weight the amount of cane sugar 
 that can be taken in general by one person daily 
 without any bad results. This quantity he 
 assumed to be a quarter of a pound. If you are 
 fond of candy, I am afraid your spirits will drop 
 on reading this, because when you consider how 
 much sugar there is in cake, preserves, pie, and 
 other sweets, you see that there is little oppor- 
 tunity left for taking much candy. 
 
 Many girls are distressed on account of pimples 
 that they are not able to get rid of. When 
 
IS CANDY-EATING HARMFUL 133 
 
 questioned about candy-eating they say that 
 they like candy, but " Do you think that eating 
 it causes pimples? " I certainly do. In young 
 girls candy often causes pimples; the skin is so 
 closely related to the digestive organs that any 
 disturbance of the latter is extremely apt to show 
 itself in the complexion. As a rule, if a girl finds 
 herself with an interesting book and a box of 
 chocolates before her, she is apt to let her palate 
 run away with her good sense, and the next morn- 
 ing, when she wakes up, she has a " dark brown 
 taste " in her mouth. But, alas, this is not her 
 chief complaint: she is conscious that her breath 
 is unpleasant. 
 
 I know of no commoner cause for this distress- 
 ing trouble than an upset stomach, and no com- 
 moner cause of the upset stomach than a large 
 consumption of candy. I remember a girl 
 who became fascinated with fudge-making. 
 She confided to me that since she had been 
 making the candy, and, of course, eating it 
 at all hours, she had been told that her breath 
 was unpleasant. This, she said, was some- 
 thing that had never happened to her before. 
 The other day an extremely pretty girl told me 
 confidentially that for the first time in her life 
 she had discovered that her breath was not sweet. 
 
134 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 On investigating the cause of this disorder, I 
 finally asked her if she ate much candy. She 
 looked guilty, but she was honest; I saw that 
 she felt sure we had found the cause of her trouble. 
 She said that frequently she ate half a pound or 
 a pound of chocolates in one afternoon. She 
 stopped the candy-eating after our talk, and 
 since that time none of her frank friends have had 
 cause to mention this uncomfortable subject, 
 and she is happy once more. 
 
 But when you do indulge in candy, to that 
 very small extent that our dietitian has suggested, 
 buy only the finest grades, and eat it immediately 
 after meals. Not long ago a food inspector in 
 one of the western States discovered that certain 
 cheap Christmas candy which he secured was 
 nothing more than simple sugar coated with a 
 mixture of grease and iron rust. The coloring 
 was used in order to make the candy appear like 
 chocolate. It is only fair to say that such a case 
 as this is rare nowadays, on account of the care 
 that is given to the selection of the ingredients 
 of candy, but the fact that such impurities have 
 been found should make us cautious. 
 
 Perhaps no other substance is used more fre- 
 quently in candy-making than chocolate. The 
 chocolate itself, combined with sugar so as to 
 
IS CANDY-EATING HARMFUL 135 
 
 make a paste, is then moulded. The mixture 
 is generally flavored with vanilla. Chocolate 
 is sometimes adulterated, flour, starch, and arrow- 
 root being used for this purpose. Sometimes 
 the cacao butter is extracted, and cheaper fats 
 and oils are substituted, but the most injurious 
 adulterations are the alkalis and chemicals that 
 are sometimes used. 
 
 If you are troubled with a greasy skin, it will 
 be well for you to avoid chocolate, either as a 
 candy or as a drink, on account of the natural 
 fats contained in this product. Chocolate is 
 counted among the rich foods that the stout girl 
 and the girl with the greasy complexion should 
 be careful to eschew. 
 
 A great many people cannot easily digest sugar. 
 I well remember a roommate of college days who 
 always suffered from the symptoms of a severe 
 cold after eating candy. This may seem strange, 
 but it is readily explained. The girl could not 
 easily digest sugar, and the extra burden that 
 she threw upon the digestive organs by eating 
 candy caused a disturbance which resulted in a 
 cold. 
 
 I have frequently noticed that young girls, 
 especially, are apt to be attacked by tonsillitis 
 after indiscretion in diet, particularly after eating 
 
136 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 a quantity of candy. An overburdening of any 
 part of the body taxes it so that it is not in a 
 condition to resist disease. 
 
 One cause of indigestion from candy-eating is 
 an adulterant that is sometimes employed — 
 paraffin. This is especially used in caramels in 
 order to make them cut well when poured out on 
 the mould, and it is sometimes found in old- 
 fashioned molasses candy. Paraffin is not a poi- 
 son, but it is an adulterant, and when taken into 
 the stomach it is indigestible. 
 
 Maple sugar is also often adulterated, much of 
 it being made from brown cane sugar that has 
 never seen a maple tree. Always beware of 
 " fresh Vermont maple sugar " before the sap 
 of the trees has begun to run. 
 
 It is well for girls who are troubled with dyspep- 
 sia to be quite certain that the disturbance is not 
 due to candy-eating, for although sugar is a 
 valuable food, it is for some dyspeptics very apt 
 to cause an " acid stomach," heartburn and 
 flatulence. It promotes acid fermentation in 
 the digestive tract. When a concentrated solu- 
 tion of sugar-candy is taken into the stomach, 
 the mucous membrane is congested, and much 
 mucus, as well as highly acid gastric juice, is 
 poured out from the stomach walls. 
 
IS CANDY-EATING HAKMFUL 137 
 
 The digestion of other foods may be easily 
 interfered with on account of the large amounts 
 of mucus which are poured out after the eating 
 of cane sugar. We take so much sugar in ordi- 
 nary foods, especially in desserts, that its ill effects 
 on the process of digestion may be easily imagined. 
 And if your digestion is out of order, how can 
 your complexion be good? 
 
 Do not understand me to say that sugar is not 
 a valuable food, but eaten as it is by most girls 
 without moderation, and at all times, especially 
 in the form of candy, in which it is so concen- 
 trated, it certainly is very apt to interfere de- 
 cidedly with the process of digestion. The 
 absorption of sugar is delayed in dyspepsia, with 
 consequent tendency to fermentation. The best 
 way to obtain sugar as a food is by eating the 
 natural foods that contain it, such as milk and 
 fruits. The sugar found in milk is the least liable 
 of any of the sugars to ferment. 
 
 As to the injurious effects of sugar on the teeth, 
 there has been much discussion. There must be 
 some ground for the idea that sugar is deleterious 
 to the enamel. It probably is injurious indirectly, 
 lodging in the crevices of the teeth, and so finally 
 producing acids that eat away the enamel. 
 
 One more point about candy is worthy to be 
 
138 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 noted. We are all familiar with the alcoholic 
 filling of some confectionery. There is enough of 
 this in certain kinds, brandy drops, for example, 
 to establish sometimes the taste for this sort of 
 thing, a most serious consequence of candy-eating. 
 In these days so much attention is given to pre- 
 vention of disease that when we know of all the 
 harm that so easily comes from this apparently 
 simple but common habit of candy gorging, we 
 are ready to admit that the quickest way to 
 remove one cause of ill-health is to spend the 
 weekly allowance in some better way than at the 
 confectioner's shop; for all the exercise, and 
 bathing, and otherwise sensible diet that we may 
 have adopted will not offset the evils that come 
 from the overeating of sweets. 
 
XVIII 
 THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 
 
 If you were sitting here by my side in the 
 limited, as it skims along the icy rails, I would ask 
 you to glance at the face of the girl in the chair 
 across the aisle. Let us look at her together, 
 and talk quietly a little about her troubles. For 
 surely a girl whose mirror greets her every morn- 
 ing with a reflection of sallow, leaden complexion, 
 skin thick, heavy, patchy, pimpled; eyebrows 
 raised; nose pinched and pointed; upper lip 
 slightly lifted ; lower lip thickened ; teeth promi- 
 nent; and the mouth-breather's strained ex- 
 pression — such a girl undeniably has her troubles. 
 
 Now troubles fall into two great classes : those 
 we cannot help and those we can help. The less 
 we think about the first class the happier we shall 
 be, the stronger both physically and mentally 
 to battle with and overcome the second class, 
 that, ranging themselves before us in battle array, 
 challenge us to conquer. Although your eye 
 may not, like that of a physician, be trained to 
 detect in faces cause and effect, you may easily 
 
140 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 learn to read the more salient signs of the broken 
 laws of common hygiene. 
 
 We know from careful students of that primi- 
 tive race that it did not require the study of 
 books to teach the Red Man the effects of mouth- 
 breathing. One who sojourned long among the 
 Indians remarks: " Civilized man may properly 
 be said to be an open-mouthed animal; a wild 
 man is not." 
 
 The much vaunted modern civilization can 
 often relearn some of Nature's laws from the 
 savage. Certainly this neighbor of ours across 
 the aisle could work a marvelous transformation 
 in both health and looks by studying the good 
 breathing habits of the old braves and their 
 families. From the very beginning, the Indian 
 papoose is made to breath through its nose until 
 this habit is fixed for life. When put to sleep, 
 the baby is lashed to a straight board, a pillow 
 being placed under the head in such a way as to 
 bend it forward a little, thus keeping the mouth 
 closed. When the child becomes an adult, his 
 gait is erect and straight, his spine is almost in- 
 variably healthy, and his teeth, though devoid 
 of toothbrush or dentifrice, do him good service 
 till the end of his life. 
 
 With what scorn and derision the Indian called 
 
THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 141 
 
 the early invader of his country " The pale face 
 and the black mouth." It is said that to an 
 Indian one of the most striking characteristics 
 of the white' man was the wretched condition 
 of his teeth. Various travelers comment on the 
 fine shape of the Indian mouth, and attribute the 
 evenness and regularity of the teeth to habits 
 of good breathing. 
 
 The teeth of savages of all ages, as examination 
 of their skulls by explorers testifies, are almost 
 invariably in excellent condition. It is believed 
 that one cause of their preservation is due to the 
 fact that the mouth in which they grew was 
 closed a greater part of the time. 
 
 Animals as well as savages, as a rule, breathe 
 in a more sensible manner than many sensible 
 people. Picture to yourself a mouth-breathing 
 horse. What an absurdity! 
 
 While in the beginning the mouth-breather 
 may be said to have formed a bad habit merely, 
 it will not take long for this habit to lead to 
 disease. Even though not an habitual mouth- 
 breather, have you not at some time waked up 
 with mouth and throat dry and irritated? 
 Doubtless your mouth had been open while you 
 slept. Probably, too, you had a bad taste in the 
 mouth, and felt fatigued and unrefreshed by the 
 
142 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 night's sleep, for one cannot have perfect rest 
 with the mouth open. Perhaps at the time you 
 suffered from nightmare, so often associated with 
 mouth-breathing at night. 
 
 The functions of the nose as an organ of res- 
 piration are extremely important. The nose 
 has been called a " great laboratory for the prep- 
 aration of the food for the lungs." The relation 
 between the nose and the lungs may be compared 
 to that between the mouth and the stomach. 
 And now for the preparation of the air food. In 
 its passage over the warm, moist lining of the 
 nose, air is raised to a temperature of nearly one 
 hundred degrees, moistened, and finally filtered 
 from various impurities. 
 
 As it is evident that our mouth-breather can- 
 not keep her lips closed without effort, we may 
 feel sure that there exists some obstruction that 
 demands attention. 
 
 You are glancing now, I can see, at her wrinkles. 
 There they are at the outer angle of her mouth. 
 And, look, she has mislaid her ticket! See how 
 anxiety has deepened the furrows that course 
 down the face from the wings of the nose to the 
 corners of the mouth. What a " lacking " ex- 
 pression she has! 
 
 When facing the mirror to-night, let your 
 
THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 143 
 
 lower jaw sag and see for yourself just what 
 havoc in looks the open mouth works. Imagine 
 yourself thus distorted applying for some coveted 
 position. Have you the slightest idea that you 
 would be successful? I would not advise the 
 experiment. Experts in character reading tell 
 us that nervousness shows itself strikingly in 
 the mouth. An open tremulous mouth is an 
 index of weakness. 
 
 There is a story from Indian days of a quarrel 
 between one of the pioneers and a Sioux brave. 
 The Indian challenged the white man. They 
 were to meet upon the prairie unattended, and 
 fight it out with knives. Fortunately a recon- 
 ciliation was effected by their friends before the 
 duel took place. One of the white men after- 
 wards asked the Indian if he had not been afraid 
 of his antagonist, who was so superior in size 
 and strength. " No/' said the savage, " I am 
 never afraid of a man that keeps his mouth open, 
 no matter how large and strong he may be." 
 
 The eyes seldom lose their natural expression, 
 but the mouth is subject to many changes, even 
 aside from those due to faulty breathing. The 
 mouth has been called " The greatest mystery 
 in the material organization of man." From 
 it comes an endless variety of sounds — the 
 
144 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 sweetest music and the discordant nasal twang 
 of the person that knows not how to breathe 
 properly. Listen now! This girl across from us 
 is speaking, and, as commonly said, she " talks 
 through her nose." As a matter of fact, she is 
 talking through her mouth, leaving her nose 
 out of commission entirely. 
 
 Doubtless, could we meet the mother, she 
 would tell us that her daughter always catches 
 cold easily, is subject to bronchitis, and often 
 suffers from indigestion — for this is the common 
 story of the chronic mouth-breather. Now why 
 does this train of ills follow what so many people 
 consider merely an uncomfortable habit? Be- 
 cause breathing is one of our most important 
 functions, and when it is not properly performed 
 the entire body suffers the consequences. Merely 
 taking air into the lungs and breathing it out 
 again does not by any means constitute the whole 
 of respiration, for after air reaches the lungs the 
 oxygen passes through their delicate lining to 
 be taken up by the blood that carries this life- 
 giving food to every cell in the body. Thus 
 every cell breathes, and plays its part in respira- 
 tion. Again impurities gathered up throughout 
 the body by the blood are carried to the lungs, to 
 be thrown off in the expired air. 
 
THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 145 
 
 But the aeration of blood is not the only 
 function of respiratory movements. Breathing 
 favors activity of the liver; by breathing, blood 
 is drawn out and pumped into the brain. The 
 movements of respiration so act on circulation 
 that the nutrition of the entire body is influenced. 
 It is well known that breathing exercises are 
 often of special benefit in nervous troubles, in 
 insomnia, and in many other disorders. 
 
 A certain German writer says: " Rise from 
 your table, take deep inhalations, move your 
 arms with rhythm, and your ideas are clarified, 
 and your conclusions become logical." 
 
 If we do not breathe correctly the blood can- 
 not be in good condition, the brain will not be 
 sufficiently nourished; the digestive organs, the 
 heart, the lungs, the muscles, and the skin are 
 all bound to suffer. You see at a glance how our 
 girl friend reflects in her complexion the baneful 
 effects of mouth-breathing. 
 
 When we know that the act of respiration is 
 repeated about twenty thousand times every 
 twenty-four hours, and when we learn that if 
 the tiny air cells in the lungs were spread out 
 flat we should need a room fifty feet long by forty 
 feet wide in which to lay down this carpet, the 
 importance of the correct breathing of fresh, pure 
 
146 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 air must surely be brought home to us. And 
 remember that the most vital principle of proper 
 breathing is taking the air in through the nose. 
 
 Although you may not be conscious of breath- 
 ing through the mouth, are you sure that you 
 always breathe through the nose? In order to 
 convince yourself that you do not use the mouth 
 for breathing, read aloud several sentences, or, 
 indeed, several pages, and observe if, during this 
 time, you close your mouth. If you do not, you 
 belong to the class of unconscious mouth-breath- 
 ers. If you have suffered the jibes of the family 
 on the score of snoring, fasten vertically across 
 the lips a small strip of surgeon's isinglass plaster. 
 
 It is wise to make a practice of taking several 
 " meals " of fresh air daily. If deep breathing 
 causes dizziness or fatigue, practise the exercise 
 less vigorously, taking first ten breaths in ten 
 seconds, gradually decreasing the number of 
 inspirations until without any discomfort you 
 can expand the chest to its utmost capacity. 
 
 As nose-breathing becomes a habit, the disa- 
 greeable hacking cough and throat clearing that 
 has annoyed us so much in our neighbor disap- 
 pear. If she realized that the remedy of mouth- 
 breathing lay to a large extent in her own hands, 
 surely she would not consider any effort she 
 
THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 147 
 
 might make too great to secure the comely looks 
 and firm health that come from good breathing 
 habits. 
 
 " Shut your mouth and save your life " is 
 the abrupt warning of an eighteenth century 
 student of the Red Man. A proverb of this 
 people, " old and unchangeable as their hills/' 
 we might well adopt in these modern days of 
 hygiene worship : " My son, if you would be 
 wise, open first your eyes, your ears next, and 
 last of all your mouth, that your words may be 
 words of wisdom, giving no advantage to your 
 adversary." 
 
XIX 
 DUST DISEASE AND COLDS 
 
 Have you ever heard of " dust disease? " 
 Possibly not, for only recently has this term been 
 introduced. But now the disorder has been 
 carefully studied, and has its name in " the table 
 of contents." When a girl is afflicted with this 
 disease, she feels much as she does with a common 
 cold. She loses her energy and feels miserable. 
 She has wandering pains and is " achy " all over, 
 while the most striking symptoms of the head 
 cold assert themselves vigorously. The cause of 
 this condition is said to be the inhalation of dust, 
 city dust in particular, in which are mixed up all 
 sorts of debris, particles of dried sputum contain- 
 ing bacteria being the most injurious. 
 
 This disease is very common in our country, 
 where the disgusting habit of careless expectora- 
 tion is so freely indulged in. As a medical writer 
 well says: " One of the most serious obstacles 
 in the way of clean living in towns in this country 
 is the especially American expectoratory pre- 
 rogative." 
 
DUST DISEASE AND COLDS 149 
 
 It is interesting to note that inmates of insane 
 asylums are remarkably free from such affections 
 as colds, bronchitis, and pneumonia, doubtless 
 because the patients are not allowed to expecto- 
 rate on the floor or walks. Thus no infected 
 sputum can be tracked into the house, where it 
 will pollute the atmosphere. 
 
 A physician some ten years ago began to keep 
 a scrapbook. He had an old ledger of 1863, 
 dusty and musty with age, that he thought would 
 do very well for the purpose. But after digging 
 it out from a pile of rubbish up in the garret, 
 and arranging it for pasting, he caught a severe 
 cold. At the time, the connection between the 
 dusty old book and his cold did not occur to him. 
 But some months later, after spending an hour or 
 so over the book again, he promptly caught a 
 fresh cold. When this had occurred a number 
 of times, his attention was attracted to the coinci- 
 dence, and he then experimented on himself. 
 The result was that every time he worked over the 
 book he caught cold. Then the book was given 
 a thorough airing, sunning, and beating, the 
 covers and binding being wiped off with an anti- 
 septic solution. The doctor has never since 
 caught cold after using the book. Such instances 
 could be multiplied. 
 
150 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 It is well known that night attacks of asthma, 
 as well as colds, are sometimes due to dust from 
 feather pillows. North Pole explorers are free 
 from this affection until they return to civiliza- 
 tion, when they suffer from it again. This 
 disease is seldom found among the Japanese, for 
 they are very dainty and cleanly in their habits, 
 and change their footwear before entering the 
 house. 
 
 " Dust disease " is often supposed to be an 
 ordinary cold. It is most common in the spring 
 and fall, when the streets are especially dusty 
 and dirty. 
 
 Have you not often caught a hard cold just 
 after returning to the city for the winter? At 
 this time many so-called colds are really due to 
 infection by the city dust, from which you have 
 been free for all the long weeks during which 
 you have been breathing fresh, pure, country 
 air. If you are trying your hand at housekeep- 
 ing, you should see that all the hot-air pipes are 
 taken apart and cleaned every fall before the 
 furnace fire is started, in order to remove the 
 accumulated dust of summer. The remedy for 
 " dust disease " is pure air. 
 
 But how does one catch cold, — just a plain, 
 ordinary, old-fashioned cold? Colds are a result 
 
DUST DISEASE AND COLDS 151 
 
 of a disturbance of the circulation. Very often 
 a small part of the surface of the body is chilled, 
 and the blood is driven out of this region and 
 forced to the inside of the body, to the internal 
 skin, as the mucous membrane lining the air 
 passages is called. The excess of blood congests 
 these tissues, setting up an inflammatory con- 
 dition. If the lining of the nose is especially 
 affected, you feel " stuffed up." And well you 
 may, for the nasal tissues are swollen, and soon 
 begin to secrete more than the normal amount 
 of mucus. 
 
 A description of the symptoms of a cold is un- 
 necessary, for we have all experienced them so 
 often that they are fresh in our minds. Sore 
 throat is common during the winter and spring 
 months; so is hoarseness. The symptoms de- 
 pend upon the part that is especially affected. 
 
 The infectious character of colds is scarcely 
 doubted now. Microbes play their part in very 
 many cases. 
 
 You may have heard of the classical St. Kilda 
 cold. This island in the Western Hebrides har- 
 bors about one hundred inhabitants, who never 
 know what a cold is till a ship arrives. Then men, 
 women and children, unused to coming in contact 
 with this disorder, begin to sneeze, and a cold 
 
152 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 becomes the universal complaint, even the little 
 babies not escaping. After this epidemic many 
 are well until the following year, when another 
 ship appears. The arrival of ships from the 
 larger ports, such as Glasgow or Liverpool, is 
 more dreaded than that of those from the other 
 islands of the Hebrides, for the St. Kilda people 
 declare that the colds are much worse in the for- 
 mer cases than in the latter. 
 
 It is an extremely common occurrence for a 
 cold to make its way through a family or a school 
 or any other group of people who are closely asso- 
 ciated. This fact testifies to its microbic char- 
 acter. The best way to avoid catching cold is to 
 observe the ordinary rules of hygiene. The 
 clothing should be evenly distributed over the 
 body, and suitable to the season and climate. 
 Soft wool worn next to the body is a great pro- 
 tection in our changeable climate. Adapt your 
 clothing to the state of the weather. Some girls 
 have a special calendar day on which they change 
 the clothing from one season to another. This 
 custom is not sensible. The temperature is our 
 best guide. 
 
 Always be careful not to chill a part of the skin, 
 as happens when a draught blows on the back of 
 the neck. Wet feet must always be avoided; 
 
DUST DISEASE AND COLDS 153 
 
 but if by any accident your feet do get wet, keep 
 moving until you can change your damp shoes 
 and stockings for dry ones. In this way the circu- 
 lation will not be too much disturbed, and you 
 will not be apt to feel any ill effects from the 
 exposure. Exercise in fresh air is a great pre- 
 ventive of colds. 
 
 But when the cold has once started, how are 
 we to throw it off? It is said that when Gladstone 
 caught cold, he at once went to bed and sent for 
 a doctor. He realized that a cold might moan 
 serious results, and he took no chances. 
 
 Unless a cold is attacked very vigorously and 
 intelligently at its outset, it will run its course. 
 Then there is little to do, except to try to keep 
 it from extending from the region first affected 
 to other parts of the body. Many colds start 
 with a " raw throat." Frequent gargling with 
 some antiseptic solution will do a great deal to 
 check the trouble, and limit it to the part first 
 attacked. A saturated solution of boric acid is 
 excellent for this purpose. The principle of 
 taking a hot bath and drinks of hot lemonade or 
 flaxseed tea is sensible, for this treatment tends 
 to restore the circulation to normal. Great care 
 should be taken not to get chilled afterwards. 
 It is a good plan to wrap one's self up well in 
 
154 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 flannel blankets directly after the bath. The 
 Turkish bath, observing the same precautions, 
 is also in order, as is the mustard foot bath. 
 
 And it is always well to take a laxative at the 
 beginning of a cold, one that will act quickly. 
 If hoarseness develops, much relief may be ob- 
 tained by inhaling the vapor from a solution made 
 up of a pint of boiling water and a teaspoonful 
 of the compound tincture of benzoin, or liquid 
 tar. Throw a towel over your head as you lean 
 over the pitcher or bowl; or you may inhale 
 through a paper cone. Breathe the vapor in 
 through the mouth. 
 
XX 
 
 DANGERS THAT WE MAY AVOID 
 
 If our eyes were many times more powerful 
 than they are, we would soon become conscious 
 of a teeming world about us that passes now for 
 the most part unnoticed. In our every-day lives 
 we could avoid many dangers, if we would give 
 only a little more care and attention to the ap- 
 parently small details of ordinary living. 
 
 The little creatures that have attracted so much 
 attention in the last half century are tiny vege- 
 table organisms. It is almost impossible to real- 
 ize how small they are, but it has been estimated 
 that at least four hundred millions could be spread 
 over one square inch in one layer only. Many 
 serious diseases are traced to the door of these 
 " Lilliputians." 
 
 When suffering from a boil, you are apt to 
 think that the trouble has come from within. 
 Now, the truth is, it is apt to have originated 
 from without from some external irritation. A 
 favorite location for this painful inflammation 
 
156 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 is at the back of the neck. The stiff linen collar 
 has perhaps a rough edge, and rubbing against 
 your neck has irritated the skin, and put it into 
 the condition of being an easy prey to infection. 
 Then along comes the little organism with a very 
 long name, and takes up its abode in the sore 
 spot on the neck, and you soon say that the boil 
 is festering. If you were to put a bit of the 
 purulent matter under the microscope, you would 
 see many tiny round bodies that in their shape 
 might be compared to grapes. If you had taken 
 off the stiff collar as soon as it hurt you, substi- 
 tuting for it a soft stock, you would probably 
 have avoided much suffering. That reminds me 
 to warn you never to rub your hands over your 
 face, as many girls so carelessly do, especially 
 when warm and perspiring. Hands, though 
 comparatively clean, generally harbor various 
 microbes, and when you rub your face with the 
 hands, off come the microbes! And sometimes 
 these microbes cause considerable trouble. Many 
 pimples are actually rubbed into the face. Gloves 
 are even worse than hands, as you will soon 
 realize if you stop to think what you have handled 
 with your gloved hands. 
 
 I see so many girls in the street cars putting 
 money into their mouths. A most unclean 
 
DANGERS WE MAY AVOID 157 
 
 habit! But uncleanliness is not the worst feature. 
 This custom is positively dangerous. Again, 
 one often sees the street-car conductor moisten 
 a finger at his lips before shuffling out transfers 
 to the waiting passengers. It is just as easy to 
 take hold of your transfer by the clean end, or 
 even to double over the damp edge so that your 
 fingers will not come in contact with it. The 
 habit of putting various objects into the mouth 
 is a very strong and a very common one. I have 
 seen a girl medical student in the typhoid ward 
 of a hospital stop by a bed to examine the 
 patient, and later put her pen into her mouth. 
 This habit is most pernicious and dangerous. 
 Keep your hands away from your face, and your 
 complexion will be better; keep them away 
 from your mouth, and both your complexion and 
 your health will be the gainers. 
 
 Never wash your face until you have first 
 thoroughly washed your hands and poured out the 
 soiled water from the basin. Keep a separate 
 wash-cloth for the face. 
 
 On using the telephone, do not put your mouth 
 too near the transmitter, for if the instrument is 
 in general use it offers a shelter for the invisible 
 enemies. 
 
 Fruit and vegetables should be carefully pre- 
 
158 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 pared before they are eaten, as they often harbor 
 countless micro-organisms. 
 
 Much has been written with good reason about 
 the evils of indiscriminate kissing. This custom 
 has greatly diminished of late years, but in some 
 parts of the country it is still too common among 
 mere acquaintances. It is especially to be de- 
 plored when an innocent baby is the victim. 
 Disease is easily transmitted in this way. 
 
 But besides the bacteria that live in the air 
 there are others that make their home in 
 water. It is now a matter of common knowledge 
 that many terrible epidemics of typhoid have 
 come from the use of impure drinking water. 
 You cannot tell from the appearance of water 
 whether it is pure or not. All clear water is 
 by no means germ-free, and you should be careful 
 to use only that which is known to be pure. 
 
 When a glass of water or milk is carried to your 
 room, always keep it covered until it is used. 
 
 Again, other bacteria live in the earth, espe- 
 cially that of old gardens. Here is the favorite 
 home of the lockjaw microbe. From the viru- 
 lence of this germ comes the danger of running a 
 a rusty nail into the foot. A wound should 
 always be cleansed at once in order to remove all 
 foreign matter from it as soon as possible. 
 
DANGERS WE MAY AVOID 159 
 
 You may wonder how it is that most of us 
 live at all when there are so many dangers 
 lurking about. Because when we take ordinary 
 care of our bodies, they have generally sufficient 
 power of resistance to make the onset of the 
 enemy of little or no avail. 
 
XXI 
 
 HOW TO OVERCOME NERVOUSNESS 
 
 Why is it that we, as a nation, suffer from 
 nervousness to such an extent that a special 
 name, " Americanitis," has been coined to ex- 
 press our peculiar susceptibility? 
 
 There are various factors to account for this. 
 In the first place heredity has much to do with 
 the sensitive, nervous organization of the Ameri- 
 can girl. Nervous tension has been handed down 
 to her, as it were. 
 
 Again, neurasthenia often follows in the wake 
 of some infectious disease, such as typhoid fever 
 or influenza. La grippe left many neurasthenic 
 victims in its trail. 
 
 But perhaps, more than any other cause, pure, 
 simple overwork is to blame for nervous exhaus- 
 tion in girls. Are you conscious when you are 
 overworking? Or do you not realize the strain 
 till the mischief is done? 
 
 A girl wrote to me the other day asking if I 
 could tell her why she was so nervous and tired 
 all the time. In addition to her hard studies in 
 
TO OVERCOME NERVOUSNESS 161 
 
 the High School, she spent several hours daily 
 in piano practice, but much as she loves music 
 she finds the study too great a strain. It is a 
 simple case of overwork. There is no need of 
 being discouraged; the remedy is to spread the 
 same amount of work over a longer period of 
 time. Your life has not passed by when you 
 have finished school; there are still things to 
 live for. It is foolish to overcrowd your leisure 
 with music study, while already carrying as 
 many burdens as you can wisely bear. 
 
 Many of us, to be sure, have not yet learned 
 the signs of the progressive effects of overwork. 
 I remember, when a young girl, hearing my 
 mother say: " I have learned one lesson well, 
 and it is this — to know when I have worked 
 long enough. It has taken me years to learn it, 
 but now I can detect the signs of approaching 
 overfatigue. And oh, how much it saves me! " 
 
 This is a hard lesson to teach, and a harder 
 one still to learn. Few girls know that when 
 nervously exhausted their nerve structure has 
 undergone an essential change. In looking at 
 their apparently well nourished bodies they can- 
 not understand why they have no energy. It 
 would take only a glimpse at their nerves under 
 the microscope to show the cause of lassitude. 
 
162 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Nerves, when well nourished, have tiny food 
 granules in their cells. From these little food 
 granules the nerve derives its strength to work. 
 When the food is used up, the nerve cells are very 
 different in appearance. They are irregular in 
 outline and shrunken. How are we going to 
 fill them out again? We must give them what 
 they need, food, rest, and oxygen. 
 
 Some experiments by a physician have been 
 made on honey bees. The nerve cells of a bee 
 examined in the morning, before it had started 
 forth to gather honey, were large and full. They 
 contained many little food granules, and were 
 ready for a long day's work; in the afternoon 
 the cells of the bee that had been working all 
 day long were quite different from the cells of 
 early morning. They were smaller, their outline 
 was not round, being irregular instead, and here 
 and there were tiny holes where the little food 
 granules had been used up. 
 
 And so it is with us. At the end of a long day's 
 work the cells of our body are exhausted, and we 
 need food and rest to restore them to normal 
 condition. This is why we sleep. But if we go 
 on, night after night, drawing continually on 
 our reserve fund of strength, we shall find that 
 it will take more than one night to restore the 
 
TO OVERCOME NERVOUSNESS 163 
 
 normal tone. Far worse to make continual 
 little drains by going to bed too late every night, 
 than to break only occasionally into regular 
 habits of sleep. 
 
 We are very apt to find " nerves " among girls 
 employed in a business capacity. Many of you 
 try to do a hard day's work without a fair start. 
 Do you eat a sensible breakfast, or do you take 
 a cup of coffee or tea and a roll, and work till 
 noon on that? Is this quite fair to yourself? 
 And how about your luncheon? Do you have 
 a chocolate eclair, or a piece of mince pie, or a 
 glass of soda-water and a sandwich? Or have 
 you done a hard morning's shopping, and do you 
 run into a restaurant at noon for a dish of ice- 
 cream and some cake? I know from your own 
 confessions that many of you do these things. 
 Before you get over being nervous you will 
 have to become more sensible about your diet. 
 
 According to one of our brilliant medical men, 
 overwork means, in a large number of cases, too 
 little oxygen. Consequently there is an accumu- 
 lation of waste matter that acts as a poison. A 
 great many confirmed invalids owe their con- 
 dition to a chronic lack of oxygen. You cannot 
 handicap yourself in any more serious manner 
 than to work or sleep in stale air. Whenever 
 
164 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 you begin to question your vitality look to your 
 ventilation. We spend one-third of our lives 
 in the bedroom. And many of us breathe air 
 during sleep that we could not tolerate in a sit- 
 ting-room. It is an accepted fact that many 
 cases of neurasthenia are due largely to lack of 
 ventilation and open-air exercise. 
 
 One great secret of nervous exhaustion is 
 that we expend far more energy than is necessary 
 in nearly everything that we do. Why do we 
 feel so tired after entertaining a room full of 
 company? It is because we have spent so much 
 unnecessary strength in talking and listening. 
 We have virtually talked with every muscle we 
 possess. Notice for yourself some time in what 
 a state of tension you are when talking with a 
 friend — contorting your face, moving your head, 
 gesticulating with your hands, and tapping the 
 floor with your toes. Nothing about you is repose- 
 ful, and you are not only tiring yourself out but 
 every one who comes in contact with you as well. 
 
 A very nervous girl was being trained by a 
 teacher of elocution. Her attention was called 
 to the habit she had of frowning continually when 
 she spoke. In trying to gain repose of manner 
 she paid especial attention to keeping the muscles 
 of her face relaxed. She was feeling much en- 
 
TO OVERCOME NERVOUSNESS 165 
 
 couraged with her progress when the teacher 
 said: " But look at your hands." She looked 
 at her hands and found them unconsciously 
 clenched. After relaxing the muscles of her face, 
 hands, and arms, the next admonition was: 
 " Do not tap with your feet." 
 
 Be careful, in relaxing one part, not to transfer 
 the tension to another. If you learn to relax 
 in a general way, you will worry less about una- 
 voidable delays in cars and ferryboats, and you 
 will cure yourself of such bad habits as trying to 
 " push the car along; " and your temper will reap 
 the benefit. The disposition is so quickly affected 
 by the state of the nerves that you owe it to those 
 about you to learn this lesson of relaxation. 
 
 One of our pioneers in this line of physical 
 culture tells us what to do in order to relax. Lie 
 flat on the floor, since the body yields more readily 
 to an unyielding surface. Stretch the arms out 
 free from the sides, head turned neither to the 
 right nor to the left, legs straight. Relax the 
 arm and raise it slowly from the floor, " thinking " 
 it as lifeless as possible. Now let it drop heavily 
 back. Exercise each arm and leg in the same 
 way, taking deep breaths after each movement, 
 Then roll the body from side to side as heavily 
 as possible, and conclude the exercise by lying 
 
166 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 in the first position, and imagining yourself sink- 
 ing into the floor. 
 
 An exercise which may be taken in a standing 
 position, or sitting up in bed, is head rotation, 
 rolling the head slowly around, making it as 
 heavy as you can " think it." 
 
 Another is taken sitting. Raise both arms 
 heavily and with the least possible energy; let 
 them fall as they will, relaxing all muscular 
 effort. Breathe slowly and rest. These exer- 
 cises train the body to relax as soon as one is 
 conscious of tension. 
 
 Do you know how to go to sleep? The benefit 
 derived from the night's rest will depend to a 
 great extent upon the manner of going to sleep. 
 
 In the first place do not allow yourself to think. 
 Never make plans for the next day's work, nor 
 mourn about the failures of the day that is gone. 
 You may stretch and turn as much as you like 
 till you are ready to fall asleep. Then relax all 
 of your muscles. Let the bed hold you up; do 
 not try to hold yourself up. You can never re- 
 lax perfectly in ordinary clothing, so your best 
 lessons in relaxation are taken at this time. 
 
 The very shape of our bodies is under half- 
 conscious control. Perfect rest means the re- 
 laxing of that control. 
 
XXII 
 
 CRUSHES AMONG GIRLS 
 
 " Margaret will not go to her brother's wed- 
 ding! " said that young woman's aunt to me. 
 " Will not go to her brother's wedding? " I 
 repeated in astonishment. " Will you please 
 tell me why? " And then the whole story came 
 out. Margaret was a young Western girl who 
 had been sent last fall to a fashionable boarding- 
 school in the East. 
 
 Her brother was to be married this January, 
 and she was expected home to be bridesmaid. 
 But, strange to say, Margaret was quite unhappy 
 at the prospect. " She told me," continued her 
 aunt, " that if her mother only knew the feelings 
 that she had for her new girl friend she would 
 never insist upon her coming home. It was too 
 cruel to tear her away from this new friendship, — 
 of course c if mother should insist, she would have 
 to go.' " 
 
 At first I laughed. It seemed so absurd that 
 a girl who had been away from home for the first 
 time, and for only a few months, should in such 
 
168 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 a short space have formed so ardent a friendship 
 for a stranger that she did not want to go back to 
 that dear nest where she had been brought up 
 and cherished so tenderly all her young life. 
 The incident set me to thinking, and took me back 
 to my own college days. 
 
 I remember with what perplexity I heard our 
 President talk in chapel one morning on this 
 very subject. He warned us against such foolish 
 friendships. They are not friendships, and do 
 not deserve the name. They are not even imita- 
 tions; they might be called " flash-light " friend- 
 ships, if the name which means so much is used at 
 all. As a rule this malady in its most severe form 
 affects the freshmen. The first homesickness 
 is an awful feeling, and the next natural step is 
 to grasp the nearest object at hand to fill up the 
 aching void. This object is generally a girl. 
 
 But the object of this mushroom affection is 
 not always another girl. Sometimes all of a 
 heart's devotion is poured forth at the feet .or 
 behind the back of a teacher. There are certain 
 teachers, just as there are certain girls, who seem 
 to inspire this particular emotion. I know of 
 one instance in which an instructor was requested 
 to resign her position on this account. Although 
 she was a brilliant woman and an excellent teacher, 
 
CRUSHES AMONG GIRLS 169 
 
 her influence was considered so bad in this re- 
 gard that she was asked to go elsewhere. It so 
 happened that I had known of this same woman 
 as a student. She had been noted, even then, 
 for her number of " crushes " and her so-called 
 personal magnetism. 
 
 Some of you, I am sure, are feeling very resent- 
 ful just now about all of this; you think that your 
 deep feelings are being trampled on, and even 
 held up to ridicule, perhaps. You feel this way 
 because to you at the time these emotions seem 
 real. But they are not real; they are a sham, 
 and you will realize this later. If this teacher, 
 whom you have suddenly grown so violently fond 
 of, is worthy the name, she will soon inspire you 
 with a sensible, wholesome regard that is very 
 different from this emotional feeling that you 
 have been experiencing. 
 
 If a choice between the two had to be made, 
 it would generally be better to lose your head 
 (for your real heart is not concerned, though 
 you think it is) over a teacher than over another 
 girl. For the former is naturally on a sort of 
 pedestal and more reserve must be shown and 
 your feelings have to be restrained, which is so 
 much the better for you, for there is more hope 
 that you will wake up to the foolishness of the 
 
170 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 situation sooner than if your idol is another girl. 
 There is, too, more chance of the older woman 
 having sense and judgment enough to guide 
 your feelings into more wholesome channels. But 
 alas for you if the object of your adoration is vain 
 and fond of admiration! She will then probably 
 lead you on till the affair becomes a joke to your 
 friends, and all of your pocket money is spent on 
 violets for " her." 
 
 We talk and think so often about health as it 
 concerns our bodies, that we sometimes forget 
 about it in relation to our minds and souls. 
 When you are beginning to feel morbid, take some 
 outdoor exercise; go out for a swim, or a row, or 
 a horseback ride, or a brisk game of tennis or 
 basketball, and your good sense will come to your 
 rescue and put you into a healthy frame of mind. 
 
 Girls are commonly thought to be more sus- 
 ceptible than boys to morbid emotions. Girls 
 stay in the house more, for one thing, while boys 
 are outdoors playing ball, or climbing trees,, or 
 swimming, or sometimes even chopping wood. 
 And speaking of wood-chopping reminds me of 
 what I heard a clever physician say not long ago 
 to a very nervous girl. She had come many 
 miles to him for treatment, and was on the eve of 
 going back to her Southern home. He said, 
 
CRUSHES AMONG GIRLS 171 
 
 " Well, what are you going to do when you get 
 back home again? " 
 
 " I really don't know," was the reply. 
 
 " Then I'll tell you. You ask your mother to 
 let you have a woodpile out in the back yard, 
 and when you feel blue just go out there and 
 chop wood ! Do it every day, before you begin 
 to feel blue." 
 
 Then girls are supposed to have a more sensi- 
 tive, nervous organization than boys. If you 
 feel jealous when you see your favorite teacher 
 or chum walking with some one else, just make 
 up your mind that your good sense needs bolster- 
 ing up, and go out for some good fresh air and 
 exercise. The world will look brighter to you 
 when you come back. You will find it a good 
 plan to take some other girl out on your jaunt 
 with you. I do not mean in a spirit of resent- 
 ment. Do not fall into the habit of thinking 
 that you can be happy with only a certain few. 
 Never was a greater mistake made. Keep your 
 eyes open and your mind sensitive to what goes 
 on about you, and you will find it a fascinating 
 pursuit to see how interesting apparently stupid 
 people will become if you are only clever enough 
 to touch upon the subject that interests them 
 most. 
 
172 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Some girls easily transfer their devotion from 
 one to another. You will wonder in the case of 
 a girl of this kind " who it is now." Just as by- 
 other extravagances, the normal, healthy feelings 
 will soon become spent and the capacity for them 
 stunted. When you go to a concert, even though 
 you have your " best friend " next to you, do 
 not sit and hold her hand during the performance. 
 That does you no good, and when you think of it 
 in sober earnest it is pretty silly, isn't it? And 
 when you go out skating with the " dearest girl 
 in the world " do not be miserable all the after- 
 noon because your chum was ahead of you, and 
 had the privilege of strapping on the dear one's 
 skates. Take it philosophically. Perhaps you 
 can be skate-strapper the next time, or perhaps 
 by that time you will not care to be. It is a com- 
 fort to remember, under such circumstances, 
 that " what belongs to you gravitates to you." 
 
 Would you want your big brother to know how 
 you felt? You would be ashamed to tell him, 
 because your common sense would come to your 
 rescue, and you know how he would laugh at you 
 and tease you. 
 
 When you feel like crying, and you know that 
 there is no good reason for it, you can just begin 
 to suspect that you have been drawing too heavily 
 
CRUSHES AMONG GIRLS 173 
 
 on that nervous system of yours. You need 
 fresh air and sunshine and a good wholesome, 
 cheerful friend to put you to rights. After your 
 walk, come home and take a nap. When you 
 wake up, you will not wish to cry. Give all you 
 can in your friendships, but give of your best; 
 do not give of your weakness. 
 
XXIII 
 
 A GIRL'S ATHLETICS IN SUMMER 
 
 While so much has been written of late years 
 concerning the necessity for exercise, compara- 
 tively little has been said about the dangers of 
 over exertion. But that these dangers really exist 
 many of us know from our personal experience. 
 It is such a temptation to keep up with some 
 other girl that it is extremely difficult to learn 
 the lesson of our own limitations. Indeed, I 
 know of nothing harder for a young person to do 
 than to stop at the right time. A modern writer 
 speaks of the " curve of health." Because we 
 wake up some morning and do not feel as bright 
 and energetic as we did the day before, is not a 
 proof that we are losing health, or that something 
 serious is going to happen, but it is quite possi- 
 bly due merely to the downward stroke in our 
 curve of health. 
 
 The variation from day to day in feelings 
 should, of course, not be too marked, but it is 
 only normal that these variations should exist 
 to a certain degree. There is undoubtedly far 
 
A GIRL'S ATHLETICS 175 
 
 more temptation in summer than in winter to go 
 beyond one's capacity, for in the summer all of 
 the outdoor sports are continually inviting us 
 to exertion beyond the rightful limit. No one can 
 be as good a judge of your capacity for exertion 
 as you are yourself. When you know that it is 
 time to stop and rest, you should have strength 
 of will enough not to be over-persuaded by some 
 one who at the time is more vigorous than you are. 
 
 Not equally capable of exertion at all times, if 
 you do not use judgment in this matter, you may 
 pay a severe penalty. This is applicable expe- 
 cially in relation to the more vigorous games and 
 sports. Take, for instance, tennis. There are 
 times when you are physically incapacitated 
 for indulging in any exercise. Instead, you 
 should be lying down and storing up strength 
 for the time when your curve of health is in the 
 ascendant. 
 
 The Japanese woman is often held up to us as 
 a model of strength. She is compared athlet- 
 ically with her brother, and she is so trained in 
 the feats of wrestling that she can easily throw 
 a strong man who has not had the benefit of her 
 training. There are many factors to account for 
 the difference between the Japanese girl and the 
 average American girl. 
 
176 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 In the first place, the Oriental is the product 
 of generations of untrammeled women. Heredity 
 means so much. Her body has been allowed to 
 be free and none of its parts has been bound in 
 by clothes which hamper its functions and limit 
 its development. She has had chest and dia- 
 phragm free for breathing and her feet have been 
 undistorted by badly fitting shoes. Still, with 
 all these advantages of heredity and training, the 
 Japanese girl, as well as the American, ought to 
 realize that she has her limitations. 
 
 I do not mean to decry physical exercise in any 
 way; I simply want to call your attention to the 
 fact that you should use due care and discretion 
 on account of the peculiar constitution with 
 which Nature has endowed you. You must 
 conform to the law of your nature if you would 
 keep yourself in good health. " And this law, 
 while it is the glory, is not the weakness, but the 
 limit, of womanhood." A healthy girl must 
 have her occupations and her recreations, but 
 these ought to be suited to her as an individual, 
 both in kind and in amount; it is only when she 
 overdoes that she injures herself, and happy is 
 the girl who learns this lesson before she has 
 wrought lasting harm to her health. Especial 
 care is necessary in girls from the age of twelve to 
 
A GIRL'S ATHLETICS 177 
 
 twenty, and unfortunately, this is just the time 
 when girls are apt to be least judicious. 
 
 The modern parent is not infrequently so ambi- 
 tious for her daughter's distinction, both mental 
 and physical, that she does not impose the proper 
 restrictions. You have probably all heard of the 
 English girl, Miss Fawcett, who, although she 
 won a senior wranglership by four hundred points 
 above the highest man, studied only six hours 
 a day; two or three hours she devoted to outdoor 
 sports. The English girl, as a rule, is far wiser 
 than her American cousin, for she realizes the 
 value of fresh air and judicious exercise. 
 
 It has been said by those who have made care- 
 ful scientific studies of these subjects that the 
 secret of perfect health for girls lies in the habit 
 of intermittent work and play. A girl who does 
 housework, as a rule, is apt to be in better con- 
 dition than one who is in a shop. The hours of 
 the girl working behind the counter are shorter 
 than those of the one working in the kitchen, but 
 they are not broken up into intervals. Two 
 periods of work of four hours each are far less 
 fatiguing than one period of eight hours. It is 
 the same old story of the heart, which, although 
 such a diligent worker, separates its efforts by 
 tiny periods of rest, If this principle of sufficient 
 
178 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 rest after periods of exertion were always held 
 in mind and carried out in practice there would 
 be far less necessity of a day or two being given 
 up every few weeks. This has been worked out 
 by careful calculation based on the history of 
 thousands of girls. 
 
 Overexertion mentally as well as physically 
 does much injury to the young, growing girl. 
 Do not understand me to say that ambition 
 wisely curbed is not an excellent trait, for without 
 ambition you will never accomplish your best 
 in this world. But I mean when you are in the 
 High School, for example, do not think more 
 about gaining a prize than you do about your 
 health; your health will be of more service to 
 you than all the prizes in the world. It is just 
 at this time, between the ages of twelve and 
 twenty, that the foundation is laid of so much of 
 our " Americanitis." 
 
 I have known of many girls who were inca- 
 pacitated for years through overexertion injudi- 
 ciously timed. When the waste products of over- 
 exertion accumulate in the blood we feel fatigued, 
 and when their quantity passes beyond the normal 
 limit we become ill. Breathless ness from exertion 
 means that we have not been able to recuperate 
 as fast as we have been using up material. 
 
A GIRL'S ATHLETICS 179 
 
 What I have said perhaps applies rather to 
 girls who are tempted to be too ambitious in the 
 matter of physical exercise. On the other hand, 
 there is the girl who exerts herself so little that 
 she finally reaches the stage where any exertion 
 appears to her to be too much. Lethargy is 
 really the word for this girl's state, and if she 
 would only rouse herself and stir up her unused 
 muscles she would appreciate how much she has 
 been losing by her former indolence. 
 
 But to go back to summer athletics. Many 
 times you can play nine holes in golf with great 
 physical benefit, whereas eighteen holes would 
 only exhaust you. 
 
 It is just the same way with tennis; you could 
 play a few games and feel all the better, whereas 
 if you play all the afternoon, especially in the 
 hot sun, you might not get over the effects for a 
 week. Still at other times it would be better for 
 you not to play at all, but to he in a shaded ham- 
 mock with a book. 
 
 As to sea-bathing, it is quite possible that some 
 among you are not strong enough to indulge in 
 this sport unless the water is quite warm. In 
 any case you should observe certain precautions. 
 Never swim within an hour and a half of eating. 
 It is much better to stay in the water a short time 
 
180 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 only, than to spend an hour or more in swimming. 
 Even if you are a good swimmer, it is safer to 
 swim toward the shore than away from it. One 
 should not indulge in swimming when fatigued, 
 and a chilly feeling should drive a girl from the 
 water at once. The sun and sand bath after 
 the sea plunge is most beneficial, and a run on 
 the beach after your swim is invigorating. But 
 discretion must always be at your right hand, 
 for there are instances in my acquaintance of 
 girls who have been unbalanced mentally for 
 periods of from one to five years through sea- 
 bathing under ill-judged conditions. 
 
XXIV 
 
 SUMMER EMERGENCIES 
 
 Last Fourth of July, in a small town in Ver- 
 mont, as a group of girls and men were sitting 
 on the green, a careless boy threw a lighted match 
 into the midst of the assortment of fireworks 
 contributed for the evening celebration. One 
 man quicker than the rest saw the danger and 
 gave warning in time for the others to scurry 
 from the place. He stayed behind, and made an 
 attempt to separate from the mass the already 
 ignited pieces. The explosion took place almost 
 immediately, and his hands were badly burned. 
 
 As the town physician had gone some miles 
 out into the country to see a patient, the grand- 
 mother in the house to which the injured youth 
 had been taken applied the commonly used 
 remedy of flour and water, binding up the burns 
 with closely fitting bandages. Apparently this 
 was helpful, and the danger of the treatment 
 was not realized till the physician's return. He 
 was inwardly much disturbed upon examining 
 the wounds, knowing well that if any lockjaw 
 
182 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 microbes or other hostile germs had been lurk- 
 ing around they had doubtless been made cap- 
 tive by the close bandages, and by this time 
 were making inroads which would result seri- 
 ously for the patient. 
 
 By the time the doctor could remove the 
 bandages, the flour and water had hardened, 
 and picking off these bits, piece by piece, was a 
 tedious and painful process for the patient. 
 When it was completed the hand was wrapped 
 up in wet dressings, that were frequently changed, 
 and happily the wounds healed without any bad 
 results. 
 
 The terrible danger in covering the burn with 
 the paste, as was done in the first instance, lay 
 in the fact that any microbes that might have 
 been on the hand or carried into it by the injury 
 were closely shut up in such a way that the most 
 deadly results could well have been feared. 
 There was no way in which the germs could ex- 
 cape. It would have been far wiser to wrap the 
 hand in cloths saturated with a very weak solu- 
 tion of carbolic acid until the arrival of the 
 physician. In a simple burn, one scarcely more 
 than a scorch, cloths wet in water in which com- 
 mon baking soda has been dissolved will give 
 instant relief from pain. Sweet oil or carron 
 
SUMMER EMERGENCIES 183 
 
 oil, the latter a mixture of equal parts of linseed 
 oil and lime water, serves its best purpose in 
 more severe burns when the skin has been broken. 
 In such cases it is most unwise to cover the in- 
 jury with anything like flour and water, for on 
 drying the paste will adhere to the tender tissues, 
 often causing considerable injury when it is 
 removed. A girl whose face was badly burned 
 at the shore last summer smeared it over with 
 flour and water on retiring. She woke up in the 
 night, finding, of course, that her face was covered 
 with a hard cake of dough that cracked with 
 every movement of the muscles. The pain and 
 burning were so intense that she began to pick 
 off the hard particles, thus injuring not only the 
 skin but the tissues underneath. In telling of 
 the incident only a few days ago she remarked 
 that it took all summer for her skin to return to 
 its normal condition. Of late years it has been 
 a fad with many girls to brown their skins to an 
 extreme degree by exposing them to the hot sun, 
 especially at the shore. Indeed I have known 
 of girls who, not having the opportunity of going 
 to the salt water, have exposed their faces to the 
 sun from their own " fifth flight back " windows, 
 so as to look like a " summer girl." A heavy 
 penalty is many times paid for such foolishness. 
 
184 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Skin injured in this way often never regains its 
 original delicacy. 
 
 A bee sting is a common summer discomfort. 
 Bees are most active during hot weather. Al- 
 though one or two stings are not serious, it is rash 
 to invite the onset of numbers. Any one familiar 
 with the habits of these insects knows that if he 
 puts a hand that has been freshly stung into the 
 hive, he will be more apt to be attacked than he 
 would if he had not been stung at all. It is 
 suggested that the bees may smell the poison of 
 the sting. However this may be, the fact is well 
 known among bee keepers. 
 
 A friend who keeps bees on her brother's farm 
 in the summer relates some interesting facts 
 about them. When a bee stings deeply, it is 
 very difficult for him to draw out the barb, for 
 this little weapon, as you may see under the 
 microscope, looks much like a saw, and in pull- 
 ing on it there is the same difficulty as in trying 
 to extract a fish hook from the flesh. This girl, 
 whose nerves are strong and who is of an investi- 
 gating turn of mind, has had the patience, after 
 being stung, to watch the manoeuvers of a bee. 
 The insect, finding that he cannot remove his 
 sting, begins to walk around in a circle as if he 
 were loosening a screw. The action produces 
 
SUMMER EMERGENCIES 185 
 
 the same effect, for he soon releases his sting and 
 off he flies again. If he had not been given time 
 to do this, he might have torn himself free from 
 the apparatus — the sting and poison sac — 
 leaving the barb in the flesh of his victim, thus 
 maiming himself and perhaps causing his own 
 death. 
 
 The poison of the bee sting is said to be similar 
 in its composition to that of the viper and scor- 
 pion. The pain of a sting is intense and hardly 
 adequately described by the Irishman, who said, 
 as a bee attacked his finger: " Be jabbers, how 
 hot his little foot is." 
 
 Ammonia is perhaps the most simple house- 
 hold remedy to apply to such injuries. Chloro- 
 form will almost immediately subdue the pain. 
 Mud is excellent and very soothing. It is said 
 that the alkali in the earth is the healing part. 
 Application of cloths dipped in cold water is often 
 recommended, but a noted writer on bees highly 
 praises the use of cloths wrung out of hot water. 
 He also says that all rubbing or irritation of the 
 sting should be avoided. 
 
 If you are interested in watching bees, do not 
 stand directly in front of the hive, so impeding 
 the entrance and exit of the bees. This will 
 annoy them. 
 
186 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Mosquitos are to be dreaded, not only for the 
 inconvenience of their bite, but from the diseases 
 that they carry. Without going into any of the 
 arguments which are so well known now through 
 the daily press as to the relation between the 
 mosquito and yellow fever, we must all admit 
 that malaria, at least, is carried by these little 
 insects. 
 
 How many times have you thought of the 
 microbes that flies carry around on their tiny 
 feet? The common house fly is very fond of 
 dirt and filth, and extreme cleanliness of the 
 person and of the house does much to drive him 
 to quarters more attractive to his taste. 
 
 The common tradition among children that 
 the " devil's darning needle " or dragonfly will 
 darn your ears shut comes back to us involunta- 
 rily as we think of all this horde of summer insect 
 folk. 
 
 Just as in the case of bee, wasp, and hornet 
 stings, so in the itching of mosquito bites, and 
 the stings of gnats (the Indians call them "no see 
 'ems ") that fly to meet us on our entrance to the 
 woods, ammonia affords great solace. 
 
 But there are other things to avoid in the woods, 
 especially if we are susceptible to poisoning. The 
 poison ivy, so common in many parts of our 
 
SUMMER EMERGENCIES 187 
 
 country and which the careless girl may so easily 
 mistake for Virginia creeper, sometimes called 
 American ivy and by others, less accurately, 
 woodbine, menaces the unwary. The poisonous 
 variety has only three leaflets, and in the fall its 
 berries are whitish or dun-colored, while the vine 
 that beautifully decorates so many homes and 
 church walls has five leaflets and berries as dark 
 as grapes when the autumn comes. Poison ivy 
 or poison oak, when brought in contact with the 
 skin, causes itching, burning, redness, swelling, 
 and oftentimes even large blisters. For many 
 susceptible to these poisons found in several 
 varities of the Rhus, it is not necessary to touch 
 the plant. The mere emanations from the 
 leaves will bring about this unhappy state of 
 affairs. For the inflammation, pieces of old 
 linen wet in baking-soda water, a teaspoonful to 
 a quart, or in lime water, are very soothing. 
 Plain cream is perhaps as useful as any simple 
 remedy. Strong soap-suds, too, will alleviate 
 the pain. In the later stages, dry starch dusted 
 over the spot is a well-known remedy. The 
 inflammation generally subsides in about a week ; 
 and one rarely suffers other than local discomfort. 
 If you are ever annoyed by the persistent 
 growth of the ivy in your yard or in places that 
 
188 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 you frequent, -a little sulphuric acid poured 
 around the roots of the plant will kill it. 
 
 If you are an indefatigable mushroom gatherer, 
 you have probably learned to tell the edible fungi 
 from the poisonous varieties. Many cases of 
 poisoning are due to too much dependence upon 
 certain old-fashioned rules not at all trustworthy. 
 A well-known botanist says that " the safest 
 line of conduct is to consider dangerous all mush- 
 rooms that are decaying or infected; all that are 
 in the immature button stage; and all that have 
 the following characteristics; " then follows a 
 long list of botanical explanations which are far 
 too formidable to enumerate. However, one 
 thing most valuable to remember is the cup-like 
 formation at the base of the stem known as the 
 " death-cup," because many mushrooms with 
 this peculiarity are extremely poisonous. Those 
 plants with a milky juice or with loose warts on 
 the cap should also be avoided. Indeed one 
 must be an expert to feel any certainty of the 
 wholesomeness of these fungi. 
 
 Beware, especially in the summer, of chicken 
 salad that has been carelessly kept an undue 
 length of time. Beware, too, of warmed-over 
 veal pie. On your picnics look out for canned 
 and deviled meats, and for shell-fish that you do 
 
SUMMER EMERGENCIES 189 
 
 not know to be absolutely fresh. There are cer- 
 tain ptomaines in infected meats whose poisonous 
 action even prolonged cooking fails to destroy. 
 
 Do not feel satisfied, then, that you are safe 
 on account of the long cooking of food that is not 
 perfectly fresh. Do not be tempted by its bargain 
 price to buy over-ripe fruit. Here is a dangerous 
 pitfall. 
 
 The one who does marketing in summer assumes 
 a large responsibility, for in man}' cases of summer 
 illness careless buying is at fault. 
 
 After all is said about the possible dangers of 
 the warm days, it is the simple remedy that brings 
 us relief from our trials; it is common sense and 
 ordinary discretion that serve as faithful pilots 
 to guide us through the waters of summer into 
 the pleasant harbor of early autumn days. 
 
XXV 
 
 DURING VACATION 
 
 One of my favorite haunts is a little studio club 
 tucked away high up in a big building in a corner 
 of one of the old squares in lower New York. On 
 a cool evening in the early spring, dropping in 
 just at dusk for a cup of tea, I found a group of 
 girls holding a symposium before the open fire. 
 Each one was contributing a personal incident 
 illustrating her peculiarities in the matter of 
 travel. As I came in, an eccentric member of 
 the club was reading, amid shouts of laughter, a 
 note just received from a lawyer friend. 
 
 " So you are on the wing again? " it ran; " I 
 begin to suspect that you do not live in a house 
 but upon a merry-go-round. If at any time it 
 should stop long enough for me to call, I should 
 be glad to do so." 
 
 " And that," the reader added, " is the flippant 
 way in which my friends treat my woes. Little 
 do they know the agonies through which I go 
 when I am getting ready for a journey." 
 
DURING VACATION 191 
 
 " Agonies, indeed! " sniffed a tall blonde. 
 " Why, girls, I found her at two yesterday after- 
 noon perched upon her couch, calmly ripping 
 up a waist that she had decided needed remodeling 
 at once. The room looked like a rummage sale, 
 but from her attitude of absorption in her work 
 I concluded that the trip was given up. ' Not 
 at all/ she assured me in her stately way, ' it's 
 only postponed a few days.' " 
 
 " I always do that," confessed the heroine of 
 this episode. " I never plan a trip that I don't 
 stop in the midst of packing to rip up a gown or 
 hat, and then of course I have to change my 
 dates." 
 
 " Oh, I have a peculiarity worth two of that," 
 said a dainty maid from the corner of the settle. 
 " Thirty minutes before I run for a train I am 
 always constrained to take a bath. It makes 
 no difference whether I am at home or boarding — 
 the whole house is always upset. I can hear the 
 maid now, knocking on the bathroom-door and 
 saying: ' I really don't see, miss, how you can 
 possibly make that three o'clock train/ while 
 I shout back through the keyhole: ' That's all 
 right, Maria; you get the hall boy to take my 
 bags over to the station and I'll get there in 
 time.' 
 
192 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 " And I do, too," she added, chuckling. 
 
 I heard her sister murmur something about 
 making everybody else miserable during the 
 process. That side of it hadn't seemed to strike 
 la petite. 
 
 This chatter took me back to early days in the 
 Southern home, when my father used to walk 
 the floor, exclaiming explosively: " Never mind, 
 don't hurry her, let her alone; it's her train! " 
 
 Well, I always did make that train, but the 
 nervous tension left in my wake I've realized only 
 in later years. 
 
 It is just the doing of these unnecessary last 
 things, the departure always in such a wild 
 scramble, that makes girls lose their nervous 
 equilibrium, when taking even a short trip. I 
 can picture now the trembling condition of a 
 college roommate who, before she left on a two 
 hours' journey, went through emotional scenes 
 with various friends, telling us that there were 
 many things in her heart which she had not time 
 to express, and leaving us with a feeling that we 
 had attended her funeral. I could never help 
 wondering during these scenes why she hadn't 
 " expressed " herself in the frequent opportunities 
 during nine months of the year. 
 
 It is a matter of self-control and nervous 
 
DURING VACATION 193 
 
 balance, not to mention common sense, to avoid 
 rather than to court such scenes. 
 
 The nervous balance will depend upon your 
 physical condition. A good night's sleep before 
 a journey is absolutely imperative, and the wise 
 girl will wait a day or two longer rather than sit 
 up half the night packing her trunk, and start 
 off the next day nervously upset from over- 
 exertion. 
 
 Going on a little visit is less exacting on one's 
 strength and temper, however, than a period of 
 travel and sight-seeing. 
 
 The modern interpretation of the old saying 
 " one never knows a friend till he summers and 
 winters him " is, that one never knows a friend 
 till he travels with him. Traveling, even more 
 than golf, brings out the most latent idiosyn- 
 crasies. Tact will never stand you in better 
 stead than when taking your vacation trip with 
 a friend. The happiness of this outing is greatly 
 dependent upon the harmony between your 
 temperaments. When two girls are out of align- 
 ment, it is not that one is all bad and the other 
 all good, that one is a sinner and one is a saint. 
 It is because the temperaments are incompatible. 
 It is easy enough, as a rule, to read a possible 
 companion sufficiently well to know whether or 
 
194 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 not she and you will take the same point of view. 
 But it is not only her temperament that you have 
 to consider. To be sure it is said that " to our- 
 selves we are a sealed book/' but that seal is 
 not set so closely that the covers of the volume 
 cannot with care be pried apart. If you are 
 constantly irritated by certain little mannerisms 
 in a friend, do not choose her for the companion 
 of your summer. If your mind is quick and 
 intuitive, you will not enjoy a girl whose slower 
 mind must travel through the maze of much 
 question-asking before it can grasp an uncompli- 
 cated situation. On the other hand, if your 
 disposition is calm and even, do not choose the 
 peppery tempered girl who jumps at conclusions. 
 It is not necessarily girls of different characteristics 
 who clash, but rather those of antagonistic traits. 
 Once off with your chosen companion, you 
 will find breakfast a test meal. It may be that 
 your vis-a-vis is fond of her morning paper, 
 while the news at first hand does not interest you. 
 Or it may be that your eyes are not strong enough 
 for newspaper print. I well know that the old- 
 fashioned advice urges us to be pleasant and 
 chatty at the breakfast table, not to be glum in 
 the early hours, — but personal experience has 
 turned another light on this picture. 
 
DURING VACATION 195 
 
 It is a charming custom in England to name 
 your own hour for breakfast, when it can be 
 served either in your room or in the common 
 breakfast room. 
 
 A chatterbox like a gramophone will often 
 drown the true music of a rarer mind, and if you 
 have a strong personality and a frank manner 
 of expressing yourself, try to subdue it in order 
 that you may discover the mental charms of your 
 quieter friend, who needs a good listener to 
 develop her. 
 
 One of our happiest narrators of travel has said, 
 in discussing the inveterate question-asker on 
 sight-seeing expeditions: " Do not ask all the 
 questions that come into your mind. If you will 
 only wait long enough there will always be some 
 goose who will ask the questions that you want 
 answered." The need of answers seems to be 
 associated with telepathy. You will find diver- 
 sion in trying this experiment, for nearly always, if 
 you do restrain curiosity for a few minutes, some 
 one else will phrase your question for you. 
 
 It is said that each friend sees only one side of 
 us, — the side she herself brings out. We have 
 all known friends who draw out our best qualities ; 
 others who constantly seem to be putting us in 
 the wrong. Make it a study, especially on your 
 
196 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 journey, that you yourself draw out the best in 
 your friend. It does not take much tact 
 to avoid belittling her pet hobby. We must 
 realize that at the very best and under the most 
 favorable circumstances in traveling there still 
 remain many annoyances and conditions of 
 nervous fatigue that we never have at home. In 
 addition to this, we are always in a less stable 
 frame of mind to meet these conditions as cheer- 
 fully and pleasantly as we would ordinarily do. 
 Some days one will not feel well, while the other 
 is more sprightly than she has been since starting. 
 Another day one will particularly desire to see a 
 certain object of interest that does not at all 
 appeal to her companion. It is just at these 
 crises that consideration for the feelings and 
 tastes of the other will smooth the irritations 
 inevitably arising on any trip. 
 
 You will surely admit on returning home 
 that efforts to cultivate in yourself adaptability 
 to the companions and circumstances of your 
 journey have been the strongest factor in all 
 the experiences of travel in broadening and 
 rounding out your character. 
 
XXVI 
 
 THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 
 
 It is said that the girl who most needs a vaca- 
 tion is the one who has just had a vacation. 
 
 Some of the effects of a holiday have to be 
 pigeon-holed as demoralizing. The delight of 
 perfect freedom and the habit of ease just en- 
 joyed make one feel like a caged bird upon return 
 to business routine. However, after the first 
 day has passed, the later efforts to be business- 
 like will not be so strenuous. It is breaking the 
 new ground that is such hard work. Men feel 
 this as well as girls. My dentist said last fall 
 that it seemed as if his first day of office work 
 would never end. Hours dragged like days. 
 
 All the informalities permissible in the country 
 and at the seashore must be folded away in the 
 memory book, when one takes up again the daily 
 task, and the freedom in dress has to be relin- 
 quished. Unconventionality in dress is apt always 
 to be conspicuous, but it is especially undesirable 
 where one is thrown much with men in business. 
 
 An eccentric girl well known to the inhabitants 
 
198 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 of a suburban town, priding herself upon her 
 independence, apprenticed herself to a Boston 
 milliner. Every noon hour during her short 
 term of service, she paraded up and down a nar- 
 row shopping street, bareheaded and with a 
 small pincushion fastened conspicuously to the 
 front of her dress. 
 
 She was the laughing stock of all acquaintances 
 who happened to meet her while in town, and 
 every passer-by turned to ridicule her. 
 
 Now is the time when one's ambition turns 
 from mountain-climbing to the ascent of that 
 ladder of success that stands in front of each one 
 of us. No wonder, indeed, that there is the 
 proverbial roomy region " at the top " of every 
 ladder. It needs but the most casual observa- 
 tion to be convinced of this. A brilliant New 
 York business woman said in despair the other 
 day to her stenographer, whose duty it is both 
 to receive and deliver messages: " Miss J — ; — , 
 you will ruin my disposition: you are gradually 
 making me a nagger, and all because you will 
 not assume the responsibilities that are given 
 to you. It is not because you are intentionally 
 disagreeable, or disobedient to orders. Your 
 whole fault is heedlessness, — carelessness about 
 little things." 
 
THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 199 
 
 Miss J also belongs to that army of girls 
 
 who, when asked if they have attended to any 
 commission that has been assigned them, always 
 glibly reply: " No, but I was just going to." 
 This brings up the incident of the priest whose 
 patience was worn threadbare by a girl who in- 
 variably used this subterfuge. He said to her 
 one day: " Mary, have you kissed the Bible this 
 morning? " 
 
 " Yes, your honor," she replied, " I was just 
 going to." 
 
 If always absolutely honest, straight-forward 
 and frank in all business matters, you will soon 
 find that your employer places confidence in you. 
 A business girl can make no greater mistake than 
 to try to " get out of things." When confidence 
 in you is shaken even a very little bit, it is a most 
 difficult matter to become reinstated. 
 
 Many times, of course, you will be put in the 
 wrong, often by sheer force of circumstances, 
 and you will have the problem to solve: " shall 
 I or shall I not make an explanation? " The 
 answer will depend upon your own position in 
 the matter. If you know that you are right, it is 
 only justice to all concerned to explain, giving 
 your reasons — not excuses — for the manner 
 in which you have acted. I have found that 
 
200 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 such a course meets the approval of any reason- 
 able man, and when one says, " if you will allow 
 me to state a fact, not as an excuse but as my 
 reason for so acting," it is generally accepted 
 in the spirit in which it is given. If so expressed, 
 even a disagreeable employer is put in the position 
 where he cannot say: " I do not want any ex- 
 cuses," and you will usually find him quite 
 amiable about the matter. 
 
 " It takes a rogue to catch a rogue," said a 
 woman to me the other day. She is at the head 
 of a large corps of clerks in a great business house 
 in New York. 
 
 " I have gained more important information 
 about other people through young girls who 
 answer the telephone than in any other way. I 
 make it a rule," she added, " in my own office, to 
 have the telephone girl inquire who wishes the 
 information before any fact whatever is given 
 over the 'phone, — even so slight a one as whether 
 I am in the office, or not." Although this seems 
 to one unacquainted with business matters such 
 an unimportant detail, it is really often of serious 
 moment. The giving of information is a great 
 drawback to any business person. I know of 
 a man who is confidential secretary to the head 
 of one of the largest corporations in the East. 
 
 
THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 201 
 
 His brilliant success is believed to be due in great 
 part to the faculty he has of looking stupid. He 
 is a man who never offers gratuitous information 
 on any subject, and he is invaluable to his em- 
 ployer. 
 
 Perhaps the first step upward consists in the 
 ability to distinguish clearly between social 
 affaire and business. Said a woman who is 
 widely known for her philanthropy, especially 
 in relation to working girls: " I have no time for 
 social amenities in the morning." It is this 
 reason that makes her avoid all business rela- 
 tions with girls whose families she knows in any 
 way. 
 
 I have heard men, too, express themselves 
 most forcibly in regard to this very point. There 
 is no time in the busy, modern day to inquire 
 after the health of the various members of a 
 family. These subjects are absolutely inappro- 
 priate to pure business dealings. 
 
 A man at the head of a large business enter- 
 prise in a Western city said the other day to a 
 woman in his employ: " I never used to appre- 
 ciate the judgment of a woman in business, but 
 I have come to realize the value of its intuitive 
 quality." This same woman told me that time 
 after time in their office, her intuition had proved 
 
202 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 to be far more useful in the conferences of the 
 officials of the company for which she works than 
 all the coldly reasoned out theories of the men 
 concerned. " Results," she says, " have proved 
 over and over again that a woman's intuition 
 can solve problems that are too knotty for the 
 masculine mind." 
 
 In talking over this subject with her, I was 
 more than ever impressed with the scarcity of 
 girls who have the cleverness and courage in 
 business to take the initiative. It requires a 
 great deal of both qualities before a girl dares to 
 leap to a conclusion — and act on it — that she 
 does not reach through the usual routine of her 
 business. 
 
 " Indeed, it is this very quality of intuition," 
 my friend continued, " that makes a woman 
 more valuable to her employer than a conserva- 
 tive man who has been carefully trained in 
 business methods. The man becomes like the 
 faithful dog who does the same things year after 
 year, never using any originality." 
 
 As she talked, my thoughts wandered back to 
 an old Southern pottery. There, around in a 
 circle, walked an old blind horse, day in and 
 day out, year in and year out. He was a living 
 cog in the machinery of that primitive indus- 
 
THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 203 
 
 try, but he was as mechanical as the rope and 
 iron to which he was only an added force. 
 
 However, let the girl young in business beware 
 of trying to bridge a wide abyss at once. Offi- 
 ciousness in beginners is most offensive to the more 
 experienced, and the daring girl just starting in 
 might find herself at the end of the week with the 
 chasm of the non-employed yawning at her feet. 
 Leave the chasm-bridging to the woman who has 
 learned how to do it, — to" the woman whom 
 nothing escapes, but who usually appears to be 
 looking at nothing in particular." 
 
 It is always the clever girl, whether in business 
 or society, who does not ask for details, but who 
 is capable of piecing out bits of information by 
 her own wit, and of adding two and two when 
 they are given to her without asking for the 
 answer. 
 
 One of my college friends was nicknamed 
 " The Objector," because no matter what sub- 
 ject came up, or what view was taken of it, this 
 girl, on principle, invariably took the opposite 
 side. Do we not consider agreeable that person 
 who generally agrees with us? Nothing so 
 smooths out the daily task as contact with one 
 who is always in a sympathetic attitude. Hard 
 work passes as nothing if one's surroundings are 
 
204 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 congenial and if one's companions are warm- 
 hearted, — simpatico as the Italians phrase it. 
 
 " Tact is that indefinable something that makes 
 friends of everybody, enemies of none, and yet 
 has its own way." 
 
 This is the quality that endears one to all. 
 There is a type of girl who thinks that it is hyp- 
 ocrisy to be agreeable. This girl does not know 
 what tact means, and tact is the magic touch- 
 stone of all success. 
 
 Have you ever listened to a discussion concern- 
 ing the disadvantages of employing women in 
 business? If so, you have probably resented 
 it without stopping to consider the possibility 
 of truth in the assertions that seem to you so 
 harsh. One of the strongest criticisms made 
 about women in business is that they cannot be 
 depended upon. Such a reputation is unneces- 
 sary, for the average girl can always show herself 
 trustworthy. 
 
 If only you could get the right perspective 
 and see yourself for once as others see you, on the 
 morning after you have been to the theatre, 
 followed by a little supper, I am sure the picture 
 would be such an unpleasant one that you would 
 not care to reproduce it. You come down to 
 the office tired out, showing weariness in every 
 
THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 205 
 
 movement of your body and in every line of your 
 face. You had to get up in such a rush that you 
 did not have time, as you generally do, to make 
 yourself dainty, and you could not resist pinning 
 on the bunch of violets that you wore last night, 
 although you knew that they were faded — and 
 faded violets are not attractive. 
 
 Perhaps it is well for your own peace of mind 
 that you have not had time to scan your face in 
 the glass, for you look old this morning; you 
 have no color, and there are dark lines under your 
 eyes, and alas! your breath is not sweet, for you 
 ate too many chocolates, and too much of the 
 rarebit. These defects would be less noticeable 
 had you made your usual careful toilette, but 
 your hair " simply would not go up " this morning, 
 and the consequent frowsiness is not becoming, 
 to say the least. 
 
 This is not the end of the story, nor to your 
 employer is it the most important. The tele- 
 phone bell rings, and you think you have a mes- 
 sage for Mr. Smith, who is in the midst of an 
 important business conference. However, after 
 you call him to the 'phone, he discovers that it was 
 Mr. Cohn who was wanted. Mr. Smith is naturally 
 much annoyed as he returns to the interrupted 
 conversation of which he has lost the thread. 
 
206 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 You have standing instructions to announce that 
 Mr. Carey is busy when a certain person calls. 
 But in some way you seem to have forgotten 
 this, and so, before you realize what you are 
 doing, you lead the unwelcome caller unan- 
 nounced into Mr. Carey's office. Then you are 
 called upon to take a letter, but you cannot 
 seem to follow the thread of the dictation. You 
 are much embarrassed to find that in transcrib- 
 ing you are not able to spell; your head aches, 
 you are deadly sleepy, and the machine never 
 acted so badly. Everything goes wrong, and 
 you suddenly begin to realize that you are very 
 irritable, for on the days when everybody and 
 everything seem to be against you "it is time 
 to ask yourself a question." If quite honest with 
 yourself, you find that the fault lies in you, and 
 not in your neighbors, and certainly not in your 
 faithful machine. 
 
 Not long ago I overheard a woman at the head 
 of a fashionable dressmaking establishment in 
 New York City say that she dreaded Monday 
 with all her heart, because the girls were abso- 
 lutely demoralized. She went on to explain, 
 saying that they all took Sunday for a gala day 
 and not as a day of rest. They worked so hard 
 having a good time all day, and late into the 
 
THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 207 
 
 evening, that they were " worn to a frazzle " 
 when Monday morning came, and were unfit for 
 work all day long, most of them complaining of 
 severe headaches. This accounts for " blue 
 Monday " nearly always; and the first day of the 
 week, that should find you at your freshest for 
 work, is the one which the heads of business 
 houses actually often have to count out, so far 
 as real work is concerned, owing to the fagged 
 condition of their employes. 
 
 And if this goes on we know the end. Very 
 likely the dear ones at home are dependent upon 
 your exertions, and one day your employer calls 
 you to him, and tells you that although he is 
 ver} r sorry to dismiss you from his force, never- 
 theless he feels that owing to the poor quality 
 of your work he is obliged to make a change. 
 It makes my heart ache to think of the distress 
 that follows your announcement in the little 
 home circle that night. And what have you to 
 show for it? A few faded violets, a disordered 
 stomach, and a clouded business record, that 
 only your own exertions and common sense will 
 be able to clear. 
 
 This is not an unusual picture, for it is the true 
 history of hundreds of bright, sweet girls who, 
 if they would use even part of the discretion and 
 
208 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 sense with which they were born, would be able 
 so to direct their lives as to get plenty of whole- 
 some amusement without interfering in any way 
 with their work. 
 
 Amusement is really the complement of occupa- 
 tion, and there must be harmony between the two 
 as well as contrast. Amusement does not always 
 mean play; change of work often offers the most 
 satisfactory diversion. It is a good plan in 
 daily work to rest your mind for a minute or two 
 every hour by shutting your eyes and calling up 
 some beautiful bit of scenery that you have 
 looked at, just as it is well to rest your eyes, if 
 your work is close, by looking off as far as you 
 can for a minute or two every hour. Such 
 habits are easily formed, and are very valuable 
 in relaxing the tension of both mind and body. 
 
 Now just a word about sleep. We can rest 
 our muscles very well by lying down or by keep- 
 ing quiet, but the brain and the mind must have 
 sleep. A little English girl once said " we cannot 
 make our minds sit down." The brain will be 
 active to a greater or less degree as long as we 
 are awake, and it is only sleep that will restore 
 the worn-out cells. Keep then to the rule of 
 eight hours' sleep each night. 
 
XXVII 
 BEAUTY'S NECESSITY 
 
 The story is told of a miller who was taken 
 very ill. By the doctor's orders the entire ma- 
 chinery of the mill was stopped, that the sick man 
 might have perfect quiet. Instead of sleeping 
 peacefully, the patient could not sleep at all, 
 until the sounds to which he had been accustomed 
 were once more renewed. 
 
 Sleep is so greatly a matter of habit that regular 
 hours and familiar sounds are important factors 
 in bringing it about. Not long ago the truth of 
 this was brought home to me on spending a night 
 in the country. My ears, dulled to the ordinary 
 city sounds, were on the qui vive when myriad 
 birds began their chorus in a tree just outside my 
 window the next morning. 
 
 A well-known traveler who shows great endur- 
 ance in his journeyings, in telling of his visit to 
 the Grand Canon, mentioned that upon the com- 
 pletion of the long and fatiguing descent from the 
 Arizona line, he lay down in the midst of his party, 
 
210 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 and slept soundly for two hours under the 
 shadow of a rock, awaking to outstride them 
 all. 
 
 History tells us that in the midst of the Battle 
 of the Nile, some boys fell asleep on deck from 
 sheer exhaustion, although the deafening roar 
 of that frightful engagement was at its height. 
 It is related of a certain engineer that he fell 
 asleep inside his boiler while workmen outside 
 were beating on it with their huge hammers. 
 Thus is sleep influenced by habit. 
 
 Although it is easy for some to sleep at any 
 convenient season, with others the habit of taking 
 advantage of the opportunity for sleep must be 
 cultivated. 
 
 It is taught in Oriental lore that refreshment 
 gained through sleep is not a mere matter of hours 
 thus spent. They claim that when the mind 
 dwells upon higher thoughts as we pass into the 
 realms of unconsciousness, it continues on this 
 restful plane throughout the period of slumber. 
 
 To-night, when ready for bed, take up a simple 
 little story that leads you entirely out of your 
 every-day routine. It will relax your tired brain 
 in spite of the tension that has been gripping it 
 for hours. It is especially valuable for girls of 
 nervous temperament and for those who spend 
 
BEAUTY'S NECESSITY 211 
 
 much time in intellectual work, to relax the mind 
 entirely just before retiring. 
 
 Scientists have discovered many interesting 
 facts about sleep. The Italian investigator, Mosso, 
 learned by experiment that the arm increases in 
 size because of the extra flow of blood into it dur- 
 ing sleep, and that the brain becomes smaller 
 from the outflow of blood. Indeed it is this 
 diminished blood-supply to the brain that is one 
 of the most important factors in producing sleep. 
 If this does not come about naturally, we may 
 take ways to assist Nature. It is for this reason 
 that one suffering from insomnia is often advised 
 to eat some easily digestible food before retiring, 
 in order to call blood to the stomach for the work 
 of digestion. One physician, especially inter- 
 ested in such cases, has advised keeping a little 
 spirit-lamp b}^ the bedside, so that milk may be 
 heated at regular intervals during the night, if 
 the person is awake. The very act of going 
 through this routine is supposed to induce sleep. 
 
 Fatigue of the body and brain is one of the best 
 preparations for sleep that Nature offers. But 
 it is not left to her alone to fulfill all conditions 
 for sleep, for we ourselves must withdraw the 
 ordinary stimuli that reach the mind through 
 the senses. For this reason we draw the curtains 
 
212 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 so that the eyes shall be deprived of light. This 
 is why we court quiet for the sleeping-room. 
 This, too, is why we remove all constricting 
 clothing, so that the body may be perfectly re- 
 laxed as it lies down to rest. If you are too 
 warm, make use of some simple means to ensure 
 comfort, such as taking a cool sponge, a short 
 walk in the evening air, or a cooling drink. 
 
 If you are chilly, take a warm bath, some warm 
 drink, or toast yourself by the open fire. And 
 the girl who habitually suffers from cold feet will 
 find bedroom slippers or a hot-water bottle a 
 great comfort. The old-fashioned warming-pan 
 played a truly beneficent part in the domestic 
 economy. Warmed night clothing and warmed 
 bed clothing on a cold winter's night send one 
 to dreamland in an atmosphere of perfect com- 
 fort. It is a great art to properly adapt the bed 
 clothing to one's individual needs. Such cover- 
 ings should never be heavy. They should be as 
 light as possible and warm — but not too warm. 
 
 If you are obliged to share your bedroom with 
 some one else, at least have your bed to yourself. 
 It is impossible for two individuals to have ex- 
 actly the same needs in point of temperature and 
 hours of sleep. Many instances are told of de- 
 clining health and strength in children and young 
 
BEAUTY'S NECESSITY 213 
 
 girls who, for some reason, share the same bed 
 with older women of the family. 
 
 Another point about sleep that has interested 
 scientists, has been the gauging of its intensity. 
 Experiments have been performed with graded 
 sounds which were employed at different hours 
 of sleep. The work has been done with such 
 mathematical precision that the variation of the 
 depth — soundness — of sleep has been satis- 
 factorily determined. 
 
 It has been found that the deepest sleep occurs 
 about an hour after one has retired; from the 
 second to the third hour on, sleep is very light. 
 The recuperation of the body, however, seems 
 to go on just as well during the lighter sleep as 
 at the earlier stage. 
 
 If you will take the trouble to notice to-night 
 just how you go to sleep, you will doubtless find 
 that the entire brain does not lapse into uncon- 
 sciousness at the same instant nor to the same 
 extent. You can, as a rule, really hear sounds 
 after you have lost the power to make conscious 
 movements. When you awake to-morrow morn- 
 ing, you may become conscious of sounds before 
 you are sufficiently awake to make voluntary 
 movements. 
 
 During sleep our breathing is slower and the 
 
214 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 chest or costal type predominates over the ab- 
 dominal. It has been found, too, that during 
 sleep the eyeballs roll upward and inward, while 
 the pupils are contracted. A well-known writer 
 on physical and mental culture teaches her 
 pupils to simulate sleep by making the eyelids 
 heavy and drooping them by degrees over the 
 eyes, as one would do when very drowsy. This 
 is helpful in bringing sleep to restless and wakeful 
 girls. One of her pupils has told me that upon 
 lying down she closes her eyes in this fashion 
 and pretends to look into her head. 
 
 It is a common thing to notice that when 
 sleepy the eyes feel as if they had sand in them, 
 and one is apt to rub them involuntarily. In- 
 vestigators tell us that during sleep some of the 
 secretions are diminished — among them the 
 tears. The surface of the eyes becomes drier, 
 accounting for the feeling of irritation. 
 
 They also tell us that drowsiness after a heavy 
 meal is probably due in great part to the dilata- 
 tion of the blood vessels of the internal organs, 
 and so to the diminution of the blood flow 
 through the brain. At the end of the day, 
 however, sleep is associated with a dilatation of 
 the blood vessels of the skin of the trunk and 
 extremities. 
 
BEAUTY'S NECESSITY 215 
 
 As a rule, girls do not realize what a very im- 
 portant element of beauty is the early bed hour. 
 It is not until the lines begin to come and the 
 dark circles appear that they wonder if late hours 
 have anything to do with these finger-marks of 
 time. Ten o'clock is not too early for any girl 
 to retire. If she is doing much mental work, or 
 if she has fatigued herself to the point of nervous 
 exhaustion — if for instance she is teaching 
 school — then eight o'clock or a half hour later 
 should be her retiring hour until she completely 
 recovers her vitality. 
 
 From all the experience that I have ever 
 gathered from girls, I can but feel convinced that 
 " beauty sleep " is not a mere term, but that it 
 rests on a sure foundation. I feel sure that 
 sleep before midnight is really more health- 
 giving and adds more to beauty than any amount 
 taken in other periods of the twenty-four hours. 
 
XXVIII 
 THE SKIN: ITS ENEMIES AND FRIENDS 
 
 One day in October on an outing in the moun- 
 tains of one of our middle States, we stopped at 
 a farmhouse to ask for a glass of milk. It is such 
 a common thing to meet girl friends in all sorts 
 of out-of-the-way places that it was hardly a 
 surprise to find one here. 
 
 As we had driven a long way that afternoon 
 and the horses were weary, we did not need much 
 urging to put up for the night. There were still 
 several hours of daylight left that were devoted 
 to a stroll along the beautiful roads. On our 
 walk we came upon a picnic. With the true 
 hospitality of this mountain region, the j^oung 
 people insisted on our joining them. I was im- 
 pressed with the blotchy complexions and de- 
 fective teeth in the young girls who should have 
 been at their freshest and best. 
 
 That evening as we sat around the big open fire 
 roasting apples and cracking nuts, we talked this 
 over with our new-found friend. I asked her 
 why it was that in a spot so smiled upon by 
 
THE SKIN 217 
 
 Nature, so untrammeled by the limitations of the 
 city, where fresh air and sunshine were limitless, 
 there were the universal sallow and blotchy skin 
 and imperfect teeth. 
 
 She talked very frankly about it, for although 
 she had been born in the old homestead where 
 she had received us so kindly, she had been sent 
 away to school several years before, and had come 
 home imbued with many new ideas. She asked 
 if we had noticed that afternoon at the picnic 
 supper the wonderful variety of pie, the quantity 
 of heavy cake, and the general indigestibility of 
 the contents of the baskets. We had to confess 
 that we had observed it. " That is no exception 
 to the general diet here," she went on. " If 
 you were to visit in almost any of the homes you 
 would find, day after day, the same dishes appear- 
 ing. The meat consists mostly of pork in every 
 form; pork roasted, ham fresh and ham cured, 
 sausages; oftentimes buckwheat cakes are eaten 
 three times a day, greasy doughnuts, even in 
 the morning, heavy cake, and pie — why, pie 
 might be called here the staff of life — and we are 
 not in the ' pie belt ' either, you know. I watched 
 my chum's mother cutting piecrust the other day, 
 and I asked her how often she baked. She said 
 on the average, every other day she baked ten 
 
218 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 pies of different kinds, and there are only four 
 in the family at that. I just wanted to start 
 a cooking-class right then and there, where these 
 girls could have the opportunity of studying the 
 effects of foods and proper methods of cooking. 
 I mean to later," she said, with a determined air. 
 
 " What general diet would you suggest, for 
 girls in their teens ? " she asked, turning to me. 
 
 " ' Simple and nutritious ' are hard-worked 
 terms/' I replied. " So let us name special foods 
 that offer a sensible list for a ' teen girl.' At 
 breakfast I would omit meat, substituting a soft- 
 boiled egg. This, with buttered toast, may 
 follow a cereal dressed with cream and sugar. 
 Seasonable fruit — oranges, apples, berries, 
 grapes — conclude the meal. Coffee and tea 
 are better ruled out. Cereal coffee may be 
 taken without harm. 
 
 " For lunch a cream soup, bread and butter, a 
 simple custard or pudding is sufficient. When 
 dinner time arrives, a generous portion of tender, 
 well-cooked meat — beefsteak, roast beef, lamb 
 or fowl — thoroughly cooked potatoes, a vegeta- 
 ble, and stewed fruit with wafers or simple cake. 
 If the girl is hungry in the middle of the after- 
 noon let her concoct an egg lemonade, using two 
 yolks instead of one white and yolk. 
 
THE SKIN 219 
 
 " Oh! if these girls here in the country would 
 only eat vegetables and fruits instead of pie and 
 doughnuts! If, too, they would make a rule that 
 not a day should pass without drinking between 
 meals, at least three pints of the delicious water 
 we had at that bubbling spring this afternoon! 
 
 " You might start a ' fruit-room ' such as they 
 have in Australia, offering bread and butter and 
 fruit for a pittance. 
 
 " There must be other reasons, though, be- 
 sides over-worked digestions, for the sallow skin 
 and pimples," I mused. 
 
 " Yes, of course there are," she replied. " If 
 you could go into the bedrooms of most of these 
 girls, you would find them wretchedly ventilated. 
 Sometimes there is no attempt at all to introduce 
 fresh air into them. They are often rooms with 
 no sunshine in the day and little air at night. 
 I know of many with only one window." 
 
 " It is the same old problem," said I. " Girls 
 cannot have clear skins, although they do live 
 out in tins life-giving air for ten hours of the 
 twenty-four, if they shut themselves up in stuffy, 
 box-like rooms for the rest of the time. 
 
 " Another hygienic lapse I notice here, is the 
 little exercise that your girls take. Wherever 
 they go they ride. Just look at the hill-climbing 
 
220 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 simply urging you to take it, together with the 
 incidental perquisite of fine color! " 
 
 " Still another important omission is the daily 
 bath and rub," continued our hostess. " Of 
 course it is not so easy or comfortable in these 
 country houses to go through with this daily 
 grooming, and of course the neglect shows itself 
 in the complexions." 
 
 " Yes, but as soon as girls realize that the skin is 
 the surest index of bodily health — and age — then 
 will they become energetic in bathing and rubbing. 
 A smooth, healthy skin is proof that the tiny 
 blood vessels are in good condition and are sup- 
 plying needed nourishment. Let them wither 
 and disappear, and there is a parchment-like, 
 wrinkled skin as a result. So preach to these 
 girls the effects of bathing, rubbing, exercise, 
 the breathing of fresh air, wholesome diet, gener- 
 ous water-drinking, and the transformation in 
 good looks and health will have made an encourag- 
 ing start." 
 
 It is not alone in one part of the country that 
 we meet these unhygienic conditions. Last 
 winter, while I was taking care of an invalid 
 friend in the Southern mountains, I observed that 
 the girls in that region quickly lose their youth 
 after twenty-five. The same lifeless skin, the 
 
THE SKIN 221 
 
 same carious teeth, the same haggard, worn faces, 
 and stolid look were to be seen in nearly all the 
 women of thirty-odd. When I asked a friend 
 about this, she said it was because these women 
 worked so hard. At first I thought this might 
 be the reason, but when I remembered the fresh, 
 vivacious faces of many city women whom I 
 know who work under pressure from morning 
 until night, I could not attribute the difference 
 in the appearance to blessed work. 
 
 I am convinced that an interest in life is a neces- 
 sary factor for the preservation of youthful charm. 
 This, of course, must be aided by a common sense 
 observance of the primary laws of hygiene, a 
 knowledge of which is absolutely necessary, if 
 girls wish to keep and improve the beauty of 
 their young lives. 
 
 The customs of these days are helping us out. 
 It was only as short a time ago as our mothers' 
 girlhood days that the grandmother of the family, 
 though scarcely turned forty, sat solemn and quiet 
 in the chimney corner, wearing an old lady's cap 
 and knitting stockings. She was generally termed 
 " granny." Imagine the horror of many of our 
 modern women, who at that age do not look as 
 if they had stepped beyond the bounds of youth. 
 
 It is a common saying that there are no old 
 
222 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 ladies now, and this in its best and highest sense 
 is a hopeful condition of the times. It does not 
 mean that women can no longer grow older with 
 grace, nor that they must dress as though they were 
 still in their teens. Such a state is more pathetic 
 than it is ludicrous. But it does mean that 
 women now, whatever be their age, are full of 
 the interests of life; are brimming over with 
 sympathy for all the affairs of the younger mem- 
 bers of the household. Surely nothing sweeter 
 can be said of the mother in a home than that all 
 of the young people enjoy coming in to see her as 
 much, if not more than they do those of their 
 own age. Such mothers are not rare in these 
 clays. We know many of them. Truly the 
 youth of the spirit is the gauge of one's years. 
 
XXIX 
 CHRISTMAS JOY THAT GIRLS CAN GIVE 
 
 When the air is rife with Christmas thoughts, 
 I am sure many girls interested in the sick poor 
 will be glad to know just what is really acceptable 
 to those in hospitals. So I am going to tell you 
 about a hospital with which I am connected, 
 and one hospital is in general much like another. 
 This special one, which is in the heart of the city of 
 New York, was planned originally for children and 
 young people, although now there is one good- 
 sized ward for women. The building occupies 
 the large part of a city block. 
 
 Into the Dispensary Department are brought 
 children of all ages and with various deformities, 
 and after it is decided who are to enter the hospi- 
 tal, they are sent upstairs into one of the wards. 
 Some of the children have to be put into plaster 
 jackets, with an iron rod curving up over the head; 
 while others, confined by various kinds of appa- 
 ratus, are kept in bed for many weeks, some of 
 them lying there with a heavy weight continually 
 
224 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 pulling on a crippled leg. This treatment, however, 
 mitigates the suffering. Again, there are others 
 who can hobble about the ward on crutches. 
 All donations to the hospital, including Christmas 
 gifts, find their way to the stock-room. These 
 donations often form a motley collection as they 
 are ranged around the room to be sorted, invento- 
 ried, and finally distributed. It is hard for some 
 girls and even for older people, too, to realize 
 what is true philanthropy. It is not generous 
 to give away things that you do not care for, and 
 which are of no earthly use; and yet many people 
 feel morally uplifted after giving away clothing 
 that they would not wear themselves. The 
 matron of this hospital, who has all gifts in charge, 
 told me that as soon as she cut the string of a 
 package the character of the sender stood out 
 like a photograph. You may be sure, however, 
 that any of the following articles will prove most 
 acceptable, for the list is a practical one, the 
 outcome of years of hospital experience. And 
 just here, for whatever you make, buy material 
 that will wash well and that will look well after 
 it is done up. Such material costs no more; it 
 takes only care in its selection, but this care is 
 repaid a hundredfold. 
 
 Perhaps nothing is more useful for young or 
 
CHRISTMAS JOY 225 
 
 old than a pair of bedside slippers. They look 
 well in the wards. They are very simple to 
 make, and they give ample opportunity for the 
 display of individual taste, both in color and in 
 pattern. 
 
 Loose sacques are always in order. When they 
 are for little children they may be knitted or 
 crocheted, or they may be made of outing flan- 
 nel. These will launder well. Short kimonos 
 are very acceptable for young girls or women, 
 when they are convalescent. There is a large 
 variety of wash materials suitable for these. 
 Eider-down sacques may be bought ready for 
 wear, or they may easily be made. They come 
 in pretty, delicate colorings, will wear a long 
 time before becoming soiled, and they also wash 
 well. 
 
 If you have ever been very sick, you can remem- 
 ber how weak you were when you began to grow 
 better, and how heavy an ordinary book was to 
 hold. You can sympathize with the little 
 sufferer, lying on her back in a brace, with the 
 use of only her arms. What a joy it is for such 
 a child to have a number of scrap picture cards 
 to look at! Even when well enough to play on 
 the floor she will enjoy them. The foundation of 
 these cards is a piece of light pasteboard; a box 
 
226 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 cover will do. In covering these your ingenuity 
 can have full play. Some are made of pictures 
 only. If you are making them for an invalid 
 whom you know, you will have an idea as to 
 what sort of pictures will best please her fancy. 
 A little bright coloring makes the card especially 
 attractive. A bit of poetry, a funny anecdote, 
 or any reading matter generally adds interest. 
 I will describe one that I am looking at now. 
 It is six inches by thirteen in size. On one side 
 there is a very attractive bunch of bright sweet 
 peas. Next to this is the picture of a girl talking 
 to her parrot. In another corner is an advertise- 
 ment of a popular breakfast food, with a baby 
 sitting in a toy wagon and waving its spoon over 
 a bowl of the food, while a small boy, lying at 
 full length beside the wagon, is on guard. Just 
 beyond is a field of grain, which a man is mowing 
 down with a machine drawn by two horses. 
 Many advertisements offer admirable bits of 
 action for such cards, as they are often really 
 pictured stories. 
 
 Scrapbooks not much heavier than these cards 
 can be made of plain manila paper, one large 
 picture being pasted on each cover, so that the 
 book is made stiff enough to handle without 
 bending. Then, again, you can make linen scrap- 
 
CHRISTMAS JOY 227 
 
 books in the same way, using linen instead of the 
 manila paper, the beauty of these being their 
 extreme lightness. If you have only a few pen- 
 nies, you can still make the book, for the pictures 
 you can gather without cost from papers, boxes, 
 fruit and vegetable cans. A pretty idea is to 
 lay off the leaves of the scrapbook like the plan 
 of a house, different leaves representing different 
 rooms. Pictures of furniture can be easily 
 clipped from furniture catalogues, and with the 
 book spread flat, paper dolls may be made to 
 carry on the various housekeeping arrangements. 
 For a little child who has to lie on its back, 
 whether in bed or in a wheel-chair, such a play- 
 thing is a bonanza, and whiles away many a 
 weary hour. Single stories may be cut from a 
 magazine, and bound with fancy paper and two 
 bits of ribbon. 
 
 A very pretty quilt can be made by a club of 
 girls. It is composed of blocks of unbleached 
 muslin, seven inches square. The blocks are 
 separated by strips of red, oil-boiled calico, two 
 inches and three-eighths wide, the same being 
 used for a border around the whole. There is 
 no quilting, the red border being stitched simply 
 on both sides with an interlining of unbleached 
 muslin. The blocks are on one side only, the 
 
228 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 back being made of the calico. They are worked 
 in various designs and colors. If you have a 
 talent for drawing you can sketch your own design 
 on the block; otherwise you can draw it off on 
 oiled or even tissue paper, and work over it. 
 When finished, each block is a picture, and some- 
 times a name is worked below. One of these 
 quilts is made of sixteen blocks; each girl could 
 make one or more blocks, and they could be 
 joined together at a " quilting bee." 
 
 Dolls offer a never-ending source of amusement 
 to girls. One little mite who was paralyzed from 
 her neck down, the only muscles of her body that 
 she could use at all being those of her face, en- 
 joyed her dollies just as much as a well child 
 does. As she lay helpless in her little crib, some 
 child who could walk would arrange the dolls on 
 the bed so that she could see them. She would 
 chatter to them till she grew tired, and then some 
 one would change the dolls all around and the 
 play would begin again, and so the tot amused 
 herself the whole day long. 
 
 Girl patients like to do things with their hands. 
 Many of them love to make doll clothes. Some- 
 times there is a genius in a ward, like a little 
 Italian girl in our hospital, who can cut and fit 
 almost any known doll garment. Some children 
 
CHRISTMAS JOY 229 
 
 cannot make the clothes till they are first cut out 
 for them. Scraps of pretty material are most 
 acceptable, as are also little work baskets. A 
 " surprise ball " can be made by winding about 
 any toy, such as a tiny doll, yards and yards of 
 worsted. After the ball gets started, other toys 
 may be put in at intervals. When the ball is 
 completed, a crochet hook is stuck into it. The 
 child begins to crochet some little thing, such as 
 reins, and as she gradually unwinds the ball, 
 the hidden treasures fall out. 
 
 Beads are fascinating to girls. Even little girls, 
 not more than three years old, will string beads 
 by the hour. Older children can make bead 
 ornaments of various kinds, such as chains and 
 belts. 
 
 Both boys and girls are fascinated with a tiny 
 purse, especially if it contains a little coin. Last 
 summer, when our hospital children came away 
 from their summer home, each one was given a 
 little pocketbook with a bright new quarter in it, 
 and it was a delight to them all. A little money 
 is a great amusement to these children. You 
 will often find one child appointed treasurer for 
 a group of friends. This official keeps a slip of 
 paper on which are written the names of the de- 
 positors, with the amount credited to each one. 
 
230 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 There will be: " Carrie, ten cents; Johnnie, five 
 cents," and so on down the list. 
 
 One day, one of our doctors asked a little chap 
 how much ten from one hundred was. The child 
 had no idea. " Well," said the doctor, " sup- 
 pose I should give you a dollar to go out to buy 
 ten cents' worth of candy; what would the man 
 give you back? " Quick as a flash the child 
 answered: " He'd give me the candy, fifty cents, 
 a quarter, a dime and a nickel." 
 
 Boys, especially those confined to bed, dearly 
 love a little racket with a ball attached to it by 
 a rubber cord. They can bat at this to their 
 hearts' content, and they amuse themselves for 
 hours in this way. 
 
 Boys who can sit up enjoy playing jack-stones, 
 and if they can win a game from a nurse happiness 
 reigns. A boy who has to lie on his back loves 
 a whip as well as his sound-limbed brother. A 
 whip or a ball, even if he can do nothing but look 
 at it, is a great delight. And there is such an 
 infinite variety of balls to choose from, rubber 
 balls, with maps on them, balls attached to a 
 rubber cord, fastened at the other end to a ring 
 slipped over the finger, and many other kinds. 
 
 Kindergarten boxes of material may be pur- 
 chased for a song, and many delightful things 
 
CHRISTMAS JOY 231 
 
 may be made from them, such as baskets, picture 
 frames, and dolls' hats. 
 
 If you are in the neighborhood of a ten-cent 
 store, you will be astonished at the amount of 
 happiness that can be purchased for fifty cents. 
 At these shops, you can get dolls, balls, woolly 
 sheep, cows, and horses; tiny cups and saucers- 
 checkers and dominoes; handkerchiefs with 
 bright borders, or printed with animals, " art 
 studies " which the children spend hours over, 
 filling out the pictures with colored crayons; 
 and many other treasures. 
 
 Perhaps by this time you are wondering what 
 all this has to do with " Pretty Girl Papers/' 
 But do you not know that nothing is so conducive 
 to health and beauty as pure joy and happiness? 
 And the purest and most lasting are gained by 
 putting aside the thought of self in an effort to 
 lighten the burdens of others. And surely at 
 the Christmas season our thoughts must go out 
 with special tenderness to the sick! 
 
XXX 
 
 A LITTLE TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE 
 
 What a mistake girls make when they think 
 that in some magical way marriage must confer 
 happiness upon them, almost in spite of them- 
 selves! In reality domestic joy, like every other 
 coveted possession, must be worked for, and earned 
 by cheerfulness, patience, and forbearance, and 
 by consideration for not only the tastes, but the 
 idiosyncrasies of the husband as well. For al- 
 though now you do not realize it, Prince Charm- 
 ing is, after all, a mere man, and either likes, or 
 does not like, baked beans and muffins, red paper 
 or blue; and before very long he will be quite apt 
 to express these likes or dislikes, often with a 
 certain degree of enthusiasm. Some day, when 
 his faults, which, by the way, you must pretend 
 not to see, seem to be developing with alarming 
 rapidity, just turn your gaze inward and try to 
 see yourself with his eyes, for " even thou art 
 a little queer sometimes! " " Both should burn 
 up in the bonfire of first love all hobbies and 
 1 little ways ' that can possibly prevent home 
 
A TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE 233 
 
 from being sweet." Do not bring any " just 
 my little ways " into the new home. The older 
 you are, the more of them you will have. Mutual 
 courtesy is, perhaps, the chief corner-stone of 
 happy married life. 
 
 Remember that your husband will depend 
 upon you more than you will depend upon him. 
 A bride does not always understand this, but 
 it is one of the unwritten laws of matrimony. 
 
 Look out for the first misunderstanding, for 
 if you manage to steer your little bark safely 
 by this obstruction you will find the same manceu- 
 ver to be far easier the next time, and finally you 
 will become such an expert that it will not be 
 very hard to sail through a rough sea with con- 
 siderable equanimity. It takes a great deal of 
 self-control for the best of us to learn to five in 
 perfect harmony for a lifetime with one who is 
 at first a comparative stranger. But there are 
 many little suggestions that your elders are only 
 too glad to make, which, if you follow, will help 
 you over many a difficulty. 
 
 Do not think that it is unnecessary to make 
 yourself attractive just because you are married. 
 This is a sad mistake. Try even harder than 
 ever before to make the most of yourself in every 
 way. Men do not care for what other people 
 
234 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 do not value. Do not drop all of your other 
 friends as soon as you become engaged, nor after 
 you are married. You will both enjoy each 
 other's society all the more if it is tempered with 
 that of others. Variety only enhances the 
 worth of what you care for most. 
 
 Do not lose your individuality. An echo is 
 always monotonous, and no good comes of it to 
 any one concerned. But although it is well to 
 have your own ideas about matters in general, 
 do not argue, for that path is full of pitfalls. 
 Don't nag! Don't exaggerate trifles. You 
 can even afford to overlook them, as a rule. 
 Use and cultivate your own intuition, for you 
 have plenty of it, and it saves the necessity of 
 many a question. 
 
 Resist any tendency you may feel to serve as 
 valet to your husband. Rather let him play 
 the role of lady's maid for you. If you begin 
 to brush his clothes and run for his slippers, the 
 chances are that he will let you continue this to 
 the end of the chapter. 
 
 Some day your husband will probably forget 
 your birthday, or the anniversary of your wed- 
 ding day, but because of this do not think he 
 has ceased to love you, and do not cry, and, above 
 all, do not " mump! " Far better speak of the 
 
A TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE 235 
 
 approaching holiday and give him a chance, for 
 men are not apt to think of " little things/' and 
 these make up the sum of women's happiness. 
 
 You have stretched out before you in the 
 married life the broadest possible opportunities 
 for the greatest happiness that is ever offered to 
 mortals. This is the normal life, where the 
 dearest relationships exist. Do not mistake 
 your privileges, nor fall short of what you can 
 well attain. 
 
 It is generally conceded that the most suitable 
 age for marriage is for a woman between the 
 twenty-fifth and twenty-ninth years, while for 
 men it is several years later. However, all rules 
 have exceptions, and so has this. Girls do not 
 marry nowadays nearly as early as their grand- 
 mothers did. My great-grandmother used to 
 say that it was just as well for girls not to marry 
 too young: " for if you wait a while,' ' she said, 
 " and marry a good husband, you will be repaid 
 for waiting. And if you are disappointed in him 
 you will not have so long to live with him! " 
 You see, she was too old-fashioned to consider a 
 divorce. 
 
 If you could only realize the joy of having 
 your entire trousseau completed several weeks 
 before the wedding day! I have a young rel- 
 
236 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 ative who had everything absolutely finished 
 and folded away six weeks before her wedding 
 day, and she is not a " prig " either. She had 
 six long weeks to devote herself amiably to the 
 family at home. She was not worn out and 
 irritable and cross; and when her fiance called 
 she was not " being fitted " by an exacting dress- 
 maker. Such forehandedness will repay you 
 many-fold. A young woman who was married 
 early last year said that more tiring than any- 
 thing else associated with her wedding was the 
 enthusiastic admiration of her friends, who called 
 in the last two weeks to see her presents and 
 trousseau. She declared that she was worn out 
 with: "Oh, isn't that too sweet!" "How 
 perfectly lovely! " and so on, throughout the 
 gamut of girlish gush. 
 
 It is an excellent plan for both young people 
 to have a conscientious physician's assurance 
 that there is no contra-indication to marriage. 
 Good health is one of the most essential founda- 
 tion stones of a happy marriage. We have all 
 seen girls marry to reform a man — have you 
 ever seen it a success? What a man cannot 
 accomplish before marriage, he probably will 
 not care to do afterwards. If girls would only 
 realize the suffering in store for them in such 
 
A TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE 237 
 
 cases, there would be fewer unhappy marriages, 
 for after all, girls do live happy lives without 
 marriage. 
 
 Long engagements are not wise; neither are 
 very short ones. From six months to a year is 
 a sensible time. Both spring and fall are suitable 
 seasons for a marriage. Extremes of tempera- 
 ture, either mid-winter or midsummer, are not 
 favorable, for at both times the physical strength 
 is more taxed than in the milder months. 
 
 Sir Edward Bulwer says a man wants a com- 
 panion for a wife. " He does not want a dancing 
 animal, nor a singing animal, nor a drawing 
 animal; yet these three accomplishments have 
 cost many women years of painful toil to acquire, 
 and they often marry a man who cannot appre- 
 ciate any one of them." 
 
 Loyalty to your husband is a jewel that you 
 must carefully cherish. You remember Sidney 
 Smith's definition of marriage: " It resembles 
 a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be 
 separated, often moving in opposite directions, 
 yet always punishing any one who comes be- 
 tween them." Never let any one come between 
 you and your husband! Never tell his faults 
 to any one else. It will make you both misera- 
 ble. Make him your confidant, and not another. 
 
238 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 True comradeship is one of your strong bulwarks 
 of happiness. Always let him be sure of your 
 sympathy and interest in all of his doings. 
 
 A long bridal trip is a great mistake. Peo- 
 ple are especially apt to be nervous and selfish 
 on a journey. You will be much happier at first 
 if you have a daily occupation to take up part 
 of your thoughts. It is always wise to be as well 
 prepared as possible for your new life. Learn all you 
 can about the various branches of housekeeping, 
 as well as house sanitation, for in that field you 
 will be the General, and you must be prepared to 
 command intelligently. 
 
XXXI 
 
 IF YOU WOULD BE A PRETTY AND 
 HEALTHY BRIDE 
 
 It may be true that all clocks and calendars 
 represent an equal amount of time, but this does 
 not seem to apply to girls. It is as hard to spend 
 time judiciously as it is to spend money wisely. 
 Do you ever sit down quietly to take an account 
 of your own assets? In other words, do you 
 ever ask yourself the question: " How do I 
 spend my time? M Are you getting the highest 
 rate of interest for it that is offered? You cer- 
 tainly would never put any of your savings in a 
 bank paying two per cent, when there is as safe 
 an institution next door giving three per cent. 
 
 You have now three months by prosaic measure 
 before the great event of your life. Nature has 
 given us a certain amount of vitality, but with 
 limitations. She leaves it to us to make the 
 most out of her gifts. This takes common sense 
 and careful thought. There is also another point 
 of view: with this limited amount of vitality 
 as our stock-in-trade, whatever time and nervous 
 
240 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 energy we fritter away is taken from what is 
 really worth our while. 
 
 It is a woman's nature to care for some one, 
 and, now that Prince Charming has come to care 
 for you, all that you do to keep yourself as he 
 would have you is done for him. It is so much 
 easier to do for other people than it is for our- 
 selves that this thought makes the care of your- 
 self a very easy one. Nothing is going to do 
 more to make you pretty and healthy than to 
 take plenty of rest during this time. Some of 
 the prettiest and youngest looking women of our 
 time, women like Queen Alexandra, and Dortzal, 
 the French prize beauty, have early learned the 
 secret of rest. The English Queen naps every 
 day. While taking her daily drive, she reposes 
 in the corner of a very easy carriage. In receiv- 
 ing, she reclines in a chair arranged for her com- 
 fort, with her back to the light. 
 
 At the time the Empress Eugenie opened the 
 Suez Canal, the number of entertainments given 
 in her honor was appalling to one who knew that 
 her beauty depended upon regular resting-hours. 
 She said one night to one of her ladies-in-waiting: 
 " I shall go home looking like a fright! Help me 
 to arrange a resting chair." And at the next 
 reception, to the admiration of the assembled 
 
A HEALTHY BRIDE 241 
 
 courtiers, Eugenie reclined throughout the eve- 
 ning in a comfortable chair, her tiny gold-slippered 
 feet resting on a footstool, her one wish being, 
 " If I can only keep awake! " The next morn- 
 ing the French papers could not sufficiently 
 praise this clever and beautiful woman, who was 
 " unruffled all through such arduous duties of 
 state." Little did they dream of the object of 
 that throne. 
 
 In contrast with the beautiful Eugenie, the 
 Czarina, who is intensely highstrung and nervous, 
 is continually " on the go " and never seems to 
 rest. The Czar has tried in vain to teach her the 
 lesson of repose, but she has not been able to 
 master it. A noted woman who not long ago was 
 visiting in Russia says: " The poor Czarina is los- 
 ing all of her beauty and youth and freshness.' ' 
 
 You cannot afford to forget what an advantage 
 it is to your looks and disposition to go to bed 
 early. Such a habit formed now will do much to 
 bring you happiness in married life. I do not 
 mean that you must give up all pleasure in the 
 evening, but if you are out late one evening be 
 sure to go to bed early the next night. In this 
 way you will preserve a good balance. If your 
 fiance" is living in the same town, it is a good plan 
 to limit his calls to three times a week. You 
 
242 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 will both enjoy them all the more if they are not 
 too frequent. The season of courtship is always 
 a nervous strain, and it is only justice to yourself 
 and to your lover to relieve the tension now and 
 then. And do not overdissipate on Sundays. 
 The way you feel on Monday morning will follow 
 you throughout the week. If you are a girl in 
 business, it may be impossible for you to take 
 an afternoon nap, and the night's sleep will be all 
 that you have to depend upon. You cannot 
 overestimate its importance. 
 
 The good looks and vivacity gained from out- 
 door exercise will do far more to attract the 
 " Prince " than will any amount of primping 
 before your looking-glass. Then, too, when " he " 
 does come to see you, plan so that you can spend 
 a good part of the evening in the open air. 
 
 If within walking distance of your business, 
 avoid the cars. You will get in a great deal of 
 valuable exercise by walking to and fro both 
 morning and evening. If closely confined, you 
 can at least " walk around the block " at noon, 
 besides eating your luncheon. Do not omit a 
 few simple breathing exercises both night and 
 morning. They take only a few minutes, and 
 they will do you more good than you can pos- 
 sibly realize until you try them. 
 
A HEALTHY BRIDE 243 
 
 Brides-to-be often ask me for suitable books 
 to read. First, I should advise a good cook- 
 book. Catering for Two is an appropriate one. 
 The Boston Cooking School Cook-book, by Fannie 
 Merritt Farmer, and Mrs. Henderson's Practical 
 Cooking and Dinner-giving are among the best. 
 If you are in business from morning until night 
 you may groan at this suggestion, but wait until 
 after you have tried its effects. You at least 
 have time in the evenings for the mastery of 
 chafing-dish recipes, and I assure you that you 
 will never appear more fascinating to Prince 
 Charming than when you are preparing for him 
 some toothsome morsel with your own hands. 
 
 After your marriage, even though you may 
 have had no more time to devote to cooking than 
 to learn the chafing-dish accomplishments, this 
 knowledge will help you wonderfully, and will be 
 an excellent foundation for all the intricacies of 
 the art. If your home is so arranged that you do 
 not have to do your own cooking all the week, 
 this duty may fall upon you on Sunday night, and 
 you will find that this is one of the pleasantest 
 hours in the whole week, when you and he are 
 all by yourselves with no disturbing element, 
 and with the chafing-dish between you. All men 
 love a domestic woman. 
 
244 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 An excellent little book that I often recommend 
 to girls about to be married is Dr. Anna Galbraith's 
 Four Epochs of a Woman's Life. It contains 
 many a valuable hint for prospective brides. 
 Then, too, you certainly should know something 
 about the hygiene of your household, and I 
 know of no better book for this purpose than T. 
 M. Clarke's The Care of a House. 
 
 A good general family doctor book is Roose- 
 velt's In Sickness and in Health. A book on 
 general hygiene will also be of value. Bissell's 
 Physical Development and Exercise for Women is 
 an excellent manual for this purpose. 
 
 If your finances will permit, leave business at 
 least three weeks before the wedding day and 
 spend the last week in absolute rest. Nothing 
 takes the place of a " bed-rest." One day spent 
 in perfect quiet in bed will greatly add to your 
 vitality. 
 
 You will never regret having both outfit and 
 wedding very simple. Such an event involves 
 not only yourself in overexertion and strain, but 
 all of those who are near and dear to you as well. 
 A mother told me not long ago that it took her 
 six months really to recover from the fatigue of 
 her daughter's wedding. It is far better to have 
 only those things that you really need, and to 
 
A HEALTHY BRIDE 245 
 
 replenish your trousseau later with fresh gar- 
 ments. 
 
 Surely no one will make a happier bride than 
 the business girl. She, more than any of her 
 indolent sisters, understands what a man's life 
 is, and can adapt herself to his point of view. 
 She realizes what a haven of rest to him his home 
 is, when she rightly guards it. When he returns 
 worn out and weary with the day's turmoil, she 
 knows enough not to ask him " What is the 
 matter? " or " Why don't you talk? " The 
 sympathy between such a girl and her husband 
 is bound to be very deep and sweet. 
 
 And deeper in the heart of life than all the 
 rest lies your duty of holding to ideals. We 
 must remember that it is the woman, particu- 
 larly, who through her own nature is best fitted 
 to stand for the beautiful and the refined. Even 
 if the man you have married happens to be one 
 of the intensely practical kind who smiles at 
 ideals, nevertheless he will appreciate the beauty 
 and power of yours, and will be uplifted by them. 
 He may not perfectly understand them, but what 
 man ever does perfectly understand a woman? 
 
XXXII 
 
 HOW FOUR THOUSAND GIRLS FOUND 
 HEALTH 
 
 In recent years, letters have come to me from 
 girls in every State of the Union and from many 
 foreign lands, telling of the various ways in which 
 the writers have found health. These girls, more 
 than four thousand in number, have had not only 
 the common sense but the self-control and 
 strength of character to persist in using regularly 
 some simple little hygienic pass-key, till they 
 now see the results in good color, healthy skin, 
 comfortable digestion, and light heart. 
 
 It often takes a stronger character to put 
 down an interesting book at a reasonable bed- 
 hour than it does to accomplish something that 
 we call great. It is the so-called insignificant 
 things of life that show the true character, and 
 yield the richest fruits. Special preparation 
 can brace us for big things, but it is the fiber of 
 the character as it lives day by day that supplies 
 the strength to resist natural inclinations toward 
 ease. 
 
HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 247 
 
 And what have these four thousand girls done 
 to improve their health? The means they 
 have used are in themselves simple, like most 
 things worth while. The great part was in the 
 doing. 
 
 See How Simply This Girl Did It 
 
 " I had nervous prostration. After two years 
 I resumed my occupation — that of teaching 
 in a large grade and directing two assistants — 
 but found myself with irritable nerves and a 
 constant feeling that my head would ache in 
 just a minute. I determined not to give up my 
 work but to do both that and improve my health 
 at the same time. At the end of the year I 
 found myself practically well, and this I attribute 
 to two things besides daily exercise in the open 
 air — a i slush bath ' and Saturday rest. The 
 ' slush bath ■ was taken as follows. Take a bowl 
 of salt and moisten with cold water so that it can 
 be taken up by handfuls. Rub this mixture 
 over the body, rinsing with clear water and dry- 
 ing with a coarse towel. Saturdays I stayed in 
 bed, whether I slept or not, until about four in 
 the afternoon; then after my bath and the rest 
 of Sunday, I felt ready for a week's work. On 
 Saturdays I rarely ate anything until dinner, 
 
248 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 as I found the rest did my stomach as well as 
 my head good." 
 
 Cold Baths Wouldn't Do for This Girl: 
 So She Did Otherwise 
 
 " I was nervous and wanted to improve my 
 vitality. I tried cold baths, but found the re- 
 action good only when I was already full of vi- 
 tality. Hot baths were very beneficial in some 
 ways, but weakened the skin so that it was made 
 susceptible to cold. How to get good perma- 
 nent results from the hot baths led to several 
 experiments, one proving perfectly satisfactory. 
 It is this: I made a saturated solution of sea-salt, 
 into which I put five or six brown linen crash 
 towels, which proved superior to Turkish towels 
 for this purpose. Then squeezing the water 
 out without wringing, I left the towels quite wet, 
 so when they dried they were stiff with salt. 
 Each morning I take the hot bath on rising, 
 followed by a thorough rub with these towels. 
 It leaves the skin in a healthy condition, and the 
 general tonic effect is really surprising. In cold 
 weather a dry rub with the salt towel upon re- 
 tiring may be added. If the skin is sensitive to 
 the harsh towel, rub very gently at first, but it 
 will soon become accustomed to the friction, 
 
HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 249 
 
 and the increased activity of the blood has a very 
 beneficial effect on the digestive organs, and on 
 the nerves: it is also a protection against colds, 
 which are a thing of the past for me." 
 
 Great care, however, should be taken to choose 
 the bath best adapted to each individual. As 
 a rule a very warm bath in the morning should 
 be avoided. Tepid water, gradually lowering 
 the temperature, will generally prove more bene- 
 ficial than hot. 
 
 A Secret Athletic Club 
 
 " A few of my friends and myself started a 
 secret athletic club, — secret because secret so- 
 cieties were the fashion. All girls were eligible 
 who had bad complexions, walked with stooped 
 shoulders, or had headaches: the age limits were 
 thirteen and seventeen. Every week we met 
 and practised walking, jumping, breathing, and 
 other exercises. Each girl took exercises to 
 remedy her particular ailment. For instance, 
 in my own case, I was stoop-shouldered and had 
 a bad complexion. I took walking exercises 
 with a stick across my shoulder blades. When 
 the girls met me on the street, they kindly and 
 gently reminded me to stand up straight. I 
 dieted and took breathing exercises for my com- 
 
250 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 plexion. Then we had general rules. Each 
 girl could wear a corset, providing it was not 
 tightly laced, but none was allowed to use powder, 
 and only those with indigestion were allowed to 
 use chewing-gum. 
 
 " We had a grand review every year, and all 
 vied with each other to be in the best condition. 
 We went to a friend, a physician, and had our 
 eyes, hearing, teeth, and whole body tested. The 
 plan succeeded admirably, and to-day, at seven- 
 teen, I enjoy rugged health, have a good com- 
 plexion, and am often complimented on my 
 graceful carriage." 
 
 Other girls would do well to follow out the 
 plan of the members of this club in their 
 " teens " of having a careful physical examina- 
 tion once a year. 
 
 Two Good Exercises for Girls Confined 
 All Day in an Office 
 
 " It may seem strange that a girl should take 
 to such a boyish game for exercise. But it has 
 done wonders for me and some of my friends who 
 started with me. I am employed in a large 
 factory here where I have been for nine years, 
 sitting steadily for nine hours every day. About 
 six years ago I was doctoring for nervousness, 
 
HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 251 
 
 indigestion, and a blotchy face. I was completely 
 broken down. The doctor said that I must leave 
 the factory. I was earning twelve dollars a 
 week, and could hardly afford to work for less, 
 so I decided to take chances. I bought a ball 
 and a glove to protect my fingers. At first I 
 threw the ball as high as I could to catch it. 
 Again I would call some little boy in to toss with 
 me. Another way was to throw the ball with 
 full force against the house, catching it when it 
 rebounded. I practised every evening for only a 
 few minutes. Now I can catch and throw like 
 a professional, and I enjoy the exercise immensely. 
 I have not lost a day's work on account of ill 
 health for five years. My complexion is fine 
 and I enjoy my meals. In winter I exercise with 
 a pulley attached to the door frame. If girls 
 would only take to outdoor sports like this it 
 would put a stop to their ailments." 
 
 Wood-chopping Gives Health 
 
 " Totally worn out, and with my health ruined 
 by confining office work, I was forced to give up 
 a responsible position that had been gained only 
 through years of faithful work. I tried in every 
 way to regain my health, but in spite of all I 
 could do I seemed to be daily slipping away from 
 
252 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 life. I could neither eat nor sleep, I had hardly 
 energy to move, and my whole system seemed 
 out of working order. One day I chopped a 
 few kindlings for dinner; to my astonishment I 
 felt better. I tried it again at supper time, with 
 the same result. Thereafter I did it three times 
 a day. At first a few moments of the work tired 
 me, but each day I found that I could increase 
 the time a little. To-day I am in perfect health. 
 The exercise sent the blood tingling through my 
 veins, straightened my bent shoulders, made 
 new my weak lungs, exercised and strengthened 
 almost every muscle, gave my whole body a warm 
 glow, and gave me an appetite and refreshing 
 sleep." 
 
 The Good Effects of a Peaceful Meal- 
 hour 
 
 " During my last year at school my stomach 
 gave out, and dieting and tonics both failed to 
 relieve the trouble. We are a large, noisy, argu- 
 mentative family, too much given to discussing 
 life's unpleasantnesses at table. I talked it over 
 with my mother, and she hit upon the idea of 
 serving my meals in my room, at a low table in 
 a sunny bay-window. The absolute calm of 
 my surroundings worked like a charm the very 
 
HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 253 
 
 first meal. In a week I was able to join the rest 
 down-stairs." 
 
 An Ideal Luncheon 
 
 " Sandwiches had long since palled, when one 
 day I tried the experiment of a half-pound of 
 figs. It was my most enjoyable luncheon for 
 months, and I let the other girls at the office in 
 on the wonderful discovery of fruit luncheons. 
 The four of us club together and have two fruits 
 each day, and we have grown quite scientific on 
 the subject of what fruits go well together. We 
 have one ' substantial ' fruit: dates (sometimes 
 stuffed with nuts), figs, bananas or apples; and 
 one merely palatable fruit, such as oranges or 
 grapes; and we never have two acid fruits, as 
 apples and oranges, for the same meal. After 
 a while we noticed that our complexions were 
 improving, and on comparing notes we learned 
 that none of us had once experienced the pangs 
 of indigestion that occasionally followed our 
 sandwich-and-cake luncheons. Afternoon candy 
 treats were an institution in our office, but we 
 soon found that after a noon feast of fruit we no 
 longer craved candy." 
 
254 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 A Girl from Germany Has Learned Moder- 
 ation 
 
 " I was always a very nervous girl, and school 
 and big cities developed me into a neurasthenic 
 patient. Without special physical troubles, I 
 was never well, and gradually realized that 
 doctors and medicines alone could not give me 
 health, but that I must do my part. What did 
 I do to strengthen my nerves? For one thing I 
 stopped trying to copy other people! I do not 
 take cold shower-baths any more, nor do I over- 
 exert myself with athletics. I do not follow other 
 people's dietary rules, nor do I take cross-country 
 runs with English friends trained to such sports. 
 Instead, I have studied my body, and know my 
 physical and nervous limits. I am now a con- 
 tented, healthy girl, well balanced and able to 
 accomplish considerable work. I improved ma- 
 terially by ' slowing up/ in a general way, by 
 working, walking, eating, and talking more slowly 
 than I did formerly. By training myself to this 
 methodically, I find I can accomplish far more 
 than if I were in a continual nervous rush and 
 hurry — in fact as much as some of my strong, 
 robust friends." 
 
HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 255 
 
 Regime for the Young Housekeeper 
 
 " I am a young mother twenty-four years old, 
 and have three little boys. For a while I became 
 tired and nervous about noon; then suffered 
 from a severe headache which would follow. 
 As I could not leave either the care of my family 
 or household duties, I tried my own remedy, 
 which has cured me. After putting my little 
 boys to bed for a nap, I take a quick sponge bath 
 with cool salt water. I take simple head exer- 
 cises — throwing the head back ten times, for- 
 ward ten times, and so on. Then I put on fresh 
 clothes and lie flat on the bed without a pillow, 
 sometimes taking a short nap. I get up feeling 
 fresh for my work and cheerful for the rest of the 
 day." 
 
 For Girls Who Are Over-ambitious 
 
 " Like other girls, I have a great ambition 
 to excel in some chosen vocation, and when obsta- 
 cles came in my way, I would become fretful and 
 irritable, thus working myself up to such a nervous 
 condition that my strength would give way and 
 I would be prostrated, feeling the nerves along 
 my spinal cord pricking like needles. I would be 
 unable to sleep or lie still, my muscles twitching 
 involuntarily. Realizing that this condition 
 
256 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 would soon become serious, I tried to reform my 
 views of life and my life's work. I now do the 
 best I can towards success, and if I do not ac- 
 complish what I have planned, I think it of 
 secondary consideration. My health shall be 
 first, for without steady nerves I cannot succeed. 
 I throw aside disappointment, for it is only mine, 
 and I am merely an atom in the great sum of 
 existence. The result is a perfectly healthy body, 
 sound sleep throughout the night, quiet nerves, 
 and a happy, restful condition of mind." 
 
 Doing Something That Counts the Best 
 Tonic 
 
 " Last year I was enjoying a continual round 
 of dances, receptions, chafing-dish suppers and 
 so on, sitting up late every night. Every morn- 
 ing I woke listless, headachy, and without appe- 
 tite. I fainted on the slightest provocation, 
 and constantly suffered from nausea. Although 
 I had never thought of teaching, I accepted a 
 position that was offered me, and by September I 
 was on my way South, — a rather frightened, 
 homesick girl. I kept my nerve, took charge of 
 the one hundred and fifty pupils, found every 
 one cordial and helpful, and the novelty of the 
 undertaking enjoyable. From that day to this 
 
HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 257 
 
 I have been like one made over new. There 
 are no more breakfasts in bed, nausea, or fainting 
 spells. I eat heartily and sleep like a top. I 
 have not missed a day from my work. Although 
 I am often tired, I enjoy my early bedtime the 
 more. My recreations are basketball, shooting, 
 and driving, and in the evening, concerts, the 
 theatre, and so on. Do something worth while; 
 it is the best tonic." 
 
 A Very Important Problem 
 
 " My mother died of consumption, leaving 
 me with the housework, a brother of seven, and 
 a sister of three to care for. In two years I was 
 a nervous wreck. I cried nearly all the time. 
 The doctor told me I would die as my mother had. 
 I could not stop work, but I determined to live. 
 My kitchen was dark and small, so I moved my 
 work table out on to the back porch, which was 
 large and shaded all day. The pump and drain 
 were here also. I washed all dishes here, putting 
 them through a window when clean to another 
 table to be put away. I washed vegetables and 
 did everything else on the porch. I moved my 
 sewing-machine out, and sewed whole afternoons, 
 and every time I thought of it I breathed deeply. 
 I washed and ironed, sewed and darned, and did 
 
258 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 everything but cook on that porch. And I 
 straightened up and took a long breath every few 
 minutes. After each meal I took a teaspoonful 
 of olive oil, and a raw egg with a bit of milk to 
 make it go down. Whenever I felt faint or like 
 crying, another egg went down. I took my bed- 
 room window out completely, simply shutting my 
 blinds if it stormed too hard. By fall I was well 
 and strong, but I work on the porch yet." 
 
 A Good Motto for Us All 
 
 " A great loss at home changed me in one short 
 month from a happy schoolgirl to the home- 
 keeper with the care of a baby sister. My sorrow, 
 combined with my responsibility, soon began to 
 tell upon me, and I became disheartened and 
 rebellious. This state of mind showed itself in 
 my body, in the form of headaches and pale 
 cheeks. I soon realized that I must do some- 
 thing, so I adopted the motto ' keep sweet/ and 
 then did everything possible to live up to it. No 
 matter what annoying, discouraging thing came 
 up, I ignored the disagreeable side and looked for 
 the bright. If little sister cried, I sang the j oi- 
 liest song I knew, and peace reigned much sooner 
 than by the ' spanking method.' I cheered 
 other worried ones, sympathized with the little 
 
HOW GIRLS POUND HEALTH 259 
 
 sorrows of the neighbors' children, and sent home- 
 grown flowers to the sick and aged. If I disliked 
 any one, I persisted in doing them little kindnesses 
 until their pleasure made me happy, and I posi- 
 tively learned to like them. What was the result? 
 In less than six months my headaches and tired 
 feeling had taken ' French leave! ' My eyes 
 are now bright, my cheeks rosy, and I am buoyant 
 and happy with the mere joy of living. And all 
 because I changed my outlook on life." 
 
 Imagination and the Power of Relaxation 
 
 " Although outwardly calm, I had long been 
 troubled by an inward nervousness or tenseness. 
 I practised relaxation. Whenever I found my 
 muscles growing tense, I put aside my work 
 and lay flat on my back for about ten minutes. 
 First I would let the jaw drop. It made me feel 
 idiotic, but I persisted. Then I would relax the 
 arms, trying to make them as limp as water. 
 Closing the eyes, I would imagine myself molasses 
 and oozing away at the finger-tips, or a frozen 
 rag with warm water applied. Then I would 
 try the same plan with the lower limbs, and 
 finally with the whole body; or, sitting on the 
 edge of a chair, I would let the body slowly sag 
 forward until arms and head nearly touched the 
 
260 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 floor. My sleep is now restful, I do not waste 
 energy, and I can do double my former work." 
 
 One Day at a Time 
 
 " I am a dressmaker and inclined to be nervous. 
 I overcame this trouble to a great extent, how- 
 ever, by the following means: Just as engagements 
 were sought, they were made and entered consecu- 
 tively, and filled accordingly. Never would I 
 allow a customer to rush in one day with an order 
 to be completed the next, except in case of ' mourn- 
 ing ' clothes, but always practised ' first come, 
 first served.' I have also discontinued sewing 
 until eleven and twelve o'clock at night, as I 
 formerly did. I also reserved one day a week in 
 case of sickness, bad weather — being lame, I 
 cannot go out during the worst — for home needs 
 and any emergency that might turn up." 
 
 An Early Bed Hour 
 
 " My good health I can trace to plenty of sleep. 
 I have merely acquired the healthful habit of 
 retiring early — anywhere from nine to ten 
 o'clock. By so living I am able to rise at a 
 reasonable hour in the morning, and go to my 
 work with a pleasant countenance — very neces- 
 
HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 261 
 
 sary to success. I am really enthusiastic over 
 plenty of sleep. Before acquiring this habit, 
 I was anything but healthy; I was nervous and 
 ill-natured — but those days are past." 
 
XXXIII 
 PHYSICAL CULTURE IN A NUTSHELL 
 
 Five minutes a day is all the time that is necessary for 
 these exercises. 
 
 The First Step Is to Let Go 
 Many girls need to learn the secret of relaxa- 
 tion more than they need exercise. No better 
 time can be found to practise this than during 
 a railroad journey. 
 
 The first step is to become conscious of your 
 tense condition. If you will put your mind on 
 the subject you will discover many times that 
 you are trying to push the train along. You may 
 find your teeth pressed together, or your hands 
 grasping the arm of the seat as if you were in a 
 dentist's chair. If you find that you are uncon- 
 sciously raising yourself up from the seat, make 
 your body as heavy as possible as you sit. When- 
 ever you discover any tension from your head to 
 your feet, just let go and relax. 
 
 How to Reduce the Abdomen 
 Lie on the back, flat on the floor, with the 
 hands clasped under the neck. Lift the left leg 
 
PHYSICAL CULTURE 263 
 
 to perpendicular position, toes extended away 
 from the body, and return to the floor in first 
 position. Repeat with right leg. Practise al- 
 ternately twelve times. 
 
 Again lift the left leg to perpendicular and 
 lower to floor, carrying the leg outward as far 
 as possible. Return to first position, keeping 
 the heel on the floor. Repeat with right leg. 
 Practise alternately twelve times. 
 
 If continued, this exercise will make the hip- 
 joint flexible, and will tend to reduce the super- 
 fluous fat of the abdomen. 
 
 To Keep the Waist Slender 
 
 While during the summer your waist muscles 
 have been kept stretched and in condition through 
 the games and outdoor exercise which you en- 
 joyed, the days have now come when you will 
 spend many hours indoors. You will need the 
 extra impetus supplied by your daily five-minute 
 exercise to keep the waist slender. 
 
 Stand in erect position and without inclining 
 the head raise the right shoulder toward the ear 
 as high as possible. Slowly depress the shoulder 
 as far as possible, at the same time raising the 
 left shoulder. Repeat four times. 
 
 Now as you raise the right shoulder, at the 
 
264 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 same time depress the left shoulder, and bend to 
 the left side as far down as you can. Slowly come 
 to the same position on the right side. You will 
 then have the left shoulder high and the waist 
 bent over on the right side and stretched on the 
 left. Repeat four times. Practise twice daily. 
 
 To Straighten Round Shoulders 
 
 Stand erect, weight on the ball of the foot, 
 with hands on the chest, fingers pointing hori- 
 zontally toward each other, elbows on a level with 
 the shoulders. 
 
 With the eyes raised toward the ceiling, slowly 
 bend the body forward at the hips, keeping the 
 eyes fixed on the point that you have chosen. 
 Do not let the elbows sag. You will feel the pull 
 on the muscles down to your heels. 
 
 This exercise is one given by a leading ortho- 
 pedic surgeon for straightening round shoulders. 
 If faithfully practised every day, you will learn 
 to stand erect without effort. 
 
 This exercise is a particularly good one for 
 the girl who spends a great deal of time at her 
 study table or over a desk in a business office. 
 You should take as much care to sit properly as 
 to stand correctly, and your back will not tire so 
 quickly if you sit well back on your chair and keep 
 
PHYSICAL CULTURE 265 
 
 your shoulders erect. This also permits deep 
 breathing, which works out good results in the 
 body in general. 
 
 Filling in Neck Hollows 
 
 The head movement is to be taken slowly and 
 rhythmically. Sit in an erect but easy position, 
 with neck pressed against the back of the collar. 
 Now move the head in a rotary motion, carrying it 
 as far as possible to the sides and back, in order 
 to stretch the neck well. Hold this position for 
 a second. Move first to the left, and then reverse 
 the movement until the exercise has been re- 
 peated twelve times. 
 
 This exercise will fill in the hollows above the 
 collar-bone and soften the outlines of the neck, 
 as well as decrease the superfluous fat in those 
 inclined to layers of double chin. 
 
 Walking Will Expand the Chest 
 
 As you are lately home from your vacation, 
 your resolution to keep up the vigor that you 
 have gained on your trip is still in its prime. 
 This is a praiseworthy state. Do not let it grow 
 old too soon. 
 
 Begin by taking a walk every day, no matter 
 what the weather. If you are carefully protected 
 
266 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 as to clothing and use good judgment, this will 
 be of great benefit. As the cooler days come, 
 light woolen clothing will keep you warm on 
 your long walks. You will need, too, heavy but 
 comfortable walking boots and heavy cotton 
 stockings. As you walk, do so in a way that will 
 keep the chest expansion you have gained. Take 
 long, deep breaths as you step, expanding every 
 part of the lungs. Slowly exhale. Repeat in 
 rhythm. 
 
 Just to Make You Sleepy 
 
 If on going to bed you find yourself so over- 
 fatigued that sleep does not easily come, try a 
 set of breathing exercises. 
 
 Lie flat on the back without a pillow, feet un- 
 crossed and arms relaxed. Breathe in while you 
 count six; breathe out, counting the same number, 
 and then rest, breathing naturally for the same 
 length of time. Repeat this exercise six times. 
 Be exact about the number of times. This may 
 be repeated at intervals. 
 
 The room should be thoroughly ventilated. 
 The rhythmic, steady inhalation and exhalation 
 are bound to have a quieting effect upon your 
 nerves, if you persist in this little practice. 
 
PHYSICAL CULTURE 267 
 
 To Improve the Bust 
 
 Here is a simple but effective exercise for 
 rounding the chest and improving the appearance 
 of the bust. Standing erect with hands on the 
 chest, slowly stretch the arms back as far as pos- 
 sible, keeping them on a level with the shoulders, 
 inhaling deeply. Slowly bring the hands back 
 to the first position, exhaling the breath mean- 
 while. During this exercise keep the back of the 
 neck pressed against the collar, and you will find 
 that you are standing well, with very little effort. 
 By practising this exercise the short girl will find 
 that she appears taller, while the tall girl, in- 
 stead of looking lanky, will be called stately. 
 A girl's appearance does not depend upon her 
 height nearly so much as it does upon the way 
 in which she carries herself. 
 
 Form the habit of deep breathing. This is a 
 most excellent way of stirring up a sluggish liver, 
 for, with every downward movement of the dia- 
 phragm, the liver is pressed and incited to action. 
 
 Exercise for Strengthening the Hand 
 
 A good exercise for strengthening the hand is 
 to squeeze repeatedly a rubber ball. You may 
 even make the ball of paper and squeeze that. 
 Or you need not even use the paper ball, but 
 
268 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 simply open and shut your hand over and over 
 again. This will strengthen the muscles and give 
 you a firm grip. To strengthen any one finger, 
 carry a weight attached to the finger by a strap, 
 meanwhile holding the arm extended. Over- 
 development in any one direction will destroy 
 the symmetry of the hand. 
 
 To Strengthen the Wrist and Develop 
 the Muscles of the Arm 
 
 Take the erect standing position and inhale 
 deeply. Extend the right arm, bend at the elbow, 
 hand up. Forcibly clench the fist, turning it 
 first to the right and then to the left from the 
 elbow only, keeping the muscles of the forearm 
 tense. 
 
 Repeat this exercise fifteen times, inhaling 
 deeply through the nose and exhaling through 
 the mouth during the practice. 
 
 This exercise will strengthen the wrist and de- 
 velop the muscles of the arm. 
 
 To Straighten the Shoulders 
 
 Stand sideways near the wall at such a distance 
 that the tips of your fingers will touch the surface 
 when the arm is extended. Move an inch awa)' 
 from the wall and again touch the wall with the 
 
PHYSICAL CULTURE 269 
 
 fingers, being careful not to change the position 
 of the pelvis, legs, or feet. Again, move away 
 another inch and repeat the exercise. Keep this 
 up until it is impossible to touch the wall with 
 your fingers. Begin over again with the other 
 arm. 
 This is a fine exercise to straighten the shoulders. 
 
 Skipping Exercise 
 
 Every girl knows how to skip. If you haven't 
 done it for some time, just get up and try spring- 
 ing lightly, first on one foot and then on the other, 
 moving forward all the time. You can " skip " 
 in your room, or if you are in the country or in a 
 quiet spot practise it in the fresh air. 
 
 This exercise is excellent for general circula- 
 tion and for stirring up a sluggish body. If your 
 occupation is sedentary, it is of the greatest 
 value. 
 
 This has recently become quite a fad in England. 
 
 To Make the Body Flexible and Graceful 
 
 In the spring duties are apt to press so heavily 
 upon the not over-strong girl that she must take 
 special pains to keep her sense of poise and correct 
 position. 
 
 The East Indians teach a series of movements 
 
270 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 that take into consideration these conditions: 
 Standing erect with hands on hips, take a deep 
 breath, then rise on the toes; from this position, 
 lower the body slowly to the floor by bending 
 first knees, then hips, keeping the back, neck, 
 and head erect. When as near the floor as pos- 
 sible in this position, and still holding the breath, 
 raise the body slowly to erect position on the toes 
 without stooping forward. Lower the heels to 
 the floor and slowly exhale the breath. This 
 exercise brings a heavy strain on the muscles; 
 the more slowly it is taken the greater is the 
 strain. 
 
 For Cold Mornings 
 
 Many girls who sit over their work complain 
 of being chilly on winter mornings. A little 
 vigorous exercise will send your blood dancing 
 through your veins, and will dissipate the feeling 
 of " not being quite warm enough." You will 
 avoid many a cold if you look after your circu- 
 lation at once. 
 
 Take this exercise of arm swinging. Stand 
 erect, arms at side: carry the right arm forward 
 and up with the wrist relaxed and swing it back- 
 ward in a circle, keeping the palm up as the arm 
 goes back, and the chest firm and to the front. 
 
PHYSICAL CULTURE 271 
 
 Make the circle slowly for four revolutions, and 
 repeat with the left arm and then with both. 
 The second part is to repeat the circular move- 
 ment in the same order but with great rapidity, 
 until the body is in a glow. 
 
 This exercise is also very good for developing 
 the muscles of the neck, chest, and shoulder, and 
 fills out the hollows below the collar-bone. 
 
 Graceful Carriage 
 
 Have you ever watched the graceful walk of 
 girls in other lands as they carry some tall, light 
 object on the head? Now and again an arm is 
 raised that the finger-tip may be assured of the 
 perfect poise of the burden. The different parts 
 of the body, from the crown of the head to the 
 sole of the foot, work together, maintaining 
 perfect equilibrium. Our own girls will find such 
 exercise very conducive to good carriage. If 
 your head has a habit of protruding, if your shoul- 
 ders stoop, try this method to improve the 
 awkwardness. 
 
XXXIV 
 LITTLE WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 
 
 What girl among you does not dote on " stir- 
 ring up " things with a spoon? Counting on this 
 inherent feminine trait, I am giving you a goodly 
 variety of toilet recipes, gathered from various 
 sources, from which to choose. 
 
 Some of the ingredients you will find all ready 
 for you in the kitchen, while others are very easy 
 to obtain from the druggist. There is a great 
 fascination in being able to make your own 
 " cold cream," for then you can be certain that 
 you have an absolutely pure article! 
 
 Care of the Hands 
 
 Nail Paste 
 
 Powdered carmine (fine) . 1 drachm 
 
 Fresh lard 2 ounces 
 
 Oil of bergamot .... 24 drops 
 Essence of cyprus .... 12 drops 
 
 These ingredients should be well beaten together 
 and heated in a double boiler. Stir them to a 
 smooth paste. In order to avoid staining your 
 
WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 273 
 
 fingers, apply the paste to the nails with a bit 
 of old linen. Let it remain for a few minutes 
 and then wipe off. 
 
 The following is a French formula for nail 
 powder : 
 
 Violet talcum powder . . 1-2 ounce 
 
 Boric acid (pulverized) . 1-2 ounce 
 
 Powdered starch .... 1-2 ounce 
 
 Tincture of carmine ... 15 drops 
 
 A simple powder for polishing the nails is 
 composed of: 
 
 200 parts, zinc oxide 
 2 parts, carmine 
 Perfume with a few drops of oil of violets. 
 
 To remove stains from the nails while mani- 
 curing them, dip a cotton-tipped toothpick into 
 peroxide of hydrogen to which a few drops of 
 ammonia have been added. This is excellent 
 for removing all discolorations. 
 
 A still simpler method of removing stains is 
 the use of lemon juice. 
 
 Rub the following on the hands after bathing 
 them : — 
 
 Glycerine and spirit of camphor, equal parts. 
 Mix well. 
 
274 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 For freckles on the hands, use: 
 
 Violet water 1 ounce 
 
 Glycerine 1 drachm 
 
 Tincture of benzoin . . . 1-2 drachm 
 Powdered borax . . . .1-4 drachm 
 
 The borax and glycerine should be rubbed to- 
 gether, and the violet water added very slowly. 
 The tincture of benzoin is added last. 
 
 For red hands, the following is an excellent 
 formula: 
 
 Honey 1 ounce 
 
 Almond oil 1 ounce 
 
 Juice of one lemon 
 
 Yolk of one egg 
 These ingredients should be well mixed. 
 
 Good Mouth Washes 
 The following formula is for a liquid mouth 
 wash that may be used in the morning to cleanse 
 and sweeten the mouth before breakfast: 
 
 Thymol 7 1-2 grains 
 
 Alcohol 2 ounces 
 
 Borax 15 grains 
 
 Distilled water, to make 1 pint 
 
 Another is: 
 
 Tincture of myrrh . . . 1-2 drachm 
 
 Sodium bicarbonate . . 1-2 drachm 
 
 Chlorate of potassium . . a pinch 
 
 Distilled water 6 ounces 
 
WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 275 
 
 Still another is: 
 
 Peppermint 15 drops 
 
 Alcohol 1-2 ounce 
 
 Rose water 1 ounce 
 
 Tincture of orris .... 1-2 ounce 
 
 Tooth Powders 
 
 Powdered chalk .... 1 ounce 
 Oil of peppermint .... 1 drop 
 
 Apply the powder thoroughly to the teeth, 
 both to the inside and outside surfaces, using a 
 soft brush. 
 
 Tooth Paste 
 
 Powdered white castile 
 soap ... 2 1-8 ounces avoirdupois 
 
 Precipitated 
 
 chalk ... 2 1-8 ounces avoirdupois 
 
 Powdered orris 
 
 root . . . 3-4 ounce avoirdupois 
 
 Oil of pepper- 
 mint . . . 1-8 fluid drachm 
 
 Add glycerine enough to make a paste. 
 
 For the Complexion 
 
 To whiten the complexion, mix a handful of 
 well sifted wheat bran with a pint of white vinegar. 
 
276 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Let it stand for four hours. Add five egg yolks. 
 Put into a bottle and keep corked for fifteen days. 
 This lotion may be applied to the face at night. 
 
 Cream for Sunburn 
 
 White wax 1-2 ounce 
 
 Spermaceti 1-2 ounce 
 
 Sweet almond oil ... . 2 ounces 
 
 These ingredients are to be melted and well mixed 
 together in a double boiler. Pour into a heated 
 bowl and add slowly 1 1-2 ounces of rose water, 
 and 1-2 ounce of witch hazel. Beat until creamy, 
 and put into a small jar. 
 
 French Balsam, for rough and cracked skin, 
 consists of equal parts of glycerine and egg 
 albumen. Perfume this cream as you wish. 
 You may use a few drops of any favorite essence 
 on your toilet table. 
 
 An excellent cucumber cream is made as follows: 
 Cucumber juice .... 2 ounces 
 
 White wax 1 ounce 
 
 Spermaceti 1 ounce 
 
 Almond oil 4 ounces 
 
 Orange flower water ... 1 ounce 
 
 Put the oil into a double boiler, and when it is 
 warm add the cucumbers after washing and chop- 
 ping them fine. Take large ripe ones and do not 
 
WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 277 
 
 peel them. Allow the oil and cucumbers to 
 simmer for two hours, and then strain. Add the 
 wax, spermaceti, and the orange flower water, 
 and beat until it is creamy. Keep in a tight box. 
 
 A good lotion for sunburn is: 
 
 Glycerine 1 ounce 
 
 Spirit of camphor .... 1-4 ounce 
 
 Boiled or distilled water . 4 ounces 
 
 You may put any scent in this that you desire. 
 
 A few drops of rose water impart a delicate 
 
 perfume. 
 
 Blackheads 
 
 Resorcin 60 grains 
 
 Zinc oxide 120 grains 
 
 Starch 120 grains 
 
 Petroleum 240 grains 
 
 Pimples 
 
 Ichthyol 90 grains 
 
 Ether 2 1-2 fluid drachms 
 
 Alcohol 4 fluid drachms 
 
 Dab on spots several times a day. 
 
 Absorbent Cotton to Replace the 
 Washcloth 
 
 A handful of absorbent cotton may be used 
 for cleansing face and neck. A fresh wad is used 
 
278 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 daity, being delightfully soft and acceptable to 
 delicate skins. It is said that the Queen of 
 Greece, a very beautiful woman with a wonder- 
 ful complexion, uses the absorbent cotton 
 washcloth. 
 
 Cold-Sore 
 
 After being mopped with a bit of cotton mois- 
 tened in sweet spirit of nitre, a cold-sore, other- 
 wise called fever blister, will often disappear 
 like magic. 
 
 Moth Patches or Liver Spots 
 
 Moth patches or liver spots are not infrequently 
 caused by some internal derangement, and will 
 not disappear until this is removed. Some 
 authorities believe that the plentiful drinking of 
 water for a time will help to remove these blem- 
 ishes. This may have to be kept up for a year 
 before the desired effect is noticed. 
 
 For Excessive Perspiration 
 
 A good dusting powder consists of: 
 
 Powdered calamine 2 drachms 
 
 Powdered Florentine orris root 1 ounce 
 Powdered starch 3 ounces 
 
 Wiping off the parts with alcohol or bay rum 
 is often helpful. 
 
WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 279 
 
 For sweating of hands and axillae, a lotion 
 consisting of 5 ounces of bay rum, to which 9 
 grains of tannic acid are added is sometimes used. 
 
 Recipe for Bath Bags 
 
 The use of bran or corn-meal bags in the bath 
 is excellent for the skin. Thin cloth is used for 
 the bags, which may be made of any size that 
 you prefer. They are filled two-thirds with bran, 
 corn-meal, or oatmeal, bits of toilet soap, and a 
 little powdered orris root. The bag should 
 never be used more than twice, for it soon sours. 
 
 Toilet Water 
 
 Alcohol 1 pint 
 
 Orange flower water . . 1 ounce 
 Essence of bergamot . . 2 drachms 
 Essence of lemon .... 1 drachm 
 
 Oil of neroli 20 drops 
 
 Oil of rosemary 6 drops 
 
 These ingredients, after being thoroughly mixed, 
 are put into a bottle then tightly corked. 
 
 Carnation toilet water may be made of the 
 following: 
 
 Oil of pink 1 ounce 
 
 Rectified spirit 1 pint 
 
280 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Florida Water 
 
 Oil of lavender 2 drachms 
 
 Oil of lemon 1 drachm 
 
 Oil of orange peel ... 1 drachm 
 
 Oil of cloves 5-8 drachm 
 
 Deodorized alcohol ... 1 pint 
 
 Recipe for Vinaigrette 
 
 Oil of lavender 1-4 fluid ounce 
 
 Caustic spirit of ammonia 3-8 pint 
 
 Saturate with this preparation a bit of sponge, 
 and place it in the vinaigrette; or pour it on to 
 crystals of potassium sulphate with which you 
 have first filled the vinaigrette. This is a French 
 preparation, and is excellent in cases of faintness 
 or headache. 
 
 Sachets 
 
 A very delicate sachet is easily made by filling 
 a lawn bag with sprigs of lemon verbena. Tiny 
 little bags of the same material may be filled with 
 rose leaves. They will keep their perfume for 
 a time but after awhile they become stale. 
 
 A delicious sachet powder results from the com- 
 bination of equal parts of the best violet sachet 
 and ground orris root. 
 
WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 281 
 
 Frangipani Sachet Powder 
 
 Violet orris root powder 300 parts 
 Patchouli leaves .... 24 parts 
 
 Sandal wood 24 parts 
 
 Neroli oil 2-5 part 
 
 Rose oil 2-5 part 
 
 Sandal wood oil .... 2-5 part 
 
 This formula may seem rather complicated to 
 you, but if you will ask the druggist to put all 
 the oils into one bottle you will find it very 
 much simplified. 
 
 Toilet Vinegar 
 Menthol vinegar makes an excellent headache 
 cologne. Use the following ingredients: 
 3 parts menthol 
 97 parts white vinegar 
 
 An aromatic vinegar that is also excellent for 
 
 this purpose is: 
 
 Alcohol 3 ounces 
 
 Acetic acid 1-2 ounce 
 
 Crushed camphor gum . . 1 drachm 
 
 Oil of rosemary -2 drachm 
 
 Oil of bergamot 1-4 drachm 
 
 Oil of cinnamon .... 1-4 drachm 
 
 Oil of lavender 1-4 drachm 
 
 Oil of neroli 1-4 drachm 
 
 These ingredients should be mixed and shaken 
 
 until the camphor is dissolved. 
 
282 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Headache Ointment 
 
 An ointment that is also good both for head- 
 ache and sore muscles is the following: 
 
 20 parts of white vaseline and 
 70 parts of lanolin. 
 
 These are put into an earthen vessel, which 
 is set into a saucepan of boiling water. To the 
 mixture 10 parts of menthol are slowly stirred 
 in. The liquor is poured off as soon as it begins 
 to thicken. 
 
 Healing Lotion for Scratches or Little 
 Cuts 
 
 Spirit of camphor .... 1 ounce 
 
 Glycerine 1-4 drachm 
 
 Borax 1-8 drachm 
 
 Carbolic acid 5 grains 
 
 This may be applied twice a day. 
 
 Another good one is: 
 
 Suet or lanolin 1 ounce 
 
 Camphor 20 grains 
 
 Glycerine 1-2 ounce 
 
 These ingredients should be melted together. 
 They are then poured into a vessel and allowed 
 to cool. 
 
WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 283 
 
 The following preparation is an excellent one 
 with which to bathe the muscles when they have 
 been overtaxed : 
 
 Spirit of ammonia .... 2 ounces 
 Spirit of camphor .... 2 ounces 
 
 Sea-salt 1 1-2 cups 
 
 Alcohol 2 cups 
 
 Put all the ingredients together in a quart bottle, 
 and fill it with hot water. This should always be 
 shaken before using. 
 
 A French formula which is used for the same 
 purpose is: 
 
 Alcohol 1-2 pint 
 
 Spirit of camphor .... 2 ounces 
 Spirit of ammonia ... 2 ounces 
 Sea-salt 5 ounces 
 
 Boiling water, enough with the other ingredi- 
 ents to fill a quart bottle. 
 
 Care of the Feet 
 
 It is a dainty habit to keep the nails of the feet 
 in as good condition as those of the hands. The 
 same preparations are suitable for both purposes. 
 
 Hot sea-salt baths are good for feet that are 
 inclined to swell. 
 
284 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 Alcohol baths are beneficial in cases of tender 
 feet,, or those that tire easily. Soaping the 
 stockings and boots sometimes affords relief. 
 
 When one suffers from cold feet, fresh stockings 
 daily often prevent clamminess. 
 
 The daily hot foot-bath often relieves the pain 
 from corns and bunions. The hot bath is very 
 restful for tired feet. 
 
 In caring for the feet, if you are unfortunate 
 enough to cut them too deeply, the wound should 
 be bathed at once with some antiseptic lotion. 
 You may use 40 parts of glycerine to 1 part of 
 carbolic acid for this purpose. 
 
 A good powder for the feet is this : 
 
 Tannin 30 drachms 
 
 Lycopodium 3 drachms 
 
 Alum 1 drachm 
 
 For Perspiration and Fetor of the Feet. 
 Orris powder . . 1 ounce avoirdupois 
 Zinc oxide ... 1 ounce avoirdupois 
 Talcum powder . 6 ounces avoirdupois 
 
 Excessive Perspiration of the Feet. 
 
 An excellent method of dealing with this 
 trouble : with a pen- filler let fall six drops of un- 
 diluted 40% formalin well up into the toes of 
 the shoes. Here it evaporates and subjects the 
 
WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 285 
 
 foot to the action of very weak formalin gas for 
 several days, the effects of which last a fortnight. 
 More or less of the solution may be used later, as 
 conditions indicate. Bathing the feet with for- 
 malin, even when strongly diluted, is not always 
 
 Points about the Hair 
 
 As cleanliness more than any other factor is 
 necessary to preserve beautiful hair, care of 
 brush, comb and pins calls for " eternal vigilance." 
 
 A single bristle brush can be kept cleaner than 
 the ordinary brush made up of bunches of 
 bristles. An excellent solution for sterilizing 
 the hair brush is composed of four tablespoonfuls 
 of formaldehyde (40 per cent) to a quart of clear 
 water. 
 
 The best comb is made with rounding edges, 
 and blunt pointed teeth. Such a comb will not 
 cut the hair. 
 
 Celluloid hairpins or ornaments should never 
 be worn, as they sometimes explode when brought 
 near fire. 
 
 In clipping uneven and split ends of hair, the 
 most thorough method consists in taking a strand 
 at a time, twisting it tightly and then, while 
 holding it at its tip with one hand, rough it up by 
 
286 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 
 
 running the finger-tip and thumb quickly up 
 toward the scalp. In this way nearly all of the 
 hair ends will be made to stand up, and can then 
 be clipped with the scissors. 
 
 For Dandruff 
 
 Resorcin 8 grains 
 
 Castor oil 1 fluid ounce 
 
 Alcohol 3 fluid ounces 
 
 Peru balsam 5 grains 
 
 Rub in the scalp daily for a time. 
 
 A pomade for dandruff consists of a drachm 
 of precipitated sulphur to one ounce of vaseline. 
 Instead of the plain vaseline a combination of 
 lanolin and vaseline may be used, with the ad- 
 dition of the sulphur. 
 
 A certain girl cured this trouble by using a 
 fresh comb and hairpins daily. To do this con- 
 veniently, she bought half a dozen combs, wash- 
 ing them all on a certain day of the week. Since 
 it is believed that one may be infected with 
 dandruff by using soiled brushes and combs, or 
 even by contact with a hat or other objects 
 belonging to a person suffering from dandruff, it 
 is not hard to realize the value of cleanliness in 
 this affection. 
 
WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 287 
 
 Curling Lotion 
 
 Gum arabic 1 drachm 
 
 Sugar 1 drachm 
 
 Rose water 2 ounces 
 
 Mix and dissolve the solids in the rose water. 
 Moisten and roll the hair. 
 
 Hair Tonic 
 
 Salicylic acid 1 drachm 
 
 Spirit of ether 4 drachms 
 
 Glycerine 1 drachm 
 
 Alcohol 3 ounces 
 
 Bay rum, to make ... 8 ounces 
 
 Two Good Dry Shampoos 
 For a dry shampoo, take the finest ground, 
 white corn-meal, add a little powdered orris root, 
 and sprinkle the powder through the hair. Mas- 
 sage the scalp, being sure at the same time to 
 rub the powder over it. Shake the powder 
 through the long hair, letting it stand for half 
 an hour. Remove all of the meal from the hair, 
 by means of a long fibered brush. 
 
 Another mixture for a dry shampoo is com- 
 posed of 250 grammes of wheat flour, and 30 
 grammes of powdered orris root, or lycopodium 
 powder, mixed with starch in equal parts. The 
 use of starch for this purpose is very satisfactory 
 in the case of white hair. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abdomen, reduction exer- 
 cise for, 262, 263 
 Acids, effect on teeth of, 
 
 111 
 Adulteration of candy, 134- 
 
 136 
 Age suitable for marriage, 
 
 235 
 Agnails, 89, 90 
 Air, amount for breathing, 
 2 
 night, effect on voice, 120, 
 
 121 
 fresh, in the bedroom, 1-4 
 Airing the bedding, 7 
 
 bedroom, 3, 4, 9 
 Alcohol in candy, 138 
 lamp, 20 
 
 use of, on scalp, 57 
 Americanitis, 160, 178 
 Amiability, effect on irri- 
 tability of, 258, 259 
 Ammonia for stings, 185, 
 
 186 
 Amusement complement of 
 
 occupation, 208 
 Animals, hair of, 63 
 
 Anti-fat remedies, avoid- 
 ance of, 130 
 Arm, exercise for, 268 
 Aromatic vinegar, 281 
 " Art Studies" for the sick, 
 
 231 
 Asthmatic attacks due to 
 
 dust, 150 
 Asylums for insane, free 
 
 from colds, 149 
 Athletic club, secret, 249, 
 
 250 
 Athletics in summer, 174- 
 
 180 
 Attractiveness a factor of 
 
 happiness, 233, 234 
 Axillae, care of, 14 
 
 lotion for sweating of, 279 
 
 Baking-soda, effect of, on 
 nails, 51 
 for burns, 92, 182 
 corns, 51 
 
 ivy-poisoning, 187 
 Ball-playing for nervous- 
 ness, 250, 251 
 Balls for the sick, 230, 231 
 
290 
 
 INDEX 
 
 " Banting," 130 
 Bath, adaptation of, to 
 individuals, 249 
 
 hot, in nervousness, 248 
 
 need of daily, 14 
 
 portable, 21 
 
 shower, 23-29 
 
 "slush," 247 
 
 sponge, 21 
 
 tray, 21 
 
 bags, recipe for, 279 
 Bathing, a habit, 17 
 Bathing in Cuba, 27 
 
 in the Philippines, 26, 27 
 
 without a bath-room, 17- 
 29 
 
 with two basins, 18 
 Bath-tub, folding, 19, 22 
 
 papier-mache, 19 
 Baths for feet, 283, 284 
 Beads for the sick, 229 
 " Beautifiers," advertised, 
 
 72-82 
 Beauty, exercise means to, 
 242 
 
 "parlors," 76-80 
 
 relation of sympathy to, 
 222 
 
 unselfishness to, 231 
 
 work to, 221 
 
 rest a means to, 240-242 
 
 "sleep," 124, 215 
 Bedclothes, danger in 
 
 damp, 6, 7 
 Bedroom, airing of, 3, 4, 7, 9 
 
 Bedroom, cleaning of, 7, 8 
 floor of, 7 
 flowers in, 5 
 order in, 5 
 photographs in, 9 
 plants in, 5 
 plumbing in, 9 
 rugs in, 7 
 shades in, 9, 93 
 the ideal, 1-9 
 ventilation of, 3, 4, 9 
 view from window of, 4, 5 
 walls of, 7 
 Beds, separate, 6, 212, 213 
 Bee sting, treatment of, 184, 
 
 185 
 Bees, changes in ex- 
 hausted nerve cells of, 
 162 
 facts about, 184, 185 
 Benzoin, use of, 86 
 Blackheads, formula for, 
 
 277 
 " Blue Monday " due to 
 nervous exhaustion, 
 206, 207 
 Bluing for white hair, 59 
 Body, odors of, 13-16 
 Boils, cause of, 155, 156 
 Bones of foot, 45 
 Books for brides, 243, 244 
 Brain, sleep necessary for, 
 
 208 
 Bread-poultice for corns, 
 51 
 
INDEX 
 
 291 
 
 Breakfast, hour for Eng- 
 lish, 195 
 Breath, candy-eating cause 
 of unpleasant, 133, 134, 
 205 
 causes of disagreeable, 
 
 11-13, 133, 134, 205 
 the, 10-13 
 Breathing, 142, 144-147 
 during sleep, 213, 214 
 effect of, on eyes, 101 
 of deep, on hair, 62 
 Breathing exercises, effects 
 of, 145 
 for insomnia, 266 
 methods of, 116, 117 
 Brides, books for, 243, 
 244 
 cooking necessary ac- 
 complishment of, 243 
 hints to prospective, 232- 
 
 245 
 rest for prospective, 244 
 Brows, see Eyebrows 
 Brush, hot water, 58 
 lotion for cleansing hair, 
 
 285 
 single bristle, 285 
 Bunions, 50, 51 
 
 hot bath for, 284 
 Burns, treatment of, 181- 
 
 183 
 Business, advantages of em- 
 ploying women in, 201- 
 203 
 
 disadvantages of employ- 
 ing women in, 204-208 
 excuses in, 199,200 
 girl, " nerves " in, 163 
 sleep for, 208 
 the, 197-208 
 initiative in, 202 
 intuition in, 201-203 
 social amenities inappro- 
 priate in, 201 
 untidiness in, 205 
 Bust, exercise for improv- 
 ing, 267 
 
 Candy, adulteration of, 
 134-136 
 paraffin in, 136 
 Candy-eating, cause of 
 colds, 135 
 dyspepsia, 136, 137 
 pimples, 132, 133 
 tonsillitis, 135, 136 
 unpleasant breath, 133, 
 134, 205 
 effects of, 138 
 for girls, 132-138 
 in obesity, 131 
 Carbolic acid solution for 
 burns, 182 
 treatment for skin, 80 
 Cards for the sick, 225, 226 
 Carelessness in business, 
 
 198, 205, 206 
 Carmine, effects of, on 
 skin, 80 
 
292 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Carpet-sweeper in bed- 
 room, 7, 8 
 
 Carriage, exercise for grace- 
 ful, 271 
 
 Carron oil for burns, 182, 
 183 
 
 Celluloid hairpins danger- 
 ous, 285 
 
 Circulation, in relation to 
 eyes, 101 
 
 Chamois gloves, use of, 87 
 
 Character, in eyes, 99, 100 
 voice, 117, 118 
 reflected by habitation, 5 
 
 Charcoal in water tub, 23 
 
 Cheerfulness a beautifier, 
 123 
 
 Chest expansion, walking 
 for, 265, 266 
 
 Chilliness, exercise for, 270, 
 271 
 
 Chloroform for bee sting, 
 185 
 
 Chocolate in candy, 134, 
 135 
 
 Christmas in hospitals, 223- 
 231 
 
 Cleanliness, influence of, 15 
 
 " Clergyman's sore throat," 
 119, 120 
 
 Climate, relation of, to 
 voice, 115 
 
 Clothing, adaptation of, to 
 climate, 33 
 becoming, 33, 34 
 
 Clothing, color of, 33 
 effects of tight, 34, 35 
 materials for, 33 
 temperature best guide 
 for, 152 
 Club, secret athletic, 249, 
 
 250 
 Coins for the sick, 229, 230 
 Cold cream, use of, on 
 
 hands, 92 
 Cold, St. Kilda, 151, 152 
 Cold-sore, preventive of, 
 
 278 
 Colds, 135, 150-154 
 
 causes of, 135, 150-152 
 due to candy-eating, 135 
 infectious, 151 
 prevention of, 152, 153 
 symptoms of, 151, 153 
 to abort, 153, 154 
 Collars, tight, 35 
 Color of clothing, 33 
 eyes, 106 
 
 hair, significance of, 53, 54 
 Comb, hygienic, 285 
 Companions, suitable trav- 
 eling, 193-196 
 Complexion, effects of diet 
 on, 217-219 
 exercise on, 219, 220, 
 
 251 
 ventilation on, 219, 251 
 water-drinking on, 
 219, 220 
 formula for, 275, 276 
 
INDEX 
 
 293 
 
 Comradeship in marriage, 
 
 238 
 Consideration necessary in 
 
 traveling, 193-196 
 Consumption, prevention 
 
 of, 257, 258 
 Cooking, necessary accom- 
 plishment of brides, 
 
 243 
 Cornmeal, substitute for 
 
 soap, 87 
 Corns, 50, 51 
 
 hot bath for, 284 
 Corsets, 35, 250 
 Cosmetics and " beautifiers, ' ' 
 
 advertised, 72-82 
 injurious effects of tinted, 
 
 80 
 Cotton for clothing, 33 
 washcloth replaced by 
 
 absorbent, 277, 278 
 Courtship, nervous strain 
 
 of, 241, 242 
 Cream, cucumber, 276, 277 
 for ivy-poisoning, 187 
 toilet, 87 
 Crushes among girls, 167- 
 
 173 
 Crying due to nervousness, 
 
 172, 173 
 Cuba, bathing in, 27 
 Curling lotion, 287 
 "Curve of health," 174 
 Cuts, lotions for, 282, 284 
 Czarina, restlessness of, 241 
 
 Daintiness, 10-16 
 Dandruff, cleanliness pre- 
 ventive of, 286 
 lotion for, 286 
 pomade for, 286 
 Depilatories, 64, 65, 70 
 Diet, effect of, on breath, 12 
 complexion, 217-219 
 nervousness, 163 
 for girl of underweight, 
 
 124, 125 
 girls, 218, 219 
 plump girl, 130, 131 
 Disease carried by flies, 
 186 
 
 mosquitos, 186 
 due to kissing, 158 
 indicated by eyes, 100 
 Diseases, nervousness due 
 to infectious, 160 
 of eyes, contagious, 104 
 Disinfection of mouth, 112, 
 
 113, 274, 275 
 Dolls for the sick, 228 
 Dress, 30-35 
 
 artificiality in, 36 
 exaggeration in, 33 
 neatness in, 31 
 peculiarity in, 32 
 unconventionality in, 
 
 197, 198 
 untidiness in, 36-42 
 Dressings for burns, 182, 
 
 183 
 Drowsiness, cause of, 214 
 
294 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Dust disease, 148-150 
 
 remedy for, 150 
 
 symptoms of, 148 
 
 microbes in, 8 
 
 of streets, 8 
 Dusting in the bedroom, 8 
 Dyes, hair, 68-71 
 
 injurious, 61 
 Dyspepsia due to candy- 
 eating, 136, 137 
 
 Electrolysis, 65, 66 
 
 treatment of eyebrows 
 
 by, 101 
 Emergencies, summer, 181- 
 
 189 
 Employment best tonic, 
 
 256, 257 
 Energy, over-expenditure 
 
 of, 164-166 
 Engagements, length of, 
 
 237 
 English girl, athletics of, 
 
 177 
 Enthusiasm, a beautifier, 
 
 123, 124 
 Eugenie, resting-hours of 
 
 Empress, 240, 241 
 Examination, yearly phys- 
 ical, 250 
 Excuses in business life, 
 
 199, 200 
 Exercise, a means to 
 
 beauty, 242 
 different effects of, 127 
 
 effects of, on complexion, 
 
 219, 220, 251 
 for girl of underweight, 
 
 125, 126 
 plump girl, 127, 128, 130 
 necessary for health, 170 
 skipping, 269 
 tip-toe, 49 
 Exercises, 262-271 
 
 abdominal reduction, 262, 
 
 263 
 for chest expansion, 265, 
 
 266 
 
 chilliness, 270, 271 
 
 grace, 269, 270 
 
 graceful carriage, 271 
 
 hollow neck, 265 
 
 insomnia, 266 
 
 physical defects, 249, 
 250 
 
 round shoulders, 264, 
 265 
 
 the arm, 268 
 
 bust, 267 
 
 hand, 267, 268 
 
 shoulders, 268, 269 
 
 waist, 263, 264 
 
 wrist, 268 
 relaxation, 262 
 Expectoration, ill effects 
 
 of, 148, 149 
 Expression of eyes, 99-101, 
 
 106 
 eyebrows, 101, 105, 106 
 hands, 84, 85 
 
INDEX 
 
 295 
 
 Expression of the mouth, 
 107-110, 143 
 
 Eyeballs during sleep, 214 
 
 Eyebrows, care of, 101, 102 
 expression of , 101, 105, 106 
 
 Eye-glasses, 96, 97, 105 
 
 Eyelids, massage for, 103 
 significance of puffy, 102 
 
 Eye, pink- 104 
 
 Eyes, the, 93-106 
 beauty of, 99 
 black specks before, 104 
 character expressed by, 
 
 99, 100 
 color of, 106 
 contagious diseases of, 
 
 104 
 dark rings under, 102, 103 
 disease indicated by, 100 
 effect of deep breathing 
 
 on, 101 
 examination of, 96-98 
 expression of, 99-101, 106 
 extraction of foreign body 
 
 from, 104 
 fatigue indicated by, 100 
 glasses for, 97, 105 
 light in relation to, 93-95 
 lustre of, 100 
 magnetism of, 100 
 mannerisms of, 105, 106 
 near-sighted, 96 
 resting the, 94 
 strained, treatment of, 
 95, 96 
 
 watery, 103 
 
 " wild hairs " in, 103 
 
 Face, peeling of, 80 
 
 the " second," 83-92 
 Fat girl, see Girl, the plump 
 Fatigue, cause of, 178 
 
 for insomnia, 211 
 
 indicated by eyes, 100 
 Fat, normal proportions of, 
 
 129 
 Feet, a baby's, 44, 45 
 
 and shoes, 43-51 
 
 arches of, 46 
 
 bones of, 45 
 
 care of, 283-285 
 
 muscles of, 45, 46 
 
 perfect, 43-46 
 
 substitute for hands, 45 
 Fever blister, preventive of, 
 
 278 
 Flat-foot, 46, 48, 49 
 Flatulence due to candy- 
 eating, 136 
 Flies, carriers of disease, 
 
 186 
 " Flitting flies," 104 
 Floor of the bedroom, 7 
 Florida water, 280 
 Flowers in bedroom, 5 
 Food for insomnia, 211 
 Foods, precautions concern- 
 ing summer, 188, 189 
 Foot, flat- see Flat-foot 
 Footsteps, tracings of, 49 
 
296 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Foreign body, extraction 
 
 from eye of, 104 
 Formulas, antiseptic lotion 
 
 for feet, 284 
 aromatic vinegar, 281 
 curling lotion, 287 
 cucumber cream, 276 
 dry shampoos, 287 
 for blackheads, 277 
 
 complexion, 275, 276 
 
 cuts, 282, 284 
 
 dandruff, 286 
 
 excessive perspiration, 
 278, 279, 284 
 
 freckles, 274 
 
 pimples, 277 
 
 red hands, 274 
 foot powder, 284 
 Frangipani sachet pow- 
 der, 281 
 French Balsam, 276 
 hair tonic, 287 
 headache ointment, 
 
 282 
 lotions for cuts, 282 
 lotion for hands, 273 
 lotions for tired muscles, 
 
 283 
 mouth washes, 274, 275 
 nail paste, 272 
 nail powder, 273 
 sunburn cream, 276 
 
 lotion, 277 
 toilet vinegar, 281 
 
 waters, 279, 280 
 
 tooth paste, 275 
 powder, 275 
 
 vinaigrette, 280 
 Four square position of 
 
 feet, 49, 50 
 Friendships, foolish, 167- 
 
 173 
 Fruit luncheons, 253 
 
 microbes on, 157, 158 
 Fungi, poisonous, 188 
 
 Gargle "or " raw throat," 
 
 153 
 Garters, tight, 35 
 Gifts, suitable hospital, 
 
 224-231 
 Giggling an inane habit, 
 
 110 
 Girl of underweight, 122-126 
 diet for, 124, 125 
 exercise for, 125, 126 
 massage for, 126 
 relaxation for, 124 
 sleep for, 124, 126 
 plump, 127-131 
 diet for, 130, 131 
 exercise for, 127, 128, 
 
 130 
 lungs of, 127 
 massage for, 126, 128 
 sleep for, 130 
 the business, 197-208 
 Glasses, eye- 96, 97, 105 
 Gloves, microbes on, 156 
 tight, 35 
 
INDEX 
 
 297 
 
 Gnats, ammonia for stings 
 
 of, 186 
 Grace, exercise to cultivate, 
 
 269, 270 
 
 Hair, American, 52 
 
 clipping the, 285 
 
 curling lotion for, 287 
 
 daily loss of, 53 
 
 drying of, 57, 58 
 
 dyes for, 68-71 
 injurious, 61 
 
 effect of deep breathing 
 on 62 
 health on, 63, 71 
 mountain climbing on, 
 
 62 
 sun on, 63 
 
 European, imported, 52 
 
 falling, 71 
 
 of animals, effect of ill 
 health on, 63 
 
 points about, 285 
 
 removers, see Depilato- 
 ries 
 
 restorers, dangers of, 68- 
 71 
 
 rinsing of, 57 
 
 shaving superfluous, 66 
 
 significance of color of, 
 53, 54 
 
 tonic, 287 
 
 tonics, popular prices of, 67 
 
 turning, 71 
 
 white, 59 
 
 Hands, care of, 85-92 
 cold, 35 
 excessive sweating of, 
 
 84 
 exercise for strengthen- 
 ing, 267, 268 
 expression of, 84, 85 
 knowledge gained from, 
 
 83-85 
 lotion for, 273 
 freckles on, 274 
 red, 274 
 sweating, 279 
 microbes on, 156, 157 
 odors removed from, 87 
 red, 35 
 stains removed from, 86, 
 
 87, 91, 92 
 the, 83-92 
 
 perfect, 85 
 treatment of burned, 92 
 Hangnails, 89, 90 
 Happiness in marriage, 232, 
 
 235, 245 
 Headache due to nervous 
 exhaustion, 207 
 ointment, 282 
 Health, assurance of, be- 
 fore marriage, 236 
 curve of, 174 
 due to sleep, 260, 261 
 effect of, on hair, 63, 71 
 Heartburn due to candy- 
 eating, 136 
 Heels, high, 43, 47, 48 
 
298 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Heredity, cause of nervous- 
 ness, 160 
 
 Hips, ugly, 35 
 
 Hoarseness, 119, 120 
 treatment of, 154 
 
 Hospitals, Christmas in, 
 223-231 
 
 Housekeeper, regime for 
 young, 255 
 
 Housekeeping for brides, 
 238 
 
 Hurry, a cause of nervous- 
 ness, 192, 193 
 
 Ideals in married life, 245 
 Idiosyncrasies in traveling, 
 
 190-196 
 Ill-health, effects of, on 
 
 skin, 81, 82 
 Illness, effects of, on nails, 
 
 88 
 Indian meal for shampoo, 
 
 59 
 papoose, breathing of, 
 
 140 
 Indigestion, ball-playing for, 
 
 250, 251 
 due to noise, 252 
 Individuality, importance of 
 
 keeping, 234 
 Influenza, nervousness due 
 
 to, 160 
 Initiative in business, 202 
 Insane asylums free from 
 
 colds, 149 
 
 Insomnia, exercise for, 266 
 
 remedy for, 211 
 Intuition, importance of, 
 
 234 
 in business women, 201- 
 
 203 
 Iodine treatment for skin, 
 
 79 
 Irritability due to nervous 
 
 exhaustion, 206 
 Italian girls, complexion of, 
 
 2, 3 
 Ivy, poison, 186-188 
 
 poisoning, treatment of, 
 
 187 
 
 Jack-stones for the sick, 230 
 Japanese free from colds, 
 150 
 girl, model of strength, 
 175, 176 
 Journey, length of bridal, 
 238 
 preparations for, 190-196 
 
 Kindergarten boxes for the 
 
 sick, 230, 231 
 Kissing, cause of disease, 
 
 158 
 
 La grippe, nervousness due 
 
 to, 160 
 Lamp, alcohol, 20 
 
 kerosene, 95 
 Lard, use of, 86 
 
INDEX 
 
 299 
 
 Larynx, action of, 118, 119 
 
 Lead, constituent of many 
 powders, 73-75 
 poisoning, 74, 75 
 
 Lemon juice, stains re- 
 moved by, 86 
 
 Light, artificial, 95 
 
 in relation to eyes, 93-95 
 
 Linen for clothing, 33 
 
 Liver spots, remedy for, 
 278 
 
 Lockjaw microbe, 158, 181, 
 182 
 
 Lotions, see Formulas 
 
 Loyalty in marriage, 237 
 
 Luncheon, ideal, 253 
 
 Lungs, area of, 145 
 
 of fat girl, small capac- 
 ity of, 127 
 
 Lustre of eye, 100 
 
 Magnetism of eyes, 100 
 
 Malaria carried by mos- 
 quitos, 186 
 
 Malignant growths from 
 moles and warts, 76 
 
 Manicure implements, 88 
 
 Manicuring, 88-92 
 
 Mannerisms, 38, 40, 41 
 in moving the eyes, 105, 
 106 
 
 Mannishness to be depre- 
 cated, 32 
 
 Marriage, age for suit- 
 able, 235 
 
 assurance of health for, 
 
 236 
 concerning, 232-245 
 comradeship in, 238 
 happinessin, 232-235, 245 
 ideals in, 245 
 loyalty in, 237 
 suitable seasons for, 237 
 sympathy in, 245 
 tact in, 232, 233, 245 
 Massage for eyelids, 103 
 plump girl, 126, 128 
 thin girl, 126 
 of scalp, 56, 60, 61 
 Mastication, proper, 12 
 Match, stains removed by, 
 
 86 
 Mattress, thickness of, 6 
 Meal-time, quiet at, 252, 
 
 253 
 Men, dependence on wives 
 
 of, 233 
 Mental disturbance, in re- 
 lation to breath, 13 
 Microbes, avoidance of, 155- 
 159 
 carried by insects, 186 
 cause of boils, 155, 156 
 colds due to, 151, 152 
 in dust, 8 
 
 telephone transmitter, 
 157 
 invasion of, prevented 
 
 by hygiene, 159 
 lockjaw, 158, 181, 182 
 
300 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Microbes, nature of, 155 
 on floor mats, 31, 32 
 fruit, 157, 158 
 gloves, 156 
 hands, 156, 157 
 money, 156, 157 
 vegetables, 157, 158 
 shape of, 156 
 size of, 155 
 
 Milk, drinking of, 124, 125 
 in sleeping-room, care 
 of, 158 
 
 Misunderstanding, avoid- 
 ance of first, 233 
 
 Moderation for nervous- 
 ness, 254, 260 
 
 Moles, malignant growths 
 from, 76 
 
 Money, microbes on, 156, 
 157 
 
 Mosquitos, disease carried 
 by, 186 
 
 Mosso, experiments in sleep 
 by, 211 
 
 Moth patches, remedy for, 
 278 
 
 Mountain climbing, effect 
 on hair, 62 
 
 Mouth, disinfection of, 112, 
 113, 274, 275 
 expression of, 107-110, 
 
 143 
 the making of a beautiful, 
 
 107-113 
 washes, 274, 275 
 
 Mouth-breathers, breath of, 
 
 13 
 Mouth-breathing, 139-147 
 effects of, 141, 142, 144, 
 
 145 
 symptoms of, 139 
 wrinkles due to, 142 
 Mud for bee stings, 185 
 Muscles, lotions for tired, 
 283 
 of feet, 45, 46 
 "pleasant," 109 
 Mushrooms, precautions for 
 gathering, 188 
 
 Nails, care of, 88-92 
 in health, 88 
 illness, 88 
 paste for, 272 
 powder for, 273 
 removal of stains from, 
 
 273 
 treatment of bruised, 92 
 white spots on, 90 
 Neck, exercise for hollow, 
 265 
 scrawny, 35 
 Nerve cells, changes in, 
 in nervous exhaustion, 
 162, 163 
 " Nerves " in business girls, 
 
 163 
 Nerve structure, changes 
 in, in nervous exhaus- 
 tion, 161, 162 
 
INDEX 
 
 301 
 
 Nervous exhaustion, " blue 
 Monday" due to, 206, 
 207 
 headache due to, 207 
 irritability due to, 206 
 Nervousness, ball-playing 
 for, 250, 251 
 causes of, 160-166 
 due to hurry, 192, 193 
 hot baths for, 248 
 how to overcome, 160- 
 
 166 
 moderation for, 254, 
 
 260 
 relaxation for, 259, 260 
 sea-salt rubs for, 248 
 Nervous prostration, rest 
 in, 247, 248 
 "slush bath "in, 247 
 Noise, dislike of, 118 
 Nose, red, 35 
 
 "talking through the," 
 144 
 North Pole explorers free 
 from colds, 150 
 
 Oatmeal, substitute for 
 
 soap, 86 
 Obesity, 129, 130 
 candy-eating in, 131 
 walking in, 130 
 Occupation, effects of, on 
 
 hands, 84 
 Odor, characteristic of in- 
 dividuals, 11 
 
 Odors, body, 13-16 
 feminine, 10-16 
 on hands, removal of, 
 87 
 Olive oil, use of, on hands, 
 
 92 
 Order in bedroom, 5 
 Oriental theory about sleep, 
 
 210 
 Orris root for shampoo, 59 
 Outdoor life, a beautifier, 1 
 preventive of consump- 
 tion, 257, 258 
 Overexertion, dangers of, 
 
 174-180 
 Overwork, meaning of, 163 
 nervousness due to, 160- 
 166 
 
 Papier-mache bath-tub, 19 
 Paraffin in candy, 136 
 "Paraffin treatment," 77-79 
 Paste, toilet, 87 
 " Pedestal walk," 46 
 Peeling, face- 80 
 Perfumes, 15, 16 
 Perspiration, formulas for 
 
 excessive, 278, 284 
 of feet, formulas for, 284, 
 
 285 
 Philanthropy, 224 
 Philippines, 26, 27 
 Photographs in " beauty 
 
 parlors," 79 
 the bedroom, 9 
 
302 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Physical culture, 262-271 
 Pimples due to candy-eat- 
 ing, 132, 133 
 
 improper diet, 217-219 
 
 microbes, 156 
 
 formula for, 277 
 Pink-eye, 104 
 Plants in bedroom, 5 
 " Pleasant muscles," the, 
 
 109 
 Plumbing in the bedroom, 9 
 Plump girl, see Girl, plump 
 Poisoning, lead, 74, 75 
 Poison ivy, 186-188 
 Powder for feet, 284 
 Powders, lead in, 73-75 
 Ptomaines in meats, 189 
 Pumice-stone, stains re- 
 moved by, 91, 92 
 Purses for the sick, 229, 230 
 
 Quilts for the sick, 227, 228 
 
 Rackets for the sick, 230 
 "Rejuvenating process" for 
 
 skin, 79, 80 
 Relaxation before sleep, 
 210, 211 
 exercises for, 165, 166 
 for nervousness, 259, 260 
 girl of underweight, 124 
 methods of, 165, 166, 
 
 208 
 secret of, 262 
 Respiration, 142, 144-147 
 
 Rest a means to beauty 
 240-242 
 for prospective brides, 
 
 244 
 in nervous prostration, 
 247, 248 
 " Rheumatism " of the feet, 
 
 48, 49 
 Rings, eyes, with dark, 102, 
 
 103 
 Rouge, 36, 37 
 
 silicious sponge substi- 
 tute for, 81 
 Rugs in the bedroom, 7 
 
 Sachets, recipe for, 280, 281 
 Sacques for the sick, 225 
 St. Kilda cold, 151, 152 
 Scalp, dry, 58, 59 
 
 massage of, 56, 60, 61 
 
 susceptible to sunburn, 
 63 
 Scrap books for the sick, 
 
 226, 227 
 Scratches, lotions for, 282 
 Sea-bathing, precautions in 
 
 regard to, 179, 180 
 Sea-salt rubs, 248 
 Shades in the bedroom, 9, 93 
 Shampoo, frequency of, 54, 
 55 
 
 lotion, 59 
 
 method of, 55-59 
 
 the, 52-63 
 
 the dry, 14, 59, 287 
 
INDEX 
 
 303 
 
 Shirt-waist, the, 30, 31 
 Shoes and feet, 43-51 
 French, 43, 46-48 
 tight, 35 
 Shoulders, exercises for, 264, 
 
 265, 268, 269 
 Shower bath, 23-29 
 Silk for clothing, 33 
 Sitz-bath, 22 
 
 Skin, blood vessels of, 220 
 carbolic acid treatment 
 
 for, 80 
 effects of carmine on, 80 
 diet on, 217-219 
 exercise on, 219, 220 
 ill-health on, 81, 82 
 sea-salt rubs on, 248 
 ventilation on, 219 
 water-drinking on, 219, 
 220 
 enemies and friends of, 
 
 216-222 
 French Balsam for rough, 
 
 276 
 index of health, 220 
 iodine treatment for, 79 
 " rejuvenation " of, 79, 80 
 ventilation of, 34 
 Skipping exercise, 269 
 Skirt, short, 31, 32 
 Sleep, 209-215 
 
 a matter of habit, 209,210 
 
 means to beauty, 215 
 breathing during, 213, 
 214 
 
 effects on health of, 260, 
 261 
 
 exercise for inducing, 266 
 
 eyeballs during, 214 
 
 facts about, 211 
 
 for business girls, 208 
 plump girls, 130 
 thin girls, 124, 126 
 
 going to, 213 
 
 for nervousness, 173 
 
 how to go to, 166 
 simulate, 214 
 
 intensity of, 213 
 
 necessary before a jour- 
 ney, 193 
 
 for the brain, 208 
 
 Oriental theory about, 
 210 
 
 preparations for, 211, 212 
 
 quality of, 210 
 
 recuperative power of, 
 162, 163 
 
 tears diminished during, 
 214 
 
 varying with tempera- 
 ment, 210 
 Sleeping alone, 6, 212, 213 
 Slippers for the sick, 224, 
 
 225 
 "Slush bath," 247 
 Smiling, reflex effect of, 
 
 108 
 Snoring, remedy for, 146 
 Soap ball, 91, 92 
 
 in shampoo, 55, 56 
 
304 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Soap suds for ivy-poison- 
 ing, 187 
 under nails, use of, 87 
 Sponge bath, 21 
 
 silicious, substitute for 
 rouge, 81 
 Stains on hands, removal 
 
 of, 86, 91, 92 
 Starch for ivy-poisoning, 
 
 187 
 Stockings, fresh, preventive 
 of cold feet, 50, 284 
 ill-fitting, 50 
 proper, 50 
 Streets, dust of, 8 
 Stye, treatment of, 105 
 Sugar, a food, 137 
 
 effects on teeth of, 137 
 in normal diet, amount 
 of, 132 
 Sun, effects of, on hair, 63 
 Sunburn, cream for, 276 
 lotion for, 277 
 of scalp, 63 
 Sunlight, a disinfectant, 1 
 Superfluous hair, 64-71 
 "Surprise ball " for the sick, 
 
 229 
 Sweeping in the bedroom, 
 
 7, 8 
 Swimming, precautions in 
 
 regard to, 179, 180 
 Sympathy in marriage, 245 
 Sympathy, relation to 
 beauty of, 222 
 
 Tact in business, 203, 204 
 marriage, 232, 233, 245 
 traveling, 193, 196 
 "Talking through the nose," 
 
 144 
 Tears diminished during 
 
 sleep, 214 
 Teeth, care of, in relation 
 to the breath, 12 
 condition of, 110-113 
 effect of, on general 
 
 health, 112, 113 
 effects of sugar on, 137 
 of savages, condition of, 
 141 
 Telephone girl, tact neces- 
 sary in, 200 
 transmitter, microbes in, 
 157 
 Temperature best guide for 
 
 clothing, 152 
 Thin girl, see Girl of under- 
 weight 
 Throat, gargle for raw, 153 
 Time, wise expenditure of, 
 
 239, 240 
 Tip-toe exercise, 49 
 Toes, movements of, 44, 45 
 Toilet vinegar, 281 
 water, 279, 280 
 Toilette, artificialities in, 
 36, 37 
 made in public, 37 
 Tomatoes, stains removed 
 by, 86 
 
INDEX 
 
 305 
 
 Tonic, employment the best, 
 256, 257 
 
 Tonsillitis due to candy- 
 eating, 135, 136 
 
 Tooth-brush, use of, 113 
 paste, 275 
 powder, 275 
 
 Trachoma, 104 
 
 Training, reduction, 127, 
 128 
 
 Tray bath, 21 
 
 Travelers, idiosyncrasies of, 
 190-196 
 
 Traveling, effect of, on vi- 
 tality, 193 
 nervous fatigue in, 196 
 
 Trousseau, the, 235, 236, 
 244, 245 
 
 Tub, portable, 21 
 
 Tuberculosis, see Consump- 
 tion 
 
 Typhoid fever due to im- 
 pure water, 158 
 nervousness due to, 160 
 
 Underweight, the girl of, 
 see Girl of underweight 
 
 Unselfishness, relation of, 
 to beauty, 231 
 
 Untidiness, 40-42, 205 
 
 Vacation, effects of, 197 
 
 pitfalls of, 190-196 
 Vegetables, microbes on, 
 157, 158 
 
 Ventilation necessary to 
 health, 163, 164 
 
 of bedroom, 3, 4, 9 
 
 relation of, to com- 
 plexion, 219, 251 
 Vermilion, a poison, 80 
 View from bedroom win- 
 dow, 4, 5 
 Vinaigrette, recipe for, 280 
 Vinegar, aromatic, 281 
 
 stains removed by, 86, 87 
 
 toilet, 281 
 Voice, the, 114-121 
 
 breathing in relation to, 
 116, 117 
 
 care of, 119-121 
 
 characteristic of indi- 
 vidual, 117, 118 
 
 climate in relation to, 115 
 
 effect of night air on, 120, 
 121 
 
 index of mental condi- 
 tion, 120 
 
 influence of, 120 
 
 modulations of, 117, 118 
 
 producing organs, mech- 
 anism of, 118, 119 
 
 the greatest charm of 
 all, 114-121 
 
 uncultivated American, 
 114, 115 
 
 Waist bands, tight, 35 
 Waist, exercise for slender, 
 263, 264 
 
306 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Walking, a means to beauty 
 242 
 for chest expansion, 265, 
 
 266 
 in obesity, 130 
 Walls of the bedroom, 7 
 Warmth for insomnia, 212 
 Warts, malignant growths 
 
 from, 76 
 Washcloth, absorbent cot- 
 ton substitute for, 277, 
 278 
 Water, bee sting relieved by 
 cold, 185 
 bee sting relieved by hot, 
 
 185 
 -drinking between meals, 
 12 
 
 relation of, to skin, 
 219, 220 
 dressing for corns, 51 
 in sleeping-room, care 
 
 of, 158 
 toilet, 279, 280 
 typhoid fever due to im- 
 pure, 158 
 White hair, 61-63 
 
 spots on nails, 90 
 " Wild hairs," 103 
 
 Women in business, advan- 
 tages of employing, 
 201-203 
 disadvantages of em- 
 ploying, 204-208 
 Wood-chopping as exercise, 
 
 170, 171, 251, 252 
 Wool for clothing, 33 
 Work and play, intermit- 
 tent, 177, 178 
 baskets for the sick, 229 
 relation of, to beauty, 221 
 Worry, cause of wrinkles, 
 
 123 
 Wound, cleansing of, 158 
 Wrinkles due to mouth- 
 breathing, 142 
 worry, 123 
 "paraffin treatment " for, 
 77, 78 
 " Wrist-drop," 74 
 Wrist, exercise to 
 strengthen, 268 
 
 X-ray pictures of foot, 47 
 
 Yellow fever carried by 
 
 mosquitos, 186 
 Youthfulness, test of, 222 
 
OCT 
 
 16 
 
One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
 15 IS