N. P. Willis as a Critic of Beauty.--The Perfume of the
Presence.--Charm of Good Circulation.--Chills are Incipient
Congestion.--Paper Clothing.--Luxuries of the Bath.--A Substitute
for Sea-Baths.--To Secure Fragrant Breath.--Delicate
Dentifrices.--Fine Cologne.--A List of Fragrance.
When Willis died, American society lost its great personal critic. No
other writer shows such insight into the subtile elements of women’s
beauty, or speaks so assuredly on points of mere outward attraction.
That gentle and gracious critic who blesses the order of Old Bachelors
dissects feminine manner with zest, but is not given to that mention
of ear-locks and finger-tips which made “People I have Met” such
a conserve of hints for the dressing-table. It is a pity such a
connoisseur of feminine graces could not have taken half a hundred
distinguished specimens into his training to show the world such women
as fill the ideal of a refined man of the world. Willis was susceptible
to beauty wherever he found it: a perfect ear on the head of a plain
country girl would not miss the glance of this artist, and he betrays
what single charms may rivet the regard of a man of taste a dozen times
in those glorious sketches we never hope to see excelled.
You remember one of his heroines was remarkable for the perfume
which exhaled from her person. We are not to suppose that this most
fascinating gift was due to Coudray’s sachets, or to hedyosima on her
hair. From repeated experience, verified by that of very discerning and
sensitive persons, it is affirmed that certain people of fine organism
and perfect health have a fragrance belonging to their presence like
scent to a flower. One of the most powerful feminine novelists of
the day said that she always knew when a favorite brother had been
in a room by the slight indefinable perfume that followed him. His
pillow breathed it, and his easy-chair, and it was perceived even by
comparative strangers. I have known persons innocent of using perfume,
whose fragrant presence was recognized by every one who came near them.
In all cases this was accompanied by a bodily condition of perfect
health and much magnetic attraction. This may be named the first in
that list of subtile personal properties which constitute the strongest
and most enduring of physical charms, and which are not discussed with
any proportion to their potency. We do not stop to ask what pleases us;
refinement attracts, sweetness detains us, and we are only too glad to
lie under the spell.
May a plain woman reach her hand for these gifts of pleasing? Surely.
They were meant to be nature’s compensation for the lack of chiseled
features and ruffled tresses. To reach this subtile refinement requires
such preparation as the virgins underwent for the court of Ahasuerus:
“Six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors”--if not
in kind, yet in care.
The secret of lively spirits, even temper, and magnetic presence
can never be attained in the world without a perfect circulation of
the blood. It may be out of season to say that people often keep
themselves too cold; but lay the hint away till next October, when
the weather changes, and mark the facts. Our seasons are two thirds
cold or chilly; our habits are sedentary, which tends to reduce the
force of the system; as a people we are not of excitable temperament;
and yet stout men and hearty doctors, who go rushing through their
business all day, complain because women sit in overheated rooms, and
can not endure draughts in the halls. There is but one answer to this:
Nature is her own guide, and it is one of her laws that no creature
can be uncomfortable in any way without losing by it. If the tone of
the system is so low that a woman feels chilly in a room at seventy
degrees, put the heat at once up to eighty, or higher, till she feels
luxuriously warm. Chilliness is a symptom to be most dreaded. When the
blood forsakes the skin, it clogs the heart, the internal organs, and
lays the train for those diseases of the time--neuralgia, paralysis,
rheumatism, and congestion. In fact, every person who suffers from
one of these stupid chills is in a state of incipient congestion. How
hateful is the miserable economy which stints fires in the raw days of
May and September, because the calendar of household routine decrees
that it is not the season for stoves and grates! Not less irritating
is it to sit with a circle half shivering in a large parlor, because
the full-blooded, active master of the house has decided that it is
nonsense to turn the heat on. The slow tortures such unfeeling people
inflict on their innocent victims will be witnesses against them some
day, to their great surprise.
Even in summer many delicate persons find the skin always cold. Those
who are so susceptible should never be without protection. The most
convenient is a sheet of tissue paper quilted in marcelline silk, and
worn between the shoulders, the most sensitive point of the whole
body for feeling cold. The comfort of this slight device can hardly
be imagined. Paper is a non-conductor of heat, but porous enough to
admit air, so that it never leaves the dampness of rubber or oil-silk
protectors. Even in winter the warmth of these slender linings exceeds
that of a sheet of wadding. In the change of the year, when it is not
cold enough for flannel, and one can not be comfortable without some
extra clothing, this is just what is wanted. A sheet of quilted paper
should be worn for the back, and one for the chest, the arms cased in
the legs cut from old silk or thread stockings, which cling to the
flesh, and keep it from the air better than any other article. Thus
equipped, a delicate woman may face the subtle chills of spring and
autumn without a shiver. Added warmth is not necessary about the trunk
of the body till extreme cold weather. Clothes fit closely there,
and the vital centres always generate most heat, so that only the
extremities and the upper part of the chest need protection.
The daily bath needs to be administered with some care. The value of
hot bathing is hardly understood. In congested circulation nothing
is so effective as a ten minutes’ bath at eighty-five degrees, the
water covering the body entirely, followed by a cold sponge-bath,
quickly given, and immediate drying. Bath-towels are not half large
enough as commonly made. They should be small sheets in size, like the
real Turkish bath-towels used by the women of Constantinople, which
envelop the body, and dry it at once. A bath should never chill one,
and the feelings may be safely trusted as guides in the matter. To a
constitution strong enough to meet it, even though somewhat depressed
at the time, nothing is so inviting as the stimulus of the cold bath,
the instant’s chill followed by the rush of warm blood all over the
body. For weak systems an invigorant is found, so simple and effective
that the wonder is why it was not used long ago. When the season or
circumstances forbid a stay on the sea-coast, a substitute nearly if
not quite as strengthening is found in an ammonia bath. A gill of
liquid ammonia in a pail of water makes an invigorating solution, whose
delightful effects can only be compared to a plunge in the surf. Weak
persons will find this a luxury and a tonic beyond compare. It cleanses
the skin, and stimulates it wonderfully. After such a bath the flesh
feels firm and cool like marble. More than this, the ammonia purifies
the body from all odor of perspiration. Those in whom the secretion is
unpleasant will find relief by using a spoonful of the tincture in a
basin of water, and washing the armpits well with it every morning. The
feet may be rid of odor in the same way.
But what shall destroy that foe to sentiment, that bane of all beauty,
an offensive breath? I can not imagine a woman could fall in love with
Hyperion if he had this drawback. The suggestion of unrefinement and
of physical disorder it gives would weigh against all the moral and
intellectual worth which might lie behind it. The antidote, happily,
is as simple as the evil is prevailing. With attention to the health,
and brushing the teeth at least night and morning, all besides that
is needed to secure a sweet breath is to dissolve a bit of licorice
the size of a cent in the mouth after using the tooth-brush. This
will even counteract the effects of indigestion, and does not convey
the unpleasant suggestion of cachous and spice, that they are used to
hide an offense. Licorice has no smell, but it sweetens the mouth and
stomach. A stick of it should be chipped for use, and kept in a box on
the toilette.
A tincture which restores soundness to the gums is one ounce of
coarsely powdered Peruvian bark steeped in half a pint of brandy for
a fortnight. Gargle the mouth night and morning with a teaspoonful of
this tincture, diluted with an equal quantity of rose-water.
For decaying teeth make a balsam of two scruples of myrrh in fine
powder, a scruple of juniper gum, and ten grains of rock alum, mixed
in honey, and apply often.
It is useful also to chew a bit of orris-root, which Browning says
Florentine ladies love to use in mass-time; or to wash the mouth with
the tincture of myrrh, or take a bit of myrrh the size of a hazel-nut
at night, or a piece of burned alum.
A very agreeable dentifrice is made from an ounce of myrrh in fine
powder and a little powdered green sage, mixed with two spoonfuls of
white honey. The teeth should be washed with it every night and morning.
To clean the teeth, rub them with the ashes of burned bread. It must be
thoroughly burned, not charred.
Spite of all that is said against it, charcoal holds the highest place
as a tooth-powder. It has the property, too, of opposing putrefaction,
and destroying vices of the gums. It is most conveniently used when
made into paste with honey.
A fine Cologne is prepared from one gallon of deodorized alcohol, or
spirit obtained from the Catawba grape, which is nearly if not quite
equal to the grape spirit which gives Farina Cologne its value. To this
is added one ounce of oil of lavender, one ounce of oil of orange,
two drachms of oil of cedrat, one drachm of oil of neroli or orange
flowers, one drachm of oil of rose, and one drachm of ambergris. Mix
well, and keep for three weeks in a cool place.
To this list of fragrance add a recipe for common Cologne to use as
a toilet water. It is oil of bergamot, lavender, and lemon, each one
drachm; oil of rose and jasmine, each ten drops; essence of ambergris,
ten drops; spirits of wine, one pint. Mix and keep well closed in a
cool place for two months, when it will be fit for use. Ladies will
be grateful for this who have known what trouble it is to find a
refreshing Cologne which does not smell like cooking extract with lemon
or vanilla. If with these hints a woman can not keep herself fragrant
and lovely in person, her case must need the help of the physician.