Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, November 02, 1912, EXTRA, Image 15

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*"Xjreat Beauty 15 A Disadvantage, ASK any beautiful woman who thinks, what advantage her beauty has been to her and she will answer: “None. On the contrary, it has been a decided disadvantage.” She will be quite honest in so saying, for she will tell the truth. For this I can give reasons, convincing to myself, and, I hope, satisfying to you. At any rate I shall try, and if I can convey to you one-half the earnest protest that lies in the soul of any beauty against her lot you will pity instead of envy the woman who is beautiful. Beauty has always seemed to me a beacon on the high seas of life. A beacon suggests something flash ing, brilliant and wonderful, does it not? And yet what is a beacon on the high seas? A lighthouse calling attention to the rocks about it. That is precisely what beauty does. It calls attention to the Imperfections which it lights, throwing them into more cruel relief. How often have you heard some one exclaim, “What a pretty girl! Isn’t it a pity she is so fat?” or, “What a sweet face! Isn’t it a shame that she is so awkw-ard?” And most often you have heard: “She’s pretty, but hasn't an ounce of brains.” Really, physical beauty only accentuates the lacks which might pass unnoticed were the owner plain Os face or form. I am speaking honestly when I say that beauty is a cruel light turned garishly upon all the crudenesses of youth and flaws of mind and character. Were it not for a certain outward loveliness, these inward uglinesses would scarcely be manifest, certainly would not be thrown so daringly upon the screen of the public mind. Because a woman is beautiful too much is expected of her. Every very good looking woman I have known I have heard moan at some time: "So much is expected of a beauty!” The World Is Cruel tc s Beauty. ’ If, as is the case with some of the most famous beauties, they are on the stage, tholr debuts are a torment. The audience notices when the unusual!) handsome woman walks upon the stage an exceptional endowment of good looks, and at once this punctuates her lack of experience. “Pretty, but gawky!” Handsome, but a horrible actress!” These discouraging phrases float up to her and nearly put an end tc her career through heait failure or apoplexy. Year after year it is the same, and when, after she has gained experience and skill, she improves, the improvement is grudingly noted by the critics. The world is as cruel to a beauty as it is kind to a lover. It seems to deny her everything but the beauty, and that it discounts and decries. , . . . Soon a beauty learns that she does not belong to herself but to the public. She may be the daughter of a multi-millionaire or the eighteen-dollar-a-week girl at the end of the chorus line, but in a snort time she will find that she is only herself—limited. The public has part in her. It speaks of Our Maty, or "New York’s lovely Miss Smith. Her beauty is not her own. She is not her own. The public owns shares in her which it claims by staring at her and making rude personal remarks, as Shes not up to the mark to-day. Wonder what- the matter? She is the kind that ages fast. The public feels it has the equal right to cntic.ze a beauty, as freely as the mayor or the bead of the street clean ing department. The beauty cannot enjoy herself as other women do. She is always on exhibition. She has the sense of being always on parade. A beautiful woman longs to get into a sweater and run about with her hair mussed as other women do. but she must not! No. some one may be looking over a hack fence or cut of an attic window, training field glasses on her, and saving, "She a beauty? Why, she's a frighL This is especially unforgivable in thfs country. In Europe one is permitted to perspire, and wear a sweater and big loose boots, and that is the reason 1 like to stay over there. Can’t Eat, Drink or Dress as You Wish. * it is hard work to keep one’s reputation of being a beauty. You cannot dress your hair hurriedly in a new mode and go down town to shop. Not at all. You must, if you are a beauty, work hours at the mirror, studying yourself at every angle, to be sure that your coiffure is adapted to yourself. You cannot, if you are in high spirits, take a hop, skip and jump anywhere. You must move slowly and gracefully with a dignity befitting the reputation you didn't want but which the public has forced upon you. You oan't eat what you like because it may make you fat. You can’t drink ice cream soda lest it muddy your complexion. You have to take horrid exercises before going to bed and go through even worse contortions when you get up to keep your figure If you go to Sherry’s to luncheon you cannot eat and chat with perfect enjoyment. You cannot forget that people’s eyes are focussed upon you. Suddenly vou feel as though thrust into an icy pool. Some woman is staring at you. and saying, "Why did she eVer wear that hat? It costs a great deal of time to be a beauty. You must give twice as much time to shopping as a plainer and so more fortunate woman does. You cannot hurry through a month’s shopping in two hours and dash off to a matinee. You must keep at It steadily, as a galley slave at his oars. You mult worry the lives out of the shop girls and give the floor walkers nervous prostration. Your shopping is as important as an election. Instead of spending time with books or with your friends, you must rest and take beauty treatments, because you are a beauty. It costs a great deal of money. You cannot afford to wear coarse cloth nor have ill-cut clothes. A fine picture must have a good frame. Empty your purse of all that you wanted to spend for a trip to Florida, or to refurnish your apartment, for clothes you must have, many of them, and expensive ones. These are the lesser disadvantages. They are irri tating, and bring frowns, and wrinkles, and rob you of your beauty and your good disposition. I come now' to the greater disadvantages affecting the vital things in every woman's life—be she artist or woman in the home. It is a fact known by beauties, and suspected by others, that beautiful women do not attract the best men. Callow boys or silly old men flutter about the flame of beauty. Intellectual men do not care tor physical beauty. Men who are worth while are attracted but briefly by it, if at all. Recall the sort of men who have lost their heads over a beautiful - -- - i_f.._ • T . ’- • XMs> ‘ ~ • - * >vOJ..J i By Miss Edna Goodrich race. What sort ol heads were they? Loose and empty, were they not? The admiration of these men had its root not in the beauty of the women but in their own vanity. These men want to be seen with what they call “a looker." They want, other men to envy them. That which the poor beauty, yearning as all women do for sincere affection, mistook for love for herself was the seif love of the foolish youth or the vain old man. So J was not surprised to hear a woman who had been an enchantress of interna tiona, renown say: "in all my life J have never been loved! That which is the glory of every woman’s life, desired by her above ail things else, the love of a manly man, is generally denied the beauty. Middle Age a Grief, Old Age a Tragedy. Consider the marriages of great beauties. Which of them has been happy? The genuinely happy mar riage is generally unknown to them. Their fault, you say ? In part, perhaps, for while a beauty may not have been born selfish, she may have grown so gradually, unconsciously. Every foolish person who e.claims, What a lovely little girl!” helps foster self ishness and conceit in her. She is "spoiled" when she reaches the altar of marriage. The arm on which she leans as she leaves the altar is neither a strong nor trusty one. It cannot, or does not, guide her into wise paths, nor toward the heights of character attainment. For this reason the" saving All beauties are spoiled” remains true, while under kind, firm guidance they might become women of rarest, finest characters. Certain’ sayings about beauties pass Into proverbs and beauties hear them so often that they accept them as truth For instance, "Beauty and brains de not go together.” This, heard so often, discourages them, and hopeless of living down this untrue sayfug they cease to try. ■* s And this brings me to the greatest disadvantage of all the disadvantages of being a beautv. Because of poor training in youth a beautiful girl thinks thlt being a beauty is enough. She asks nothing more ol the gods Creatures gather about the candle flame of her beauty. They are moths, but she mistakes them tor men. She does not need to put forth anv effort to attract; There is no need to cultivate her brain or her character, she thinks. Everythine mas youth Uat Uer beaUty is enou6h - She wastes her She lays up no riches of the charm of a culture mind and a harmonious character. When midrii age comes it finds her empty-hearted and emn/v handed, often, I grieve to say empty-handed That de< r. richer charm which holds love to the end never Imd. That is the reason middle age is a arir and old age a tragedy, to a beauty. finer. Two Portraits of Edna Goodrich Who Is Generally Rated as a “Beauty.” PHOTO ** fc OCML fT Z As •▼ . ■ ■J I IT" » 81 I WMMII 1 wBBWI ■ - $* * mill ■ -■ jW* t 11 i ■ ' ■/ I .'4 J 1 iwWP® i < wv- ! i " is SO # s SSwawRhwQEKSR te® ii Ho IBWIWw ll •T • ~x^ s jhS~ »«q jnyyj<JCT > 3yv‘* >, *~~ O<- /aw f*/ f -'"V- :/jMIL ■ _<fe ~,’S ■ " ©• ■'■ &- - ■-' y > .< WRIi - 'V~ < / i"" W ■? -Bfe ‘Wgk. x w® w, “ wHHHrv* ...jV 'fe w W« \ wbOfa \ aMr ,-*r ' z |k W *V - wW w^ 1 Photo -av » f- ' J' ■ HA v * **• MwSLr r*’’ / >* T# W/ ’^ : .a/ - ’-; I X W f iflH r ' y . ■ ! _ .. < : •- .f'jikar* To Stop Fraudulent “Beautv” Cosmetics By Rene Bache. THE Richardson Bill, now be fore a committee in Congress, is aimed at fraudulent cos metics. if, as is expected, j t be _ comes a law, it will drive all the Pretended "face lotions,” “skin foods,” and other such beauty fakes out of the market. This is a matter of very great im portance, because up to the present ime there has been no restriction whatever upon the sale of stuff of the kind, which find a market in this country to the extent of many millions of dollars yearly. Most of it is absolutely worthiest, and much of it highly injurious and even dan gerous—being calculated to destroy, rather than to enhance, feminine charms. The Government would l ave at tacked this swindling business long ago, but for the fact, that its hands have been tied. For fraudulent cos metics are not within tho scope of the Pure Food and Drug Law, simply for the reason that they can not be classified as medicine in a proper sense of the term. If a woman seeks a cosmetic to make her more beautiful, it can hardly be said • hat she is purchasing a medicine. This situation of affairs, however, will be entirely changed by the passage of th< Richardson bill; and thereupon the Government will pro ceed to make wholesale seizures of f a nlulent bcau^-making nostrums of all kinds—basing its action in some cases upon the false labelling of the preparations in question, and in others upon the fact that they are worthless or worse. Already the Bureau of Chemistry has made a fairly complete investigation of the whole subject, and has planned its line of procedure. The women In particular should be glad of the protection which by this means is to be afforded them against a species of fraud which, not only cheats them out of their money, but threatens to rob them of their good looks. Take for instance most of the so-called “face lotions” which to-day are so widely adver tised and sold. Most of these have been analyzed by the Bureau of Chemistry, and it has found that ■ < " '*■••- ly > :t ■ ' zwjjMk y -"'■. < . v' \ ; . »«r- . r;,,. |gr 4\ 2■ . Z » fez . vX ' r ,= M 4: BSt»* ■ x X fl - r.«t v * " ',. Er j . a&H-' .4xOMK ■• ■ x y." ' | < nearly all contain bichloride of mer cury—that is to say, corrosive sub limate. The typical notsrum of this description consists of corrosive sublimate dissolved in water and glycerine and flavored with tincture of benzoin. It goes without saying that such n mixture is extremely cheap, lu fact, it can be put up for almost nothing at all, but it easily com mands a high price. Apparently (say the Government experts) the more absurd and extravagant are the fdaims made in behalf of a beatify fake, the more readily it sells. One manufacturer, when asked “what was in” a cosmetic prepara tion that he sold, coolly replied: “There is 80 per cent profit for me.” The fraudulent ‘‘beauty lotions" beautify by destroying the surface layer of the skin with which they come into contact. That is to say, the corrosive sublimate they con tain causes the outer "scarf skin” (epidermis) to peel off. thus bring ing to view the lower layer of skin (dermis) which is smooth and pink. Incidentally, of course, it leaves the skin very tender and sensitive— deprived as it is of the protec tion which na ture has pro vided for it. Further appli cations of the lotion do more damage, pro ducing irrita tion, roughness and cracking of the skin. These symptoms (for lack of the out er protective coat) are likely to be followed by germ infec tion, which re su 11 s in a "breaking out,” cr eruption of a most disagree able and even distressing character. Recently the BureauofChem- - ■ s t '' Magnified Cross-Section of the Skin. E. —The Outer Surface us the Skin (Epidermis) Which is Eaten Away by Bad Complexion Remedies. D.—Underlying Skin (Dermis) Which Is Left Exposed tv Inflammation cr-l Disease. istry learned of a typical experience of this kind—certainly most instruc tive- which was recited by a lady who. in the quest of beauty, had purchased and applied one of these lotions. Her complexion having been ruined thereby, she went to a pyhsi cian, who prescribed an iodide ointment. In obedience to his in structions, she used it before going to bed. When she go: up the next morning, she found that her face had turned literally as red as a boiled lobster -this being the effect of a combination of the iodine in the ointment with the mercury of the lotion. In despair sh» went to another doctor, who gave her an ointment that contained sulphur. When she used this, it turned her face black, so that she looked lik ■ a negress. In the course of time, with the disappearance of tlie ch.nnlcals and the natural replacement of the in jured skin by fresh tissue, the lady’s complexion resumed its nor mal and healthy appearance. But she is not buying any more “beautv lotions. E'er since "aselin • appeared on an extremely cheap material, in disguise, for much money, with th« help of -.d' rtisemei.is making false and extravagant claims in regard to the efficiency of the preparation aa a beauty maker. The same thing has been largely done with mutton tallow. And a good deal of very expensive tooth powder is nothing more than a mix ture of powdered soap and preci pitated chalk, with a little scent and pink coloring to render it attractive. Toothpowder, it might be said, is bcrdly to be classed as a cosmetic; but it serves to illustrate the great principle that underlies the manu facture of nearly all toilet prepara tions—the idea, that is to say, of selling a mixture of cheap materials at a high price. A serious objection to vaseline as an unguent for use on the face is that it is at least suspected to have a tendency to encourage the growth of hair where it is not wanted. This is merely a suggestion which women may consider it worth while to take into view. Even the colored population is not overlooked by the manufacturers, though the nostrums sold for their special use are most commonly for taking the kinks out of the hair. It seems awful funny to me,’ said a negro maid to her mistress one daj, how you white ladies are al ways tryin’ to put kinks into your hn’r, while wo cullnd folks are doin’ our best to get ’em out.’ There is a very w-fi an(t profl . able sale for “anti-kinks.” of which there are many brands on the mar ket. o n e. recently analyzed by the ,>!ire;ui o’ Chemistry, was found tc oe a mixture of cocoanut oil and crude vaseline, flavored with oil o.’ bergamot. Another was a mo’-e elaborate preparation, composed o, lard, beeswax, camphor oil. beef marrow and gum benzoin, flavored with oils of lemo , orange, cloves and lemon grass. Yet another was ninety parts vaseline and ten parts beef suet, with oil of bergamot for flavoring. All of them are sold with fake “before and after” pictures, il lustrating the marvelous effects they produce. If the Richardson bill becomes a law the Government officials will make havoc on the fraudulent com plexion and beauty business. the market as a commercial article, it has been widely em ployed as a basis for cos metics. In itself it is harmless and even bene ficial barring one rather seri ous drawback which will pre sently be men tioned. But it has been the custom of man ufacturers of nostrums to add a little scent and coloring matter, and sell it at fancy prices under one trade name or another —the fraud in thia case consisting in the sale of