Twentieth Century Culture and Deportment / Or the Lady and Gentleman at Home and Abroad; Containing Rules of Etiquette for All Occasions, Including Calls; Invitations; Parties; Weddings; Receptions; Dinners and Teas; Etiquette of the Street; Public Places, Etc., Etc. Forming a Complete Guide to Self-Culture; the Art of Dressing Well; Conversation; Courtship; Etiquette for Children; Letter-Writing; Artistic Home and Interior Decorations, Etc.

by Maud C. Cooke

Occasionally the hands and face become red and flushed while the feet are cold. This very uncomfortable state of things may be effectually remedied by bathing the feet in hot water with a tablespoonful of Kretol in it. This will frequently be found an immediate cure for headache, but must not be attempted just before going out in cold or damp weather. A simple remedy is to wash the face and hands in very warm water, as hot as can be borne. This will frequently dispel the burning sensation and induce a cooler condition of the skin.

A slice of raw potato rubbed well into them will remove stains from the fingers and hands. Lemon juice is also effective in this way, and, if not used immoderately, may be applied without fear of evil consequences. For chapped hands and lips the following will be found efficacious: Equal quantities of white wax (wax candle) and sweet oil; dissolve in these a small piece of camphor; put it in a jam crock, and place it upon the hob till melted. It must be kept closely covered. It should be applied to the hands after washing, and previous to drying them.

A few drops of glycerine poured into the palms of the hands after washing, and rubbed all over them before drying with a towel, is perhaps the best and simplest remedy for chapping; but if good soap is always used, and the hands well dried and protected by warm gloves against the cold, the chapping will be prevented, which is preferable to the very best cures.

Remedy for Chilblains.

Chilblains may be cured very speedily by rubbing into them morning and evening as much spirits of turpentine as they will absorb. This must not be applied to broken chilblains, but if taken in time it will prevent their breaking. The water in which potatoes have been boiled is an excellent remedy for chilblains on feet or hands. These members should be put into the water while it is as hot as can be borne. The same specific applies equally to what are called “whitlows,” or “felons” a gathering in the region of the fingernail that is extremely painful, and to which some are constitutionally liable.

When the feet are large, the owners should never be tempted into wearing any but the very plainest boots and shoes. Ornamentation of any kind makes the foot look larger. Even a pretty foot looks its best in a perfectly plain satin slipper, with only a small rosette with buckle on the toe. This rosette must not, however, be permitted to the large foot. It may, certainly, be worn on the place intended for the instep, when that ornamental rise in the outline of the foot is totally absent. Lines of white stitching on the boot make it look larger than it really is. The best boot for a large foot is one in which the toe-cap comes well up on the foot. Its lines are thus broken up, and the apparent length diminished. A pretty foot, on the contrary, looks better in a boot that has no toe-cap, the “upper” of which is made all in one. This displays to advantage the beautiful outline of the foot, and the gentle but decided curve of the instep.

The possessors of large feet should be particularly careful to have their boots perfectly cleaned and very glossy. The feet look much smaller when this is the case than when the boot has a rim of mud around the sole and a shadow of dust upon the uppers. Where the instep is defective or totally absent, a pretence at one may be made by blacking that portion of the sole of the foot that is immediately adjacent to the heel. This causes a kind of optical illusion which is favorable to the flat-footed.

Patent leather is a most objectionable material for wearing upon the feet. Through it ventilation is absolutely impossible. So much for the sanitary part of the subject; and as to convenience, this is as much in the shade as sanitation, for patent leather “draws” the feet much more than any other kind. Of late, ladies and children have begun to borrow this material from gentlemen, but as much smaller shoes can be worn with comfort in any other kind of leather, it is not likely to become universally popular. Large feet should never be clad in satin.

Foot-Wear.

The fit of the stocking is almost as essential to the perfection of the foot as that of the boot or the shoe itself. It should be large enough to allow freedom to the toes, and not so large as to wrinkle on the foot. In a well-fitting stocking the foot can be more accurately measured than otherwise, and the comfort of the foot is sadly impeded by an ill-fitting one.