BELLES AND BHAUX.

[FepRuaRy 28, 1874,

 

 

 

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1874.

 

 

Terms to Subscribers:

One copy, one year,-  - - ee ae, ee te ey
) ehlatementhae  cecvehasee— wt” 60 159.09
“« «three months, - - - - - - - 1.00
To Ciuns :—Five copies for one year for $20.00, and one extra copy

to the person remitting.

Single copies, 10 cents. Specimen numbers sent, prepaid, for 10
cents.
Address all remittances and communications to
BELLES AND BEAUX,
98 William Street, New York.

 

 

Deciinep: ‘‘A Picture; ‘How Mach Heart?’
“A Benedicite;” ‘A Wedding Dress;’’ ‘Caught
by a Shadow;” ‘‘ The Belles’ Invasion;” “A Party;”
“Miss Gray’s Second ‘Affair;’’’ ‘‘Lester Lane’s
Lesson;”’ ‘‘ Hearts Are Not Trumps;” ‘‘ Netty Mor-
rison, Ma Belle.”

AccepTEp: ‘‘Love and Life; ‘“‘My Wife and
Mother-in-Law;”’ “An Episode;” ‘The Studio
Key;’’ ‘‘ Apple Blossoms;” ‘Only a Leaf; “‘ That
Lovely Lace;” ‘‘A Passing Cloud; ‘‘ Thinking
Aloud;” ‘‘A Mercenary Miss;” ‘‘Who Won The
Ring?”

Declined MSS. returned only when stamps for
such return are inclosed with the MS.

 

 

 

 

Sunshine Papers.
RIPPLES.

; E stood by the edge of a pleasant pond.

\ \ The waters were glassy clear, reveal-

ing the finny inhabitants that sported
in their depths. On the far side we could see
the little birds fluttering back and forth among
the rushes, and the trees dropping tender foli-
age to its brim.

“John Henry, throw this small stone into
the center of the pond.”

Whiz! Plash! The stone sunk out of sight
and the waters grew still and smooth again,
save a tiny ripple circling the spot where it fell.
See how the ripple floats outward, further and
further, until it breaks against the banks at
either side, and washes up on the carriage
drive where we stand.

Again—we lingered on the shore of a large
bay. The waves rolled in over the yellow
sands with languid, regular sweeps up, almost,
to our very feet. We picked up many pebbles
throwing them at long intervals into the bay.
As on the glassy pond, so here on the throbbing
deep, the ripples circled far and wide, breaking
on the sands on one side, stretching far beyond
our vision on the other. Silently we turned
away.

A few days later we were in the glow of
noontide, where the broad Atlantic rolled its
blue waves against the rock on which we sat.
Far away passed a white steamer. We took
our watches and waited. Slowly, very slowly
it seemed, the minutes crept into the past.
Fifty-five were gone, then, plash! plash! plash!
among the rocks, broke ripples that had come
o’er many miles, the effect of what had passed
beyond the range of our vision three quarters
of an hour before. Perhaps, there were tears
in our eyes; surely, there was a heavy pain at
our hearts as we looked into each others’ faces.

The glassy pond, the throbbing bay, the roll-
ing ocean—were the world; the child’s world—
the youth’s world—manhood’s and woman-
hood’s world. The stone, the pebble, the
steamer—our deeds and our words sending rip-
ples over the soul-life of the whole world; rip-
ples only ceasing when they reach the shore
where time beats itself to death on the unchang-
ing boundaries of eternity.

The world is moved by ripples.

John Howard, an Englishman of little note,
became a captive ina French prison. Hiskind
heart was sore grieved by the sufferings of the
wretched prisoners. He resolved, when re-
leased, to attempt to alleviate their condition.
His efforts were crowned with success, and a
reformation effected in prison treatment. Rip-
ple, ripple, ripple, spread from that small act,
until John Howard’s presence was hailed with
joy from the jails of his native England, to the
perpetual winters of Siberian forests, and the
fever-lazarettos of southern Europe; and his
name is reverenced in every land. The ripples
that his deeds started circle yet, and shall cir-
cle through all time; making a filthy, un-
healthy, inhtmanly conducted prison a reproach
that arouses a chorus of shame! from the in-
habitants of every civilized land.

A little peasant girl dreamed among her
flocks, and went forth to head anarmy. The
ripples that floated forth, as she resolved to
aid her country, surged under the impotent
Charles and swept him back to his throne.
Those ripples changed the course of French
history and have come circling down through
the years, whispering ever the name of Joan
of Arc.

Watching the ripples on the ocean brings to
one’s heart, with awful solemnity, the realiza-
tion that our lightest words, our most trifling
acts, send world-wide ripplés over the great
ocean of humanity. Yet how rarely we pause
to consider that a careless word will echo time
after time against other ears than’ those that
listen now—helping to make or mar the life of
mortals till time is o’er.

It is a trifling matter for you, oh! belles,
drawing your dainty robes about you, to speak
a pleasant word, or place a penny in the hand
of the beggar-girl who sweeps the crossing ;
yet the smile, the kind word, may help to
waken a glorious life in that little’ one, a life
that shall some day exercise a power over all
the world.

It is a trifling matter for, you, oh! beaux, to
smile and say of a woman, “She is a little
fast;” and yet the ripples of that light speech

 

may surge across her pathway, bearing her to-
ward bitterest woe and death.
There is no word, howe’er so unintended,
But weal or woe may bear;
There is no act, howe’er sincere repented,
But ripples everywhere.

A Parson’s DAUGHTER.

THE ADORATION OF WOMEN.

HAT adoration which a young man gives
to a woman whom he feels to be greater
and better than himself, is hardly distinguish-
able from a religious feeling. "What deep and
worthy love is not so; whether of woman or
child, or art or music? Our caresses, our ten-
der words, our still rapture under the influence
of autumn sunsets, or pillared vistas, or calm,
majestic statues, or Beethoven. symphonies, all
bring with them the consciousness that they are
mere waves and ripples in an unfathomable
ocean of love and beauty; or emotion in its
keenest moment passes from expression into
silence; our love at its highest flood rushes be-
yond its ohject, and loses itself in the sense of
divine mystery. Is it any weakness, pray, to
be wrought on by exquisite music? to feel its
wondrous harmonies searching the subtlest
windings of your soul, the delicate fibers of
life where no memory can penetrate, and bind-
ing together your whole being, past and
present, in one unspeakable vibration, melt-
ing you in one moment with all the tenderness,
all the love that has been scattered through
the toilsome years, concentrating in one emo-
tion of heroic courage or resignation all the
hard-learned lessons of self-renouncing sympa-
thy, blending your present joy with past sor-
row, and your present sorrow with all your
past joy? If not, then neither is it a weakness
to be so wrought upon by the exquisite curves
on a woman’s cheek and neck and arms, by the
liquid depths of her beseeching eyes or the
sweet childish pout of her lips. For the beauty
of a lovely woman is like music, what can one
say more? Beauty has an expression beyond
and far above woman’s soul, that it clothes, as
the words of genius have a wider meaning than
the thought that prompted them; it is more than
woman’s love that moves as in a woman’s eyes
—it seems to be a far-off mighty love that has
come near to us, and made speech for itself
there; the rounded neck, the dimpled arm,
move us by something more than their pretti-
ness—by their close kinship with all we have
known of tenderness and peace. The expres-
sion in beauty (it is needless to say that there
are gentlemen with whiskers dyed and undyed
who see none of it whatever), and for this rea-
son the noblest nature is often the most blinded
to the character of the woman’s soul, that the
beauty clothes. Whence, I fear, the tragedy
of human life is likely to continue for a long
time to come, in spite of mental philosophers,
who are ready with the best receipts for avoid-
ing all mistakes of the kind. G. E.

THE WAY OF THE WORLD.

T is the way of the world to be governed by
what others do. If each person was as
truly independent as he or she professes to be, .
what would society do? Why, fall in pieces,
of course. It is this doing as others do which
makes ‘‘ society,” or what is ordinarily so called.
The hours, days, weeks, months, years of a very
large class of persons are spent in seeing just
what others eat, drink, and wear—what they
live on, how they live, and why they live—
where they go, when they go, how they go;
and, having learned, these Argus-eyed observ-
ers try to do exactly likewise—to wear just as
good or better clothes, to live in just as good a
house in as good a part of the town—to have
just as fine a carriage and just as big trunks
when they travel. The staid Boston Transcript

is even more personal than this, for it says :
“Tf the gates of Heaven were suddenly to swing
open and all mankind to be asked on equal terms to
enter into the Kingdom, don’t you know some peo-
ple who would pause to see what some other people
were going to do about it, and some who would
draw back for fear the Celestial City was gettin;
vulgar; and some who would refuse altogether i
they saw so-and-so’s about to enter?”

This is is rather hard on the very “‘ exclusive ;”
but, it isn’t very far from the truth, we fear.
It is, however, a great comfort to know that
the Celéstial City can get along without them.

“WORDS ARE THINGS.”

T was Mirabeau who said this—one of the
acutest of Frenchmen in an age when the
acutest intellects controlled the destiny of
France.

‘Words are things” may not be true when
applied to the everyday chit-chat of ordinary
mortals, but surely all can realize when its
truth cannot be denied.

Slanderous words! Are they not stings,
often poisonous ones, sharper than knife
thrusts?

Encouraging words! Are they not helping
hands stretched out to the despairing?

Christian words! Are they not lights in
darkness to guide stumbling feet?

Loving words! Are they not gifts beyond
the value of gold to buy?

Patriotic words! Are they not weapons to
conquer; stronger to move armies to victory,
than swords or cannons?

Last words! What relics are those to cherish
and guard. We may have keepsakes of gold
or silver to remind us of the loved and lost, but
we regard the last words of those who are
gone before with an interest as keen as if they
were indeed things to be treasured up and
used.

 

 

 

 

KinD.y appreciative words may bring upon
the spirit of a man a softening dew of hu-
manity, instead of feeding within him the bois-
terous flame of vanity.

 

 

 

The Letter-Box.

[All inquiries to be answered by the editor of this department
should be directed to “ Letter-Box,” Brnugs anp Braux, 98 William
Street, New York.

The department is open to inquiries after information upon all sub-
ject appertaining to the Household, the School-Room, the Garden, the

ursery, etc.

It is equally open to persons of both sexes, who, in “ affaira of the
heart,” wish counsel and direction. The editor’s eminent qualifica-
tions for such confidences the publishers are sure none will question.

The end and aim being to render Tux Lerrer Box useful, in the
highest degree, gives to correspondents the widest latitude in their in-
quiries upon all subjects or matters proper for reply.]

 

 

Romro.. We do not want sketches of the nature
indicated. All contributions must be directed to
our office address.

Betta R. We are not “in want of’ matter. We
have a host of the most charming writers in the
country already writing for us; but, for all that, we
welcome contributions. The mission of BELLES AND
Bravx is to charm; let those who wish to write for
its columns govern themselves accordingly.

A. J. asks ‘‘who are the publishers of BELLES AND
Breaux?” We answer, men who have been in the
publishing business for over a quarter of a century,
and probably have facilities for the production of a
beautiful and prosperous journal that are un-
equaled.

F. S. M. (Phila.) Have answered by mail.

J. H. E. You may submit papers referred to
when they are ready.

J. H. H. (New York) writes : ‘‘I am in my nine-
teenth year, and expect to graduate from one of
our city colleges, but I do not know what I shall
then do. Ihave no particular leaning toward any
of the learned professions; in fact, I like one as
well as the other. I am not ‘gifted with extraordi-
nary talent, nor am I deprived of the usual talents
granted man. I hold a respectable position in my
class, and am very generally liked. What course
would you advise me to take in order that I may
learn my future vocation?”

Your question covers a wide field for discussion,
difficult to enter upon without.more information
than the eo aie you give. Many considera-
tions should influence a man starting in life, which
must be settled by himself alone; others which
should be referred for decision to his parents or
guardians,

Health should have a great weight. If you are of
full habit, inclined to headaches, avoid the choice
of any sedentary profession or business, and en-
deavor to obtain a position where you can have out-
door super sens and exercise. If you have im-
proved the advantages of education which you have
enjoyed, you will have a start in life for which many
sigh in vain—many in age look back upon with vain
regrets that_it was denied them, namely, a good
education. Your present means must also exercise
an influence. - To enter upon a profession will re-
quire years of preparation and long, patient wait-
a ee a practical result.

e should advise you to enter into no course that
must influence your whole future without serious
consideration and the counsel of older friends, who
understand your position, capacity and circum-
stances far better than a mere stranger can possi-

bly do.

Fyadcing from your letter you have had advanta-
ges and opportunities already which make you re-
sponsible for a judicious use of the faculties God
has given you.

ONE oF THE BEAUX. You will find the directions
for which you ask in a little book called ‘‘ De Wal-
den’s Ball-Room ee or, Dancing Made
Easy,’’ published b: ick & Fitzgerald, 18 Ann
street, New York. Callupon the St. Louis News Co.

A BROOKLYN READER. The only sure remedy for
warts of which we know is nitrate of silver (lunar
caustic). A piece prepared in a ype may be ob-
tained at any drug-store. Rub the warts with a
corn-file, or scrape the top off with a pen-knife (not
cutting), and touch with the caustic night and
morning). The black ‘stain will wear off, and the
wart disappear with a few applications. Strong
aromatic vinegar, applied the same way, will pro-
duce the desired result, without staining the skin,
but the effect is not so rapid.

B. C. (Pa.) A good lotion for chilblains may be
made by obtaining half a pint each of alcohol and
cider vinegar, and one ounce of muriate of am-
monia. Dissolve the muriate of ammonia in the
vinegar, adding the alcohol afterward. Bathe the
chilblains freely several times during the day, and,
if painful at night, a linen cloth wet with the lotion
may be bound upon them with good effect. -

Mopg (Pa.) writes: ‘‘I made a young lady a present,
on Christmas, 1872, of a plain gold ring. She kept it
until Christmas, 1873, and then, on my visiting her,
not having seen her during the previous year, she

ave the same ring to me asa Pee saying she
did not care much for rings, and that I could ace
it and wear it to remember her by. What woul
you infer from that? Did she mean to return my
ring to me, or only to make me, as she said, a pre-
sent of it?’ "4

We should incline to the opinion that the lady
meant to return your ring to you, as, if you have
ne. stated the case, you gave her every reason
for doing. The gift of a ring between a lady and
gentleman not related bears always a significance,
not attached to any other gift, even of jewelry.
The ee in offering it, is invariably under-
stood to be asking by its acceptance for encourage-
ment to plead his love-suit, and the lady, when she
pore it upon her hand, invites him to open his

eart to her. It has been a gift thus significant in
the annals of courtship for ages. If you, therefore,
presented a ring, and, above all others, a plain gold
one, the lady had a right to acs from you an ex-

licit declaration of love and offer of marriage.

en you allowed a year to pass without makin

such an offer, or even visiting her, she took a digni-
fied and maidenly course in refusing your further
attention, by returning you your own ring. She
has certainly dismissed you for the time. Whether
now, by a manly, straightforward expression of
your sentiments, you can alter her present deci-
sion, you alone can prove. The fact that she accep-
ted your ring would seem to imply that she was
ready to listen to your wooing a year ago, but her
whole sentiment may have changed under your
neglect for so long a time.

J. C. G. (Va.) writes: “I have been courting a young
lady to whom I am devotedly attached for nearly a
year. I think she is attached to me, and I want to
ask her to marry me, but every time I try I find
myself without the courage. Will you help me by
telling me the etiquette for a proposal, and the
proper form of words in which to make it?”

@ find ourselves puzzled by this question. The
etiquette of popping the question was never taught
us, and we do not believe there is any specified
form of words for the momentous avowal, Many a
lover suffers from just such bashfulness as you
describe, to his own discomfiture, and often to the
chagrin of the lady as well. oe
_ But in courtship, as in any other important crisis
in a man’s life, we believe the straightforward
course to be the best one. Go to the lady, summon
all your courage, and propose in a few simple words,

‘I love you, will you be my wife?”

If she returns your love she can ask for no more
frank or full expression of your affection, and your
troubles are over. Etiquette will not help you.

A BuckeEYE Boy writes: ‘Two short years ago I met
a young lady, and the finale was, veni, vidi, vici. For
four months our lives were blended. She went to
her home in a different part of the State, but prior
to her departure our friendship merged into an en-
gagement. After receiving one letter, at her re-
quest I wrote to her father (a leading lawyer) tell-
ing him of my love for his daughter, and obtained
his full consent. I sent her my photograph and a
ring. Everything flourished for neatly a year, when
a coldness arose on the part of her li olized. at en-
dured it for awhile, till, finding it becoming painful,

 

I offered her her release, and requested a return of
ring, photograph and letters, to which her father
replied, in words more emphatic than elegant, that
I would never see them again. This was eight
months since, Will your lady tact relieve me?”
Your position is a very peculiar one, and it is
difficult to understand the motives of the lady-or
her father. May not the coldness of which you
complain have existed a in your imagination. It
was a severe test of the lady’s patience and affec-
tion to offer to end an engagement so abru. tly as
you describe, and it was not unnatural for her to
resent your letter. If you have written for the
father’s consent, sent ring, photo, raph and letters,
he may desire to hold these. to Sind you to your
proposal. A contract of marriage must be binding
unless dissolved by mutual consent, and you do not
state that the lady has expressed any desire for a
release from it.
_ Our advice to you would be to seek a personal
interview with the lady, and, in the presence of her
father and one of your own relations, demand an
explanation of their conduct. Or, if you cannot
accomplish such a meeting, write to the father for
such an explanation. You may find their only de-
sire is to hold you to an engagement of your own
seeking, or, in case they wish a release, you only
obtain a freedom you have yourself proposed.

THE HOUSEKEEPER (Va.) We judge from your
description that the great fatality among your
hens is caused by the location of the poultry-yard,
where you say the ground is constantly damp, often
wet. You cannot make a greater mistake than to
have the feet of your poultry constantly wet.
Water, pure and sweet, is necessary for their
health, and they like to seek for live food in damp
soil, but the ground or floor they use habitually
should be dry. Try the removal of your poultry-
yard to a sunny, dry location, providing water in
shallow pans, and watch that the legs and feet of the
fowls do not get ee with mud or clay. Give
them plenty of gravel, and we think the symptoms
that you describe will disappear, and your poultry
become healthy.

James 'T. (Wheeling), writes: ‘Can you tell me
how old a man must be before he is eligible as a Re-
presentative to Congress or Senator?”

The Constitution of the United States has distinct
clauses bearing upon this question. As a citizen
you should carefully read the Constitution, but we
give extracts bearing upon your question.

‘*No person shall be a Representative who shall
not have attained the age of twenty-five years, and
been seven years acitizen of the United States, and
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of
that State in which he shall be chosen.”

‘*No person shall be a Senator who shall not have
attained the age of thirty years, and been nine years
a citizen of the United States, and who sha! not,
when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for
which he shall be chosen.”

Mary T. (N. C.) Yes; the long-end necktie is
still in fashion here. It is very handsome, of broad
watered or gros grain ribbon, with a large bow and
ends three-quarters or even a yard long.

Joun C. (Rock Island City, Ill.) writes: ‘In setting
the first domino for a game, does any domino count
five or ten except the five or double five? We
should be greatly obliged for an answer to settle a
disputéd point.”

oyle, the great authority on games of all kinds,

says:

at the one who leads can put down any domino,
containing spots that amount to five or ten, as the
double-five, six-four, five-blank, trey-deuce, etc.,
he counts that number to his score in the game.

Eu B. (Mass.) We cannot recommend any cos-
metic of the kind you describe. The peculiar com-
plexion which you ye is caused by want of fresh
air and exercise, or the excessive use of very rich
food. Try a plain diet, and a long daily walk for
six months, and we think you will not need or desire
any cosmetic. All the preparations in use to clear
the complexion are of doubtful value, and quite as
apt to injure as to aid. All powders end in making
the skin harsh and dry. There are hundreds of
washes we can send you if you insist upon trying
them, but we recommend none.

J. R. (Md.) Your best, indeed, in our opinion,
hee onl plan, is to insert an advertisement in the
eading daily papers of the principal cities. If your
relative is still in the United States one of these
will probably meet his eye.

Narcissa (N. M., Conn.) writes: ‘I have got into
trouble, which I will not take up your time by de-
scribing in detail, respecting some property left me
by my father, and authenticated by a lawsuit. I
made a contract which I considered binding, but
which I now find was not so legally. Will not the
fact that I knew nothing of the law in the case en-
able me to break the engagement I entered into
ignorantly ?”

- Unless you can arrange some compromise with
the opposing party, you will have to submit to the
legal right in your case. Ignorance of the law ex-
cuses no one, Let it be a lesson to you to ascertain
the law upon all matters of business before entering
into any contract or engagement.

Danvy (M., O.) Yes; seal rings are always in
fashion, and should be worn invariably upon the
little finger. Monograms are more stylish now than
the simple initial, though the latter are also worn.
A crest is also fashionable.

APOLLO (F., Me.) writes: ‘‘Some few months ago,
seeing a lady whose appearance pleased me very
much, I requested a gentleman friend who visited
her to introduce me, desiring to form her acquaint-
ance. She refused point blank to allow the intro-
duction, giving no reason. As my position here and
character are such that I cannot feel myself. un- ©
worthy of the friendship of a lady, I naturally felt
indignant at such a refusal. A few days ago she
told my friend he might bring me to call, if he
wished, and he urges me to go. I admire some
points in the lady’s character, but I feel that I have
a right to some explanation of her first refusal be-
fore I accept her tardy invitation. My friend says
I am too particular. hat is your advice?”

A lady has certainly the privilege of refusing to
receive a gentleman acquaintance, but in such a
case as yours she slighted your friénd as well as
yourself, as he was supposed to hold himself re-
sponsible for oe character and standing. He has
a right, as well as yourself, to an explanation of the
cause of her abrupt refusal to receive you, and you
are ir dS te in now refusing to be introduced
to the lady, unless such an explanation is given to
him and yourself. If her reason is not satisfactory
to both, you have now the rivilege, transferred to
you by her own conduct, oF refusing the acquaint-
ance.

A ReavEr (La Crosse, Wis.) There is an American
edition of the work you mention, but oa could ob-
tain it by sending an order to a publishing house to
import it for you from the London publishers.

Auicr (F., N. J.) The court-train is giving way to
the aonteae and intelligence from Paris ra Pits
that the latter are superseding the former there.
We would therefore advise the demi-train for your
new silk.

FrienpsuiP (P., N. H.) writes: “‘I am anxious to
know if there is any especial etiquette about re-
turning hospitality by a gift. Ihave a friend here,
married and with a family, whose wife takes pity
upon my bachelor loneliness, and invites me fre-
quently to join her family circle. Can I with pro-
priety make her a present?”

We should advise you, as there are children, to
make your present to the baby. A gift to the host-
ess is perfectly proper under such circumstances,
and if the children are over ten yeass old your
gift had better be made to the mother. But if
there is a baby you may offer silver, jewelry suit-
able for a child, or handsome embroidery, and are
certain to please everybody. The parents will
never object to this return for their hospitality.

(Letter-Box Continued on Page 15.)