The culture of the nails, which when perfect constitute so great a beauty,
is of much importance; but the tendency is to injure them by too much
attention. The scissors should never be used except to pare the free edges
when they have become ragged or too long, and the folds of scarfskin which
overlap the roots should not, as a rule, be touched, unless they be
frayed, when the torn edges may be snipped off, so as to prevent their
being torn further, which may cause much pain, and even inflammation. The
upper surfaces of the nails should on no account be touched with the
knife, as is so often done, the nailbrush being amply sufficient to keep
them clean, without impairing their smooth and polished surfaces.--HINTON.
BATHS AND BATHING (p. 65).--_Physical Cleanliness Promotes Moral
Purity_.--The old adage that cleanliness is next to godliness, must
have had its origin in the feeling of moral elevation which generally
accompanies scrupulous bodily purity. Frequent bathing promotes purity of
mind and morals. The man who is accustomed to be physically clean shrinks
instinctively from contact with all uncleanliness. Personal neatness, when
grown into a habit, draws after it so many excellences, that it may well
be called a social virtue. Without it, refined intercourse would be
impossible; for its neglect not only indicates a want of proper self-
respect, but a disrespect of the feelings of others which argues a low
tone of the moral sense. All nations, as they advance in civilization and
refinement of manners, pay increased attention to the purity of the
person.
What, then, shall we say of people who, after all that has been said and
written upon the subject, seldom or never bathe, who allow the pores of
the skin to get blocked up with a combination of dust and perspired
matter, which is as effectual in its way as plaster to the walls of a
building? Could they but once be tempted to taste the delights which arise
from a perfectly clean and well-acting skin: the cheerfulness, nay, the
feeling of moral as well as physical elevation, which accompanies the
sense of that cleanliness, they would soon esteem the little time and
trouble spent in the bath, and in the proper care of the surface of the
body, as time and labor very well spent--DR. STRANGE.
The feet, particularly, should receive daily attention, if it be no more
than a vigorous rubbing with a wet cloth, followed by a dry one. After a
long walk, also, nothing is more refreshing, especially in summer, than a
generous footbath in cool or tepid water, followed by an entire change in
shoes and stockings. This is really a necessary precaution, if the feet
have become wet from the dampness of the ground; and if the walk has
heated the body so that the stockings are moist with perspiration, it is
not only an act of prudence, but an instinct of personal neatness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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