Freckles.—­These have been poetically called “the kisses of the sun,” but no girl cares for evidences of that sort of affection.  Prevention is easier than cure.  Simple home remedies are lemon juice and glycerin, sour buttermilk, and elderflower soap used in bathing.

A well-known application is six grains of bichloride of mercury in one ounce each of glycerin and alcohol, and a few drops, say ten or twelve, of oil of lavender.  The trouble is that after using these remedies the skin is delicate and freckles more easily.

The fad for going bareheaded has ruined many a girl’s complexion.

Sunburn.—­Avoid it when possible.  If going on the water, apply magnesia to the face rather thickly.  If sunburned, rub the skin with cold cream, leaving it on as long as you can before using water on it.  A wash that is good for tan and sunburn requires half an ounce of borax and an ounce of lemon juice in a pint of rose water.

Chapped hands and face.—­Many cases of “chaps” may be avoided by the simple precaution of wiping the face and hands perfectly dry.  If the skin chaps easily keep at hand a bottle of glycerin and lemon juice mixed in about equal proportions, and after wiping rub a little on the hands.  Before going out in the cold, rub a little cold cream or oil of sweet almonds over the face; leave it on a few minutes, rub off lightly with a dry towel and dust with rice powder.  Camphor ice is good for chapped lips.

A pure face cream.—­Set a bowl in a basin of hot water over the fire.  In it put a quarter of an ounce of white wax and two and a half ounces of spermaceti, and the same quantity of oil of sweet almonds.  When melted and hot, add a pinch of borax and an ounce and a half of rose-water.  Beat these ingredients with a silver fork, briskly, till the cream is cold.  Warm the jar before filling it and keep in a cool place.

Another good cream.—­One ounce each of white wax and spermaceti; two ounces each of lanolin and cocoanut oil and four ounces of sweet almond oil.  Melt in a double-boiler or a bowl set in hot water, and stir in two ounces of orange flower water and thirty drops of tincture of benzoin.  Stir briskly till cold, and of the consistency of a thick paste.  This is to be used at night, after thoroughly washing the face.  It is a good cleansing cream also.

[792 Mothers’ remedies]

Wrinkles.—­It is a great deal easier to prevent wrinkles than it is to get rid of them after one has acquired them.  A little study of women’s faces will show how wrinkles, that no amount of massage will obliterate, are being made.  They make perpendicular wrinkles between the eyes by drawing the brows together when sewing or reading, sometimes through habit and sometimes because of insufficient light.  Some wrinkles are born of in-temper, of fretfulness, or sorrow.  As the skin loses its