Death by Wallpaper?

Martine Stowers Beauchamp
1875- 1961

Death by Wallpaper? so claims my Great Grandmother.

I ordered a book of my Mom's family, and most stories
were documented by my great grandmother.
I love her looking glass to the past.
She wrote the following about clothing fashion...

"Once a cousin came over 100 miles from her farm to
visit us. As she undressed in front of us,
we ask why she used padding to amplify her breast.
She remarked succinctly,
"Why you dumb dearies,
what God has forgotten, I supply with cotton."

When Martine was 15, she heard that girls were
buying a yard of red wallpaper to make rosy cheeks and lips.
She remarked, "Guess it worked as such girls attracted numbers of male escorts.
To become exceedingly fair like a lily, a finely built handsome girl
to enhance her wonderful sylph like beauty of face and form
was in reality an arsenic addict (arsenic was an ingredient
in the wallpaper). Sadly, many girls were soon to answer the Last Call."

Because of our great Grandmother, the Stowers Family History
of Western Kentucky is alive with her stories.