The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-08-13

old and. lose their good looks. Youth ant
beauty make mp 30 much OF their persona
yalue, 80 much Of their natural rdiso, deire
Ehatwhen these are gone many feel as If thei1
whole career was at an end. and as If nothing
were left to them, now that they are no longer
young enough TO be loved as girls are loved, Of
pretty enough to be admired as once they we're
admired. For women Of q certain position
have 30 little wholesome occupation, and &c
little ambition for anything, save indeed that
tAat they cannot change their way Of life with
advancing years; they do not attempt to find
intarest In things outside themselves, and In
dependent OF the mere personal attractrveness
which in youth constituted their whole pleas
ure Of existence. This Is essentially the case
with fashionable women, who have staked their
all ON appearance, and to whom good looks are
of more account than noble deeds; and, ac-
cordingly, the struggle to remain young is Q
frantic one with them, and as degrading as it
is frantic. -.,..rs.s=..s ). '..ss Z,
With the ideal woman Of middle age-thst
pleasant woman with her happy face and soft
ened manner, who unites the charms OF both
epoohs, retaining the ready responsiveness OF
youth, while adding the wider sympathies Of
e1pefience-with her there has never been any
such struggle to make herself an anachronism.
Consequently she remains beautiful to the last,
hf@mofe beautiful than al the pastes and
washes tn Madame Rachels shop could make
her. Sometimes, II rarely in these latter days,
we paeet her in society, where she carries with
het an atmosphere OF her oTn-an atmosphere
OF honest, wholesome truth and love, which
puzer for the time. All children and all young
naloYehery because she understands and
loves them. For sheiS essentially mother
that Is, woman who can forget hersef-who
can give without asking to receive, and who,,
without losing any Of Observation-Disclosures which
IA1A ~nyQ III E,-1
the lives Of others, and find her best Joy in the
well-being of those about her. There Is no SER
Witty, no exaggerated sacrifice in this; it is
ig simply the fulflment Of woman's highest
duty-the expression Of that grand maternal
instinct which need not necessarily include the
facto personal maternity, but which must find
utterance in some Line OF unselfish action with
all women worthy Of the name. The ideal wo-
man OF middle age understands the young be-
cause abe has lived with them. IF mother,
shs has performed her maternal duties with
cheerfulness and love. There has been no
giving mp her nursery to the care OF o hired
aeryant who is expected to do Tor twenty pounds
9 Ssaf Shat the tremendnas instinct Of mosn:-
er'e love could not End streneth to do. When
she hadchildren Sue attended to them in great
mart nerseen and learnt all about their tempers,
Their maladies, and the best methods Of man
agement1 As they grew up she. was still the
best friend they had, the providence o. their
young lives. 'WA6 gave them both care and JUS
Hoe, beta love and guidance. Such 2 manner
e. life has forced her to forget herself. When
her child Law i'll, perhaps dying, she had no
heart and no time to think OF her own ap-
nesrance, and whether this dressing gown
Nae more becoming than that; and what QUO
the doctor think Of her with her hair .pusheo
back from her face; and what fright she must
have looked in the morning light AFTER her
sleepiess night Of watching. The world and an
it's petty pleasures and paltry pains faded away
in the presence Of the stern tragedy OF the
hour; and not the finest ball Of the season
seemed to be worth thought compared, to
the all.absorbing question Of whether her
child slept after bis draught and whether ne
ate his food with better appetite. And such
Efe IN spite Of all it's cares, has kept her young
as well as unsel6sh; we should rather say,
young because unselish. As she comes into
The room with her daughters, her kindly face,
uppolluted by paint. her dress picturesque or
fashionable according to her taste, but decent
in form and consistent in tone with her age. It
ia often remarked that she looks more like
their sister than their mother. This is because
she is in harmony with her age, and has not,
therefore, put herself IN rivalry with them; and
harmony is the very keystone OF beauty. Her
hair NAV be streaked with white, the eirlish
3irmness and transparency Of her skin has
gone, the pearly clearness OF her eye is cloud
ed. and the alsnder grace Of line is lost, but,
for all chat, she is beautiful, and she is intrin-
GcaIy young.
What she has lost in outside material charm
in that mere oecute du dtaote OF Touth-she
has gained in character and expression; and,
not attempting to simulate the attractiveness
OF girl, she keeps what nature gave her-the
effectiveness Of middle age. And as every
epoch has it's own beauty, If woman would but
learn that truth, che is as beautiful now as
mstron Of fifty, because in harmony with her
wears, and because her beauty has been carried
ON from matter to spirit, as she was when
maiden of sixteen. This is the ideal woman Of
middle age, met with even yet at times in 30
ciety-the woman whom all men respect,
whom all women envy, and wonder how she
does it, and whom all the young adore, and
wish they had for an elder sister or an aunt,
And the secret Of all lies in truth, In love, IN
purity and in unseldshness.
Standing far in front Of this sweet and whole
some idealization is Ia femme possee-the real,
ity as we meet with it at balls and fetes AND
afternoon at homes, ever foremost In the mad
chssa after pleasure, for which alone she seems
&c think she has been sent to the world.
Dressed in the extreme OF youthful fashion, her
thinning hair dyed, and crimped, and fired till
lie is more like red brown tow than hair, her
fiaccid cheeks ruddied, her throat whitened, her
bust displayed with unfinching generosity, as
n beauty was to be measured by cubic inches
her lustreless eyes blackened round the lids. to
give the semblance Of impidity to the tarnish
ed whites-perhaps the pupil dilated by bella
donna, or perhaps false and fatal brilhancy
for the moment given by opium, or by eau d.
colooye. Eof which she has store in Shel
carriage. and drinks as she passes from bal
fo bali: no kindly drapery Of lace or gauze te
conceal the breadths Of her robust maturity
or TO soften the dreadful shadows Of her lean
ness-there she stands, the wretched creature
who will not consent to grow old, and who vii
still affect to be like fresh eoquettng CIR
when She is nothing but Ia femme pdssee- e-tc
femme Dnsse ct ridicule into the bargain
There ia not folly for which even the thought
lessness OF youth is but o poor excuse inte
which abe. in oil the plenitude Of her abun
dant experience, does not plunge. Wife ant
mother as she may be, she firts and makes
love as il an honorable issue was as open te
her as to her daughter, or as If she did moi
know to what end flirting and making love
lead in all ages. If We watch the career Of
such woman, We see how, by slow but very
sure degrees, she is obliged to lower the stand
ard Of her adorers, and to take up at last with
men Of inferior social position, who are con-
tent to buy her patronage by their devotion.
To the best men Of her own class she can
give nothing that they value; 30 she barters
With snobs, who go into the transaction with
their eyee open, and take the whole affair as
matter Of exchange and quid pro quo rigidly ex-
acted, OF she does really dazzle some very