Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-11-20
For the Ugly Girls.

Did you ever go to see lady, not Of I'M
| easy but Of uncertain age, and find your
! self Unexpectedly ushered into the family
| sitting-rOOm by a new servant who did not
| know the ways of the house? Did you
| find her with the remarkable ornament of
| a cOurt-plaster lozenge an inch wide be-
tween her eyes, and one at the outer ends
| of her eyebrows? Did concern express it
self lest she had fallen down stairs or had
difference with the cat? Were these in
situations parricd with veteran resources,
| and were you dissuaded from further in
| quiry by the delicate remark that it would
interest her more than YOU to give the
history OF her scratches? OF course YOU
felt there was mystery about those bits
| Of courtplaster, and perhaps you feel so
to this day, If nature has not given you
the mind of a detective. If so, your pa
tience is to be rewarded The secret of
| those patches was not scratches, but wrin-
kles
trust due tribute will be paid to the
ingenuity of failing age, which has per-
tected this device for warding off its un-
welcome tokens. The rationale Of the
plan is very simple. The plaster contracts
the skin, and prevents its sinking into
creases and lines. 1t also protects and
sOttens it. Within the week | have heard
Of one Oldish lady who wears these orna-
mental appendages all the time in the
house when not receiving company, and
covers parts of her face with dough made
OF well-mumbled bread to keep her skin
fair. The heroism of the resistance to
time must be applauded, but whether the
play is worth the candle is an open ques-
ton. The beauty of age lies not in flesh
like that of sixteen, but in clear and lofty
expression, in the look of experience and
not unkindly shrewdness, in the finish of
self-represSlOn, of calmnesS and trust and
sympathy. These things grow on a face
as ii loses freshness and roundness, lust as
the sky begins to show through thinning
bOughs.
1t would be the greatest of blessings for
some people to learn to accept themselves
and their gifts. If they could stand apart
from themselves for a while TO see their
becoming styles and acceptable points,
much of their repining would be dropped
as superfluous Everything and every body
Is beautiful its season There is a
wholesome plainness that accords with do
nestle life and natural surroundings, as
the bark Of trees relieves their green. The
color that comes Of health, the genteness
and sweetness that come of IA conquered
self, are elements of beauty that make any
face tolerable. How dear the plain faces
are that have watched our childhood, with
whom we have grown SO closely that tea-
ture and form have lost their significance,
so that we really don't know whether they
are homely or not and see only the love or
the humOr that lives in their faces. Very
ugly people are happily Indifferent to
their looks in general, and the degrees of
lmperfection may always be lessened by
judicious use of the arts of dress
A woman young and homely may make
herself agreeable by the complete neatness
of comparatively simple toilette. Let
her eschew dresses of two cOlors, or shades
even, though the latter are allowable, if
of nice material, and the standings very
soft. Where the complexion is dull, there
must be some warm or lively tinges of
color in the costume, and gjce oerso-Cor.
Harp8,'s Ba2ar.