New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-11
BEAUTY RULES.


please. -
Sophia said PUTTING her paper down tor a moment
woman can please the eye by her appearance,
her dress her face and her figure. She can please
the ear by studying the art of graceful elocuton,
not hard TO any of us for by nature we speak with
finer articulation than you. she can please the
mind 10y cultlvating her own-SO Tar, AT least as 10
make her good listener aud az much flrther as
sbe will she can please the fancy by ladies w.t. Of
which all of us have share she can please tne
heart by amiabillty. See here" she continued,
growing Craver you have the key of my system.
Beauty OF person only feature OF true beauty
Run over these qualities. See now small part
personal beauty or the freshness OF youth plays
here. ! want You TO observe TINS; lot my arr
would consist not in making women attractive
who are openly pretty and young, but IN showing
them that youth and prettiness. though artcles OF
beauty ale neither tne only nor Ine lnulSpen9'0'0
8 Rule Two Modesty is the ground on which all
a woman's charms appear TO the best advantage
In manners, dress, cOnve, satlon remember always
that mOdesty must never be forgotten
Hardly likely to be- muir nured. Is II -,
Understand me-" Answered SOPHIA bflshy' " l
mean uodesty in "A very extended sense. There IS
nowadays a tendency in women to rebel against
old-taslloned modesty. The doctrine OF Liberty Is
sDreadlng among rs. for which thank Goa, SOPHIA
sand she was the oldest little mixture OF Tory ana
Wing and Radical ever compounded on TINS eccen-
trio earth But the first effects OF that doctrine
Oh our minds a little confusing we are grow
inc more ludependent and more individual. some
of ms fancy that to be modest is to be oldtashoned
and OF course we want the newest fashion IN al
warm a. if she tancied | might argue back"
maintain thai q modest woman l. Tue reply OF ny
sex 10 a brave man-NOu can no more nave uue
woman without mOdesty than true man Wiluout
courage But remember, Use tie word modesty III
Inst what was going to ask said:
Not nrudery.' She added "Prudery is to
modestv what brag Is to bravery. frndery Is on
the surface mOdesty Is IN the soul hOsalinu III ncI
boys suit is delightfully."- modest, bul not ooPn,a
said with twinkle OF her eye" not very pIudIsH'
is she I"
| assented. and thus made way for
" Rule Three.-Aways dress up to your age or
little beyond it, Let your person be the youngest
thing about You, not the oldest.
Rule Four.-Remeuiber that what women ad-
mre in themselves Is seldom "nat men aulil're ID
them" co-,i. .oid
In nine drawing-rooms out of ten sophia said
seeing me give look OF inquiry as she Ieau thls
article Miranda OF COrdela, ~ mover neroInSs
would be voted bOres. Women would say, We
utterly decline to accept these watery girls as typ
cal of us: we want smarTness ana lie: uol
really care much fol Miranda or COrdella myself.
Now this seems to me to caution us against rust
ing too implicitly too far our own notions ABOUT
ourselves Another source OF MISUNDERSTANDING
comes from the novel writers. We are the mover
readers and the novelist Is forced 10 Wtlte
to suit taste. he does not want 10 OnenI uS.
Tbus it comes about that even the male novelist Is
too often only depicting women women altcI an
And | believe scores of modern girls are seriously
mised for this very reason. lney DeheVe they ar
binding ont " hat men think OF them, when III truth
they are reading their own nOtols handed OacA 10
them under "A pretty disguise
winch" she remarked. &" is another form Of
what | said INST now. only here speak oil personal
beauty. My observation j., tuat II ten men anu lel
women were 10 70 into the same company, and
each sex choose the prettest woman there as they
Thought YOU would rarely find that they chose the
same II this be So ought not to trust Ourselves
even as to our faces, without considering that the
sex to please must IN the end settle the ques-
ton ana will settle the question ~ It's own way.
= uie Six-Gayety tempered By seriousness IS the
happlest manner ID society. ,..
by which | mean sophia sad, looking az me
with knitted brOws, as II shc were about 10 explain
some matter not altogether clear 10 herself that
in all gayety there ought to be mint Oh sell
recollection. 10 You understand NE /
Not quite | SAID. a.,
This know certainly" she replied " the most
agreeable women have met with-and thlnk the
most regarded have been women OF rank, VINO
have been trained with a due regard lof reiieioh;
Their worldly education had made them mindful OF
grace and veliness: their religious education KIP
these qualities under paftlcuIt Al SOU Vi Ooh'i'ii
which is perceDtIbly different from mere eoVd
breeding 1t seems to me that vivacity and spilsht-
illness are greatly enhanced by VEN ot
Certainly 10 woman ought to be a inocker
"Next" she continued, seeing dId not SPEAK
comes ,o,.,o
al wonder why put that down. 10 is so
obyiOns In support OF it | need only quote your
Shakespeare, who calls 1t an excellent thng III
Rule Eight.-A plain woman can never be
pretty. She can always be fascinating she taxes
pans. -, t4o. r.o1in,,
this to me rather questionable assertion, man
who was a great adm. rer of our sex telling me thaI
one of the most fascinating women ne Hdu ever
known not only not pretty, OUT AZ 70 ncI I"C9
decidedly plaln-ugly, only the w0fu - Iuue;
asked my friend. How. then, did she fahcinate l
we'll remember his reply. Her bgure SAID ne,
movement was graceful, her conversation was
clever and animated, and she always trleu 10
please. 1t was not alone VINO caleu leI w
ing she was one of the most acceptable women N
society ever knew. She married brlluaully anu
her husband barrIster in large practice, was de.
voted to her-more than II che had been d queen Vi
Now here" Sophia continued, resuming her own
DISCOURSE" here was woman who' eXcepVlhg
fairly neat figure, had not a single natural GIT OIL
appearance Is not this worth our thinking about
those OF women who care to please ana are not
beauties born
pains sue should take with her dress: .
"The dress Of us elderly Danes Sophia sad,
laughing, fought to be more OF science
than II is How often one hears WON
an of fifty say, %, my dressing days are past
When." odds sophia If she thought apoat H. they
have only well begun. At least. the time has come
when dress is more to her than ever. Remember.
from forty TO sixty-fve IS a quarter OF century,
the third of long life. IL is period through
which the majority of grown-up people pass. Ana
vet how little pains women take-how little
thought beforehand-to be charming then
And now" she went on seeing did not speak,
here comes my last rule-as yet:
aRule TENN all things lot "a woman ask what
will please the men of sense before she asks what
Will please Jnc meu Oh
Il by no means intend" she added, that
woman is not to have regard to the opinion OF men
Of fashion, only she should not give 1t the hrst
place She will carry the men OF fashion sooner ny
methods that please the men Of sense than men OF
sense by methods that please men OF fashion. And
besides listen to the men OF fashion. Ihey always
praise a woman for things which begin to perish at
twenty-five. Even the old men of seventy will
talk Of fine grl-deucedly fne hgnrep" wish
could give an idea of Sophla,s tlehty wicked
woman rather on the Decline. when, If she is on the
decline, where and what are theyi You see II q
woman lives for the commentator OF men OF
fashion she WILL If pretty, piquant, or what not,
nave rolgn OF ten years. But If she remembers
that she has charms OF mind and character ana
wei aof md