The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-07-03
| BEAUTY'S SECRET
By ALAN MUIR
Author Of VANITY Hardware," Golden
Girls" Etc.
CONTINUED.
CHAPTER VI.


CHAPTER VI.
IN WHICH LADY BEAUTY HAS HER PoRTRAE
PAINTED IN PRINTERS INK.
IShall tell you why l have written thi
story2 It was because | met Sophia Temple
then styled LADY Beauty in her fifty thirc
year; and her power to charm lat an ag,
when charms are commonly supposed to b,
dead and gomez led me to ask, What is thi
woman's secrets And having searched int
her life and character, and noted her ways,
venture to offer this imperfect record of hel
life, and this still more imperfect picture O
herself, for the study of her sex generally.
wish to convince women that it is a gr.ear
mistake on their part to suppose that theil
power to please departs with youth AT al
times have noticed that men of sense seldom
sdmire-or, if you like, grow enamored Of
women for beauty alone, but for character
planner taste and conversation Now, while
beauty I'VE must admit lessons with time
character, manner, taste and conversation
| may each be refined and enriched and these
| believe, by their improvement can quite
compensate for the loss of personal charms
| Mere beauty is but one bright, unehangins
beam-it will grow even wearisome; but
wit, sense, courtesy and humanity are forever
casting forth new and unexpected rays, and
enlivening intercourse with agreeable sur
priseS And so the story of Lady Beauty is
| written as humble attempt to encourage
| women to try to be charming to their latest
| day. For they can do it If they try.]
Sophia was without question far inferior in
| physical beauty to Sibyl, and | think most
people would have said that she was not Sc
handsome as Caroline. Her features were
regular, her nose straight and fine, her COM
pleXion delicate and rosy; but still in her
face She was no model OF wonianhood Her
expresslou-and what is expression but char
acter liked in the gountenance made Sophia
what she WAS Her delicate upper lip, with
the hint OF fiiniiess III It's fire line, told Of
resolution, the suft hazel eyes WITH their up
war, grlnce, VA, LOOK Of aspiration: sts
mouth was faIl of tenderness ready TO mold
itself to every affectiunate feeling. But what
was this after all. Sorhia's nature in So
phias facet
She was the best dresser ever knew. OF
color, either by study or natural gift she
was perfect mistress. Accordingly her ap-
pearance pleased numbers of people before
they saw her face; and many time as she
went down the street the curiosity of those
who walked behind was aroused to see what
might be the face of the woman whose gown
and mantle We're so striking by the harmony
or the contrast of their bue Flowers, rib
hons brooches, all that sets off dress she used
with the most unerring taste. And she man
aged through all the changes of fashion to re-
Spect herself and her own figure and face; in
the fashion she always would be, but still she
modulated it so a to be the queen and not the
slave. No doubt Sophia must have paid
great attention to her dress, but l scarcely
think she could have achieved such constant
success, or so complete had she not been
dresser born
Then her manners in society were cap
hvating Here | think the little mothers
homlies were useful. indeed With what
graceful attention she heard what YOU had to
say, How mOde,tIv She gave her own
opinion, Sh. was well read and could take
her part in mort conversations with ease;
and now and then she could deal out witty
stroke Indeed, Sophia had great deal al
humor, but seldom gave it the rein in society.
Night was her time, with Car and Sibyl; and
often the two more brilliant girls. as they
laughed at her comical "reminiscences of tho
day would feel how easily Sophia could out
shine them If she tried
She loved the world Here again the in
tiuence of her mother was perceptible, with
this difference. that the world in her mothers
language signitied society and nothing more.
while Sophia would have included in If the
whole of nature and life | do not think |
ever saw any one who had such a simple and
unaffected enjoyment in living as she. A
walk in the woods was enChantment to her;
and, on the other hand. have seen her on
the tiptoe of pleasurable excitement for a
ball She was no poetic recluse; she never
Stunned society Or its pleasures, but rather
sought them There was not a particle of
affectation about her; indeed, she retained
her girlishness and her love of girlish amuse-
ments for an unusually long time
And she certainly remembered her mothers
teaching in another particular she tried to
please. She knew that woman ought to he
an object of admiration and affection. and
she ruled her whole life with this fact in
view. But Sophia understood the art of
charming which. With all their grace
fulness few English women entirely do
Perhaps Nature feels that she has given
our English women enough already, and,
mindful of the limitation which ought to
mark all mortal things, has withheld that
one gift which would make them irresistible
Sophia knew that face and figure are not
everything She understood that it Is the
woman man admireS, not her eyes or nose
or lips or waist; the whole woman-person,
dress manner, talents and character
Frenchwomen are IN this respect more far
sighted than our English ladies, but even
Frenchwomen do not fully realize this great
social truth A woman who knows that her
dress is tasteful and her expression agreeable
and her conversation lively will be little dis
MAYED to hear of crows feet round her eye
lids or gray hairs on her temples. Her bet
ter part is blooming amidst the gentle decay
of more material charms. You will laugh
when | tell you before the story ends how
Sophia Temple, Lady Beauty, at the age of
fifty-three, had q new lover, and what
lover he was
One touch l must add to this picture
Sophia was in the hest sense of the word a
religious woman without love" cries
great novelist, II can fancy no gentleman.
A little diffidently | should add, without re-
ligion l can fancy no lady Sophia's piety
was in no way obtrusive, never puritanical,
never ascetic, but gentle, animated and
humane. 1t quite saved her from her moth
er's narrow and haartless and merely spark
ling worldliness. Sophia loved the world, but
had hope beyond it, and her religion gave
richness, a sweetness, a seriousness to all her
charms
must admit, however, that many of Lady
Beauty's own sex declared her to be nothing
particular That men admired her was not
10 he denied but women would often ask
drvlv what it was for When knew her well
enough to take such liberty, ventured to
say 10 her one day that, greatly as she was
praised by our sex her own appeared to de
cline to accept her as by any means repre-
.,nlative She laughed with much gayety.
Some of us, she replied, admire in our
selves what is forcible and striking | believe
YOU said to me Yourself one day that Lady
Macbeth and some other eminent ladies Of the
Imagination, whom we remember, made a suf
iiciently vivid impression TO satisfy both
sexes. You added something like this: |
somewhat doubt if Lady Macbeth would LIE