Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-07-22

this; for my art would consist not IN making
women attractive who are openly pretty and
young, but in showing them that youth and
prettiness, though articles Of beauty, are
neither the only nor the indispensable arti-
cles"
sIn that case,a remarked, you will
hardly illustrate your system in person"
To this she vouchsafed smile and mock
courtesy, and read;
aRule TtCo.-Modesty is the ground on
which all woman's charms appear to the
best advantage. In manners, dress, conver-
sation, remember always that modesty must
never be forgotten
Hardly likely to be-" Imurmured as it,"
Understand me, answered Sophia briskly,
II mean modesty in a very extended sense.
There is nowadays tendency In women to
rebel against old-fashioned modesty. The
doctrine of liberty Is spreading among us, for
which thank God, !" Sophia said (she was the
oldest little mixture of Tory and Wing and
Radical ever compounded on this eccentric
earth). "But the first effects of that doctrine
on our minds are little confusing We are
growing more independent and more individ-
ual Some of us fancy that to be modest Is to
be old-fashioned, and, of course, we want the
newest fashions in all things. / maintain"
Sophia said, growing little warm, as if she
fancied might argue back-"I maintain that
modest woman is the reply Of my sex to
brave man-you can no more have a true
woman without modesty than q true man
without courage. But remember use the
word modesty in a high sense"
"Just what was going to ask" said.
. "Not prudery," she added. "Prudery Is
to modesty what brag is to bravery. Pru-
derry is on the surface modesty is in the
soul Rosalind in her boys suit is delight
fully modest, but not" Sophia said with a
twinkle of her eye-''not very prudish, is
she?"
assented, and thus made way for
please, and modesty is the first principle in
the art of pleasing.
"Have you anything to say to that9" she
demanded.
"Not a syllable, replied. ~ play dis
ciple this morning"
livery well," she rejoined. 1--WE come,
then, to
'tRuIe Four-Always dress up to your
age or little beyond it. Let your person
be the youngest thing about you, not the
Oldest
"a very important lesson for women of
forty" Sophia remarked, speaking with a
seriousness which amused me- The at
tempt to dress for young almost invariably
leads to reaction in the spectators mind,
and the traces of years become more pal
pable and more significant. But slight and
graceful assumption of years in ones dress
has an effect directly opposite. May this
rule pass?"
bowed, and she went on:
GIaule FIue. Remember that what women
admire in themselves is seldom what men ad-
mire in them.
"In nine drawing rooms out of ten, )" Sophia
said, seeing me give look of inquiry as she
read this article, Miranda or Cordelia, as
novel heroines, would be voted bores Women
would say: I'VE utterly decline to accept
these watery girls as typical of us; we want
smartness and life.' l don't really care much
for Miranda or Cordelia myself. Now, this
seems to me 10 cautions us against trusting
too implicitly or too far our own notions
about ourselves. Another source of misun-
derstandiriy comes from the novel writers.
w dIc blIo uON0l T0du6ISs anu U1l6 uONOllSU Is
forced to write heroines to suit our TASTE He
does not want to offend u.s. Thus it comes
about that even the male novelist is too often
only depicting women's women, after all.
And believe scores of modern girls are
seriously misled for this very reason. They
believe they are finding out what men think
of them, when in truth they are reading
their own notions handed back to them under
pretty disguise"
"Like the cheap wine," ventured to OBJ
serve, "made in England, exported to a
foreign country to be blessed, and then re-
turned as fine old sherry-highly finished
wine"
Sophia laughed with me at this, and read
on:
GRuIe SiU.-Women's beauties are seldom
mems beauties
"Which," she remarked, "is another form
of what said just now, only here speak of
personal beauty. Ny observation is that if
ten men and ten women were to 60 into the
same company, and each sex choose the pret-
tiest woman there, as they thought, you
would rarely find that they chose the same
If this be SO, we ought not to trust ourselves |
even as to our faces without considering that |
the sex we are to please must in the end SET |
tie the question, and will settle the question
in its own way.
"Rule Ssven.-Gayety tempered by serious
ness is the happiest manner in society.
"By which mean," Sophia said, looking at
me with knitted brows, as If she were about
to explain some matter not altogether clear
to herself, "that in all our gayety there ought
10 be hint of self-rec objection Do YOU un-
lerstand me ~
"Not quite" I said
"This know certainly" she replied; "the
most agreeable women have met with-and
think the most regarded-have been women
Of rank, who have been trained with a due
regard for religion. Their worldly educa-
tion had made them mindful of grace and
liveliness; their religious education kept these
qualities uHder a particular sort of control,
which is perceptibly different from mere
good breeding. 1t seems to me that vivacity
and sprightliness are greatly enhanced by
vein Of seriousness Certainly no woman
ought to be mocker
"Next" she continued, seeing did not
speak, Comes
4Rule Esght.-Always speak low.
II wonder why I put that down. It is so
obvious. In support Of it need only quote
your Shakespeare, who calls it IAN excellent
hing in woman'n
aRule Nine.--A plain woman can never be
pretty She can always be fascinating if she
takes pains.
II well remember" Sophia said, after
reading this to me rather questionable asser-
lion, "a man who was great admirer of our
,ex telling me that one Of the most fascinat-
ng woman he had ever known was not only
not pretty, but as to her face decidedly plain