Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-06-25

One ~morning-well l remember it-as
Sophia and myself sat thus alone, Percival
being occupied with a fossil, / drew from my
pocket that little paper Of @Beauty Rules, Of
which l told You some time ago, saying that
should like her to explain these axioms to
me. She was sitting in a low chair, and had
a ~work-basket beside her, with which she
kept up a kind Of Geographic connection in
the shape of a thread which Travelled slowly
from the basket to herself, as her fingers
worked out some mystery in wool.
"Hand me the paper" she said, laying her
needles and work down. II will read them to
you, and explain"
But here Sophia was seized with a fit Of
laughing, greatly tickled, it seemed, to find
herself lecturing on beauty to me.
II never showed these to any one except
yourself" she remarked, when her mirth was
ended. "And l never meant to show them to
any one at all. l daresay you will think
them great rubbish"
And so she began with a comic preface,
which was not on the paper at all:
"'Beauty Rules by Sophia Brent, an
elderly lady, who ought to be thinking of
other things"
"RuIe One.-A woman's power in the
world is measured by her power to please.
Whatever she may wish to accomplish she
will best manage it by pleasing. A wo-
mans grand social aim should be to please.
"And let me tell you how that is to be
DONE" Sophia said, putting her paper down
for a moment. "a woman can please the eye
by her appearance, her dress, her face and
her figure. She can please the ear by study
ing the art of graceful elocution, not hard to
any of us, for by nature we speak with finer
articulation than you. She can please the
mind by cultivating her own-so far, at
least, as to make her a good listener; and as
much further as she will she can please the
fancy by ladies' wit, of which all of us have
a share. She CAD please the heart by ami
ability. See here" she continued, growing
graver, "you have the key Of my system.
Beauty OF person is only one feature of true
beauty. Run over these qualities. See how
small a part personal beauty or the freshness
of youth plays here. l want you to observe
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."
"ln that case" I remarked, "you will
hardly illustrate your system in person"
To this she vouchsafed a smile and mock
courtesy, and read:
"Rule THO. -Modesty is the ground on
which all a woman's charms appear to the
best advantage. In manners, dress, CONVEX
sation, remember always that modesty must
never be forgotten,
Hardly likely to be-" Imurmured. us it,"
Understand me, " answered Sophia briskly,
VI mean modesty in a very extended sense.
There is nowadays a tendency in women to
rebel against old-fashioncd 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 a 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. l maintain"
Sophia said, growing a little warm, as if she
fancied l might argue back-"I maintain that
a modest woman is the reply of my sex to a
brave man-yOu can no more have a true
woman without modesty than a true man
without courage. But remember, l use the
word modesty in a high sense"
Just what was going to ask" I said.
mot 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?'
1 askented, and thus made way for
"RuAe Three SO the woman's aim is to
please, AMI modesty is the first principle in
the art of pleasing.
"Have you anything to say to thatl" she
demanded.
mot a syllable" 1 replied. 81 play dis
ciple this morning"
every WE'LL" she rejoined. "We come,
then, to-
"Rule Four.-Always dress up to your
age or a little beyond it. Let your person
be the youngest thing about you, not the
oldest.
IA very important lesson for women of
fcEty," Sophia remarked, speaking with a
seriousness which amused me. "The at
tempt to dress for young almost invariably
leads to a reaction in the spectators mind.
und the traces of years become more nal
pable and more significant. But a slight and
graceful assumption of years in ones dress
has an effect directly opposite. May this
rule pass?n
bowed, and she went on:
"RuIe Fiue. Remember that what women
admire in themselves is seldom what men adj
mire in them,
I'm mine drawing rooms out of ten" Sophia
said, seeing me give a look of inquiry as she
read this article, Miranda or Cordelia, as
novel h~eroines, would devoted bores. Women
would say: We utterly decline to accent
these watery girls as typical of ds; we want
smartness and life don't really care much
for Miranda or Cordelia myself. Now, this
seems to me to caution us against trusting
too implicitly or too far our own notions
about ourselves. Another source of misun-
derstanding comes from the novel writers.
We are the novel readers, and the novelist is
forced to write heroines to suit our taste. He
does not want to offend us. Thus it comes
about that even the male novelist is too often
only depicting women's women, after all.
And l believe scores of modern girls are
seriously misled for this very reason. They
believe they are finding out what men think