Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-05-16

BEW1ICHtNG MATRONS.
Women Past Thirty the Nest Interestfnx
in American Society.
ssThe buds, says Russian. ssare nine
days wonder. and are much talked OF
for that space of time, but it is the
women past thirty who are the most
interesting in America They seem to
have the gift of eternal youth, and at
fifty are more agreeable looking than
the women of any other country"
Russians observation will surprise
people whose sole knowledge of fash
ionable society is derived from the
chroniclers of quarter or half century
back, but to the onlooker. as well as to
the foreign traveller, it is patent that
there is great physical change in the
American society women as exempli-
fed in New York. They hold their
age in an astonishing and unprece-
denied manner and seem not to at
tain the zenith of their beauty till
point beyond which they
were once hopelessly passe. Men say
that the women of to-day are at thirty
five no older than they formerly were
at twenty-five, and that there is a cor
responding difference all along the
line; that, consequently, they dress
younger without incongruity; and that
beyond and above all this they have
learned to grow old with grace. which
means that they have at least recog-
nized that it is futile to sham youth
and have set themselves to develop
wit, style and other attributes which
are permanent and may grow instead
of lessening with time.
In the time of our mothers and
grandmothers, if the society chron-
iclers are a guide. woman was con-
sidered old after twenty-five. If she
did not marry in her first season she
was called a '.relic' and made to feel
in the way. And there was some
reason for the raillery.
Between then and now two things
have happened. Health has become
the fashion, and is sought for passion
ately and successfully. Clear skins,
natural color, firm muscles, bright
eyes and elastic steps are now the order
of the:day, and a woman who was once
as transient as snow has become as
permanent as her husband. That pre-
tension to youthfulness is not now the
common weakness is evidenced by the
fact that the humorous papers, which
once found this the most fruitful sub
ject for jests, have turned their atten-
ton to other foibles. With this change
mems taste regarding women seems to
have altered somewhat. Where once
he admired the beauty of youth alone,
and was satisfied with dumb response
to emotion, he now demands a
great deal more. The woman of
to-day must make herself agree
able, not passively. bat actively;
she must be brilliant and witty, pos
sessed of tact and able to entertain;
must have the art of dressing. the
knowledge of men, the art of fatter-
ing, must be in short women of the
world with the liberal education which
that implies. The day of the doll has
passed away; the debutante is in no
furry to get married and the yearling
pasture is not the wife market it was.
1t might be supposed that women
who keep up continuous round of
dinners, operas and balls would look
their time, but in reality they are in
the most splendid physical condition.
They are up, it is true. till the small
hours of the morning. drinking cham
payne, dancing, conversing and flirting;
but this is their sole occupation, and it
does not begin before four o'clock in |
the afternoon. The remainder of their |
time is spent in the pursuit of health. |
After noon breakfast, they drive. |
twice a week, to the Turkish baths, |
and are steamed, pounded, plunged |
and showered, shampooed and mani |
cured, and turned out as if new made |
from the hand of God. No other |
creature, unless it be thoroughbred |
racers, have such care given to their |
bodies as these women whose business |
is society. Whatever science and art |
have discovered and invented, or nat |
ure allotted. to give health and beau |
ty. is commanded by them. until it is |
now beginning to be said, curiously, |
that the women are outlasting the |
men.
The society woman depends greatly |
ON luxurious bathing to renew her |
strength. The Turkish bath must be |
taken outside the home, but the bath
rooms in some of the wealthy houses |
give evidence by their costliness and |
beauty of the part they play in the |
daily economy.-N. Y. Mail and Ex- |