, 1889-04-26
THE SOCIETY WOMAN OF TO-DAY.
Those That Are Sought After Are Not the
Girls. but Women of 30 OF Over.

Those That Arc Sought After Arc Not the
Girls, but Women of 80 OF Over.
1.-THE buds" says Russian, "are a nine
days wonder, and are much talked of for
that space Of time. but it is the women
past 80 who are the most interesting in
America They seem to nave the gift of
eternal youth, and at 90 are more agree
able looking than the women Of any
other country"
Russians observation will surprise peo-
pie whose sole knowledge of fashionable
society is derived from the chroniclers of
a quarter or half century back; but to
the onlooker, as well as to the foreign
traveller, 1t Is patent that there is a great
physical change In the American society
woman as exempllfed in New York.
They hold their age in an astonishing
and unprecedented manner and seem
not to attain the zenith of their beauty
TIL a point beyond which they are hope.
lessly passe. Men say that the women
Of today are at 80 no older than they
formerly were at 25, and that there is a
corresponding difference all along the
line; that consequently they dress young
er without incongruity, and that beyond
and above all this they have learned to
grow old with grace, which means that
they have at least recognized that 1t is
futile to sham youth and have set them
selves to develop wit, style and other at
tributes which are permanent and may
grow instead of lessen with time
In the time of our mothers and grand
mothers, if the society chroniclers are q
guide, a woman was considered old after
25. 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 nov two things have
happened. Health has become the fash
ion and is sought for ~passionately 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 a. permanent rs her
husband. That pretension to youthful
ness Is not now the common weakness Is
evidenced by the TACT that the humorous
papers, which nee found this the most
fruitful subject for jests, have turned
their attention 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, no now demands n
great deal moro. The woman of today
must mako herself agreeable, not pas
sively, but actively; she must be brilliant
and witty, possessed of tao and able to
entertain; must have the art of dressing,
the knowledge of men, the art of fatter-
ing, must be, In short, a woman 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 1t was.
1t might be supposed that women who
keep up n continuous round of dinners,
operas and balls would look dragged out
and weary and old before their time, but
in reality they are In the most splendid
physical condition. They are up, 1t Is
true, till the small hours of the morning,
drinking champagne, dancing, convers-
Ing and flirting, but this Is their sole oo-
cupation, and it does not begin before a
o'clock in the afternoon. The remainder
of their time is spent In the pursuit of
health. After a moor breakfast they
drive, twice q week, to the Turkish
baths, and are steamed, pounded, plung-
ed and showered, shampooed and mani
cured, and turned out as If new made
from the hand of God. No other crea-
ture, unless it be thoroughbred racers,
have such care given to their bodies rs
these women whose business is society.
Whatever science and art have discov-
cred and invented, or nature allotted, to
give health and beauty, is commanded
by them, until it Is now beginning to be
said, c%uriously, that the women are out
lasting the men.
The society woman depends greatly on
luxurious bathing to renew her strength.
The Turkish bath must be taken outside
tho home, but the bathrooms In some OF
the wealthy houses give evidence by
their costliness and beauty of the part
they play In the daily economy.-New
York Mail and Express.