, 1892-01-29

@N e: e.: : :; =; 4.
CludllnBs anu III
dered wherein il
lay. 1t is not in beauty, for b fasci'
mating woman may or may not be beauti-
FIJI; in fact, | recall one lady no longer
young and without a really good feature
in her face, for her mouth is heavy, her
eyes small, her complexion sallow and
her hair nondescript, and yet this WON.
an will, if she sees fit, gently sail in and
every time succeed in cutting out the
prize some gallant little full rugged girl
of-war has secured and proudly towed
into port.
No longer young ! said, but now that
| think of it, | believe the fascinating
woman is seldom very young, almost
never in her teens. There is to be sure
another sort of fascination i~nseparable
from youth, that attraction which the
French call la bedute du didble. but that
is quite another thing from the charm OF
the fascinating woman. La beGute du
didble means that fresh, unsunned, wide
eyed. dewy Tipped and ingenious person
mel so often and so aptly compared to
the dew on the morning rose, the bloom
on the untouched grape, the dawn of a
summer morning and several other
most charming and delightful objects in
nature. And it is charming. | myself
am a faithful lover of young girls, and
never am happier than when one of the
darlings comes curling up to my side
like Il kitten and lets me look at her
while she prattles.
But the prattle of a young girl does
not strike very deep. In fact, one Is
sometimes tempted to repeat the com
pliment paid to a beautiful woman by
some old cynic-was it DR.. johnson, l
wonder?-who, after looking and listen
ing in silence for some time, suddenly
exclaimed;
Would to God, madam, you had been
born dumb, for you would have been one
of the most delightful companions in the
whole world"
Still, although not very young in
years, the fascinating woman carries
with her the idea of perpetual youth; she
has the air of having found in some far
mysterious solitude that fountain of
youth SO desperately sought by Ponce de
Leon and many another adventurer in
the evergreen wildernesses of Florida,
the Land of Flowers. or in the Fortunate
Isles, forever drifting out of ken of
mariners or chartsmen.
For one who has known the full flow
er of life, who has lived and loved, who
has read her own heart and that of many
another, even though it has beer as a
vivi~sectionist; for such an one to find
the fountain of perpetual youth, and
while retaining all the precious lessons
of experience to refresh -her outward
being in those rejuvenating waters, ah,
that would be to reach the very pinnacle
of woman's charm and power; for the
great, the iron law of compensation is
nowhere more clearly shown han in
this matter of youth Uersus attainment;
every one confesses that a man or WON
an verging upon middle life, or even
considerably later in hfe's story, has
more to say, can offer more valu-
able opinions and is, in the common
phrase, better company" than a very
young person, but yet few indeed are the
philosophers, especially among women,
who would deliberately choose the at
fractions of maturity as opposed to those
of youth, and yet the compensation is
just anu dlcAuhlct II Oio doto Jul SldlLl
it and utilize it at its full value; but here
again even nature herself, whom blind
people call blind and u~nreasoning, even
here nature shows the just balance of
her gifts and her intelligent g%overnance
of her great family. Youth is her abso-
lutte endowment to those who have not
yet ability to choose or reject; she does
not tell her infants, my dear, try to be
young, for to be young is to be attrac-
liver She simply makes them young
whether they will or no, because she
knows that it is to their advantage and
happiness to be young, but to the older
children, to those who have listened
TO her teaching and learned some of the
lessons her sister Experience has been
called in to teach, she says; Child, you
are no longer young; that early charm
which | bestowed upon you before you
could appreciate it is gone, even when
you began to value it and cherish it
most. shall not make you young
again, but | will give you a compensa-
ton for your lost youth, if you have suf-
ficient steadiness of purpose and knowl-
edge of your own interests to receive
and make use of it; | will make you
agreeable, that is, | will tell You how to
be; but you are no longer a child, and
shall not blindly bestow this gift upon
you as | did that of youth, | shall simply
give you the means and the power aid
You must use them for yourself"
So speaks the dear old mother Of us
all; sometimes, alas, to deaf ears that
zeal not, sometimes to shallow brains
that heed not, sometimes to heavy hearts
that care not; but some there are, aye,
thank God, there are many, who hear
and heed and care for the mothers les
son and the compensation she offers, and
among these older children are most of
the truly charming people of the world;
in fact, SO far as men are concerned.
often think the only really interesting
sons of nature are to be found in this,
her senior, class, for most very young
men are 30 absorbed in admiration OF
their own wisdom, wit and wide ex-
~perience that they can speak or think
of little else: they, too, prattle. but