Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-14
PAST TWENTY,
The Ages of Women and What They
Signify.

From Harper's Bazaar.
There was time when after a girl had
passed twenty she was called passe SO that
II really became matter of moment with
her If 1t were necessary to state her age
and she was thought to exhibit some ba rdi-
hood if she stated it without pressing
reason. But SO far has the world pro-
crossed, while spinning down the grooves
of change, that now a girl at thirty is not
SO old in estimation once she was at
twenty, and such is the advance from that
period when animal charm was the greater,
that It is now acknowledged that at thirty
five a woman is in her prime for all the
uses and enjoyments of life to herself and
to others.
Even although at forty her hair NAV
show thread or two of silver, they argue
nothing against her charm and effect and
are not more unbecoming than was the
powder with which she sprinkled her hair
and made herself bewItching in mas
Querades of years ago, and they have very
little 10 do with the decrease of beauty apv
way, FOR fair skin and a rosy color are
often Frightened and made more attractive
by what is considered prematurely gray
hair than otherwise. And if there are lines
about the eyes they are not noticed when
the eyes kindle with intelligence and the
lips curve in gentle smiles.
She may not have been particularly at
tractlVe at twenty, even if pretty with the
prettiHeSS that rarely fails in youth: she
may have had iong-legsed gaucheries, shy
nesses, ignorance, ana other things of the
sort to contend with, but il she has really
contended, she has won the battle beyond a
peradVenture. Then those long limbs have
given her grace, she observed in the midst
OF her ShyneSS and prOfited by her obserya-
ton, and she has had score of years i'm
which to correct her ignorance Thus the
woman between thirty and forty has as
CURED a knowledge of the world of men
and things, perhaps of angels, that makes
her able to meet and charm those who
when she was twenty would have REGARDED
her as they do doll baby-a pretty TOW for
the hour, but too firing for more than the
hCur-and many of them would be glad to
have her brightness brighten horne for
them IL she had not already found out that
she is better off as she is.
The period of marriage has, indeed adj
Vanced so much that it is REGARDED as
rather deplorable for a woman to marry
before twenty, and the greater number of
women now do not marry much before
thirty. Acquaintance with this fact gives
the woman of mature years the ease and
savor-faire which is a very great addition
to any woman's charm. Moreover, in pass
ing so far through life without the serious
household cares which necesSa rily beset
those who are married and surrounded by
growing families, she has been able TO make
the most Of herself and of her graces; she
has learned the art of listening, and listen
ing intelligently, which is equivalent to
speaking so, and often says more than
speech. She has rounded and enriched her
self and is far nearer a perfect woman
nobly planned than If she had youth and
beauty only. With all this, perhaps, she is
not so happy as the woman surrounded by
her family. But then that is another story.