Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-08-08
FASCINATING WOMEN
THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY PRETTY
OR STYLISH.
10 'ss N, pathique" and You VIII Charm
With the Help of Beauty or French
Dresses--A Woman's Life Is Success
According IA She Has Been Loved.

|
| Dresses-A Woman's Life Is a Success
According as She Has Been Loved.
The Latin peoples, the French and Ital-
ians and Spaniards, have charming
word OF which they make tho most liberal
use, for expressing u certain order of wom-
an who, without being necessarily either
startlingly beautiful or clever or excep-
tional in any way, is still magnet for ev-
cry well constituted soul.
i The French say that she is "sympa-
thique," the Italians "simpatica." Our
own sympathetic" is no equivalent at all
and gives, in fact n totally different sense.
Tho person who is "simpatica" inspires
sympathy, but it is by no means the sym
pathy that is Synonymous with pity. 1t is
"a warm, grateful, almost tender feeling Of
liking and of very human liking. One can
almost assert that n person who is sim
patiCa' to many people must have some
noble qualities at least. A creature with
all manner of physical and mental charms
who yet had not in some directions nice
nature would never habitually be called
"sympathique.
Therefore | think it one of the most
really tlattoring cpithcts that can DO CON
fcrred upon woman or girl She may be
certain that If living in the southern part
of Europe or knowing many Frcnchmen
and Italians she Is commonly spoken Of
rs possessing this quality it Is nothing ad-
vcntitious to which she owes the distinc
ton. Doucct and Worth gowns will not
help her to its attainment nor beauty nor
wealth nor wit nor learning nor even
wisdom, although wisdom is probably
moro likoly to be of assistance than any
thing else. Not dry, hard, angular, ag-
grcssive wisdom, but gentle, mellow wis
, dom. Simplicity, too, n lack of affecta-
ton and u note of gcnuineness in all the
disposition are ingredients that may, on
analysis, DO detected in the 'sympathique"
person; but upon tho whole, trying to be
that cnviablo thing is of small avail.
You are or you arc not sympathetic" 1t
goes by grace from on high. Italians have u
delightful way of speaking of their queen
as tho most simpatica-the most lovely,
lovablc-woman in their country. Mar
ghcrita was never really strictly beautiful,
but she had and has grace, pcntlcness, dig
nifty, something poetic and feminine i'll her
personality. They could never, ono may
DO sure, ON the other hand, even in her
youngest and most attractive days, havo
called Queen Victoria simpatica, good,
worthy though she be. 1t was, however,
moro Of u surprise to hear an Italian diplo-
mat who had lived long in England remark
that the Princess of Wales was not simpat-
lea either.
"What, not the lovely, feminine Prin-
cess of Walcsr'
"No Tho English people assert that
she has u cold, self ccntercd little soul.
She is said to caro- only for her toilets, for
her pretty dresses, for her we'll preserved
figure for the looks she retains SO marvel
ously and which give her the air of tho
handsome, elder sistcramid her three plain
daughters"
1t appeared then proved that II woman Is
not simpatiCa who is too self absorbed,
selfish This Is good lesson for some of
tho shallow hearted, pretty creatures Of
tho day 1t will he q good lesson to them,
too, could they hear the tone in which an
Italian, after perhaps commenting with
perfect apprcciativeness on tho comclincss
of figure and face aud the mind and man
ncrs of some chosen person, will wind up
with IN impcrccptiblc, half sad shrug and
tho little cry "l}ut she is not simpatca
Ono regrets often that in English We
have no word that renders tho subtle
shades of this inimitable oXprcssion-this
expression that says SO perfectly what we
so frequently want 10 say and cannot.
And it is SD necessary in these days of
fads and now departures, when women arc
trying to he all manner of things under
the sun that they never dreamed of being
before, that they should remember that
tho thing by which, after all, every wom-
ipl al a 81 nr l,
tho drawing power of her personality.
The world furgivcs in u measure an I'M
prcpossrssing personality in man of sig
nal attuinmonts, but woman is, in tho
deepest and trllcst sense, always II failure
unless she personally is likablc or lovahle
or interesting or something, in short, that
leads people to her side and makes them
DESTROYS Of remaining there.
Talents she may have, oven genius, and
"carccr, anything you please, but her
life is II success, finally, according rs she
has been much or littlc loved.
Scntimrntality? Very well. Then 1T is
nWdfu to preach good deal of such son
Immortality to the women of tho day, for
this is the ono thing that they seem, in all
their ambitious rcachingS forth for new
and great things, to he constantly in dan
RCE VI lbFEtlNlllS. II ~ Nbllitth has ll'NNl
inspired very great devotion, n very deep
love or friendship and warm attachments,
She may very properly feel that she has
failed. even though mentally, socially, pc
cuuiarily she may have made her way bril-.
llantly.
II need not mean that she has not had
the necessary atrractiycncSS If these better
things uf the heart have not fallen to her
share II may mean that She has had the
misfortune to I've 50 placed that she never
met with the people who would best have
been ahlo to appreciate her. but whether
tho sin I've fate : or her own the fact re-
mains. The woman who docs not attract
and one does not mean Cuqurttishly,
flirtatiouSly and what is called magnet
ically, hut sincerely drawing Ivy the best
part Of her nature the sympathieS of others
may we'll be conscious sadly that she has
not fulfilled her mission.
These seem to be terribly old fashioned
things to be saying in America and to
American women, but they are things that
are constantly said in Europe and acted
on, and to such effect that those who are
thoroughly imhucd with them regard the
girl or woman who makes light of them,
and who thinks that the power to attract