The morning times., 1897-02-21

a
are they not, my dears, whether you are
old or young? Beauty has such power over
the hearts of'nen and women both. Physi-
cal beauty means charm, and all women
desire TO be charming No one is so young
but she feels that is half her birthright
no one so old that she loses the desire to
appear pleasing, though she may long since
have found out that a lasting charm is
something more than to have an attractive
face. But what is this thing we call wo-
manly beauty, anyway?
Every man has an ideal OF his own,
suppose, and thus there are as manyanswers
as there are men. One person sees beauty
in golden hair All other features go along
with this delight; another is just as much
infatuated with black or brown locks; or,
ii may be, by the eyes, or a mouth, or
even the chin. or shell of an ear, that
catches and fixes the fancy.
trim waist, a bright complexion, a
graceful manner, ones taste in dress, high
breeding, one or any of these may be the
peg on which hangs that delusive and
illusive thing called womanly charm. And
SO every woman seems to have a chance to
make some man feel that he could, or
should, or at least might, become her lover,
If he dared.
Our N other Nature is a cunning old dame,
and while she has her fayorites, upon
WI on she seems TO have bestowed every
grace, she usually distributes her charms
more impartially than at first appears
To one daughter She gives a beautiful face.
But there she draws the line, for she either
gives this lucky maid too full or too slight
q figure to y with it. All the same, she
says GO, my Child, and make the most
OF your beauty. II may become your bless
ing or your curse, according 4 : you are
ticketed off in the allotment Of life''
To another she gives d Juno form, with
q shapely head, but features that are II
regular, or that belong to another type.
Ano.her with perfect features VIII have
their beauty overcast by a Lad complexion.
To the one with Titan hair and skin Of
10 and milk she gives protruding lips or
projecting teeth
How all these imperfect beauties feel
Their loss is easily read in the absuTd wild
way in Which they reach out after some
remedy. II they could only improve their
muddy or bad compilations, develop their
UnpTomising busts, straighten the pro-
tTuding teeth; or, if they are older, and
wrinkles have come 10 plague them before
their time with the speoter of old age,
what VIII they not be willing to endure to
retrieve themselves before it is too late?
With feelings OF hope and despair mingled,
they consult cosmetic cureIs and massage
healcFs; they paint and Towder and rub TO
get the one, sad blemish out, only 10 find,
after II oney and patience are both eXha Ist-
ed, that they are in this last stage worse
Off than when they began their silly guest
for womanly beauty.
They cannot find ii in the wrong place
For every physical defect there is a
physical or mental cause; not always a
cure, still there is a possible alienation
OF these sorrows that overtake so many
women. The cure must be based upon
the knowledge OF the cause; it lies not
within the grasp of quacks.
The mistake that so many make is in
attTibutngthesebI bIemisheS to outside causes.
They are really conditions that follow ON
after those who disregard the laws OF life
Wrinkles, for instance, are caused by one
Of three things-trouble, age, or bad tenn
per. 1t is not nice to be so plain, even il
it is true. Never mind. Dismiss your
troubles. Another set OF muscles come into
play-lineS of curve and beauty. Your sad,
dowp-cast countenance assumes these lines
of beauty of its own yolition. Age? Well
age is age, and the footprints of time have
a way of taking liberties with one S face,
making tracks, crow s feet and criss-cTOSs
lines around eyes and mouth, in a most ex-
asperating way. They may not keep an
exact record Of your years, as set down in
the family Bible, but they keep track of
all your experiences, and harrow your soul,
and plow their burrows to suit the case; and
you are just as old as you look, and thereis
10 help for it, save only to have lived a
charmed life, care-free, alwaysin harmony
and touch with your life How few of US
in this world can do that even TO avoid
the tell-tale wrinkles that come years too
soon-if we could each have our say about
It.
All the massage in this wide world can
not smooth or kneadou wrinkles that are
but reflections of inward cares and trials
SO if that is your case-and you ought TO
know don't waste money on them. Try
that other plan. Get rid of the cause; live
In other thoughts
There's where our life discipline comes
I'm. A bad temper will spoil the loveliest
face, for 1T is that which is within which
makes or mars beauty in the long run.
have seen one notable, beautiful face
made perfectly hideoUs, a fury, through
constant bad temper and fault-finding
Year by year, the beautiful lines of this
once sweet face dIsintegrated under these
malign influences, until after awhile her
own kindred, who loved her dearly, could
no longer shut their eyes to the ruin Of so
fair a creature by this one inflrmity This
outside beauty finally attracted a man of
high position, who married her for that
grace alone, because he imagined it to be
by every other; and after
years Of diScord this willful wife died be-
cause she would go to ball when she
ought TO have remained at home. There
was great parade Of funeral, but after
a few months the husband found consola-
tion in 4 wife of another type, a woman
whom men and women alike pronounced
charming, though she could not by the
widest stretch Of imagination be called
beautiful.
And this happened. Every day that the
second wife lived she seemed more and
more beautiful in the eyes of her husband;
and he finally insisted she was the most
beautiful woman in the world.
And why all these tears about gray hairs?
have seen men stand up before glass and
pull every poor whisker that turned gray
put with tweeZers. until they were left alone
for the barber to dye; for it isn't women
alone who sigh over blemishes. Human
nature In masculine bosoins gets stirred up
pver crows feet and wrinkles. too. We