The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1897-05-21
THE MATURE BELLE.
woman's Age of Greatest Charm Is
Being Extended.

Woman's Age of Greatest Charm Is
y Being Extended.
The ruling woman of the present day
is the mature woman. The maiden of
bashful l5. the bud of is. the clear-eyed
girl of 20. all must stand aside for their
older sister, who leads the procession.
The age at which women are supposed
to exercise their greatest charm varies
with the varying of fashion and taste.
In the ElfZabethan era it WAS II. Other
heroines as celebrated in their day and
generation as Juliet We're the inStiga-
tors Of tragic loves and hates at that
extremely Juvenile age. Half a cen
turF ago. Balzac astonished his coun-
tlymen by claiming unusual powers of
fascination for the woman of so. Ever
since she has held the stage as an in
carnation of coquettish attraction. At
the present day the period of beauty
and charm has been extended even fur
ther. BlaZac's SO has received IN addi-
tional ten years. Women of 40 are no
longer looked upon as ruins in which
the antiquarian may trace relics of by
gone splendor. With the vanishing of
the term "old maid'' the old maid her
self has withdra WI into the place of
departed spirits. In France an un-
married girl OF over % is looked upon
as dead stock. for which there is moth
ing but a convent To-day. in the
United States. women of independent
means. women OF society, women who
are Sef-Supporting. rarely marry under
%. and generally put off that episode
in their existence five or ten years
later
There are many reasons for the pres
ent vogue of the mature belle. She is
more attractive. understands human
nature better. than her younger sister.
She is still good-looking. Her youth
lasts longer than it used to, because
she has learned how TO take care of
herself. American women formerly
ruined their beauty by bad diet, no eX-
ercise. and too little fresh air. Now
they know better. A healthy, we'll
groomed woman. who is not over
worked or over worried. looks about
the same age at 40 as she did at 25.
With her additional years has come
additional wisdom. If she has not the
engaging simplicity that was hers at
Is. she has a knowledge of men and
manners which makes her more in
tereSting companion. a more lovabe
human being. Experience has given
her the gift of sympathy. of which the
young girl feels nothing. To men she
has come to represent not only all that
is graceful and gracious and tactful in
Womanhood. but all that is broad and
tender and feminine.
Among working women-from the ar
tistic to the plain working woman-the
maturer ones are naturally in the as
cendant. The young girl among the
workers is the novice whom no one
knows or cares much about. II is
when the years of endeayor have been
passed. and mind and heart have reach
ed their fullest powers of comprehen-
sion and feeling that she is at the pin
nacle of her development. In these
days of hurry and pressure and in
tensity of effort, such a creature nat
nrally takes precedence over the IN
tried girl who is waiting with expect
ant eyes for the message of the future
Existence is too full. the struggle too
serious. for the return of those days
when youth. ignorance, beauty and
folly were the great requisites of wo-
men. The times are stirring, the pres
sure of existence desperately earnest,
and man in his struggle demands a
helpmate, who can assist him onward.
not drag him back. Chivalry. in its
downfall, carried away many pretty
myths, the protest the myth of the
childwife hanging frightened and
faint hearted. on her husbands arm
San Francisco Argonaut.