The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-27
women's Personal Devil.

WOmehS PerSOnat Devil
New York Sun.
The personal devil of nine women out of
ten is age. They may talk about the beau
ties of old age and the charm of growing
old gracefully all they please, but they want
somebody else to do the ageing. 1t is an
actual physical pain to many i woman to
see gray hairs appearing and wrinkles and
lines gathering about her eyes and mouth
She knows herself, then, what other peo-
pie have seen for some time, that she has
lost what poets call the first bloom of
youth, and what everyday persons term
her girlish looks. There's a doctor in this
town, a well-known doctor, who says there
is no reason on earth why woman at sew
enty or eighty, or even hundred years,
should not retain positively youthful look
about eyes and mouth and, after all, they
are the features that tell the tale. But
how is this to be DONE .doctor? is cues
ton that would go up from all womanknd
If they could get at this man. This is what
he would answer:
Women hate not getting old, but look
ing old, and don't blame them for feeling
that way But / do blame them for allow
ing themselvesto look old. The fountain of
immortal youth is not to be found IN any
particular far-oft country or climate. We
must look nearer home for 1t. 1t is within
ourselves. Women look older than men OF
the same age. Some people say that TINS IS
because they are the mothers, wives and
sisters of men. Bosh and nonsense! 1t is
because they eternally repress themselves.
Nothing gives birth to wrinkles ike con
tinuous repression Of genuine feeling. Why
can't women let themselves go when they
ought to let themselves, go and repress
themselves when they should? woman
goes almost into Mysteries over something
which cannot be helped, and expends in
calculable vital force in unnecessary worry,
and then when she ought to let herself go,
she bottles herself up and chokes down her
feelings and gets wrinkles as reward Tor
her Self-contrO
Here's an instance of it, 1 knew a girl
who came from a lovely, refined home to
this big cityto work, because her brother
had speculated Wlth money W whlen d ~ h not
cent for cent, and she did. 1t took her
nearly three years, and during all that time
she was absolutely silent about 1t all. She
had good, true, loyal friends men and wom-
en-, with whom she might have talked the
matter over, but, no. she felt that that
would be betraying the brother They could
have helped her TO accomplish her object in
half the time, but they didn't know. That
was a real, living grief and that girl re-
pressed ii and repressed Il until she thought
it was impossible to speak Of it. All the
time it was stamping itself on her face and
her friends built up all sorts of stories
and so on, about her. little suspecting the
real truth. One day she met man. After
talking to him while, that something
which tells women that we men are told
her that he would understand and the next
time she met him she told him her story,
very simple little story OF a sister s ueNo-
ton. He said the things to her that she
had been longing to hear said during those
three weary years. She simply let herself
go and was herself. and the effect was such
as to completely alter her physical appear
ance. The lines of her figure have straight
ened, she walks instead of dragging along.
and her face has been transformed from
that of a sad-eyed woman to one OF mer-
ry-mouthed girl, and all because she let
herself go.
MY recipe for women for keeping young
N and Is rGf
genuine. feeling. specially the feelings OF
pure affection, confidence in ones friends.
and admiration for them. and last OF all the
feeling, of belief in ones self. # you be-
lieve thoroughly in yourself you'll believe
in others and that's a great preserver of
youth.
Next. would advise women not to wor-
ry about things that cannot be helped The
past is Gods. 1t Is not to be considered
except as a guide In three months smart
woman can train herself mentally not to
worry about things that Worrying cannot
help. Last Of all. women who wish TO keep
smooth skins. bright eyes, and ingenious
WAYS should 1--we romances. 1t Is very easy