The St. Louis Republic., 1900-06-10
MAX O'RELL ADVISES
AND is REPRIMANDED.
Hs Tells Young Men Wem to Wed-Gertrude Atheron Says
That He Is Ignorant of His Subject AMI Is More
over, Impertnent.
BY GERTRUDE ATHERTON.
IL A-....l. G,rra.la.- InliE..na


Will the time ever come when people viii
stop offering prescriptions for mstrimony?
Mr. O'Rell is the latest who would pose as
a public benefactor. and is evidently ami
mated by lively desire to ruin the -four
ishing business of the divorce lawyer. But
his long -winded prescription of many parts.
sentimental and touching as 1t is will do no
soo,i-no; the least bit in the world.
To begin with. the beauty phase of the
great question: MIR. O'Rell has forgotten the
time -honored platitude that beauty is in
the eve of the beholder. and never is this
trusm more true than when a man is in
love. Love is form of mania. and when
a man. young old, is attacked by IL he i'll
variably thinks the object beautiful. How.
then. in the name of conscience. is he TO
know whether she will be beautiful at 20 or
not?
Says beauty Soon Fades.
Nowhere in the world is the beaute Gu
diabe 80 rampant as in America. and as
nature plants compensation instincts in all
types. this one is animated by a desire to
marry in her first flush. and she cutivates
innumerabe little arts which are calculated
10 blind n man to her lack of the material
that wears
Few women in this country are beautiful
at 10. Nowhere do women become passee SO
early. II is the penalty they pay for the
striking prettiness of their youth.
IL they abjured ice water. sweets, hot
breads and the grinding domestic cares. il
might be different. but only in a degree
The typical American beauty is not meant
10 outlast her first youth. The woman of
50 in this country who is beautiful and still
fresh-lookine. either was not a beauty in
her youth. or else belongs to the small ex-
ceptional class whose features are strongly
marked and whose health is superb. But
these women are too far removed from the
type TO count. and. moreover. America is
tA of cir In
England it is the young married woman
who is run after by the young unmarried
men. Here a married woman must have ex-
ceptional attractions be a pronounced
fifrt to hold her own against the girls. for
the natural prediction of the American
youth Is for his own sort.
The American Girl.
When Young America raves over the su-
perior beauty of the American female to
that OF other climes. he uses the world
girl constantly. An Englishman will al
most invariably say woman and will cite
as examples the reigning beauties of the
moment. who all have husbands and usually
titles. But the American will not only call
your attention TO the bellies of his time. who
are almost invariably unmarried. but he will
cali your attention to the "magnificentfy set
up girls" to be seen on the avenue during
the hour of fashionable promenade. TO the
stunning girls of that curious world which
is neither haute monde nor demimonde. but
vaguely between, and he is sure to rave over
the buds of the season. although he by no
means decries the maturer charms OF the
skllful veteran in her third.
There is another reason for this besides
the ffeeting beauty Of the girl. and that
is the genius for generalship Of the Amer
lean maiden. She knows that her time is
short: that. after three or four years OF
domestic worries delicate health, at
tendant upon babies. nerves, or the
fashionable treadmill. her day will be
over. Knowing Enthusiastically. rather
than consciously-she concentrates her
forces. and l should like to know what
chance the dazzled youth has to speculate
upon the future. The present surrounds
him. intoxicates him. He sees life through
a circular cinematosraph OF fluff and col
or. grace and willow wands.
Does he picture the lady knitting at
30 and the youngsters riding on his knee?
Not he. The girl suits him. His youth re-
spends to hers. Her beauty satisfies in him
the particular want that arises from the
traditions of his day. In other words, she
is his ideal. making the girls of other ma
tions appear to be made up of all that
has been rejected In the making of her.
and when he stumbles upon the one whose
individual spark strikes his. he is lin
love-" and that Is the end of ii.