The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-27
7he WeD Woman of Fifty.
Young Locking G1undmotEers Of To-Day aGd
a Fresh Cause OF Discomfort.

The grandma other may not have disap-
reared altogether. but her outward ana
visible signs have changed enough to
make her very different from what she
used to be. The woman of fifty to-day
looks as little like the ideas formerly
entertained of that age as she wants
to, says the. New York Sun.
If the ideal of thirty years ago is in
her mind She may look like an old wo-
man. If she prefers to follow the mode
of the day she may look as young as
the dessmakers and her own natural
condition will enable her to appear. And
this youthfulness will not attract the
least attention.
II her hair be without a suspicion of
gray and her figure slim that will be no
more unexpected than the youthfulness
of her dress; and the woman OF fifty
may now dress like the woman OF thirty
and still observe the best standards OF
taste. She may even dye her hair with
out committing any such transgression
of the laws of taste az she would have
been guilty of several years ago. Even
if she dyes it yellow She will be criticised
no more: sharply than the woman of
thirty would if she did the same thing.
Now middle age has the privileges of
youth and is at liberty to keep Itself
attractive looking as possible. The wo-
man of fifty is not to be put among the
aged nowadays merely because she hap
pens to have accumulated a certain num-
Der of Years and is a grandmother. She
is not for that reason to be counted
among the women who arc forbidden to
think of their looks or to attend to their
appearances further than to see to it
that their white caps are coqucttishly
Htl-It Il Nt1Fr.
silk dresses free from wrinkles. It used
to be foresone conclusion that they
would be wrinkled themselves whether
their gowns were or not.
The woman of fifty enjoys her present
privileges SO much that it is a wonder
that she could ever have reconciled her
self to the old ideas. Whether the lib
crafty that is now shown toward the wo-
man of this age will be extended to
those still her senior remains to be seen.
1t is certain that nobody supposed
twenty wears ago that the women OF
fifty would ever look as they do to-day,
would be able to dress with taste and
propriety in the styles that they adopt
to-day. So this new view may be eX-
tended to take another and older class.
The new woman Of fifty has not been
received by all OF her sex as a complete
success. Some of the objections to her
ere plainly founued on prejudice. But
what follows is n,- the talk of a woman
who is in the east ple.,uGced. and there
is no criticism to be made OF her intel
ligence She thinks that women We're
happier when they wsrc less youthful
looking at fifty.
There may be she said, greater
satisfaction :,.lnne women Of 4 certain
age that they COCK younger now than
they were able to III ear several years
ago: but they ar: 20 happier than they
were for that reason. There are more
dissatisfied. discoat,!tt blocking women
in the past.
that their new dress and their new place
in the world Go not IL the least agree
with their ages. It ia not OF the least
use for a woman to look like forty OR
younger when she }. compelled to act still
as she would al her real age.
ct is this ircnnsluii,- between the wo-
mans looks AMI the way she is compelled
to act that n 7oeS her unhappy and dis
contented with he: lo;. She looks in
the glass and sees tina: she looks young
er by ten years than she is. That makes
her feel as ii s!i- world like to act more
IN. accordance with the age she would
like to be. But that is out of the ques-
ton in the majority of cases. and she is
compelled to reconcile herself as best
she can to the difference between her
looks and her aspirations.
THAT is the evil OF the new change
in the woman OF fifty. She may be
younger looking than she was in the old
days, but she is not so happy.