The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-09-27

of it! And then a beauty like that has
so. little variety. They look and smile
and bow just so and that's the limit of
their possibilities. I like the sort of
beauty that is full of surprises-that
flashes on you suddenly and unexpecr.
eddy out of a face you had thoughtplain:
that is dear and sweet and almost childish
one minute, adorably coQuettiSh the next,
pIairtive and pathetic today; gay, bril-
liant and on the verge of impudence to-
morrow; dreamy, dazzling. fearful by
turns-the beauty of infinite variety.
That's Maud Adams charm She isn't
a beauty. Her face and figure are wo-
fully thin Her cheeks are almost hol-
low, her mouth is trifle too large to a
critical judgment. but she has glorious
eyes and the mind and heart and soul
that constitute beauty of the kind that
fadeth not away and without which no
woman can please a discriminating
taste.
Every beautiful woman is in danger
of developing undue self-consclousneSS,
and it is invariably her ruin. Tell a
are she will shipper and primp and
bride and never draw another un-
affected breath the rest of her life.
Many a girl who walks as though she
suit of having been told she had a good
carriage Tell a girl that she is a Glib
son type and she holds her head so high
that it almost falls off backwards and
is SO careful to look straight ahead of
her from under level fronting lids
that her eyes appear to be glued in one
position. One of Anthony Hopes chap
erons finds it necessary to make this
wise and friendly suggestion to her
charge: Just because you have been
spoken of as statuesque. it is not nee
essary for you to try to look like the
Venus de Milo in a fashionable corset
My dear one of my teachers once
said to me. and. was taught nothing
Jccfr
in boarding school, 'diSabuSe your
mind of the idea that every one is look
ing at you when you cross the room.
Remember that there are forty other
young women here, and all with the
same notion
Selfconsciousness in a plain girl is
undesirable because it makes her awk-
ward and uncomfortable and brings out
her most unattractive points. But it
is just as fatal in a beauty and perhaps
more so. because where one pities the
plain girl one ridicules the beauty. And
there is only one thing worse than pity,
and that is ridicule.
Nearly every girl is pretty between
the ages of sixteen and twenty. That
is the time when a girl can't help be,
ing pretty if she tries@but very few of
them try And the thing that makes
her pretty is not her youth or her
health, but Just her keen interest ia
life, her alert faculties. her unspoileo
pleasure in the most trivial diversions
She isn't tired, she isn't bored. she
hasn't lost hope in her future or faith in
her inalienable right to a good time
To put on her best gown and go down
on the avenue between 4 and 6 O'Clock
is full of exciting possibilities. What
makes a woman old and plain is loss of
interest. lack of inspiration, the want
of an object
You know Byron described feminine
beauty in one word as animation
think of that every time I see a certain
"a crirl Of he
is always fairly bubbling over with joy,
and she is one of the most generally
admired girls in town. Although there
are lots of others just as pretty, they
good nature Her eyes are always
laughing, her face is all a-dimple, even
the loose brown curls hanging in her
eyes seem quivering with her sponta-
neous mirth- Whenever 1 see her
think of Anthony Hopes Peggy Ryle
who looked around the table at dinner
and seeing every one she liked and no
one that she didn't like, called out soft
except that she was full of the joy of
life. When / hear her laugh I think of
what was said of 'Peggy's' laugh: 1T
takes soul space for a laugh like that
That girl is one of the very prettiest
in Topeka, and her only rival for the
honor is a dear, demure looking little
thing who, although she has always hao
the reputation of being one of the most
beautiful girls In town, goes along the
avenue without the least apparent con-
seriousness of the fact that every one
is looking at her and admiring her. Her
lovely blue-grey eyes, her soft, fluffy,
dark brown hair. her Cupid's bow
mouth, and her lovely fair skin are only
half her charm. The other half is her
sweet simplicity and her utter lack OF
affectation-
Topeka women are much interested
in the announcement in the Chicago pa
pers of last Monday that the third prize
in the exhibition of gowns of the Amer
can Dressmakers' association in that
town had been awarded Mrs NJ. ]. Mer-
Ger, one of our fashionable modistes.
Mrs. Mercer was in Chicago last week
ton, feature of which was an exhibit
contest for American gownbuilders in
which her creations were so successful
The Topeka modiste exhibited two mod
els, both reception toilets. One was in
crepe de chine of subdued old blue,
whose fashioning was a marvel OF in
tricate and exquisite needlework- 1t
had no trimming except this needlework
which in the form of faggoting lace
stitch and hand embroidered made
beautiful and elaborate garniture for
the bodice and skirt. The later was cut
with a yoke a narrow apron breadth
and a wide graduated 1ounce The
bodice had a yoke, back and front, and
long flowing bishop sleeves. The Jokes
in both. the lower part of the sleeves
and a band which headed and finished
the f1ounce, were of needlework, faggot-