The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1902-01-18
THE NEW WOMAN OF FIFTY.
Young Looking Grandmother Oh i"-
Day and a Fresh Casse OF
Discomfort.

disappeared altogether, but her OUT
ward and visible signs have changed
enough to make her very dinerent
from what she used to be. The wom-
an of so to-day looks as little IKE
the ideas formerly entertained OF
that age as she wants to, says the
New York Sun.
If the ideal of 80 years ago is IN her
mind she may look like an old wom-
an. TT she prefers to follow the mode
Of the day she may look as young
as the dressmakers and her own nat
ural condition will enable her to APP
pear. And this youthfulness will not
attract the least attention.
III her hair be without suspicion
of gray and her figure slim that VIII
be no more unexpected than the
youthfulness of her dress; and the
woman of so may now dress like the
woman of 80 and still observe the best
standards of taste. She may even
dive her hair without committing any
such transgression of the laws OF
taste as she would have been guilty
of several years ago. Even IL she
dyes. it yellow she will be criticised
no more sharply than the woman OF
30 would if she did the same thing.
Now middle age has the privileges
of youth and is at liberty to keep
itself as attractive looking as possi-
BILE. The woman of so is not to be
put among the aged nowadays mere
ly because she happens to have ac-
cumulated certain number of years
and is a grandmother. She is not for
that reason to be counted among the
women who are forbidden to think
of their looks or to attend to their
appearance further than to see to
it that their white caps are coquet-
tishly trimmed with ribbons and their
black silk dresses free from wrinkles.
1t used to be foregone conclusion
that they would be wrinkled them
selves whether their gowns were OF
not.
The woman of so enjoys her pres.
emit privileges so much that it is
wonder that she could ever have rec
onciled herself to the old ideas
Whether the liberality that is nov
shown toward the woman of this age
will be extended to those still hei
senior remains to be seen. 1t is Ger
tain that nobody supposed 20 years
ago that the women of so woult
ever look as they do to-day, or woul'
be able to dress with taste and pro
priety in the styles that they adop
to-day. So this new view may be ex
tended to take another and olde
class.
The new woman of so has not bee
received by all of her sex as a CON
plete success. Some of the objet
lions to her are plainly founded o
prejudice. But what follows is no
the talk of woman who is in tn
least prejudiced, and there is no crit
cism to be made of her intelligence
She thinks that women were happie
when they were less youthful-lookin
at so.
"There may be-" she said, "grea
err satisfaction among women of
certain age that they look youngs
now than they were able to appes
several years ago; but they are Il
happier than they were for that re-
son. There are more dissatisfied, di
contented-looking women of so now
DAYS than there ever were in II
past.
81 think it is largely due to Il
fact that their new dress and the
new place in the world do not
the least agree with their ages.
is not of the least use for a woms
to look like 40 or younger when 81
is compelled to act still as she won
at her real age.
at is this incongruity between Z
woman's looks and the way she
compelled to act that makes her u
happy and Disconnected with h
lot. She looks in the glass and sc
that she looks younger by ten yea
than she is. That makes her fl
as if she would like to act more
accordance with the age she wor
like to be. But that is out of t
question in the majority of cases, a
she is compelled to reconcile hers
as best she can to the difference
tween her looks and her aspiration
THAT is the evil of the new chan
in the woman of so. She may
younger-looking than she was in
old days, but she is not so happy