The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-06-24

upie, says IL. IL. Marriott Watson in
the London Daily Mail, than the varia-
ton in the age of attractivencss in
women, which has risen and fallen
with every tide of history. 1t has been
every nubile year that is possible from
the maiden of bhAhful fifteen TO Cleo
patra, ripe and rare, of forty summers.
scarcely three generations ago to have
passed into the twenties without secur-
ing husband was to have confessed
yourself a failure: whereas now the
proper age of wedlock seems bent on
shifting TO the further side of thirty.
Mr.. Ruskin used to encourage young
men in marrying as hurriedly as pos
slDle, in which case. of course. the
youthful maiden would necessarily be
IN request. But the tendency of mod
ern times is against the habit. and.
while men keep their freshness till
over forty, women consider themselves
girls until near thirty. There is some
reason in the change, for our ancestors
OF bygone generations most assuredly
uXed the age limit too low.
"She was past the first bloom of
youth" wrote the critical novelist in
those days; "she was nearly twenty"
Nowadays we are becoming familiar
with herOines who are grandmothers.
ana yet seem as newly opened buds to
our delighted eyes. Beauties flourish
at three-scorc in and out of print. and
fifty may be the prime of life.
There is, of course. an element oc ey-
aggeration in this new departure. but
on the whole the change of view will
help to right balance which has long
been unduly against real maturity.
NO woman" says Du Maurier's pet
ted beauty. 'is worth looking at after
thirty" TO which the answer Is pat
CROUCH, "Nor worth speaking to be-
fore" 1t is certainly impossible for
any one save her coevais, to talk with
"Sweet Seventeen" She is immature
and she is raw, and unripeness is not
to every ones taste.
She has not lost the large phrsical
greed of childhood and will suck choc.
olates and eat buns by the hour-in pri-
vate; while she has already developed
all the vanity of the adult woman
without its compensations If she
were frankly greedy it would be easy
TO do with her, for we might pat her
on the head and send her into the gar
den to eat apples.
But she is not. She conceals her an
petite and vaunts herself under the
guise of adultness which she has no
right to wear. Her dresses are often
long and her hair is often done up but
she remains a calf in her mind and at
tituCe. Sweet Seventeen, indeed. is
Crude Seventeen, and neither child nor
woman. with the disadvantages and
vices of both.
The superstition of Sweet Seventeen
is rs egreglous rs the imposture Of her
innocence. Sweet Seventeen is not in
nocent; but. on the contrary. knows a
good deal more than she is given credit
for AT the same time | will not DENY
that she Is often profoundly ignorant.
which is by no menas the same thing
as being innocent. She is naive. of
course, when it suits her purpose and
poses as the ingenue.
There is no measuring the unt"uth
of Sweet Seventeen. Everything about
her is lie-her looks, which promise
what they rarely achieve. her demure
expression, her feint OF modesty. her
air of aloofness from material things.
and her pretense of sympathy anu IN
terest She cannot be really interest
ed in anything except herself end her
appearance and she has 70 sympathy
for any one except the bosom friend to
whom she thinks she is devoted-for a
week or fortnight.
The young girl has two faces or as
poets of conduct, the one for her ad-
mirers and the world beyond them
whence more admirers may ultimately
arrive, and the other for her intimates
and familiars with whom there Is no
need to stand on ceremony and be at
the pains of pretenses and artificial
cloaks. To see her with her company
manners doffed Is to be introduced to
quite new animal, which is, as rule,
carefully hidden from the eyes and
knowledge Of men.
They do not know the sort of crea-
ture that turks, predatory, in their
drawing rooms and its own boudolrs.
To be quite jTst, she would be more
dangerous IL she were courageous, but
she is utterly destitute of courage.
Happily, the boy hSs not the stature
of the stone man nor .he young girl
the spirit of the squaw. Otherwise
society would come to an end.
The most provoking characteristic
of the young girl is her illogical blend
of sentiment and practically. She is
as bad as a Lowland Scot for that use
full combination. She will calmly dis
cuss with other young girls how many
thousands a year they will consent TO
accept with their respective husbands,
and the next day viii be plunged head
over heels in passionate affection for Il
| popular actor. or popular soldier, who
has not and does not want one. For
these heroes of the public eye she will
sigh like furnace, and Will extrava-
gantly- collect their photographs or
autographs with a persistency worthy
f, of better cause; but that will not pre-
vent her later In the day from ogling
some one with comfortable Income
and reputation for family diamonds.
The only explanation Of this incon-
sistency at which / can arrive is that
her knowledge is all parrot knowledge
| and means nothing She has about as