Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1903-02-19
THE BEAUTY FAD.
THE Periodicals Are Rife Just Now
With Advertisements and
ILLUSTRATED Articles on
This Subject
This Subject.

L 81 IANAOo Oh
This Subject.
Just now the weekly and monthly
periodicals, that go into the homes of
the land and are largely read by the
women of the households, are not
only rife with full-page advertise
ments of OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
and how to get it, but also replete
with illustrated articles on the same
subject; and all of the illustrations
r of women: some of them on the
Ssgolf links" in all sorts of standing
and couchant postures and with golf
sticks raised at all sorts of angles;
others r on gymnasium floors in all
sorts of cOntOrtiOns, from the gladia-
tors dying throes to the attitude of
Carry Nation defiant, but none with
a sun bonnet and a hoe in a flower
garden Or a cabbage patch-and all
these, so the advertisements and the
illustrated articles tell US, are for the
purpose of acquiring beauty-e'ideal
beauty" But we suspect that the
real purpose Of both is to obtain
wealth-on the part, of course, of the
advertiser, the writer of the illustrat-
ed articles and the publisher, and
these have simply simultaneously
hit at this time on a subject that has
proven of keen interest to all stages
of men-beauty.
The ideal is a purely relative
term. There is no fixed standard such
as would nave to Ue dependent upon
a uniform taste, a distinct Limitation
Of aestheticism. What may prove an
ideal to n person would reveal
glaring faults and weaknesses to an
other. We are not all constituted
alike. Our tastes and types are diff
ferent, thank heaven, Or there would
be no variety, which is "the spice of
life out d hopeless monotony, such
as would preclude any possibility of
development or improvement.
And yet there is one type of beauty
which may be accepted in a general
way as a standard the beauty of ex-
preston, Every woman has a right
to try to be as beautiful as she can. It
is not only her right, but her duty.
True, there is much in the old say
ing that beauty is but skin deep, &C
cording to which the suggestion that
some women might be advantage
Dusly skinned alive finds a ready ap-
plication. But, while comeliness of
face and symmetry Of figure are not
to be desplsed, the lasting beauty,
the beauty that is admired every
where, the beauty that inspires bet
ter thoughts, purer motives and
character-and this beauty is reveal
ed largely through what is known as
expression. Did a perfectly nodded
doll face ever reveal character? It's
features may be faultiess. But where
in lies the defect? There is no ex-
preston. Beauty of character is often
found in plain features and common
place forms. There must be spirit,
force, truth and purity in a beauty
approaching a high ideal. No abso-
lutely frivolous woman, no woman
who ever stopped once in her fever !
ish social caree to give a serious
thought to the development Of the
God-given faculties with which she
has been endowed, no woman who
never nursed . sympathetic thought
for human suffering, and who never
dreamed OF forming some end, aim |
Or purpose in life, no woman who |
never once asked herself the ques- /
tions, "What is my mission?" and
"What am I here for?" will long be
regarded as beautiful. Real beauty
goes not hand in hand with intense
vanity. There must be character and
purity and some submission to self
sacrifice. And all Of these are reveal
ed more or less through the window
of the soul-the eye-which reflects
expression.
Thoughtless people may argue that
beauty can be acquired from dieting,
walking, riding, running, jumping,
fencing, bag-punching, cold creams,
milk baths, no breakfasts, vegetar-
ian dinners, early hours and late
hours, every me of which has been
recommended to contribute toward