The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-03
! |UJOfnen ana Society.
DEFORE roo LATE.
BY MRS. !. '. DeCorrHs.

BEFORE TOO LATE.
 In Harper's Bazaar is the following
 story that should teach a lesson. It
 says in part:
 .Heh father was a self-made man.
 and in the process of his own creation
 ke was as stern with others as with
 himself Having given his only
 daughter thorough musical educa-
 ton. he exacted that she earn her own
 living. She worked hard. She gave
 music lessons. She married musician
 younger than herself. They had two
 children. and the woman bore the
 brunt of the strain of supporting the
 family. She was not beautiful. Her
 face was good and exceedingly plain.
 Earning ones living may be q nopie
 task. but 1t seldom improves . wom- face and figure take on more or iess
 of the hardness of the lines along which she battles her way
 yFinally. when the woman was fifty five year old. she inherited her fath- CTS millions. Then she bought horses. houses, furniture, befitting her for tune. and she bought clothes. All her life ionr she had craved pretty things to wear. Now she is having her hearts desire. She has gowns made by the most famous artists in the world; she l has Iaces, furs, jewels, and she wears them-with what pathos in her glory! Exquisite fabrics are hung in perfect lines upon herr large frame, but when she moves it is always her own un- graceful self that is in evidence, and | the art of the dressmaker is lost. The artists who clothe her are too clever to array her in fashions of fabrics unbecominR her age. but her ugliness dominates her appearance always. Low ing beauty, possessing all the exterior | clements at her command, years of struggle and labor triumph; she is the more unsightly because of the loveli-
 ness brought so near her lack Of l charm"
 l Then it goes on to point the moral | in the story-that a beauty-loving wo-
 man in the spring time of her life should think more than once before giving up a needed new gown or bon net in a season in order to buy new l.parlor carpet or a set of Browning.
 She should not put off being pretty un- | til nobody cares whether she is or not t-until it is too late
 l This does not advocate extrava- gance, for the gown or hat need not
 be an expensive one; good taste and | good management goes far towards pretty, yet by no means an extrava- gant gown. | Dowdy wives are the ones who fail | in their homes--the ones who send husbands adrift, and who are among | the very first to cry out that marriage | is a failure. So would anything else be a failure that was tried along the same lines.
 No matter how hard you have
 the strife it is always to keep cheer l full face--and one good gown. | WHEN TO STUDY. l Once there was a girl of eighteen, | who was placed in a class of children about ten and twelve years Of age. For the first few weeks she was look
 ed upon as a dummy" as the children called her; but soon her quiet dignity commanded respect. 'Why?" She made them feel what she was--a brave, bright young woman. The rudiments | of her education had been neglected 1 while she had gone on mastering the
 more weighty problems of life. How many of us could go back to our pri- mary lessons?
 1 Did you ever ask yourself "why" some people studied even when they were old? Perhaps you thought, "Oh, they are book worms."a But there is a decided difference between the per | son who reads to Improve his mind and one who dives into all kinds of lit- erature simply for diversion. The first | | sometimes stumbles over something of value.
 When we are told we sigh and wish we had applied ourselves when we | were young. That is a foolish why; | for when you realize how little you know, that is the time you are ripe to gain knowledge. Some of our greatest Literature was produced after the writ | CT had reached the age of eighty, which I cbn ha when the body is sometimes feeble.- Washington Times.
 | DAY OF THE OLDER WOMAN. The older woman has been revela- ltion to us these last few years. Time was when the line which divided the Iyoung woman from the old woman was I the dead line of hope; when one who
 passed it was quietly laid aside, forced Ito he content with the leaving of the younger woman's fun and frolfc ana | advancement
 l These last few years have seen a radical change. The older woman has
 set her face toward far. free country, | following hard on the trail blazed by | the younger women (some of them mere | girls) who were no less poineers be- cause the unknown country into which | they pushed their way-in which they endured mental trials and hardships equal to the physical strain of life when | the West was first populated-was the field of business. And since two or three older women have Accomplished great things in the world like that famous woman of sixty
 six, still the greatest woman violinist in the world, and that other famous wo- man of sixty-five, whose canvasses fair ly glowed with life, and that yet old