The San Francisco call., 1910-08-09
IWOMAN'SVANlTY|
PUT ON ANKLES
Pale Gray Hose Make Up
For Lack of General
Air of Elegance
By MARY AsHE MILLER

ARCHAEOLOGY, French literature.
IN baseball batting averages. sociol-
ogy, deep water fishing, Spanish
art. classic dancing, how best 10 grow
orchids and the like are all very well
for those who want to study for study's
sake, but for genuine delight no form
of scientific research can afford such
an amount as the investigation of the
| human document.
There should be a chairs for the
| proper study of mankind"-as Pope
| says-in every college.
1t is merciless pursuit and a cheer
| full way of gratifying socialisttc and
democratic proclivitieS- No one Is sa1e
from you-the world is your victim If
you can get near enough
But prepare to have your faith IN
your judgment undermined You may
think you have sized up some one
quite correctly. when something occurs
which will unravel all your theories.
You can not arrive at being a Sherlock
Holmes in q six weeks course. In
congruities are as rampant as germs.
Manifestations of qualities are So
| welI-disposed in spots, one might say
| But therein lies much of the JOY of
| the study. A well developed freak"
disposition is as interesting as a mys-
terious disease to the physician or a
fascinating weakling to the reformer.
Opposite me in a streetcar the other
day sat little woman whom life
seemed to have slapped in the face
since chiIdhood's earliest hour.
She was small and skinny, with
dreadfully unfashionable leanness. Her
hat looked as though it belonged TO
last year and she had made an unin-
terested effort to cheer it up with some
flowers bought at fire sale. Her col
lar had no bones in it and was not even
pinned positively. Her hair needed
every attention from shampooing NO
plain combing. Judging by her nose.
powder was not included in her vocabu-
larry. Her tailor suit was a pitiful
| thing. a characterless gray. selected
for durability-horribIe word-rather
than with a thought of adding to the
artistic JOY of tha wcrld-and it needed
pressing to cheer IL UP. Her shoes
just shoes they were-kid. with patent
leather tips and narrow little shoe
| strings tied in a safety knot.
| 1t was not poverty that gave her the
toneless depressed air, though-she had
no air of absolute want. II was as
though life lacked some spring of joy
BUSINESS.
She was looking out of the window
and I studied her shamelessly.
Finally decided to my entire salts
faction that vanity was what she
needed. Her life was probably busy
and she had not that delight in her
appearance which would make her
seize the time to make herself a more
pleasing object
| Then had one of the shocks OF my
/ life
! The little drab figure moved her feet
and 1 saw her stockingsI
| You would finish my description of
| her clothes. 1 suppose. by putting on
/ her - m etaphOrically - ordinary heavy
| black cotton stockings.
| Nothing of the kind They were
pale but decided gray-lisle thread with
a silky finish and frivolous open work
/ and embroidered dots.
| Nor were they hand me down. in
herited sort of stockings-they were
new and evidently purchased with an
eye to matching the paler gray stripe in
| her stringy tailor suit.
! AS / stared, too dazed to move my
eyes. she turned and noted my fasci-
/ mated gaze. She positively blushed
/ with pleasure and returned my shame
faced grin with a friendly little smile.
But was it not worth weeks OF re-
search to find a woman with all her
vanity concentrated on her ankles?