The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-20
WHEN ARE WOMEN MOST
 ATTRACTIVE AND WHY IS TT SOP
Quartette of Four Dining Together the Other Evening Dis the Subect-Frenchmen Say That the Age of Thirty
 is the Most Fascinating Madame Recamier and
 Cleopatra and Helen of Troy-A Sense of Humor and its Effect
By DOLLY DALRYMPLE

he quickly, that charm and eternal beauty in the best sense has no age. Take Ellen Terry for instance. A great many people never have considered her a beauty. yet if she lives two hundred years longer she'll still be marrying the pick of the flock, and leaving the debutantes to wonder what's about her to attract, when their younger charms fail to allure mere man to the altar Its the case of the girl in Blanche Rings song" The Crusty Old Bachelor suggested which went like Bedelia, I Want to Steal Ye, Steal Ye" Bedelia would have been in that charmed class too if she hadn't been-just a song"
 "All this isn't answering my ques- tion," Polly remarked. T read story the other day in which Lovely Woman was discussed from the cradle to the grave. The whole thing left me won dering, hence my question, What is woman's chief charm ?>When Is she most attractive, and is charm a quality that fades with the years like the gold In her hair, or the blue in her eyes?' That's it.'
 Ut is NOT," answered The Major knowingly.
 "The Majors right" said the Crusty Old Bachelor Tt lives on after the fair pos sessor is turning to rose petals in her grave. Madame Recamier's charm is not diminished today, though she has been dead these many years. Cleopatra con- tinues to allure and Helen of Troy
 "But they were BEAUTIES" Polly de- clared.
 "The Chorus is full of BEAUTIES" the Bachelor said, ''but it's not going to make them IMMORTAL A woman has to pos sess some attraction more enduring than mere physical beauty, to live on down the years"
 NO, that's getting nearer to what was asking about" Polly said interest," edly.
 What has made all those women live all these years If 1t wasn't their beauty?"
 Miss Petunia 1t was who replied:
 Madame Recamier when asked what was the secret of beauty, replied: SYMPATHY The sympathy that tran scends mere good looks. That thinks not of itself but the other person. The same thing that an old Creole Grande Dame meant when she replied to a question about remaining belle, wren her grand daughters were wall flowers.
 Madame what is the secret of your charm that every one still bows before your"
 "In the alphabet of charm, my child" the old lady replied, remember there is no such word as I. Everything Is YOU"
 Rowing with impressment, the Major said:
 You've struck the keynote. Miss Pe- tunia. That's It.
 Well" said the Crusty Old Bachelor, If were planning a wreck on a desert island, where I KNEW I could never be rescued"
 "Go on--that's right" Polly interrupt ed, what kind of girl would you select to be wrecked with you, If you might se- lect from a shipload of all kinds of girls?'
 "Td draw bald headed Missionary in REAL life, of course," the Bachelor chimed in with his usual pessimism Never by any change the kind of girl I'd like"
 "Well, what kind would you like best?" Polly asked curiously.
 You mean the color of her eyes or the shade of her hair, or things like that?" he questioned.
 The Major chuckled while Miss Petunia smiled prettily in the shadow of her point lace fan.
 we can describe her already" Polly said. knowing the Bachelor, "but if her eyes faded and her hair grew gray and her face wrinkled-what quality would reconcile you to the passing years un- rescued?"
 You might call it SYMPATHY" the Bachelor returned, that should demand but reaEy believe I'd ask for a SENSE OF HUMOR. I think I'd be satisfied If she was the kind of person who would appreciate my jokes. One whose ideas correlated with my own when it came to seeing the comedy of the whole situa- tion."
 That's a point worth considering" said Polly, impersonaly. 'I can understand the absolute idiocy of crying over split milk, but to have an amusing situation unapprecated because the other person can't see the JOKE of it-that's life's REAL TRAGEDY-on a desert island or anywhere else"