The Washington herald., 1913-05-20
MIRROR FAD" HAS
> A VERY GOOD SIDE
To See Our Expressions When We
Are Of Guard Is Sometimes
Good for Us.
BY FRANCES sHAFFER.

A mirror fadr' .-
That sounds bit foolish. does 1t not,
"a bit vain and several other things
worse. But before condemning it as
fancy of the frivolous, learn what IT
is all about and then pause and ask
yourself how many folk you know-men
as well as women-who would do well
to make the fad their own. Because. you
see, it has something better than a
vanity side.
At any rate. this is the way it worked
in a single instance:
A young woman was following A
homely task that did not please her al
all, and she went about il with pro-
test in her heart and well-defined
frown on her face. She was quite con-
scious of the protest, but gave no thought
TO the frown; and IL never occurred to
her at all that her mouth had assumed
such an ugly droop. But il chanced
that her work led her past mirror
and the faithful reflector scared her
into asking herself if that was the way
she looked when she was off guard and
"out of Sorts For her forehead was
all screwed up in cross little Fuckers.
her mouth was sadly a-droop, and her
very eyes were belligerent and unsmil-
ing And she wondered-was it possible
that any one ever caught her looking
Ike that? And IL they did, what must
they think of the state of her mind?
She looked once, then she looked again
and again. And then she said to herself
that that would never do for If that
was the kind of face she wore then,
what must it be on the days when she
felt very much worse?
Not All Vanity.
And indeed. it was not all vanity that
hot Thar Sh
going to keep track of those speaking
features whenever il happened that she
faced an uncongeniaI task. So up went
a mirror in the spot where the task was
likely! And because she knew that 1t
was not tasks alone that caused the dis
heartening frowns, the droops and the
FUCKERS, she set up a few other telltale
mirrors that she might learn how she
really looked TO others when there was
a bit of cyclone within.
And TO prove that 1t was not vanity
that led to the mirror-fad she carefully
refrained from hanging one up in the
places where she was sure to be at her
best.
Now. tell me. would it not he well If
all of us had our mirrors-women who
are quite immune from vanity and all
foolish little poses. some who are not as
well. and men just the same?
Because that young woman with her
cross sour looks is not the only one
who has need of something sharp and
true to bring an awakening. And doubt
less If all of us realized how cross and
sour look when We look as cross and
sour az We can, We would be ready
enough to hang up the faithful little
mirror-monitors to warn us whenever
needed.
The fact of the matter is, the cross
looks only make us feel all the worse;
and they are largely matter of habit.
Note Worried Faces.
Very frequently we hear folk say that |
they do not at all like the expressions on |
the faces they meet. They tell us TO |
look about, on the street. on the cars, in !
great public places everywhere, and note |
the worried faces. the narrowed. dis |
appointed faces. the faces marked with |
tracings of care. and. most of all. the |
sour cross faces that make every |
body want to look the other way.
And We do look about at the men and |
women We meet. and as they run. they
are not a smiling lot at all They i'm
press US as being too worried, too busy,
too tired. too cross TO smile, and We Won
der what Can the matter be?''
But while We are busy looking about |
at others. more than half of US forget 20
hang up our own true little mirrors that
will show US exactly as We look to others
when are lost in a maze Of thoughts
that may not he so very bright and
happy.
just from selfish Angle.
Now. we may not be fine enough and
brave enough to say to ourselves that the
world has need of our smiling faces. and
we will do our best to look as serene as
we possibly can, for the sake of the ef-
feet IL has.
We may not say that at ALL may not be
a hit solicitous about the good of the rest
of the world. But, just from our selfish |
standpoint not many of us want to be