The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-04-02
REPOSE AS A MARK
OF BREEDING

Cultivate repose, says an exchange
1t is mark of good breeding. It in
vests the person who possesses it with
forcefulness and individuality. It is
one of the prime elements of woman's
much vaunted mystery
When NJ. Helleu, the famous French
artist, was in this country making dry
points etchings of beautiful American
women he commented on the repose,
their calmness, and their lack of ex-
citability. At first, used to the more
demonstrative manners of his own
countrywomen, he thought these char
acteristics indicated coldness, but he
soon saw that at heart American
women are as warm and full of feel
ing as any others. Understanding this
he liked their cloak of indifference.
In view of the fact that American
nervousness is world renowned his
comment sounded strange. But M.
Helleu was judging by the well to do
and the we'll bred. Today nervous
ness is out of fashion. and if we are
nervous we try to keep it to ourselves.
Therefore the well bred are not vtaibly
nervous.
In spite of the women the French
artist met and many others like them
there are still many women who fidget
their way through life. Some of them
are persons Of wealth who have money
and time enough to be calm; all of
them ought to know better.
The fidgeting woman who lacks re-
pose can be found everywhere. She
is in church, where she drops her hymn
nal, fans herself necessarily, let's her
gaze wander over the congregation and
away from the service and changes
her position in the pew half a dozen
times. She is in the theater, where
she puts her hat first in her lap, then
at her feet, then under her chair, then
back on her lap. whispers loudly, gig
giles, mum ches bonbons. mislays her
opera glasses and can't keep track of
her programme. She travel on the
railway trains, where she lowers and
raises shades, calls the conductor to
open a window and a few minutes
later calls him back to close it. where
she puts her coat on and off every
few miles, walks up and down the
aisle, can't find her ticket when it is
wanted, arranges and rearranges her
hair, and then, at the journeys end,
wonders why she looks tired and I'M
tidy.
You know the woman who fidgets, |
she is everywhere. And although she |
is often charming, she is always tir- |
ing and generally tedious.
I'll OIHeT there Is the WOH1-
an of repose, who always looks as if |
she belonged wherever she happens to |
be. She is a good listener, a good
talker, a good companion generally, |
because she is definite. And often you |
give her credit for having more per-
more depth than she really |
has. for she does not give herself away /
with every sentence she utters and
every move she makes. Perhaps her
mind wanders sometimes. but she does
not fidget. She sometimes mislays her
glasses, but she does not frantically
urn everything in sight upside down
until she has made sure they are not
IN her nose.
You can be whichever you want to
)e, the woman who has repose or the
woman VIII lacks it. T gain it, start
,ut each day with the idea in mind
hat you will be self possessed. For Il
ify yourself if you will with the L
hought that repose is as much in Il
wear. Set yourself the task of prac-
icing quietness in half-hour stretches.
When you go to a tea decide that you
will walk across the room with dignity
hat you will smile instead of giggle
md talk instead of chatter The
uieting effect of your actions on your
,wn nerves will be noticeable before
ong and soon you will be spoken of as
that interesting Mrs. So-and-so," in
tead of Dear Mrs. So-and-so, who
; sweet, but awfulIy hither and yon."
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