The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-02-17
Living Up to
One S Features

The girl with the inquiring nose
took a good look at her profile. sur
mounted by new hat, in the mirror
with the aid Of handglass. Then she
sat down suddenly and despairingly.
TITS no use," she said to her best
friend, who. in the role Of millinery ad-
wiser, sat at a critical distance and
and gazed at her. ITS never been
any use since my nose decided to take
after mammas family and turn up
instead Of papa's family and keep to
the straight and narrow way.
You don't know how terribly hard
1t has always been for me. Belinda. to
live up to my features. Now, what
kind Of a disposition should you say
goes with a nose like mine?"
"Flippancy, irrelevancy. flirtatious-
ness. gayety, insouciance." said her
friend, checking off each unredeeming
fault on her fingers. Exactly, and
do you think any of them fits me?
Not at all. They only fit my nose.
tell you truly, Belinda, I've never
dared be myself for one moment on
account of my nose. All my yearning
to be literary has been nipped by my
nose. Whoever saw literary person
with turn-up nose? | was dying to
be musical and praciced furiously I'M
til one day | found out, glancing up
at myself in mirror opposite while
was playing a Chopin Hocturne, that
my nose struck a false note. There
was nothing TO do but give up my
music after that
The only thing | am fit for is to
keep a tea room, and even then I
don't believe my patrons could be
hoodwinked into the belief that my
nose was financially sound. To ac-
complsh anything worth while in this
life. Belinda, you must first have the
features for it.
THE worst part of it ALL" she add
! ed. taking off the offending hat and
| poking it into the baldbox, lis that
| you must dress for the part your
| features call upon you to play. Here
| am, with a sober. sedate mushroom
hat, of the most conservative order,
on my hands, and | don't dare put it
on my head. look like guy in it,
| Internally | am sober, sedate, and con-
| sentative. Externally l am flippant,
| pert and saucy. The internal quail
| ties don't count in the purchase Of
headgear. You must buy hats to match
the externals. Here. try it on your
self, Belinda. 1t looks charming on
you. Why don't you buy it,"
Because I am SO tired of it," MUIR
INJURED her friend.
Tired of it? Why it's brand new.
It's only just come. What are you
talking about?"
Tired of that style, explained Be-
linda YEARLY. "All my life I've had
to wear that style. l long for some
thing that turns up and turns down in
an irresponsible sort Of way; some
thing-something saucy, in fact"
"You!" exclaimed her friend why,
Belinda, what's come over your" 81, too,
am beset by my features" confessed
Belinda. II can't get away from them.
My outer husk shows me a reposeful
creature of brooding serenity. am
at heart positively rakish. There's a
Bohemian streak in me one yard wide.
OF course you don't believe it Of me,
and I've never confessed 1t before
to any one, but I'm fairly bubbling
over with the spirit of adventure. l
long to do and say outrageous things.
to defy the community, and set it by
the ears. The primrose path beckons
me, and Pans pipes lure me on"
And yet there's no more sober an
individual among my friends than
you," cried her astounded chum.
Yes, l know" Belinda said def
antly, land there's no one who suf
fers more from repressed individual
ity than I. We are both overruled by
set Of features which were not in
tended for us at all. We are both liv
ing under assumed personalities, as
sumed purely to back our features
You wish to be literary with an up
turned nose, and I, with a nose that
rivals Dante's and the thin lips Of Cor
nelia, mother of the Gracchi, am bac
chanalian at heart. If we could only
change temperaments; but we can't
My friends would be as Mortified as
yours"
, Providence must certainly have
been absent-minded when we were ere
ated," said the girl with the inquirins
, nose sadly.
YES" agreed Belinda, "and l sup
pose Bernard Shaw understood us
little when he said: DO unto others a:
J you would have them do unto you
, Their tastes may not be the same.
You can't Judge person by his feat
ures. What are we going to do abou
it?"
Let's have tea" said her friend lu
, cidly. Maybe that will clear ou
, brains and help us decide ON som,
plan Of action that will only startle tn,
I world by degrees