The Washington herald., 1921-06-22
THE IDEAL WOMAN.

asks me IL I will give her q close
up Of this paragon.
OF course, there is no such animal
As an ideal woman. Even the most
seraphic of the angel sex are far
away from perfection They have
faults, and blemishes, and defects
They have amazing weaknesses and
curious ways and strange pecuh-
arities, which not only enables us
70 love them but to endure them,
for nobody could possibly live with
an ideal woman. Even the extra
good ones are hard to stand.
Still, the notion of an imaginary
super-woman is an alluring one,
and intrigues the fancy, and here is
the way that 1 would paint the pic
ture of my ideal woman.
She should be beautiful. Not with
the surface prettiness of youth,
that Is a matter of peaches-and-
cream complexion, and glistening
hair and teeth, and a willowy figure,
all of which are bound to go into
the discard in a few years time.
would give her these in some meas
ure, but I would add to them the
beauty that comes from kindliness
intensifies. Some women are better
looking at so than they were at 10,
and that is the sort of ever-wear
Beauty with which l should endow
my ideal woman.
/ should further make her easy
on the eyes by clothing her In
lovely and appropriate garments
There is no virtue in frumpiness,
nor is there any merit in skimping
on hairpins 1t is everybody's duty
to their fellow creatures to create
in themselves, and about them, as
much beauty as they can
The prettiest woman has her
looks enhanced by pretty frocks.
The homeliest woman can camou-
mage her defects and produce the
Illusion of beauty with few yards
Of chiffon, and she commits public
offense when she doesn't do it. No
woman need be as ugly as COD
made her in these days, and If she
sits down in Mother Hubbard wrap
pers and boudoir caps and accepts
her fate without a struggle, she
ISN'T the sort of a woman she should
be
Nv IDEAL should have plenty OF
brains. both plain and fancy style.
She should be well educated. well
read, with a mind stored with the
wisdom of the ages. but she should
know so much that il would make
her humble. and she shouldn't feel
the necessity of Haunting her at
tainments IN everybody's face. Still
less should she pose as an oracle.
In a word. she should be bookish
without being a bOok-worm; learned
without pedantry; capable Of hold
ing her own in an argument with
out always being willing to start
one.
And with intellectually she
should have good. hard. common
sense. Her feet should be planted
solidly on the ground. Her reading
should include the cook book as
much as il does Ibsen. She should
show as much interest in running
a home as she does in the Einstein
theory. and be as capable of grap-
pling with the butchers bills as
with solving a problem of higher
mathematics. The ideal woman
must have two sides to her brain,
each equally well developed.
The ideal woman must be compe-
tent and efficient. No baby dolls,
no clinging vines for me. My ideal
woman must turn out a good job
at whatever task to which she sets
her hand. II she goes into business
she must work with her eye on the
topmost rung Of the ladder instead
OF on the time clock. She must put
ambition. enthusiasm. loyalty, abil-
ity into her labor, so that her en-
ployer arises and blesses her name
and brags about her in the market
place
If she marries she gives every
bit of intelligence in her, every
drop of energy into being a good
wife and mother. She doesn't max e
q family door mat of herself with
"welcome" on it for her husband
and children to wipe their feet
upon. She rules her household
wisely. Hers is the iron hand in
the velvet glove. that restrains the
wayward and holds up the weak.
and that pushes and pulls the fam
fly into making the best of them
selves 1t takes a woman whose
head and heart are equally balanced
To make a good wife and mother.
My ideal woman would have a
large sense of humor. That would
enable her to laugh when things
went wrong instead of crying over
them That would give her a phil
osophy that would enable her to
make merry over the little troubles
OF life instead of-whining about
them. That would insure her being
cheerful and good-natured and
making a bright and sunshiny
horne.
My ideal woman would have
sympathy and understanding. She
would be no hard judge who took
q little two-inch rule and meas
ured the world by II and found il
wanting because IL did not come up
to her little, narrow standard. She
would know things by the grace of
God. without being told. She would
understand temptations she had
never known and so enabled to de-
velop all the weak and erring in
the mantle of her pity.
Ny ideal woman would be kind
and generous and given to hospi-
tality, a good listener and a good
talker. a woman who combined
sweetness and strength, who could
cry over a hurt puppy and walk
dry-eyed over the burning plough
shares Of her own sorrows and suf-
ferings.
An impossible idea, you say. yet
know several women who come
very near to realizing 1t.
WOMAN JURY HELD