The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-03-10
By DOLLY DALR YMPLE

{ tieth milestone herself, and still as pretty as picture and almost as young looking as debutante. Years do not count very much after all. Don't you i remember what some clever writer has cleverly said about age? That no girl has any sense until she is 25, and years do not enter into this class ification at all. Some girls have attained the charm and poise of 25 summers before they are IS, while others live to be nearly hundred without ever getting anywhere near the quarter of century vantage point Isn't that true?"
 And wasn't it the same writer who said that a man isn't possible until he is 30, and that years don't count in his reaching that age eitherY Isn't that also true?'' asked Polly.
 Whatever and whoever it was that | made these classified tions and wis dom.' the Crusty Old Bachelor interpo- | lated. "I know little girl who isn't , years old yet. but she's nearly 25 if you judge her by Miss Petunia's stand ard. She's got more sense than her debutante sister will ever have if she lives to be a hundred"
 ears don't count in the least" the Major announced. There's Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt and Cleopatra and Miss Petunia"
 I've only reached the half century mark, if you please. Major, and you know it as well as do, because our birthdays are just 10 years apart; you are that much ahead of me, and yet you put me in that class" Only to advance my theory" said 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 beauty, yet if she lives two hundred years longer she'll still be marrying the pick of the flock, and leaving the i debutantes to wonder whats 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 'BedeIlia. 1 Want to Steal Ye, Steal Yer BedeHa 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 a 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 s 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."
 Tt is not" answered the Major, knowingly.
 "The Majors right" said the Crusty Old Bachelor, it lives on after the fair possessor is turning to rose petals in her grave Madame Recamiers charm aiY1ic mas been dead these many years Gle opatra continues to allure and Helen of Troy"
 But they were beauties" Polly de- clared.
 The chorus is full of beauties" the Bachelor said but that's not going to make them immortal. A woman has to possess some attraction more enduring than mere physical beauty, to live on down the years.''
 Now that's getting near to what was asking about" Polly said, inter- estedly.
 What has made all those women live all these years if it wasn't their beauty"
 Miss Petunia it was who replied:
 Madame Recamier, when asked what was the secret of beauty, replied: Sympathy The sympathy that trans cends 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. when her granddaughters were wall flowers.
 Madame what is the secret of your charm when every one still bows before your
 Tn the alphabet of charm. my child the old lady replied, remember | there is no such word as l. Every | thing is you.
 Rowing with impressment, the Major said:
 You've struck the keynote, Miss Pe- tunia. That's it."
 Well" said the crusty Old Bache- Tor, eff I were planning a wreck on | desert island, where I knew I could | never be rescued"
 Go on--thats right" Polly inter- rupted. what kind of girl would won l select to be wrecked with you, if you | might select from a shipload of all | kinds of girls?'
 I'd draw bald headed missionary in real life. of course" the Bachelor | chimed in with his usual pessimism | Never be any change in 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 Pe | tunia 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 lace wrinkled-what quality would | reconcile you to the passing years un- rescued?'
 You might call it sympathy" the | Bachelor returned. that I should de- mand, but really I believe I'd ask for a sense of humor. I think I'd be satis- | lied 1T she was the kind of person who would appreciate my jokes. One whose | ideas correlated with my own when if | came to seeing the comedy of the whole | 
 That's point worth considerinx.r said Polly impersonally. T can un- derstand the absolute idiocy of crying | over split milk, but to have an amusing | situation unappreciated because the | other person can't see tho joke of it- that's life's real tragedy--on a desert island or anywhere elsen