The Denver Jewish news., 1923-05-30

0gn1ze their mothers. The fact tnat
they do strengthens in me my belief In
the instincts and intuitions of child
hood.
Let me tell you how far this cosmetic
summoned to house of mourning As
stood metlitating upon the sudden and
tragic end of the young girl who had
died, an elder woman entered the cham
her of death. She could not have seen
me standing In the shadow; hut could
see her clearly take something in her
hand. go to the casket and deliberately
redden the cheeks Of the corpse. Could
you name more horrible form of bias
phemy! Not even In death could this
poor child escape the stain of this
corrupting custom of cosmetics.
1t is not an accident that one Of the
most withering passages In the Bible $
the Prophets's denunciation of the
daughters OF Zion, their naughty man
ner, their mincing walk. their beads
and bracelets and tinkling ornaments,
their Ointments and extravngant Orien-
tnl apparel. He knew what we for
get, that the danger of cosmetics to
the tissue of the skin is not near so
in the texture of the soul of women.
This custOm teaches women to depend
upon appearance and imitQtion, instead
of upon inward grace and spiritual
beauty; upon those things that pass
with the night, instead of upon things
that are permanent and that flower into
greater glory with the coming of the
sun. Women may cover up what they
believe to he defects Oh the surface.
but no woman is artist enough to con-
ceal the uneasiness of heart that de-
yelOps with this spurious habit. Cos
lnetics, moreover. never fail to cOarsen
the manner and soul of women. Again
and again have seen young girls, sim
vain and coarse and vulgar as they have
eeiBe to acquire the customs of their
elders. 1t Is enough to dive one almost
TO despair to watch this vicious in
huence at work among our children
aud to be able to do Sc little to con-
troll or curb it. Worst Of all, this
custom encourages love Of Ornamcn
tation and extravaganza that is con
traiy to the spirit OF our faith. Juda
ism Is n religion Of simplicity, almost
of austerity. Only through faith
thnt is simple and somewhat austere
can we cultivate a spirit strong enough
10 cope with the complexities and In
evi,able problems of life. This is why
is fundamental.
After all. there is something in each
one of us that goes out at cice to the
sweet and the simple in life. Name
in your heart the picture YOU treasure
most. 1t is not the picture of Cleo
patra, cushioned in all the luxury and
licentiousness of Egypt. Ut is the sim
pie rustic picture of Ruth, or the pic
ture of Esther, who lays aside all the
specious splendor of the Eastern harem
in order to appear before the king in
the simple loveliness and virgin beauty
Of young womanhoOd.
The next virtue of which l wish to
speak, and one that we are apparently
discartling, is the sturdy virtue of sim
cerity. We are growing too tolerant Sf
insincerity and falsehOod. i am think
ing Mt the present moment not alto
gether of the minor delinquencies thar
we allow ourselves and that we condOne
in each other OF course. we pretend
to be delighted to meet people when,
In fact, we would rather escape them.
To he sure. we pretend to praise people
for what they do and say and wear,
when, in truth, we believe it to be all
very absurd and silly. These things
are sad enough, but not near so sad as
the code of discrimination and the code
of deceit that we are building up for
ourselves. We seem to agree with
Western Professor who assured his
class in ethics that little lying would
bring much happiness. When the CON
flict comes, and we reach the crisis, how
many of us stand courageOusly upon
the truth? Many of us. L fear. find
refuge in definition that pr. Abra-
hams quoted to us few days ago:
"A lie is an abOminaticn of the Lord
but an ever present help in time of
trouble We cannot practice insin-