The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-06
HERE AND ABROAD
By IMAGERY WELLS

yIENNA.-The two things are diff ferent They cannot be compared III any sense--these varying standaros of "charm" in Europe and Americd. But there is much that we can learn from them and they from us when IL comes right down to hard tacks. And 1t is certainly most interesting to see how one set of women interpret the thing called charm in comparison to another set.
 Of course, the primary characteris- tic in Europe of a woman's charm is fullness of figure, whereas with us it is just the opposite. Abroad they worship maturity as expressed by de- veloped minds. developed stature ana developed capabilities. The dancers on the stage all weigh much more than anyone who would be eonsid- cred fit for New York ballet. They wear fewer clothes. if such thing Is possible but they show more expanse of figure eventually or at some time to be covered by dressing. An Amer ican man would laugh with wild glee if he were to see suddenly and with, out previous preparation the gli that, in a foreign mans eyes, IS con sidered the perfect thing.
 In the newspapers one sees adver- tisements for ways and means to re- duce women's weight, but from all apparent evidences not one among them has taken advantage of the op- portunity suggested to them.
 Then there is a growth of hair on a womans upper lip. Many foreign men consider this eminently charm ing and are free to admit it. The fact is that the possibility Of any other ideal has never occurred to them.
 Two men, an American and Frenchman, were sitting side by side on . railroad train. They both gazed after . girl who walked past them and then they looked at each other-fss though to appraise and approve her ways and style Said the American, wishing to be funny, "She had nice mustache;" and answered the for eigner, Well. why felse did you sup pose I admired herr" The poor non plused American looked then as though a feather breeze might blow him over, so astonished was he at the others frank expression of a taste the existence of which he had never even guessed to be possible.
 Then the foreign lady thinks much of soft faces about her throat, of necklines which feature the softness of the contour of her throat, of furs and feather boas, of dropping hats and feather plumes. She does every thing which might in any way help to make her more feminine and more appealingly attractive to the other sex There is no such thing as the sports girl, and the business woman in efficient and practical clothes is an altogether unknown quantity. A foreign girl may dress practically, but always she remembers that fem mine touch which Is conducive to womanly charm, That is her motto her password.
 The girls abroad may be cheerful and sweet in spirit, but they are never boisterous and apparently gay. They are more old-fashioned in their thought and the trend of their ideas, you will find that for modern radi- calism and freedom of thought they far transcend the American girls, but they don't by any means have the same ways of showing it. They keep the possession of their great grand mothers--only their republican ideas can be said to have changed.
 Please, thank you. thank you p1ease-these are repeated and re- peated by the foreign woman until one might imagine her jaws growing tired with the continual exercise on those two classic words At first it seems senseless and oyer-exagge- rated, but as one listens to the re- iteration, one becomes soothed by the surface charm of it., accustomed to it's pleasant way and looks back at the American girl and wonders lit- tie why she does not trouble to be more insistently polite. She may say that she is polite. and perhaps she is enough so, but should she listen to these foreign young ladies she would see how her production of ease in- ducing words might smooth her way unalterably.
 Through all classes of girls this charm radiates. It has different modes of expression, but always you will find it. When you enter a shop the thing surrounds you, when you go into society it is there in another form, when you ride in the street cars you do not find it missing, and when you go to the circus it is still ever present.
 One must admit, indeed. that an ideal mixture, a blending of one per feet foreign girl and one in America, who has all the attributes of charm as there~e considered, would make something to be wondered at and loved.