Year: 1861

Every woman has a right to be beauti,


full; that is the secret of her power, hel


mission, the key which unlocks her destiny.


But while she has a right to be beautiful,


she has no right to be its opposite-that is


an injustice to society, which has right


to expect from her its loveliness. its grace


and its attraction. There are many differ


ent kinds of beauty, and it is a great mis-


take to imagine that it consists wholly, or


even mainly, of color, form, or texture


There is the beauty of innocence and the


beauty of truth, the beauty of childhood


and the beauty of the matron, the beauty


of wisd m and the beauty of simplicity.


the lowest kind of beauty is that merely


physical perfection and splendor which re-


ceives no aid from voice, look, or expression,


but it is narred by the action of the mind


upon its fair and smooth surface, Just as


the mud Is stirred in a shallow pool by any


slight circumstance which touches its
depths. The ideals of the ancient poets
are all beautiful, but their characteristics
are distinct and separate, so that there is
NJ Aehb anu hOdllSOl1C OdluCuCcos duu lAlC


beauty of form with which they arc en-
dowed is simpely the vehicle of expression
of the mental idea they wish to convey
Thus, the serene matron, the brilliant CO.
quette. the imperious queen. the tender
and the delicate maiden, the timid young
wife, the thoughtful nurse. have all an in
dividuality of their own, to which their
outward appearance is the visible sign and
index. Their dress should naturally cor
respond to these mental and phisycal indi-
cations, so as to preserve sense of musi-
cal harmony and fitness throughout the
entire structure. There is nothing that
disenchants so soon as the discovery of
folly, Ignorance, stupidity, bad temper, or
vile passions beneath fair and seductive |
form. The possession of any fine and no
bic quality. on the contrary, Eliminates
the plainest features and the dullest CON-
plezion much better than scores Of costly |
powders and cosmetics Women who de-
sire to be beautiful make great mistake in
trying to increase their attractions, or to
make themselves charming, after any 9TH
er persons pattern What is adapted to
one style would destroy the affect of
another; and for every woman to adopt an
arbitrary mode or standard of dress is fatal
to the aggregate effect Of feminine beauty,
whose great charm is variety. 1t is nat
ural to love admiration, power and inhu-
ence, and almost all women may not only
obtain these but retain them, by being
themselves in the very highest and most
perfect sense of which they are capable, in
stead of weak and diluted imitation of
sombOdy else. When the freshness of
youth and girlhOod has departed, let them
be succeeded, naturally, by the matured
graces of WomanhOod, and these by the
dignity of middle age. The affectatiOn of
pretty coquetries and juvenile simplicity
by sallow specimens of ancient spinster-
hOOd--Or worse, by women who bear the
name of wife and motherhoOd-not only
outrage all true ideas of taste and propri-
ETY.. but deprieye those who indulge in
them of their natural claims to attention
and consideration. When all women are
natural and true, then they viii be all
beautiful