Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 177, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1916 — Notes and Comment [ARTICLE]

Notes and Comment

Of lateraat to Woman R«ad«t»

Attractive Women. Most parents are fond of inculcating in the minds of children the idea that beauty is undesirable/ and that it is really a snare to the possessor. And yet, in spite of all this, everybody wants to be beautiful. The desire begins with life, and ends only with death—if, indeed, it ever ends. Almost the first thing the little girl will do, after she is able to run alone, will be to climb into a chair and survey herself to the looking glass. You may preach to her till you sre hoarse that beauty is only skin deep and that pretty dre ses are not better than plain ones, and she will listen to you perhaps; but when Bhe gets a new ribbon, or a hat with a bright feather in it, she will strut like a peacock, and look down from the supreme height of satisfaction upon little Sally Smith, whose hat does not show a feather. Why is it? Because every human being is horn with the desire to be beautiful. All who have any self respect try to be beautiful. They will do almost anything Which promises to improve their appearance. The blooming young girl will sleep with fresh beefsteak on her cheeks to increase her bloom, and the thin haired belle will suffer year after year, every night, the torture of curl papers for the sake of looking more attractive. No matter how old and staid, and Bober minded the woman is, she always wants to improve her looks. Some of the grandmothers of today have their fifctle private boxes of pearl ponder and rouge; and the grandfathers sport sets of Ivories and dye their gray hair and whitened mustaches, and pad their attenuated forms, just as if they had not reached the age of the lean and slippered pantaloon. Women will risk their lives by arsenic eating; they will lay themselves liable to paralysis from the use of lead powder; they will invite blindness with belladonna on the eyelids: they will give consumption a cordial welcome by neglecting ordinary precautions; they will do a score of things of the same description, and for what? Why, to be beautiful. It is perfectly right and proper that every one should strive to look as well as possible—where the health, physical or moral, is not in danger of being Injured by the means employed. But natural beauty may be attained without the aid of artificial appliances We believe that cleanliness, open air exercise, and kindness practiced toward all, will do much toward making a plain face attractive.