The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX, No. 994, January 14, 1899Various
General
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX, No. 994, January 14, 1899
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
Yes--that is true, and I don't blame beauty a bit. Nevertheless ladies
who are not gifted with this great glory, prim, demure women, with
prim, demure ways, may look sadly sour and say, “That Miss So-and-so
thinks she is entrancing, and maybe she is good-looking after a
fashion, but I feel sure she spends quite a deal of her time indoors
attitudinising and gavotting before the looking-glass, and she can't
pass a shop window without using it as a mirror to note how she looks.”
Well, for the life of me I cannot see any harm in Miss So-and-so's
turning a shop window into a mirror if she chooses. Her mind is thus
satisfied. That dress does hang nicely, and she carries herself well in
it.
As to Miss So-and-so spending some time before the mirror at home,
the Misses Prim can only be reasoning from analogy. They themselves
doubtless do the same, but it is as a forlorn hope and in order to see
if there be anything about their faces and figures analogous to beauty.
But Miss So-and-so is right again. What are mirrors made for, I wonder,
if not to study before, to study attitude, the set of the head, the
proper use of lips and eyes, and the contour of the neck. Indeed,
indeed, I'm all on beauty's side.
But in this, as in all other matters, there is a danger of over-doing
it. It is quite proper to assure yourself that you look your best, but
it is unwise to think too much of the matter, or to allow yourself to
become a piece of human vanity.
EVERY WOMAN HAS A MISSION.
I should be sorry indeed to speak disparagingly about the Misses Prim.
There are a great many of them in this world, and they can do much to
make the world better and happier. That is their mission. Some fulfil
it, some don't. Some want to die right off the reel because nature
has made them somewhat angular and gray and has, in fact, denied them
beauty. They become sour in temper and sharp in tongue because of envy.
Ah, but just see the happiness they could shed abroad among others were
they only cheerful and always willing to assist their neighbours with
good sound, solid advice. And this happiness would come back to their
own hearts and take up its abode there, so that blessedness should
shine in their faces. Women of this description ought to dress very
neatly but not gaily. They often have good figures, and these may be
attired to advantage without their making any attempt at dressing to
kill, which would obviously be somewhat ridiculous. They should be neat
also in hands and feet and hair, the arrangement of which lends itself
to much that is artistic and beautiful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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