CHAPTER VIII. “LADY BEAUTY.

The following is quoted, verbatim, from an English novel entitled, “Lady Beauty; or, Charming to Her Latest Day.” As it bears upon this subject, and many may not have read the book, I copy some parts.

“You will find that your own enjoyment is heightened by the consciousness of power to please others.... Let this ever be in your mind: ‘I am a creature formed to give pleasure.’ Be courteous, be gentle, be refined, be sweet in all your dealings. Never lose your temper: it ruins the face; and it always leaves a disagreeable impression which nothing rubs out. Depend upon it, men may respect those creatures who are called women of character, which generally means women who perform awkwardly duties which with a little thought they might perform in a charming way: men may respect them, but when they want enjoyment they turn to women who study the art of pleasing. Now, what I want to teach you is, to be solid and pleasing too. Believe me a woman is seldom called upon to do anything which she may not do in an agreeable style if she will only take pains.... Never disarrange for an instant the drapery of pleasantness which a woman ought always to wear: keep it on you even for your husbands.... Be agreeable even when you are alone with your looking-glass. Please everybody as far as you can. Study morning, noon, and night to be agreeable.

“Don’t expect too much of men and women, and you will learn to be good-humored over their selfishness and hypocrisy.

“Learned talk is very affected. Be as well-educated as you please, but don’t seem so.

“She had a frank, spontaneous sympathy with life all around and in every part, such as I never met in any one beside herself. By reason of this virtue she was always interested in what was going on, and the very quality which subdued her individuality in one way made her character fresh and delightful in another. She resolved to charm others with happiness and goodness in view, not mere society conquests.... She used worldly methods for most unworldly means. The polish, the graces, the social attractions, the accomplishments, literature, and wit, which some despise, she used as the very material out of which her noble purpose must be woven.... In the secret interior of her intentions she was truly devoted, trying by the spell of a beautiful womanhood to make those with whom she lived better and happier.

“‘Tell me about it,’ she whispers, oh so low, so deliciously. She meant, ‘Anything you say will be sweet to hear.’

“Too womanly for coquetry or coyness, she gave her answer at once.

“Warmth, purity, tenderness, principle, all the finer parts of character were hers.... Her face was beautiful because it was the image of the soul.

“It is a good maxim: ‘Never really be angry.’

“To the opposite, her sister relied on her beauty for a place among her sex, and was at no pains to cultivate conversation, letters, or any branch of the art of pleasing except the setting forth of her personal charms. Had her manner and her talk been what she might easily have made them, she would have shone out as a beauty in the prime of her womanhood. She had no lack of sense nor of education, either; but proudly reposing on her incontestable loveliness, she rather withdrew than put forward her attractions.

“I wish to convince women that it is a great mistake on their part to suppose that their power to please departs with youth. At all times I have noticed that men of sense seldom admire--or grow enamored of--women for beauty alone, but for character, manner, taste, and conversation. Now, while beauty, we must admit, lessens with time, character, manner, taste, and conversation may each be refined and enriched.... Mere beauty is but one bright unchanging beam: it will even grow wearisome; but wit, sense, courtesy, and humanity are forever casting forth new and unexpected rays and enlivening intercourse with agreeable surprises.

“She was the best dresser I ever knew. Her appearance pleased numbers of people before they saw her face.... She managed through all the changes of fashion to respect herself and her own figure and face: in the fashion she would always be; but still she would modulate it so as to be the queen and not the slave.

“Her manners in society were captivating. With what graceful attention she heard what you had to say. How modestly she gave her own opinion.... She tried to please. She knew that a woman ought to be an object of admiration and affection, and she ruled her whole life with a view to this fact. Her religion gave a richness, a sweetness, a seriousness to all her charms.

“You will laugh when I tell you that Lady Beauty at the age of fifty-three had a new lover.”

“BEAUTY RULES.”

“Rule One.--A woman’s power in the world is measured by her power to please. Whatever she will wish to accomplish, she will manage it best by pleasing. A woman’s grand social aim should be to please.

“Rule Two.--Modesty is the ground on which all a woman’s charms appear to the best advantage. In manner, dress, conversation, remember always that modesty must not be forgotten.... Not prudery. Modesty is of the soul. Prudery is on the surface.

“Rule Three.--So the woman’s aim is to please, and modesty is the first principle.

“Rule Four.--Always dress up to your age or a little beyond it. Let your face be the youngest thing about you, not the oldest.

“Rule Five.--Remember that what women admire in themselves is seldom what men admire in them.

“Rule Six.--Women’s beauties are seldom men’s beauties.

“Rule Seven.--Gayety tempered by seriousness is the happiest manner in society.

“Rule Eight.--Always speak low.

“Rule Nine.--A plain woman can never be pretty. She can always be fascinating if she takes pains. I remember well a man who was a great admirer of our sex telling me that one of the most fascinating women he ever knew was not only not pretty, but as to her face decidedly plain. ‘Her figure,’ he said, ‘was neat, her dressing faultless, her every movement graceful; her conversation was clever and animated, and she always tried to please. She was one of the most acceptable women in society I ever knew. She married brilliantly.

“Rule Ten.--Every year a woman lives, the more pains she must take with her dress.

“Rule Eleven.--In all things, let a woman ask what will please a man of sense before she asks what will please the men of fashion. You see, if a woman lives for the commendation of men of fashion, she will, if pretty, piquant, or what not, have a reign of ten years. But if she remembers that she has charms of mind and character and taste, as well as charms of figure and complexion, the men of sense will follow her for a half century; and in the long run the men of fashion will be led by the men of sense.

“I have often asked myself, ‘What is the secret of her character?’ and I have always come to the same conclusion: that if her religious faith were deducted from her, she would not be what she is, but must become a less agreeable and not so good a woman.”