MATRIMONY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 11, 13 January 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

MATRIMONY.

PLAIN GIRLS UNHAMPERED. CHARM OF TEMPERAMENT. (By WAI/TER M. GALLICHAN.) It is a common view that tie matrimonial chances for a .pretty girl are very much higher than those of a plainfeatured girl. Good looks arc said to be a woman's most valuable heritage. People remark concerning an attractive girl, "Sh© is sure to marry young and advantageously, because she is eo pretty." Everyday opinions are not always accurate. The plain girl stands as fair a chance of happy marriage as her comely sister. Many idolised wives are not good-looking, and some are actually ill-favoured, at is true that many men see , *. Deauty first; but it is not true of ajl men. Love and Snub Noses. ■ Fortunately there is no fixed standard of feminine charm. Love is more or less blind to physical imperfections and men have considerable powers of idealisation when they love. If the object of their adoration has a snub nose they persuade themselves that this trifling defect is counter-balanced by a pair of tender and expressive grey eyes, or they believe that snub noses denote kindness of disposition and a sense of humour.

A wise philosopher has asserted that no man in love can be critical of the loved one's form and features. If aesthetic considerations entirely actuated moat men in the choice of a wife, we should note a very marked fall in the marriage rate.

The plain girl who despairs of winning men's love and admiration usually frets her soul unnecessarily. She has many points in her favour. Some men positively prefer women who are not handsome. Rightly or wrongly they have a theory that pretty women tend to be more exacting, and less affectionate and good-tempered than plain women. There is no doubt that girls who are deficient in external attractions are very frequently endowed with powerful charm of personality. Many women geniuses have been plain in countenance. Many poets have inscribed passionate odes to plain, but mentally irresistible women.

Sour, Plain Girls. A sagacious thinker once remarked: "I never meet a pretty woman who is also clever, but I realise she would be much-cleverer if she were less pretty." The fact is, unattractive girls are more likely to cultivate grace of character, charm of mind, and sweetness of manner than their good-looking sisters. I grant that some plain girls become sour in temper and suffer impairment of such facial attraction as they possess, through incessant regret that they are not beautiful. On the other hand, the lovely girl, secure in the consciousness of her loveliness, often tends to neglect the deeper and more abiding charms of a kindly, unselfish heart and an intelligent mind.

With the growth of education men are gradually learning the advantage of marrying intelligent, capable women. If we look around among the circle of our acquaintances we shall see that many good-looking girls are without devoted lovers and are in danger of being "shelved." The possession of beauty of face and form is by no means an unerring talisman. Many old maids, who have abandoned all hope of wedlock, were once handsome damsels. Many. contented wives were formerly regarded as very unlikely candidates for matrimony. Born Flirts. I believe that my sex is becoming lese insistent, in the main, upon beauty as the sole or principal attraction in the choice of a life-mate. One reason may be that young men reflect upon the tendency of pretty women to coquetry. No man feels quite sure of , a born flirt, and the vast majority of men shrink from the pangs of jealousy. A handsome wife is more exposed to temptation to flirt than a plain wife. She is certain to have admirers. I am not suggesting that beautiful women do not and cannot love with constancy; but I recognise their risks in married life. It is significant that artists, whose feeling and vision are trained to discern beauty of line and colour, frequently select as models women with features below the conventional standard of loveliness. This should bo a, consolation to all girls who rate themselves as plain. Such choice proves that painters dp not find, their strongest appeal in mere prettinees. They seek for that rarer beauty imported to the countenance from without, for the loveliness that expresses subtlety and a grace of the spirit. Such charm is frequently apparent upon feminine features that are deemed plain by the mere casual spectator. Every lover is something of an artist. His eyes are discerning, and they discover beauties that the unmoved gazer misses. The tender glow of loving eyes from a plain countenance, the expression of sympathy, the kindling of a happy smile—these are the lover's manifestations of an appealing charm. By signs read by lovers alone, he knows that the imperishable beauty of soul shines in the face of the beloved. Heart and Brain. The clever, sprightly, sympathetic, plain girl has a great advantage over the insipid, unemotional belle who is admired by all. Many men have jilted cold beauties, and fallen passionately in love with plain and more endurably attractive women. Loveliness is not the superficial lure of fine eyes, a well-curved mouth and Ci'assic lineament. It is the expression of that internal "■race of heart and brain that often lend real beauty to a face that seems to lack prettiness.