COMPLIMENTARY WOMEN

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 15

COMPLIMENTARY WOMEN

MOTHER'S NEED OF ENCOURAGEMENT.

Men seldom realise that women need compliments as flowers need sunshine, writes Anna Bell in the London "Evening News." They can get along without them, as plants can bloom' in the shade1 of a tree—but the blossoms are poor stunted things, and the woman who is not complimented is unhappy and only a; shadow of what she might be. Any compliment is better than none; but the discriminating woman sees through the artificial compliment while she enjoys it, Some women prefer to be complimented on their brains—especially, pretty women, whose good looks are so obvious that any fool can recognise them. It is a poor payer of compliments who sees only what everyone else sees. Good looks do not by any means imply, a lack of wits, as som« "plain Janes" jealously assert. Otlrer women like to be complimented on their husband, or their house or their garden. Such compliments are a tribute to the discrimination and laste. A spotless and beautiful house, a garden that has entailed forethought and any amount of toil, is a piece of artistry as dear to the heart of its creator as any picture to a painter. Many women lest relish being complimented on their children. A healthy, intelligent, and nice-mannered child is a mother's work of art, comprising more talent, patience, and pains than any academy masterpiece. It is so much easier to be a lazy and slovenly mother, as one realises, alas, when one thinks.of the unpleasant children one knows. No woman rrrn of woman yet took amiss the compliment that compared her to a prominent actress. But equally universal 1? woman's pleasure at being complimsnted o;i her clothes. Every woman ieels that her clothes are so peculiarly an ov^ression of just her own "line" and features and individuality, the fruit of so much thought and care, that a recognition of the delicacy and accuracy of her perceptions never fails to' please her.