Should Women Powder and Paint?

Free Lance, Volume XVIII, Issue 972, 13 March 1919, Page 22

Should Women Powder and Paint?

The Powdered Woman's Answer. AN"~entertaining correspondence lias been running through the <jolumns of an English contemporary •on this interesting question. The Killjoys, the Stigginses, and the antipowder section generally have been conducting a vigorous campaign .against the neat little vanity-box, without which many of the dear creatures would never dream of going abroad. But they have not had it all their own way—not by any means. One writer, to wit, Elizabeth Craig, takes up a very smart pen in defence of those of her sex who are not above administering a few touches of the powder-puff to a too-shiny nasal organ or a maiden's blush to pale cheeks, pallid from office •drudgery. Her effusion is addressed to a daring Mere Man. who, signing himself "One of Them/' went so far as to suggest a strike against the dear creatures ' who powder and paint. In answer she writes : — So there is going to be a _ strike against marriage if we don't bid farewell to the powder-puff and scent-bottle and all the other little aids to beauty every true daughter of Eve makes use I say "Pouf" and "Pouf" again to the daring husband who penned those words. I always thought such benedicts died out when khaki became the fashion. Yet, somehow, I feel that the London magistrate's dictum that a mftTt is not justified in leaving his wife because she powders and paints got "One of Them" on the raw. Not "be•cause she powders and paints,'' but because the powder and paint have been made another sign-post on the Road to Freedom. Most men hate to feel the bars of the marriage cage. I thought when I read this contributor's outburst that I could hear a great bay of whole-hearted laughter from our men in the firing line. And what they are saying, too, bless them. "Never mind the killjoys, ,my girl. You keep yourself as pretty as you can. I don't want to come back and find all the roses gone." , ' "The roses gone." There's the crux of the whole matter. The majority of the women of to-day are working so hard that they are in danger of losing their roses. For work and worry eat away beauty as cancer does a flower. You can't run with the war-hare and keep up with the beauty-hounds. "One of Them" forgets that the woman who simply lives a normal home life doesn't count just now. Because no woman has any business to be living ;a normal home life at the moment. The woman who counts is the unmarried and the married She may be •earning her living as in times of peace; she may be filling her husband's or her 'brother's shoes; she may be doing legitimate war-work, or helping in one of many great war organisations.- It matters not. She is a busy bee, and as such has a right to attire herself as she thinks fit. A touch of colour judiciously used, a dusting of powder, and just • a suspicion of perfume will transform a "You're-looking-a-very-war-worn woman" into a "How-fit-you-look, dear." And woman just simply wouldn't be woman if she didn't play for the last remark. The pity is that some go to •extremes. Some always will. But the others must not be catalogued with Widow Twankeys and held up to cheap ridicule as the result. It's like giving -» whole division C.B. because a private over-powdered his face after shaving. As for our march towards emancipation being to the music of more "coquetry and a taste for paint, powder, and perfume," well, what of it? No,. there's no middle way. , Either -we must tread the feininine path in the wake of Eve,, with our vanity-box in our hand-bag, and a come-hither look in our eyes ,or stride alongside Adam. Treated like a pal/, yes, perhaps-—but just until Miss _ Powder-puff comes along and wafts him along on clouds of scented chiffon. Get me, Mr. "One of Them?" Just aB a woman has a right to say whether her husband has a moustache or not, so a man has a right to complain if his wife turns herself into an artificial doll. But then no woman with any sense will do that. The wife of to-day ought to be an! adept in the art of making-up. She should be able "to camouflage so well that_ she merely enhances her own good points instead ■of trying to invent new-ones. And the man who kicks at footing the _ bills should be compelled to live in conjugal harness with a shiny-nosed wife who boxes his ears when he disagrees with her politics. I read somewhere of a youngster home from the Front who asked simply that he might be set down for ten days somewhere where he could hear constantly the swish of women's clothes. That was the voice of the universal hunger. Give me the man who, because of his manliness, loves all things feminine.

The man who, beauty-starved, lovestarred, wants us for what we are. daughters of Eve to the end of the chapter, glory be to Allah. The other man can go on strike till Doomsday. He won't be missed. Another writer, pursuing the same subject, also takes up the cudgels against the anti-powder brigade. She states: — Instead of abusing the ladies who powder, long-suffering men have the case in their own hands. If they do not approve of paint and powder, well, boycott those girls who use them. If they so dislike cosmetics and perfume, why, oh, .why, do they court them? Walk down a street in town; take a good look at most of the girls escorted by a man. Seventy-five per cent, of them have the little touch of powder, not to mention the sweet scent of violets. Xiook round at the ordinary social gathering. It is) not the girl in

the low-heeled shoes and the sensible frock, whose complexion is strictly treated to soap and water, that has all the admirers. No, it is quite the verse. The tricky flapper in the see-me-through blouse and the silk stockings generally has some young man paying her compliments, even though the damask, of her velvety cheek, rosy lips, and pearly ekin are bought at so much per box, with renovations in a handbag. Can you wonder at the girl in the sensible clothes coming to the next gathering with a touch of perfume and powder ?