LADIES' COLUMN.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXI, Issue 12637, 25 March 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

CULTIVATE A-SWEET VOICE.

There is no power of life st> hai'd to keep as a kind voice, but it is hard to get it/and keep it- in the right tone. One must start in youth, and be on the watch night and day, : while at work and while at play, to get and keep a voice which shall speak at all times the thought of a kind heart. But this is -the.time Then a sharp voice ; is more apt to be acquired. You often-hear boys and girls say words at play with a quick sharp tone almost like the snap of *i whip. If any of them gets vexed you hoara voice which sounds as if it were, madeup of a snarl, a'Snap, and a bark. . / --Such-a. voice-ofteirspeaks .worse than-the heart feels. It shows more ill-will, in tone, than- in words. It is often in mirth that one gets a voice or 'a tone which is sharp,, and "which sticks to him through life, and: stirs up ill-will and grief, and falls like a.'drop of gall on the listener. Some people have a sharp home voice for use, and keeji. their best voice for .those they meet elsewhere. We would say to all girls and"bojjs., —' Use- your best voice at home: Watch, it' by day as a pearl of great price, for it will be worth more to you in the day's to come than the best pearl hid in the sea.' : A kind voice is a lark's song to heart and home.

THE TROUBLES OF A PRETTY GIRL. Diogenes, with his lantern, see# ing an hohest man in a corrupt- community, had an easy task, writes Helen Oldfield m the "Chicago ppmpared with one who should search for a woman tp .refuse■ the gift: of great beauty were it hers foi the choosing, "fatal dower" though it be. ... :•

Mdnie. De Stael, with the brilliant intellect which made Iher a power in Europe, so that even the. greaet .Napolon feared her, mourned "bitterly " that the fates, so !avish with, mental gifts, had refused her •harms of person as well; and Queen ■Elizabeth",' for all her wit TKlsdom was . a veritable fool in her'craving for admiration of the beauty which did notiexist, but whidh all who. desired to please her were forced; to- concede and extol. Yet history teaches us no..plainer lesson than that the crown of beauty is a thorny one 7; the gtcat beauties of the world have rare!v been happy "women. Undoubtedly a beautiful maid is a cheering sight to see," as well as a pleasant one, yet the passably pretty girl is usually more fortunate in the long run than she is who is dazzlingly beautiful, while in many Tespects the plain woman often fares better than either. _ .

In the first place, great beauty renders its possessor unpleasantly conspicuous. Wherever she goes all .eyes are upon her,; and her-beauty, lik§ tp§ faigous "blue china," is difficult to "live up to." If oreat wealth go with the marvellous beauty, the'woman' thus richly dowered may have an easy time. Still, life is made: up of compensations, and great belles, for someoccult reason, ntrely make happy marriages. There is no apparent safety in a multitude of suitors." When" the beauty belongs to the lower .walks of life, her/lovely face may prove her greatest misfortune. ; Temptation assails her on every side, and her beauty is actually an obstacle to her earning an honest liviDg. While merely good-look-ing girls, for example, are desirable as .shop girls, strikingly beautiful ones are . objected, to -by--all -feßt-.i?°nfe<;tjonßrsr W&' want girls to sell goods,- not- for show. ; Girls who are too-pretty think too much: of themselves and too little of their business," says the managero f a large department store. There is always room for the strikingly pretty girl on the stage, {jut grains must go with the beautiful face in order to assure success, and even then, the pitfalls along the' way are many, and terrible. ;

It is difficult for. a beautiful woman to escape being spotted; vanity and- selfishness are taught her so soon as to be almost her birthright. From the time when the pretty baby attracts general attention on the street her face is her fortune, and she expects admiration as her due. . Men es-. pecially forgiy§ Iher most things because of her beautv", and ghe learng' to -.be vpgrfc and overbearing^ - Her exactions, her caJprices, her actual ill-humour are all "pretty Fanny's wayso long as' she coqtjmies to be pretty. Her plainer sister is taught, to be useful and to make the most of whatever talen|s .'she may ppssess, but the ; Beauty, Big B, accomplishes her end in life 1 if 'sjie" acquires a few. suriwe attainments to''fe&ble her to shinej in society.' ' Sjig 'has only to swdlg look diiarining; as she listens her admirers are content. But, alas, and alack-a-day! her eggs are all in one basket,' and some time, sooner or later, that basket issure to be upsef. . ■ ■ Beauty is proverbially perishable. Sometimes it is blighted by one fell, stroke,' as a rose by untimely frost, and when that mischance is spared the, rose must surely fade with time. It is a singular fact that few great beautiea iinderstand the art of growing old gracefully. Among : the saddest sights gp earth is that of a woman striving vainly to hold on to _ her vanishing beauty and youth ; struggling to -repair the ravages of time, the thief,. with t-paint and powder, and wearing garments which only serve as a travgsty of yonth- In many respects the nqerely gopd-lookipg gnrl has really the best time, although ' She seldom, if ever, is aware of the fact, and usually envies her ovpn pretty sister,: especially when she sees her own Jack looking at that sister with admiration written large in his eyes. The girl who has no great beauty to live up to need not worrk unduly over her dress, so long as it is passably pretty and*becoming. A freckle more, or less is not a dire misfortune, nor a pimple "sufficient cause for seclusion in her chamber under plea of illness. _. She knows always that she. can pass in the, crowd without attracting comment oneway or the other, and if she is sensible-she does her best to be clever, by which means she often .succeeds in being so entertaining that even when she has. no claim to. good looks she is more sought after and admired than women with ten times her personal attractions. /; . ysr "So'that is Miss Blank!" exclaimed a stranger at the first sight of a woman who possessed an inter-State reputation for her social charm. • " Why, she is actually homely!" " Yes," . was the answer, " I suppose she is, but wait till you hear her talk. No one who knows Iher ever thicks of hey looks.. Her friends all call her the charmer." The beauty who would be happy must for.cet that she is beautiful, and endeavour to live as though she were plain, while the wise mother of a pretty girl will rigidly exact that she add graces of_ mind to these of person, and so become indeed the perfect woman nobly planned." -