THE ART OF SMILING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9214, 18 April 1908, Page 3

THE ART OF SMILING.

(" The Lady." .) What charm is in a smile I But what a rarity in these- days! Many of us, especially women, \ have lost the art. We have smiled so much and so often to order, from a sense of duty, that the proper way of smiling is in a fair way of being forgotten. For a smile, to be worth anything, must not be incessant. The smile of Society, of the woman who has to wear it till it becomes habitual, is totally devoid of charm. It has to be the same for everybody. One often pities the hostess who must keep it on for a whole evening, even for whole days., at a time. This kind of smile has no more meaning than a mask, and it is the commonest. And girls in society who are what is called bright, animated, sparkling — what do they 1 know of smiles? It is when the sun j breaks out from a cloudy sky that the heavens smile; it is the smile upon a grave and tender face that counts, that is irresistible. This is the reason that the demure little mouse often gets I loved, while the brilliant woman of the world has to put up with admiration. " Have you seen her smile?" We hear a mian accounting for his choice by some remark like this.

A pleasant smile, ,not incessant, but ready, is a gift of the gods, almost as much as beauty or a pleasing voice. There are features that do not lend themselves readily to smiles, which ia unlucky for their owners, yet plain faces can do wonders 1 sometimes in the way of smiling when eyes and the general play of feature help. A plain face that a smile irradiates can at moments become fascinating. Expression may change a countenance beyond; recognition. The true smile has so much of spirit and so little of matter about it that it can never be photographed (you may phtograph a grin, but not a smile), and nothing is more difficult to paint. A smile can be smiled while the lips are grave; this is the highest art of smiling.

The rainbow smile is the smile of the poets. " With a smile on her lip and a tear in her eye," says Scott. Ims brings before you the kind of heroine he loved, sweet-natured, brave, tender, sympathetic. The smile oi sympathy is sweet: when in conversation a word; is said, a meaning grasped, a shade of feeling understood. How welcome, then, the answering smile ! It may flash from tho face of a stranger. A smile of this sort may sow a sudden seed of love. One of the most beautiful smiles in the world is the smile of compassion ; quite different is the smile of happiness. The smile that passes between a mother and her little child, or between two people of either sex who love each other, how exquisite are these I They are beyond words. A writer in the " World " remarks how useful is a smile ! There is a smile that is a passport, " that fascinates women, that will coax the most severe, that will soften tempers, that will secure favours here and service there, and go twice as far as a tip or a command." This is the kind of smile that can be described as heaven-sent. It cannot be achieved by art, but is the outcome of a sweet and sunny nature.