CULT OF BEAUTY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20363, 21 July 1934, Page 26 (Supplement)

CULT OF BEAUTY.

“ Know Thyself ” and Keep Young.

mind and body. (Bj A BEiUTY SPECIALIST.) Negative thoughts are the withered blossoms of this world, and the woman who seeks them find neither beauty nor youth. The ?aek of self-knowledge makes a woman old. Unless she heeds the admonition, “know thyself,” she is sure to allow negative conditions to creep into her life. And to be negative is to grow old. Women spend a lot of money in “beauty parlours.” That is all right so far as it goes. It is im-

portant for a woman to be well groomed. The well-kept hair and skin and hands, the girlish figure, make for youth, but they are merely external, and age, like beauty, comes from within. Woman is composed of a wonderful trinity—body, mind and spirit. Take away the mind from a most beautiful woman and her loveliness flees. Spirit is the highest of the trinity, and therefore the most important—if you would not grow old. The Greatest Enemies of Youth. Do we not all know women who have worked strenuously not to grow old and yet who have not touched the crux of the matter? They have beautifully dyed hair, faces from which every wrinkle has been massaged, figures that have been kept lovely with Turkish baths and exercise, and yet they remind us of nothing so much as a fine old painting. Why? Because they are merely well preserved. So is a mummy well preserved! To l>e young i* not to be only well preserved —like a fly in amber—but to be constantly renewed like a growing plant. Selfishness is one of the greatest enemies of youth. The self-centred woman is so negative and 6o far from self-knowledge that she is always complaining that everyone else is selfish. Selfishness cuts us off from our fellows and destroys our interests in life. It is a .terrible hastencr of old age. Another negative is criticism, which includes sarcasm. The «neer is the devil's laugh. The woman who would avoid old age should spurn criticism as she would shun the plague, for criticism carves old and ugly lines in a woman’s face and causes the corners of her mouth to droop, and although she may be perfectly preserved in other ways, those hard gnd ugly lines mark and mar her. Jealousy, another negative, makes a woman old. The woman who is always saying liow terrible the young girls are these days, and telling stories about them, is about to grow old rapidly. The woman who envies the wealthy social position, or the talent of another woman is courting old age rapidly. Tack of sympathy makes a woman old, especially a lack of sympathy with youth. Watch the woman who avoids children and hates animals. She is doomed to premature old age. Mental Conditions Affect Age. The habit of always looking backward, the proneness to remember ami tell ages, especially the ages of other women, small mindedness, a lack of

poise, indulgence in temper—all of these things make a woman look old and cause her to age. Furthermore, they destroy any charm she may have, and put her in a bad light vis a vis r men friends. Lack of love is negative, and causes women to age more than any other condition. That is one reason why unmarried ' women age quickly. To experience the softening influences of love makes for youth. It is therefore necessary for the unmarried woman to avoid negative conditions. She may give and receive love from her friends. Then there are the poor and needy who are always with us. Would you put off the day of old age, give of your love freely to a love-starved world. Life is very like a garden. 'What woman walking in a sweet and scented spot with fresh and beautiful blossoms all about her, would stoop to gather dead or faded flowers? Negative thoughts are the withered blossoms of this world, and the woman who seeks them will surely find what she is looking for. Moreover, she will as surely find old age. Women Say They Are Misunderstood. All women say they are misunderstood, but blondes have good reason to say so. They are so different from what they appear to be, and ,are treated accordingly. This is especially so of the treatment accorded them by men. When a man wants to meet a really nice girl, his instinct rarely leads him to start out by looking among the ranks of the blonde. He is prejudiced against them. If he only knew, the qualities for which he seeks are just £8 likely to be found

VAGARIES OF CHINA. China exhibitions have made china rather self-conscious just now, and everybody likes to possess in daily life something which adds to its colour and interest. Some of the most curious objects in china shows are those which imitate the object for which they are designed or which have some association with that object. There are, for instance, among the ‘‘pieces” at an exhibition usually some representing a bundle of asparagus, which is designed to hold the asparagus at table. Soup tureens sometimes indicate grotesque vegetables, and the china cabbage is well known. These correspond to something rather literal and childish in the human heart. How many lioueypots to-day, for instance, are made in the shape of a hive with a bee crawling up the top? How many jam pots have some indication of the fruit or at least a strawberry or a plum as a knob on the lid? There is a Hansel and Gretel suggestion about the china houses which maybe used for jam or cheese according to taste. While*these may be absurd, and while they may not follow the strict canons of taste, yet there is a quaint charm about them, which allows them to be tolerated even though only oil nursery or on cottage principles