The Girl Who Quickly Wins a Husband.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9, 4 March 1905, Page 58

The Girl Who Quickly Wins a Husband.

USEFUL ADVICE FOR THE UNATTACHED GIRL. We are what Nature and training make us. To try and alter our disposition and settled habits would only make us appear unnatural and probably foolish.” This was the reply made, in the writer’s hearing, by a girl of eighteen to her mother when the latter bemoaned her daughter’s unattractiveness, and ventured the opinion that she would never secure a husband unless she altered her ways and manners very considerably. To a certain extent the girl was quite correct in her remark, although it was a rather unkind one, seeing that it reflected somewhat discreditably upon the mother. We are what Nature and training make us, but if we have not been well made and well trained, there is no reason whatever why we should not set about trying to improve ourselves. The girl who, like the one mentioned above, philosophically accepts what has been done for her. and concludes that she herself has no power to alter what she is, deserves every reproach. and will probably live and die an old maid. There are many such girls in this world. They see other girls who are pretty and well-cultured; who have excellent taste in dress, and are pleasing and fascinating in their ways and manners. But although they may envy such girls for a time, there seems no real desire on their part to copy them. Such neglect is rather foolish, for it is every girl’s duty to make the best of herself. Deep down in the bottom

of every girl’s heart is the thought that some day she may marry the man of her choice and live happy ever after. But she is not likely to realise this natural ambition if she does not take tile deepest interest in herself. There is comfort for the average girl in the fact that it is not always her pretty and accomplished sister who most quickly wins a husband. Men nowadays study girls from quite a different point of view. They are attracted more towards the quiet, useful girl, who proves herself indispensable at home, and in catering for the pleasures and wants of others. She may not be able to talk a great deal, her conversational powers being somewhat limited; but she pleases a man by being—what every girl can become —a good listener. The girl who would make herself attractive must not try to remedy all hei* defects at once. Neither should she take one girl whom she admires as a pattern and copy all she says and does. By doing so. she certainly will make herself appear unnatural, and perhaps foolish. The unattractive girl must first of all try to discover in what direction her faults lay. Perhaps she has no taste in dress. If so. she must find oult. by consulting friends and dressmakers, what styles best suit her. and keep to those styles, no matter what the fashions may be. Men are attracted far more towards the girl who is neatly dressed, rather than toward one who follows unsuitable fashions. Nature may not have endowed a girl with a pretty face or figure; but she

can improve upon Nature’s handiwork in this direction, by taking care of her health, thus securing a good complexion; eschewing habits which have a detrimental effect on the figure, and indulging in those exercises and recreations which add grace and beauty of form; there are ample facilities nowadays. In fact, no girl need be discouraged because Nature has been in any way unkind to her.

As a matter of fact, there is an infallible method by which any girl can counterbalance lack of beauty. This is by cultivating the mind, and proving herself to be a girl of common-sense. There is no girl a man likes to talk to so much as one who ean take an intelligent interest in all that concerns him. The girl who quickly wins a husband nowadays, is the one who is not only pleasing to the eye, but also pleasing to the mind. The butterfly girl has no real attractiveness for the seriousminded man of to-day. He may admire her appearance, and interest himself in her amusements for the time being; but he looks for more solid qualities than she possesses, in the woman he is to marry. It is really the praetieal-minded girl

to whom he is most quickly attracted —the one who, while taking a keen interest in herself, and exhibiting the hundred-and-one little feminine ways so dear to the heart of the man, shows that she could be relied upon to prove a good helping companion to the man she married. That is why the homely, useful girl stands a far better chance of marrying than her prettier or more accomplished sister.

A woman is invariably attractive in home life. She has been assigned a certain position in the home by Providence, and if she fills it as she is meant to do, she must ever be charming.

In your desire to be attractive, however, do not let your one anxiety be to please men. The more unconscious a girl appears of the existence of the opposite sex, the more eager man will be to claim her acquaintance. Many girls spoil their matrimonial chances by showing themselves too eager to win a man’s admiration. The latter cannot fail to see the motive which underlies the conduct of such a girl, the result being, of course, that she at once cheapens herself in his estimation.