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"A cheerful temper joined with innocence, will make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful, and wit good-natured." ADDISON

BEAUTY without spiritual fortifications is ephemeral. When its first bloom has faded and there remains no other charm to cover its evanescent attractions, then the woman who has been only beautiful to look upon is much more to be pitied than the plain woman who has never experienced the sweets of admiration, and who will therefore never feel the pangs of such a loss—a loss that wrings the hearts of some women with the keenest pain they ever suffer.

Who has not seen the face of a beautiful but fractious child change, in a spasm of anger, from the features of an angel to those of a veritable little fiend? Possibly the latter expression remains but a moment, which augurs well, since it indicates only a quick temper that is as quickly subdued by an otherwise naturally sweet disposition. The tiny face is soon all smiles again, but the wise mother will not neglect to try, gently though firmly, to uproot this single weed in her little one’s heart. Doubly difficult will be her task, and all the more earnest must be her endeavor, if, when the first hot burst of wrath is over, a frown remains, lips pout, eyes are averted and

attitudes are sullen. If these traits are not overcome, they will soon begin to grave lines upon the baby features, which, when manhood or womanhood is reached, stand as disfiguring tell-tales of a deformed disposition upon which the beauty of the fair face will sooner or later wrecked.

The trite old saying, "Just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined," applies as often to one result of youthful training as to another. A child with a naturally sweet disposition may grow up with it distorted out of every semblance of goodness by a mistaken management of its first young impulses; while a child of a stormy temperament may be so wisely guided that every gust of anger may be quelled at its first threatening breeze, every vicious tendency crushed, and the child finally enter the great field of life endowed with qualities that endear it to all and make its fairness beautiful, its beauty lovely.

At the threshold of maturity stand many, both with and without "a pleasing countenance," which Ovid considers no slight advantage"; and also with defects of character or disposition which are present from a lack of proper discipline in youth, or because the possessors belonged, during that period, to the class of incorrigibles whom only the wisdom of years can bring to a realizing sense of their deficiencies. These unfortunates, for unfortunates they are, should take a rigid inventory of such defects and immediately set about subduing, overcoming, totally eradicating these obstructions which prevent the beauty of the mind and heart from forming a permanent and luminous background for the fair seal Nature may have set upon the face.

Cheerfulness is the light of the countenance and,

under ordinary circumstances, arises from a love free from jealousies, an enjoyment of one’s possessions with no envy of another’s happiness or success, and that kindness of heart which holds a charity for all who need it, which knows no selfishness, which has the moral courage to uphold by practice its own convictions of right, which shuts its doors to pride, vanity and conceit, and bolts and bars them and its windows when vice, slander and all kindred tempters come to lay their snares within its gates. It is a strong heart that can resist these assailants, but such a heart transforms even a plain face and glorifies it beyond all outer beauty.

The ethics of beauty and society are in some respects so closely allied, that one cannot be discussed without allusion to the other. She who is lovely must also be well bred, and she becomes the latter through the refining processes which make her the former. In her society one feels at ease; has no distrust born of a whispered hint that "she is deceitful " does not fear that her words will be distorted from their proper meanings and repeated with the intention of wounding the unfortunate listener; is not fearful that some patronizing or insulting idea will be dipped into the honey of social politeness, and, with a rudeness which the polish of conventionality cannot conceal, offered to her, and which unpleasant morsel she must, through the same politeness, take and show no distaste for; knows that she will meet with warm hospitality, sincere sympathy in her afflictions, generosity to her appeals, frankness in affairs of mutual interest and universal kindness and sweetness in all the little encounters of wit or argument which brighten up otherwise dull and monotonous conversations.

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A woman with all these virtues may be hard to find, but she can be found; and more, given a moderate amount of intelligence and common sense, a woman can, if she will, turn her undisciplined disposition and ,mind into these very channels and, though it may cost her time, take her place as one of the loveliest of her sex.

Having cleared out the dark corners of the heart and let in the sunshine of cheerfulness, thus chasing all shadows from the face, the wise woman who wishes for perpetual loveliness will then seek an attractive setting for the mind. The latter may be a gem in the rough but susceptible of a high polish; or it may be a jewel which attracts not from its flashes, but through a steady glow, a refulgence that ever cheers, never wearies. Be it what it may, it should be developed to the highest degree made possible by circumstances, for when outward beauty has faded and age or other causes have retired a woman from the general society in which her charms of disposition have made her beloved, she will still be able to hold in bondage, by the rich resources of her mind, those friends whose privilege it is to visit her within the seclusion of the home she has ever made happy by her loveliness of character and beauty of intellect.

If more women whose minds are really receptive but indolent and indifferent as well, would cultivate them by reading the beautiful thoughts of superior minds, their faces would unconsciously reflect the beauty of these thoughts and the new intelligence their absorption develops, the soul would begin to shine from their eyes, am an intellectual graciousness would take the place of the apathetic expression born of unawakened interest in aught save dress, which mars the otherwise perfect face

of numberless women. Cultivation of the mind and the study of art in its different branches cannot be too strongly urged upon the girl or woman who desires to be beautiful. It is true that often her acquirements in these respects will fall upon the barren ground of unappreciation from the person or persons she cares most to please; but the world is wide, and it is not one individual nor two Or three who are to derive pleasure from her society, but hosts. Besides, many an instance is on record where an unmindful husband or family have awakened, and rubbed their eyes over the fact, that cultivated men and women had discovered great charms and attractions in an unappreciated wife or "an ugly duckling" of a daughter.

Let the readers of this book take heart, for with the help it is intended to give, there is no woman who may not, if she will, simultaneously increase her charms and her chances of earthly happiness.

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