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THE possessor of a valuable article of vertu, a gem, a fine engraving or some priceless painting, guards and protects his treasure with zealous care from the rough touches of Time or vandals. She who would preserve her beauty, the most prized of all the endowments of Nature, must be even more vigilant still, so many and insidious are the attacks made upon it by Time, conditions of mind, circumstances and the tendencies of the disposition.

Time is relentless and graves his lines upon fair faces as well as plain ones. The wiles of beauty do not tempt him into a forgetfulness of his mission, and as the years roll by he adds for each a little touch here, a hint there to remind all that he is eternal and merciless. It rests with a beauty whether or not she will assist in the line making, or by a rational management of the emotional part of her nature, hold some of the evidences of his inroads in check.

A sculptor sometimes moulds plastic clay into the semblance of a face, and then, as the subject requires or his mood inspires him, he wreaths the lips with smiles, puts a mischievous dimple in the cheek, tnd arches the brows in merry laughter; or he fashions the lips into the drooping curve of grief, or distends the nostril in mimic anger and corrugates the brow with frowns, The clay

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hardens, the lines remain, the expression is fixed. All the ages cannot change it. Yet, before time had irrevocably set these lines upon that plastic face, the sculptor could have changed them all. The face itself is powerless for it belongs to a lump of soulless clay. It is passive. What a lesson may be learned from this illustration! Does it not signify that a woman may be but passive clay when she fails to respond to that soul within her which enables her to so mould her own life and nature that Time will fail to establish on her face aught but his own unavoidable traces? If then she remains passive and allows an undisciplined and perverted nature to become the sculptor who shall work hand in hand with Time, is she not more deserving of censure than pity when she meets the scowling reflection of her own face with a tirade against the misfortunes or griefs that have made her look hideous to herself and unattractive to her friends? It would be folly to assert that she could have avoided all of her misfortunes or that some of her griefs were not real.

but when rain falls upon the earth the clouds do not ever after hang as a pall over it. They disperse, scud away before the gentle breezes and melt in the glow of the sun whose rays have made for them a golden lining. It is true that into some lives there come storms whose traces cannot be wholly obliterated, but they need not be left as they were when the tempest first subsided. It is one’s duty to one’s friends and to one’s self to respond to the sympathy offered by showing that the sunshine of cheerfulness is not all spent, but can and will shine through

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that gloom of countenance which is such an enemy to the charm of a pretty face.

A pensive expression, indicative only of noble and tranquil thoughts, beautifies a face and leaves upon it no traces to be deplored. But when meditation becomes brooding, and the subject thought arouses all the viciousness of an undisciplined mind, the face becomes the plastic clay on which every emotion is faithfully pictured, and if the brooding resolves into a habit, its results also become fixed. To an observer in this direction a sea of faces is simply a panorama of indelibly portrayed emotions. Look at the drooping corners of that woman’s lips! She either has a sullen or a revengeful disposition, and indulges too much in retrospection over injuries

received or possibly only fancied, or she incorporates into her introspections plans for retaliation which contain all the concealed venom of a cruel disposition. Here is another who cannot or will not lay aside her griefs, and her face is being forced into dolorous lines which depress all who see her and sometimes subject her to the scathing criticism that she tries to "work upon your sympathy." Look at that mouth yonder! Surely in infancy no such compression of the lips appeared. It was only as the child grew older, and a strong will, with a determination to maintain it, asserted itself, that the lips began to draw tightly over the teeth on every provocation, until now that is their constant position—one which fully discloses the defect in the disposition which was not properly weeded out in youth. Often on the foreheads of young faces will be seen vertical lines. These deepen as youth advances. They may result from concentration of thought or possibly from a sour or perverted disposition,

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and as a rule the lines about the mouth will infallibly settle the doubt; for if these latter are the drooping lines

belonging to a morbid disposition, it is safe to conclude that the lines of the forehead are in close kinship. In either event they should not be permitted to come. A scowling face which results from temper can and should be smoothed into cheerfulness by the will; while the habit of unconsciously frowning while intent on books or work, should be broken before it becomes fixed, or corrected as far as possible when it has stolen itself into permanency.

Superciliousness and self-satisfaction are generally acquired traits, as disagreeable as they are foolish; and if manner does not betray their presence, the face will. They stamp themselves on the features and are red signals to all close observers, to keep at a distance or run the risk of being crushed. Superciliousness sometimes gives to the brows almost the same curve as does the delight or wonder of people of weak intellect. Both have a tendency to raise the brows and corrugate in corresponding curves the surface of the forehead. There also appears about the mouth something which cannot be described, but is a disfiguring expression that is both seen and felt, and comes from certain "lofty "thoughts which cannot be called noble since they are simply the precipitations of self.conceit. Crush the latter, and the face will fall into normal and pleasing lines; foster it, and the features will become marked with repellant lines which nullify all their other charms.

Self-satisfaction, another form of conceit, comes to the surface in a smirk, which says more plainly than the tongue would dare to utter, "See how pleasing I am in

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the sight of all beholders. Everything I have is finer than theirs, much nicer than yours, superior to anything else that might be obtained. These are my houses and lands, and none are so broad and grand as they." That smirk acts upon a sensitive person much as would a dose of nauseating medicine or a dash of icy water, and by and by it aggravates all who encounter it into a mental blindness to any good quality that may exist behind it.

Envy and jealousy, unless trampled into subjection, will also set their seal upon the countenance. The eyes are the indicators of their existence within the mind, and through these "windows of the soul " the world peers in and makes a public note of these failings to which the heart is prone. The tactless, not satisfied with the glimpse, must needs stir the smouldering fire till it leaps forth and temporarily transforms a human being into a demon; and sometimes great mischief results. Every time the ideal lines of the face are distorted, and at each recurrence of passion the traces grow more difficult to remove, until finally they remain, and the face becomes a map of the dominant emotions of the heart.

Is it not worth the while of every woman who reads this with earnestness equal to that with which it is written, to analyze without mercy to herself the governing traits of her disposition; and if they are those which will sooner or later reveal themselves on her face, as they are sure to do, is it not more than worth her while to keep them under subjection, even though it is impossible for her to uproot them? Such a course may be a species of deceit, but it is of a character to be commended, since by it no one will suffer and every one will benefit—most

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of all she who has to struggle for mastery with all these foes of beauty.

Incidentally, grimacing may here be mentioned as productive of displeasing effects, both temporary and permanent. Just why it should seem necessary to some people to accentuate what they are saying by a pursing up of the lips, an elevating of the eyebrows, an indescribable motion of the nose, a squinting of the eyes or a total distortion of every feature possible, cannot be explained. It does not make more expressive a pertinent or humorous remark, but to a certain extent places the feature contortionist of private life on a level, in principle, with the clown who grimaces for money and the amusement of the public. Just as ennobling occupations idealize the features, so do these inane contortions lessen their intellectuality, so that in time " clown" is stamped on them as surely as if the face were clay and the sculptor had formed it so.

It is a well-known fact that vocations long continued become indexed upon the face. Noble thoughts and sentiments also leave their impress. The arts, especially music, are most powerful agents in refining and ennobling the countenance. Music arouses such a variety of emotions, each one of which is depicted by the features, that a face moulded under its influences becomes an embodiment of ideality in and mobility of expression, even though Nature may have so fashioned it that to a casual observer it is exceedingly plain.

Keep the gates to the avenues of thought closed to all transgressors like melancholy or moodiness—each a disease of the mind based upon ego, and to be cured by the interruption which leads one to forget his own troubles in

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helping others bear their burdens, or by mingling in the society of people of merry hearts and high morals. Convivial society with an absence of sound morals will simply aggravate the disease and make its attacks all the more frequent and acute, and each relapse only the more deeply graves the lines which show a perturbed and brooding mind, and makes the presence of such a sufferer a very nightmare to his friends. Cheerfulness and a merry heart do more than any medicines in toning up a face, because both stimulate to action and interest, and life with an object brings an animated expression which is all that some countenances need to make them beautiful. We frequently hear the words, "How her face lights up when she speaks or becomes interested!" Therefore it is well to seek noble objects in which one can feel a deep interest, and let them gain a permanent hold on the thoughts, that their irradiating effect may be ever present.

Love and affection soften the facial expression and are or should be natural outcomes of the heart, though they often take root in unpromising soil and spring up unawares, so that beholders wonder how it is that plain Mary or Agnes is "getting to be almost pretty." The little blind god can hide everywhere except behind the face of his victim.

A writer upon the subject of beauty has advised thinking of some pleasing occurrence or calling up a happy memory just before falling asleep for the night. He claims that the face in sleep is passive, and that if the sleep be dreamless, the features will remain for the period of its duration just as they were when animated by the sweet or pleasing thought and so settle gradually into a

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perpetually happy waking expression. The theory is a very pretty one, and it is to be inferred that the slumberer will lie upon her side instead of her back, as in the latter position she might sonorously announce to listeners that her slumbers, though deep and dreamless, have disturbed the repose of her features just as they have the repose of the other occupants of the domicile wherein she dwells. Of course, this is only a possible case. The habit of thinking, however, of something agreeable, is one to be commended whether it is just before sleeping or after waking, since it always brings a happy look to the face and a sparkling light to the eye.

Where the surroundings of one’s life antagonize the suggestions given in this chapter, it only remains for the unhappy one to follow, as far as possible, the hints conveyed. To "make the best of everything" is advice often given and as rarely followed, but it is the only advice to offer in such a case. Try to forget what is unpleasant if you cannot do so, endeavor to find something pleasant outside of it to think of or do, as often as possible. Struggle earnestly with the unlovely traits in your own disposition when they are aroused by those which you find established in the hearts of your comrades in this work-a-day world. Be wise in this respect, be amiable, be cheerful, and thus be lovely.

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