OLD AGE IS A BAD HABIT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 33, 8 February 1905, Page 10

OLD AGE IS A BAD HABIT.

(By Ella Wheeler Wilcox.) No woman likes to grow old. The French belle who in advancing years wrote to a friend, "It is a. terrible thing to reach the age when men treat you with nothing hut respect." voiced a great truth. missed the admiration, the gallantries and the small attentions which make life agreeable. She was not satisfied with being given an easy chair and left alone. yhe missed, too. the lessened opportunities for usefulness which, seem to be among the penalties of age for woraan. Even in the religious andl charitable domain the woman who appears young has wider influence tham the old lady. Tickets are purchased and subscriptions given to the solicitor who appeals to the eye sooner than to one who appeals only to the mind and purse. It is only the woman who has reached a very high altitude of religious serenity, or exaltation, who can be satisfied to see the last remnant of her youth depart and be happy. To every woman of sentiment and sensibility that hour is little short of tragic wben she first hears the term "old lady" applied to herself. Since this is true, it should be the aim of every woman to defer that day by every reasonable and scientific process within her reach. The self-indulgent matron who devours her box of confectionery with relish, and who has never known the enjoyment of leaving the table without being wholly satisfied, is on the certain road to premature old age; for notlvrng ages the woman who has passed thirty like an overabundance of flesh. Besides spoiling her appearance, this self-indulgence weakens her character and renders her less capable of developing the strong traits which are the foundation of all real beauty and attractiveness, after first youth has faded. It is not unusual to hear a woman of this type bemoaning the loss of youth, while she sends her plate for extra helpings and empties her glass of an appetite stimulator. Yet if diet is suggested, she will insist that food has no influence upon her flesh, and that she is really delicate— in her appetite. Physical exercise. practised automatically in a mechanical manner, will not give symmetry or health. Unless the mind aids the practice, it might as well be abandoned. But diet, baths and physical exercises, followed with an interested and determined mind, will enable any woman on earth to retain symmetry of form if she begins in season. Youth and charm do not, hownever, depend upon form alone. Complexion, expression and manner are all handmaidens to beauty. In this age a bad complexion indicates something wrong with a woman's mind. The determined mind will not submit to the blemish. Good health belongs with respectability. It has been well said that sickness is contemptible and unnecessary. The animals know enough to omit a meal when they are indisposed. Fewpeople can be found who do not urge an invalid to eat more instead of less. Bad complexions are the result of wrong diet, lack of fresh air. lack of exercise, and lack of deep breathing. Chuangr Tzn. a Chinese philosopher living 500 years before Christ, wrote: "The pure men of old slept without, dreams, and waked without anxiety. They ate with discrimination, breathing deep breaths. For pure men draw breath from their uttermost depths, the vulgar .only from their throats." Added to neglect of physical rules of good health which must make > the foundation of youth and bsauty. we have only to look about us and find the women who are ageing through wrong mental habits. Despondency, worry, nervousness, petulance, avarice, jealousy are all little foxes working away at the root of th© tree of beauty. Wo woman can entex-

tain disagreeable or unhappy thoughts year in and out for even a portion of her days and remain young or pleasing to the eye. Severe, critical, fault-finding, intolerant thoughts all sharpen the features and dry the cuticle and take the lustre from the eye. Every emotion and feeling makes its impression upon the outer covering of the immortal soul. An inactive mind gives a vacancy to the expression, and a dissatisfied mind ploughs furrows in the face. Great sorrows often ennoble the human countenance, but continual fretting and fear and anxiety shrivel and dwarf its beauty. There "can be no charm in a mature face which covers a soul devoid of reverence and faith. When the light of youth fades from the eyes nothing biit-.tbe light of faith can give them beautjfe Maturity and the f ?|iaterialistic mind produce premature antFtininteresting old age. • .'■'. Elasticity of mind mjaais elasticity ol body. " m Therefore, let would ward off the approach of visible old age take note of these rules: Eat sparingly, and breathe deeply. Bathe thoroughly. Think hopefully, talk kindly and work energetically. Walk prayerfully and live reverently. Love deeply." and keep the heart young. When Death knocks at your door let him find you still young. Old age" ia a bad habit. Do not form it.