A STUDENT OF FACES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 461, 20 March 1909, Page 11

A STUDENT OF FACES.

HER CONCLUSIONS. A lady who possesses Madame Rubinstein's exceptional opportunities of studying types of feminine beauty, and who has travelled so far afield, is bound to draw comparisons between the women of different nations, and to note with tho eye of an expert in what particulars they are unlike. Madame Rubinstein s-opinions on the women of various European countries aro very interesting. She is not inclined to credit the artistocratic Englishwoman with. as much mental forco as her Continental sisters possess. The English girl rides and golfs, and gets all the pleasure she possibly can out of doors, and indoors, too; she has no time to go deeply anto int-ollectual matters. She is, however, a remarkably good linguist. Three languages and a bit can usually be put to her credit, says Madame Rubinstein. She will know Fronch and German well, and a smattering or some other, say, Italian or Spanu i astonished Madame Rubinstein when she. last went Homo to find how general was this knowledge of languages, and how invarimi T? r clients talked French to her. Tho Englishwoman is delightful, she has pleasant manners, and she is good-looking, but she will use paint and powder in a way that is altogether unknown to Continental women of her class. Tako the beautiful Russian woman, for instance, says Madame, she would not dream of using the least scrap of paint, nor any powder, but tho habit through English society is extraordinarily common. Madame Rubinstein has her own way of viewing the suffragist movement, and when .she was asked whether she had seen many beautiful women in their ranks, she said * No, only a very few; and she told the story of one-girl who was very pretty beforo she joined the ranks of tho suffragists, and threw her energies into the cause. In six months she had sacrificed her health and beauty work at all hours, in all weathers, had made her look old and faded almost beyond recognition . , , /'All.French women look alike to me," says Madame. Thousands of faces, everyone the same. There is a great difference between the Viennese and tho Parisian woman. Both ■are .noted for a certain chic, and for their style of dress, but the Viennese woman knows the difference between a. mere butterfly of a lady and the.well-bred, well-groomed looking .woman, and realises that a fine appearanco is not merely a matter of frills and furbelows, but is something more, a matter of mind, intellect,, ahd personality. She has had a solid education, and carefully cultivates her intellect. .You can never tell What is in the mind of the Parisian woman. She is too elusive, always skimming over the sur-

face of what may perhaps be very deep waters, or may not. She has no colour, a dead white-face, .with red lips, a charming manner, and an elusive evasive personality, that is the true Parisian.

The German woman is not at aJI pretty, but she is clever. "She knows and understands everything," says Madame., There is a new German woman, a leader in the world of thought, unlike the old-fashioned German woman as can be. In many ways she is akin to the intellectually alert and rather revolutionary Russian. In Germany you will find a new and very advanced spirit in music, art, and literature, and among the leaders heie you - will find the German women. Among some of the finest Shakespeare scholars are German womon, and that is saying a great deal, for the Germans are great students of Shakespeare, and nowhere will you find Shakespeare's plays better presented than in Berlin. The scenery is marvellous; and the actors are men of the first rank in their profession, but, says Madame, as for the dresses, nothing like them was ever seen before, so dirty, worn, and decrepit. Isn't it strange ?

■ Returning to the subject of the Russian .women, Madame says sho is the most brilliant and intellectual of all the European women, specially is sho interested in philosophy, and she is always revolutionary at heart. From her intellectual tastes you would expect her to have a spiritual type of beauty instead of the sensuous typo that is markedly her possession. It is'understood that Madamo is speaking of the socioty women of the different nations, but here in Russia, sho says, women of all classes are intellectual, and in Warsaw you will find that even the shop girls speak three languages. They are wonderful. Of American women Madame has not much to say. She does not appear to hold them in high .esteem, but sho says sho has met few of the womon of tho South. The American girl's beauty is spoilt by her sallow complexion.' Too much iced water, says Madame. Returning for a moment to tbo English girl, Madamo repeats her conviction that intellectually sho cannot compare with tho women of Austria, Germany, or Russia, and one comes away with a fear that perhaps even tho gay Parisian may apply herself more to matters of the mind than the Englishwoman over thinks it worth hoi. while to do. .