BEAUTY AND FEMINISM.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1995, 28 February 1914, Page 11

BEAUTY AND FEMINISM.

PLEA' FQR INTELLECT. Does ths cultivation of woman's intellect and her entrance into professional and. public activities tend to the diminishing of beauty in person', dress, or character, with a corresponding diminution of charm and attractiveness (asks a writer in tho "North Amorican Review of Reviews) ? That is a very ancient bogy used'to bar the yrogress of the sex. It is a scarcecrow that has been utilised diligently by many a hardworking photographer and cartoonist, along with'the mother-in-law Joke, the , old-maid joko, and thfe designing-widow joke., Unfortunately it still affrights many worthy men in this country as well as abroad. It is said to have an especially strong hold on the "esthetes" of Germany, and in taking up the cudgels to attack the idea JFrau Grete Meisel-Hcss, writing in "Ueber Land und Meer," is especially severe on this set.

Frau Meisel-Hess is one of the moßt brilliant of the younger Feminist leaders, her, novel, ~"Die Intellektuellen" (The Intellectuals), being ranked by one critic as the most important work of fiction of its season, with the. exception of Hauptmann's "Fool in Christ," which , came out the same . year.

Aiways Unlovely. She accuses the "esthetes" ■ of finding the.creative and life-sustaining productivity of woman, so distasteful that they , declare it to. be "unesthetio and upsetting," knowing well that such a reproach ifl the strongest, that could be made. She, replies: ; It is quite true that the woman's emancipation movement of the present day has brought into view some very horrible types ... and the aversion of men to such types is very' comprehensible. . . . But it is-obvious that snch womeij, who present themselves iri such extreme- ' ly unlovely aspect as : Megaras of emancipation, would be no wliit more charming if. they'were without "culture" and a "calling." And: she adds with much force that types quite as repulsive are found in circles, far remote from . the ■ woman's movement, instancing the unlovable and self-assertive married women, the dull and stupid daughters • of. the • family whose one ambition is to lie in wait for men until they can, succeed in entrapping: a husband to support them, and finally the tragic and pitiable figure of tho misused and animalised white slave. She continues:. ■ .. The fact is that any human being : who is,in any degree dependent loses much, sacrificing spontaneity. arid joy, and therewith what is perhaps the greatest charm' 'of all. Vilma Carthaus is right when she • says, in the periodical the "Frauen- , baweguug" (The Woman's Move- ' ment): "Evon now there are to bo found men- who are _capahlo of • feeling w much,'esthetic pleasure -, in-a woman who is-"engaged heart and soul in some political -movement '' as ill a living 'Raphael's, Madonna.' Concepts of beauty are changing." It must' bo observed that the representation of', the "emancipated woman" as an'ill-dressed one is entirely false. The effect, on personality of, a refined analytic and ' esthetic appreciation is to increaso the care of the external person. One sees at congresses and conven-. r tions almost as many elegant toilA ettes as at the races. This has a psychological reason. For. it is just this public observation which forces a woman who might _be careless while incognito to -consider hor ap- •' pearance solicitously. The esthetes could not find words scornful enough 'for the "reform, drijss." But the, artists, above all Van" der Veldo,'' seized on the idea of this- clinging ' one-piece drqs3", and now, b.v way; 'of France'and'thanks to Poiret, it has bccome the general mode.-

A Wider World Adds to Charm. Another point made by Frau MeiselHess is that actresses, who have always .stood for the highest expression of beauty and charm, havo joined the woman's movement. She also notes appreciatively that tho American suffragettes have used their womanly charm to gain favour for their cause, instead of adopting tho tactics of the English militants.

She also quotes jean Finot's recent book to support-the view that the intellectual life, far from robbing women of youth and beauty, is the most potent factor in the conservation of both. M. Finot says emphatically:.

• To' preserve, the charm of a wo- ; man she must' above all be allowed ... to work and act.for. herself. . . . Like those ancient artists'who carv- , ed grotesque fauns upon sar-V : cophagi, man has covered tho promatupre' grave of the. woman with . absurdities. The figure 3' of the step-mother, the comic, good old aunt, the funny old_ maid hunting a husband, the spiteful spinster fillet] with envy , and n'alice—these are the images of women cbndemn- ■ ed to spend long years of idleness . and ennui awaiting tho release of eternal sleep. ... ' Finot adds: —"The new woman knows how to enlarge essentially the boundaries of her existence. . . .

We can already see that women remain younger much longer , when they succeed in conquering tho obstacles that lie between them and active lives. Wo-men-writers and artists, and all women active in any way in the cause of humanity, rejoice in a longer youth than others. When • we- consider the women prominent on the stage or in the musical world, we find that tho burden cf years has robbed them of scarce any of their talent and charm. And they reign in life exactly as they do under the' stage, their sccond youth beginning at the very period when the idle women of the upper and middlo classes have long vanished from the scene."

World-Famous 'Enchantresses. Tho writer bolsters her argument with an extract of a similar import from Erich Wuwffen. Helena was 4S when she was carried off to Troy. Aspasia married Pericles at 37 and passed for a beauty for another eight and thirty years. Cleopatra was over 40 when she met Antony. Diano de Poitiers won Henry ll's love at 36. 'Anne of ' Austria- was considered the most beautiful woman in Europe at 38. Mme. do Maintenon met Louis XIV when 43. The actress Mar 6 was most beautiful at 46. All of these examples, in short, go to provo the weight of Finot's statement that a woman's beauty oonsists not only in the moro or less perfect harmony of the various parts of her body, but also in the expression of her countenance, and in the mysterious and indefinable something that emanates from hei 1 personality.

The arm of the London policeman, which is an object of such general admiration and wonder amongst visitors to the metropolis, is to somo extent a copyright article (writes a London correspondent). It is a penal offcnco for any civilian to usurp tho policeman's prerogative,. and hold up tho traffic in this manner. A London actor, who said in defence that lie was absent-minded, and merely wished .to cross tho street in safety, held up his arm, and brought tho traffic to a standstill. He had to pay a fine of £2.