THE ART OF BEAUTY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 58, 8 March 1878, Page 4

THE ART OF BEAUTY.

A very enjoyable and instructive book, Bays an exchange, ia that entitled " The Art of Beauty," by H. B. Howeiß, author of "Chaucer for Children." Itt literary merits lift it quite out of the dreary region of ordinary books of its class. It is not tha production of a 11 fashion " writer, or an expert in the cheap art of padding?, tjt one who hsa set to work in real earnest to Write « book that cultivated people can aafely place in their libraries., and that shall tell us something we did not know before concerning a matter of universal human interest, and tell it in good English. The art of beauty is discussed in ita various aspects and phases— " Beauty and Dress," " Beauty and Head-dresses," "Beauty and Surroundings." The author insists that the cultivation of beauty by women is not only tight but isaportao*, She says the tendency of the age is to cultivate the mind and neglect, the body, whereas the beauty of the human being ought to surpass the charm of its surroundings. Probably nothing that is not useful ia in any high aenee beautiful. The concluding chapter, entitled "A Garden of Girls," contains the following hints: " Most girls look forward to getting married. They are right. It is a woman's instinct. Most mothers hold out marriage as the chief aim of a girl's existence. They are right — it is so : bat it is a pity that they do not tell them why it is so. Marriage from a right point of view is indeed the better part. To be the companion and helpmeet of another boul, to select a lifecompanion whose guidance and sympathy will raiße you to beget and to mould the spirit and life of the new generation, and to fit oneself for these superior duties— What can be a higher or grander choice? The single woman's part in life may be a noble one— ■he may elevate herself, she may help others—but hers must always be the secondary place. She is never fulfilling the whole position which Nature intended her to fill, however fully she may do her part ; that the wife and mother is a downed queen. . . . Alas ! when people complain of men aot marrying, (even they who are able), they forget how little women offer in exchange for all they get, by marriage. Girls are so seldom taught to be of any nse whatever to a man, that lam only astonished at the number of men who do marry ! Many girls do not even try to be agreeable to look at, much less to live with.Tbey forget how numerous they are, and the small absolute need men have of wives 5 but nevertheless men do still marry, and would oftener marry if they could find mates— women who are either helpful to men, or amusing, or pleasing to the eye. . . I am prepared for a scream from the strong-minded, who are superior to marriage, and think that a single life is the highest aspiration for a girl of the period, as in it she has more scope for the development of tha ego, . . . Blue stockings or not, every girl ought to make the most of herself inside and out. To be healthy, handsome, and cheerful, is no disadvantage even in a learned professor. It is one of the most potent bbjeotions to the cause of female education, that clever women go in for hage boots and G&mpian umbrellas, Betting at naught many graces essentially womanly, and indispensable in women ? and the fact which has really some truth in it, positively damages the cauee."