Feminine Interests

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 617, 20 March 1929, Page 5

Feminine Interests

YOUTH-WORSHIP PAYING THE PENALTY The prevailing fashion ot our time F.s to let the impulses and vagaries of 3'outh go largely unchecked. The old fashion of adopting timely and whole- j some disciplinary measures has almost, if not altogether, gone out. So that outh is scarcely to be blamed if it has come to regard its own generation through magnifying glasses of a roseate hue, and its elders through a lens which minimises their achievements and aggravates their limitations. Whereas parents were once the natural and acknowledged leaders of fam-' ily life, boys and girls in their teens and early twenties are now usurping that position with increasing arrogance. And it is a common and by no means attractive spectacle to see the father and mother in such families meekly submitting to this state ! of affairs. The younger generation cooly takes it for granted that it is both more interesting and more valuable than the generations preceding it; and. with truly edifying nochalance, undertakes to instruct its elders in the way they should go. All too frequently, the parents are willing victims upon the altar of their precocious progeny’s egotism. Little wonder that the average young person of to-day loses his sense of proportion when on every hand he ; hears the fact of his own tremendous j importance vehemently insisted upon. Middle-age has itself created the inherently false standards of a time that sets a higher value on appearance . than reality that places a premium upon a minimum of years, irrespective j of its legitimate claims to considera-' tion on the grounds of capacity. If; competence and charm are largely dis- : counted when they happen to be asso-' ciated with grey hair or a faded complexion, middle-age cannot condemn a short-sightedness it has deliberately encouraged. For middle-age continues to act as though it believed in Oscar Wilde’s premature pronouncement that youth is the only possession which makes life worth while. It’s pitiable “new-young” aspirations proclaim its acceptance of that malevolent falsehood as purest truth; its tacit admission that increasing years carry in their wake not honour, but reproach. No wonder the younger generation keeps its tongue in its cheek; and, with the sublime assurance that Youth per se can vanquish middle-aged experience, stakes “that schoolgirl complexion.” against the texture of the adult soul. J.H.

The Journal of Dostoevski’s wife has just been published. Its value as illustrating the character of the famous novelist is very great but—being the wife’s diary—it naturally expresses her point of view. When, early next year. ; Dostoevski’s letters to this same lady j are published, the picture of the rela- I tions between these two will be com- I plete. 1

A BOUDOIR BALLAD If you're a working woman, as today's so oft the case, here’s a quick live-minutes’ treatment that will freshen up your face when you have to dress for dinner—and, besides a change of frock, must get through all your grooming with an eye upon the clock! First wash your face water, warm: and then proceed to dry. Now* massage with your pet cold-cream; tdon’t get it in your eye!) Wipe off the cream remaining; have a brisk cold-water splash; which, entre nous, is much improved by just a little dash of delicate astingent—subtle perfume of Cologne—so bracing for complexions that have lost their gi f.ish “tone.” And last of all, a touch of cream of “vanishing” persuasion; the powderpuff—and you’re all smiles to greet the great occasion!