EXIT THE UGLY WOMAN.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 127, 30 May 1916, Page 2

EXIT THE UGLY WOMAN.

By FRANCES in "T.P.* WEEKLY."

At a gathering of women the other day—one of those mixed affairs which ar e the feature cf the hour, where my lady hobnobs with her butcher's wife, the two finding ground at last in the thought cf a common woe and in help for a common need —a friend said to me, "Do you know, I haven't seen an ugly woman since I came in." and an elderly gentleman of the party replied, "The day of the ugly woman is past." And I suddenly realised that he spoke the truth.

Were proof needed we have it in the disappearance of the word "ugly" as applied to our sex. Plain looking or "not good looking" many of us may be clubbed, but when it comes to affixing the epithet "ugly," we are prepared for the extreme in plainness. And yet we talk of the "ugly man as glibly as ever, and when applied it carries nothing objectionable in its train. We frankly say an iiijly man. and only

associate with it a certain irregularity °r rcughnesg cf feature. We can even hear our friend the romantic girl still confess p. liking for "ugly" men. Perhaps the only place where a woman Is r ailed ugly is with a certain group of artists who so in for painting the ugly wherever seen in feminine; but even here the ugliness is not what the old-fashioned meant by the word —it is moral rather than physical distortion we see in the outcast and degraded types peculiar to the school. Nr-thins I suppose, has a worse effect than an aimless, discontented spiritless life, and I repeat the idea th<= (iißf!~f>ep"auce of the ugly woman is mpinly owing to the fuller and more, " lives which are posible to wo-

-"•i tn-dav . Yet "e must not exclude "■he other factor —the change in the -'puclard of attractiveness. '{What a Sricht girl!" ''What an intelligent ~irl!" is a far greater compliment tothan "What a pretty girl!" What mere contemptuous expression can be found en a voung man's lips in relation tc friend or relation than "She is silly" It is all for the good that it •natter? not how blue are the eyes cr henv golden is t!?e hair unless somo 'Vgree of brains gees with them. The access cf the merely pretty girl, unless with these stupid or silly as herleU is very small and very ephemeral. A consciousness of worth independent of looks has done a great deal Ccr the woman of to-day. She realises her good points and does all she can tc emphasise them; she cultivates an attractiveness apart from that given by good features. Instead of feeling that life has ended fcr her at thirty years cf sge, she lias the confidence *h?.t rhe is only reaching another stage of develpoment, and that, instead of moving aside 1 to give place to a girl in her 'teens, it is the girl whe has tc give place to her. In her heme, in her office, in her club, she constant evidence that personality counts just as much as, if not iv.ore than, beauty, and that good Grooming anr) careful dressing can work miracles in the way of appearance. A clear shin, vvell-aranged hair, a figure her! through fresh air and

rrcper physical exercises give a sense rf well-being that is communicated to the observer. "All is well with me," wch a wcmsn (and we have her tor'ay in her thousands) seems to say. And we agree.

It must net be thought that it is an exaggeration to soy that what a woman wishes to be, she is. Have we tint all known "t seme period or other women who, through change of circumstances or environment, have become completely metamorphosed? As I write one such case stands out very clearly in my memory. A quiet, dowdy middle-aged woman had to go to

New York to look after some business. Her relatives there were in the Smart Set and insisted on the visitor going about with them a good deal. They helped her to buy new clothes, brought her along to beauty doctor and hairdresser.

She remained away two years. When she returned I had an invitation to lunch with her at a restaurant. I looked round for my old friend and failed to se e her. I would never have associated her with the woman who came forward to meet me. A woman who had become attractive, smart, vivacious and good-looking. One could •hardly believe the change possible. She had awakened to the fact that she was somebody. And this is the great central truth to be seen en every side in these strenuous days. Women are all beins taught thoy are somebodies. And with the consciousness has come the new attractiveness wnich means | the exit of the ugly woman.