ni than almost any part of
the body. The eyes and the hands, and, above all, the mind--these tell
the tale of the passing years far more vividly for those who pause to
read. But then, so very many women make the mistake of imagining that
if their hair is fully-coloured and their skin fairly smooth the world
will be deceived into taking them for twenty-nine. As a matter of
fact, the world is far too lynx-eyed ever to be taken in by any such
apparent camouflage. On the contrary, it adds yet another ten years to
the real age, and classes the dyed one among the "poor old things" for
evermore. No, the truth of the matter is that, to keep and preserve
the illusion of youthfulness long after youth has slipped away into the
dead years behind us, is a far more difficult and complicated matter
than merely painting the face, turning brown hair red, and being
divorced. Perhaps one of the most rejuvenating effects is to show the
world, while trying to believe it yourself, that you don't honestly
really care tuppence about growing old. To show that you do care, and
care horribly, is to look every second of your proper age, with the
additional effect of a dreary antiquity into the bargain. It isn't
sufficient to be strictly economical with your smiles for fear lest
deep lines should appear on your face (deep lines will come in spite of
your imitation of a mask), or to dye your hair a kind of lifeless
golden, or to draw your waist in, dress as youthfully as your own
daughter, and generally try to skip about as giddily as your own
grandchildren. No, if you want to seem youthful--and where is the
woman who doesn't?--you must _think_ youthfully all the time. This
doesn't mean that you must _act_ youthfully as well. Oh, dear me, no!
Old mutton skipping about like a super-animated young lamb--that,
indeed, gives an impression of old age which approaches to the
antiquity of a curio. No, you must keep your intelligence alert, your
sympathies awake; you must never rust or get into a "rut"; above all,
you must keep in touch with the _aims_ of youth, without necessarily
merely imitating its _antics_--then a woman will always possess that
interest and that charm which never stales, and which will carry her
through the years with the same triumph as her youth once did, or her
beauty--if she ever possessed any. And if _she_ must use the
artificial deceptions of chemists, which deceive nobody, let her do it
so artfully that, metaphorical