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Show iZffi AS EXPLAINED DY CAROLINE OTERO TO STERLING HEILIG I ff OMAN Is loveliest at OO forty!" i i i tm The speaker If self y seemed never lovelier than when admitting forty -one years pant. For rjLT twenty yeurs Paris baa f y called ber Tbe Heautl- I ful Otero; and she Is V J still at the height of for- V J tune as the most famous r Spanish dancer and the most bejeweled professional profes-sional beauty of the gay French capital. She explained herself: "I refer to fine women. In health and the enjoyment of rational luxuries, tbey Deed only two things to triumph In the charm of their full flowering will to keep In condition, and mastery of that pathetlo disdain which tempts them to atand back In the shadow." She rose and paced the room with catlike cat-like grace. She snatched a man's bat from the table, cocked It over ber eye, flung the end of a cloak over ber shoulder, shoul-der, and truck an attitude. "I bare our value Impreaiied on me ever In tbe Spanish dance," she said. 'The grand dance of tbe ftamenca! I What a dance, monsieur, what a drama! ' It Is tbe whole of woman's life In three iasTiiii 'TH yS'Tl f str ' knW f nothlng " 'lomprit of her superior loveliness." 3 f&j(tJ Wg'' L' her arrlv unknown In a community and confess thirty- l-fcrP ?rss''n m ear"' Tlie lh"r woulen Kve ber thirty-six on prln- f 0' ' 5 Clpl' And 8,1 the nien' u,,Plclou of their women's frankness ,jT,fs-10,VUX y ( .--;. In such matters, will be sure that she Is a delicious creature of X-A,.' , possibly thlrtyfour, grand maximum, of unusual tact, poise, sup- . l- 'f'A iiW I,Ion88' 1uo17 011 klnJl of graces of unknown but obviously su- fif- i,AS $ Prlor surroundings!" f . "w 11 everJr day" I aia. "Hne women have tbe age ''"t Jf "No, no' ,be woman of ,ortv ' Positively loveliest." replied Uf . " J tha ,ov!ly ,'Jclall,,t- "We mut distinguish. Physical lovell- Vify." ' ness Is one thing, academical perfection of form another. Pari S""T J, . ' ' V painters of voluptuous subjects nymphs rolling green lawns, f ' bacchantes sprawling In pagan festivals, courts of Neptuna aun- V . ,' . nlng on golden sands have always been reproached by their un- . U . ' ' compromising brethren for 'doing chic' because they wilfully ; ' : , . ago their models. To attain the acme of aensual beauty, they ' v". - J enlarge rotundities, exaggerate curves, tend toward the coraet ' I . ": -V waist bete noire of purists and delight of gods and men and t . ,- w a arrive at an unearthly charm by giving tbe nymph of lghteeD . y ' ',' t ' - ' f a whole set of outlines that she ought not have for fifteen yeara. ' ' i . , . 'Y t What Is this but glorifying by 'chic' the beauty of forty whom ' h' .;..-" ' these painters seldom obtain as model, because there Is always a ft' ' J , ' some man to prevent It!" ...;,' ' r' f VI I "Also," I said, "they must pretend their nymphs are eighteen . - V ' vy tor the man of forty." V ; : J "Detlses!" laughed Otero. "In times past overweening plump 5y .tSf,,, . ' ness may have been a danger to tbe lazy and sslMndulgent- r ". " ' -' '. even at eighteen; but tbe modem fine woman changes little be -i-J - .'. " ' tween thirty five and forty-tlve. As for academical purity ol "yVf - . Hue, none but uncomproralxlrg painters and sculptors want It i to give purity of sentiment; and It Is lost, not at forty, but at 7 k twenty-four. The episode of Eberleln Is classical. Struck by Nv - tho pure beauty of a twenty five-year-old model. tb famoua ' ;- , , v. '-:ANCSi--- ., -1 doubt! Love-liners Love-liners Is a living liv-ing thing made of beauty, charm, grace the table, she called off their ages for me. I was surprised. . "Who tbinks of their ages?" she said. "Home were not so beautlfu when younger. Ixxik at this one . . , and this . . . Here Is a lady with an almost Insignificant nose; and her eyes were never much until she had them tattooed where actresses pencil. Here Is one with not a perfect feature, yet her physique and temperament are delightful. And this other, without tbe noble spirit breathing throujch her look, would she not be almost plain?" Klie sabl true; yet I had passed all as charming. charm-ing. All have beauty reputation. When a woman like this gives away ber sisters It Is edifying. Otero showed me how one splendid creature fought for years against a double chin and conquered; how another began bony; how another haa learned to dissimulate a trumpet none. " Ktop!" I exclaimed. "You will make me think Unit all young women are full of de-feds!" de-feds!" "They are," said Otero. "What Is time for but to correct them? Scatter the photographs and look again. You will find then) beauties now In any case! They are radiant. Tbey have learned their power!" It was even so. Thre were finches of ecstasy, ec-stasy, gleams of delight, eyes that spoke soul awakenings, lips parted In mystery. There were coy laces, faces that asked fcaKing creations, crea-tions, confidential faces, high, courageous faces, faces that bresthed sweet, sad reverie. "All kind of fares, except wooden twenty-yearold twenty-yearold faces, heln?" laughed the subtle Spaniard. Span-iard. "A Tarls photcgrapher has given me a partial renn why their faces are lovelier at forty. It Is because they have been photographed photo-graphed so much." "The effort to resemble one'e best picture?" I mimed. t i "All that. In general; but he claims a particular par-ticular Influence of eelf suggestion. We come to retiemble our best photographs by gentle de-gees, de-gees, unconsciously, when tbey follow each other la a long, changing aeries." "Living up to last week'a photograph makes next week's photcgraph still banduomer." I said. "A hundred photographs completes tbe cure." "He waa a photographer, of course, and gave the entire credit to his art." replied Otero. "Perhaps tbe secret Is eccoursgement How often we hav seen plain women bloom out We women guess the secret cause tbe transfigured trans-figured one ta happy In love. Khe has bees encouraged." en-couraged." "Ob. well then." I said, "any way to encourage encour-age oneself 1 . . ." "That's It! Pesnty Is a habit!" exclaimed Otero. "It Is the habit of those who have started start-ed eoeourgd! Let the woman of forty merely mere-ly conceal ber age, and the trick la half won. sculptor noted down minutely, numerously, all her exact measurements In order to reproduce repro-duce such a perfect anatomy In marble. Four weeks later. In verifying the measurementa before be-fore an incredulous confrere, be waa astonished to discover that not a tingle one con corded; the academically perfect anatomy hod budged all along the llne-toward the voluptuoua beauty prized by common mortals!" "And the manure de a' en servlr!" I mused. "I accuse not only the young girl's green acidity, hr forming body, sleeping temperament, tempera-ment, and crudity of mind," summed up Otero "In northern lands, the sleeping parta may get the aand out of their eyes by twenty Ave; but. even then, years pacs In looking round and wondering what this world may mean. 80. at thirty, the averng- young woman, loaded down with natural arrogance and Ideas that have been Imupsed upon her. tranqulllzes a grow-Ing grow-Ing disquiet by repealing to hernelf; - am a young thing!' Vv u, thlrty-ftve the sntlnfac tlon of ruling may have been her chief profit Now he wakes completely to the pulsing life of thing, knows herself and dismayed by senxe of Iohk piling avidly, or elue " " Or el.-e. discouraged, ninks back, murmuring: mur-muring: '1 am nn old thing!'" finished the sentence for her. "That's It." laiiRhed Otero. "If she grows panic stricken, the enters the 'terrible quaran-talne' quaran-talne' Indeed. Tbey mny be tbe 'terrible forties' for-ties' or the Vplendld forties.' 6, he n,akell them, ax her world permits her. or as Khe dorn-Inales dorn-Inales It. with happy Insouciance tr'!h!rg a-lde every obstacle and flinging; herself into the harmonies of an Instrument finally attuned. at-tuned. Then he Is truly terrible terrible to younger, undecld.-d women whom she mocks and bamboozles, borrowing their admirers from them out of pure IlKhtheartedness; terrible to men. on whom he avenges the neglect of years to come!" Treasure From tht 8ta. Poys that live st Pine Urook. N. J., did not know that there was a burled treasure near at hand or they might have gone hunting for It Two fishermen found It. A strong line, much larger than you have ever used unless you have gone fishlrg for whale or something of that sort, was caught In the bottom of tbe rlve The men tugged on It and found that it gave a little, and Just tb-n an automobile came along the road The men anked the automobile man to give them a little assistance, and they tied the line to the rear axle and let the car pull on It. The line strained and slowly moved out of the water, drawing wtrh it a wrecked canoe full of mud and stones. In the canoe s. tound a heavy chest, which was ren oved bv the mer and loaded Into the ear. and then the rlve. and fishermen went on to town TberTtbe dl-plsyed the find, and the chert w reccr nixed as the silverware box terrgirg to hotel. The box hsd been sto'en In f"i T-no T-no trace of the rot ters bed te n ta.-'. 4 acts: desire, seduction, tragic triumph. Never has dramatic work expressed femininity with tbe grace, mystery and Intensity of those three acenea. Now, look you, In the aouth of Spain they say It takes eight yeara to form a flamenca. Perfection Is unattainable; because this exhausting dance twelve minutes! show me a danteuse of tbe opera who will accept a variation of twelve minutes contains three roles that are unconnected: the Ingenue, tbl amoureuse, and the tragedienne. One ought to be rlxteen yesrs old to dance the first and forty to dance the end of the drama, In whlrh Rubla, magnificent at fifty, fixed the tradition." "Madame." I asked, "Is It rosslble that you are old enough to dance that third act?" "I am forty one," she laughed, "i bad msd two trips to the United States before I settled In Paris In 191; and I was Just of sgn when starting out. If I am rmt worn like some great flamencas. It I thanks to the life of Paris. Those who remain In Knnln use tflernselvp up, monsieur. It Is a magnificent public, but It fatigues the artiste. In Paris, the good people Interest themiieJves as much In my Jewels ond accept whrt I give them. Ho I hnve been able to lire reasonably. Luxury Is good for a woman wom-an of self-control. Those soft creatures who lie, around and overeat, I have no patience with them! I have always had unconscious training from my work, though I owe much to the Turkish bath. . . ," The Hammarn?" I asked. "No. no; I have a sweat box In my apartment apart-ment fitted with fifty electric light bulba. I often take It four times a week when not dancing, followed with a tepid douche, turning cold. There Is an apparatus to frighten young beauties, moncleur!" Certainly a remarkable woman. On the tags, frorn Copenhagen to Vienna, from London Lon-don to Rome, she is known, always and above all, as a beauty. She sirgs after A fashion. Pbi has made successful ventures Into pantomime. pan-tomime. And now, at forty, she bas mails herself her-self an actress of merit, appearing In emotional rols on the great Paris stage Now, also, at forty, she continues to pose for the best selling sell-ing beauty photographs on the European market. mar-ket. After her comes Llna Cavalierl, with no third In tholr class. Other beauties sell aa well In certain suooessful poses; but Otero and Cavalierl never cease posing. "Women cf forty!" exclaimed Otero. "What pathetic disdain, what proud anticipation, what unhappy acquiescence, hastening out to meet fate more thin half way, cause so many to Ignore Ig-nore tb'tr rplendor and even wander Into self- pnysicai attractions, at-tractions, yes and also the manlere de a'en servlr! The way to use them! Here Is the triumph tri-umph of tho woman of forty when she gladly lets herself loose!" "Why not?" I murmured, fascinated by one who certainly lets herself loose. Hhe continued contin-ued gaily: "Why, the Intuitions of the very young man are unerring In this matter. The youth of seventeen, sev-enteen, with senses painfully fresh and keen, begins with a grande pasKlon for tbe woman of forty. Instinct tells blm that .he Is the loveliest. The thing Is traditional, from Harry Esmond down to Porter Charlton. And Joseph even; how did she got that coat? We Inngh. Laughter Is a sudden glory over human mis-chance. mis-chance. The youth himself refuses to arrive at charming forty beside a woman of sixty-threw; sixty-threw; yet hU first untroubled Judgment was to award the apple where It belongs." "The man of forty evidently. . ." I began. "The worst enemy of the woman of forty I tho man of forty," persisted Otero. "She Is thn mirror In which he dreads to see the shadow of bis own degeneracy forgetting that hl wear and tear of ten years past have not been hers. Ho tho man of forty marries the girl of twenty-three, in spile of bis wear and tear, she finds in the charm of the full man her profound satisfaction without looking ahead. Why look ahead? In Paris we see dally men of forty making Inexperienced young fellows appear ap-pear foolish. For example, I will cite 'the best loved man of Paris.' over whose elegant pervon five hat-pin duels have been fought in Ihe past three years the latest on the Warrtti bosrd-wslk. bosrd-wslk. between a young matron and a bud of society. He will be forty two years old next February." Otero did not rite bla name, so 1 will imitate her wise discretion. "Tbe man of forty ta vain and auspicious," said Otero. "Even when In full possession of his physical and mental perfections, he must punish unoffending loveliness that walks beside be-side him In tbe path cf yeara. Ob, yes. he makes the woman of forty suffer! The fair creature would be more than human not to resent re-sent It. Unspoken malice In her laughing eye causes the fatuous fellow to grit his teeth with hale. And so two perfect rreatores. at tbe flood of all that Is best In them, too often turn their backs upon each other, leaving opportunity opportu-nity open to less prejudiced hearts and beads to girls with their intuitions, and to men of fifty purged of petty vanity!" Even so. women of forty rule Parts. Madame Otero collects portrait photographs. Scattering Scatter-ing a package of foremost Paris autles os |
