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Show American Women and ihe Lure of Insincerity. IWt 9 OTJLD that l wen nol V 1 paritani" 1 '"r'' I 1 have .ned a good and Vy eminently tiresome lift and it never really occurred to me before that the freak of my Puritan ancestors is whal ha-s kept me priggish and miserable. "I believe it's the trouble with all us American-. If only we had been started by band of debonair young Frenchmen instead of those grim old partieo wouldn't we be a lot jollier nation, though? You see, as it is now with ihi.s legacy of asceticism, we just uii.is ull ihe heights the old Puritan grandfather jerks us back jum as we reach the brink of Arcady It keeps its from beauty, it keeps us from art. and I really In lieve those old mi an; chiefly responsible for the jfreatest lack in the average Ami rii so woman's clcrthes, and that is the art of charm We re no foolishly afraid lo be charming' We re bo afraid som. one will call us affected if we pose a linle just artistically to enhance what of beauty Nature has endowed n wirli or that some one else will call us jdlly if we show the slijrhtcet coquetry. "That horrible word 'affected' why has it such a terronr.iiii.' effect i We fear its utigma if w wear a becoming ..dor in more than two gowns '.she affect- blue' our kindly critics ay. and we rush immediately im-mediately into unbecoming browns, We fear it when we regulale our voice to a prettier if not wholly natural register, and we don't dnre-oh, no indeed have tliat lovely hair ornament with the tassel bunging over the ear lor fear once more of the dread, dwad epithet! "And what's the matter with coquetry, anyway? Why. it's one of the things thai distinguish woman from man and il I R pn-ity hard suffragette who hasn'i it, and yet we are so afraid of it!. We step all around it In our drew and glance at il sideways but never dare to grasp it firmly. il "Poit it s that added daxh of COqudtrj f that hinting glimpse of unseen delishts that attracts admiring attention, and its II lack is what keeps us jut about one sa- I se.n behind Pans, as Brikadway i one hour behind Fifth Avenue. The Kr-neh woman openly flaunts it. but the American oh, I dear, no She prefers to be st raightfor- ward truthful -no silly coquetry for her, j she's above it ! ' Above it! In the first place it takes a R good deal more cleverness than the aver- I I ace woman has to acquire It and aequire i it well, and then we have Ihe audaeity ' I I fj to sit smugly by and say with an air of V I virtue 'Thes" l'renchwomeu ! Thj r rj H do look chic, but so unreal, so artificial,' "' V B though those were the two worst epi t - . thets in the English language. - - ji "Wa nre p-MAt masters in t h art of ex c. I cuslng our coquetry on perfectly matter ?V .' I of -fact grounds If we wear a frf.ck ('f,,,v,ij draped up over the nkle, it's heeause it's H l easv to -walk in.' If we wear our furs i.' -"J hanging eoyly off one shoulder, we say ; 't' because 'on's thToat should not be H pampered.' And we think we re beiug j sincere that's the lovely th.ng about it. "We can distort our natural plumpne into all kinds of f ashionsbl lines and squeeze our No. D foot into a double A ! without smiling, and at the same instant I I brothe our undying horror of the OhineW I 'silly cruelty.' "Did you ever try to hve with an arso , H lntely rrulbfnl person? I mean the kind who didn't believe in polite Bits or grace- ' j ful subterfuges? Well, I have and I became aa jumpy as a cat and as reticent I ms a cow, so afraid did 1 grow of her I H sincere oomments. -f' ':4 ' It s the I'renehwoman who learned Hij in the art ol beauty . she lift- the inde- '.;fi.j pendeDCC -d age-ild wislom, ini-. J, planted In her, not fr)m prim I'riscillas, ! I 4i out from Lrivolou Marie Antoinettes, j I No Ereuchwoman evi r hesitates betwecu .harm and tnjth truth to the wood pile! I What's tiuih in a matter of chic? I "Now, if we were as consistent as she I wouldn't complain if. in our Puritan insistence on truth, we lived lives "f as- ceticiam and wore clothes of tl rent, n.'.-teud of putting out so hesitatingly a baby linger and making a timid jab at the gaiiii- if allurement! j "And the matter of rouge I tremble to approach it. It s such a scandalous topic Though tin average woman might be convinced beyond a shallow of a duit that a little pink would enhance the curve of her pal- cheeks would she dsc, it? t.'ertaiuly not! Its artificial And yet the seevnty-fivn centses --he will spend on onduling her hair and the couutle-s dollars dol-lars on perfectly good raise puffs! Lad when sin does so far forget her pu--i- a for sincerity she puts on color so thick that she dows like a burning hiim : as i hough she must needs declare to the world, "li s fnlse, untrue, not mine! "Its iln same old Idea that whatever is charming must be wicked, lomewhal modified, of course; but there still lurks in the unnd of the average woman the notion that she must not bo consciously i harming that charm if cons-iou loses its charm. Why should it, say I? If one is ,-.u. ioiis of her charm cun t sin- make that chnriu a hundred fold more harming.' harm-ing.' harm understood is charm re-' valed what's the use of being chnruuiig If you don't know it'' If a light were al wars bid under a bushel would any one ever see I "There s the secret of the French Woman' superiority in dress she's uot afraid to openly dres-s for decoration The American still sliie about and tries to1 deceive herself and everj o"ne else that vlio dreSNrs for utility. Why not be sin-rere sin-rere in our sincerity V "It wouldn't to. ike the least difference VWWVIWWWIWMVMHM I to tin- Frenchwoman if she were false fro. n her heart to hec nose, so long as she were i hie .Now . I'm mil advocating quite that i xtremCi but we go to tin other. , Why can't I make myself eyebrow- siuccl the good Lord forgo I me when thej were' I passed around.' So, being i sincere audi truthful woman, 1 must not paint an eyebrow eye-brow on, in) face because that would be i acting a lie. ',. 'You rnaj poislt your finirer nail- until you're positively a menace in sunlight. but redden .'our lips? Horror-, whul -can- ' !dal! .Ni' f women don I do it. my dear. j "You may wear a light skirt, so light thai yon arc abs.UCdlj mincing, but cany jour lead wttli a knowing nr.' Miueking i my child, shocking! Von innsl aci i-i i-i if you didn'1 know you couldn't take a tep more thau -i" incliei lonv Mi d tn stud how to take those sis inches coquet-lishly coquet-lishly -why, it a not to be thought of at all! "Judging from advance vibrates from Paris. I should av that by next fall the appearance of Fifth avenue will be like a procession f Pierrettes, with a lit i U- Beau Brummel mixed in. nd the question is, Will Vtnern iiu women ever so fai forge their downright practicality a- to wave wands With the proper air of hauteur, orj tap fans with ihe gesture of requisite grace? Will they allow themselves to bel charming! offet ted, and will tliej le-sin-akitml v a-hamed it' ihey do? "We eagerly and secretly wonder just exactly what is ieal and what isn i in the Frenchwoman's make up and we feel sure thai she's nr quite 'i ' because she looks so well, you know! Vnd yet she has land be i'nainccrej She's dared put a pad where Nature denied her fulness; she's dated to enlarge, to conceal, to iii every way, whether. artificial or otherwise show herself off. and we are shocked. So we look a little less alluring and feel a lit'le nicer.' 1 wonder if we fre " A SOCiAL TRY-OUT 3J5U'.ii.-ii,i. Jrj jl I |