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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1905)
de L'nJloJ X IIOl'iiH she mny not think It, the pretty Amerl ciin Him ml' s by beauty and her sister who aspires to literary power are babh s Ht the gamo compared to the way It hug liwn played before. Where she hag only one tiower In her hand the Frenchwoman of a few centuries ago heM loth. In addition she heM the manic caul U'Vlff'h Nle,r fnHr.il I , a-ln Ilia tij.ii-la rf nmn " f '; "day It Is a question whether It la better to have brains or f ..ty. 1 The Frenchwoman had both. Today the woman writer or reformer Is considered a wen ib r If she la not a frump. In France In the golden ,ay 0f L.nils XIV. all llt.:rary women were beautiful. Today we point with pride to the "April grandmother " rf 50. The Frenchwoman had admirers at 110. The twentieth century women study and wrlie of hon- to win and hold men's love. In tile seventeenth pentnrv In liVritmr mnn ti'rnti nml rimA 4 ! Iiow to win and delight the hearts of women. Kven the most petted and fortunate of American women ri.-ka no more of man than that he will shower gold at her feet. In the old days of France man not only gave her gold 'and Jewels and fair raiment, but he shared wi-n her tne reins ot government. Y That there were carpers and crltlclsors of the sterner sex then as now, who did not hesitate to try to regulate the con duct of woman's half of the world, I shown by a little con versation which Salnte-Eetive Introduces In " Portraits of the Seventeenth Century," a translation of which by Katharine Wnrnieley has Just nppenrcd (Putnam's). It Is between Cardinal Maynrln of France and Don I.uls de llaro, prime minister of Spain. Woman's Power Causes Much Trouble. " You arc lucky In Spain," says the cardinal. " You have, is everywhero else, two sorts of women, cocjuettcs In ab ind a nee and a few good women; the former think only of pleas ing their lovers, tho latter their husbands; neither have any ambition but' for luxury and vanity; they know only how to write, tho one set their love letters, the other their confes sions; neither know what Hour Is mnde of and their heads swim If you talk business. Our women, on the contrary be they prudes or coquettes, old, young, llly, or clever, want to meddle In everything. V"A well behaved woman would repudiate both her hus band and lover unless they talked to her during the day of state affairs; they want to see nil, hear all, know all, and, what Is worse, do tfU and tangle all. We had three, among others Mmes. de Liongucville, do Chevreuse, and the Princess Palatine, who put us every day into more confusion than there ever was In Habylon." i "Thanks be to od," replied Pon I.uls with little gal lantry, "our women are what you say; provided they handle the money, whether of their husbands or lovers, they are satisfied, and I am glad they do not meddle In affairs of state; for If they did they would assuredly spoil things In Snain as they do In France." These words, uttered by those who might have been thwarted by women In their management of state affairs, show rather the supremacy of woman than the general at titude toward her. That which best sums up tho true light In which she was held Is the fact that not only the gallants of Franco but the men of letters and statesmen made a science of pleasing her. One and all of them studied her personality, and made the most subtle use of finesse In pursuit of her. What to Do to Please Women. Imagine a twentieth century man faithfully fol'owlng any of these precepts for the sake of making himself popuiar, even with her he loves: Kntrring faithfully Into all her Inclinations. Trying Ingeniously to put her In the best light. Finding new ways In which to praise her. Giving her means of pleasing herself most. Go still further and Imagine the American young man who gauges a girl by her power to entertain, laying dawn for himself rules by which he shall make his conversation ac ceptable to her. " And yet the man who wrote thus was not a libertine jr an esthete. He was " a little tho lover and much the friend " of Ninon de 1'Knclos. He wan Saint-Kvremond, who bad a mind of " the first quality for good sense " and whose " natural char acter was cne of easy superiority." In his own words "The first merit In the eyes of women is to love them; the second Is to enter Into the confidence of their Inclinations; the third to Ingeniously put all they have that Is most charming In Its best light. If nothing leads us into the secret places of the heart we must at least win their minds by praises; for In default of lovers to whom all Is yielded he will best please who gives them the means of pleasing themselves most." The precepts that he lays down for pleasing and Interest ing women are the result of the most consummate experience. " In conversation," he says, " never allow women to be come Indifferent; their soul Is Inimical to such languor; either make yourself loved, or flatter them on what they love, or lead them to find within them something that shall make them love themselves more: for after all what they want Is love, of whatever nature It mny be. Their heart la never void of that passion." What was the power of the women to the charming of whom men gave such critical thought? Woman Is Frenchman's " Perfect Being." In an Idyl which he calls the "Woman Who Is Never Found," Salnt-Evremond pulnts a portrait which Is not by any means an Imaginary one. "That sound reason, that sensible mind, Joined to sportlveness and charm," he had found In Ninon. " It Is," he says, " the Idea of a perfected lM'lng. I do not look for It among men because there alwayi lacks In their Intercourse a something, I know not v, hat of gentleness which we find In that of women. 1 think It 'ess impossible to find in a woman the sound, strong reason of men than to find In men the charm and natural graces of women." Ninon, however, was no exception to the rule of brains and beauty. Mme. de Sevlgne Is described as a smiling blonde, not at all sensual, gay and frolicsome. The flashes of her wit sparkled In her changeful eyes; she was loved, ought, courted, sowing about her hopeless passions to which she paid little attention, but retaining generally as friends those whom she would not take for lovers. Her Irregular but real lieauty became radiant at moments when she grew animated. Her face was lighted by her mind, or, to quote a saying literally: " Her mind even dazzled our eyes." Of Mme. de Caylus It was said: " Never was there a face so spiritual, so touching, so speaking; never a freshness like hers; never so many graces or more Intelligence; never so much gayety and liveliness; never a creature more bewitching." When SI me. do T.otiCuevllle went to hrr first bal' a wave of univ ei s.il admiration and flattery rose around her H'li-n she bad hardly emend the room. Her beauty consisted more In certain Incomparable tones of the complexion than In. uny perfectli n of feature. Her eyes, less large than so."t and brilliant. Were of the blue of t unionise. With this, sl'very blond hair and the nameless something which Is called ' air," there was elegance In her whole person and at eveiy point a style supreme " No one approaching her ever es caped the desire t please lo r; her Irresistible charm ex tending even over women." J- Describes Herself as Sappho. Kven Stile, de tVinlcry. who, though the most versatile, was the least beautiful of the literary women of the day, ' faces courageously the uurstlon of beauty," when she de crilies herself under the guise of Sappho. " Though you h'ar me speak of Sappho as the most marvelous and most chnrm Ing person In nil (ircece, you must not Imagine that her beauty Is one of the grtnlest beauties on earth. As for com plexion, hers Is not of the utmost whiteness, but It h is such n line glow that you may say that It Is beautiful, but wliat Sappho has that Is sovereignly agreeable Is that her eyes are so fine, so lovely, so loving, so full of Intelligence, that one enn neither sustain their brilliancy nor detach one's own eyes from them." It wim one nf Mile, de Rcudery's rlnlms that she Unew and could deneribe the most secret emotions of love without ever having felt them otherwise than by reflection. In still writing ol herself as Sappho she says: " She even expresses delicately sentiments that are most difficult to express, nil the anxieties, all the Impatience, all the joys, all the dislike, all the murmtirlngs, all the despair, fill the hopes, all the rebellions, and all the tumultuous feel ings that are never well known except by those who feel them or have felt them." A port re it of Mme. de Caylus, written In her last years, after her youth. Is but one of the many Instances of tho per ennial charm which was the rule rather than tho exception of the seventeenth century heroines. " Mme. de Caylus shed a Joy so sweet, so bright, a taste for pleasure so noble and so elegant Into the souls of her guests iat all ages and all characters were made to seem amiable and happy. Su surprising Is the power, or rather th magic, of a woman who possesses a veritable charm." Of Ninon, Ia Fare writes: " 1 never saw Ninon In her beauty; but at the ago of 50 and even till she was over 00, she had lovers who adored her, and the most honorable men In France for her friends. Until she was IX) she was sought by the best society of her time. She died with all her senses and with the charms of her mind, which wero the best and most lovable I have ever known Ip woman." t S A h K s h h 0h The Most Beautiful H and in the World. The prettiest hand In tho world belongs to Mile. Mario i!c I'astellune, a member of the famous French family of that name, and one. of the reigning beauties of Purls. The countess, who gets her title through the dethroned royal r,x JMf v$4 Ik ,v MT - xvYjM 1 family, long ngo dropped the family crest and went upon the Btage, where she Ih known by another name. She Is to day considered one of the most beautiful women In a city famed for Its beauties. The countess boasts a hand which . is admired for Its many beautiful qualities, the most famous of which is Its smoothness. Her hand is absolutely fascinating In Its color and evenness of texture. It looks like marble and to the touch It Is cool,. and Arm, and smooth precisely like marble. It has that tint which Is peculiarly the tint of marble. There are smooth hands which are hard as rocks, but the hand of this famous French beauty is feminine and soft. There Is not a bone visible, and the flesh is even and fine. It Is the hand of a marble statue, yet the hand of a living woman, perfect in color, texture, and shape. The hand of the beautiful countess is perfect In Its shape. A perfect hand, according to Pierrot, a sculptor of pretty hands, must excel in these respects, named In order accord ing to merit: First In smoothness or quality. The skin must be per fectly even, like marble. Second-In color, which should be according to the stylo of the complexion white, cream, brunette, or olive. It can also be pink, or rosy, but never must It, on any account, be red. What Mahes a Perfect Hand. Third A perfect hand must lie perfect In shape The palm must bo plump, yet not pudgy, and the fingers must be long und tapering toward the tips. The finger cannot well be too long, nor too tapering, the longer and more pointed ' ,..j ... '.ar the better, as far as the hands are concerned. Fourth A perfect hand must be graceful. The fingers must act Independently, Particularly should the third finger be Inclined to curl a little, which Is always a good point In a hand. Compact, heavy, solid Angers are never pretty Fifth A perfect hand should have a delicate wrist, not bony nor too heavily veined. The wrist should be round and without the wrist or knuckle bone. In looking at the hand closely there Is a sixth point which must Ik; noted, and this Is the shape of the fingers. They should be round and not flat, and the nails must bo long and curved, not round and Bharp. Seventh, the hand should be perfectly kept. A hand that Is not well kept cannot be beautiful. It should be kept not only well but Intelligently. Many beautiful hands are spoiled by the lack of Intelligent care. These points, according to Pierrot, nre those which go to the making up of a perfect hand. The countess, the owner of tho most beautiful hands In Paris, possesses all of these good points, and a great many others beside. Tells How She Got Them. Not long ago an American girl reporter called upon the countess In her apartment In the Hols de Boulogne After a little talk, the American girl said: "1 will tell you frankly the object of my visit. 1 came to ask you about your hands. I want to see them. I am told they are the most beautiful hands in Paris." The countess smiled and extended one of her lovely hands It lay upon the lap of the American girl like a piece of mar ble, cool, perfect In shape, lovely beyond description. The American girl gasped. " Tell me," said she, " how you keep your hands so perfect." The French woman smiled again. " My perfect handb " said she, " are mine by Inheritance. My mother had perfect hands and so had my grandmother. My great-grandfather, one of the family of French royalists, had the most perfect hands In l'aris. He was as famous for his hands In those days as 1 King Leopold of Helgium In these days. His hands were so handsomo ,that they were modeled again and again. " Hut I did not rest when I found myself the possessor of perfect hands. I went to work on them to make them still more perfect, and I think I succeeded In getting them to a degree of perfection which 1 could nu.t have attained without 'the hands a world of good. Au rc-Volr. And the next time VOU Ul'lll "in ft ' J II1U.VI 1,11 V11VUB " .1'IUIIIG Ul hard work and much patience. " For one thing, I gave them attention every day. 1 did not neglect them, thinking to shape them and soften them all at once. I worked on them persistently. Work Ruins American Hands. "American women have ugly hands. Tliey are a nation of poor hands. This is due to several causes, one of which Is their industry. The American woman Is proverbially Indus trious. She works and works, and her hands get worse and worse. " Yet hard work does not make the hands ugly. My mother, who In the later days, after trouble came to the family fortunes, earned her living performing upon the piano, had lovely hands. The hands of Paderewskl are famous and the hands of Liszt were sculptured many and many a time. No; work does not make the hands hard and shnpcless unless, you want them to be so. " A French woman handles her hands like two tables. She keeps them warm; she never lets a chill creep over them; she does not expose them to drafts; she would not think of letting them go out winter or summer without suitable pro tection; she shades them from the sun and dust In summer, and from the wind und snow In winter. How to Be Like Her. " And now," said the French woman, " I am going to give my hands a nap. Every afternoon 1 Incase them In a pair of oiled gloves for an hour. They are old kid gloves which have become grease soaked from being on the hands a great deal. They are heavy with cold cream. They are soft and they do hand hints." 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