HOW TO BECOME BEAUTIFUL.
By Alice M. Long
I WANT you to smile. O, that isn't enough. Smile again. Smile until you laugh. Continue to smile for just two minutes. Perhaps this is the first time for months that you have relaxed the muscles of your mouth by looking pleasant, but I'm sure you feel better already. . . . Now that you have smiled a little, I venture to say that you've called up a cheerful mental picture. Why, you simply can't help it when you're wearing this cheerful expression. But you will understand there must be a good foundation laid for this facial development, without which there can be no permanency in the change. This is the reason why the women who patronize the beauty doctors, and receive simply local treatment and make local applications of cosmetics, do not derive benefit of a permanent character. When the lips curve upward, the eyes become brighter, softer, and far more expressive. You have doubtless heard of laughing eyes. Well, they are about the most beautiful you will find, and you can have them. If, however, you want your eyes to laugh, you've got to start the good feeling away down inside. Have you ever thought what tell-tales the eyes are any way? If you feel sad or glad, or if you feel ugly towards any one, or if you are telling a fib, they will divulge the secret every time; it makes no difference how hard you try to keep it under cover, so the only sure way to have beautiful eyes is to be honest and happy inside. I know you have your troubles, and some of them are genuine; but, then, what a lot of them are "counterfeit," actually without foundation when you come to think of it. Even so, they will stay with you as long as they are tolerated. Every impression upon the mind affects in a proportionate degree the nerve centres, and these in turn increase or decrease the working capacity of the various organs with which they are connected. You may readily understand, then, how dependent is the body upon the mental condition; and as it may be affected to illness by adverse thoughts, so may it become healthy by bright, cheerful, and happy thoughts, provided hygienic laws are also observed. The adverse impressions indulged in for a prolonged period will produce a chronic physical condition, and thus is brought on dyspepsia, sleeplessness, and a number of other ills. You don't want to be tormented with these horrid things?—Of course not. They spoil your temper, your complexion, and your form. Worse than all, if you are wedded and a mother, they drive your husband to the club, if not to worse places, and cause your children to become disrespectful and unruly. I want you to begin at once—this very evening—to attain the innocent charms so dear to the true womanly woman. First, see that before the setting of the sun your mind is in a calm and peaceful state. If you have spoken unjustly or in anger to any one during the day, make your peace with that person. You should be so choice of your womanliness that, should you at any time so far forget your dignity as to conduct yourself in an unwomanly manner, either15by word or deed, you should make every effort in the least possible time to express your regret for your unkindness. But I shall not dwell on this point, for the time will come to you, and soon, when these things which now vex you will seem very insignificant, and you will wonder how you could have been so foolish as to be annoyed by them. Soon, too, you will be careful to avoid saying or doing anything that will hurt another. Since you have been practising the smile, you will greet every member of the family this evening as they come in from their respective duties with this new facial expression. True, if you have not been accustomed to it, it will seem a little awkward at first. But never mind, smile will answer smile, and you will not be long alone in this upward curve of the lips. The others may look at you the first and perhaps the second evening in a wondering manner, but they will fall in line without a doubt and then the next thing in order will be a cheerful circle about the dinner table. If there is a time or place above all others where pleasant thoughts and cheerful conversation should be indulged in, it is at the table. Indeed, it is better not to eat at all than to eat while angry or unduly excited, for every mouthful taken under such conditions is a tax upon the digestive organs. Again, if you have had any petty trifles during the day of a worrying nature, do not, and I emphasize it, rehearse them either mentally or to any member or members of the family. By doing so you unconsciously exaggerate them to yourself without benefiting in the slightest degree any person or persons. On the other hand, if something of a pleasant character has been brought to your attention, tell it when you are together, keeping always within the boundaries of truth. The others will fall in line, and you will have a compound of cheer and good-will, a better tonic and appetizer than anything ever devised by a chemist. You have made a splendid start and it has worked like a charm, hasn't it? Now, after the evening meal, just forget all about yourself for a while, and do some kind act for, or speak an encouraging word to, some one. You and the other person will sleep the better for it.—Alice M. Long.