Every time the King automobile went past the little home of Julia Lowe
when Julia was there, she ran eagerly to look into the face of the lady
who sat inside. She had such beautiful clothes; she sat so tall and
stately; she had such a wonderful smile. She was Julia Lowe's ideal
woman.
Julia had gone with two other girls to ask Mrs. King to help them with
their Liberty Loans and she had not only taken bonds but had given them
flowers from the great garden back of the house, and had invited them to
come again. Every time she saw her go by, Julia wished she, too, might
have such a sweet face and such a heap of good things as Mrs. King had.
Now Julia worked in an office downtown, so, of course she thought she had
to act and to do as the other girls in the office did. When they wore
their hair very straight, hers was straight also; but when they wore
puffs, she had to get up much earlier in the morning to force her pretty
hair into great puffs over her ears. Mother wanted her to wear serge
dresses in the office, but the other girls wore georgette waists, so of
course she had to wear them also. Some of the girls in the neighborhood
liked to go to the library to read, so they had formed a club for that
purpose and had asked Julia to join. But the girls in the office liked to
go to dances and picture shows, and so she must go to them also--else how
could she talk things over with them at the noon hour, and tell them of
the boys she had been with, and the places where she had gone? Oh, yes,
she just must do as the girls in the office did. But in spite of it all,
she wasn't very happy and sometimes she wished she could run away from it
all and just go back to school again as her mother had wanted her to do.
When she looked at Mrs. King, somehow her beautiful face seemed to make
her want more than ever to do better. What was there about her that made
Julia love her at a distance and yet be afraid of her when she came near
her? Julia didn't know. But she did know that deep in her heart she wanted
to be like her and didn't know how. If only she had money and beautiful
things, perhaps it would be different.
One day when the leaves were very beautiful in their fall colors, a dainty
little note was left by the postman for Julia and it read,
"Dear Julia:
"I hardly know you but I am going to ask a great favor of you. Mr.
King has been called out of town and he is not willing to have me
stay in the house all alone, for it is very big and lonely since Mary
died. I wish very much that you would let me call for you at the
office this afternoon. Then we will go out in the country to see the
beautiful colors and have our supper at the Country Club. Then, when
we come home in the moonlight, I should like to have you spend the
night with me here. I shall hope that you can come.
"Sincerely,
"Margaret L. King."
Julia was so happy as she read it that she could hardly contain
herself--to go for a ride in the wonderful car; to eat at the Country
Club; to sleep at the home of Mrs. King--why, she had never even dared to
dream of such a thing. It was too good to be true.
Of course she must look her very best, so she asked for an extra half hour
at noon. She would wear her new thin waist with the very low neck, for the
girls had told her that she looked "too sweet for anything" in that. Her
silk skirt was shabby but it would never do to wear her serge, even if it
were new, when she rode with Mrs. King. As she put on the high-heeled
slippers, she noticed that they were much run over, but they would have to
do. It took her a long, long time to fix her hair just as she wanted to
have it, for one dip must just touch the next at the right angle.
Finally all was ready but the extra touches to her face. There was the
rouge for which she had spent so much money. The boss at the office had
told them that they would lose their job if they came with it on their
faces again but she must risk it this once. A little penciling of the
eyebrows, a little powder here and there, and Julia felt very sure as she
looked at herself in the glass that she would "do."
Her shoes needed brushing but she hadn't time for them, for, even now, she
had only time to run as fast as she could to get the car which would bring
her to the office in time. There was a button off her coat which she had
forgotten, but the coat needn't be worn; her fingernails needed attention,
but she never cared much about them. As long as her face, and her hair,
and her clothes were all in style, she was all right to go anywhere.
Promptly at five, the King car came to the door of the factory and Julia
stepped in, followed by the envious glances of her friends in the office.
What a ride it was through the open country! Miles and miles of beauty
such as Julia had never seen. Mrs. King found so many interesting things
for her to see that all the restraint wore away, and she found herself
talking to her friend and telling her all about her own life and
pleasures.
Then Mrs. King told her a little about what she did with her time and, to
her surprise, Julia found that Mrs. King was a very busy woman. Over and
over as they talked, Julia noticed how soft and sweet Mrs. King's voice
was and how carefully she used the best of English. And again, Julia found
herself wishing she were like Mrs. King. Somehow she did not care to use
the slang words that seemed so necessary when she talked with the girls.
When their coats were removed at the Country Club, Julia found that Mrs.
King was very simply dressed in a dark blue serge dress with little white
collar and cuffs. Many other girls and women in the group were dressed in
the same way. Then Julia became suddenly conscious of the run-over heels
and the torn skirt, for she and Mrs. King were in the center of the room,
and she was being introduced as "My friend Julia." How she did wish she
had taken mother's advice and worn the new, pretty serge!
In one of the corners of the dining-room there was a little table for two
that overlooked the lake, and towards this Mrs. King made her way. Here
they could see every one and yet be quite alone. Then Mrs. King told her a
little of the people in the room. Here was the wife of a noted judge; that
was the High School teacher of whom she must have heard the girls speak if
they had ever been to that school.
"And who are these two girls in front of us?" asked Julia. "Isn't the
dark-haired one a beauty? Evidently the young man with her thinks so,
too."
Then Mrs. King's face grew quiet as she said,
"Those are two girls of whom we are very fond here, but I am so sorry to
see Jessie doing as she is. No, Julia, she is not pretty. She has painted
her face and all her natural beauty is hidden. Usually she is very
attractive. Her friend's face is sweet and clean. Evidently she does not
care to attract attention to herself by the use of paint and rouge. She
believes in being true to her best self even though she is not in the
height of style. When you have lived longer, you will know, dear, the
truth of what I say."
Poor Julia. Her face burned like fire. Mrs. King had said "My friend
Julia," yet she, too, had paint on her face--not red like the girl in
front, to be sure, but it was there. Why had no one told her before? All
the girls did it and she thought it was the thing to do. Then there came
to her an impulse to ask Mrs. King about it, so she said frankly,
"Mrs. King, I have some paint on my face, too, but I put it on because I
was coming out with you. I thought you would like to have me look my very
best."
"Indeed I do, girlie," said Mrs. King, putting her hand on the hand of the
girl opposite her. "Indeed I do want you to look your best. I have liked
you ever since I came to Hillcrest to live and it has hurt me to see you
trying to do as all the other girls did. I have wished so often that you
would be a leader in doing the finer things and help others to see what
real beauty is and how to get it. Real beauty is not put on from the
outside; it grows from within."
Julia looked at Mrs. King's sweet, loving face very hard for a minute and
then said,
"I have liked you, too, and I have watched you go back and forth, wishing
I could be like you. Will you show me how? Mother has tried but I thought
she did not know. No one else has ever tried to tell me about your kind of
beauty."
So they made the compact. Then they sat and watched for well-dressed
women; for women in whose faces there was strength of character and
purpose; for girls whose very manner showed they were ladies; for men who
honored the girls in whose company they were. Such fun as it was! Julia
never knew the time to go so fast. It was so plain now that clothes did
not necessarily make the lady. She was almost sorry when it came time to
go home.
In the house, a great fire was burning and it looked so cozy.
"I have looked into your windows many times as I have passed and wished I
could sit before the fire and dream and dream," said the girl. "May I sit
down here for a while?"
"We will both sit here," said Mrs. King, "then I will tell you about my
little girl who used to sit here with me."
How Julia's heart ached for her friend as she told her of her love for her
own dear girl, of the plans they had made, of the sudden sickness and
death, and of the loneliness of the big house since she had gone! She had
thought Mrs. King had everything to make her happy, yet the thing she
wanted most she could not have.
"Her hair was much like yours and sometimes, as you have passed, I have
wished I could comb yours as I did hers. Would you mind if I did?" said
the mother.
"I should love to have you," said Julia.
"Well, then, when the fire has died out, we will go up to her room. In the
drawer there I have a little white dress that perhaps you would like. I
will comb your hair just as I did hers and see if the dress will fit you,"
said Mrs. King. "If you look sweet and girlish in it, I will give it to
you."
While Mrs. King slipped away to get the things needed for the
hairdressing, Julia went to the great white bathroom, and when she came
out her face was sweet and clean and every trace of the paint and powder
was gone. Her pretty brown hair was down her back in ringlets and her
face wore a look which the girls at the office had never seen there.
Then Mrs. King brushed, and brushed, and brushed till the hair was soft
and shiny. Low in her neck she coiled it, making it look girlish and neat,
fastening it with a tiny velvet circlet. Then Julia held her breath as
Mrs. King took from a drawer a little white dress. It was a simple silk
mull but it was prettily made. Below it was a dainty petticoat and at the
bottom of the drawer were white oxfords and fine, lisle stockings.
"These were ready for her graduation, dear, but she never wore them once
after they were made," said the mother softly, as she fingered the dress
lovingly.
There were tears in the eyes of the mother and tears in the eyes of the
girl as the dress was put on. And when Julia looked into the mirror she
seemed to see a strange girl. How little she looked like the girls in the
office! But she liked her hair--and she liked the looks of her face--and
she loved the simple, white dress.
Last of all Mrs. King slipped about her neck a little string of pearls.
"These are my gift to you, Julia," she said. "Wear them when you think you
are dressed as you and I have planned to-night and be as beautiful as the
pearls. Remember, dear, we may put beautiful things on the outside but
they can never make us beautiful. It comes from the inside because of what
we are. It stands the test of study. It is always real. A girl who does
not live up to the best she knows can well be called a coward. Good night,
dear, I am glad there is a girlie who loves me."
Then with a good-night kiss she was gone--gone, as Julia knew, to be more
than ever lonely for her own little girl.
For a long time Julia stood looking at the dress, and the slippers, and
the stockings. Mrs. King had plenty of money, yet these were to have been
her daughter's graduation clothes. And she had not finished school because
she could not have clothes like the rest of the girls who were to have
expensive ones. Mrs. King was honored all through the city, yet she was
dressed in a simple serge dress at the Country Club. It was all very
strange! Some one had things very much mixed up concerning what a girl
should wear. How long it seemed since she had left the office in the
afternoon!
The room was so dainty that it took Julia a long time to get ready for
bed. How she would love to have a room like this! Maybe it would be easy
to be good. She looked at the dress again, as she laid it carefully over
the chair. It was all hers. The girls would laugh at her but she loved it.
Then she lifted the little string of pearls--not cheap, big ones such as
she had worn on Sunday, but dainty, beautiful ones, and they whispered
again to her,
"Be as beautiful as the beads, girlie. True beauty is never put on from
the outside. It comes from inside because of what you are."
Long she stood in the moonlight near the window looking at them. Then she
dropped on her knees and said,
"Dear God, she has shown me the best. Help me not to be a coward as I go
out and try to do it. Help me to be as beautiful as the pearls. I thank
Thee for to-day. I want to show others what real beauty is and how to get
it. Please help me."
And the Father heard the prayer of the girl kneeling there in her white
night-gown, for it came from a sincere heart--and He answered.