MOTHER’S SIXTH TALK--HOW TO GROW BEAUTIFUL
=A girl’s vanity.=--When girls reach the age of fifteen and sixteen their
personal interest in personal beauty is apparent. Their frequent use of
the mirror, a mania for primping: poring over such glaring headlines as,
“Become Beautiful,” “Don’t be Fat,” “Be Plump,” “Beautiful Dresses, a
Woman’s crown of Glory,” “Cure for Pimples and Black-heads,” found in
the papers and magazines, all indicate a girl’s interest in being
beautiful.
=There are two kinds of beauty.=--Physical beauty and intellectual and
spiritual beauty. Not all can have the first, but all can have the
latter. The first, unfortunately, may be a source of temptation and
danger; the latter, fortunately, a blessing. Physical homeliness, entire
or in part, may be outgrown, or cured by hygienic living and judicious
treatment, or it may be over-shadowed by the possession of lovely traits
of character.
=Beauty and the sex nature.=--No young woman, however beautiful
physically, can develop a charming, attractive personality unless she
possesses a normal sex nature. This end may be achieved by maintaining
a hopeful, cheerful and perfectly chaste state of mind and perfect
freedom from all habits of vice. In this way the vital energy of
womanhood can be easily directed so as to carry life and health to every
organ and part of the body.
=Puberty pimples.=--Soon after the dawning of puberty, many girls are
troubled with pimples. They usually appear on the face, often only on
the forehead. The back may be affected in the same way. They usually
last two, three or more years and resist every effort to remove them.
The girl had just as well make up her mind to endure them until nature
takes them away. It was once thought that they were evidences of the
practice of the secret vice. In some cases this is true. But in most
cases they are inseparable from the early years of puberty.
=Treatment.=--By following certain simple rules this trouble may be very
much reduced. Avoid eating highly seasoned foods and rich pastries. Take
plenty of open-air exercise. Massage the face with the hands, using a
good quality of absorbent cream. If cold baths are begun in the summer
time, so as not to shock the system, this is very valuable. During the
menses, plenty of warm water should be used. Absolute cleanliness will
prevent many forms of female troubles.
=How to correct some kinds of homeliness.=--Stringy, greasy or dull hair
may be made a crown of beauty by scrupulous care, tasteful arrangement
and the use of suitable decorations.
Where the bodily form is too thin or too fat, or scrawny and angular,
correct habits of eating and exercise are the natural remedies. Very
thin persons will usually gain flesh by taking open-air exercise and
eating nutritious food. Fleshy persons can usually reduce their flesh by
eating two meals a day, eating a less nutritious diet and by taking more
exercise. If this advice is introduced gradually no inconvenience will
be noticed.
=A substitute for physical beauty.=--There are some forms of physical
irregularities, such as prominent ears, large and irregular teeth; a
receding chin or forehead; thick or thin lips; a long or ill-shaped
mouth; small, expressionless eyes; a large, flat or pug nose, none of
which can be remedied by the advice given. She must develop the truest
form of beauty--a charming, winsome personality, a lovely character. She
will then possess a charm that cannot be excelled by any physical queen
of beauty, and that she may retain long after the glow of physical
loveliness has faded.
=Some “musts” and “must-nots.”=--She must cease frowning and learn to
smile; she must repress anger and resentment, and turn the other cheek;
she must not seek favors, but discover the joy of bestowing blessings on
others; she must intensely interest herself in everything that will
stimulate and develop the intellect, expand the soul and enlarge her
spiritual vision; she must revel in the sweetest strains of music and
the most bewitching beauties of art and nature. By following this
advice, the naturally beautiful girl will add a new charm to her
attractiveness, and the homely girl will transform her defects into
seeming beauties and develop the indefinable loveliness of a beautiful
character.
FOURTH DIVISION
HOW TO TEACH SOCIAL PURITY AND SEX TRUTHS TO A BOY