In the entire two hours I saw but three lovely faces which were matured by time. I saw scores of well-dressed and evidently well-cared-for women of middle age, whose countenances were furrowed, drawn, pinched, sallow, and worn, beyond excuse; for time, sorrow, and sickness are not plausible excuses for such ravages upon a face God drew in lines of beauty. Time should mature a woman's beauty as it does that of a tree. Sorrow should glorify it as does the frost the tree, and sickness should not be allowed to lay a lingering touch upon it, until death calls the spirit away. Without question the great majority of the women I saw were earnest orthodox Christians. I heard snatches of conversation regarding Church and Charities and I have no doubt that each woman among them believed herself to be a disciple of Christ. Yet where was the result of the loving, tender, sweet spirit of Christ's teaching? It surely was not visible upon those pinched and worried faces? and those faces were certain and truthful chronicles of the work done by the minds within. One face said to me in every line, "I talk about God's goodness and loving-kindness, but I worry over the dust in the spare room, I fret about our expenses, I am troubled about my lungs, and I fear my husband has an unregenerate heart. I never know an hour's peace, for even in my sleep, I worry, worry, worry, but of course I know I will be saved by the blood of Christ!" Another said, "I am in God's fold, well and safe, but I hate and despise my nearest neighbor, for she wears clothes that I am sure she cannot pay for, and her children are always dressed better than mine. I quarrel with my domestics, and am always in trouble of some kind, just because human beings are so full of sin and no one but myself is ever right. I shall be so glad to leave this world of woe and go to heaven, but I hope I will not meet many of my present acquaintances there!" Another said, "If I only had good healthbut I was born to sickness and suffering, and it is God's will that I should suffer!" Oh the pity of it, and to imagine this is religion! Thank God the wave of "New Thought" is sweeping over the land, and washing away those old blasphemous errors of mistaken creeds. The "New Thought" is to give us a new race of beautiful middle-aged and old people. To-day in any part of the land among rich, poor, ignorant or intellectual, orthodox or materialists the beautiful mature face is rarer than a white blackbird in the woods. It is impossible to be plain, ugly, or uninteresting in late life, if the mind keeps itself occupied with right thinking. The withered and drawn face of fifty indi cates withered emotions and drawn and perverted ambitions. The dried and sallow face tells its story of dried up sympathies and hopes. The furrowed face tells of acid cares eating into the heart. All this is irreligious! yet all this prevails extensively in our most conservative and churchy communities. He who in truth trusts God cannot worry. He who loves God and mankind, cannot become dried and withered at fifty, for love will re-create his blood, and renew the fires of his eye. He who understands his own divine nature will grow more beautiful with the passing of time, for the God within will become each year more visible. The really reverent soul accepts its sorrows as blessings in disguise, and he who so accepts them is beautified and glorified by them, within and without. Are you growing more attractive as you advance in life? Is your eye softer and deeper, is your mouth kinder, your expression more sympathetic, or are you screwing up your face in tense knots of worry? Are your eyes growing hopeless and dull, is your mouth drooping at the corners, and becoming a set thin line in the centre, and is your skin dry, and sallow, and parched? Study yourself and answer these questions to your own soul, for in the answer depends the decision whether you really love and trust God, and believe in your own immortal spirit, or whether you are a mere impostor in the court of faith. The Object of Life HAT do you believe to be the object of your life? To be happy and successful, perhaps you are thinking, even if you do not answer in those words. That is the idea of the many. Meanwhile others, who have been educated in the melancholy faith of their ancestors, believe the object of this life is to be miserable, poor, and full of sorrow, that they may wear a crown of glory hereafter. But the clear thinker and careful observer must realize that there is one and only one main object in life-the building of character. He who sets out in early youth with that ambition and purpose, and keeps to it, will not only attain his object, but he will, too, attain happiness and true success-for there is no such thing as failure for the man or woman of character. We often apply the two words character and success, unworthily. We speak of a man of "much character" when he is merely self-assertive and stubborn, and we call a man successful, who has accumulated a fortune, or achieved fame and a position, by doubtful methods. Then what is character, and what is success? |