The Colored Girl Beautiful

Youth and Maturity.

The two attractive periods in a woman's life are girlhood and maturity. If girlhood is not sufficiently attractive a girl may go into beauty training for maturity.

Many women who persevere in right thinking and right actions have three stages of attractiveness, youth, maturity, and old age.

A girl should not try to get old and look old, for age comes to her soon enough. Girlhood comes but once in a lifetime. One must keep young by being young and "thinking young." One must never let tiredness leave its mark either in the face or poise. Tiredness has never attracted and when people say that one looks tired, it is time to smile and deny it, for the "Spot" is beginning to take form. The body should never be permitted to settle. In Cuba, the women have enormous hips because they sit so much and are inactive.

Each muscular movement should reflect health and youth until one feels hardy and young. One should breathe all the fresh air that she can consume. Breathing is a vital force which sends blood to fill out wrinkles and eradicate blemishes and spots.

The fair, fat, and forty age is no longer dreaded. Like Lillian Russell, women are learning to keep the face youthful by keeping the illusion of youth and the belief that she is youthful. If we feel young we look young.

Self Control.

"Will Power is the rudder of the ship of life."

A woman's life is about what she makes it. She is her own Fate. The law that governs one, governs all humanity, because the laws of thought are the laws of the universe. The mind and body are co-workers. "As a man thinks, so is he." Great men are those who see to it that the mental force is stronger than the material, and who "Will" that thought shall rule their world.

Every thought stimulates certain brain cells, and exercises some nerve, tissue or muscle. Man's superiority to animal is due to this mental action.

Actions speak louder than words. They are published thoughts. Every movement of every portion of the body has significance. Picking up a glass, a cup, or tools and other habits reflect the mind and its superiority to the physical. There is no surer way to judge people.

Every face tells a tale and we read character from the physical form—the head, the backbone, the eye, the mouth, the chin, or hand. The uplifted eye, the corners of the mouth, the manner in which one eats or stands, in fact every movement has a special meaning, which may be easily read.

The body is like a camera, it tells the truth; it is the outward sign of inward grace, or vice versa.

Some one has said "Women's characters are writ large on their faces and God writes a perfectly plain hand." Because women are more emotional than men and because they often indulge themselves in emotions, the signs are frequently very evident. If we study these signs when we meet others we may "size them up," and almost know what is passing through their minds. Because of sexual magnetism men read women more easily than they read men.

Mental habits soon become reflective or automatic. In order to read others we must study ourselves, discover our habits and tendencies and trace them to their source for correction.

The time has arrived for new thoughts, new studies, and new habits. Colored women must be led along the new lines of thinking. Although many have seemed stupid about some of the abstract studies, they have native powers that have too long lain dormant.

Many are permitting their forces to go to waste instead of controlling them. They must discipline themselves to gain self control over such habits as over-eating, coarseness, inertia, anger, and other beauty destroyers.

Any excessive emotion debilitates the nervous system and thus affects good looks.

Proper poise prolongs life because pressure on certain organs is evenly distributed and no strain is placed on any particular muscles to cause abscesses or tumors, etc. Improved circulation of the blood results, and good circulation spells health. One can think better when poise is correct for the same reason.

There is a present day need of knowledge concerning a certain contagion of emotions. Strong feeling sometimes vibrates that which is hostile and selfish. One fretful, scolding woman can upset a neighborhood, to say nothing of a household.

One's thoughts should be of love and peace, instead of worry and fear, lest she may harm others. A woman should be unafraid to conquer life's problems. She should have faith in herself or she will be a dreamer instead of a doer. She must be positive instead of negative, but be positive in the right way which includes the thought and help for others.

Voices reflect the mind and soul, so the colored woman should control the speaking voice.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox has said,

Control of the speaking voice is one of the most admired evidences of self control.

The power of the mind over the body is said to be greater than any germ. Compelling the mind to perform some one useful disagreeable act each day is a splendid habit trainer. The influences that we exert over others will depend to a great extent upon the control over our own habits as well as the resistance to influence that others might exert over us.

One must conquer habits of laziness, untidiness, extravagance, voice, gestures, clothing, to gain power to concentrate Thought.

Her Relationship With Men.

Many girls think that they understand men, but they flatter themselves. Men do not always understand themselves, and often do things because they have been led to "the doing," by misunderstanding the girl.

A man likes to measure up to the opinion of sympathy, strength, protection, or wickedness, that he imagines a girl has of him. He often says and does things to please the girl more than to please himself.

Girls often throw out allurements and temptations especially in the way of immodest dress and seemingly innocent actions which have been the downfall of men as well as of themselves. While men have known that the temptations were deliberately planned, they have not had sufficient will power to resist. It is an unpardonable crime for a young girl to take such an advantage for frequently she ruins the career of a man. Such a girl has two souls to answer for when her own downfall is a sufficient burden to carry.

Some girls complain of insults from men. There are so many good reasons which could be given for this, but girls would indignantly deny that one reason is that they bring this upon themselves.

They discuss slippery subjects and personal experiences, and "heart longings" which call forth the ever present manly (masculine) sympathy. This often leads to actions afterwards regretted.

Men are good readers of the public bulletin—a girl's face. They see the mark of intoxicants, impure thoughts and other weaknesses as if they were spelled out on the features, and as they are keenly sensitive to projected vibrations, they act accordingly.

Sometimes dusk, or night's darkness is to blame for much mischief. Moral resistance seems to be at low ebb at this time, and an evidence of timidity or other feminine weakness may be misunderstood—read incorrectly as a feminine subterfuge seeking physical contact.

If one will always expect good from men—the men will generally rise to it. Try to believe that every man is chivalrous, but do not put his chivalry to too severe a test.

Curiosity and a too venturesome spirit may lead to mischief and trouble too great to be remedied. One must not think or project impure thoughts, nor must she expect insults and familiarities. Men generally respond to the (influencing) thought. They feel the thoughts and obey them.

Girls must remember that most men talk. Some will tell on girls if it is the last act of their lives, although they may not mean to tell. A newly married man will tell his wife, or another will tell his affinity. Another may drink too much and grow confidential. Some even talk in their sleep. One may not think that she will escape; her indiscretions will follow her to her lifelong regret.

She should not try to be a woman too early in life, and should not marry too early. She should study her physique and her constitution. She should not permit desire and curiosity to control her good sense. Long illness, suffering, operations, and even early death may result from premature responsibility. If necessary, she should consult a physician and look the future squarely in the face.

Girls do not now mature as early as their mothers and grandmothers did, and they have not the same power of endurance and resistance, because times, conditions, and the mode of living have changed.

Long engagements should not be encouraged. If a man wants a girl he will wait patiently without any coddling or coaxing. Long engagements are enervating. Engaged couples feel that they are licensed by public opinion and they tax their powers in a way that married people would not dare to do. Too much liberty in long engagements is so often a serious menace to health and happiness in after marriage relationship. It takes away the charm and bloom of married life because the man learns to know his fiancee too well.

The Religion of the Colored Girl Beautiful.

God is the perfection in all that is good. God is the best in us. God is the perfection of all that is beautiful, orderly and harmonious—the 100 per cent of everything in the world.

The religion of the colored girl beautiful should teach her that everything is spiritual—sacred—because everything comes from God.

It is not sufficient to say, "I am a Christian (I am spiritual—of the Spirit)" unless one expresses this in countless ways each day. Not only in kind, helpful actions and gentle speech, but in the work-a-day life.

The colored girl beautiful expresses her Christianity—her spirituality—the best, or 100 per cent in her, when she puts Christ into every act of her every day life. No act should be too insignificant for this expression.

The parables of Jesus teach us that He put His Spirit into the lowest act, as for instance in the parable of the tent-maker.

If the colored girl beautiful is truly of His Spirit she will spiritualize, light up her every day environment with the "Light" that is in her as a beacon to others as well as to show her appreciation of a priceless possession.

Each day she has innumerable opportunities to express the Christ in her—her spirituality—in the neatness of her apparel, and in the tidiness of her home and yard. She may take her religion—her Christ—into the kitchen and express Him and the 100 per cent spirituality in her cooking, sweeping, and in her dish washing.

Doing things well expresses the proportion of the Christ—the perfection—the 100 per cent in us. The more Christ one claims, the better should one express Christ in his daily labor as every-day evidence.

A low daily percentage is a poor record for one who claims spirituality on Sunday.

No untidy church, home, or school expresses Christ—for Christ represents perfection in cleanliness and order. "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" we are told. Cleanliness shows the spiritual, the God, but dirt in any form is an expression of the opposite. Dirt under a bed and a prayer beside it are not compatible, to say the least, unless the "pray-er" is unable to sweep.

The Christ principles properly interpreted and applied would spiritualize a broom and duster and all the utensils of a home or the tools of a trade.

Order is an expression of the God-part which makes us more orderly in the habits of life if we make pretensions as Christians.

God is not only all that is perfect in cleanliness, order and harmony, but He is also all that is perfect in color and sound. God is in the body and all its parts, the hair, teeth—all.

As harmony and color are expressions of Spirituality so good taste in dressing expresses the God in us. By observing and studying Nature one learns God's taste in color and what is harmonious.

We should dress to suit the color of the face and the physical attributes that have been given to us. God has appropriately garbed each object in Nature. Colored people should study themselves and dress accordingly. The bright, gay colors are not suitable to all. Many violate the laws of harmony of color, and unconsciously expose the ugliest in their appearance by wearing gaudy, unbecoming, inappropriate clothes.

As the harmony of sound comes from God, so an eloquent voice expresses God. Christians should make their voices more elegant and eloquent. A loud, coarse voice expresses the opposite of God. Coarseness in thought and speech is unlike Christ and serves to reveal opposite attributes to those He represents. Grunting is not spiritual. No one could imagine a grunt from Christ.

A graceful motion or gesture also reflects the God in us. One would never imagine any rough, uncouth gesture from Christ, who is the "pattern of patterns." Grimaces are not spiritual besides they leave lines in the face.

A respect for the rights of others expresses the God in us, as do obedience and kindness. We are told in positive language by God to respect our elders and superiors.

Race pride expresses the God in us. The Israelites were the chosen people because of blood ties. They were proud of their blood. Blood is thicker than water. The real Christian should be proud of his people; he should believe in them and uplift them as our Great Example did the lowly.

The reverence which expresses God will cause one to respect His house or any portion of it. A Christian would not handle a Bible carelessly and would dust it as a privilege, because it is the message from God. A Christian would not tear or disfigure any sacred book or selection of music, while to sit upon the sacred rail of the altar or pulpit would be an unpardonable act of sacrilege.

The proper care of any article belonging to the Sacred Service is an expression of Spirituality because it recognizes the article as a medium of spirituality, something which should be reverenced.

The singing of religious songs in any but a spiritual frame of mind would be sacrilege just as the taking of the Lord's name in ordinary conversation or in exclamation is sacrilege.

The same religion or Spirituality which makes one shout, pray and sing should prompt a girl not to wear a pale pink or blue satin dress or other inappropriate fancy decollete dress to worship in God's House. She cannot worship God and mammon at the same time and she should not be the means of distracting anyone from spiritual thoughts through envy or disgust.

The Christ in a person will prevent her from speech and action which would hurt the chances or success of another person. God has warned us that the violation of this rule will surely return evil to the violator. His law has many references to this particular self punishment.

It can not be denied that Divinity has specially endowed the Negro spiritually, but he does not consistently express it in all the forms that he might express it, especially in the great Race cause. He is full of heart, and will give his money, his food, his life, for God—but he does not yet realize that the same love for God that he puts into his gifts should be expressed and applied in his daily walks in life as Christ has expressly commanded.

We are taught that there are four kinds of Emotional Expression: The Egotistic which is self and in the interest of self as in joy, rapture and grief; the Aesthetic which has its expression in Nature and Art; the Ethical which has its expression in the moral law; the Religious which expression is in the faith of the Supreme Being.

As yet the Negro has only fully expressed himself in but two: The Egotistic, or the self interest, and the Religious, or the faith in the Supreme Being.

The Negro undoubtedly brought about his own freedom through his own spirituality, and faith, and the concentrated, united thought of a whole people upon one subject—freedom. His remarkable progress since emancipation has been due to the same faith.

The Negro should be, and could easily be the spiritual teacher—or example—of the world. He must not only prove his spirituality but he must diffuse it, that others may realize its power even if they may not receive its benefit.

Christ, the Supreme Example of spirituality was quiet. Other races hold that ideal, of spirituality. When they see and hear a Negro shout, weep and pray and then find that same person uncouth and dirty, they cannot reconcile the two conditions, and so doubt the spiritual element which they call Emotionalism. (They do not remember that the Spirit may be strong and the flesh weak.)

These critics cannot believe that an untidy, ignorant man with dirty teeth stained with tobacco juice can give spiritual advice, and one must admit that it does look incompatible.

The race needs more quality in Emotion and less quantity.

Once convince the rankest Negro hater that the Negro undoubtedly has spirituality, which is surely advancing him and the race, and a certain respect will follow.

Each Negro must consider himself a spiritual missionary whose appearance, speech, actions and surroundings will reflect the storehouse of the great Light within.

The colored ministers who preach Emotionalism, or what they term the expression of spirituality should see to it that their flocks spiritualize their daily lives causing cleaner churches, schools, homes, yards, wearing apparel and Christian thoroughness in each daily act, thus showing 100 per cent spirituality.

The colored ministers who preach Non-Emotionalism should prove that the power of spiritual expression is being directed along channels which are helping their flocks and the race in each daily act, not only in race progress but in convincing doubting Thomases who are blind to the good traits in the race.

The so-called Spiritual Power which would cause a woman to run down an aisle and mash the hats of others, or to throw hand bags and give similar evidences of strength and emotion could be turned into safer and more helpful channels—as far as her race is concerned. A woman possessed of this power and energy could be a great leader in great deeds if she were taught how to do this. A shouter who can not help the race in the battle against prejudice in her special locality, by expressing her spirituality in each daily word and act as well as apparel, and surroundings, seems a poor example of spiritual expression.

The religion that does not help toward the advancement of this persecuted race, and does not win the admiration and respect of other races, is not the religion for the colored girl beautiful, of today.

As a rule colored people expect entirely too much help from God. We must help ourselves more. Each Negro carries a three-fold burden; first, his own personal burden; second, the burden of his posterity; and third, the burden of the race. These follow each other and are dependent upon each other.

God has given him physical strength, a strong backbone and strong shoulders to carry the heavy yoke of the three-fold burden, as well as a wealth of spirituality to cheer him and keep his heart light, along the way of life.

The religion of the Negro should prompt less study of the desires of the personal Ego, and should teach other nations to respect his race, or, his religion is not spiritualizing as it could and should spiritualize.

The religion of the colored girl must be spiritual in every sense, that it may influence her every thought and act, and make her a true medium for race progress.

The School of the Colored Girl Beautiful.

"Education is the process of developing all man's powers, physical, intellectual, moral, aesthetic and religious for the proper discharge of the duties of citizenship."

The school that the colored girl beautiful should attend will have trees, grass, flowers, shrubs and a garden (even though a small one) that the girl may keep in close touch with the first teacher—Mother Nature.

The care of the school campus as well as the windows, fences, and surroundings, will reflect the careful spirit of the school.

The colored girl beautiful will select the school which fights flies, dirt, filth around back doors; the school which aims for sanitation before putting in electric lights; in fact, a school which has health and sanitation for its hobby.

She will attend a school that buys books and takes care of them and which compels the students to read that they may grow into the reading habit, to pass it along to posterity.

The progress of the race will depend not upon the "book learning" taught in schools, but upon the right habits formed and the amount of self culture that the school inspires.

The colored girl beautiful will be taught to keep her eyes open and her mouth shut that she may never betray how little she has really learned in her preparation for the real school—the school of Life.

The colored girl beautiful will be taught her duty and relationship to the race, that she may be a living example of what right education and right training will do. She will study human needs and about the history and progress of her people that she may take her place in the affairs of her race if called upon, and then bequeath her knowledge and good qualities to succeeding generations. She will be taught lessons of self-control and modesty; to respect her womanhood and to conduct herself that she may command respect from all men and boys including those of her family.

She will be taught enough of the world to step into its arena knowing the evils to shun. She will be taught to hold out a helping hand to weaker ones who may succumb to evil.

She will aim to live in pleasant relationship in the school that she may acquire the habit of living in peace in social circles and neighborhoods in the scheme of after life.

She will be taught that politeness is a necessary virtue; that every form of impoliteness is an evidence of mental as well as moral weakness and that an ill bred colored girl is a curse to the race. She will be taught the value of silence and that of speech, and will aim to train herself along both lines for silence is often more effective than speech.

She will learn that the aim of education is the aim of religion, that is, to lift one above the animal. She will endeavor to lift herself to the highest plane of true womanhood that she may pull others higher.

Colored schools are supposed to correct the tendencies of children who have lived under careless, untidy conditions, and to give them ideals of cleanliness and order.

She will do her part of the school work cheerfully and thoroughly, that she may know how work should be done, and how to train others—her children, perhaps, if so favored.

The colored girl beautiful will be taught the value and use of money, and the relative value of character, education, and other things, which money cannot buy. She will be taught the care and cleanliness of the body, simplicity of wearing apparel and appropriate becoming inconspicuous costumes for church, school, street and home.

She will be taught that fine clothes can not cover up bad manners, nor take the place of good character; that it is foolish to buy what one can not afford; that the expenditure for clothes especially should be gauged by one's salary and should be appropriate for her particular plane of life.

The laws of proportion in the scheme of life must be the hobby of the school for the colored girl beautiful.

She will be taught that it is unforgivable not to walk erect, to talk in good English and in a soft tone of voice.

As many girls fall into book ignorance after graduation she will be taught that the aim of education is to give good habits of reading along with book-knowledge—or else the school has failed to educate a colored girl beautiful.

The colored girl beautiful will not aim for book education alone. She will select a school which will fit her to grace her home from parlor to kitchen, a school which has thoroughness for its motto.

She will be taught how to make her dresses and hats, to prepare for the time when perhaps her allowance for clothes must be divided among several. Dressmaking is a science as well as an art and enough can be learned, by those not apt, to save many dollars—especially in the home that fate favors with children.

She will be taught a trade, or some means of earning a livelihood, that she may be prepared, if circumstances should force her into the business arena.

The school of the colored girl beautiful will so educate her that motherhood will be her highest ideal in life, the glory of colored womanhood.

The Home of the Colored Girl Beautiful.

The Home of the Colored Girl Beautiful will reflect her. She will help her parents to buy a home that it may give her family more standing in the civic community. Taste and simplicity will rule, for the home will harmonize with the girl. If her parents are not particular about the trifles in the way of curtains, fences, and yards, then it must be her special task to make the home represent the beautiful in her, the God, for all that is beautiful and good comes from God.

Windows generally express the character of the occupants of a house. The day has passed when soiled or ragged lace curtains are tolerated. The cheaper simpler scrims and cheese cloths which are easily laundered are now used by the best people.

The Colored Girl Beautiful, will study the possibilities of her home and will attempt to secure the restful effects for the eye. Too much furniture is bad taste. The less one has, the cleaner houses may be kept.

The ornate heavy furniture and the upholstered parlor sets are passing away because they are no longer considered good taste, besides they are too heavy for cleanliness and are harmful to the health of women who do their own work.

Furniture of less expensive model, with simple lines and of less weight are being selected. These may be paid for cash instead of "on time," as has been the custom of many people in smaller towns and in the country districts.

The furniture sold by the payment houses always shows its source in its heaviness and shininess.

The wall paper should be selected as one would select a color for clothes, to harmonize with the color of the skin in all lights, and, for service Color schemes in decoration are being followed and we have no more stuffy parlors, often closed for days. Instead we have living rooms, with cleanable furniture, strong but light, entirely suitable for winter, and cool in summer. No one has a parlor now-a-days. The best room is generally a living room for the whole family. No more do we see enlarged pictures which good taste demands should be placed in bed rooms and private sitting rooms. The ten cent stores have done a great deal of good in educating the poor white and black alike. These stores have every where sold small brown art prints of many of the great paintings, to take the place of the gaudy dust ladened chromos and family pictures.

Pictures are hung low that they may be thoroughly dusted, as well as to give a near view of the subject.

Expensive carpets are also things of the past. Painted and stained floors with light weight rugs are more generally used. These may be cleaned and handled without giving the backache to women. Many colored girls boast of having painted their own floors and woodwork. Much of this has been learned in the boarding school.

A tawdry home expresses its mistress as do her clothes.

Next to the kitchen a fully equipped bath room is now the most important room in the house. Health and sanitation are the topics of the hour and a colored girl should know how to put a washer on a faucet as well as her father or brother.

A house without books is indeed an unfurnished home. Good books are the fad now. They are everywhere in evidence in the up-to-date colored home. They are exhibited almost as hand painted china was. In every inventory or collection one finds a Bible, a dictionary, and an atlas.

The times are changing and the colored people are changing with the times. Cleanliness and health are the watchwords, and "Order" is Heaven's first law.

The Colored Working Girl Beautiful.

No one should ever scorn a colored working woman. She has been the bone and sinew of the race. She has built the churches, helped the schools and has made the race what it is. The pioneer colored woman in most instances has helped to make the wealth that many colored families enjoy, today.

In my travels, on entering Southern towns early in the morning, colored women are the only women seen on the streets, and sometimes the only persons. They hurry along often with insufficient clothing in cold and rain.

One thinks of the little ones at home who dress themselves and perhaps, younger children, all without a mother's care, until night when the tired woman's return to her home to cook, to wash and to iron for her family after a hard day's work, in service.

In the antebellum days some of the Negro working women may have been lazy but their descendants of today are not lazy—only fifty years after. Statistics prove how many homes have been bought through their labor, how many children are sent to school. Working women pay the family doctor bills, and support the churches and charities.

"Every person should work or else she will need a doctor." Habits affect looks. If one is energetic and happy in doing her work, her face will reflect the contentment. If one hates work, the face will reflect discontent, the vital organs will grow flabby and affect the health, and looks will suffer. Enthusiasm in work stimulates the vital organs, causes circulation of the blood and makes the eye bright and the skin to take on a more healthy hue.

If a girl is obliged to work in a kitchen she should respect her work and dignify her position. She may be a "Somebody" washing dishes or scrubbing a floor, if she does not depreciate her work and if she will give it status instead of half doing it and complaining about it.

Only a somebody "can" work well. We cannot get blood out of a turnip, and neither can a nobody "do" things. A slip-shod, half-hearted working woman is a curse to the race, because she gives it a bad reputation. She should put the "somebody" stamp on every portion of daily work and do the work as if she expected to get a diploma for it each night. She should not work mechanically or it will be drudgery. She should put pride and enthusiasm in her work, and let it reflect her inner self.

It is the duty of every working girl to make her employer adore her for her personal value and her word. "Do so much better work than you are paid to do that not only your employers, but their friends will take note and soon you will be paid for more than you do."

Be ready for the opportunity or crisis which is bound to come in a change for the better. Stick to a position like a leach. Make it a bigger and better one than you found it and it will prepare you for greater openings. Somebody is always watching good workers.

In her relationship with men the colored working girl beautiful will put a higher appraisement on herself than may be necessary in the case of the more fate-favored colored girl who stays under her parents' roof. Because she works is no reason why she should be cheap, easily attained, or easily pleased as far as men are concerned.

She will demand much instead of little from men, that they will offer more for the privilege of her society. Unless she is engaged she will be wise to permit no caresses and will try to conquer the tendency towards accepting "petting."

She will bide her time for the recognition of her worth. Many a servant girl has seen her posterity lead a town, socially.

To know how to wait is a great secret; to patiently bide the time when one may step into the niche that right living and preparation has made possible. She will try to be contented and will strive for power to conquer her work, and herself to be ready for the day when opportunity will open her door to a larger and more responsible life. The beautiful part about this is that she will be ready to fit into this new condition of life.

She should observe, listen and imitate the good when at work. Contact is often worth more than money. Many valuable lessons have been learned while "in service." While alone working one has opportunity to "think" and Thought rules the world.

A colored working girl is a racial trust. Her race burden is a heavy one. Her speech, actions and diligence constitute the measure by which the whole race is judged.

One need not permit previous family conditions or disadvantages of birth to hamper her progress in life. No matter what one's people have been or are, one is not to blame providing she rises above all of it.

She must "get up" and pull her family up after her, if she can. If this can not be done she can pull herself up—up—up and be the "somebody" in the family. She may grow in character, influence and reputation, until people will forget her ancestry and any objectionable relations as well as all former environment.

The Colored Working Girl Beautiful should not fear or worry about what people may think. She should save her money. A bank account is always the most respected thing in the struggle of life.

Even if some single black deed threatens to blot out the whole of a good life (in one's own case or in the estimate of the world) she should be brave enough to live it down. One should put her personality into everything she does and "do" things worth while. The world moves on so fast that even the bad is forgotten soon. One may live anything down nowadays if one tries.

If she may not go with good people socially, she should stay alone. In time she will make herself and others believe that this is her preference.

She should not push or try to climb; she should bide her time. In the meantime she might improve herself; she might study the piano, elocution or singing, and prepare for the day when opportunity will open the long-closed social door.

The Colored Woman Beautiful.

In spite of everything to be said on the subject the womanly woman is always the strongest magnet whether she is called beautiful or not.

If the colored girl has not been taught by her mother or guardian to train herself for a beautiful maturity even after she has passed girlhood, it is not too late to train herself.

Good begets good, so she will exert herself to make a wide circle of friends altho she will be careful not to grow too intimate with any. She may be a real friend without undue intimacy.

It is conceded that most women "must talk" to someone but too much intimacy means too much freedom and this often destroys friendship.

One cannot argue, quarrel, or criticize and still expect real friendship. One definition of a friend is, "One you know all about and still like." One should not try to "make her friends over" and one never says disagreeable things to her friends nor does she make unfavorable comments about their personal attire or weaknesses. She lets her friends learn all unpleasant things from others. "The links of the chain of friendship are held by a very delicate thread." The tiniest word, doubt or action may sever the links.

The colored woman beautiful will try to love that she may be loved. She believes that "man is his brother's keeper" and she has ideals and visions for the race. She has a moral obligation; she reaches out a helping hand to others. She can mix without being mixed. We can not help others unless we mix. There must be close contact—touch to lift up others.

The colored woman beautiful believes that everyone who gets up must pull up, or else she will be kept down by the weight of the racial burden. Each one's welfare is closely bound with that of the masses. The race as a whole must progress and prosper, or else no unit may prosper. The colored woman beautiful gives the best in her for race advancement. She works, thinks, and reads to be ready for the need of the tomorrow and its problems.

The colored woman beautiful will not carry "chips on her shoulder," looking for slights and insults. If she carries the thought too strongly it becomes catching and someone will take up the idea. She will set into motion lesser vibrations in the minds and bodies of others and the things she imagines will happen.

She should resist thoughts of suspicion. She must not think about the things she wishes to keep secret, for thoughts are contagious.

The colored woman beautiful does not call another woman "bad" just because she does not measure up to her ethical code. She must be so persistent in being good herself that everyone else seems to look and act good. If God loves the lowest, she can afford to do likewise. She follows the rule, "Judge not that ye be not judged." She does not make the mistake of criticising those who have not her strong will power, lest having stronger projection this unkindness may return swift and sure to her. To permit the absent to be disparaged or depreciated in her presence is almost as harmful to herself as if she had said things.

What is "good" in (another) woman? What is "bad" in (another) woman? These are two difficult questions to answer and a woman must not judge by her own standard for herself. Women are inclined to be too narrow in their viewpoint in judging other women. While one may boast of her virtue of virtues some women may have a bundle of lesser virtues of which to boast. It takes more than one virtue to make a good woman. Many women are unduly vain of their escape from the "sin of sins" and some of these may have known no temptation.

When one notes how many good friends a so-called "bad" woman may have, one wonders why it is. Those who understand the law of vibrations recognize that the woman has projected something of herself which has brought her a rich return in spite of her one weakness.

It is a terrible thing to be a bad example along any line to young girls, so every colored woman should try to conquer herself and live down any weakness or error. She should give out the best that is in her that she may be a good example to younger women. She lets the light of love and purity shine in her face and transform it, and it will reflect in the faces of others and make her own soul the happier.

The Colored Wife Beautiful.

Married life is a co-partnership and the wife and husband pledge to mutual help, when they enter into the marriage contract.

If in their girlhood wives had only studied men instead of giving up all their time to so-called "loving and courting," there would not be so much dissatisfaction, heart-ache and complaint after marriage. A girl should try to select a man with control over himself, over his voice, his emotions, even the angle of his hat, and then she should practice control herself, until the two dispositions have become adjusted to each other.

The ignorant girl who marries is full of trust and inexperienced notions. The disillusionments of life seem to come too fast to suit the majority. Many young wives immediately become discouraged or desperate and fall out of the ranks by the wayside of the matrimonial highway, without trying to live up to their end of the contract, or even respecting their own vows at the altar.

"True loving is giving the best within us." When we have company we give to them the best food, the best linen, the best china and silver-ware that we own. Yet to those we are pledged to love and cherish we give anything, and wonder why in return we have failed in receiving love and all that goes with it.

A divorce is a terrible "something." It is a blight to children and often means their ruin or the blasting of their future. If a woman has children she should try to endure her lot until they are grown. In the meantime she may prepare herself for a beautiful maturity and an entrance into the commercial world or another field of activity.

Of course, if one's husband deserts her there is nothing else to do but let him go, but if he clings to her and the home, she should use the protection that his name gives to her until she is sure that she can buffet the world alone.

In the larger field of public life a woman without the protection of a husband's name has a hard lot if she has physical or other attractions. Widows of both kinds are always under suspicion. If one is lighthearted and enjoys even innocent pleasure, she may be called a "good timer," or "fast," and this may injure her advancement in the arena of business life.

The protection of the name of any kind of a man, bad, no account, or cruel, is better than the suffering from cruel suspicions which often blight the efforts of a sensitive woman, who perhaps in her loneliness has turned for sympathy this way and that way, until she concludes that if she suffers in name she may as well be "in the game," and chooses the wrong way.

If a woman has money it is quite different. People fawn upon her and she is less liable to snubbing if Dame Gossip should assail her.

The first duty of a wife is to keep healthy. Even if she is ailing she must not complain unless through mental suggestion she desires to increase her ailments, real or imaginary. She must earnestly endeavor to discover the cause of the alleged ailment and remove it.

The colored wife beautiful of today must be a composite woman because the colored man of today is many sided. They call woman a "creature of moods" but most men may easily be called susceptible and changeable creatures, when it comes to the attractions of the opposite sex.

Today it may be a pretty face which allures him; tomorrow a fine conversationalist, or a musical person may attract. The next day a woman with tremendous vitality may charm him. So he wanders, but he does not intend to stray. One or several streaks in his make-up have been satisfied, but his wife still stands upon her pedestal as the woman who bears his name.

The up-to-date wife realizes his susceptibility (as a man) and is prepared. She bides her time when like the prodigal, he will surely return, perhaps mentally and morally purified and a wiser, if a sadder man.

If a woman loves her husband and desires to keep him for herself and family, she must train herself for her many varied duties including attractiveness, which is a real duty.

If she thinks that some other woman has her husband's affection, her thoughts help her to make this so. If she voices the suspicion she fertilizes the soil and aids the growth or she may crystallize and give form to rumor.

Even if there is ground for such a suspicion the up-to-date wife would not admit it to herself or voice the fact.

"Man's love is of man's life a part, 'tis woman's whole existence."

The inexperienced wives forget that they cannot satisfy every mood of a man without study or effort, unless they are remarkably gifted. Many a wife has neglected her mind, body and powers and when some woman with developed powers enters her marriage orbit, she flies off at a tangent, admits defeat and gets a divorce without putting forth an effort to win back the husband who is often worth saving.

It is humiliating to admit, "I have lost my husband!" A wife should never admit it, even in thought.

Many a man does not intend to stray and loves his wife but he has been carried off his feet just for the moment.

There are Keeley cures to save men, why not husband cures to save homes, especially those with children whose futures are at stake.

I know several colored women who have had good ground for doubting their husband's fidelity who have never allowed the men to know that they have doubted them.

One wife made a study of "the woman in the case" and threw her and her husband together in her home until the man was satiated. In the meantime she studied herself and the woman to see what it was that attracted her husband. Then she went into training for the match—war—if it should come to that—in attractiveness, and she won without telling her secret.

If a wife will give a man time and will play the attractive game as she did before marriage, her husband will soon turn his face homeward, and will wonder what the other charm was.

Many men are attracted by youth alone and after youth has flown they are not interested. A wife should study the fancies of her husband if she desires to hold him, and then begin work upon herself, to hold her youthful looks.

Wives must prepare for the dangerous age which they say comes to a woman between thirty-five and forty-five, and to a man from forty to fifty, when both are accused of being attracted to younger faces, and when they do foolish things. A wife must strengthen herself, lest she stray, and cultivate her own attractive powers lest her husband should incline to stray.

A man does not age as quickly as a woman. At fifty a woman is supposed to be on her decline while a man is in his prime at fifty.

It is a woman's own fault if, at forty the lines in her face turn down and if her hair and teeth are all gone. If she is a "nagger" the reflection will appear in her face. If she has permitted household cares to swamp her, and reflect themselves in her face and body, she has no one to blame but herself.

Many a woman has attracted her husband through her singing, conversation, or other accomplishments and after marriage has permitted these to decline, and has not lived up to the ideal that she gave him before marriage.

A wife should ask herself if she is living up to the ideal she suggested before she married, or if she is a disappointment, before she questions her husband's conduct.

Some wives think that their morality in wifehood is all sufficient. A woman may boast of her "virtue" until doom's day, but "if her soul is small and her heart stingy" her example is not worthy of imitation—for she is only good to herself. She has no way of proving the ownership of the "virtue of virtues." It takes many virtues to make one "good," in the real sense of the word.

A colored wife should not be discontented without good cause nor should she complain of monotony when she may choose so many helpful diversions, and may help to make others happy.

Every colored wife who has not borne children, or a wife who has lost children owes a duty to the children of others.

In fact, these owe a greater debt to posterity than the mother. Such women should not live for themselves alone, lest they canker. Contact with youth infuses youthful thoughts and enthusiasm, and keeps a woman's heart young, and if her heart is young her face will reflect this mental attitude.

The Colored Mother Beautiful.

When a woman enters into the marriage contract—into the partnership of home making—it is understood that parenthood is to be the chief aim and hope.

If a man is good enough to marry and to contribute his support, he is good enough to be a father or else he should not have been selected.

A woman who marries and does not intend to have children is merely an object of convenience who has sold herself.

To assume the position of colored motherhood is the greatest privilege and responsibility that can come to any woman in this age.

The colored mother beautiful carries a heavy burden—the weight of future generations of a handicapped, persecuted people. She may bless or curse each succeeding generation; she may change race history; she may make a more beautiful race with the beauty that comes from beauty of character and right living.

What a privilege to carve the destiny of a race! How glorious to look into the future and see lines of ancestry influenced and advanced by her thought and example, to see her stamp of personality upon a posterity which will point to her in pride and thankfulness!

The time has come when each colored girl must prepare herself for this rare privilege, when she must distribute her powers and talents for race good.

Whatever the colored mother is, millions of colored children will be. A colored mother lives not only for herself and for her own children, but she must live for the race. A colored mother is a success as she measures up to her relation and obligation to the race.

Negro children of all children need mothers who are strong spiritually, physically, and intellectually. Enough colored children have been born under bad or careless conditions. The child born under bad conditions can not be expected to hold his own among other children.

No woman has a right to blight the future of her race. Not even her body may be abused—this beautiful casket—the treasure house of future souls. Any crime that she commits against herself or her body she commits against the race.

Almost any colored mother would lay down her life for her children but she must have a wider vision into the scheme of life and the world, and must deliberately plan to make her grand-children and great grand-children healthier, happier and more useful.

While it is admitted that heredity is not all, yet inherited tendencies have great influence.

The colored mother beautiful must be a living example of all that is progressive. She must study more about the laws of heredity, and child culture to prepare the child for its race battle, unhampered by inherited mental or physical tendencies.

The "gray matter" in the colored woman's head is the same as the gray matter in any woman's head. Through the exercise of will power she may conquer inherited tendencies and even command nature as other women are doing.

There are many books which will guide and instruct a prospective mother who should read and learn all she can on the laws of reproduction. She should absorb this knowledge that she may be able to impart it to less informed women.

The early Romans are said to have surrounded a prospective mother with examples of courage and strength.

The mother of Napoleon is an example of the power of pre-natal direction. She is said to have studied military tactics and to have visited battlefields. The mother of Michael Angelo is said to have watched the painters of pictures in the Cathedral. The result was the greatest artist of the time.

As mental impressions are as active during the night as in the day, no prospective mother should carry unpleasant thoughts to bed. The sub-conscious mind receives the bad thought at bed time and acts all night under this influence. Its forces affect the same as thoughts during the day.

The prospective mother should read good books, think right, live right, and keep a pure mind and heart, thus developing a deeper nature to bequeath.

More than anything else, the prospective colored mother must practice self-control. All worry is poisonous. Strong thoughts of disgust and hatred if not controlled during the pre-natal period are liable to leave disastrous affects. The aim should be to train herself to change any thought which will create a physical disturbance.

Mothers who fail to control their tempers, passions, and indulgences too often weep bitter tears as they see in their off-spring the consequences of their own wrong doing.

Someone has said: "Parents transmit deviltry to children and then punish them for it." Instance after instance of such cruelty could be cited. Why should parents expect their children to be better than they?

Anger causes a chemical change which acts like poison to the system of an adult. It affects the heart, stomach, blood, and nerves and causes many other disturbances.

"Often the unborn child's little organism is flooded with shocks of passion and disturbed by nervous movements which cause unsound mind and body."

Altho inheritance comes from two lines of ancestry, the prospective mother may be able to control and supervise the tendencies from her line. She must do all in her power before the birth of a child to sway it for good. She may then save herself years of worry and sorrow and the race an unworthy example.

Before and after birth the colored mother beautiful will cultivate and give out the best in her. No contrary or selfish thought will be permitted because of the bad effect upon the child. These unpleasant things will enter soon enough into its life. The mother will faithfully endeavor to be an example to her children in thought, poise, speech, personal appearance and in all forms of cleanliness and politeness.

A child's ideal seldom goes higher than that of its mother. Children very accurately reflect the thought of their parents.

How can the child have high ideals and elevating thoughts unless the mother has them?

Taste is said to be a faculty of the soul. The mother bequeaths her taste.

How can the colored mother beautiful expect her children to have habits of observation and appreciation of the beautiful in Nature, Art, Science, Music and Literature, unless the mother has "walked and talked with nature, has heard the tongues in trees and brooks" as Shakespeare has said, and has pointed these out to the child?

If the starlight, the moonlight, the dawn, the sunrise, the sunset, the blue sky, the tranquility of a summer day or the grandeur of a storm have no response in the mother's soul, then how can a child be expected to lift its eyes and see the beautiful everywhere, every day and absorb the benefits from such communion?

The physical feeding of a child occurs but three times a day but the spiritual, mental and moral feeding goes on all the rest of the time. Children should be fed ideals of thought and affection to counteract the evil effect of thoughts of passion.

The colored child should be taught to think and should be given opportunity for a quiet hour for self communion and self entertainment. It should be taught to live a period of solitude so that in after life it may not always be compelled to hunt around for entertainment and excitement.

How can the child be expected to love reading if the mother does not read to it?

How can the child love music if the mother does not play or sing to it or teach it songs?

How many nights are wasted that might be spent in giving colored children ideals of home life and right habits in reading and home study?

Colored children have been left alone too much.

How many of them have a children's hour? How many have been given something to think about? How many spend their spare moments in reading? How many can recite poems or give quotations from the master writers?

The mothers themselves must put some time in exerting their minds in reading and thinking with a view towards mentally improving the next generation. They must observe and note what is passing on in the great world. History is being made every day. How can the child resist the desires of the lower nature when its mother has tantrums? The colored mother must refuse to express passion. A mother can not shame or beat her child into gentle manners when she is rough or coarse.

How can the child be careful and controlled in speech if the mother has not the power of expressing herself in good English. Language is too powerful a weapon in reaching, compelling and swaying the feelings of others and in winning friends—to be neglected.

Children always betray home training. If they have not been trained properly as they are not adepts in dissembling and they reflect their mothers in all their thought, speech and actions.

The mother who is strict in her own conduct and who pays careful attention to the home conduct of her children will seldom be ashamed of their deportment. Good habits may not be assumed at a moment's notice. The good breeding of parents is very truly reflected in the manners of their children.

It is sad to have the children learn the laws of politeness and good breeding outside the home, and to watch them assume that which should be innate.

It is sad to hear little children lie about their home training pretending that "My mother makes me do this or that" when they know that the mother has failed to make a strong point of this particular fault.

It is sadder still to hear colored children say, "I can't." The colored mother should put success in the child's thought and teach it to believe in himself and his race. It is the duty of every mother to preach success and one's duty to aim to excel along all lines.

How can the child be clean and love cleanliness when its mother is habitually untidy and slovenly? The colored mother beautiful would no more exhibit herself unclean than naked. She would no more walk slovenly than to dress slovenly. If a mother wears unclean clothes, has unclean thoughts or unclean manners, her children will reflect her.

How can a child hold her head up and her back straight when her mother slouches around and forgets that her body belongs to God as well as her soul.

The colored mother beautiful makes a point of teaching her child to be true and helpful to the race, and to speak up for the good points and keep silent about the weaknesses when before other races. Every race has strong and weak points.

She should take part in efforts for the advancement of the race. No one can lift the race unless he stays in it. A child should be taught not to depreciate the race any more than it would itself.

No one is so big and strong that he can exist alone. All of us are dependent to a degree. Each one will need friends. There are no friends which mean so much to us as those of our own race.

The percentage of physical deformities in colored children is lessening. Colored mothers are learning to study children's faces and bodies in order to change and correct their physical defects. Bowed and weak legs, outstanding ears, misshapen mouths, noses and teeth are being corrected according to scientific rules. Then, too, they are training children to do things to improve their own physical defects without—of course—causing them to be over conscious.