Moore, the poet, has given expression to his ideal of beauty in the following lines: “This was not the beauty, oh, nothing like this, That to young Nourmahal gave such magic bliss; But that loveliness, ever in motion, which plays Like the light upon autumn’s shadowy days.” “Now here and now there, giving warmth as it flies From the lips to the cheek, from the cheek to the eyes; Now melting in mist, and now breaking in gleams, Like the glimpses a saint has of heavenly dreams.” Wordsworth also expressed himself in the following lines: “He was among the prime in worth, An object beauteous to behold: Well born, well bred; I sent him forth Ingenuous, innocent, and bold.” Perhaps you ask how you can attain beauty if you do not possess it? Or, if you have some of its qualities, how you may get those you are lacking. If you will practice the following rules you will grow more and more beautiful in the eyes of others, even if age does bring gray hair and a wrinkled skin. First—Cleanliness is next to godliness. Practice it in every feature of your daily life. Second—Have some purpose to achieve and steadfastly work to attain it. Third—Cultivate self-discipline; be master of your passions, under all circumstances. Fourth—Study to know the laws of life that yield harmony and good health and obey them. Look on the bright side of life always. Fifth—Avoid intemperance in all things. Sixth—Cultivate every mental and bodily quality that will make you firm in goodness, strong and physically able to be useful to your kind, generous and broad-minded, self-sacrificing, and you will daily and hourly be lovely and grow into the beautiful. |