WHEN WOMEN ARE MOST AT TRACTIVE.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1196, 17 November 1882, Page 2

WHEN WOMEN ARE MOST AT TRACTIVE.

In an interesting paper, entitled " When Women Grow ( >]d,"Mrs. Blake has brought facts to show that the fascinating power of the sex is oftentimes retained much longer than is generally assumed. She tells us of * spasia, who l>etween the ages of 30 and 50 was the strongest intellectual force in Athens; of Cleopatra, whose golden decade for power and beauty was be^ tween 30 and 40 ; of Livia, who was not far from 30 when she gained the heart of Octavius ; of Anne, of Russia, who at 30 was thought to be the most beautiful Queen in Europe ;of Catherine '„ of Russia, who even at the silver decade was both beautiful and imposing ; of Medemoiselle Mars, the actress whose beauty increased with years, and culminated between 30 and 45 ; of Madame Recaraier, who between 25 and 40, and even later, was the reigning beauty in Europe; of Ninan d'Enclos, whose own son — brought up without knowledge of his parentage — fell parr sionately in love with her when she was at the age of 37, and who even on her 60th birthday received an adorer young enough to be her grandson. These facts, the representatives of many others, establish that the golden decade of fascination is the same as the golden decade of thought ; that woman is most attractive to, and most influential over man at that period when both man and woman are nearest the maximum of their cerebral force. The voice of our great prima donnas is at its very best between 27 and 35 ; but still some retain, in a degree, its strength and sweetness even in the silver decade. The voice is an index of the body in all its functions, but the decay of other functions, is not so readily noticed.