All young girls should have definite ideas of the impression which
they wish to create. The natural girl is always either impolite
or impolitic. I am quite willing to allow that a girl who appears
artificial is equally detestable. To be unnatural, and to appear
natural, is the end at which the young girl should aim. Much, then,
will depend on the choice of a pose. It should be suitable; there
should be something in your appearance and abilities to support the
illusion. I once knew a fat girl, with red hair (the _wrong_ red), &
good appetite, and chilblains on her fingers; she adopted the romantic
pose, and made herself ridiculous; of course, she was quite unable
to look the part. If she had done the Capital Housekeeper, or the
Cheerfully Philanthropic, she might have married a middle-aged Rector.
She threw away her chances by choosing an unsuitable pose. At the same
time the reasons for your choice should never be obvious. There was
another case, which amused me slightly--a dark girl, with fine eyes.
She was originally intended to be a beauty, but she had some accident
in her childhood that had crippled her. She had to walk with a stick,
and her back was bent. She posed as a man-hater. The part suited her
well enough, for she had rather a pretty wit. "But," I said to her,
"it is too plainly a case of the fox and the grapes; you hate men
because you are a cripple, and can never get a man to love you." She
did not take this friendly hint at all nicely; in fact, since then she
has never spoken to me again; but what I said to her was quite true.
She was right in deciding that she had nothing to do with love; if you
ever have to buy yourself a wooden leg, you may as well get a wooden
heart at the same time. But her pose was too obvious--ridiculously
obvious. She would have done better with something in the way of a
religious enthusiasm--something very mystical. It would have been
impressive.