The Women Of Our Time.

THE WOMEN OF OUR TIME .

BY CELEBS . MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN . IT is a most difficult thing to say what is a middle-aged Avoman—where youth leaves offand where maturity begins—whenin

, , short , the " mezzo termin" is really reached . Women are so different . Some look old at 30 , others are still fresh and fascinating at 45 . I acknoAvledge the difficulty of the situation ; I admit the delicacy of the question ; but I will not be vanquished b

y the peril or even the fear of offending , but , like a distinguished statesman , I will burn my boats , and will make up my mind not to retreat .

Middle-aged Women—at whatever period of life you think middle-age begins , varying probably from 40 to 50 , or , as some say , 35 to 45—middle-aged women , I say , are often very pleasant friends , agreeable companions , and honest advisers ; and , as

"fastness" likes to say in slang terminology , " good mates ! " They have seen enough of the world to know Avell its illusions and its pitfalls ; they are not so old but that they have , as the saying runs , a good deal of life in them yet . They are generally

chatty and comfortable , and easy to get on with , and above all nonsense . They are neither prudes nor pharisees , neither combatant nor coquettish , neither flirts nor hypocrites , neither bores nor mischiefmakers , neither fast nor formal . On the Avhole , they are as young Timmins says , a

" tid y lot . " The only fault I venture to find Avith them is , that they have a habit of coming constantl y into collision with the younger married women , and above all with the unmarried young Avomen . They like to "denigrer" everything these younger

buds and blossoms say or do . They themselves are there before you " en evidence , " as large as life , and for you they are apt to think they ought to be everything . A sentimental middle-aged woman is a " nuisance , " as my young friend Timmins

emphatically adds . NOAV , I for one , can get on very well with middle-aged Avomen , whether buxom and " debonnaire , " or thin and sentimental , but I can quite understand , Avhy irreverent youth would say , "Very stupid stout old party , " or "Very thin acidulated old maid ; did nothing but

pitch into Mrs . Miller , such a , jolly young married woman . " Incautious youth , allow me to observe that you have , no doubt , played your cards ill . You forget that your stout , goodhumoured nei ghbour , middle-aged Avoman

though she be , likes " more fasminarum , " the " petit soins , " and even the "fades complimens" of an agreeable young " Vainqeur " like yourself ; and , unfortunate youth , you had no eyes nor ears for any one but the adorable Mrs . Jemmy Miller . Be

warned my young friend . The next time you sit next to a middle-aged married woman decently dressed , and alike " facilis et formosa , " don ' t manage to SIIOAV her that you think her a bore or bete , or middleaged , but make yourself , as you can , very

agreeable to her , and you will far better , take my Avord for it . No woman likes to be overlooked ; the " spretee injuria formce'' still lingers in the feminine mind , and the best tempered of middle-aged women Avill not approve of

, and Avill probably resent , your evident preference of a younger neighbour . For bear in mind many a middle-aged woman whom yon look on as passee , has still her "

pretentions , ' elle se fait valoir , " as the French say , and Avhile you are looking on her as dowdy and distanced , old and obsolete , she all the while still thinks herself "dans sa premiere jeunesse , and accordingly resent she does , and will , your evident

underrating of her , and you will have to suffer for it . As a rule middle-aged women are good natured and sociable , pleasant , and patronising , and not all easy or difficult to get near ; but every now and then you come across a tough specimen of the species

you catch , as i ohn Jones irreverently , but impressively says , " a Tartar , sir . " You know her well , so do I , so does everybody—Mrs . Colonel Clutterbuck , as she delights to call herself , the widow of a certain Colonel Clutterbuck , Avho died a long time

time ago somewhere , somehow ; but , as the old epitaph says , "Nobody knows , and nobody cares . " She is fond of talking of her dear Thomas George—such Avas the hero's name . She wears his likeness in a cameo broochon an expensive dress ,

, shoAving a fat , sleeky , rather crosslooking old boy , whom an Indian sun had bronzed , and to whom Indian curry and Indian liquids had giA'en a somewhat apoplectic look .