Lincoln Nebraska State Journal from Lincoln, Nebraska • 33

Magazine Section Magazine Section LINCOLN. NEBUASKA, SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 19S5 SECTION Forget Your Age; Keep Flexible; Your Mind by Taking On New Interests That Is the I -''V A Way of Enduring 7 y- Youth, Says Janet Beecher 4x1 4 1 Janet Beecher and her mother having tea in their garden The Beecher women never remember their ages, says Janet, who is shown in a striking pose above, and in character as she appeared in a recent pic-: ture, "The Mighty Barnum" By Alice L. Tildes ley HfrICvv How to Stay Young WHY be bound by rigid rules? Why permit yourself to say: "Oh. I'd love to fly, but I suppose I shouldn't I'm too old." Or, "Doesn't that water look inviting? I wish I were young enough to go wading, but I suppose it would look ridiculous at my age." If taking a plane ride or wading in a brook will make you happy, do so by all means. There are certain childhood traits that can be carried on into adulthood, such as an eager attitude toward life that glorious feeling that the "best is yet to be." Follow that attitude and you will not grow old.

Janet Beecher. I Hollywood, Calif. VTO BEECHER woman has ever re- membered her own age. That's why Beecher women never grow old." Thus replied the mother of Janet Beecher to an impertinent query of a studio statistician who was making out a "biography" of the well-known actress. "Mother is right," affirmed Janet when the remark was repeated to her, "we have always been taught to say, 'I don't to questions on age, and to cast any idea of years away.

It's a Beecher conviction that thinking of ad-vancing age limits us and we refuse to be limited." The unlimited Beechers trace their ancestry back to Isaao Beecher, who came to America on the Mayflower and whose descendants Include such famous ones as henry Ward Beecher and1 Harriet Beecher Stowe. Janet Beecher, scion of this ageless family, Is and straight and blue-eyed, a "sapphire blonde." Her prematurely white hair, experimentally dipped In bluing to prevent It turning yellow, as white hair will, took on a most intriguing blue cast, photographically perfect. sought was not to be found in the earth. "Life has never been more fascinating' than it today," went on the sapphire blonde, leaning forward in the deep armchair. "Did you read pi that amazing experiment said to have been tried In London lust week? It seems that a group of scientists were attempting to' prove that thought vibrations could accomplish whatever the thinker willed.

So they concentrated on an Idea for a picture, and the picture was recorded on the plate of a camera in the room. I hope that is true. It Is so exciting! "Vibrations are a fascinating mystery to me. This chair, I understand, can be destroyed by vibration, or built anew. "We know that this room we sit In Is full of music at this moment, and if we had a radio here we could listen to it.

That would have seemed Incomprehensible to our great-gTandfathers. "But now we are sure It will be only a matter of time before television is an accomplished and established thing. Not so many years hence we can turn a dial and sit by comfortably looking at and listening tc what is going on in the House of Lords In London or the Reichstag In Berlin. We will be able to look in at the latest expedition to the Poles, or watch the ceremonies of a Roman Easter Sunday With this aid we shall surely begin to understand each other better. "The latest Idea and one I find most If (he water of a brook, a lake or the seashore looks inviting, take off your shoes and stockings and go wading If yon think you would like to take a trip in an airplane do so by all means.

Don't let any idea of age keep you on the ground a way out ot despair. I know I did. Our own Scriptures, the writings of Confucius, the words of Buddha, books of the Indian mystics, all I could get hold of that had been set down by philosophers o' all time. "I remember reading the phrase, 'Man Is renewed by the renewing of his and it seemed to mean something special to me. Then I read It again, in various guises, In a great many of the books I was searching.

I knew that It was true, but I wondered how one went about renewing her mind. Then I realized that this was what I had been seeking. "I saw that we cannot let ourselves grow bitter and narrow and depressed because we have experienced grief and pain. We must not permit ourselves to be beaten and unhappy all our lives. We must find a way out.

Renewing our come to California, he has taken to wearing Jeans or khaki shirts open at the throat Rnd rolling one leg of his trousers up to the knee while the other hangs down. He frequently looks like a tramp. Which is the way he prefers to look, I suppose. "The book suggests that if he wishes to wear his hat at an absurd angle, he be not urged to put it on straight. After all, he doesn't ask.

me to put mine on straight! He might with equal reason say to me 'Oh. mother, I do wish you wouldn't slant your hat over one eye Just because all the other women do. It looks so silly." THE world is getting more subtle, according to the sapphire blonde. "Human nature remains much as it has always been," she said "but I believe we are using our minds now to a greater extent than we did even ten years ago. "People used to follow ruts more than they do today.

Or it seems so to me. "You can't keep flexible If you follow a rut. Water follows one only a little way, then it spills over the top or trails off to one side. "It is easier today to find things to" be interested In because there are so many marvelous things being discovered or invented, or perhaps it Is that a knowledge of Inventions and discoveries is being disseminated among more people. There are easier and more convenient ways of getting around, it is not so hard to travel, and so more people travel and see things new to them, absorb new Ideas.

"I was a fortunate child, for my mother was a great reader. She was Interested in philosophy and there were books always around the house concerning the Ideas of philosophers, Indian mystics, etc. I heard and read a great deal on the subject. It makes one feel rather a blue-stocking to talk like this, but I 'don't mean to sound so. "We all have appeals for help from those we love, from friends, even from acquaintances we don't know well, when trouble comes.

But In the final analysis we must all work thlnps out for ourselves. No one can help you so much as you can help yourself, "I think the first thing to do Is to urge givlnj; In, If suffering or grief are Intense, not fighting against it, for then the sorrow Intensifies and fixes Itself upon us. Get the great emotion over. Then perhaps there will be something we can Pnd in a book, In a lecture. In church, ovei the radio, anywhere that will help.

But none of us are alike, no one can tell the other what to do "But, to get back to our subject, the secret of keeping young and flexible perhaps Is always to have that lovely feeling that a plcarant surprise Is walling ahead: that something wonderful li on Its wav opinio i I ii Lttuit tindicttff minds means giving them something In- interesting is that some of these days tcrestlng to dwell on-making, ourselves we wnj be able to bring back the voices take an interest In something outside us. is age?" continued the ac-tress, in her quiet, deep voice. "I think of It as a hardening Into a mold. Why should we stiffen Into unattrac-tiveness when we can remain flexible? "I was thinking about age before 1 came over here today, and it occurred to me that the only element that seems entirely and eternally young Is water. Scientists can take a rock, or a tree or coral reef and tell you how long ago It was formed, but no one can take a Glass of water and say how many years It is since it came from its source.

"Water Is fluid. You can put it Into any kind ot container long, short, wide, curved, bulging here or drawn In there, and water will take on the shape of whatever it Is. It can become a waterfall, a tiny trickling stream, a great lake, a raging river, a mighty ocean or a fountain that's a mere thread of pray. That is why water is the symbol of spirit, because it Is flexible and eternally new." "Keep flexible," according to our authority, is the watchword for those who would no', grow old. "To every one of us there conies a time In life," said Janet, seriously, "when a sharp grief or an almost overwhelming tragedy strikes us down.

Invariably we are crushed for a space. "I am not one to say that when this happens we should 'snap out of that we should take hold of ourselves and rise above grief We can't do that while the hurt Is fresh. We must cry it out. We must 'He down and bleed while before we rise and fight "But after the first terrible shock of It is past, i think we all brgln to look r-iinrt lift foi hrlp vnrl everything can Uud that hoya will show us of the past. Somewhere In time, science is convinced, these voices wait.

Imagine hearing 'Romeo and Juliet given by the strolling players before Queen Ellzubeth Napoleon addressing hlf troops Lincoln making his speech at Gettysburg. "I'd like to live to see this dream come of her hair Is named, glowing. "Children of 1935 are thinking more for themselves than children used to do. If we can get away altogether from" that old Idea of stamping all youngsters with the same rubber stamp of education, It will be for the good of the country. Old Ideas are not always right, and I am happy that the chlldre, are refusing to accept them.

"Why should we have to have war, that ancient racial idea that man must forever be out killing his 'fellow man? I think our children will work out some constructive Instead of destructive means of settling arguments. "You see, I have a child, so I know what the 1935 brand Is like. My son Is 13 and he Is constantly amazing me with his original slant on life. He doesn't accept the conclusions of older people as It snems to me that our generation did when we were his age. "He has definite Ideas on occupation, dress, recreation and so on.

I am learning not to li terfere. Having a child In the house another way of remaining flexible, I find. I am readjusting my Ideas all the time. Lately I've been reading a new book on handling dren and some of the things In It seem to me eminently Bane. "For example, the advice is given not to interfere with a child's Ideas on things that don't really concern any one but himself My son, like all his playmates, perM'ts In wearing hi hut on the back of hU head.

6lnce he has all definitely wrong. Women who lived by these appalling rules grew old early. Now, anything that Is becoming Is ours. Lavender and old lace has been put aside for sn.artly cut clothes. "You sej, what Is right and what Is wrong are often decided by race ideas that have been handed down for generations.

Once it was considered to be wrong for little girls to run and play as their brothers did. Now, It is right. "Why be bound by rigid rules? Why permit yourself to say. 'Oh, I'd love to fly, but I suppose I shouldn't I'm too Or. 'Doesn't that water look Inviting? I wish I were young enough to go wading, but I suppose It would look ridiculous at my If taking a plane "or wading in a brook will make you happy, do It by all means.

'There are certain childhood traits that can bj carried on Into adulthood, such as the eager attitude toward life, that glorious feeling that the 'best is yet to Bnbylshness Is not an asset after we're 20, and decidedly does not tend to make us seem young when we are mature. "A woman frequently has two assets beauty and charm. Beauty doesn last, but charm 1 a magic that will last her, If she is careful to cultivate It, until the end of time." Janet Beecher Is not one who deplores today's youth. "1 have gieat hopes for this country," she paid, hm tvlilch p.re ns dark a blue as the gems fur which the tint "That Is the way to enduring youth. "Women like Marie Dressier and Louise Closser Hale were young to the last days of their lives.

Why? Because they were always tremendously interested in everything. My mother Is the same. She Is always eager to hear of anything that Is new, she loves new experiences and she thoroughly enjoys everything. "My Idea of youth Is that feeling of something wonderful Just ahead that 'I could never be bored' attitude to life. You notice that all people who leave their mark in the world seem to have had It.

Oliver Wendell Holmes was years old by the calendar when he died, but actually he was In the prime of life. He kept hU sparkling wit to the end." Ponce de Leon spent his life searching To' the fountain of youth, but the real source of Uie thing' he TTEEPINO flexible, In Janet's opinion, has nothing whatever to do with a struggle to remain a perpetual ingenue. "I think the Peter Pan business of always remaining a child Is silly." she declared. "I am certainly not in accord with those who pretend to be adolescent whtr they are past the teen age. "But not so long ago there was a saying concerning 'mutton dressed lamb fashion' that used to terrify women.

A woman must wear a cap nt 30, she must dlscud all gay and lovely tolors, she muit, 'jemtuibei her Thais.