to these two atmospheres."

I asked him whether he liked the padded, swelling hips and the slender, tight-bound waists, and he answered:

"Any dress that departs from nature is unsound; the most beautiful state of a woman's body is when it keeps its natural shape. Every padding of this sort is therefore counted false and unlovely, and I do not believe any sensible woman will follow it. Beyond this, woman was created to fulfill a sacred mission — namely, the preservation of the race — and this binding and pressing at the waist impedes it, and often prevents childbearing and leaves the offspring far from moral and physical soundness. Therefore I counsel woman to keep away from it."

And when I asked for his picture he refused to give it to me, and the argument between us grew so hot it nearly became a quarrel! He begged me, in a tone of entreaty, not even to mention his name, and to content myself with noting that he is an artist

secluded in his hermitage, shunning mankind... But I protested, saying:

"The readers of 'The Woman's Voice' want to see your picture — and I myself, before I had the honor of visiting you, used to imagine Charles Corm as a man with a long white beard and flowing hair... like Tagore! And behold, he is a young man!" He laughed; yet despite this compliment he still was not persuaded, and I left the house pondering some stratagem that would secure me his picture — I left under the spell of his courtesy and his eagerness to render any service or request I might impose upon him — except, of course, the giving of the picture! —

And he ended his talk by imploring me a second time not to mention his name outright in the article! But I did not promise him that; I left it betwixt and between — as all journalists do!! As for his picture, published above this article, I obtained it by a journalistic favor from his affectionate friend Mr. Albert Rihani. (A. J. Sh.)