Beauty

Southland Times, Issue 12008, 31 March 1892, Page 4

Beauty

(Daily New*.) Ii there any handsome people oc tbe f acn of the giobe? Now we may set aside thiblack and yr-llow and poi} turoiue r^ces in g.nera', many of whom urn well shaped, t-.nd iiky \'Tolz* Btifiu'B .o ij.jk up.)n, tur wiio do not come up !0 She Aiyuii btaud-u<! iv featurtH an i o<l.">ur. L e.ving t ;.- &H*children of iiatnrn oat of the question, v may be confenftd that (here iv no r»cc arsons whom be-iuty is couiuiun. Ii th>: ancient Greeks wero like their btataed,then there one*.- was a beautiful race, but it is ao so certain U at they <!i-i not idealise themt selves a good di-;U. Tli- r--. is tie more reaeon to guess t bis, as, wlun they hi\eto represent a barburiau, bay a C-riul or a German, or a profe«sional prizi -fighter, they make these people as haadaome an themselves, thoDgh in a rougher way. There is a fatuous brot ze statue of a boxer, who might be taken for ao orator, or a pof-t, were it not for his beavy nie^aUstudded glovr e. Thus it may I c det-mt d that there is a great pr.>f.iorion of ihp ideal in tbt-pf* Btituep, vasee, ri/ice, arjd figurines, whore everyone is co grac-fn! amJ goodly. Every nation has a high op ni.n <<i its own chßrtDr. Tl;e Fu-nch pride tit inselvta <>v smai! feet, ur.d it is reruin tli^t their wemen Walk Vbiy iiU'.c, an:' have cuniriny bootmi«k'-re. Tlio Atunicans write as if Vip\t *iiiD'.n wero a galaxy of iovelioct-; ar.d ih-n '.oinei >i milittiry c-nic (Rfij^lis' 1 .) '•'ho only >■&■*' lhne t.rtn'y wnu-.-n in t.Se S:nt-.s, ".nil of 'lie ii;m w ;s ii foreigner. ThrT'-is ni kn iwiog >» •Ij;ii 'o b. \\*~w whoa palri itibUi liOiSts of ti.e local fair. Aro the women of Ar!ea really more lovely than their ntirfhbourij ? Is 'Auld Ayr' ppculinr, beyond Girvan and Maybole, lor tho presence of bonnie lasies? Were the womon of Tanagra prettier th&n thoso of Thebe* ? Or do they owe their reputation to tho local school of artintp ? Are Irinh complexions and Irif-.h eyes the pardonable inventions of Hibernian patriotism ? And are Lancophire witches more bewitching than they of SbropsLire ? These questions can never be satisfactorily answered. Perhaps it might pay an American jonrnal to send a Commissioner on Beauty ail round tbe world, one who should give a comprehensive and unbiassed opinion. But it wonld be difficult for the world to believe in bis judicial fuirnes^xnd do really scientific reenlt could be obtained. At home, we may all look about vs r and aek where beao'y flonn*»hes mo«t. N >w itmny be a her< By.but we thick that tbe: scienti6c Observer will find beauty most common among the young workwooj<:D and shop girlp, ou one b>.nd, and among 'the hi^hevt cirrlee,' the oldest fomilie?, on the oth^r. The lsr^e, highly educated, professional middle e!a<» in comparatively poor in female beauty. For example, it would bb B dangerous experiment to tike a FreocLman or an American to Lord's on an Eton and Harrow day if we wanted him to acknowledge our British eopcrioniy. Nor wonld it be 6&fe to csrry him to a private view at the Rjyal A(*a<iemy. Why Ibis nhould be so others may d oi'le, laying thM blame, perhaps, on over--tudy, «tiich prodaces a plentiful crap of spectacles. Ueitairjly either the debutantes at v drawingroom or the girls sireamiog out of a factory at dinner time would give a stranger a more correct idea of Eagliah beauty than a chance assemblages of the intellectual fair.