Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1825-06-23
FEMALE BEAUTY.

1t may be questioned whether female
beauty is not ottener a snare than an
advantage; whether the possession Of
it has not a tendency to create vanity,
and TO satisfy the mind with the emp.
ty and fleeing admiration it excites,
rendering more costly mental endow-
ments distasteiul and irksome; and in
short, may it not be worth while to
inquire whether apreity face has not of
len proved the destruction of her who
has worn it, by distinguishing her as a
meet object for the attacks of insidious
villany; while the daily and habitual
consultations at her toilette, in secret
admiration of herself, have afforded no
salutary lessons OF virtue, and no
Strengthening influence over native mo.
desty or good resolutions7 Many frail
beauties in this land and every other,
who have utterly given themselves to
shame, do often unquestionably owe
their first transgressions to the expo
sure and the self complancy into which.
they fall, from the possession of per-
sonal charms. Nevertheless, fathers
and mothers desire beautiful daughters,
not knowing that it may be for their
ruin, and the source of unutterable
griefs.
A very beautiful, and at the same
time a very sensible woman, is very
rarely TO be found. 10 youth and in
love, a beautiful woman is sensible of
course, but we speak of a more chas
tened period,
-'When times e~ffscing fingers,
Have swept the lines where beauty iingers;"
when youth, and iollity, and love. add
non of their witchery to the trial of
good sense, and when the mind, and
not the face or the habiliment ofthe DO
dy, is to show forth its beauties and
lead the listeners captive. Young la
dies who have been taught to think, or
who by some mean find out that they
are handsome, forthwith let their minds
obtain enlargement and polish as they
may, while they bestow all their care
and all their contemplation upon their
curls, their dress, their finery, and their
beaux. Hence it is. that women of
mere ordinary appearance, feel per
haps a necessity to make Up in the
beauties ofthe mind what they lack in
the graces of the person; so that of the
members of the same family. those who
at first sight, or upon slight acquain
lance promise most, eventually prove
the least calculated for the duties and
distinctions of life.
To this result, the thoughtlessness
and folly of parents give an carly and
strong impetus. The foundation is laid,
even in the cradle, and is built upon
with u~nceasing assiduity through life
W. see mothers for instance, cautious
ly decking their new born infants, and
imposing upon their tender bodies un
necessary restraints, which impede the
free circulation of the blood, and OBJ
struct the delicate and handy. work of
nature in the growth and expansion of
the limbs and body, all in fondness no
doubt, however absurd it may be, and
evinclng that the cruel matron has
thought mach of making the little one
look well, while she totally neglected
TO consider of that which would make
1t feel we'll and administer to its growth,
health, and strength Thus it is, that
even IN infancy, are sown the seeds of
pride and self complacency, which are
carefully nourished until womanhood,
aud shoot forth into luxuriant growth
by parental couEtenance.
The little Miss is cor.e,ted while she
IS yet IA play thing for her fathers knee:
her brilliant and lowing locks are cast