Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1852-1852, 1852-08-10
MARRYING A BEAUTY.

eyes SOl nef uullOIe companion ItuiJ IHe youHS
man makes himself very ridiculous"
"Very ridiculous, indeed !" said Miss Hindley,
who felt great horror of Meadows, considering,
with justice, that if her patroness were to select
An humble servant, she would soon cease to stand
in need of an humble companion. Il really won
der dear Mrs. Temple, that person Of your fine
mind can encourage the young man in his folly
the love of one so weak and silly is very little
worth having"
NAY, Miss Hinlley," said the beauty, "his
love is at least disintercsted don't / know that
the second time he came to my house you :old
him that the whole income was, by the will OF
my late husband, to pass from Inc if married
again And don't know that you make this
communication to all single men between twenty
and sixty expressing your regret in very soft
tone of voice, at poor misguided Mr.. Temple be-
ing influenced by his relations to make will so
unjust to his wife, while you are thinking at the
time in your OWN mind, that Mr.. Temple and
his relations were perfectly right, and that Mrs.
Temple has all the inclination to make herself
ridiculous were she not deprived of the power of
doing it."
Miss Hndey colored violently the accusation
was perfectly just butshe only clasped her hands
together and said, :" Dear Mrs. Temple you do
not know half the affection have for you l
am aware that money is quite an unnecessary
adjunct to one so fascinating as you are but l
confess l should like to see you loved for your
SELF"
"And is it not proof that am loved for
myself" asked Mrs. Temple rather sharply, when
a man of independent fortune is anxious to mar
ry me, although he knows that a second mar
riage will deprive me Of every shilling that 1
possess 2"
"No," said Miss Hindlcy. who was not def
cient in shrewdness, IL do not think it proves
any such thing. Mr.. Meadows loves you only
for your beauty; now, your beauty is at present
a part of yourself but it will not permanently
be so it will fade and decline when your con-
velsations and your accomplishments remain in
full perfection your admirer does not estimate
these, he only thinks of your outward appear
ance."
81 How can you possibly tell that, Miss Hind
ley p asked the fair widow.
Because" replied Miss Hindley, s. Mr. Mea-
dows, when he speaks to you or of You, extols
only your personal charms; if you mention a
book, if you sing song, does he not always
contrive to bring in some absurd compliment to
your lovclincss :"
Mrs. Temple did not consider compliments to
her loveliness quite so absurd as they were con-
sidered by Miss Hiudley; bat as she had much
more sense than is usually allotted to the share
of beauty, she WAS ready to admit what indeed
she had long secretly admitted to herself that
the fine speeches Of Meadows were rather over
done, that he appeared to regard her rather as
a fair Crcassian" than as an intellectual Eng
iSh woman and that it would be extremely
agreeable if he would sometimes converse with
her as rational being, instead of carrying on
his court>hip by perpetual succession of SON
nets, sghs and compliments.
"Hs cousin, Mr. Corbctt, is far more ntelli-
gent colnpanion." she said :" he admires Alfred
Tennyson as much as do then how scientific
a second he sings, and what excellent remarks
he made OH the cottage in the wood that |
skctchcd from nature, giving it all due commen-
dation, yet pointing out a fault in the shading;
like people who commend and find fault in
their proper places"
"Then YOU cannot like people," said Miss
Hindlev, "wllo talk about your beauty, for that
is subject which am sure cannot give rise to
fault finding"
Adea Temple smiled, and glanced at herself
in an opposite looking glass she was certainly
brilliant beauty, but beauty of a peculiar de-
scription; her figure was pretty, but not fine
her complexion, hair, and teeth would merely
have entitled her to the appeaton of a nice
looking person her eyes constituted her beauty
such eyes were surely never seen Dancing,
gHttering, flashirg-now laughing so gaily that
it seemed inmaterial whether the lips were
laughing or not-now yelled under the shade Of
long d. rk finged eyelashes-now eloquent with
intelligence-now melting with sensibility they
were large hazel eyes, but they could in turn
look rs animated as black eyes, as soft as blue,
and as sober as grey ones they were eyes that
brought all sorts of quotations from the poets
into the head of every one who knew anything
about the poets, and made the plain prosaic
people of this work-a-day world shake off their
common places and express their admiration in
some such freak of speech US that employed by
the gallant dustman who said he should like to
light his pipe at the eyes of the Duchess Of De-
vonshire And those eyes were the constant
theme Of Meadows tongue and pen, and those
eyes were eulogized on the pale pink paper, in
verse which Adela Temple had the patience to
read to the end, although they were certainly
very trite and intrepid.
"Not quite in the style of Alfred Tennyson,"
said Miss Hindley, in a caustic tone of voice.
Perhaps not" said Mrs. Temple, quickly,
"but all men cannot be poets any more than all