Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1858-09-08
VOL. ). NO 43.
What it is to be a Belle.
BY a BELLE.

1t ism enough TO be pretty ana modest 10
be belle. Good manners are not in the
secret, neither is great beauty alone, though
that comes nearer than anything else. But
don's you know what people call tome in pic
turesI 1t isn't the color the drawing
only-it is sort of something not to be de-
scribed at least, have asked great many
of the long haired, bad hated gentv who
paint pictures, and they never agreed what it
was 1t is a sort of mellow complexion over
/ tho whole thing, and is as different from
color as the bloom upon ripe grape or plum
is from the crude positiye hue of the unrine
! frut-or did you never notice the differ
| ence No? Well, then, come to Nahant
and you can study every variety of blush
and bonn upon the ripening fruit IN Mr.
| Tudor's gardens, behind those thick paled
fences, that strain these rough sea winds
into soft zephy1s before they touch his trees,
! very much as fine tooth comb would trans-
form the rummy breath of any old sailor on
| the coast into kind Of music before it pol-
! luted .baby's lungs.
All this means tact To be belle it i
necessary to be handsome, we'll made, of
! great good manners, and of consummate
tact. Now, any girl can have almost any
thing but the chief thing. If you are not
| positively squint-eyed or of deformed reso-
luton, and Madame-well, the freshest
| French woman will make you handsome and
of good figure. Manners you must manage
/ for yourself I have found the best rule
perfect kindness mean, of course, kind
/ ness of manner. Most men are a little bash
I ful with women. Young men get over il
! by bravado-older men with kind of silent.
superior, condcscending air Now, if Won
! study never to take advantage of this sbv
ness. which makes men doubly sensitivo-so
/ that many cle1er man Is conscious of being
| q perfect fool with women-if you never
wound them by look or word, or insinuation.
or implication, and never seem to league with
any one man against any Other-Yhy little
| ludicrous fattery of manner only, not of
words, does the whole busincss-the man ia
yours.
Have you never noticed that very sssmart''
women arc never bellies? There are. of
course, what may be called '.load'' yos,ag
| ladies from some western cities, and from
/ New York, sometimes, who smoke and drink
sherry -cobblers at night, and call the gentle
/ men by their christian names, and are ALWAYS
very conspicuous; but there is the same DIFF
ference between such people and bellies that
! there is between notoriety and fame.
The difficulty is that tact is not tn bs
taught 1t is the sublimest sympathy con-
stantly on the alert. Its aim is to please
positively, by saying aud doing what is
agreeable; and negatively, by emitting all
illusions that are not so. Never sneak of
hemp TO whose father was hangad
is the negative way of stating fact. IAN
things to all men," is the positive wav'
There is need of asking me about the
morality of this. l am treating of bellies and
manners, not of saints and moral philoso-
pliers.
One thing, however, | am free to sov t.
you in strict confidence; and that is. that
good manners are not always Indicative of
good morals | mean, of course, using the
word manners IN the usual sense. If Won
see man or woman every day, you would
, naturally presently discover their sym;,athies
ard tastes. They would betray them invol-
UNFAIRLY. For instance, if man cared
nothing for childrcn-if he were impatient or
ill-tempercd- could conceal it for some
time. but not for long time, unless he had
, some very desirable end to serve by PLAYING
huge and difficult game
But for all that, if the great D. sSozid
c ever come to Nahant, or Newport, or Sara
I toga, which, of course, he never does-for
S w!erc could he stay, OF what could he do $
= and, entering his name upon the book as
the Rev. Mr.. Lamb, should mingle In the
e charming groups that swarm along the piazza
or sit amiably in TIE parlor, [ think the
a manners of the reverend gentleman would be
$ so winning and entertaining that the Young
5 men would view him without jealousy and
Q the old without cynieism. The young women
would consider disparity of years nothing
: where hearts were truly united; and the old
e ladies would scrious y ponder how much the,
IT might reduce the necessary figures for their
d daughters. III consideration of certain personal
q advantages in the husband Old and young
mol oh III
!. of their new acquaintance; nor, among the
e other dreams ef the night would the fancy
IF obtrude itself that when the Rev Mr.. Lamb
went off, he disappeared in smoke, and that
the gentlcE.anly companion of an eyeu;ag
~ could such an awful ''tale unfold
,r On the other hand, I suppose Dr. John
; sons morals were good, but his manners
,e were certainly offensive.
,s You surprised that ] speak of DIR.
" johnson? Yo1 have seen me whirling in
Is the POLKA with Tom Dyce at the hotel, o.
racing oyer the beach with him in his wagon!
,r Very well, it is true, [ am that young lady.
20 wear two bracelets and earrings, aud these
,e very hoopy skirts. | bowl, bathe, dance
/ dine, frt, drive, sigh, smile, pick up MOSES,
- aud wander over tlS rocks Ia a broad
: brimmed bat and very becoming morning
a dress which the girls here lCiU call peignor
I'd apparently net knowing that peignor is the
# drasSln g-goyn-uiiue is a short gown. il
ry which sit when the hair is being brushed
IN am that same young lsdy-agcd somewhere
e. between seventeen and twenty three, and
n have spoken of Dir. Johnson--I know abou
him and aboU. good many others, aud yo
are surprised. That is always the way wit
in men. You profess to honor us-your mouth
froth wita compliments. Suddenly we sho'