Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1859-02-17
Original 4aper.
Written for the Yorkviiie Enquirer.
THAT PICTURE.
H'Lope is strong as death. ."-Solomon.

Written for the Yorkvilie Enquirer
THAT PICTURE.
-h'L0pe is strong as death. ."-iSalomon.
It is mistake to suppose that the wild
West is deficient in female beauty, or that
its romance is solely the romance Of reckless
and savage daring. True,. it has much Of
the latter. The fearless and adventurous
leave their homes in'the East, where their
energies are cramped BY Congregational rules,
for the wilder arena Of frontier life, and it is
no wonder that here there are brave hearts
and stalwart forms-hearts that Shrink from
no danger and forms of wonderful physical
endurance. But it is not alone the brave
and the strong who seek in the vildernesses
of the West refuge from poverty, field
for ambitious display, or tho home and the
comforts of the Independent farmer; for here
you will find every phase Of mankind frem
the rufian, stolid as a demon, to the afable
and courteous gentleman, and the re6nedand
elegant lady. But even the last haye dis
tinctiye traits which give them an individu'
ality. Fhe most modest of them, the most
gentle, and the most beautiful, catch from
contact with the sterner scenes around them,
something of the frmness and self-rehance,
so indispensable in an undevelopsd country.
While formed for all the witching arts Of
love, they require ia their admirers, fearless
hearts. and manly .wooings, and seldom tols'
rate the sickly .sentimeptaity 80 prevalent
where people have Idle moments to sauander
Love at first, courtsbip at second, and mar
riage at third sight, is no unusual occurrence,
and, consequently; there is little tfmefol
mawkish sentiment, the fungus:growth OF
morbid passions and crowded population:
When say the ladies of the West are
deficient in sentiment, fmean Isicky, morbid
sentiment, be it understood, for I do udR
think them wanting in noble and generous
emotions. On the other hand, thereis more
genuineness about their feelings, and far less
Hypocrisy and afectatien; than will be found
among their sisters of the East Here, fam
ay distinctions are broken down--every per.
son can live well while few are rich-and
the ladies if selfish at all, display it in SEN
sible manner; they look first ,at the man,
snd if he fills. up their ideal, they trust to
Providence for the comfertsand conyeniences
of life. Let it not be. inferred from anything
I have said, that the Western ladies are Less
womanly or less beautifulthan elsewhere
No where else have met 50 few ugly, and
so many good looking ones. The world over
and Beauties, such as the painter would de-
light 10 place breathing on the-canyass, or
the poet to celebrate in glowing verse, are
sfew and far between" but the West, before
any spot on earth, wouidI search for exaui-
site developments of female loveliRess-for
Dianas, Venuses or Cleopatras.
No longer ago thaulast night, I was stand
ing in painters gallery, admiEing pictrue
of the Egyptian Queen, whose dark-eyed
beauty intoxicated the greatest potentates Of
earth. Itwas taken from an old picture by
some ancient master. It was a splendid
painting Of that ideal, voluptuous, beauty,
who glews in the richest tints of Shakspeare's
genius. The dark passionate eye, the full,
round breast, painting with love, the we'll
turned arm, the rosy lips, the faultless form
who would ever surfeit with gazing on
such an embodiment of all that is enchant-
ing or attractive?
"Look at this" said friend, calling my
attention to another picture. passed on
and found myself before the portrait Of one
I knew-it was Miss B.. I bad met
her only few weeks previous at a brilliant
party, and hers was face that is never for
gotten. eyes," said INSTANTLY, "that must
be Miss B, who else could vie with the
voluptuous beauty Of the Nile?" There she
was before me, almost as beautiful as the
original, but what pen can "wreak upon ex,
preston" the classic elegance and beauty Of
that face, which even Anacreon might have
mistaken for the ideal Venus of an Apelles
or Parrhassius. Uuconsciously, l found my
self repeating the Well-knoWn descrlPton OF
Byron:
"One tint the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace,
That waves in every raven trees,
Or softly lghtens o'er her face,
Where thoughts divinely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place"
That is the only face 1 ever saw to which
the above words we're fully applicable. u
have in my minds eye one other-a daugh.
ter of Carolina-to whom they might apply
were it golden instead of craven tress. W
There I stood gazing on that picture-like
painter on splendid landscape-like q
lover on the radiant countenance of bis
hearts idol. 1t was not altogether the beauty
though matchless-which enlisted and en-,
chained my attention. My mind was busy
with tragedy which the portrait and the
name of the original recalled. Perhaps ou1
readers will be interested in the brief story
that follows: --