Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-03-28
IxyLeayes-By RAsp1r-
No. vI.-PRErTY GIRLS.

NO. E--HRErTY Urls.
A pretty subject, truly; but, as never fat
ter, do not intend to say anything that will
add to the vanity of the possessors of per-
sonal charms. But you may say, my fair pc
ruser, that you are not vain. VIII you please
allow me to differ with you? There is vani-
ty in the composition of every human being;
in some more than others. The seed is there,
and it sprouts, and buds. and blooms, almost
invariably in the heart of all persons. In
some, it simply buds, and dies bud; happy
one who possesses but the buds of vanity. In
others, it blooms into a flower, and spreads
its perfumes so freely around that all can east
ly inhale it; it's not a PLEASANT odor, and
much disliked. even by the pOssessors of it.
particularly when they view it in other per-
soDs. Who possesses the most vanity? In
whose heart does vanity bloom? Whose
Let me whisper it to you. In the heart of
the pretty girl, say ]; and in the heart of
| pretty men, too, say you. That may be; but
we will speak of that by and by.
Was there ever a person who possessed
| beauty and despised it? Was there ever a
because her charms won the admiration of a
community? No; it is too great pleasure
to be able to command praise simply by per-
sonal charms. aud without exertion, without
taxing the mind. which frequently is exceed
| ingly delicate. 1t is too great a pleasure to
receive fattery from the world; to pierce hearts
with tender looks, shot from eyes of 'angelic
| brightness " to listen to tales of love, forced
| into shallow minds by the pretty face only;
| to have all the susceptible hearts of the weak
| er portion of the sterner sex f1uttering with
unruly love; to have them kneeling to you,
| and swearing by the moon that tips with sill
yer the sleepy trees. that twas thy beauty.
| brought them to thy feet. How the heart of
| the acknowledged beauty thrObs with victori-
| Gus beatings, as she listens to the exaggerated
tales of her humble lover. He swears in
| faith for you he only lives, your beauty
! hauuts him bv night; your eyes are the stars
| that shall guide him over the rugged paths OF
! life; your smile is to him the honey to the
| bee; this world would be without you. (he
| tenderly whispers) a lone and barren desert,
| over whose heated sands he would wander
| till weary and fatigued, he would lay down
aud die, thirsting for your loves. Have you
| not. my pretty friend, listened to tales similar
to this! If you are notorious beauty, you
| have. And have you not experienced feel
knowing that your beauty brings the lords OF
creation to your feet? and do you not boast
of the conquest, and study to adOrn the
| beauty that nature gave you, by adding to it
artificial decorations A conquest made and
another sought for-O, beauty how oft art
| thou a poison to the lives of thy possessOrs.
and dagger to the hearts of their victims
would not have my fair readers under
stand me undertaking. beauty; not at all.
| If we admire the inanimate works of art,
much more should we be charmed by the as
semblage of living features; it is natures
demand that we should admire her prOdnc-
TONS whether animate, or inanimate, and
our hearts most willingly obey when she bids
us admire it in own species. But the
beauty that nature has endowed many with
is shamefully treated: nature, when she gave
you outward beauty, also gave you mind,
and it is much more a duty to decorate the
mind than it is to add to the external features
one artificial attraction. The mind must be
cultivated to bring forth the beauties i'm
planted in it; in it are buried the sweets of
life and the one who neelects them in youth
can never inhale their fragrance in age.
She who has spent all the days when she
was young, and those that shs thought her
self young, at her tOilette-she who found
herself fiattcred and admired wherever she
went. without saying or doing anything ad-
mirahle. save to cast coquetish smiles and
men and sycophants-cannOt help, as years
increase, hut be miserable. She loses the
power of pleasing others, and, alas possesses
none to please herself. batteries have fed
and vanished into that of which they are COM
posed-nothing. Beauty is indeed flower
that soon withcrs; it blooms to-day in all its
charms and fragrance, and is admired; to-
morrow we see it dropping and dying,
stripped of the robes that claimed our admir-
alton; we pass it by.
Those tender leaves that yester' even,
In elushing 1--we so sweeily spread.
And with sweet perfumes filled the air,
Nor serves corruption for bed
Blend, Oh, thou beauty with thy treas
ured charms, the Christian graces! Lay the
mirror that reflects thy pretty face, and which
you so much love to gaze upon, aside. and
hold up to thy mind the mirror OF religion
and obedience to God. Let il reflect the
most obscure corners of thy heart; then
pluck up the weeds that have spronted there,
and nurse tenderly aud carefully the flowers
that nature gave thee at thy birth, and AS the
moon lends light to darkness, so will they
add happiness TO thy life.
Nashville, Tenn, March &c, 1859.