Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1867-08-03
THE MANTLE OF BEAUTY.

81 pity poor Margaret, she is so
plain"
"Certaiuly, she is very plain but,
then, she is so good"
"Goodness is very we'll in its own
way; but handsome face and fine
person will do more for a girl than
goodness" was the reply.
"In worldly point of view, you
mean"
The first speaker did not answer this
remark. 1t suggested thoughts not
wholly in agreement with thesentiments
just uttered. The subject of CONVEX
sation was the youngest of three sisters.
She was called homeiy by almost every
one yet it is but fair to say that she
was too often seen as foil to her hand
some sisters, whose bright eyes, regular
features, rich complexions, and free,
graceful carriage, had won for them the
appellation of ''the two beauties
Parents are not always wise and just.
The fact of being father or mother does
not, as matter of course, lift person
above his or her natural weakness and
defects of character, or change materi-
ally the old estimate of men and things.
The mother of these girls was very far
from being just to her youngest child
The beauty of the two elder sisters she
sought to increase by all the available
arts of dress; while the very plainness
and coarseness of attire which she
deemed good enough for Margaret made
the latter seem homlier than she really
was. Margaret, not being an ornamen-
tai appendage of the household, was
made useful. While her sisters dress
ed and saw company, she was at work,
and often for them. She felt the un-
just discrimination, and often cried
over it, when no one saw her; but
neither rebelled nor complained.''
81 pity her, she is SO plain % This
was often said by those who saw
Margaret in contrast with her sisters.
But it almost always happened, that
those who had any true knowledge with
regard to her character would answer ;
"But she is so good.''
There is beauty in goodness. That
was her compensation. If the outer
garment was plain, the inner form and
true substance of her being had SYM
metry and grace beyond what the flesh
puts on in its most envied perfection.
And a compensation went farther still.
The soul is in perpetual effort to i'm
press likeness of its quality in the
face; to mold the features into an
image of itself If this law was in ia
vor of Margaret, it was against her
sisters; for, while she was living in
self denial, both willing and doing right
in every relation, no matter how un-
pleasant, they were cherishing pride,
selfshness, vanity, worldliness, envy and
ill-nature
The time came, as years progressed,
when it was no longer said, Il pity her,
she is so plain" Not that any saw
signs of beauty in her face but it was
no longer perceived as homely. She
did not appear in company as often as
her gay and brilliant sisters who al
ways had around them a circle of ad-
mirers, but when she appeared she did
not sit alone, as once, nor so often form
the subject of depreciating comparison.
Persons who had kept aloof from her
began to feel an attraction that drew
them to her side; and many wondered
how it was that they had been so slow
in discovering how greatly she was-in
some things-superior to her more
snowy sisters.
There was a sphere of tranquility
about Margaret, which was felt by
every one who approached her. The
repose of her manner did not break up
easily, but to right sentiments and feel
ings she responded with warmth of ex-
preston that veiled nothing of insin-
cerity. In conversation, where the
subject was agreeable, thought would
light up her counteuance, and play over
it with manifold changes. 1t was sin-
gularly mobile to the mind-answering g
to emotion ; never concealing.
Time came when the two elder sis.
ters found themselves often less attrac.
tive in company than the homely
Margaret. Young men whose favor
they desired to win, were not unfre.
quently Indifferent to their arts and
Establishments; and yet, stranger still,
as it appeared to them, so interested in
Margaret as to be emulous of attention
towards her.
1t is not always that truth comes to
ears most concerned in hearing it.
Friends and neighbors see and talk about
our personal defects, peculiarities and
hinderins faults, though We see them
not, and go on bliudly indulging them
to our loss and injury. Margaret's two
elder sisters still thought themselves
beautiful, winning, graceful beyond all
comparison with their Cinderella, as
once they had been vain and heartless
enough to call her. They did not rec.
ognize the fairy work that, with slower
than old fairy touches, yet with more
enduring magic, was transforming her
daily. But there were eyes that could
see while theirs were blind; and ii
happened that, through the sense Of
hearing, they gained knowledge Of
what their sight had failed to give.
The eldest-her name was Cordelia-
overheard the following conversation.
1t was between two young men with
whom she had been long acquainted
"I used to think her beautiful" said
Ioro .f tbopo uCordo1io 7'' said the