, 1870-05-29

But what, asks the gentle reader, OF those
female beauties Of the mountain pictured in
poet1! and read OF in romAnces- creatures
with gazelle eyes, ''hhir flowing Like Alpine
torrents, cheeka Wooed BY the breezes, etc,
etc. La there any AnGtype in reality Of tho
mountain maid, or Is ehe but the ideal, the
wood nymph, Of poets and rom4nce-wtitera ?
In fact. it ia TO be confessed that the female of
the child Of Nature" is not commonly prepos-
sessing; and, shocking as it may be to on,
pceticAl preconceptions, the girl Of the noun
tain il usually found to be sallov, unerau-
men Of III dressed humanity, having ropy hair,
standing in clouted brogAna, and furnished
With great, red, clAWing hands. The disillu-
sioninG process ia sharp and painful enough.
But stop; We must not be too ha4ty IN Our in-
duction. Rare as may be the mountain maid
Of the rural school Of poetry, there Is such 1', =
being. And when nature, in her infinite yarie-
+ Of gifts, does plant flower OF female beau-
t. in the mouDtaina, does out OF this remote
and uncultivated humanity mould face and
fo1m Of loveliness, the cre&tion ID a. infinitely
exquisite as it is bold.
peauty can only be described by the word e1-
qulsite," and We find ourselves wondering
more 1t the perfect finish Of the picture than
1T any separate feature. The most perfectlv
beautiful girl the writer has ever seen was
fIem one Of the mountain homes of Taze-
well. The description is merely that OF an
artist; be knows nothing Of her but q
name casually mentioned n crowd. She
was standing in the gathering Of IN agricu1-
tnrI fair At Iynchbutg. She WAS dressed in
the simplest me1ino, and I NiRp Of the com.
monest ahawl had fallen from her ahoulders,
and was twisted aroud the firm hip, whose
form fashion had never disguised The pose
WAS that Of the unconscious grace Of 4 classic
statue. A wealth Of hair, OF yellowish dark
color stteaked with red-that tdtcny. Amorous
hair so seldom seen-hoAting down her ehoul-
ders, and was matched by the wa1m light Of
young deeire that glowed On the cheek and
made penslve. half confessions as 1t swam like
Ahe enouIderiDg fire Of sx1idce in the
golden-blue depths Of ths eyes. The face was
oval, classic, bat wREm from the glow Of per
petuA insatiate lore, and the Eich Lips appear
ed constantly pouted for kissing, that could
never be satisfed. It might have been
supposed that there vas some mA1k Of
uncultiration, or rusticity, to mar The
picture and to break the spell Of the ad-
mittr. But no: nature bid done her work
with completeness that left nothing to be de-
sired. The feet wers small and o4quiMtely
formed The unjewelcd hands wero ~ dainty
- those OF Princess. Looking back At the
face. the expression Of pure, unconscious
righteousness that SWAN over il, vet con-
tanned in the seve1est classical types Of virtue
and tnodesty, WIS perfect. I have attempted
no description Of the syes. NJ. Lonsfellow
has done it IN Hyperion: "Eyes ike the
flower Of the nightshade, pale and blue, but
sending forth golden says," Such human orbs
are eeldou seen. They haunt us forever; the
form ia withdrawn, the face is abeent-"oplv
her eyes remained Edtoord i. Poudrzl, in
TIE June LiPpinooh