Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-06-03
A Mountain Maid.

But what, asks the gentle reader, of
those female beauties of the mountain
pictured ih poetry and read of in ro-
mances-creatures with gazelle eyes,
hair flowing like Alpine torrents, etc,
ETC.? Is there any antitype in reality Of
the mountain maid, or is it but the ideal,
the wood hymph of poets and romance
writers? In fact, it is to be confessed
that the female of " the child of Nature"
is not commonly prepossessing; and,
shocking as it may be to our poetical
preconceptions, the girl of the mountain
is usually found to be sallow, ungram-
matical and altogether unlovely; gawky
specimen of addressed humanity, hay-
ing ropy hair, standing in clouted bro
gans, and furnished with great red claw
ing hands The disillusioning process
IS sharp and painful enough. But stop;
we must not be too hasty in our Undue
ton. Rare as may be the mountain
maid Of the rural school of poetry, there
is such being. And when nature, in
her infinite variety of gifts, does plant
flower of female beauty in the mountains,
does out of this remote and uncultivated
humanity mould face and form of love-
illness, the creation is as infinitely ex-
quisite as it is bold. nedti
When this creation is found, the type
of beauty can only be described by the
word exquisite" and we find ourselves
wondering more at the perfect finish of
the picture than at any separate feature.
The most perfectly beautiful girl the
writer has ever seen was from one of the
mountain homes of Tazewell. The de-
scription is merely that of an artist; he
knows nothing Of her buta name casually
mentioned in crowd She was stand
ing in the gathering Of an agricultural
fair at Lynchburg She was dressed in
the simplest merino, and wisp of the
commonest shawl had fallen from her
and was twisted around the
firm hip, whose form fashion had never
disguised The pose was that of the un-
conscious grace of classic statue. A
wealth of hair of yellowish-dark color
streaked with red-that tawny, amorous
hair so seldom seen-hoating down her
shoulders, and was matched by the warm |
light of young desire that glowed on the
cheek and made pensive, half confess
sions, as il swan like the smoldering
fire of sacrifice in the golden-blue
depths of the eyes. The face
was oval classic, but warm from
the glow of a perpetual insatiate
love, and the rich lips appeared con-
stantly pouted for kissing, that could
never be satisfied. 1t might have been
that there was some mark of
or rusticity, to mar the
picture and to break the spell of the ad-
nirer. But no nature had done her
work with completeness that left moth
ng to be desired. The feet were small
md exquisitely formed The unjeweled
lands were as dainty as those of prin-
,ess. Looking back at the face, the eX-
PRESTON of pure, unconscious volup-
uousness that swan over it, yet contain
ID in the seyerest classical types Of vir-
ne and modesty, was perfect. have
attempted no description Of the eyes
dr. LongfeIlow has done it in Hyperion
Eyes like the flower of the nightshade,
,ale and blue, but sending forth golden
avs" Such human orbs are seldom
cen. They haunt ds forever; the form
; Withdrawn, the face is ahsent-"only
er eyes remained. "-Edrdrd 4. Pol
ard, an tie june Lippipeott ~