Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1872-09-12
The Most Beautiful.

/ WHO, while he lived, had the credit OF
being singulary beautifgl-indeed the
fame of their beauty resound.d far and
near.
These three pretty girls often visited
Stheir uncle, and the burden of all their
requests was" Now, my dear uncle,
won't you leave me yonr many-storied
house when you de2'
"Yes, dear, I'll leave it to thee. I'll
leave it to thee. Ill leave it to thee" he
said to each of them in return; and as he
liked such talk, they often repeated their
pray er 1t suited his humor to be amused
with such penetrating inquiries-indeed,
he was almost prepared to depart with the
fore-knowledge that after his death an ex
cellent joke would amuse the world, ard
he anticipated its consequences with much
selt-satisf, ing laughter.
He died-his will was opened, and these
words were read from it: my two
storied house, however, is bequeathed to
the most beautiful of my nieces."
Who would like to be the executor of
such testamentary bequest3
Of course there was a lawsuit, and II
lasted for ten years. The three goddesses
were not whit discouraged. Never did
two-stori-d house excite such interest.
1t was indeed a most embarrassing
question for the lawyers-of these fair
maidens which was the tairest2
When it came to the question of evi
dence, there were a hundred witnesses
ready to depose in favor of each of the
ladies-their personal bearing, their dane
ing, the air with which they walked, the
tenderness with which they sighed, the
grace with which they dressed.
A visam Tepertum was needed fully to
appreciate Terminals light figure, her
raven-black locks, her shining eyes. Then
again the lovely Agnes, or. more proper
ly, the rosy-lipped damsel with the silky
| blond curls and the most delicate hands.
And next, the irresistible P, pi, with the
chestnut brown ringets, the sweet blush
es on her cheeks, the teeth which were
rows of pearls, and, above all, that fasci-
mating smile, Everybody, indeed, must
own that they are beauticul-supreme!
beautiful-all the three. But what law
yers could decide, what controversy de-
termine, which was the mnst beautiful
1t was truly only the repetition of the
Trojan war, carried on with pen and
ink And how cou.d the interesting
question be settled? What had--what
had not the advocates to bring forward
on behalf of their clients2 1t was agreed
by all that they had less to plead theiI
superlative beauty than to discover the
inferioity of their opponents, for the love-
liness of each was acknowledged by every.
hody, and nobody could deny that the in
heritance must belong to one of them.
And who could avoid seeing how EN-
barassing and how costly such lawsuit
must becOme2 All the mysteries of the
toilette, even the most ostinpenetrable were
brought forward in compari son and con
trast. When the advocate of Hermina
averred that rouge had not been without
influence upon Ptpi's glowing cheeks,
abundant evidence was aduced to show
that the bloom of fhealth was alone visible
there, that its beauty came with the
dawning at the day, and that a tint so
lovely could never have been borrowed 4;
it was native to that charming face. A
still more alarming averment was that, on
close inspection, Hermina would be found
little crooked, and that she wore stays
to keep herself straight, while Agnes
walked little lame on the right foot, and
wore something within her shoe-and
more, that her chignon, as they called it.
was not her own, but was made of false
hair. Then came the overpowering argu-
ment-the great triumph of the advocate,
that in order to influence tile verdict.
when Prpi;s cheek was distorted by the
rheumatism, and she could scarcely open
her mouth, Hernina was unable to speak
from having taken too much snuff. Then
all the various intellectual qualities of the
ladies were depicted-the one, how piq-
Uante! the other, how grave! the third
how ungallant! this was perverse tha,
venOmous, and what could be more dam
aging to beauty than forwardness and i'll
numor2 And examples were brought
forward there We're Shari, Katy, Nina
Parius, Tulsha, and many dismissed
lady's maid, female cooks, and abigails
the narration of whose misdoings Occupi-
ed the court for eighteen weary hours
while on the contrary side, Betty and
Natty, indignant at the reproaches flung
at their sex and at their professions, were
heard at length, and they swore they had
TO interest than to protect outraged and
calnmniated beauty.
S., en- years the lawsuit lasted; it had
not advanced the breadth of a hair. Now
the balance fell ON one side. now on the