National Republican., 1873-11-19
Pretty and Us,, womrp,

No woman can say truthfuliy that she does not
care whether she Is pretty or not. Every woman
docs care. Tho immutable laws OF her being
have made physical attractlvcness as much q
natural siory to her as strength Is to q man.
Here may be told that what an saying Ia
superiuous. for perfect beauty has nc need Of
art to enhance It, and that those who have been
born with hard, or worse, with perfectly unin-
physical attractiveness Il Indispensable to them.
Dut II IA especially TO the plain, and To tho gen
orally ill-favored that address these words OF
advice and warning; and should Beauty's self
nnd q few useful hints, I sec no reason why she
should not avail herself OF them. know that
there are people who look well anywhere and
snyhow.no vug.rlty, no careiessncss Of speech
But these rarely-gifted persons are but tho eS-
ceptions that prove the rule; anil even In their
case what Sir Philip sidney spake Is true-he
says there Is that In wcll.chOsen surroundings
(which does even beauty beauiify,
And most bewtch the captiyed eye"
and Herrick, too, In his "Poetry OF Dress" seems
may be beautined. These men lived In the six
teenth century-a time when color Ia dress was
an understood and valued adjunct and before
we had learned to make our dwellings intoicr-
able to the eye.
An Immense number Of ill.tempercd, ugly
women are ilLtempered because they are ugly.
They do not know II; their fricnls don't under
stand, and make no allowance; but heavy, in-
deed, Is the burden upon these poor women, and
pcrnicious In Its effect upon their moral charac-
Ter very often. l have heard II said that ugly
women are always had tempered. This IA an
over-statement; but there Is a certain degree OF
truth In the saying, cruel as It Is. An ugly child
cares nothing for us ugness; but when u grows
older, and perceiyes that IL lacks something
which is prlxed and honored, and IN twitted with
the deficiency, and neglected through II, and IA
reminded Of II every time II looks In the glass or
In another face, the constsnt disappointment
begins very early to emhitter tho whole nature,
and creates o melancholy shyness. And when
the desire to attract awakes with years, and the
young girl finds her fairer friends preferred be-
fore her, the vain endeav0rs to please by other
means dishearten her, and she grows sarcastic,
ill-natured, envious Of everybody, though half
unconsciously; many other faults follow, and
she becomes unhappy AMI morosc. Nc one ever
knows what she suffers; but she does suffer very
acutely.
1 am certain that however iaddable the efforts
OF uginess to attract by learning, by accom-
pllshments, by general usefulness, or by satire,
nothing really cOmpensates for the want OF per-
sonal beauty. The best that an ugly woman can
do is to make you forget that she IL ugly for tho
time being; she cannot compensate. And while
l should advise all women to become as intelli-
gent and clever as they eau. whether they be
plain or pretty, still ] wish mere beauty were
made more an acknowledged and honorable art
than II Is by all those TO whom God has given
eyes and an Intelligent brain. II Is not q sin nor
folly to long, as every woman longs, TO be
lovely. She Is so constituted, and her beauty
s.lB n glory 10 her."