New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-11-18
phrase IN which the Arab poet declares that the eyes

phrase IN Whcn the AraD pOeb ueciares thee tho ceS
are light itself: God said to her eyes Be V-and
they WERE" All the primitive poets spoke of the
eyes as a sufficient description of the woman:
they were graciously- lidded" or "love-bearing."
The ancient perhaps admired black eyes more than
blue ones although Anacreon was fascinated with
the blue eyes of his mistress Almost all poets find
black eyes sweeteT and luminous; they love to
see them cOntrasted with blonde hair they have not
yet invented eyes Of the color of the air. or sky OF
sea- eyes treacherous as the waves. If eyes have
done such execution, from the creation OF the world
down TO the present time, hair has intoxicated many
a lip with its perfume. did not king, contemporary
with Moses, become enamored of a tress OF hair
which the waves of the Nile carried to his feetI
Was It not from the head Of the Princess Msntirlls
Of the XIXth Dynasty, she who was named The
Palm" 1.-THE darkness of thy hair is the darkness of
the night" She also. doubtless, clothed by her
hair when she came to disyobe. Such abundant
tresses must have weighed 200 cycles, like those
of Absalom.
Clothed with her hairn-an expression which
dates from the lost Paradise. St. Paul said to the
Corinthians that hair was given to woman as vail
to cover her. When Venus rises from the waves,
conveyed by the Graces and Cupids is she not made
still lovelier by that flower hair which radiates
around heri FOR Venus blonde. So was
Helen of Troy and Daphne still more So AL an
tiquty adores blonde hair; for the poets to be
blonde was to be beautiful Mars was blonde like
Achilles. Mention is made OF feroclous hero, n
taker of cities who dyed his hair blonde in order to
have the name of lion. Messalina was brunette,
but she always wore blonde wig. Ovid was right
in being indignant that the Roman ladies persisted
in buying their hair from the Germans and the
Gauls. In Brittany there is a which says that
for two thousand years the country girls there have
sold their hair
But Venus. Helen, Daphne, and the others never
bought those tresses which seemed to be of fine
gold and kissed their feet" What great dispute of
poets and lovers those two coOrs of the hair!
"Cover myself with thy hair" sings Saadi; g love
thee like the night, and in thine shall forget
the lightr An Arab poet says: "Thy black treSses
beat their wings like the raven" Greek poet:
Thy tresses black, and lively as the grasshopper"
Pindar sang of golden hair and of black hair; but
Horace celebrated only blonde. Ovid praised the
beauty of Leda, who dark g but Aurora was
blonde" he cries. still dazzed by the spendor of the
rosy-fngered goddess. Another poet says: " Ii the
hair be of gold, the neck is of milk" Where does
blonde begin, and where endf The Greeks said:
H0ney-colored hair even as Alfred de Musset,
blonde wheat" Color of the honey of the Adrt-
ate coast!-for the Northern honey is faded
blonde, the pale tint of the Germans Swedes, and
Dutch. 1t has not that warmth of tone, that Vene-
tan tint which captivates all eyes. There is also
that blazing gold which makes the red, beauty
even more unappreciated in the old time than now.
Even Solomon is reported to have said to one of his
700 wives: " Wherefore that royal purple upon thy
head ~ Later, a Prophet exclaimed Whence
that color of blood upon thy hair 1t was to recall
the rising and the setting sun.
Golden hair is the most beautiful, because hight is
the ideal Of all beauty. Apollo, the supreme OF
beauty is crowned with disheve.ed light according
10 Ronsard When st. Matthew speaks of the trans
hguraton of jesus, he represents HIM dazzling as the
SIM with b,.amlng hair. Homer compares lfis god
desses and his mortals to Golden Venus"
ARsENE HoUssAYE.