New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-11-26

| Arsene Houssaye, in . recent Paris letter
| to the Tribune, writes this of blondes and
blonde hair:
| 1t must be confessed the Americans send
| the lOveliest blondes to US in Paris.
| The nineteenth century will be decidedly
the ago of blondes, a. the sixteenth cen
! tury was; as tho seventeenth century WAS
the age of periwigs, as the eighteenth cen
| fury was the age of powder. 1t 10 settled
all women are blondes, those of the South
equally with those OF the North. NestOr
Roqueplan has said: God gave blonde
hair to the Northern women to console the
men for tho absence of the sum-" At pres
| emit the Southern women blonde themselves
| by virtue of the eau des fees, or BY simply
washing their hair with ammonia. One sub
| stance cOlOrs, the other uncOlors. It il the
miracle of chemistry.
| When she was twenty-five years old. that
foolish young creature whom We have
named "Ophelia" on the French stage, first
took the fancy to make herself blonde
| for . change. As che said, she had NO doubt
| of being able to initiate the fashion. Now,
the New World and the Old are crazy over
/ it; all women are eager to be blondes, es-
| pecially those who have become pallid.
But why violate nature? Il white hair not
Q sacred crown to the head! Has not bru-
motto beauty its distinctive charm and char
acter, no less than blonde! met, lust now,
Russian princess who ia renowned for her
black hair and blue eyes, . combination
which gave her an excessive CHI arm. Well!
Even she il determined to have blonde
hair. And she has succeeded in running her
| face.
In the Song of Songs the bridegroom
SAYS to the Sulamite woman almost the
came thing as Dorat said to his mistress:
Thou hast ravished my heart withone Of
thine eyes. with one cham of thy neck" In
the Song of Songs the eyes of the Sulsmite
are compared to doves bathed in milk ON
| tho edge of fountain. Delightful image,
which pictures the sweetness of the eyes
swimming in their limpid msrgine! To what
have eyes not been compared Gallus says
that the eyes of his mistress are stare; Lac
tantius, that the eyes burn and shine within
the lAshes like diamonds in rings of gold.
And how many times has 1t not been said,
sunrays" Bat oil these luminous metaphors
are collapsed BY that beautiful phrase in
which the Arab poet declares that the eyes
are light itself: God said to her eyes: Bel!
and they were." All the primitive poets
spoke Of the eyes "a sufficient description
Of the woman: They were "grsciously
lidded," or "love-besring."
Tho anc,ent. 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
sweeter and moro luminous; they love to
eco them contracted with blonde hair; they
have not yet invented eyes of tho color Of
the air, or sky, or sea, eyes treacherous -
tho waves. If eyes have done such execu-
ton. from the creation Of tho world down
to the present time, hair has intoxicated
many q lip with its perfume. Did not .
king, contemporary with Moses. become
AnamOrod of 8 treas of hair which thu wavaa
of the Nile carried to his feetf Was it not
from the head Of the Princess Mantirilis Of
the Nineteenth Dynasty, she who vas
named 1.-The Palmg" 1.-THE darkness of thy
hair il the darkness of the night" She Also,
doubtless, wae clothed by her hair when she
came to disrobe. Such abundant tresses
must have weighed 200 cycles, like those Of
AbsalOm.
"Clothed with her hair'-sn expression
which dates from the lost Paradise. St.
Paul said to the Corinthians that hair was
given to woman as q veil to cover her.
When Venus rises from tho waves, con-
vOyed by the Graces and Cupids, is she not
made still lovelier by that flower hair
which radiates around heri For Venus
was blonde. So was Helen of Troy, and
Daphne still more 80. All antiquity
ad0res blonde hair; for the poets, to be
blonde was to be beautiful. Mars was
blonde like Achilles. Mention il made of a
fereci0us hero, taket of cities, who dyed
bic hair blonde in order to have the name
OF li0n.. Messali4R was brunette, but
she always wore . blonde wig. Ovid was
right In being Indignant that the Roman