Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-04-05
The Uses Of Rcau,v.

1t is impossible for the peripatetic
philosopher of the time to walk about
the world ana not be struck with the
novel fact that Beauty is one of the
most useful commodities which is
brought into the modern unitarian mar
ket. ifit only comes in the guise of oar
own flesh and blood. Beauty runs money
even very hard, and when beauty and
money combine, the strongholds Of So
ciety deliver up their keys and sign a
capitulahon. Moreover, beauty can
command money, whereas money can
not command beauty. Each, it is true,
eau buy the other; but the bargain is
not quite the same in the two cases.
When beauty concludes a contract with
money, it procures for itself the full use
and absolute possession Of the thing it
stipulated for. Money, on the contrary,
in buying beauty, too often finds, not
only that it has paid for a p~erishable ar
ticls, but thatit has merely been allotted
a limited share among a company of
persons who likewise have an allotment,
but without having paid anything at all
for it. If beauty were lasting, it would
be the most tyrannical influence in life.
Luckily for us poor slaves, it is a deSpot-
ism which never endures. Hence the
feverish anxiety Of beauty to WELD the
scsptre bshmes, and to enjoy the good
things that were designed for it. Ma
ture, with its usual bene6cence, not uns
commonly bSstows upon a decayed fami-
~, or vulgar paryenu, a lovely daughter;
and the uses to which her beauty may be
put are not easily %recounted. 1t opens
society for the first time TO people
against whom society seemed to be eter-
nally closed; and the most dreadful Of
mothers, and most Objectionable of
fathers, are welcomed in the train Of
their ravishing offspring. But it is the
husband who trades most successfully
on beauty, if beauty happen to be the
dowry Of his wife, for her attractions
carry him into the spheres into which he
never could have hoped to gain admis-
sion, either by rumored opulence, con
summate assurance, or even good din
ners. 1t is for this reason that men who
can boast no education, but abominable
manners and much money, find beauty
so excellent an investment. For the
vulgar husband can address to his
charming wife the words Of Ruth, with
but slight variation, Where thou goest,
l 60; thy people shall be my people,
and thy Lord my Lord" He is the
scarcely perceptible tail of a brilliant
comet; but they sweep the heavens to-
gether. After a time, too, the unbeauti-
ful husband Of a very beautiful wife may
venture upon entertaining on his own
account, and he at last sees himself at
the head of his own table, surrounded
by rank, loneliness and fashion. Habit
gives him assurance, if it never confers
on him ease or address; and the capaci-
ty for selEdeception, of which human ma.
ture ia happily capable, perhaps leads
him gradually TO believe that the invita-
items he receives, and the invitations
that are accepted from him, are due in
part to his own merit. But his illusions,
as indeed his whole career, are harmless,
SO. long as his exploitation" Of his wife
is confined to such purposes as we have
described. We must not be too hard on
those who have discovered the use OF
beauty; remembering the assertion oil
Ben Jonson, who had the usual pro
phetic gift of poets
at was for beauty that the world was made