Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1878-02-14
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THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY
The Congress Of Beauty.

The Congress Of Beauty.
The New York Herald 10 its account Of the
second day of the Congress of Beauty in that
city says:-
In place of dazzling array of beautiful wo'
men, dressed iu the latest fashions, as soms
over ssuguine people who paid their money to
| the show ioudly hoped for. the sight exhibited
was that of two or three long funeral rows Of
weary eyed and homely poor creatures. 81
dressed and i'll conditioned and in many instsu
oes feebly essaying to look Cheerful! whcD, per
| baps, want and misery were gnawng at their
heart strings. A more melancholy show was
! hardly ever seen outside of The Morgue. The
] painful efforts of some of the women past mid.
| die age to smile as they were wont to smile be-
fore tho dawn of care, and to impress by charms
| which all but themselves were conscious bad
| fed forever were enough to fill kindly thought
iul soul with pity. Some of them werc so very
hOmely and had so little attraction In any one
way either of mind or body, dress or manners,
that it was impossible to think, except on the
grounds of woman 8 inscrutable vanity, what on
earth could have impelled them to present
themselves in such 90 exhibition. A little
cheap jewelry hero and there, pair oil faded
flesh or lavender kid gloves, sky blue lace
shawl, a pink tarletan dress and an imitation
seaskia sacque formed the most ambitious at
tempts at display. A certain washed ous ex
preston of face. an air Of bafh,d longing ln tho
eyes, istes5 dropping of tho shoulders were
prominent characteristics Of tho exhibitors.
A few who Wero unmistakably Of tho deml.
monde showed bold and robust front and a
steady, aggressive eye, but the great majority
were poor, iaane feeble hearted creatures With
pale orude features filled with q vague ldes
that they were in tho way Of making living
for themselves and possibly winning the prize
for beauty.
AS the exhibitors wero so many less than 90
the day before they were placed at one side OF
the garden 10 double row, ono on tho long
bench raised few feet ab0vo the dor anu tbs
other in tho boxes above. The young ones.
ranging in years from fourteen to eighteen. and
judging from their appearance belonging to
the guild of sewing girls, sat behind table eu'
deavoring to dispose of valentines to tho mon
who approached them. Among twenty OF them
there was only ono taco that had any prsten'
sion to beauty. Beyond them were a mere
elder class of exhibitors OF tho servant girl type
chiefly German and Irish. Further on and at
the end, auguidy engaged iu seeking to sell
sheet music, was row Of American womon.
pronounced in feature, speech and manner; but
they we're such as evidently breathcd the tainted
air of i'll ventilated tenement houses and spoiled
their youthful masticators with deleterloul
candy. Iu this group there was just ono lac,
that was fairly presenabe. AS was said before
the whole exhibition had nothing but de-
pressing and melancholy effect on the visitors
and could only have cmanated in tho brain OF
q man who was desperately pushed for spccu'
lation to raise money.
LUcx.-Some people arc fond of denying
that there is any such thing as "luck," but. bo
that as it may, there certainly ace persons to
whom what seems like fortuitous good fortune
comes. Colonel Groen Wilkinson gave soa.
III his pew in London TO an old gontlomsn, wh'
left him $4,000 year.
A young Bostonian crossed TO England throa
or four years ago and got into conversation
with an elderly gentlomsn, who observed that
ho found that they had tho samo lsnc. II
turned out that they weto second cousins. The
elder had gone TO California in tho early days.
made vast fortune. and entirely lost sigh! OF
his relatives. That chance meeting gave thu
young Bostonian y fortune Of botweon Two anl
thres millions.
Two ladies had a box Of tho opera. in London.
An old man opposite bored them dreadfuly by
perpetually l'longnetting" them. Tho sceno
came to al end, and they thought 10 moro about
him. One day year afterward. a solicitor
called on one of the ladies, Lady Frances Bruce.
and told hor that an old gentleman, Mr.. w.. hal
left her property worth several thousand
year. "Nover hoard of tho man." sho said.
"Must bo mistake" VERY extraordinary ~.
pliod the solicitor. suddenlys happy thought
struck him, ''Ho los in his collin, in st. James
street, close by, ut Banting's, the great undur-
taker; will you como with me and SOC him?
She went. 1t Was tho old longneLtsr. Anl ii
is said that he loft IL TO her under u mistake.
after ALL having intended to lesvo 1t to hor
friend whom-and not Lady Frsnces-ho ai-
mired, but he WAS misinlOrmed rs TO the namcs
of the two ladies.
And to give one more-s quito recont in
stance. A young New Yorkor went to San
Francisco, to seek the fortune so many have
failed to find. He got poor clorkship. and
hand TO be thankful for that One evening at -
place Of entertainment, he watched a gsmo Of
cards. saw that sn elderly Englishmsn was bo
ing cheated, exposed the fraud and hsd tussel
with tao cheat. The Englishmsn has prosontod
him with twenty thousand dollars to start him
in bushes, and there is prospect that there
i5 moro to come.
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