The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-07-24
THE HUMAN EYE.
Brown Eyes and Green. and Eyes of
!. Heavenly Blue.

/
Brown Eyes and Green. and Eyes Q
Heavenly Blue. 4
/ Human eyes, and particularly the eye
of fine women and great men, are alway
1tnteresting things; and so we quote her
|, what Prof. Seeley, in his Life and Times q
, Stein," takes from one of Arndfs work
. Respecting the eyes of two great men. "B
, it here said once for all" observes Arndl
, "in answer TO those who always come ou
. with the finest white skin and the bl1es
, silver-clear eyes as the genuine mark o
nobleness and genius il 1, man, that til
two greatest Germans of the nineteentl
century-Goethe and -Stein-observed tn
world from brown eyes; though there wa
this difference, that the GOethean eye
broad and open, looked rather down TO
, the most part with such radiance upon al
around, and upon people, while Stein'
eye, smaller and keener, rather CLEANED
than shone, and at times very ffercely
flashed. Usually it expressed friendlines.
and honesty, but when he was in serious o.
positive angry mood it was capable o
flashing in a formidable manner Tht
most mischievious eyes in women arr
brown, according to experts. They are all
powerful, are the eyes of women, whatever
their colOr-blue, or black, or brown, OF
hazel, or chestnut, or grey or green. Becky
Sharp had green eyes, and they did i'm
singularly beautiful, but tits said they dc
not wear well, and wash badly. Eyes
should wash well, considering how much
they have TO do with tears. Yellow eyes
are not more common than yellow
diamonds, and they rank among diamonds
They are more numerous among men than
among women, and novelists give them to
peculiar descriptions of their villians-the
lazy, dreamy sort of Williams, who, how.
ever, can fire up on occasion, and become
the veriest devils of destruction. They
are often given to the snake, but we have
seen eyes in snakes that were anything but
yellow, and snaky eyes in human heads
that were OF the deepest black. White
eyes are dead eyes, so far as expression
/ goes, and remind the observer Of fish-at
the market; but in moments of passion
| they become quite as expressive as eyes
ever should be. Commonly, they convey
the expression of blindness, as we'll as of
moral feebleness.
| Touching the color of the eyes it should
| be born in mind that the same word has
different meanings at different periods.
One of the heaviest and therefore the
most accurate, of the Shakespearian COM
mentatOrs-for it is the rule with many
| that no brilliant man can be accurate, and
no accurate man brilliant-assures us that
"what we now call blue eyes were in
Shakespeare's time called gray, and were
considered as eminentlY beautiful"
Heavenly blue we assume to be meant,
the real azure or true blue, upon which
the celestials are supposed to have the
strongest claim in return. Cooper, in one
of his novels, when describing two young
momen, observes, "One peculiar charm
was common to both; and it is charm,
though the strongest instance ever saw of
1t in my life was in Italy, that may be
said to belong almost exclusively to the
Anglo-Saxon race; mean that expression
of the countenance which so eminently be-
derpess Ilited-tle look which artists
love to impart to the faces of angels.
Each of thIl glrls had much of this; and 1
suppose it Gas principally owing to their
heavenly blue eyes. 1 doubt if any wo-
man with black or haZle eyes, notwith-
standing ali the brilliancy of their beauty,
ever possessed this charm in the higher
degree" The lower animals often have
most expressive eyes that are intensely
beautiful, being Of beauty that endures,
perhaps, because they do not suffer from
the moral wear and tear of The passions
and the appetitesi and yet those animals
oruelties of man. Fear and fierceness be-
long to such eyes in perfection; fear be-
cause the lives of the feebler animals are
passed In almost constant terror, and
fierceness because tho bolder animals are
ever on guard against attack, or are search
ing for food. What can be more pathetic
than the appealing look of timid spaniel
that is ill-used, or that is looking for its
lost lord? What fiercer than the eyes of a
fighting animal at bay! 'i GSt
The theory is becoming common that
in itself, the eye is nothing, and that what
we call its expression comes entirely from
its surroundings, its setting, as we may
say. We We're INCLINED to laugh at this
when first We heard of iti but having read
the arguments made in its support it
strikes us as being a shrewd view of the
eye, and Its position and purpose. What
is meant by the surroundings of the eye
is best explained by passage in Haw-
thorne's Italian "Note- Books" in which
he mentions q conversation he had with
Powers, the sculptor. "Speaking Of hu-
depend for their expression upon color,
nor upon any light of the soul beamlng
through them, nor any glow of the eye.
ball, nor upon anything but the form and
action Of the surrounding muscles. He
illustrates 1t by saying that if the eye of a
wolf or Of whatever fiercer animal, could
be placed in another setting, it would be
found capable of the utmost gentlencss of
expression. "You YOURSELF said he, have
a very bright and sharp look sometimes
but it is not in the eye ITSELF His own
eyes, as ] could have sworn, were glowing
all the time he spoke; and. remembering
how many times have seemed to see eyes
glow and blaze and flash and sparkle and
melt and soften, and how all poetry is illu.
minated with the light of ladies' eyes, and
how many Eeople have heep smftten by
the lightning of an eye, whether il love or
anger, 1t was difficult to allow that all this
subtlcst and kcenest fire is Elusive, not
even phosphoresccnt, and that any other
jelly in the same socket would serve as
well as the brightest eye. Nevertheless,
he must be right; of course he must and /
am rather ashamed ever to have thought
otherwise; e. Where should s the iigat e come Pc
head2 does his spirit manifest itself in
the semblance of fiame9 The moment we
think of it the absurdity becomes evident.
1 am not quite sure. however, that the
outer surface of the eye may not rafiect
more light in some STATES of feeling than
others; the state of health certainly has an
influence of this kind" Hawthorne some
where says of Webster, "If his eyes had
not been in such deep caves. fire would
not have looked as bright. Boston
Traveller,
Fhe New fAnnihilater."
Bright and early yesterday morning be.
fore one tenth of the citizens of Detroit
had shaken of the effects of the glorious
Fourth, Prof. James X. +. Rurlingame
made his appearance on several streets in
Detroit almost at the same moment. You