The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1879-02-21
STANDARDS OF BEAUTY.
The Various ideals Held by Inherent
Peoples.


- i - ~ ~tA ADl-<A - Il Il
The Various Edeais Heid by different
Peoples.
Harper's bazaar
In spite of all the arbitrary laws of
beauty, formed on fixed equations, in
cry quarter of the globe ana in every
phase OF history there seems TO be dif-
ferent ideal of beauty. The Circassian
races, who take the Greek type as their
model, with its slow and delicate curves,
its periecs lines and slender elegance,
have certainly something in tLeir eye
yeEy ~dditI,.lSy rom, the African race
and sSs, e 8 .,...,...,. s.,ss ss:;;
bone and golden ornaments.
While the Greeks preferred the
straight line for the nose, broken only by
the swell OF the nostril, the Persians
thought there was no beauty without
nose like hawks bill, and the African
and Polynesian preferred one slit down
its whole length and per Grated with
trinkets. Sir Joshua Reynolds declared
taat the line Of the nose to be beautiful
must be straight, and Sir Charles Bell
that the nostrils are vehicles OF emo.
tiOnal expression; but other authorities
differ, and while the French poets of to-
day find nothing more charming than
the nez retrousse, King Solomon long
ago ex expressed his idea OF whet a fine nose
should be in comparing it to the tower
of Lebanon which lOoketh toward Ds-
mascus."
The ancient Scythians thought nobil-
ity and honor lay in a high conical head;
the Germans, on the contrsry, in q short
one; while various western Indians
think nothing but fat head, produced
by distortion in infancy, worthy OF no.
tice. Yet science and sense have both
pronounced, Independently OF any opinion
as 70 appearances, that as the for head
recedes anu the jaws advance, 80 doe
the intellect recede, and that the balance
of mental power is found in those indis
vidusls the upper and lower parts of the
outlines OF whose face correspond with
some approach to equality, too much re-
cedure OF the chin bringing one as near
idiocy as too much recedure OF the fsre-
head.
There is as much diversity, again,
about the ears, the Hindoos thinking that
true beanty can only be attained by bor-
ing the cartilage and imbedding in it
ring, every little while replaced by
larger ringassatil the size of the stretched
and mufi.~ssd member becomes some>
thing enormous while the Arab holds
precisely the opposite view-that
small ear Is as intallible a mark of good
blood and birth as the arch of the instep
under which water flows without wetting
the foot; and every one knows how
Pauline Bonaparte's large ears gave her
more torment than her beauty did
pleasure
The Turkish lady stains ber teeth
black; the Frank n CARDS it as one Of the
last woes that can befall her when time
and decay do as much for hers. Certain
of the African savages either file theirs
closely down or else into horrible and
fantastic shapes. Just as much differ
ence, too, exists in relation to the accept
ed beauty of figure, for while the Frank
may lace to the last catching of the breath
if inclined TO too much emoonpoint, or
such is her idea OF grace and loveliness,
the lady who aspires to high place in
the Turkish sersglio stuffs herself till she
is rolling in folds of tat; and where the
Europeans admire the straight and SUI
perb posture OF the Apollo, certain savages
bend the limbs of their babies to make
them bandy-legged.
In fact, it would be hard to establish
any standard of beauty for the whole
world and call it fixed. For although
we can prove as satisfactorily to our
selves as the demonstration c. geomet-
rical theorem the perfection OF the Greek
idea, the barbarian could neither un-
derstand the demonstration nor accept
the theorem. Yet it remains that what
is held to be beauty by the most refined
and intellectual of the world must be
nearer the real article than anything
accepted by lower order of beings.
Proofs of Immortality.