Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1880-03-25
Plain Girls.


|
For some reason or other large section
ofour female population have become i'm
bued with the somewhat Oriental notion
that the great merit Of woman is TO be
found in her face, Every girl does not, oI
course, think so, and the more sensible d
girl is the less likely she is to fail into SC
egregious an error. Still, the proportion
of the sea, aged between lG and q, which
is mlsled in that way Is very large, indeed,
us any one will testify who has had expe.
rience OF the conversation and thoughts OF
school girls and debutantes, Nor is
this idea by no means confined to this class
of gossips. Nothing is more common
than to hear expressions of wonder why
Miss Laura is SO long in marrying-
"a pretty girl like that, ;" who ought OBJ.
vlOusly, simply on account of her pretti-
ness, to have had offers innumerable, and
one at least which could not be refused
The astonishment is almost natural, and
1t is even shared by many men who ought
by this time, if lessons OF love and matri.
mony were not forever new, to have found
out how little the god Hymen and the
goddess Juno generally care for mere
outward show. So true is this, indeed,
that if list were made out on a sort OF
competition principle, and it were posi-
ble to observe by the aid Of it the relative
age at which plain and pretty girls marry,
it may be asserted almost with certainty
that the palm in the race would be carried
off by the former. The plain girl, if
she marries at all, marrics a man who
really admires her, and is not merely am.
bilious Of securing her as an ornament or
Il feather in his cap. At the same time 1t
would be preposterous to deny that the
beauty has great advantage in the COM
petition. This advantage is most aptIy
as well as most easily described by saying
that she has "the best start" In a ball
room, or at any place where the struggle
is commenced, she is the first to catch the
eye Of the man who is disposed towards
matrimony. She attracts attention more
surely and quickly, just as a diamond
does when compared with Il pearl, and if
she can make the most Of this first impress
sion, she need not fear beng caught and
outstripped in the end.
The only question is whether she can
make the most of these favor5 OF fortune,
or whether she will not rather even use
them to Il disadvantage. Beauties are
more vain and-shall we admit il ?-Oiten |
more inane than their less brilliant sis. |
ters; and few minutes conversation, or |
at least few days converse, will often |
exhibit the latter in the light of tyrannous
and capricious bores. A plain girl. on |
the other hand, has little or at least less |
vanity. She is also much more conscious
that she should have some ability to talk |
and think. Being on her mettle, she takes
an amount of trouble to make herself |
agreeable that can never be expected from |
belle: and being less used to hattery |
and professions of love at first sight, |
she is much more likely to weigh farly the |
real merits OF any man who tries to please |
her. For the same reason she is more dis |
posed to sympathi2e with the feelings and |
aspirations of others besides herself, and
thus to Cnchan the affections Of men who
think good deal of themsel yes. Men are
as often vain as women, and much more
often Cgotlstical, and they not unfre-
quently consider it the chief duty of a wife |
to listen and agree. Mr. Shandy was in.
clincd TO murmur because Mis-. Shandy |
would never say mo" when ne said |
Yes" but he would have been much
more discOntented and miserable if the
lady had disputed every point with him,
on turned a deaf and apathetlc ear to his
moralIzings. Add to tins that the shaft
Of love, when it is inspired by the plain
girl comes with rclonblcd force, because
the wounded man is often quite unsus-
picious Of his danger. In talking to an
acknowledged beauty he feels-conceited |
wretch that hcis-that he has his life in
his hand, whereas in his interviews with
the less attractive damsel he is generally
off his guard. 1t is thus that in matri-
mony, as in other races, the tortoise often
beats the hare, and another illustration is
afforded of the trite maxim that "all which
glitter5 is not gold"