The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-04-22

idea is an insult TO the holy instincts
of the poets soul And grant even
that some unhappy accident has
married your beauty, can that affect the
brilliancy of your conversation, the
music of your voice, the seductive grace
of your figure? No, mol A woman
with such gifts must be always fascinat-
ing. And if the face be, indeed, ugly, l
shall pardon the casket for the sake of
the jewel it contains"
She was evidently touched, and muir
INJURED, as she scattered the petals of
rose from her bouquet:
"Yet-yet--is not ugliness the one
objectionable sin in womanP Do not
the poets feel thisp Do not you know
| itPn
"a calumny, serranita. None but
| shallow minds hold such creed-not
natures like mine Let me unite the
mesk-where can be the risk? DO not
see this perfect form, and the glorious
eyes that flash on me like stars of night.
with those golden tresses falling on
a neck winter than the pearls
that encircle it? And think YOU
have not noticed the perfect form
of your head and the delicious smile of
that roseleaf mouthP
"Ah, there may be still something
left to terrify-eyes and mouth al one
do not make a face beautiful. Have
you seen allP'
g may say all. The-nose- certain
ly, is the only feature" there L was
interrupted by her laughter). "You
laugh, my sweet serrana. 1t is-Roman
perhapsP" "A.
OR Carthaginian. for aught 1 know
really cannot take upon myself to affirm
its order"
"No, no, nor L exclaimed. cit is
not possible that an abnormal, an
anomalous nose could co-exist with
other beauties so perfect. so harmonious!
However, L take the consequences!
With that mouth, those eyes, that siren
sylphlike form-what more could L
desireP Any woman simply with your
intellect and your eyes must be
charming, irresistible, divine I'm
mask, then, alma del mia alma!
My heart is yours already! The mere
accident of feature can have no influ-
ence on a love as deep as miner'
Rash man, you tempt dreadful
fater' she said gently, laying her hand
on mine with warning gesture.
"Away with fears!''I cried. "By
this little hand now held in mine,
swear to love you now and forever
forever The homage of my whole life
is yours" Hy
"Well, then-alas, how weak we
women arer' and her voice trembled.
"Will love, indeed, survive the ordeal?
Here, unite the mask yourself-my hand
trembles so, | cannot do it. 1t is the
supreme moment of my life! Will YOU
still love me when the mask falls?"
CANCEL of my life, can you doubt me ?
o, fortune! o, felicity! My own hand
unbars the gates of paradise Give me
the Tyre, o MUSES.. L am Pindar lam
Apollo! VIII this knot never untieP |
shall cut the string. o, rapture! Now,
It's done! Beautiful -
But the word died on my lips, the
mask fell from my hand, and | sank back
stunned, fainting, horror-struck. O,
what nose What a nose! What a nose!
No, never could have imagined that
Nature was capable of bringing to such
a frightful excess the pleonasm, the
hyperbole of noses. Quevedo's sonnet,
beginning "There once was man with
an awful nose" would read tame and
spiritless beside it. This was no human
nose. 1t was q beet-root, q spear, a
promontory, a pyramid of Egypt. !.
Good heavens! and to talk of the
progress of humanity, of our social
system being regenerated, when such
abuses are permitted to exist! If it be
wise and just to repress the tendency
towards the vague and exaggerated in
our political institutions, why is there no
law against the vagueness, the exeg-
geration of noses? Why is our idea Of
humanity to be desecratedP Why should
all the finer sensibilities of my nature
be so ruthlessly outraged? Why should
a poets divine sense of beauty But
here | became conscious that the dread
full being at my side was staring at me.
Yes, staring full in my face, with grave,
malignant intensity, as she said;
You know l warned you. The
features may be little irregular, nc
doubt, but then there is the grace OF
expression, very lovely thing, you say.
Indeed, you prefer it to positive beauty,
do you notP And the intellect-you
worship intellect; you know that al
least remains unchanged. VIII you
not give me your arm, senorP Let us
proceed to supper"
pardon me, seIranita,n | STAN.
mered. 81 had forgotten very
particular engagement-you will eX.
cuse me-" But the words choked
me. | felt in the last throes OF
strangulation, and would have dropped
down, | think, dead on the spot, if, hap
PLY, the nose-bulwarked serrana, nc
doubt accustomed to her own deformity,
had not laughed outright at my miser-