The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-02-21
SOMETHING ABOUT EYES.

eyes do not sparkle; it is only the black
that do that, But the gentle loneliness
of blue eyes is not denied.
Probably no eye is without its At
fractions, no matter what its color may
be; and the curious circumstance about
eyes is that each sort is best wherever
it is found.
The color goes with the complexion,
the tint of the face, and the hue of the
hair, and usually complementary to
these.
1t would not make a blue-eyed girl
prettier, whose complexion would
naturally be DELICATE, and whose hair
wmld be light. to change her eyes to
black if that process could be accom-
plished.
The harmony of what the artists call
the ensemble would be broken up by
such change and Il similar damage
would happen if pair of black eyes
were changed, in any particular case,
to blue,
This compensatory character of q
feature is strikingly shown by the fast
that red hair-which we usually find
i'll spoken offs almost always accom-
panied by the purest and clearest COM
pleAloH poSSlplc.
Another circumstance about eyes is,
that except in very noted instances, we
do not easily remember the particular
color of those possessed by our ac-
quaintances.
This is so we'll understood that at
| parties frequently large number will
| go out and reappear with their whole
forms covered, except their eyes. which
are left wholly visible; those left be-
! hind are asked, with ludicrous results,
| to tell from the eyes alone the different
| members of the masked party. And
| where many are so concealed it is
| never done with success, the GueSSes
| being, for the most part, widely at
! fault,
Yet it is conceded that we owe to the
| eye the best part of the beauty and an
! imation of the face. Sometimes where
| there is no other feature to attract at
tention, the eye alone will seem almost
to endow a person with beauty.
This versatile and exquisite part Of
the facial endowment has the power
also of continuing by its brightness the
reign OF youth.
As bright eye almost diSarms age,
and gives multiplied power to youth,
it is no wonder this charm is SO cOvet-
ed. For this reason artificial devices
are frequently resorted to, to produce
the requisite lustre, and sometimes
| with sad effects.
1t is said that lady at one of our
most fashionable and popular summer
resorts so over-did the prescription for
eye-brightness with powerful drug,
| ii, bot nlIr
lost her sight, This is certainly, as
all will admit, a terrible price TO
pay for beauty that would not be
bribed.
1t would take the full dimensions of
and encyclopedias to record the wise,
and witty, and pertinent things that
have been said about eyes by various
writer's.
Stephenson, the great mechanic and
inventor, when asked what was the
greatest mechanical power, said it was
the eye of maiden; for it is able to
draw her lover around the whole cir-
cult of the globe.
Shakespeare has made nearly 4 athOus-
and allusions to eyes in general, and
the ones he wished specially to cele-
brate. In fact, his expressions on this
subject are altogether too numerous to
refer to adequately.
Perhaps the passage next in impor-
tance to the famous example in ''Ro-
neo and Juliet" is that where he says,
in Measure for Measure:
Take, o take those lips away,
That so sweetly were fOrSwOrn;
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do miSlead the MORN
Ben johnson says to his Celia:
Drink to me only with thine eyes.
As if they were sweeter than any elixir.
Otway speaks of something ''dcar us
these eyes," and Milton tells OF Glove
darting eyes.
In Byron's wonderful description OF
that scene. preceding the Battle OF
Waterloo, he says:
Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spoke
again
And all went merry as marriage bell.
Walter Scott says, in ''Ihe Lay OF
the Last Minstrel':
Her blue eyes sought the west arar,
For lovers love the western star.
And Tennyson signalises one of his
characters by this happy description:
Her eyes are homes of silent prayer.
OF course, there is no limit to these
instances, and, if we were to speak OF
the eve in the singular number, there
are Wordsworth's ''harvest of quiet
eye," and ''the apple of the eye" Of
the Old Testament, to be considered,
along with countless. allpsions,