The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1884-11-12


tiful women:
THE beauty exhibition may, and prob
ably will, be interdicted on moral grounds,
as the baby show was on hygienic. There is
an idea that it would be chiefly beneficial to
those unlovely beings who trade on the love-
illness of others. Restaurateurs deplore the
absence of novelty among their fair and fast
customers who sit on les terrasses in front of
their establishments in the evening. This
state of things, have been told, led to the
win3-up OF the Bafe du Helder, and other
similar establishments. You may believe
this if you please. 1 do not. What
has chiefly ruined the cafes is
the spreading out of the
wealthy quarters of Paris, so that la vie
Parisienne is no longer concentrated in and
around the Boulevards. My feeling on the
subject of beauty exhibitions is that they
should be managed IN accordance with the
principles that reign at cattle shows or at
the Constantinople slave market. Jurors
should only have to pronounce on form,
texture of skin, complexion, the regularity
and whiteness OF teeth, the quantity and
quality of the hair, and the color size and
expression OF the eyes 1t would be i'm
possible at q beauty exhibition to dis
Germ those charms which render the
European woman mistress of her lovers
soul and her husbands better half. A Light
of the Harem would distance Van Zandt
Cleopatra would be distanced by the
mere plastic perfection of Mary Anderson
or Nine. Gauthereau. Pascal said that if
the nose of the Egyptian Queen had been
little shorter, and therefore Irregular, the
course of the worlds history would have
taken another direction. The truth
is that the success of Cleopatra's
nose lay in its irregularity. Modern
Psychologists have discovered that it
was short, saucy-looking and celestial
1t was an independent little nose-un petit
neL en- pair-scorning to submit to the rules
of Greek statuary, and contrasted pleasantly
with the high. bridged noses of the Roman
ladies, who were toe heavy eaters not to be
heavy parties ! am sure they were dread
fully monotonous. Nothing in their faces,
and, least of all, in their chins and noses, ex-
pressed sensibility, which is to plastic femi-
nine beauty what fame is 10 a lamp.
Octavia's profile was a faultless mask. 1t
must have been revelation to Max Antony
when he went to Egypt to find that an ir-
regular phiz could be the most charming of
any.
There are some women, very successful
as such, who are not at all good looking, I'M
less when animated by pleasurable excite
ment. An eye which, on a sudden meeting
after a long absence, beams out joyous
recognition, has more witchery in it than
the VlSdBe Oh q MIS-. LdDSuy, expressing only
Indifference or circumstances. could
have. The feeling that new and pretty
bonnet is as becoming as it can be, often
transhgures a commonplace young face.
Some roses and lilies only charm in
country environments. There are English
girls who are paragons of loneliness
as they return to Brighton after a
canter on tine Downs, but who merely pass
muster in a ballroom. Then there is the
glow-worm style of beauty, which only
shines at night. | know a yellow-skinned,
thick-lipped, pug-nosed being who has dis
tanced some of the handsomest women of
Europe and America at festive gatherings
and merry little parties. But she could only
achieve this feat in artificial light which
stimulates her, and gives her a peculiar
power of fascination. One then sees that she
has the fines. eyes ia the world, and a set of
teeth which in laughing brighten up
her dark face. A thick and rebellioUs
head of raven-black hair gives her in
the daytime bison look. In ballroom,
with flower stuck in it, or some jewels, it
has splendid effect. The tawny 'Salome'
of Regnault's picture would have no bust
ness seeking admission TO a beauty show.
Skobeleffss sister, who is married to the Cars
cousin, is as far removed Cleopatra
Salome from the Mary Anderson type of
classic purity; but she is the incarnation of
all the graces, and her physiognomy is
eloquent in expressing poetry of feel
ing. Anne Boleyn had many plastic
defects. The Duchess of Burgundy,
Qustorze, the Court of Versailles,
and neutralized the morose influence of
MINNIE de Maintenon, had a goitrous neck
and decayed front teeth; yet she was pro-
claimed beauty, even by the bilious and
censorious St. Simon. Marguerite de Vslois,
with whom most of the prominent French
men of her day were at some time or another
desperately IN love, had heavy cheeks like q
monkeys too prominent eyes, which were
often congested, and thick, hanging under
lip. She had not the vices of the ladies of
her mothers court, though she passed for be-
ing as naughty as they were in her efforts TO
make conquests for the pleasure of knowing
she had power to conquer. 1t was this
royal coquet who t1rst resorted to the expe-
dent of receiving company sitting up in
bed. with black satin sheets to give value to
the whiteness of her busts and arms. Her
gallanis used to say::that had sic been shop.
keepers spouse, without any OF those rich
accoutrements which are brought into her
portraits. she would have been every whit as
potent. am skeptical in this matter. If
sovereigns hardly ever love their queens or
women of prIncely rank, kings daughter
who enjoys Irritation is sure to turn the
heads of all her sire's courtiers. The last
Duchesse de Berri would not have been al
lowed to so much as compete at beauty
show had she presented herself incognita.
Sir Walter Scott, who was close to her at
mass in the Tuileries Chapel, wrote in his
diary that she was very plain and that her
eyes were not fellows.
Three frightfully ugly women in our
time took Paris by storm. They were the
Princess Metternich, Theresa, and the Prin-
cess Rise Troubetskoi. whose genre was
canville sans Petre She was uglier young
than when she had been some time grand
mother and, though chaste as snow, was ca
pable of having invented the Order of the
Garter. Her face was frankly Kalmuck, and
in size she was mere hop-o'-my. thumb. 1t
was necessary for her to strike while
the iron was hot. The first impress
sion she produced was agreeable, or,
as her French admirers said. capiteux;
but it wore off soon, and the after
impression was different. She was too
restless, and apparently too anxious, to play
a noisy and empty part to please long. The
Princess Metternich had Hungarian origin
atty, and was less vain than fond of pleas
ure. Theresa was genius. She went on
improving as she gained experience OF the
world.
1.-THE Countess Castiglione, who had origi-
nality, suevity, mutinerie and magnetism,
had also the plastic perfection which should
command most votes at beauty show.
There was no disputing her loveliness. The
t. Al H. e. -