St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-10
BEAUTY IN WOMEN

There is more difficulty among writers
in determining the proper standard OF
female beauty thar there Is among cos
mOgonists in agreeing upon woman's origin.
There are reasons why agreement on some
of the points at issue in fixing standard of
feminine beauty cannot be arrived at, for it
is hard for any one to decide in these c0slno-
pOlitan days with SO many specimens of
all types of beauty 50 freely distributed
about him. Our judgments are influenced
great deal by our associations. For in
stance, the Chinese finds the true standard
in his short statured. round-faced women
with plum-colored compilations. An Afri-
can prefers the color OF his native race.
with lips and nose on scale corresponding
with the breadth OF his continent These
are, however, extreme instances. The
italian and Spaniard, with more reason.
give the palm to the black-haired, dark
eyed beauties who unite the finest features
of the brunette type. while natives of the
North find all that is lovely and angelic in
woman's nature associated with blue eyes
and fair compilations. The characteristic
of the Latin type is passion; of the Ger
manic and Anglo-Saxon, tenderness.
All judges and critics agree that to rem
der woman of any type or class beautiful
there must be regularity of feature. Intel
lectual or moral beauty may atone for many
deficiencies, but cannot make beautiful in
the eyes of civilization a mouth too large, a
chin too sharp, or nose out Of the line of
projection. Poets and novelists have done
a great deal toward confusing mankind in
fixing a standard of female beauty. The
sonnet of bard to his mistress eyebrows
is certainly no guide to sound decision.
while to read full descriptions of lips like
cherries and peach-colored cheeks suggests
some of the points without leading to a
verd let. 1t is true that recent writers fight
little shy of the subject. 1t is hard to
pin them down to any definite details of the
charms of their heroines. Of course they
give long list of beautiful mental and
moral qualities, and with these they expect
the reader to be satisfied. 1t was different
with the older authors.
For illustration, there was WALTER
SCOTT who was not so timid. He had
opinions and was not afraid to state them
boldly. When he undertook to describe
anything it was with graphic Iineaments
that made an impression. Yet, with all his
pictorial audacity, he hesitated to decide
between the two great types-the dark and
the light-into which nature has divided
women. His passages describing the blonde
RowENA and the brunette REBEccA are
familiar to all lovers of English literature.
And yet it is easy to discover in whose favor
he gave the verdict from the especial ten
derness with which he dwells on the por-
trait OF the dark REBECCA The beauty of
SHAKEsPEARE's herOines is of an entirely
underlined type. They drew men irresst-
IDLY toward them, and While the inference
is that they were beautiful no reason can be
given for such an assumption. 1t is known
that Lady MACBETH was freckled Scotch
maid, by fate termagant. by accident a
queen. But there is a lovely procession Of
JuLIETs DEsDEMoNAs, RosALINDs,
BEATR.CEs, OPuEIIAs. HELENs and
CoRDELIAs inmortalized by the poets
verse, and nearly all of them had great