Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-05-07
PERSONAL BEAUTY.

PERSONAL BEAUTY.
DIFFERENCES AS TO WHAT CONSTR.
TuTEs THE HIGHEST TYPE.
Three Divisions, According to Complexion
Average of Beauty Not His, in italy
The Standard in Spain-French, Eng.
lish, and Americans.
The nations which present distinct types
and which are considered worthy of men.
ton when the subject of personal
beauty is discussed are the
English, the Americans, the Germans.
the French, the Spaniards and the Italians
The Greeks, the Russians and the Scandi,
navians present variations of less prom.
inence, and the Turks and Egyptians are
sometimes taken into consideration
though examples of personal beauty are
rare among all peoples of Oriental or Arat
descent. Nevertheless, when there are
exceptions in the latter they are sometimes
very remarkable. There are three divis-
ions, according to color or complexion,
namely, the blonde, the brunette and the
chataine, all of which are distinctions
made long ago by the French, and fol-
which French terms alone are used, each
of which admits of numerous types OF
classes.
ALI of the dark or swarthy types are OF
the tropics orofthe semi-tropical ATTITUDES,
and there are typical Resemblance notice
able about the Mediterranean, where dis
trlbution was easy on account of marine
communication. There is, for instance, the
roundtype of feature usually characterized
by dark hair, dark eyes, and fine white,
regular teeth. This is commonest at
Naples, but it is also common elsewhere in
Italy and in the south of France, while it
is sometimes seen in the Mediterranean
provinces of Spain, in the interior of
France and the southern part of Germany,
variously mixed and interblended. This
type is very peculiar and very distinct.
TIE TYPES OF ITALY AND SPAIN.
Italy is sometimes spoken of as the home
par excellence of personal beauty. This is
a mistake, for: though among certain
classes beauty is common, the average is
not high. There are beautiful women at
Rome and Naples, but they are not often
seen. AT Rome one may stand sometimes
on the CorsCsand see 100 carriages drive
past without observing one that can ever
be called good looking. Faces that MAY
be called bright Oh piquant because of dark
halr and eyes and an olive complexion are
not so rare. But the fairest women of
Italy, with some notable exceptions in
favor OF the south, are found in Lombardy
and Sardinia, where to blonde character
lstics art Joined a good figure, regularity
OF feature and other traits peculiar to that
type. In Italy, as elsewhere in Europe, it
is the peasantry that lower the mean of
perssiitt beauty. 1t is unusual to see
them n handsome man or woman,
such persons exist, and
artists have found, after great ex-
ertlon, now and then one of
magnificent appearance. But the peasants
ana their ancestors for many ages have
worked hard, lived poorly and slept as they
and hardship, whatever. it may do
Tor physical health, does not tend to beau
tify the person. S~egregate in Italy the
noblllty II g certain portion of the
Do~urgeolsle, and you have beyo,3i Gnestion
the handsomest people III the N4rid. In
clade the peasantry aad the average will
De found very low. If all classes were to
De included in all countries in a similar
eStlmate it is he Americans that would
Enthusiastically off the palm.
The standard of personal beauty in Spain
IS low. The men of the better classes are
dark, gaunt. lank-haired, thin-featured.
The women often have the lark hair,
black eyes and piquant features which
nave been too often commended by
thoughtless writers, to which the veil, as
It half conceals, half discloses, adds a pc
eullar fascination. The Catalonian type
Is, perhaps, the best, and it is at Barcelona.
The metropolis of that province, that the
dnest specimens can be seen. But 5Cata-
lonla is peculiar and entirely unlike the
other provinces of Spain. 1t is where the
round-faced, olive-complexioned Neapoli-
tan type comes in, as along the Mediter-
ranean coast and near it, and measurable
ut Seville, that the peculiarities brought
Ind i~ntRsmingled by a hundred invasions
and immigrations are modified and
rounded into something like grace and
FRENCH, ENGLISH, GERMANS, AMERICANS.
AT Paris one may see the best that is in
sT~ance-the finest fruits, the finest yege-
,ables and the finest men and women. As
the French peasantry or other rural
,lasses, they are eve palmer in looks than
ne Italian, while the peasantry Of Spain is
most unhandsome in Europe. French
nen and women are said to be too short
or the ideal of perfect beauty. The Eng
lsh are generally taller, but on the other
ana, not 50 symmetrical, and you do not
IN London so much regularity OF feat
as at Paris, the London ~tailors, by
heir lack of skill, helping to emphasize
physical defects of their countrymen.
traditional type of short, stout, round
eatured, jolly Englishman typified in the
id Squire is nowseldom seen, the modern
cholar, the provincial operative, and the
london CLERK, al which classes are mere
r less hat-chested Gad otherwise unsym-
aetrically formed, having taken their
There are many beautifulwomea in
ingland, and many more whose color and
.ene ii appearance of health would entitle
hem to the same distinction, except for
evident alliance with their own roast
ger, OF which Hawthorne has made men
IN his English notebooks. In return
or this and similar criticisms, the English
our American types of feminine
'eauty far too delicate and spiritual to
ult their gfosser ideas of physical lowell
less. But the American girls, whatever
1 the Europeans may find with their I
reedom Of manneas maintain everywheya
n the continent the reputation of being
ne prettaest in the world. In Germany |
ne exceedingly blonde characteristics pre-
all, but though the men are often hand |
ONE and handsome women exist, the lat
or nave too great an amplitude Of feature
satisfy the canons of perfect taste. For
ONE reason of race never explained, the
'Wedes, both men and women, are much
than other Scandinavians.