St. Landry democrat., 1889-01-05
TYPES OF BEAUTY.
no Possibility of Arriving at ANY Stand
ard-Some Odd Ideas.

ard-some Odd Ideas.
Various, indeed, are the opinions held
by a wide diversity of races regarding
kheir beauties though 1t Is often difficult
for people bred under another sky 70
share their enthusiasm. The Circassian
women. who have sort of conventional
reputation for loneliness, are affirmed by
those who know them best to be far from
worthy Of their celebrity. Short legs,
glaring red hair, faces SO long and mar
row that their heads seem to have been
squeezed between two boards and fat
tened, noses out Of proportion to the rest
OF the features and complexions Of q
dull, Lead like hue, scarcely constitute
beauty according 10 our standard The
Moors and the Tunisian Jews regard cor
pulence as absolutely essential to beauty,
and the inmates of rich mems harems are
stuffed with nutritious food, like Straz-
bourg geese for the market. The Chi
nese poets sing of the deformed feet as
''golden lilies. and the rocking of their
women in attempting to walk Us the
waving Of q willow"
Other races have equally odd ideas of
what constitutes ioveliness, for they 'im-
prove their persons by fattening their
Soreheads, tattooing their skins, cutting
off their fingers, fling their teeth or
dyeing them black, blue OF tartan, paint
ing their bodies, slitting their ears, com.
pressing their waists, putting stones, bone
or metal through their lips, cheeks, or
ears, and in q dozen other WAYS trying to
enhance the poor prentice work of nature.
A Felatah lady dyes her hands and feet
with hennah, stains her teeth alternately
blue. yellow and purple, one here and
there being left Of its natural color pen
CHS her eyelids with sulphuret of anti
nony, and dyes her locks with indigo.
The Hydah woman inserts a plug of
wood or ivory through her lower lip until
it represents the hideous appearance of q
tieshy shelf over her chin. A Chinese or
a Siamese lady cultivates long nails. A
Hottentot belle cannot get her nose fiat
enough, or a Parsian beauty hers high
enough.
On the northwest coast of America no
reproacl is more bitter than for one In
dian girl to tell another that your mo- |
ther was too lazy to fiatten your head"
Tattooing Is almost universal among half |
- Cs&NnEO 4SSCSs AAA lsCS GSSSt-
land the Maori women, before they began
10 inbibe European prejudices, even tat
tooed their lips, hest they should have
the reproach Of being red. Some
races slit their ears until they hang in
loops ON their shoulders. Others insert
huge rings and other ornaments through
the cartilage Of their noses. The Louisi-
ado islanders regard the lid Of aardine
box as q particularly neat piece of Jew
elry. and even European women have
not yet ceased to suspend bits of stone
and metal through the lobes of their ears.
There Is, in truth, no possibility u ar H
irving at any standard of beauty ,flle
points Of which would not do iniustiee
TO some OF the competitors. Even anSdug 9
the whites there are various ideas a
what constitutes good looks, Like man.
ners and morals, beauty is very much a
matter of sky. just as an Indian told q
traveller what a comfort his son was to
lim, because she could steal more horses
han any boy Of his age" so a western
'rontiersman assured visitor that his
laughter was the 'sfnest girl in the
ettleneEt, for she could theft barrel
Il pork and lick her weight in wild
ats. London Standard.