The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-08-29
our Letter BOX.
Comments on s.Rutn-s.arsieI

TO look around thy room one would think
thee d great tdmirer Of mem.
" BIO cannot admire the man Of high iB-
telligenee, kind disposition and cultivated.
tastes; with all those charms of counte-
nance and that symmetry Of form which
make a man beautiful? Ruth is to be
excused II her answer was quick and de-
cided' aid to the approval OF any man.
We admire man, too, but our admiration
IS lost IN the presence of that daughter Of
Heaven, in whose eye still fingers the
light of the morning. We admire the
honest man.. and he may be the .'nobiest
work of God" but the re is a tender beauty
in the pure and faithful woman that moves
our heart to idolatry, and since Ruth
has paid such a glowing tribute to man,
may we not attempt at least to return ito
We have 10 portraits before us from
which to draw our inspiration, but we have
the characters OF those to whom no artist
can do justice; whose beauty is beyond the
power Of painter to depict, but steals in
upon the soul like CLEANS of eternity to
the trusting saint. 1t is not onIy the
~"beauteous face" that attracts us, not
only the soft cadences that thrill us-it is
that purity OF purpose, that tenderness
OF heart, that boundless love that reaches
out TO everything that is iovable. We
have met those toward whom beauty had
oeen very paTsimonious and who seem to
possess no outward charms at all, but the
sweetness ofdisposition, the klndliness of
feeling and the sprightIiness of thought,
shed a halo of bliss about them. through
which even their homelineEs seemed trans
muted into loneliness.
We have, too, met those who were the
/ dnTfInUS af nature Evaeu +a,.alt tTof
beauty could give was given, every grace
that form could command was brought,
and yet there was a shallow hess to their
beauty, a hollowness TO their grace which
destroyed ali. They were but the beau
tiful mansions of loathsome vermin. They
Disguised all sense Of loneliness, of intel
ligenee, and OF purity. Il is not the love
that animated the breast of the unfaithful
Helen that we admire in women, nor the
charms OF Cleopatra which entieed and
caught and ruined the great Antony; it is
the vlrtuous love of 0etayia and Josephine,
which could forgive the most cruel incon-
stancy, and love III the very face of hatred.
There are those women in society-para-
sites on the social system-Bho exc out a
miserable existence on the nauseous food
Of community gossip. Their mine never
rises to an appreciation of the lovely, or a
conception OF true w~oTaanhood. With Il
soIdid desire TO be private to all things,
they are perplexed only with the secret
doings of Others, and strain their eyes to
penetrate the veil that hides the thoughts
and acts of their neighbors. Their whole
thought and conversation runs in the line
of "Who?" 'which9s' .twhat2's "where?,f
They suck with delight the foulest piece
of scandal, and swallow without an effort
a whole elephant of y~iscions lies. These
are not the women we admire. We never
&c into ecstacies over them, and may the
good Lord deliver US from such animalism.
The women we Go admire are those who
are gifted OF God with a bright intellect, a
delicate II aesthetic taste, a high ambition
and a tender and sympathetic heart: who
have cultivated all these qualities and
stand as perfect as Divine grace will allow;
with no giddy owe for fashion, no unholy
desire to be CONSPICUOUS, no unrighteous
curiosity, but with a beauty or character
that brightens and elevates all with which
it comes in contact. If they be gifted
with facial Notwithstanding loneliness
so much the better. Bat the beauty of
the soul will put expression in the eyes,
paint a blush on the checks, and throw a
smile around around the lips. ''Beauty
is the mark God sets upon virtue and
virtue is that light from Heaven which IL
Eliminates the soul and sends over and
around all the purer light of endless day.
We hope that Ruth may be one OF
these women We admire. We feel sure,
at least, thst she has that bright intellect,
that aesthetic taste, and a tender and sym
pathetic heart, and We hope that she is
blessed with that beauty Of countenance
and symmetry of form which so iaYishes
the soul Of the admirable" man.
Yours truly, JACOB.
S~harptown, Aug. "a, 1890.