The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-10
FREAKS OF FASCINATION.
The Handsome Woman is Not Always
the Most ATTRACTIVE.

newspapers of the day was to ask every
man 70 give IA carefully detailed description
Of The kind Of woman most likely to fasci-
/ ia him, many readers would, l think, be
/ astonished
Noah Webster's definition Of the word
/ fascination is THE exercise Of a powerful
! or irresistible influence o. the affections
and passions and he gives rs secondary ex-
/ plantations, Unseen, inexpicabls influence.
/ vi chcraft, enc lautment." In the words
/ ''lnex. hC4 Ols Influence the learned doctor
| seems to have summed up neatly the whole
! questiO3. VINO can explain wnat IS fire.
| quently the case. that Of two men OF as
nearly as possible the same cast II mind,
1 the one viii fad wOmal lrrsslst.by fa-cl-
mating, while on the other she may not
exert the slightest attractive Influence:
! Such problem is as hard to solve as why
the Culleless RABBIT, ms, cad OF putting bis
best leg forward and making bolt, circles
| round he snake which he knows only too
well intends to make a meal of him.
The wise heather, Aristotle, SAID; "No
man loves but taat he Is first delighted
with. comeliness and beauty, and beauty IS
for the most part the bait which lures the
victim into the neshes of the snare, but not
always" Dr. Webster, too, seems to imply
| 10y his definition that in the power of fasci-
nation, whether exercised by man or
woman, there turks a certain sexual at
fnity.
NINE. DE. sTAEL NO BEAUTY.
One Of the most fascinating women of
history was Germaine Necker, afterward
Nine. D. Stael, though contemporaneous
! record tells us that she was anything but a
beauty, and that her dress was not only
| hideous, bat sinned against every principle
of good taste.
Women, however, whose names will be
handed down to pos Gritty as having founded
noted salons, or having provided the mag
| netlc influence TO gather a brilliant coterie
Of wit ami talelt, have, for the most part,
been beautiful. 'Beauty is the commol
objec5 Of alflove; as jets draw straw, so
| doth beauty love" Beauty will al ways at
tract, at any rate momeltarily; but most
men if they find that a lovely face is but a
mask cove ing vo Uranium, will cease
| to tiutter round the flame. There are, how
ever, striking exceptions to this rule on
record.
Perhaps the best instance is that of the
infatuatiOn of ince Maurice de Talley-
rand, once Able dc Perigord and Bishop of
Autun, for that lovely blonde, Nine. Grant,
afterward Nine Talleyrand, Her Grass
| stupidity was proverbial, and furnished
| amusement for the salons of Nine. de
| Stael and others which her husband
| frequented.
But in the majority of cases something
| mo Is necessary than cOmeliness of face to
really fascinate men, especially such men
as the 'prince of diplomats" and this
something is the instructive faculty which
| enables woman to adapt her mind TO and
| enter into the spirit of her companil N for
| the time being. Thus, in my own expert
| ence l have seen a learned professor dis
| coursing eloquently on the sculpture of
! ancle- t Greece to a young lady whose tastes
were in reality conferred III dogs and horses.
| Hn1 hn I,f,,s H,a
would have stood aghast at such utter bar
| barlsm; yet such was her genial sympa-
| thetic Influence on his mind that he pro-
nounced her the most charming OF her sex
| second only, of course, to his stout and
learned wife. Had the intercourse been in
definitely prolonged doubtless the potency
# the spell would have vanished, for, i'll
| reality, there was little or nothing in COM
mon between the two heads.
SHE WAS LASTING OF ALL LONELINESS.
| The power OF fascination Inherent in
women may, moreover, be divided into two
| kinds. All of us have seen the old lady,
! generally white-haired, with kindly, pleas
| ant features, on which time has set no I'M
fre dly mark, who still retains all her at
tractiveness. Note how the boys and girls
| adore her; they will go to her and confide
| their sorrows. their hopes, their ambitions,
| even when they would not breathe a word
/
est in a lads affairs by such one has time
and time again first implanted the impulses
| in his heart which eventually led him on to
| an honorable career. Qui ky, almost by
stealth, the good is done by such and the
good seed sown which will ripen in after
time into n rich and abundant crop.
On the other hand we have most of us
seen, perhaps IN real life, certainly on the
| stage, the fascinating adventures who by
her enthralling beaute de diable ensaves
meas souls and leads them Ton the stage)
to dare all for her sake. Such is directly
| opposed to tine sweet old lady in her old
| fashioned chair, and these two form the
opposite poles between which the women
| who fascinate vary. Types differ, and any
one you may select has some position be-
tween these two opposites. Take for in
stance pretty and maybe witty woman
who, hardly of her own free will, makes
every man fail in love with her to greater or
less degree. She may be innocent of all
evil intention, but her position on the scale
is not vastly removed from that of the
sorceress. Or, again, take the instance of
the pretty young matron, who, while de-
voted to home, husband, and children, yet
has several intimate men friends. But her
Influence is all for good. Her fascination
is exer ed in a worthy cause, and she has
found out great truth, that there is no
friendship SO lasting, SO true, and so pleas
|
sexes, wher9S true feeling Of bonnie
cdmdrdderie exists, and there is no pre-
tense to love-makiag. Such a woman, if
she live long enough, bids fair to de elop
into snowy-haired old lady, on whose
friendship the children will rely.
HIsToRY'S MANY CASES.
Which type of beauty proves most fatal
to mems peace of mind is almost, if not
quite, impossible to settle. History is our
| only standby in such case, and history
fails us here. To take few of the women
who by their influence have made their
mark on the worlds record. Cleopatra.
May Queen Of Scots, Elizabeth of England,
the Expresses Joseph and Eugenie-how
different are the pictures which the eve con-
jures up. We are told that men died of
broken hearts when the Virgin Qleen ban
ished them from her presence, and yet we
are led to believe that she had hair that
Would have led the small boy of the present
day to make rude remarks about white
horses, that she was thin and angular th It
she introduced rufus because her neck was
disigured. Or turn to her hated rival
Queen Mary: From records unearthed
comparatively recently, she seems to have
had hair of the same color as Elizabeth's to
have been lame, and to have had a cast in
her eye Yet, even it the story be not
true, there must have been sound founda-
tion for the Old tale that her executioner
4 L. Il