Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-04-26
Red-Ueaded Women.
RICHMOND, VA, April, I6JI.
To he Editor of the Dispatch:

To NE EdttOr Of ne DlSDdfch:
In passing along the streets l frequently
hear the EXPRESSION, Here comes red
headed woman: look out for white
horse, for it's is sure TO come" | do not
know whether this is a fact or whether II
is q contemptuous way to speak of red
headed women. Now, there has always
existed an uncomfortable and, 1t seems to
me, unreasonable prejudice against red
hair among the nations of Northern
Europe and America. l do not in-
dlte these lines because my s,reefhedrt has
hyaclnthine tresses. but because | think
the prejudice is grOundless. Do you know
any painter who ever made a black-haired
angel? | challenge any of your readers to
name q single painter or poet who has
ever ventured to represent angels with
black hair. Even the pictures and images
of our Saviour are generally represented
with some shade of yellow hair, and surely
all that relates to Him must come mp TO
our highest ideas of perfect loneliness. IT
red hair were really such bad thing, why
should the inhabitants of Heaven always
be painted with il? Who would think OF
representing even the lowest OF the angels
with q red nose and yet, in real lite, red
heads meet little more favor than red
noses. Milton describes Adam and Eve
both as red-haired.
" The lOveliest par
That ever since in loves embraces met:
Adam, the COOLEST man Of men since born
His sons; the fairest Of her daughters Eve.
His fair, large front and eyes sublime declared
Absolute rule: and hPGcintttRe locks
Round from his parted fOrelock mainly hung
Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad ::
She as n veil, down TO the slender waist,
Her unadorned golden tresscs wore"
Some people will doubtless be shocked
at the idea of q red-headed Adam and Eve,
but substitute the epithet auburn. golden,
or hyacinthine and nobOdy's taste IS Of
fended. The difference is simply this
What is golden or auburn hair on pretty
woman is blazing red on an ugly one.
After gazing at portrait OF the beautiful
Queen of Scots one Is enraptured with
auburn ringlets. After beholdng a picture
of her ugly rival Elizabeth one Is equally
out of humor with carTOty hair. Poets
and painters are the friends of red hair,
but the novelists are all its mortal foes.
They take advantage of the prejudice
against red hair that prevails and
pant their worst characters with II. For
instance, 1ittlebat Htmouse and Uriah
Heep are q perpetual SANDER upon red
headed people. Red-haired people are
generally high-tempered, lmpulsive, warm
hearted aud have never known one either
TO be fool or O coward. Such character
istics. however, are entirely at variance
with the low, sneaking craftlness OF Uriah
or the scottish imbecility OF Titmouse.
IL always seemed to me that lit
mouse ought to have been drawn
with a certain pale, sckly shade Of
sandy hair. which looks as If it might
once have been red, but had got faded like
a piece of bad calico from constant using.
Uriah, on the other hand, should have stlii,
straight pCritanical locks with dark sal
low complexion and green eyes. There are
some people who look as If they had lam
in the grave until they had become mouldy
and then risen to wander about the world
without ever getting dry or warm again.
IIriah Heep belongs to this class ana
should have nothing about him so bright
as a sunny head. One reason | think
for the common dislike of red HAIR may be
found in the fact that 1t is often accompa.
MED by a red or frecklcd face, neither on
which is exactly consistent with our ideas
of the most refined and delicate beauty.
But IL is not fair to lay the faults of tho
face and complexion upon the HAIR, Tor
after all there are as many pretty faces
framed in gold as IN jet, and upon the
whole think brunettes have worse com
plexions than blondes. There are three
Golden threads from the head OF Lucre-
lin Rorgia preserved III the British Mu-
scum on account of their rare beauty;
The bewitching Cleopatra, to whom and
for whom Mark Anthony surrendered q
world, had red hair, and the beantltul
Mary of Scotland certainly had 1t. Fash,
ion has great deal to do about hair, ana
though the world may submit to the dc
tates of il for o season, 1t seems TO me
that she has spite against red HAIR ana
will make war on IL TO the end or time.
But when eternity begins, and as It seems
pretty generally conceded that angels have
red hair, their triumph will prove lasting
Respectfully, JOSEPH b. SHEPHERD.