The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-11-11
BEAUTIES OF TODAY
DECLARED By EXPERTS TO BE
MORE ATTRACTIVE

rOuuQ II TINS OiO w OrlC-C0d0ReS N
the Taste for Bsauty.
From the Pail MqH Gazette.
"Yes, she's decidedly pretty; but not half
so pretty as her mother was at her age!n
How often do we hear this remark when we
venture TO praise some beauty OF the present
day. 1t suggests an important question:
whether the standard Of beauty is changing;
and if SO, whether women are more or less
beautiful than they used TO be. This is a
question which may, happily, be answered
TO the entire satisfaction Of the present geu-
Grafton. There can be no reasonable doubt
that there is greater beauty now, and more
Of it, than at any previous time.
A writer penned the above and drew the
following from an "Old Traveller" It
strikes me, when 1 come to regard this
theme. pen in hand, that to enumerate the
plain women of the world would he an
easier task than to reckon up the beauties.
On that point an old traveller would speak
without hesitation-if he kept his eye on the
civilized races, at least.
RUSSIAN WOMEN VERY PLAIN.
1t might be difficult to compare the ugli-
ness, respectively, OF a female BosJesman
and Mosquito Indian squaw, for example.
But he would pronounce at once that the
Russian is the plaluest woman he has seen
in Europe-unlesS, indeed, the Greek of
Greece should be put before her; one must
be careful not to say Greek unqualified, for
in the islands and the Turkish ports, where
sotue faint traces of Helene blood survive,
handsome W men abound.
1t becomes more and more the fashion for
wealthy membersiof this, the true race, to
keep house in the capital. and Athens can
show galaxy of loveltness during the win
ter, no doubt. But was a summer visitor
for two months, and In that time l beheld
but one face that could be termed even
passable, the girl proved to be Hungarian.
1t is not quite so bad as that in st. Peters
burg-where also / resided out Of the sea-
son-because the car was there, and very
many ladies of the court have mixed blood.
But plainness Is certainly not character
istic of Slavs in general Polish women
rank among the most beautiful in Europe;
SO, / have understood do Czechs. The
Croats hold their own; and as for the Dali
matian Slavs, have often felt inclined Co
declare that they have no rivals. In rid
ing once from Cattoro to Cettinje, l found
the lower stretches of that tremendous
mountain road thronged with women and
girls of the lowland-on pilgrimage, per-
haps.
BEAUTY AFTER BACKsHEESH,
Every one of them pressed close, with
hand outstretched. They even took hold
of my bride and gathered in a swarm,
laughing, quarreling, screaming, invoking
all the saints of heaven. Such shameless
beggary would seem Incredible in the west,
for ell were comfortably and even hand
somely attired in their graceful costume
wives aud daughters Of peasants or towns
folk we'll to do.
But incredible also to us would have
been the array of beauty. It seemed to me,
struggling through the crash, that every
young woman there was charming, and
there were hundreds of them. A sad con-
trast are the Montenegrins, at the summit
of that ladder-like road. The sex in Tcher-
nagora has many fine qualities, and even
virtues, believe. but all Of the masculine
cast. In fact, those maids and matrons
would pass for rather fine young men else
where-sufficiently good.lookiDg men, too,
in rough way, if they would only wash;
but, regarded from the feminine point of
view, they ore indescribable failures. If
the Russian woman resembles a tame bear,
the Montenegrin Is grizzly" of the
Rockies.
Further down that same most interesting
and delightful Adriatic coast, one learns
that the Greek of Greece, who is Albanian
| of course, must not be regarded as repre-
senting his ethnic stock fairly In the mat
ter Of good looks. | have never Wis ted the
for which long beyond all others to be OBJ
ia ined in Europe.
NO PARALLEL TO MONTENEGRO.
But doubtless their women are superbly
handsome, as travellers assert who have had
better luck than |. For theirs is not q case
parallel with the Montenegrin; they are not
savages and the one sex bears its due pro-
portion in beauty TO the other.
have seen something or the Tosk Alba
nian clans, however, people inferior to
the Gbegghes in every way, physically and
morally. Pretty faces are common among
them; fine figures and hair, large blue eyes,
almost universal. | remember paying a
visit to Antivari after the bombardmeut.
Wandering about among the press Of dirty
Montenegrin soldiers and picturesque AL
banians, / came upon a ruined mosque,
which had been used perhaps as q hospital
it was Uttered with rags and miscellaneous
effects.
A dozen young girls, in their long blue
house dresses were gathering these odds
and ends together in a heap. They showed
no alarm at my appearance in the doorway,
| but pressed together aud stood in little
throng, gravely staring. The action and
the look had q curious resem blance to the
| behavior of mountain sheep under like cir
| cumstances; If had approached, the resem-
| blance might have been carried further,
| perhaps, lot mountain SDe6p charge
promptly when cornered.
One would not expect more than two or
| three good looking among dozen English
| girls 1t is my strong impression that every
! one of these was tall, fair. rosy, blue-eyed
| and pretty; several were beautiful.
ALBANIANS LOSE THEIR GOOD LOOKS.
The Ghegghe women must be among the
| loveliest of Europe. if they be as much SUI
| erior to the Tosk as the mon certainly are.
! But Albanian good looks vanished by mi
| grafton to Greece.
The true Hellenic blood, however, has left
| it's trace all through the Balktn peninsula.
| Even in Greece, they allege, there are a few
| secluded districts where the divine beauty
| of old survives; and l incline to credit it,
| for in the Evzone battaIions, recruited
among the mountain youth, perfect faces of
| the classic cast, and tall supple figures
| proportional like that of the Apollo, may
! be seen sometimes. The most famous of
| those Hellenic refugees is a valley in the
| neighborhood of Cape Matapan containing
| 200 households, among whom, as enthusiasts
| declare, all the gods and goddesses of
| Olympus and all the finest statutes of au-
| tiQuity may be matched. l hope some en-
| terprising artist will visit it. In Servia and
| Bulgaria also one notes a girl here and
there whose regular and graceful beauty is
| quite startling among her dull and stolid
| Einsfolk. make no doubt that this is an
| example of "throwing back, =" as financiers
say; the Hellenic blood asserting itself
| again. Roumanian good looks are de-
| servedly renowned; but that is an Italian
| type. / remember staying some days with