The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-03-22

The lunatIc, the lover and the poet
Are OF Imagination all compact,
We may find enshrined in the lines of the
latter record # their impressions, which,
in tile absence Of anything more official or
authoritative, must be accerted as an
answer TO the question propounded. The
poets have said many pretty things con-
corning womrn's eyes. Shakespeare, whose
own writings are full of beauty, asks:
For where is any author in the world
Teaches such beauty as womLns eye?
Here are three selections from Byron
eulogizing the same feature:
She walks in beauty like the night
or clOudlcss climes and starry sSies;
And all that's best OF dark and bright
Meet in her aspect aud her eyes:
Thus meiowed to that heavenly light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies,
o, night.
And storm, and darkness. we are one-strong,
Yet lovely in your strength, as is the light
OF a dark eye in woman
The light Of love the purity OF grace,
The mind. the music breathing from the face,
The heart whose sOttness harmOnized the whole,
And oh, that eve that was in itself a soul
This may be said of the eye; it is as it
appears TO be. While the eyebrows and
eyelashes may be given an artificial appear
ance the eye itself must ever shine in its
true light. While the cheek may be painted
any tint desired, the hair dycd a fashionable
hue, the teeth replaced by those which are
the product of the dentists art. tie form
compressed or padded in the proper lines
and curves, the eye remains as nature
planned it-unsusce ti5le Of artifice or de-
ception. More than does any other feature,
the eye expresses the mind. Shakespeare
declares that
Love looks not with the eve but with the mind
Ana therefore is winged cupid painted blind
1t cannot be doubted that the charm is
largely in the thought that speaks through
the eyes. Sheridan very cOnclsely puts it:
meier could any luster see
In eyes that would not look on me;
Ine'er nectar on a lip
But where my own did hope to sip.
The lips and the smile which belongs to
them more than to any other feature have
attracted the favorable atteution of the
poets. Richard Alison wrote:
There is 4 garden In her face
Where and white lilies show:
A heavenly paradise is that place.
Wherein all pleasant fruits do grow.
There cherries hang that none may buy
TIL cherry ripe themselves do cry
Those cherries family do inclose
OF arrant pearls double row.
Which when her lovely laughter shows
They look like rosebuds flied with snow.
1t cannot be gainsaid that red lips and
pearly teeth are essential ingredients in the
making Of wins0me Smiles, of which Camp
bell says:
without a smile from partial beauty
On, what were men IA world without a sun.
The world was sad-the garden was wild:
The beauty of golden. brown or black as
midnight tresses has inspired many poetic
pens Pope says:
Fair tresses mans imperial race ensnare,
And beauty draws us with single hair
But the modern woman's hair is so likely
to be artificial, at least in its color, that
praise is bestowed upon it more cautiously
and sparingly than it would otherwise be.
A latGer-day poet sings:
SONY tress OF woman's hair"
The lover musingy, fopdiy said;
"And yet IL forms halo fair
Tonight above her sacred head ~
"ODly tress OF a w0man'S hair ~
The maiden, smilingly, sweetly said
And laid 1t ON the back OF j chair
And went to bed
John Gay praised the charm of "ber lily
hand" and Shakespeare spoke of ''the white
wonder of dear Juliets hand" He praises
the foot also:
Here comes the lady: oh, so light foot
Will meier wear out the everlasting flint.
The poet, Sucking, also saw beauty in the
pedal eXtremties:
Her feet beneath her petticoat
Like little mice stole IN and out,
AS IL they feared the light;
But oh, she dances such wayI
No sun upon an Easter day
Is half SO fine sight.
Willis tells what charm there is in
catching
The thrill of happy voice,
And the light of . pleasant eye.
Ben Jons0n states his preference in these
lines:
Give me a look, give me face,
That makes simplicity grace.
Robes loosely flowing, hair as free;
Such sweet neglect more taketh
Than all the adulteries of art;
They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.
Thus while the old-time poets in praising
wOman's beauty have emphasized the grace
of her form, the mind, her eyes, hair,
cheeks, lips, teeth, hands, feet voice and
smile, IL remained for modern newspaper
poet to add one to the long list of her
charms.
Oh, the light that lies In maiden's eye,
AS she meets the fond CLAN OF her lover,
Is brighter by far than the CLEAN OF the star
That shines in the darkness above her.
And the fieeting flush of a maiden's blush,
The bloom OF the rose defying
Ger her cOuntenance flies as the maiden signs,
Like the dream OF zephyr dying
And the power to beguile in maiden's SMILE
And the sound OF her voice so thrilling,
Make a lover crave to become her slave,
Her slightest behest fulfilling
But the tuneful clInk of maden's chink,
And the CLEAN of her eyes yellow
More than Cupids dart will touch the heart
or the most susceptible fellow,
But it may be truly said that the beautiful
and Indispensable sentiment OF love Is not
one to be treated in a pessimslic manner.
The mind of true manhood will always rise
above mercenary considerations, and Will
place the crown of its admiration and love
upon the beauty that for 1t possesses the
greatest charm,-EX,