The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-03-19
the MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
Neither the ClrcasslHn Nur Greeks bat
the sikh Girls.

the SIKH Girls
The Russian Is the plainest woman to
be seen in Europc-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
Turkish ports, where some faint traces
! of Hellenic blood survive, handsome
women abound. II becomes more and
more the fashion for wealthy members
| of this, the true race, to keep house
in Che capital, and Athens can show
galaxy of loveliness during the winter,
no doubt. But was summer visitor
for two months, writes London corre-
spondent, and in that time I beheld but
one face that could be termed even
passable. The girl proved to be Hun
garian. 1t is not quite so bad as that
in St etersburg-where, also, l re-
sided out of the season-because the
czar was there, and very many ladies
of the court have mixed blood
But plainness is not characteristic 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
Dalmatian Slavs have often felt in
clined to declare that they have no
rivals. In riding once from Cattaro to
Cettinje / found the lower stretches
of that tremendous mountain road
thronged with women and girls of the
lowlands-on pilgrimage, perhaps
Every one of them pressed close, with
hand outstretched They even took
hold of my bride and gathered in n
swarm, laughing, quarreling, scream
ing, invoking all the saints of Heaven
Such shameless beggary would seem
incredible in the west; for all were
comfortably and even handsomely at
tired in their graceful costume-wives
and daughters of peasants or townsfolk
well-to-do. But incredible, also, to us
would have been the array OF beauty.
1t seemed to me, struggling through
the crush, that every young woman
there was charming, and there were
hundreds of them. A sad contrast are
the Montenegrins at the summit of
that ladder-lil1e 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 elsewhere--sutficient good
looking young men, too, in a rough
way, if they would only wash; but re-
garded from feminine point of view
they are indescribable failures. If the
Russian woman resembles tame bear,
the Montenegrin is grizzly of the
Rockies.
Further down that most interesting
and delightful Adriatic coast one learns
that the Greek of Greece, who is Al
banian, of course, must not be regarded
as representing his ethnic stock fairly
in the matter of good looks. / have
never visited the Ghegghe Albanians-
that is an experience for which long,
beyond all others, to be obtained in
Europe. But doubtless their women
are superbly handsome, as travellers
} assert who have had better luck than /.
For theirs is not Il case parallel with
the Montenegrin; they are not savages,
and the one sex bears its due propor-
ton in beauty to the other
, The tourist seldom finds such an op-
portunity TO observe Albanian girls.
They are Moslem in general though
the veil is rarely worn, and it is 9
glimpse rather than look which he
! obtains My notion of their beauty was
quite confirmed. One would not expect
, more than two or three good looking
] among dozen Albanian girls. 1t is my
strong impression that every one of these
J was tall, fair, rosy, blue-eyed, ndpretty
! several were beautiful.
, The Ghegghe women must be among
. the loveliest of Europe, if they be as
4 | aTin 10 ha fl,,
, certainly are. But Albanian good looks
quite vanished by migration to Greece
| The true Hellenic blood, however, ha.
left its trace all through the Balkan
peninsula. Even in Greece, they al
legc, there are a few secluded districts
where the divine beauty of old survives
and incline to credit it, for in the Ev
zone battalions, recruited among the
mountain youth, perfect faces of the
/ classic cast, and tall, supple figures pro
, portioned like that of the Apollo MAY
, be seen sometimes The most famous
+ of these Hellenic refugees is a valley il
the neighborhood of Cape Matapan
, containing 200 households, among whom
as enthusiasts declare, all the gods anC
goddesses of Olympus and all the fin,
I | o'uNuSS VI uhli4uipy may NC lldlCHcIl
In Servia and Bulgaria, also, one note
a girl here and there whose regu
,, lar and graceful beauty is quite start
ling among her dull and stolid kinsfolls
| make no doubt that this is an exam
pie of Throwing back" as fancier
! say, the Hellenic blood asserting itsel
again. ] remember staying some day
with NJ. Alessanori the national poet
at his chateau. "A young lady of tn
neighborhood was about to marry, ant
she came one afternoon, with CIR
; friends invited to take part in the cere
> mony, for a consultation with the poe
and his daughter upon the nationa
u dress, which was to be worn. Thos
: who were not pretty were beautiful, al
{ brimming with life and fun.
OF Circassians have nothing to say
{ Not seldom nowadays one meets then
u in the bazaars of Stamboul, in the Val
> ley of Sweet Waters, or even-in car
riages, of course-passing along til
Grand Rue of Pera, almost as lightl
yelled rs a prudish Christian beauty
g But whenever have been able to OF
serve them their faces were so plas
l. tered with white lead or something a
t, Opaque that one could as easily iudg
p the features of clown. The Armenia
Vt girls of Constantinople are very hanC
Vt some and very much en- evidence; bu
| Il. IL, IN 4