The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-12-23
RED-HAIRED GIRLS
REALLY DIFFERENT IN TEMPERA-
MENf FROM OTHER WOMEN.

REALLY DIFFERENT IN TEMPBRA'
MENF FROM OTHER WOMEN.
Highly Nervous aud Sensitive, They Are
Always vivacious. Never stupid-EitheE
Away Up in the Clouds In Happiness, oz
In the Slough of Despondency-For
Ages They Have Been warred AgaIns,
-O.e in History Being offered Up az q
sacrifice-CIeopatra's Hair Red Frou
Chemical Action
Instances are rare in which one meets
the red-hairei man in drama, poetry or
art, but the red-haired woman is omni-
present The peculiar "off-oolor' OF ner
tresses has been a favorable theme for
the song Of the poet, the invective Of the
cynic and the joke of the clown since
time immemorial
Superstition has attributed to hair of
coppery tinge, when it adorns a woman s
head, the basest traits and the most ex-
allied virtues. All the petty vices, all the
magnificent and admirable qualities, all
the lamentable shortcomings TO which
femininity is heir have been laid to the
charge of the reddish crown Artists
have been kinder, especially those Of the
Italian school. To them the hair that
Titan loved is and ever has been little
less than sacred. On the heads of none
but the high-born patrician lady, the
saints or the madonna would the old Ro-
man and Florentine masters place a halo
of amber-tinted hair
Spanish artists snub the red-haired
woman, and for two good reasons First,
because Of the tradition which has led
them 10 always portray the traftorous
thirteenth disciple of the Savior as a
man with red hair, and this superstition
is also responsible no doubt for the epi-
1het Judas hair so commonly used in
Shakespeare's time. The second and
more modern reason for the Spanish
aversion is that red hair is in direct op-
position to that Of Castiian women, who
form the classic ideal of feminine lowell
ness 10 the people OF that country.
Red hair is a gift which our somewhat
partial Mother Nature bestows upon only
about one out of every 432 of her Caucas-
ian daughters. Just how many of her
sons she thus endows nobody has ever
taken the pains to estimate. Nor is the
laborious task likely to be undertaken.
as the world is not as greatly interested
IN the red-haired man as it is in the red
haired girl. Andwhy? Because red hair
on mans head is not recognized as an
index TO character. The red-haired man
Is conceded 10 be pretty much like any
other man.
But the red-haired womani When 1t
comes to the consideration of that ques-
lion you have a horse OF a different
color. The quotation is not made with
and illusions to the traditional white
sized that always gallops by the side of
the red-haired girl.
Now there is red hair and red hair.
Under red is classed anything not black.
Whitley brown, brown or no color" No
matter whether it is the fiery Milesian
shock, the pale shimmery amber;
whether the FURNISHED tawny auburn
or the brown in shadow, gold in sun"
red it is and ever has been called, and
so Il viii be 10 the crack of DOOM
1t IS serious thing for woman to be
ed-haired. 1t-ynakes her the most sens
tive OF human creatures. She is invar-
iably shrinking and self-conscious as a
child, for if her hair be the most priced
tint Of FURNISHED gold or auburn it is the
cause Of just as many remarks as if it
were the most fiery copper. She knows
sne has what is called red hair" and
she understands that red hair is not
generally considered beautiful. II it be
of carroty hue she knows that every
member Of the family cherishes the fond
hope that in time it will grow darker.
Is it any wonder that she is self-con-
scious and shrinking?
With her school days her troubles nrTl-
tiply- Honors she may gain in her class
are attributed not to her brain but to
her hair. Her classmates have such
disagreeable ways of saying that all red
headed people are smart on the same
theory that they are bad tempered. Not
until she reaches womanhood does she |
discover that her hair is beautiful, and |
tnen ii is not woman but a man who !
tells her so. If she has been a close OBJ |
server she will have discovered that she |
gets little flaftery from the women upon |
the subject Of her hair.
In one respect all red-haired women are |
identical They are all sensitive. nery- |
Gus and highly strung. The red-haired /
woman can be nothing else. 1t is impos- |
sible for her to be phlegmatic. She is |
mt necessarily brilliant, but she is /
never stupid. She is intensely emotion |
al, but rarely, if ever, sentimental. She |
Is always an extremist. She must be |
either scaling the heights OF the noun |
talnS or sitting in the slough of despond. /
To her tranquility is unknown If not |
sGpremey happy, she is thoroughly mis-
cradle, and the least thing makes her
either one or the other. She suffers and
enjoys more keenly than any other type
of human being. Pleasure TO the red
haired woman can be so exquisite az to
cause pain, and she can make herself so
miserable as TO actually find that sensa-
ton delightful.
Sometimes she is bad-temperei. but
not often. for because she is red-haired
t does not necessarily follow that she is
'red-headed." Among red-haired wo-
men tAe artistic temperament is exceed
ingly strong. but as she lacks great ex-
Executive ability. as we'll as the creative
iaculty. the Titan girl has not figured
sonspicUously as either poetess or nusi-
ian. She is a good imitator however.
and succeeds we'll either as an actress or
artist. She has no head for ma themat-
les. but she learns languages readily.
She is almos devoid OF hypnotic power.
but is herself extremely susceptible 10