Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-11-21
ECHOES FROM ALTON
Ear CALL BETWEEN ANGEL AND
WOMAN.
The Best Time to Judge the Latter
Tho Opinion of BncheIor-somc
Notes ON Beauty-Dracing weather.
Personal.
Personal.
corresnondence Of the Dispatch.)

long for angels. be 1t morning. noon. or
night. Humanity considered. the rest Of
us are perfectly willing to keep them
on the star Alcyone. or wherever later
scientists have located the higher
| spheres. 1t is a far call between an
| angel and a woman, and between the
morning woman and the evening seraph
there is often a wider difference.
once heard some one ask an "old
bachelor'-a clever middle-aged man,
who was neither gruff nor ill-natured-
what" in his opinion. was the best
hour to judge Of woman?"
Ho pondered awhile. and a little
| twinkle shone in his eyes.
do you mean Of her looks?" he asked
'or as character synopsis?"
Either way. or both?" he was told.
"Wcll, decidedly, / think at breakfast
and during the forenoon. AS general
rule, II woman, young woman, looks
well, then she is in good health, ana
| health is beauty. If she dresses neatly,
she is tidy; IL she is full OF projects for
mornings work, or even pleasure, ana
gets through a reasonable number, she
| has mental quickness and bodily energy.
| Beware of the girl who complains OF be-
| ing cold in the morning, who comes
down late and appears TO have dressed
| in cyclone. and who languishes whole
| forenoon over a couple OF letters. NO
matter how bright and animated she is
later on, avoid her, my boy! Lead her
not to your suburban villa; engage no
matrimonial flats; she will not make a
| good wife" Now, the making OF good
| wife is not always the ultima thule or
| q woman's existence, and ii is just pos
| sible that "old bachelors" love rather
wisely than well, still the fact remains
that our best energies, our highest as
pirations are given us In the morning,
! and quite probable that the other angelic
qualities follow, one of which Is per-
sonal beauty, because who ever heard OK
an ugly angel?
| I had a letter not so long since, ask
| ing me to air my ideas on beauty.
(Which style of beauty did l think
was the highest ideal, blonde or bru-
nette; and at what age was a girl the
! most attractive?
| tuned my harp to pitch about as
| high as the celestial haunts Of real an
| gels, and thought 1 would sail, meta
phorically, through ether on sucn an
| easy subject
| Easy? Just you try 1t. The one limit
| is the style Of your nearest and dearest,
and the utmost bounds the age Oh your
| hearts beloved
/ found out how some one else had
solved the problem. One Of the most
| charming chapters on woman's beauty
| Is written by Jeffreys, the English
naturalist.
1T takes" he says, "a hundred and
| fifty years out OF doors to make
| beauty" This would be kind Of real
| "She" in the flesh, you know, II he
meant one woman, which he doesn't, be-
cause he is only. talking Of the species.
He goes on to state that "open air, hard,
manual labor or continuous exercise.
good food, good clothing, some degree
of comfort--all Of these must play their
| part for five generations before beau
| tiful woman can appear"
With double allowance. i guess, Tor
| twins, So. If you wish 20 be beautiful,
You must first hunt up the genealogical
! tree, and, If that be fruitiess, start IN
at once for your granddaughters, CEN
fury or two ahead. My own opinion is
that the real new beauty which this age
will give to grace the decades OF its
successors will be one who, to the gen.
tie attributes of her Colonial ancestors,
will add the strength of self-reliance and
| the force OF intellectual training.
After all the beauty Of anything Is the
| proportion of the object to the fancy
And there are many whose fancy Is so
different from mine, or yours, that no
criterion could be given.
Did you ever hear OF the Greek
painter who attempted TO create an
| ideally beautiful face and head?
He chose the most exquisite features
| from the faces he thought were per-
| feet. the eye of Chione, Tarsia's lip.
and the brow of Delphia. He set all
| these upon the statuesque neck
of another deity, and thought he should
Guido the world Of art and nature. He
did, and made monstrous failure. Al
though singly, they were rare pieces
together they made most homely race.
! Beauty, / take 1t, is not made OF white
| or red black eye and round race,
a straight body and smooth skin, but
by the fitness Of completion. The truth
| is that beauty is a volatile essence; IL
is not made of one single feature. Even
Of eyes, always the most expressive and
catchy feature of the face, there Is
no one who has not decided preferences.
| I believe that custom calls the Ideal
eve a perfect violet, or velvet brown.
Genuine purple not deep blue, eyes. are
very rare Babies often have them, but
they change, women very seldom, and in
men they are phenomenal. j can call TO
mind but one pair of pansy-purple eyes;
ewes of gentleness and devotion and I'M
questioning faith-closed now beneath
the sod of Georgia, under the violets that
are not bluer nor deeper than was the
iris of their limpd depths. Such eyes
are never forgotten. Brown eyes are
plentiful, but the velvet brown, with
shifting lights that mirror each passing
emotion, are nearest to perfection. Gray
eyes are fine, II they are really gray
Truly, the eyes that 'look love to eyes
which speak again" are the eyes we
like best-the eyes we most admire.
THE GREATEST POWER.
The greatest power the world has ever
known is beauty. For beauty is irresis-
tible. 1t is perennial in its attractions.
So long as 1t lasts SO long will its power
be felt. 1t is more potent than money,
for II is capable Of awakening senti-
ments far beyond the reach of gold.
So long as men admire the delicate
effects of beautiful face and women
be they blonde or brunette-are beauti-
full. so long will beauty demand and re-
| ceive homage.
This of beauty In the abstract, for
our own beauties, after we come to
know people very intimately. we don't
know whether they are pretty or not,
II is the soul of beauty we see in them.
II they have not this loneliness we make
haste to find some one who has.
A man who has been married twenty
| years scarcely knows what his wife looks
| IN ro,roa he tolls you that che