The times., 1899-02-12
THE PASSING OF
Feminine BEAUTY
An Eminent Portrait Painter
Gives Reasons Why.
0ver>tudy, Tremendous Athlet eS,
and Rich Food.
Man is Growing Indifferent to Phys
icaI Projections i'm Womanhood.
Prefers "StyIe'' and Wit.

''Is physical beauty in women ON the
decline?' was question propounded the
| other day to Sir Edward Poynter the
President of the Royal Academy
Sir Edward, who has put as mouy fair
feminine faces on canvas as any artist OF
his time, raped out an uncomprpmising
yes. The painter undoubtedly spoke for
his own country and within the range Of
his own experience; nevertheless IL is ob-
vious that similar assertion may be made
7 concerning women in America.
The United States. in the past hundred
! years. has certainly produced a greater
number of handsome women than any 9TH
/ er civilized country but, unfortunately.
| since feminine beauty defies statistics, We
, have no figures to compare on the subject.
/ for all that the standard OF beauty among
our women grows lower every year said
| a New York portrait painter, whose work
/ is known from the Atlantic 10 the Pacific;
| There are a number of reasons to be
cited as responsible for the existence OF
| this condition. he said "One OF the most
| potent reasons. think. is the absolute in
| difference of the nineteenth century and
| especially the American man. 10 physical
perfection in womankind.
| Even fifty years ago they were vastly
more sensitive to its influence and inter-
ested in its phases. Young fellows a half
| century back read poetry, nourished To-
/ mantle dreams, wore their hair about their
| ears, and indited verses, in. imitation Of
! Byron, to dark haired IneZ and golden
| ringlets, azure orbs. etc. fitted through
| their Dreams and the woman whose ap-
| pearance Tailed in a measure with these
standards was reverenced and adored as
| the ideal sweetheart and wife.
| He did not care Il rap whether Inez
| could read Greek or not, or understood a
word of parliamentary law. but he did
| delight over her bushes, her swan throat
and alabaster shoulders, and the portrait
painters of that day prove, beyond the
| shadow of doubt, that she possessed most
of these charms in an abundance we don't
| see any longer.
An ugly girl was in rather hard lines
then. good tempered and witty as she might
| be, for the young man was romantic, and
! IL was the Sweet Alice. with no great in
| tellectual force, but lots OF brown hair.
| dewy freshness and timid admiration Of
him, who infiamed his sentimental heart.
| Her beauty was her stock in trade, she
and her mother knew its value and every
| body envied and worshiped it.
Nowadays the girl who sets out TO rule
| in society, by the virtue of lovely face
\ and figure, is apt to find herself queening
! it over very few masculine subjects. I
| don't know whether the men or the women
| are to blame for this change, but certain
| il is, no matter If she be as subtly graceful
as Cleopatra, as fair as Helen of Troy, sl,
| will have no SWANS adOring her for tho.
| gifts OF nature alone. What the modern
| man now admires is lively miss, whose
| tongue rattles as brisk measure as casta-
nets, who has a spontaneous ready laugh
who can make golf balls sing through the
Lott rh.. 10 sill So
/ who is not afraid TO put a cigarette be-
| tween her lips, who is in short. jolly good
| fellow. II her feet are small. her waist
snug circle, her eyes bright. and her cloth
| es in the height of fashion she is a belle
and easily passes muster as a beauty whsse
claim nobody disputes. All the poetry and
| the novels of the day proclaim the su-
premacy of this little lady. The noveiists
no longer bother to tell you whether their
| heroines are fair are not, nobody cares.
! Heroines who have an influence. like the
| chic women who rule in society don't rest
| on any such laurels as -luxuriant tresses,
snowy necks, and pearly teeth Those were
were weapons of women of another time
/ both in books and in real life.
To-day. if a woman must have admira-
| tion, she either goes in for athletics, or
! learning, or she dresses her daring viva
| cious little self up in Paris gowns and
| thus earns her belleship. Whether she
| does this because she prefers to be ath-
| letic and learned and what not else TO
| her old power. beauty. or whether she has
| grasped at them substitutes for her lost
and irretrievable loveliness, | don't vouch
| 1t is enough to say that they are bound TO
suffice and everyone is apparently happy
except the artists and sculptors vino find it
| harder and harder every year to secure
! proper models
IAN these, however are not the prime
/ Of
are philosophic and have learned to esti-
mate mental over physical charm. chiefly
because the new woman has not much
beauty to offer There is a notion preya-
lent among the gentler sex that it is very
foolish to waste time nourishing her bod
| lily charms, that there are more important
callings in this world Having decided to
underestimate this great gift she is busy
as possible destroying it,
she is doing it by over study for one
| thing. In payment for her book learning
| she is contracting her chest extinguish-
| ing the limpid light in her eyes and
| bleaching her cheeks. In payment for her
| Tremendous athletics she is growing horny
| palmed, with heavy muscles, running the
| contour OF her limbs. her complexion is
weather beaten and her hair is rough In
| society she overwhelms her strength with
| so many duties and pleasures and such ex-
| travasantly rich food that she is the vic
/ Tim VI SoAtr htl NtS utuIdisid. ana uNS-
| pepsia, and ill-health has sapped her col
or, spoiled her figure. and aged her be-
| fore her time
To sum up my argument | would con-
clude that the whole course Of our civiliza-
| tiOn is against the growth of feminine
| beauty. Men no longer care for il. and Wo-
men no longer nOurish it. The typical
| American girl. if she is pretty has every
generation a shorter period of bloom. BY
! the time she is thirty. when really she
| should be in all the vital splendOr Of ripe
| loveliness. she is growing either very thin
or very fat her hair is getting dry, harsh.
| and scant her skin pale and wrinkled;
| in face she is fading. and by forty she is
resigned to appear like old woman.
Her daughters naturally will enjoy a
| shorter period of bloom and earlier sue
cumb to the blight that our clabrOate mod
| ern food, close hot houses. sedentary way
| of life and mental eNertiOns invariably
/ bring There may be some stern souls
who are quite content to see our women's
| beauty take wings. but in the long run not
higher education nor golf championships
! will repay the sweethearts and wives OF
the future for the loss OF natures glorious
gift, and the world is going to be a colder
and harder place to live in for the loss Of
the pretty women.
The Way to Besin.
1T is 4 cause OF amazement 20 me that
a man can go on. year in and year out,