The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-05-17
The Gift Of Ugliness.

L
what poet has ever had the courage to
sing the praise Of ugliness? It's all
very well for those who are themselves
handsome, as Was Lord Byron, to talk
pathetically about the fatal gift Of
beauty" but We fancy that all women,
and nearly every man, would be will
ing to run the risk of the fatality it
entails, could they but have the choice
of being beautiful. instead Of accept
ing from fate that very safe gift, ugli-
ness. It is happy provision of ma
ture that when one is ugly he is seldom
very conscious of the fact, at least not
to the extent Of being miserable about
it. Even when some features are so
extremely bad that no amount Of self
conceit can blind one to it he consoles
himself by thinking that the rest Of
his face is so good as to more than
counterbalance that defect. 1t is
much the same with other bodily de-
fects. We become in time so accus-
toned to them that We at last almost
cease to remember We are not quite
like every one else.
It s.undoubtedly great misfortune
to be born ugly, since we start out in
life handicapped from the beginning
Of the race, and it needs a brave heart
to go through life calmly reading pity
or aversion in the glance Of every
stranger one meets. With what a
sinking heart does the young mother
Of an ugly child listen to the comments
Of her friends when they call to see
the new baby. She notes how they
commend with exaggerated enthusiasm
it's size, complexion, hair, or whatever
special points they can conscientiously
praise, hoping to deceive the mother's 8
watchful ear, but when they have
gone she says tearfully no one said
my baby is pretty, and presses the
ugly little face close to her heart with
unutterable love and tenderness.
There is common opinion that a
mother is blinded by her affection to
the ugliness Of her child, but We do
not think this is so. She may grow
accustomed to it, and she ia most care
| full never to let the little one suspect
from word or glance that she knows
lit is, unattractive, nor would she for
the world admit to her friends that
!. she sees its LONELINESS; but in her
heart she acknowledges the fact and
mourns over it. When the infant is
old enough to be taken out Of doors
!, the nurse indignantly resents the Qn-
Favorable comments made upon her
little charge by passers on the street.
While the nurses in charge Of pretty
babies are frequently stopped with the
Inquiry, Whose is that lovely baby?'
every one passes hersby with indiffer-
ence or pity.
Then come the school days Of the
ugly duckling, and, although we be
llieye most teachers are extremely care
full to avoid partialityin the treatment
Of their pupils, yet it is human nature
to be attracted by beauty and repelled
by ugliness, and SO the unfortunate
| little one sees her companions receive
many an admiring glance and caress,
while she stands by unnoticed. If
| she be unusually clever, OF has a very
pleasing manner, these qualities may
| in time partly compensate forher lack
Of beauty; but the chances are that
she is not especially bright and that
| she has been made shy and conscious
by the knowledge Of her defects, and
4 J
! grows dull and reticent. This con-
straint still clings to her when she
grows up and enters society. She
sees her pretty sisters or friends sur
rounded by admirers and enjoying
themselves, while she sits by her
chaperon almost entirely neglected, or
is asked to dance only by such as are
impelled by feeling Of compassion or
courtesy to this sacrifice Of their own
4 'inclinations. It is little wonder if,
after an experience or two Of this kind,
the homely girl refuses to expose her
self TO such humiliation by going to
any more balls. It is true We fre-
quently see really ugly girl prove "a
social success. but it is because she
has sufficient self-esteem to disregard
her looks, and exerts herself to the
utmost to be entertaining, a good dan
Ger, and in short to cultivate her other
gifts to the fullest extent. and to make
the most Of them.
| OF course the gift Of beauty is much
more necessary to women than to men,
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