Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1900-01-10
.IHE VALUE
OF GOOD LOOKS
Pretty Girl Settled in Life in
Half the Time a Plain
One Is.
UGLY DAUGHTER A DRAWBACK

BESTOW UPON ONES OFF
SPRING" WRITES CLEVER
CARIsABEL. OF BALTIMORE.
This column has little friend who
has been most carefully brought up.
with none of the hideous self-con-
seriousness that blights the spirit Of
many cherished children, writes
Carisabel in the Baltimore sun. Nor
had any reference been made in her
presence to the lack OF beauty in her
homely, chubby little face. But she
had only attained her fourth year
when one day she was seen to gaze into
a mirror with almost a passion of in
tentness. One, two three minutes
passed, and then n long-drawn sigh is
sued from her small, red lips, while
the left side of her rufhed pinalore
creaked with ominous risings and
fallings "Oh, mel l amt pretty"
The realization Of her fate-that OF
the homely woman-had lowered over
then rested upon her, and her mother
who saw the situation with a pang of
her own, said nothing to alleviate it.
And, being a wise woman, she offered
no commonplace solace on the compen-
sation of wisdom or goodness for lack
of physical charm. Respecting the sor-
row, she left IL to time to bring the
spirit of resignation.
II is an interesting fact that only
the writers of the hysterical-romantic
school, founded by the Brontes, de-
preciate the value Of good looks in wo-
men. The realists cannot .oYerestimate
them All Howelrs herolnes are beau
tiful and little else, except morbidly
conscientious. and a homely woman
like George Eliot, who is really an art
list, is sure to endow her heroines with
prodigal amount of beauty, as a
mother is sure to give her children
what she has most missed in life.
And the reason is evident. Beauty
in woman excites the passion of love
in man, and is. therefore the cheapest
and most practical present to bestow
upon ones offspring in fact or in
fancy. II in writing the great Ameri-
can novel, ! say my Edwin loves my
Arabella for her mind, ! must give her
a mind which may or may not be in
my power just as IL may or may not be
in my power, just as it may or may
not be within my power to leave my
daughter Mary a fortune. But il either
have it in her face / am spared much
/ contriving. Only an impractical per
son will underestimate the advantages
Of good looks as n time and labor saw
i ing machine. AS we'll dopreci-
ate the advantages OF sewing
machine over hand work or gas over
oil A pretty girl is settled in life in
half the time and a quarter OF tn,
money. She looks better in n fivc-ceni
muslin than poor Fanny in silk and
4 lace; and as to education, the sub
scribor knows parents who have beer
ruined in teachers bills for homely
daughters in order that they might ac.
quire that speciality of plain girls, q
bright intelligent face. not pretty
you know, but so much better than
mere good looks
Nor as parents are proverbially un'
selfish, is it worth while telling them
that in their effort to make theil
homely daughter attractive to the Other
sex they are standing in their owl
I, light, for the plain one in the family
is the only one, generally speaking
whose refuge is self-eifacement anC
whose happiness is in serving, not il
! being served. Who are the Henrietta
Remains, the Eugene de Guerins. th'
e Christina Rosettis. the Maria Edge
worths, the Princess Elizabeths tn
! sister Of Pascal, or their relations, whit
never marry. but are the pilot boat IL
I the storm. the beings to whom tn
J. whole family turns instinctively in an.
!, emergency But such 80 tho testimon.
= Of these devoted and brilliant womel
d concerning happiness, so tinged is thei
; sincerest laughter with sadness, curl
d Gus TO say. so great is their sense of re
b sponsibility and lack of nerve, tina
@ parents dread life for their homel
e child. it's loneliness, its self-abnegatior
}. land so put her forward teach her arti
[. fetal charms and make her extremel
n attractive that she may win the re
g gard of some disillusioned man whoI
r. beauty has either scorned or triiie
ia with.
n Now a man, be he never so homell
l. has the comfortable consciousness thi
b his looks are not his salient point. No
l. and then some silly woman loves hi
l. for them. but generally he has to liy
them down II they are uncommon
s. good. Woman is imaginative, and III
n homelier her lover the more opportl
r nifty to exercise her fancy What 81
4 does not see she asks for, as requisite
re in the holiday advertisements. and I;
h she questions her heart, she ordinaril
ed gets what she wants. A supernatural
H. ugly man is sure TO be adored in Il
re spirit that Dorothea adored Mr. Casa
RS bon, whose beautiful soul was suppos,
o. to Turk behind shaggy brows, iii
st. LOcke's, and whitish blinkish eyes.
But with woman it is otherwis
do Her ugliness. II she is aware OF It,
Nv she generally is. is the main fact,
on her existence. She sees IL in every IA
tol she looks into, she hears il in the p
ar lit avoidance Of the discussion
Of LONELINESS in her presence I'm 4
ed, still more pointed praise OF the sol
virtues she is charitably supposed
possess. The charm of any manner
its Inconsistencies, but can a pla
ON woman ever forget herself? Even h
.ed humility is self-depreciation. And o
IN Of her burdens is making the best
es herself, which is sort OF eleven
O. commandment with every selfrespei
lts ing woman. A pretty woman m
- wear the much Wanted muslin go'
and a rose in her hair and be greet
with nnnlQucn tho nr,,hpdff,noy,f