The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-02-21
DANGERS OF BEAUTY.
LONELINESS IN WOMAN SEEMS LINK
ED WITH TRAGEDY.

treme Heauty and GOddeBSlflzc
Charms Appear to BE Freighted
with Danger to Their Possessors.
Beauty-when applied. at any rate,
10 persons by the pen Of the novelist.
the dramatist and the historian-seems
to be a vastly dangerous holding. and,
instead Of bringing in its trend that
superb JOY voiced by the dictum. it car
ries with 1t q burden which Is indeed
q very hard lot to bear.
Pick up any novel ut random. and
you will read that the only prosecuted
creature In 1t. to speak by the card,
her beauty which has attracted the
villain. like the bright flame which at
tracts the moth, and made him net as
q brute to her.
Beauty In novels. freely interpreted,
means dreadful suffering. physical and
mental. 1t means Il deadly poison
which is as fatal as the sting of n
viper and which pcrmeates the body
and soul OF the average heroine OF the
modern novel. 1t brings no Joy except
at the end OF the book.
The penalty for being beautiful
would seem to be more eXacting and
more disagreeable than the disappoint-
ments experienced by the ugly. 1t is
because the modern heroine of books
or of the stage is described as sort
build and looks that you take interest
in her and follow her doings her suf
ferIngs, through every page Of a novel
or through every scene and act Of q
play.
Leave fiction for fact. Scour the vii
lagos of the United States from Maine
to California. and you will find. with
very few exceptions. that nearly all
can tell the story Of how once upon q
time there lived in the village beau
tiful girl who fell a slave to the mad
delirium of love and after many years
came back u wreck. There Is recorded
In the unwritten archives Of nearly ev-
cry village such a story as TINT told in
one form or another.
But this is not the story Of u village
merely; 1t is the history of the world.
1t was this evil fate of beauty that
wrecked Cleopatra. who in turn wreck
ed Mark Antony. broke the heart of
Octavia and brought the horrors Of civ
IL war upon imperial Rome. The great
Julius fell victim to her exquisite
charms ut single interview.
Cleopatra was n beautiful and mag
nif1cent creature, and her charms never
failed to captivate and conquer those
who passed before her. She was not
only all this. but her personal beauty
seemed to have Influenced her mind in
tellectually in marked degree. for she
was woman Of very high attainments
She was as intelligent as she was beau
tiful She was capital musician, skill
ed In several languages, n good singer
and brilliant conversationaiist. No
woman has surpassed her in cunning.
How she died is 81 mystery. The sto-
ry Of the asp biting her to death is n
myth. but authorities agree that size
died violent death by her own hand
hard price for such great beauty rs
hers.
There is the pitiful story Of Julia
Donna. who, in her maiden days poor.
humble girl. was on account Of her
great personal charms raised from n
common sphere to the highest that i'm
perial Rome could offer. She became
the wife Of Severus and thus empress
of Rome. Her beauty was her eyi!
fate. She lent herself to the fattery of
couTtiers, permitted all and sundry to
approach her with their sentiments.
Finally she fell back into the position
she came from, but not before she had
been stabbed in the arm by q son. who
intended the blow. however. for his
brother.
Disappointed Of all hope Of ever be-
coming again the power she once was
In Rome, deserted by those who
brought her to her misery. forsaken by
her friends. she ended her days in star
vation.
There was yet another beautiful Ro-
man julia. who. through her extreme
beauty. was introduced to and became
the wife Of q famous senator when she
was only 16. Between that tender age
and four and twenty she lived up to
the traditions Of the times. fell vic
tim to the conceit of her own charms,
became the prey Of flatterers, conspirrd
against her husband and wns finally
put to violent death.
The story Of the captivating Helen Of
Troy is interesting and is on par with
that Of the beautiful women just allud-
ed to. Helen OF Troy was tied to q
tree and strangled. condign punish
ment for the errors she fell into solely
on account Of her beauty. She was re-
sponsibie for tine many years siege of
Troy, her husband. ,AIenelaus. being
determined to revenge himself on Par
is. 1t serves as an object lesson for
those women who repine because they
are not beautiful.
Josephine. the unfortunate wife of
Napoleon l. was said by her husband
to be "most truly q lovely woman. re-
fined, affable. charming, goddess Of
the toilet. kind and humane" yet be-
cause no son was born to them Napo-
leon divorced her, IN Overwhelming
sorrow. She died an absolutely crush
ed and saddened woman.-San Fran
cisco Examiner