The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-09-20
EXCAVATIONS OF UGLY MEN.

Maybe there was as much truth as
loasting in the statement of John
wilkes, the famous London Alderman:
'1Tgly as L am, if 1 can have but
Nlarter of an hours start, 1 will get
he better of any man, however good
,poking, in the graces of any woman"
OF Wilkes abnormal ugliness, says
Me New York Sun, there was never any
question. "The very children in the
street ran away affrighted at the sight
Of him!" And yet his powers of fasci-
nation were so great that women of
beauty and fashion We'd with each
other for his notice, while handsome
Iected.
1t was said that there were few
beauties of the day whose hand Wilkes
might not have confidently hoped to
win. He married one of the richest
and loveliest women of his time.
Beauty and the Beast, they call
u.s." Wilkes once said to a friend,
land cannot honestly find fault with
the description
That there is powerful fascination
for some women in extreme ugliness
is proved by innumerable cases in
which women who have been richly
lowered with physical charms have
fallen in love with men of almost re-
pulsive appearance.
Queen Wilhelmina is an example of
a charming and attractive young wom-
an choosing an ugly man. Fat and
plain of face, for a royal person, dis
tnctly poverty-stricken, Prince Helm
rich of MecklenburgS chwerin has had
great fascination for womankind.
Gossips whispered that the young
Duke was taken by surprise when the
little Queen of Holland showed her
preference for him, and yet it was not
the first time that he had been adj
mired and courted by women of high
rank.
When Princess Helena of Russia sud-
denly broke her engagement with Max
of Baden it was believed to be be-
cause she hoped to persuade her par
ents to let her marry the stout, blond
dukeling Heinrich, and the youngest
daughter of the Duke of Edinburgh
also loved the young Duke, though
in vain. In fact Prince Heinrich was
good deal of lady killer and he
knew it.
Neipperg, an ugly creature, with
small abilities and yet smaller fortune
was Napoleon Bonapartes rival in the
affection of Marie Louise, who fell flu
riously in love with him. With every
thing to lose and nothing to gain by
her encouragement of the man, she left
no stone unturned until she was able
to make herself Neipperg's wife In
the eyes of the world it was a terrible
degradation for the widow of the
81 to ~ e
an Austrian Count but she cared not
whit what the world said. as was
the case with the women who ran after
the ugly Duke de Richelieu.
When Richelieu was shut up in the
Bastile, crowds of women, old and
young. and rich and poor, used to col
lect every day at the hour when he
took his exercise on the parapets, and
adore him from a distance, deploring
the Incarceration of so adorable a per-
son.
Theodore Hook was another ugly man
who seemed to be irresistible When
List was an old man with a hard,
ugly face, women begged permission
to kiss his ugly hands and raved over
him as though he were Adonis' self.
Dozens of schoolgirls and Countesses
who worShiped at his shrine cared not
a pin for his music. nor understood
note of it, but were keenly alive to
the charm of his personality.
There were few palmer men of his
generation than the great Lord
Brougham. and as few who took so
little trouble to ingratiate themselves
into the favor of women. Yet he might
have picked and chosen among the
fairest of society beauties. To a ques-
ton where Lord Brougham was the
answer was once given: Where the
ladies are the thickest." BY following
this significant guide he was generally
run to earth.
Perhaps the reason of the attrac-
tiveness of the plain man is that he
is not vain. He can't be Of his face
at any rate.
"A pretty man is a nuisance" one
girl was overheard to say. 81 mean
the man whose hair curls, whose
cheeks are red and who poses
in public places where he may be cas-
lily seen, and who always wears a
sleek smile on his thoughtless face.
He Is a nuisance because of his con-
ceit. Girls grow weary of looking at
him, but he still keeps in the way be-
lieving he is giving them a treat
1t has been estimated that there are
only $4,000 really handsome men in the
United States.