Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-15
THE QUEBT(OF BEAUTY
More Lovely nWomen Now
Than in Classic Times.
A MOST BEAUTIFUL AGE
THE AMERICAN Is THE HIGHEST
TYPE OF LONELINESS.
An Interesting Comparison of the
Ireals of Different
Nations.
A MOST BEAUTIFUL AGE

Written for The Evening Star by Katherine Morton.
Beauty has ever been considered woman's
divinest gift.
What is the first requisite for woman's
greatness?" was question asked of a
philosopher.
Beauty" was the answer.
And her second?"
Beauty"
And the last?" persisted the inquirer.
Beauty
A beautiful woman is always beautiful.
Even if it is true that in couple Of dec
AIDES splendid woman will be faded and
unlovely, the main point is that she is
beautiful now and has a distinct esthetic
influence upon life. She is painted on can
vas cut into stone and enShrined In verse.
Beauty is greater now and there Is more
of 1T than in the Greece of classic times.
Beside any of the beautiful women of our
day-those glorious creatures who ride and
dance and go out on the links. whose
perfect bodies are perfectly appareled-the
Venus of Milo looks like a peasant girl
deformed by overeating.
Some slim and faultless Otero some
Cleo de Merode, could she slip back
through loophole of the years into old
Greece, would set the world by the ears
as Helen never did The women of today
Outcharm all the dead women over whom
there is so much Dother.
No woman mas been more celebrated
for her beauty than Mary Queen of Scots.
but If she We're to walk unannOunced into
a London drawing room today it is doubt
full If she would cause much remark. Yet
Mary's beauty was enough for her con-
temporaries; it sent the men of her day
off their heads and filled her cousin Eliza
beth with deadly jealousy
The famous Cummings were declared by
their contemporaries to be 1.-The handsom
est women alive"
When they went into the park they were
mobbed by curious gazers. When they
were present at court the other ladies at
tending the drawing room climbed upon
the chairs and tables to get glimpse of
them. When they Travelled people sat up
all night so as not to miss seeing them get
into their coach in the morning
Have Beauty in Plenty.
We do not see any such enthusiasm now
and we apt to think it Is because we
have nothing lovely enough to be enthusi-
astic about. But this is not the true ex-
PLANTATION. The beauty of the Misses Gun
ming can certainly have lost nothing under
Reynolds brush3 yet his portraits of them
do not reveal any loneliness which we
should consider wonderful. 1t is not, then,
that we admire beauty less than our ances-
tors did, but that we have more of it, and
therefore 1t excites us less.
1t is not merely that there are more beau-
ties Of the first order than there seem ever
to have been before, but that beauty has
become so general. You can see more love-
ly women in one afternoon in the streets of
an American city than in all the Reynoldses
and GainSboroughS.
Indeed, in the matter of beauty our age
has gone good deal ahead of all its prede-
cessors. We live in the most beautiful age
of the world Beauty is greater now and
there is more Of it than at any period of
the worlds history.
Where shall we look for the highest type?
In America?
Native beauty. as developed in America.
is the outgrowth of such heterogeneous ele-
ments. such cOnglomeration of nationali-
ties the interfuSion of so many races and
types. that any attempt to classify even
account for 1t. save American, is futile.
1t has been said that the ideal American
type of the future will combine the head of
a Greek statue, tresses of classic tint, the
eyes of the odalsque, the flesh tintS of a
Bougerean. Roman shoulders, Ionian arms.
Austrian bust and Boetian feet. She will
be a marvellous being animated with French
SAVIOR faire. Irish wit. German imagination,
Russian adaptability, Hindoo grace, Jap
anese talent and Indian fortitude.
Her Fine Finish
An American girl is wonderfully fine in
her finish. She has mingled completeness
and delcacy which make her perfect in de-
tall like a line engraving.
Tall, perchance, a daughter of the
gods. and slim as the legendary alder from
which Odin made woman.
Then there is the type which possesses
picturesque charm-a type which fascinates
quite as much that which possesses
beautiful eyes and a damask rose complex
ion. Added to this is a certain air of fine
Keen brilliance, which conveys the idea of
intense vitality-the arch glance, the melt
ing eye and the spirited carriage of the
head
That famous young Brazilian, Santos
Dumont is afraid of only one thing-the
American girl. Why? Because she is so
pretty.
Il don't know whether it can be called
fear" he explains. 1T is, perhaps, too
delicious But, yes, l am afraid of the
American maiden; she is so very lovely
1t is not only in New York 1 noticed this.
/ have met great many American women
in Paris. They are charming. charming"
'Prettier. more attractive. more bewitch-
ing than the English woman" is Hall
Gaines verdict on the American girl. He
qualities it, however, by adding, but not
so regularly beautiful"
The English ideal of womanly loneliness
is something quite different from the prod
uct of American environment-calmer, less
vivacious, more regular and statuesque.
less bewitching and beguiling
Brown Hair and Blue Eyes.
The pretty Irish girl is charming type
blue-eyed, ruddycheeked, well-rounded,
with soft, brown hair.
A grace and fascination all her own be-
long to Russian girl She knows the
value Of her CHANGING eye and the tendril
twist of her hair
The girl of Flanders must be tall and
graceful, with blue eyes and hair like bur-
nished gold.
Brought up ON grapes, their warmth and
bloom get into the blood of the Spanish
girl and give her loneliness that is as
intoxicating as wine-an exquisite type.
The little Dutch beauty has a peachblow
complexion and fiaXen locks, which are al
ways coquettishly arranged Teutonic APP
prevail is for the buxom damseI, with
smooth pink and white skin.
No Circassian maiden can be attractive
unless she have finely arched lips and
charming figure.
Beautiful as an angel" says an Italian
cavalier of his lady leve. Italian eyes are
large, humid and languishing, with long
curling lashes. Next to the beauty of the
eye is the beauty of the flashing teeth
The Italian girl is also blessed with mag
nificent hair
Each nation, it would seem, has its own
ideal, and the poet asks despairingly,
What is beauty?'
What all women think they possess"
answers the cynic.
ASK your mirror says the French