The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-01-06
rather than he lied a captive prineess M

had no veil OF modesty for her face, and
che asked none for her soul. Darker than
| Egyptian night, she has left dark staln
| upon the brow OF universal wornanhood.
| Whittier than the whitenesS OF the dawn.
Va.hti, ike Sheney's heroine, clothed in
virtues adamantine eloquence, paves her
path with human hearts"
Consider, also, that IN studying the trag-
| edy OF Vashti, We have 20 reckon with
her beauty, ''for she was fair 70 look on y
When some genius equal 10 the task OF
writing a history OF beauty appears, men
and women will find perpetual charm IN
its glowing pages. II wall contain page
Of Joy, page Of sorrow. page OF peace,
| "A page Of war, a page Of love, page or
hate, page OF poetry and page OF art.
But u viii contain many pages developing
this thought-the tragedy Of beauty.
| But along with her beauty, Vashti pos
| sessed that other quality which lends
| beauty an enduring freshness and charm
| modesty. Vashti owes her place in history
not 50 much TO her beauty as 10 her mod
| esty. II beauty made her queen, nodes
~ made her woman, which ~ lar better.
As queen, Xerxes could banish her; as
woman he was deted by her. As queen,
he could and did dethrone: as woman
she sits upon throne that has hearts for
it's cushions and centuries for its pillars.
The Dubarrys, the PompadOurs, the Mon
tespans have their day and cease 20 be;
but the Vashtis go on forever. The ely
temnestres, the Aspasias. the Cleopatras
are neteors flashing through the darkness
OF eternal night; the Nashtls are golden
suns burning through womaEhood's end
less day
Indeed. modesty is so inherent an e,e-
nent in the great essentials making geDu-
inc beauty that without mOdesty beauty
i impossible. We are indebted 20 no hu-
man law for this truth-God has woven
int hg feh cf ~
critics tell US that the eighteenth century
was pre- eminentlv the century Of women.
Then we are told Her grace possessed
the most prestige, her coquetry the most
disluieting elegance and her beauty the
most triumphant authority. IL was the
age in which Nine de Pompodour reigned
in the court of Louis XIV. The brushes of
Latour and Boucher have pleaded with all
the eloquence Of their genius and art 20
defy this daring woman. She appointed
ministers she exiled those who incurred
her III will she sentenced 10 the Bastile
those who ran counter 20 her lmperious
wish. She was the patroness OF ph!oso-
ply, art and song. Through her magic
wand Versailles was touched into dream
Of splendor. which has not yet vanished.
Her collection OF pictures, crystals, cam
eos ANTIQUES and gems was unparalleled IN
the kingdom. She squandered fortunes on
her palaces fetes and ball; and then
other fortunes on her toilet. For twenty
wears this butchers daughter held her I'M
perial sway, which was broken only by
death. But when the historian tells us
that IL was the dream of her girlhood TO
scduce the king; that her shameless prodi-
gality makes tho cheek Of decency burn;
that moGesty found no hospitality among
her sensual charms, We may well repeat
the question of another, Was La Pom
padour beautiful. or merely pretty" In
stinctively drawing hack as we would IN
the presence OF a snake, we answer, "She
was neither She was n royal hariot, pas
raded IN gilded shame lacking most of all
that jewel of modesty which spark.es IN
;he crown OF true beauty Alas for that
land whose women forsake their wells of
modesty TO show the people and princes
their beauty
Consider. finally the price Vashti paid
for her modesty. For her refusal 10 come
at the kings command was the immediate
cause of her dethronement. Surely there
are few finer exhibitions Of sacrifice IN the
history Of womenhood. We love to read
of Ielesllla, who united courage with the
gift of song, and saved Argos; of Octavia,
shielding the children of Cleopatra, her
shameless rival; of Sulpicia, renounclng
the pleasures Of Rome 10 co into exile
with her husband, of Lucretia. who killed
herself rather than live in dlshonor; OF
Corneiia, the mother of the Gracchl. urg-
ing tnem 10 OtGNs OF pdlIlOAlsU, VI ddid,
leaving her palace on Mount Aventlne, to
walk as an angel of charity through the
Sums Of Rome, but not one OF them out
shines Nashti
Nor has history given this lovely queen
her dues. We read much of Lais, who
lived in the same century as Nashtl, and
who was notorious courtesan; OF the
immoral Aspasia, who counted Socrates
and Perces amo10 her .ong list OF ad-
mirers: of the treacherous Lucilla, who
ruled the court of Marcus Aurehus; OF
Agrippna. the Infamous mother ot still
more Infamous soa-Nero, All OF these
names have been emblazoned high mp IN
the hall of fame. Bat, sadly enough, the
events of Nashti's life, like Sappho's songs,
glimpses we hevc Of her in the first and
second chapters of the Book OF Esther
will cause people to look at her forever.
She was beautiful In Shushan the palace,
and she viii be beautiful for oil time.
She was fair to look on five centuries be-
fore Christ. and she Will be fair 10 look
on to the last day of the world. 1t was
Vashti's beauty of soul that proclaimed
her the forerunner of that renaissance Tor
which the world is suffering to-day, viz:
A genuine revival OF the old-fashioned,
homespun. immortal virtue OF modesty'
While the Bible says nothing of the sac
rifce she made, be assured that 1t was big
with pain. Long nights OF sorrow shut
her in She knew the bitterness of friend
less DAYS. Like Dante, she experienced
how hard it was to eat others bread. But
she took no counsel of her expediency.
Let the kings anger burn within him, let
the goddess court make her laughing
stock. still Nashti never faltered. She
knew that beyond her Gethsemane. Asccn-
sion Mount was robed in glory. She
knew, with all queenly women Of like spr-
II. that gates of pearl would swing back to
let her in. and that she would march to
Gnothe- coronation on high.