The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1905-01-04

upon Octavius Caesar and failed How the
prospect Of being carried prisoner to
Rome stared her in the face and how,
rather than be "ied captive princess up
the Capitoline HILL" she died by her own
hand Lacking moral sense, she wore. a
face OF brass to the end Of the tragedy.
Unlike the swcct-souled Vashti. Cleopatra
had no veil OF modesty for her face, and
she asked none for her soul. Darker than
Egyptian night. she has left dark stain
upon the brow OF universal womanhood!
Whittier than the whiteness Of the dawn,
Vashti, like Shelley's heroine. clothed in
virtues adamantine eloquence, paves her
path with human heartsl'
Consider, also, that in studying the trag-
edy OF Vashti. we have TO reckon with
her beauty, dor she was fair TO look on
When some genius equal to the task OF
writing a history Of beauty appears, men
and women will find a perpetual charm in
its glowing pages. II win contain a page
of JOY, page of sorrow. a page of peace.
page OF war, a page of love. page OF
hate, page OF poetry and page OF art.
But il will 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 so much to her beauty as to her mod.
esty. If beauty made her a queen, modes.
ty made her woman, which is far better.
As queen, Xerxes could Danish her; as
woman. he was defied by her As queen,
he could and did dethrone; as woman,
she sits upon a throne that has hearts for
its cushions and centuries for its pillars.
The Dubarrys, the Pompadours, the Mon
tespans have their day and cease to be;
but the Vashtis 60 on forever. The Cly-
temnestres, the Aspasias. the Cleopatras
are meteors flashing through the darkness
Of eternal night; the Nashtis are golden
suns burning through womanhood's end.
less dayl
Indeed, modesty is so inherent an ele
ment in the great essentials making genu.
inc beauty that without modesty beauty
Is Impossible. We are indebted to no hu.
man law for this truth-God has woven
it into the fabric of our natures. Art
critics tell MS that the eighteenth century
was pre-emnently the century of women.
Then. we are told. ''Her grace possessed
the most prestige, her coouetry the most
disquleting elegance and her beauty the
most triumphant authority" 1t was the
age in which Nine. de Pompodour reigned
in the court of Louis Nv. The brushes OF
latour and Boucher have pleaded with all
the eoquence of their genius and art to
defy this daring woman. She appointed
ministers. she exiled those who incurred
her i'll will. she sentenced to the Bastile
those who ran counter to her imperious
wish. She was the patroness Of philoso-
ply, art and song Through her magic
wand Versailles was touched into dream
Of splendor. which has not vet vanished.
Her collection of pictures. crystals. cam.
ros. ANTIQUES and gems was unparalleled in
the kingdom. She s1uandered fortunes on
her palaces. fetes and ball; and then
other fortunes on her toilet. For twenty
years this butchers daughter held her i'm.
al oh h,,
death. But when the historian tells us
that it was the dream of uer girlhood to
seduce the king; that her shameless prodi.
gality makes the cheek of decency burn;
that nodesty 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 back as we would in
the presence of snake, we answer, "She
was neither. She was a royal harlot, pa.
raded in gided shame, lacking most of all
that jewel of modesty which sparkles in
the 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 to 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 Telesilla who united courage with the
gift of song, and saved Argos; of Octavia,
shielding the children of Cleopatra, her
shameless rival: OF Sulpicia, renouncing
the pleasures of Rome to go into exile
with her husband; of Lucretia. who killed
herself rather than live in dishonor; OF
Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, urg.
ing them to deeds of patriotism; OF Paula,
leaving her palace on Mount Aventine, to
walk as an angel OF charity through the
slums 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 Nashti, and
who was notorious courtesan; of the
immoral Aspasia, who counted Socrates
and Pericles amc1g. her .ong list of ad-
mlrers; of the treacherous Lucilla, who
ruled the court of Marcus Aurelius; of
Agrippina, the infamous mother of still
more infamous son-Nero. All of these
names have been emblazoned high up in
the hall OF fame. But, sadly enough, the
events of Vashti's life, like Sappho's songs,
have been lost And yet these few
glimpses we have of her in the first and
second chapters of the BoolI, of Esther
will cause people to look at her forever.
She was beautiful in Shushan the palace,
and she will be beautiful for all time.
She was fair to look on five centuries be-
fore Christ, and she will be fair to look
on TO the last day of the world. 1t was
Nashti's beauty of soul that proclaimed
her the forerunner of that renaissance for
which the world is suffering TODAY, viz;
A genuine revival of the old-fas hioned,
homespun, immortal virtue OF modesty!
b While the Bible says nothing of the sac
ridce she made, be assured that It 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 Vashti never faltered. She
knew that beyond her Gethsemane, Ascen.
sion Mount was robed in glory. She
knew, with all queenly women OF like spir
il, that gates OF pearl would swing back to
let her in. and that she would march TO
another coronation on high.
The Many Mansions.