The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-03-15
GOLDEN GIRL OF ERE
ms the ORIGINAL AMERICAN
.EfI'TY Az IRISH MIIDH

vblte Hands and Golden Hair VINO Nm
m,,d the Rights Women Now Seeks
The 70 .omide question. -what type h the
,r,rr.an girl?- was put TO several artists
v, yelrs ago All but one made the
r,miie answer, Composite The eI-
,orf,p. 4. B. Wenzel, said IN eject,
.yo,hing VI the sort, The American girl
ea distinct type, distinct and distinctive
I've Irish type
The artists un-Gaellc name Is evidence
that he spoke without race prejudice. For
,be much discussed head upon the new
,,ir Augustus Saint Gaudens took pains
r., .elec a typically American face. and,
Al. every one knows, bic ultimate choice
ryh,cl upon Mary Cunningham, Irish
num.
MANY oi the noted beauties Of to-day
.r .ocicty and upon the stage are modern
lr.n In type, dark haired, slender, long
rs.gei, with slate blue or gray eyes, rosy
fitness Of complexion and e%xquiEtely
formed hands and feet. The composite
levers may believe that this but proves
their case. since Ireland Of the invasions,
he settlements, the emigrations, IL only In a
Iess degree than America a country OF
H,lei .aCSs.
BIT the quality Irish who came hither-
yard in Colonial time5 and during the
Rayolution may help 10 explain the re-
..rlIlnce letween the best OF the two
countries. Several Of the signers OF the
declaration Of Independence we're Irish,
and almost every family Of consequence
IN this country has a little ancestral rivulet
n Irish or Scottish blood, ichor identical,
H. - n nr,unpnrpd maintained
Certainly In the old days. when Scotland
VIA Aba and Erin or Fire was called
SCOTIA. the two great Celtic peoples seem
On have intermingled freely. from the day
when Fire az Scotia sent a king TO Alba
4oKu to the year when Alba become SCOT
land. returned tho compliment by des-
patching Edward. brother Of the Bruce, 10
e. king in Fire.
When Patrick, or Patrioius, son OF Cal
phurnius. landed In the westernmost island
" Britain 500 years ago, he found there
the only pagans in the world who reveT-
anced alike the feebleness Of age, the viTlity
Of courage, the prestige Of long descent,
me inspiration Of genius, the attainments
Of scholarship and the dignity Of woman
hood.
The girl Of the upper (fdth) class In an
Gent Ere commanded Injuries and priv
eges which would cause even that present
empress Of the world. the American girl OF
the twentieth century, TO open her eyes IN
3dmidnR amaze, Manuscripts brought TO
light and CLOSES deciphered by German,
8~ayarian. French and Swiss ~philologiste,
md by eminent Gaelic linguists In Ireland,
Wales and Scotland, helped to convince the
repical nineteenth century that the trans-
lifted traditions Of persisted grandeur
gere neither fairy tales of the peasantrY nor
0ere empty gasconades for the embellish-
0g Of Irish political oratory:
The Celtic renaissance Of the last century
stored 70 the world the faint half oblit-
rated records OF a very real past The
cyiyal OF Gaelic letters inspired a host OF
.cholars 70 study the proofs OF ancient
,yilization In the original texts preserved
lere and there in obscure places In Ireland
nd upon the Continent. From the litera-
IRE thus brought 10 light 1t is easy TO
resent any picture Of the recovered past
z Ireland. The prettiest picture Of all Ia
. irresistible temptation-The Girl Who
10 begin with, she had q strange, beau
ul ~Eame-Eithne, Bland, Tia, Nuala,
l'a, Nesta. Creole, Momera, Becfola,
"a, Graina (Grace), Nennia, Meve MAUD,
ii or perhaps Fedelma. Sometimes she
"a followed down the years by q haunt
= attribute Of her beauty, like Isolt of
'Leblack Irish hair and Irish eyes, In
enuyson's verse; like Todhunter's Maui
zen. girl Of the red mouth; like Macha Of
he Golden Hair. The blueblack hair be-
HAkN W HICAA a BIN ASaNAh ANAaAAa |
the girl Of ancient Fire was a golden girl.
The marks Of the highborn lady %
tabulated by DR.. P. W. Joyce from the
ancient manuscripts are these: An oval
face, broad above lat the BROW and narrow
below; golden hair. fair skin, white, delicate
and well formed hands with tapenng
fingers. Stub fingered, neglected hands
marked the plebeian; well born Irish women
10 this day have, as Max 0'Rell noted,
the most beautiful little white hands In all
the world
The wife OF Tristram, Isolt Of the White
Hands, was a Celtic princess In Brittany.
Her white hands would have been matter
a course in Ireland, where even the warrior
chiefs deemed IL diSgraoeful 70 have rcd
hands and unkempt nails. ManicITtSts
we're employed TO keep the finger nails up
to the p~atrician mark regular. circular,
crimson, shining nails
It would seem that then a. now q nail
rouge was used. Deirdre, the Ill fated
Helen Of ancient Fire, In lamenting for her
slain lover, voiced her WEAKNESS Of life
thus: \ sleep no more; no more do /
crimson my nails; no more shall JOY come
TO my mind
The girl Of ancient Elre-shall We call her
the iavorite OLD name, Eithne2-woke In the
morning. like Montaigne, 10 the sound OF
lively music played for her by q slave Wo-
man. She opened her eyes in a curiously
doWny pillows, linen sheets, heecy Blankets
and rich coverlets adorned with intsr!aced
embroidery. Ornately embroidered, too, !
we're the curtains OF The gold oolored canopy
which screened the couch Of the high born
Eithne.
She drew the curtains aside, and 90 doing
set in motion a tinklA Of bells which sum
muned her firing woman with the fresh gar.
ments for the new day. The long fair, rich
hair. down 10 the knees was bfuAhOd and
divided into "wreaths,' sometimes four.
sometimes eight. There divisions were
braided and allowed TO hang, 70 chow their
great length, lustrs and thickness.
The golden girl was fond Of jewelry, and
= he- hair balls, saldom omitted, we're hollow
spheres Of pure gold, very thin and light.
me was attached b the end Of each plat. 90
hat Eithne frequently had a. NAM "a eight
NtLe golden balls finishing Cd her golden
n-aI3s.
seven OF these peculiar ornaments are 10
- snen in the collection 81 Irish antique jew
ery found hero and there in bog lands and
row stored in the National Musuem, Trinity
College, Dublin. There also ia perhApS the
IDENTICAL hair ribbon worn by the luxurious
tIthne on gala occasions Of high ooifure. q
real rihbon Of purest gold. thin and narrow,
but nearly two yards in length, permitting
Il 10 10 worn fletwise. wound around and
around tba nilad I'M tregaha |