The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-06-15
What is Beauty?

What is Beauty?
Beauty, as applied to woman, varies SO
decidedly In the individual mind, thai
aside from the changing opinion OF the
centuries, the question may reasonably be
asked: Is there any real standard OF
beauty?
A large percent Of men marry, and prac'
tically all men, married or single, have II
their minds eye the type OF beauty thai
suits their tastes.
One man likes a tall slender woman
another a tall slender woman with hgh'
hair and blue eyes, and still another, /,
tall slender woman with dark hair and
dark eyes.
There are those men who admire TomeI
shorter and more rotund, with complexion
hair and eyes to suit the individual taste
Where sordid considerations do not en-
ter into match making there Is some
: beauty OF person in the girl OF his choice
that lappeals to the love-sick youth, tt
which the world beside Is blind. There are
millions OF marriages each year; and opin
ions Is to what constitutes beauty are
almost as numerous a. are marriages. Sc
tickle Is the public mind on this subject
that the mere matter Of fashion Is suf1.
Gent to sway it. In this day OF rats, wa
terfalls and bark terrapin shells used as
aids in hair dressing, the bride who would
come In with hair sleeked down and bangs
cut low over the forehead would be reject
edst the altar.
The hoop skirt and hustle 80 much ad'
mired In the time Of Louis XIV, and from
time to time even to less than a quarter OF
q century ago, would make a spectacle OF
the greatest beauty Of today.
AL birds bear q striking resemblance
when picked. To say that blend and fit
mess OF dress may be ignored as aids to
beauty would be to set at naught the YER
dict OF the ages. What verdure Is to the
mountain, that appropriate dress Is to the
human form.
II the mere human form, unadorned as
It came from Nature, is the gauge OF beau
.ty, the lines and pose Of Venus OF Milo
will probably never cease to evoke admi'
ration. And yet there are women today
in flesh and blood, who with the aid Of
dress approach nearer to the perfectly
beautiful.
/ The discussion Of this subject leads nat
urally to the enquiry-was Jul first mother
Eve q perfect woman?
There are two theories OF creation. One
is that our first parents we're created per
feet beings. and that. ali imperfections,
commonly known as ugliness, have arisen
rs a result Of degeneracy.
! According to this theory some races, for
instance the Bushmen Of Africa, have de-
generated almost to the level Of brute
creation. A belle Of the Bushman tribe
would not cut much Of a figure in a beauty
show, here; and yet she may be consid-
cred perfect in the eyes Of her country
men. This indicates that beauty is to
some extent a relative term, dependent
upon environment, and upon conditions
that change with the ages. Could it be
possible. that some Of those Of the present
day, whose appearance would stop a
clock, could have been types Of beauty In
the early ages; and that the verdict
against them has been only the gradual
change In the minds Of succeeding genera
tons as to what constitutes a standard?
. Who knows? What constitutes beauty,
anyway
There are beautiful ours. beautiful spaniels
beautiful great Danes, beautiful pugs, "all
.clept by the common name Of dog. AS
::"one star differeth from another star" so
one pug may differ. from another pug in
beauty:
: There is some consolation then that
beauty Is merely a matter OF taste varying
with the succeeding generations and In the
mind Of every individual. It Is a pity,
however, that the mind and vision Of all
men are not adjustable, so that whatever
may be the present day defects Of his
spouse, he might look back to a time when
she would have been a beauty, and fix his
fancy there.
The other theory of creation Is: that
man Is the perfection OF evolution. Some
people have not advanced In the scale OF
perfection as far as others, which accounts
for the difference in intelligence and per-
sopal appearance. II 1t Is true, as we be-
heve it Is, that the human race, by evolu-
ton. found Its way from the lowest animal
organism createdli In the beginning, up to
man estate, then 1t Is equally true that
mar has grown more perfect In mind and
body from the day that he vas first en-
dowed with reason. Then the popular
idea that Eve was q perfect m seems
to be questionable. We believe that per-
feet beauty has been evolved from primi-
tive grossness in the human race as In the
horse or any other animal. Millions pic
ture of Mother Eve glassed in natures
mirror, surrounded by the lu1uriant green
Of virgin world-s picture Of woman per-
feet In every hne-appeals to our vanity OF
origin; but may not this perfection be
mere poetic fancy?
Whether we originated in perfection and
degenerated, or whether the most perfect
human specimens Of this day have found
their way up through the lower order OF
animal life, Is immaterial. For some. rea-
son, those Of US who do not tit into the
modern idea Of beauty are in the vast ma
jority. There Is no reason why such an
overwhelming majority might not change