El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-10

! A YOUNG girl, who says she is very
/ - small, writes me a fearful let
ter, in which she complains
/ that men only admire large, tall ma
I Jestic women, and that no matter now
pretty and sweet a short woman is she
! is passed over in favor Of some lady or
] the goddess type
/ Ny correspondent feels that her
] chances Of matrimony and her happi-
ness in life are blighted by her lack or
I Inches, and she demands to know why
this is thus.
Unto which I would respectfully sub
Z nit, for her consolation, that this isn't
( thus. 1t is not true that men, taking
them by and large. are enamOreQ
OF the tall and stately woman, or that
they prefer her to the little roly-poIy
Of course. viewed from a standpoint
of pure art, "a daughter OF the godss
divineIy tail and most dlvlnely IalIs
has the call over her abbreviated sister
The Gibson girl the Fisher girl the
Christy girl, all Of the various glrls
I with whom we are familiar on the
] backs Of magazines and In the SUNDAY
supplements, would undoubtedly De
about seven feet high If they were
Z translated into real life Also, they
all have a lean and hungry look Wnlcn
goes all right in a picture, but IL IS
doubtful if any man would care Tor IL
in lady love.
In this connection it is interesting
to remark that in a previous age, Wneh
there was more marrying gong on tlaLl
there is now, lot more love InaALIls
doing, the popular ideal Of feminine
pulchritude was not the telephone post
woman of today but the small cuddle-
some woman that was Just a gooa arm
full
The immortal Shakspere set the prop
or height Of woman as Just as hlgn
as a mans heart. Dickens made hls
Bella Wilfer his Ruth Pinch, his Dora,
his Dot, all of his most adorable women
not only short but plump All OF Scott
heart smasbers were little women. The
big woman did great, heroic stunts, but
To was the little woman that men loved
Thackerays 1aVorlte heroines, even 20
Becky Sharp, were all small
These great writers knew the hearts
of men, and they builded on the fact
that while men reverence and worship
at the shrine Of the tall, majestic WON
an, SO times out Of 100, it is the cute,
little, cunning woman, with klttenlsh
ways, that can wrap them around her
finger.
OF course, there are many explana-
lions of this phenomenon. The most
obvious is that it flatters q mans van
ity for q woman TO look up TO him
physically as we'll as mentally A man
likes to feel that he is superior TO his I
wife, and IL takes one with as much Z
he is as it does for one to marry a /
woman that is more intelligent and I
better educated than he is.
a superior height like superior I
mind, is really a handicap rather than 1
an advantage to a girl so far as getting 1
married is concerned If you VIII look (
about you will see that the girls who 4
have the most beauX, and the women I
who hold the matrimonial records are /
nearly always small women with a very /
limited supply Of brains.
OF course, tall women are admired and /
do get married. mostly TO very small I
nm-r 81 20 D. Al
the balance steady and keep up the /
average height of the species, and by /
the same token and for the same reason Z
tn bigger man is the more the little
woman appeals to him.
1t is, however, absurd to claim that Z
men, as a whole, especially admire
either the short or the long type of
or that her height, unless she
Is a dwarf. has anything TO do with a
girls chances OF getting married Gu
Did doesn't so about with a yard stick,