Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1912-04-21

w a CIR ecian gentleman
w named Paris held q private
beauty contest with Venus. Minerva
and Juno In the ring and picked
out Venus, right aioay there was
trouble. Trouble for Helen, the
most beautiful woman In the world
whom Venus gave Paris for picking
her as the winner. trouble for her
husband. trouble for Paris. trouble
for Troy that got into q ten years
war on account OF II, trouble for
everybody.
And ever since every beauty COZ
test hasn't been anything but
trouble.
Yet here comes Mr.. Andrew Car
negle. who ought to know better.
He can't Judge Goddesses as Paris
did, because either there aren't any
nowadays or else they're all in
skirts. So the Man Who Made Steel
Famous, there being slump In
libraries or peace or trust investi-
cations, and his voice having been
irritatingly inactive for at least
q day or two. picked q photograph
out OF his library drawer and turn
ing a bland face TO the world said.
Just casually. sort OF:
Here's the prettiest girl In the
world! Her name is Virginia Leo
s1< sAs lives In Pittsburgh"
or course, Mr.. Carnegie did not
realize that this Is an abnormally
up-to-the.second world; that every.
thing 10 on the hair trigger; that
we have beauty nostrums, tonics,
wines, stockings. petticoats, tooth
powders, corsets. false hair. shoes,
hair brushes and a thousand other
things whose manufacturers are all
eager to pay good money to stamp
them with O name that has unique
advertising value.
Therefore, how could he know
what would follow when he said
Just that:
Heres the prsttiest girl In the
world. etc"
Now II Miss virginia Lee had
been a different kind Of q girl, what
Mr.. Carnegie had said Of her would
have been q million dollar sdvertise-
ment. She could have gone into
vaudeville at 81, 900 Q performance
and we would have had Virginih.N
Lee corsets and Virginia Lee puffs.
Virginia Lee cocktails and Virginia
Lee face powder. Virginia Les this,
that and everything.
But Miss Lee wasn't that kind OF
q girl. She didn't have stage am
billions and she never thought Of
capitalizing herself Into bsauty nd.
vertising. She was simply q mod
est, retiring business CIR! with q
horror Of notoriety and an earnest
desire 10 do her stenography and
typewriting In q clean-cut way, earn
her money and save II or spend 1t
quietly as she pleased.
And so instead OF getting the ad-
vantage OF that million dollar ad.
here is little Miss Lee pestared halt
TO death, forced to give up her posi-
ton and her plans for earning Q
modest living. all her quiet way Of
life upset and her health seriously
affected by the glare Of all the
worlds searchhghts % suddenly
turned upon heri
II you don't think this 10 q painful
experience for q girl OF this kind.
Just see what Miss Lee had TO 20
up against. The night Mr.. Carnegie
did the Paris trick. Miss Lee slum-
bered peacefully a. usual Even
when she awoke, unlike Byron she
did not know she was famous II
was rather early In the morning.
too, because she had to eat her
breakfast and get down to her type
writing machine In the Office OF the
Loughbridge Engineering Company
at nine sharp. Her grandmothe-,
looking over the morning paper,
suddenly exclaimed:
Why, Virginia, Just look at thIsi
Mr.. Carnegie says You're the pref.
tist girl in the world'!"
Ny goodness, Grandma! II can't
be me; its some other virginia
Mr.. Carnegie never saw me in all
his life"
no. II means you" said Grandma.
Here's our address-s30 Jsuncey
Street.
But Mr.. Carnegie's never seen
me-" protested Virginia. Besides.
nobody has ever said before that l
was even pretty"
But Mr.. Carnegie's seen your
photograph" said Grandma. grow.
ing more and more excited. Your
father gave him one down In Hot
Springs. He thanked Mr.. Carnegie