The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1914-06-11
WAS IT POSSIBLE?
Ladies of OIden Times That We're
InconvenientIy Beautiful.
How Many Modern Women Would
Like to BE So Handsome That
Mob Would Gather Whenever
They Appeared?

"They can't walk In the park"
wrote Horace Walpole of the beautiful
Cummings in 1851, ''or go to Vauxhall,
but such mobs follow them that they
are generally driven away Eliza
beth, Maria and Kitty Cunning were
three beautiful sisters who. coming
over from Ireland in 1850, took London
by storm. Nor wss the furore that
their beauty created Of brief duration,
for nine years later we read OF Maria
Cunning, by that time Countess Ut Gov
entry, and Lady Waldegrave, that
two ladies of distinction (who had, it
seems, been incommoded by the mob,
as the phrase is, the Sunday before)
walked up and down the walks of st.
James park preceded by soldiers from
the guard-a precaution which gave
no small offense to the rest of the COM
pany, who were frequently obliged to
go out of their path to make way for
the procession"
Equally potent was the beauty of
the Countess Of Castiglione, who, at
her first appearance at ball given
by Napoleon III at the Tuileries, Gre
ated such a sensation on her entrance
that the dancers stopped motionless
and the strains of the band ceased,
guests and musicians all pressing for
ward in their eagerness to catch a
glimpse of the newcomer. Wherever
she went afterward her peerless love
| Illness produced a like effect, people
climbing onto chairs and benches to
see her pass, while when, in 1862, she
visited the London opera the audience
stood upon the seats and struggled
for every place of vantage from which
to gaze upon the lovely Florentine.
Fanny Murray about the middle of
the eighteenth century was one Of the
| toasts of the town. Her beauty was
| beyond question, and created such a
stir at Tunbridge Wells, whittier she
went to drink the waters, as to neces-
state the formation of special guard
of her admirers, who keptoff the crowds
that fiocked and pressed round her
when she walked on the Families and
other public resorts. Indeed, such was
| the fame of her beauty that from
miles around the country folk came in
wagons, carts or any vehicle that
could be procured-and when one was
not available they hesitated not to
walk-that they might feast their
eyes on the celebrity from town.
| The good looks OF Julie Durrier al
ways drew after her crowd when
she walked through the streets of Mar
| seilles--a fact that the proprietor of
an eating house was not slow to avail
| himself of when he engaged the girl
to serve in his establishment. For a
| few days all went well and Boniface
was beginning to rejoice over his for
| tune when he suddenly realized that
one can have more than enough of a
| good thing when the crowd of which
the dimensions grew larger every day
| swarmed into his establishment in
| their eagerness to view the beautiful
| Hebe, and, on his attempting to eject
some of the most persistent. broke in
| to open tumult, destroying the tables
| and chairs, breaking the glasses and
in short, wrecking the restaurant
| whence the cause of the uproar was
lucky in escaping by back exit. The
| next day the place was closed and
| soon afterward Mile Durrier left the
| town.
More extraordinary still was the
sensation created at Toulouse toward
| the close of the sixteenth century by
paragon of beauty known only to
| fame as La Belle Paule. Whenever
she appeared in public she was at
once surrounded by a crowd of men
and women belonging to all classes
whose admiration grew to be a posi-
| tive danger to it's object, who ran
more than a chance of being crushed
| to death in the press, as indeed, was
more than one cs her worshipers.
In these circumstances appeal was
made to the civic authorities. who, at
| ter due consideration, agreed to sup
ply her with protection against her
too ardent admirers, on condition that
she should at certain hours walk
abroad so that the public might look
upon her face. This, after some de-
muir, she agreed to do, so twice week
the populace of Toulouse were per
| mitted to collect in orderly throngs to
view her whom they regarded as little
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