The Washington herald., 1920-04-15
IS THIS YOUR TYPE?
BY NAHIE LaROQUE,
Copyright, 1870. Mcclure Syndicate. }

There are all sorts of blondes-but
the most charming sort of all. say
some authorities. is the blonde CEN
dree, or ash blonde. And there is
Just this much about the ash blonde:
You may be sure that she is authen-
tic. There can be no artifice about
her. For there is no chemical means
Of tinting or bleaching hair to that
rare and altogether delightful tone
known to the French as blonde CEN
dree. 1t is not a brilliant or a gold
color. 1t Is pale and ashy. Doubt
less II takes more discriminating
taste to appreciate 1t.
This type of person, is said to be
indolent and dreamy. He is like
wise said to possess much tender
ness. To show that this theory Is
right, the name Of Theophile Gautier
Is given, French novelist who COM
bined all three Of these characteris-
tics.
With this color hair one usually
finds pale blue eyes, or soft gray
eyes sometimes gray or blue eyes
that seem almost black. You may
find brown eyes with some shades
of golden hair, but almost never
with hair that is blonde cendree.
With this pale blonde hair one
less often finds the vivid rosy COM
plexion that .characterizes many
golden blondes. It is more frequent
ly of milky whiteness. Take. for
example, the lovely Melanie de Mus
siere, Countess Of Pourtales. a cell
ebrated beauty Of the second EN-
pire in France. She was the re-
nowned blonde of her time and with
this wealth Of ash gold hair she had
a complexion said to be like rose
petals fallen into milk"
This type of blonde Is extremely
rare In France-perhaps that Is why
1t Is SO much admired when it does
occur. 1t Is more frequent among
the northern races, especially where
though still by no means common,
it is more usual.
Turgenev describes a peasant girl
in "Tryst" who was of this type.
She was very comely," he says, and
her hair of fine ash blonde fell in
carefully brushed semi-circles from
beneath a narrow red band which
was pulled down almost on her
oAO" dS white as Ivory.
But 1t not among the Russian
peasants that we find beautiful ash
blondes. Among Russian royalty
there was the Empress Elizabeth,
wife OF Emperor Alexander /. She,
however, was not native Russian,
put a German princess. She was
strikingiy beautiful with a noble,
well proportioned figure" She was
A a uyi
ented and had hair of the delicate
TINT that the French call cendree."
In england no less than in other
countries the ash blonde Is much
admired. II you have ever read Mrs.
Humphrey Wards Eleanor" Won
may remember that Eleanor herself
was of this type. Here is the wav
Mrs. Ward describes her: "She was
not beautiful except in the judr-
ment of few exceptional people 10
whom q certain kind of grace. very
rare and very complex in origin is
OF more Importance than other
things. The eyes were indeed beau
tiful, and the hair of a soft ash
brown folded and piled around II in
a most skillful simplicity" Mrs.
Humphrey Ward was a kinswoman.
you know. of the famous literary
Arnold family to which Matthew
Arnold belonged. That poet had a
fondness for this type and cele-
brates 1t in few lines in "switzer-
land"
"The sweet blue eyes-the soft, ash
colored hair
The cheeks that still their gentle
paleness wear,
The lovely lips. with their arched
smile that tells,
The unconqusred Joy in which their
spirit dwells." -