Page:Andrew Klarmann - The Fool of God (1913).pdf/27



HE desire for the companionship and possession of the dainty daughters of Sem was a besetting passion with all Egyptians of means and position. The Egyptian women, although far famed for their sweetness of disposition and grace of bodily form, still lacked the one necessary feature of perfect beauty— a perfect type of face. Also the tinge of copper in the color of their skin was considered to be derogatory to the full glory of their presence; for their loyal lords prided themselves on a well-cultivated taste for the beautiful. The picture, therefore, of the perfect Egyptian beauty was that of a woman of refinement, of modest bearing, of a sunny disposition, of ingrained domesticity, of lithe and graceful form; in short, of a truly lovable creature. But whatever of her bodily grace was not draped in silk-like, scented byssus, presented itself under the uninviting cover of a coppery skin; and, to the irredeemable injury of the very top of woman's beauty, there sat, shrinking and abashed, a little upturned nose in her face. She was a queen without a scepter, a cherub without a crown, a vision with a gap.

Her Asiatic sister of similar social position was more fortunate with garnering the gifts of the envious gods.