Page:Love and its hidden history.djvu/152

 Some wise one of the "lordly" sex, has pithily asked " What's beauty without soap?" and another equally astute one has said that "Beauty unadorned is adorned the most!" As for the first one, the fact is clear that he knew nothing whatever concerning what he wrote about; for beauty is a great deal without it, and all the "soap" in existence won't make a lady's skin fair and beautiful; and as for the second writer, it is clear that he is equally far from being right, for I say that beauty is invariably heightened and intensified by the arts of adornment: proof, take any handsome woman who walks the fashionable streets of Boston, or any other New England town or city, — and, be it known, many of the finest-looking women in the world are to be found in the Eastern States, — take her as she is when dressed and ornamented, and contrast her with herself when clothed in plain everyday garb, and I think the philosopher would quickly recant his own words and sentence. In one of my many books — which, I now forget — I asked the question, What is it that most captivates us in women, — is it the divinity or the dimity? I think it is an even thing, yet if there is any preponderance either way, the dimity has it. Now it is certain that beauty does not reside merely in either form, figure, carriage, hair, eyes, teeth, size, complexion, or accomplishments; but it is a nameless something inherent somewhat in all these, and in something else beside, and that nameless something strikes everybody alike, commands their admiration, exacts their homage, and inspires their loftiest praises. I have also said, If you want to catch a man, be sure and bait your hook with a pretty woman; and experience and observation assure me I am right. I am well aware that courtship is bliss, and marriage, especially among Americans in these telegraphic times, is very often a blister; yet nevertheless we all want to experiment in both for ourselves. Now, as times go, courtship is a system of mutual hum-bugging, as a general thing, and the resultant marriages a very painful eye-opener to both parties; hence there is a wide demand for information on all that pertains to the affectional laws of human nature, — among which those underlying beauty, will, and magnetism, are leading ones, and which laws, if well understood, as they easily are, and properly obeyed, will result in fewer disappointments, less misery, a greater amount of happiness, and fewer cases of crim.con., elopements, and divorce. Those are set