HAIR AS A CLUE TO CHARACTER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1719, 9 April 1913, Page 8

HAIR AS A CLUE TO CHARACTER.

$ : SHOULD YILLAINESSES BE DARK OiM'AIK? The "Jlatin" (Paris) lujs noticed a strong tendency among dramatic authors to make all their villainesses dark. ■ As a result of this discovery it has asked a number of authors tlio reason. 51. -Jules Clarette, a member of the French Academy, replied that it was not at all certain that authors willingly made ihoir villainesses dark. ITe also pointed out that, in the days of romanticism, these women came generally from Ihe South—from Italy, Spain, and Corsica— where the women are mostly dark. Today the "witches" came mostly from the North, and arc generally fair. Ho' adds that nowadays almost all women are blonde'because, they dye their hair. It all depends on the author and the artist who interprets his work. Mademoiselle Slistinguettc is all against the theory. "No women are more fatal than blondes," is her dictum. "They are all the more dangerous because tliey hide their wickedness behind a veil of sweetness and charm." "There is not much to be said for' the idea," is the oxrinion of 51. Kip, the wellknown revue writer. "I find," lie writes, "that writers are nnjust towards dark people. There are as many fair villainesses in history as dark ones. Eve wan fair. Mario Antoinette had white hair, and I won't insult you by suggesting that you don't know (he colour of Bluebeard's hair. A friend of mine, an explorer, assures me that in the Congo all the. ladies of the description you mention are dark." 51. Guitrv writes that, having carefully considered the question without prejudice, ho considers that dark people are emphatically "the worst." sllle. Regina Bedet. who is a very beautiful brunette, is inclined io agree that dark people are the greater sinners, though she states, with 5L Rii>. that the first of them, Eve, was fair. "However," she adds, "a dark eye under a raven lork will often strike the most hardened with terror."