FRIGHTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 291, 9 December 1871, Page 4

FRIGHTS.

(From the Liberal, Review"). Many, it may almost be said the majority of people, are ■ more '. proud ,of possessing a fine personal appearance than anything else. It is, perhaps, as well that the greater number have no grounds to bevain on this score, or we should run a good chance of becoming a nation of con- +•■.■ •■■ ■

ceited nincompoops. About nothing are men and women so touchy as about their personal appearance. An ugly man may keep on obtrusively forcing his ugliness upon the notice of his friends (an ugly woman has generally the good sense to hold her peace upon tbe subject) by calling attention to his weak points. But the sly fellow does so in the hope that somebody will point out his strong onep, and come at the conclusion that \\p> is, after all, a very well-looking fellow. Moreover, though be may laugh himself about his own ugliness, jokes on the same subject, coming from any one else, fall very flat indeed, and are apt to raise his choleric feelings. And yet, he would be willing enough to admit, there is no real credit in being haudsome any more than there is in being strong. It is, by the way, one of the most peculiar idiosyncracies of human nature that most is thought about those virtues (if virtues they can be called) which the possessor has been put to no trouble to obtain. As a rule, very handsome people have not the most influence on the world. They are useful so far as they go, just aB flowers, ornaments, and pictures are; they are pleasant to look upon. But your men with heads like an Adonis's, often do not possess two ideas beyond how to display their magnificent appearances to beat advantage, and your women with faces like a Venus'?, faultlessly beautiful in every respect, can do little except smile and look bewitching. Their smiles, too, are deceptive, for they lead people to believe that they are the pick of amiability, when, in reality, they are quite the reverse. But you will generally find plain and ordinary-looking people agreeable, and more or less intellectual. It. is not very difficult to assign causes for this. Handsome people, for one thing, calculate (and to a certain extent calculate correctly) that their good looks are sufficient to secure them ailmiratiou and attention. A really pretty woman deems herself privileged, because she is pretty, to act in a manner ifc would be quite insane for a plain one to do, unless she wished to bo banished into Coventry. She may be whimsical and domineering, affected and vain, and need not put herself to any trouble to attract anybody. She relies more upon her looks than her talents. Many people will meekly accept insults from her at which they would boil over with terrible indignation were they tendered by an ugly member of the "fair sex." This is another of the idiosyneracies of human nature. But the plain woman knows that she must depend entirely upon herself, and that if she gets anyone to love and admire her it must be for her virtues and talents alone. And then she must be free, to a certain extent, from that too general feeling, vanity ; at least, she cannot be vain of her appearance. It is a remarkable fact that plain and ordinary women marry, in a general way, quicker than do the beauties, though, of course, they have not so many butterfly admirers. The majority of old maids have, in their youth, been beauties. The pretty girl, who developes into an old maid, often becomes a downright fright, without a single redeeming feature. She is the most waspish, most fidgetty, and eccentric of tbe genus. It is upon just the same principle that plain men possess more influence than handsome meu. The first feel it incumbent upon them to exert themselves in a hundred ways in order to attract favorable attention, while the second feel there is small necessity for them to do so. Handsome people, as a rule, are not generally loved. Dislike, (and especially in the case of women) may, to a certain extent, be begat by jealousy, but the real cause is that the best- looking men and women are often not so good as they look. , M One of the surest tests that plain people have more influence than "beauties "is the fact that they are rarely jilted. A man or woman may fall in love with a pretty or a handsome face, and then get heartily sick of it; but they would not so soou get sick of an ugly face, because^they do not fall in love with the face at all, but with the owner thereof.

It is rather difficult to define what ugliness is. It may be said that no men or women are absolutely ugly unless they make themselves so. A hooked nose, and an ill-shaped mouth are in themselves ugly, but the possessor thereof need not be ill-looking for all that. The man who, .when he is passing along a street, people look round at, and involuntarily exclaim "what a fright !". and the woman who attracts similar attention may be safely set down as plain. Then there are a vast number of people who do not attract much notice, but whom, if an opinion were asked, the majority of people would say were plain. The chances are, however, that .when these people are more closely examined, it is ' discovered that although they may have an ugly cast of countenance,; they ' are not at all , hideoui. There is frequently a peculiar charm about auch

people. They grow upon you, and you like them better and better the more you know of them. They «re often clever, and their faces will light up with au euthusinsm which more haudsome profiles could never do. How many people there are in the world whose first appearance gives you an absoiute shock, and whose faces you come to absolutely love to gaze upon, wondering how it was that you missed noticing tbe many good points which your eye then takes in ! The fact is, however, that it is the expression which makes or mars a face, and nobody can sustain a really good expression except they are moderately intelligent. Then tho eye plays a great part. Ifc may be any color, from deep brown to green, and still be agreeable or disagreeable. Very mauy " ugly " people have good eyes — we do not. say what color, but they are generally bright and expressive.