The Oregon daily journal., September 27, 1908, Page 40, Image 40

TIIE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL. .PORTLAND.. SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTE5IBER . 27, 1,903
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fTTlHE old and the new-they are
i everlastingly lending to those eter.
v nal questions: v
.frtf modern ; womnt more beautiful
ythan the grand dames of long agof ' Are
. we better or worse than our forbears f Is
for world's seeming advancement only a
. toward decadence, a reversion to sav
agery? Savants and scientists have haggled
over these posers, from. the times one now
, calls ancient. They have never been set
tled. ' Probably they never will be.
But one thing scarcely admits1 of ar-
gument: the continued beautification of
; women's apparel is apparent. The gowns
: o ago are monstrosities compared to
theartistic creations of today. -
And how would the, beauties, the
; grand dames of history, compare with
, i their modern sisters, in the creations of
' - the latest couturiers
In this case, let the eye judge.
EEHAPS it is not well to pry too deet.lv
Y into the mysteries of the past. Disil
lusionment, cruel and complete, is but
all too certain to result. i
, Those of us who have hearkened unto the
' iconoclasts know that our ancestors of only a-,
few generations ago were a pretty "11101017" lot.
a For the men the fashion was to "tank up" reg
Cnlarly after dinner.. Reckless gambling was but '
, an "ordinary recreation. . Women's . reputations
were chiefly valued as an excuse for duels.
. , ' And as' to the women perhaps they never
t .change much. Still, we know that, at any rate,
.tthe eternal feminine of the present day has
; .much smaller hands and feet than of yore.
,., . . . . Likewise her lines are more sinuous and -
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graceful. Artistically correct may be the. an
cient proportions. But to a common, ordinary
man, a Grecian goddess in a Paris gown would
loom up as a frightful frump. 1 .
As to faces each century is said to have
its distinctive type. Each nation, too, has soma
favorite model which; it considers most beauti
ful . - y ' X
But what mere, modern man cannot, in aa
afternoon, see enough handsome women on any
big city street to match a whole. history full of
female beauties! V; ''" ,". '
After all, wouldn't it be a sharie.to drag
pfetty Nell Gwynn : from ' her niche of fame .
and put her in a lace waist and pompon I . But
no doubt, if Bhe lived today, she would be f oroed :
to affect a pompon, or some suck trifle, to make
herself appear taller. . . '.' '' '.
Truth to tell, Mistreat 2?eH, whose beauty -'
lifted her from the humble and none too respect
able calling of a tavern singer to the - favor
itism of Charles H along toward the fag end of
the sixteenth century Mistress Xell, painful '
as it may sound, was somewhat "dum..." '
After the actress, aa perhaps the most nota
ble grand dame of Britain's - varied history, )
came the Duchess of Devonshire, whom -Gainsborough
immortalized aa the. highest type of
eighteenth century .beauty. . Modern men would .
pronounce her a real "stunner. , - -
But how would she look in a aheathf Would
she be such a wonderful vote-getter for Charles
James Fox,' the dashing statesman, gambler and
turfman, as she was when ahe iniiired the fol
lowing lines: ;j , ...' ',
AtTrfl la match Waatr. De-ron's fir, .
la Tox'm favor take a ui'ot part:
. But ah! whtrfr tha pHferar cemjt, bawar
Fha aappllcata rota and itAU a haarL '
About the middle of the eighteen h century
Was born another far-famed British beauty,
who lived until well into the nineteenth long
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enough to sea the, styles ia which she had '
shone completely change. She was Sarah Sid .
dons, the Vrsnd dame par excellence of the .,.
stage.-- ' ' ; .' '-X ' " ' "',
; No scandal dimmed her name, end to her '
eommandlnfl' presence untold thousands paid - -
tribute. But where would be the queen of ;
tragedy, arrayed in one of our gowns for an '
., afternoon jaunt t ' Would she be thy hand
: somer than hundreds ' of ' women ! we paai,
; ' every iayj : . . ' , ' ," . V
. ; And while these beauties were reigning
J ih England, others of equal note held sway on
the continent. There was , Marie Antoinette :
Josephe Jeanne do . Lorraine, , for instance. -
. uauprnter oi me greai juaria xneresa ana
the Emperor Francis J, this Austrian prin
cess -whrf ascended . the throne of .'.franc ,
came honestly, by her regal bearing
,J FiTst the idol pt, her people, then ' the
. prey; of the guillotine, she was persecuted' ;
s with every sort of slander ner ingenious ene
mios could think of . ' Her. fair same was i
assailed, ber loyalty -impugned. But . her
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personal charm was nevor "questioned.
Still, would she appear so becomingly in
a lace gown t For r-nswer, see her picture.
- Of the same epoch were two typical
Frenth charmers, ' Mme. Keoamier and
Mme. Le Brunl- Each, in her way, was,
. for that time; perfection.. ,
Erery one ' is familiar with , the
charming picture of Mme. Le Brun and
her eon. -In her the spirituelle is char
acteristic. Perfection of . feature could
never be more attractive than the love
Minesi reflected by her eyes. Yet in a
ball gown of today she is a pretty wom
anno more, no lessX
, . .: So it is with Mme. Becamier. , As
. her likeness has been banded down to us,
her lineaments portray1 the sweetness
and self-sacrifice which were the shining
; ornaments of her character. ; Innocent
she must have been, when, in a wicked
age, she retained the friendship of her
lovers', wives. 'Self-sacrificing she cer
taiifljr.was, wben she braved Napoleon's
' ire and incurred banishment by" her un-'
dying friendship for Mme. da Stael. ,
What more fascinating than her
portrait, half - recumbent, in a flowing -empire
gownt Yet the same face in a,
costume which siorta a half -mannish
waistcoat shows us simply, a pretty,
"cute looking girL Dressed in that
fashion., would the charm of her pres- -ence
hale been so transcendent as to
: ensnare such commanding figures as
Quixot and Chateaubriand I
Then, ; for the- typical Teuton io
beauty, who-aaw the ead of the eight
eenth and the beginning of the nine-
teenth. centuries when in her prime, wv
can find none more representative than ,'
Louise tf Prussia. Of commanding
, presence, yet womanly withaL her
. beauty-waa of the true 'queenly type.
Beautiful , still, : she seems, in a Paris -tailored
gon. But aa queenly I Let
the' eye judge. -
- And: last, the Counteas Potocka, the.
wondrous yoong Polish woman, whose
ika lared the mighty Napoleon to his
doom in Moscow. Long before he tired
of ber smiles the city waa in names and
his magnificent army was left to become
the prey ef a merciless winter. But
f ad the conqueror met hr attired in a
hirtwistf Perhaps the his'tory ct Eu- ;
ror wodd have a diJerent stcry to tell.
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