BEAUTY. 299 



positions; their children die young of the heredi- 

 tary taint, or drink tlieniselves into untimely 

 graves, or fall into crime and pass the greater part 

 of their short lives in prisons or workhouses. On 

 the other hand, those healthy persons with sound 

 natural tastes who prefer fresh cheeks, smiling 

 faces, hearty limbs, and open foreheads to the out- 

 ward and visible signs of decay and degeneracy 

 themselves live long and happily, on the average 

 of instances, and rear large and vigorous families, 

 who, in turn, inherit the active brains, strong 

 bodies, and good moral impulses of their fathers 

 and mothers. In this way the instinct for beauty 

 implanted by Nature in the hearts of every one of 

 Ls is really an instinct impelling us immediately 

 towards all that is best and soundest in humanity, 

 and causing us to feel an instantaneous repug- 

 nance towards all that is unwholesome, uncanny, 

 or undesirable. It is Nature's automatic advice to 

 young people about to marr}^ urging them to 

 choose rather the best, the soundest, and the 

 worthiest, than the worst, the weakest, and the 

 basest. 



Look first at the merely pliysical qualities. Is 

 it not immediately clear that on the whole a 

 beautiful person, be it man or woman, means usu- 

 ally a perfectly sound and healthy person? We 

 admire a good figure and stout hearty limbs, 

 while we do not care physically for very puny 



