Mr. Alcott began the conversation by referring to that of Monday
before, on the subject of Temperament and Complexion, and added other
fine thoughts about it.
He said, perhaps he had dwelt too much on the symbol of color, but
conceived himself borne out in all he had said. "The Greeks held that
a brown complexion betokened courage, and those who had fair skins
were called children of light and favorites of the gods. And the
gods themselves were demonic or divine, as tempered by darkness or
light,--the gods Infernal, the Midgods, the Celestials. So Christian
art has painted Satan dark, the Christ fair. And late experiments on
the sunbeam showed that dark substances imprison the rays,--these
absorbing more and delivering less. The more of sun, so much the more
of soul; the less of sun, of passion more, and the strange fire." He
fancied black eyes were of Oriental descent, were tinged less or more
with fairer hues in crossing West. People of sandy hair and florid
complexions were of Northern ancestry. The fusion of the various races
was now taking place, blending all, doubtless, into a more harmonious
and beautiful type.
He asked if there did not lurk in the fancy, if not in our atoms, a
persuasion that complexion, like features, voice, gait, typified and
emblazoned personal traits of their possessors, if the rhetoric of
morals and religion did not revel in like distinctions. "Handsome is
that handsome does." Beauty was the birthright of all, if not their
inheritance. It was shame that brought deformity into the world. Every
child accused, he knew not whom, for any blemish of his. "Why not mine
the happy star, too?" Still some trait was insinuated into the least
favored, and stamped upon the embryonic clay. Ebony, alabaster, indigo,
vermilion, the pigments were all mingled as purity or passion decreed.
Types were persistent, family features standing strong for centuries
and perpetuating themselves from generation to generation. Place the
portraits of a long line of ancestors on the walls, one's features
were all there, with the slight variations arising from intermarriage,
degrees of culture, calling, climate.
"Our faces were our coats of arms."
"Eyes were most characteristic. These played the prime parts in
life,--eyes and voice. Eyes were a civility and a kingdom: voice a
fortune. There was a culture, a fate in them, direful, divine." And he
quoted, without naming the author:--
"Black eyes, in your dark orbs doth lie
My ill or happy destiny;
If with clear looks you me behold,
You give me wine and mounts of gold;
If you dart forth disdainful rays,
To your own dye you turn my days;
Black eyes, in your dark orbs doth dwell
My bane or bliss, my heaven or hell."