Daily Richmond Whig

A LADY'S DREAM
BY JAMES LAWSON.

I grant that dreams are idle things,
Yet I have known a few,
To which my faithful memory clings,
They seemed so sweet and true—Byron.

The gay and thoughtless prize woman more for the beauty of face and elegance of figure, than for intelligence of mind, or refinement of education; so that if a lady be acknowledged a fashionable belle, the strength of her mind and the polish of her education are accounted nought.

With men of genius, external beauty is but a secondary consideration; "that within which passeth show," has the first claim on their admiration.

Beauty fades; time steals the roses from the cheek, and age leaves but a shadow, the beautiful and fashionable belle. With the lady of talent and refinement, the charm of conversation, and the flow of wit, cast a veil over withering loveliness, and render her as interesting, when robbed of personal charms, as in her day of power and pride. But to the intelligent eye, a lady of mind and education is always beautiful, though her features, when at rest, are not as lovely as a cherished flower, nor as regular as a painter's fancy line, yet, when her mind warms with conversation, or burns with the poetic imagery of her fancy-thoughts, a brightness and a witchery dwell in every expression, which unconsciously hold in thrall the dullest of mankind.

When, however, to intelligence of mind is added the spell of beauty, that lady holds a masterdom over every heart, and man bows in silent adoration before her physical and intellectual perfection. Her presence commands respect, her actions admiration. The idle and the fashionable bow in subjection before her very gaze. The educated and talented stand before her with awe and admiration; and with conscious pride count themselves in the society of one, whose very word makes them feel a presence that instructs and exalts. There is no creation of nature more beautiful than a lovely woman—nothing more dignified, more respect commanding, than a female of genius and education She gives an exalted opinion of his race, and would make the veriest misanthrope renounce his misanthropic faith, and exclaim with exultation, "she, like myself, is of the race of man!"—N. Y. Mirror.