Alcoholics -- Great Britain -- Fiction; Alcoholism -- Great Britain -- Fiction; Temperance -- Fiction
Her abundant hair was pale gold in colour and worn in a simple Greek
knot. The nose, slightly aquiline, was in exact proportion to the face.
This was of an oval contour, though not markedly so, and was just a
little thin. The eyes under finely drawn brows, were a clear and
steadfast blue.
In almost every face the mouth is the most expressive feature. If the
eyes are the windows of the soul, the mouth is its revelation. It is
the true indication of what is within. The history of a man or woman's
life lies there. For those who can read, its subtle changing curves at
some time or another, betray all secrets of evil or of good. It is the
first feature that sensual vices coarsen or self-control refines. The
sin of pride moulds it into shapes that cannot be hidden. Envy, hatred
and malice must needs write their superscription there, and the blood
stirs about our hearts when we read of an angelic smile.
The Greeks knew this, and when their actors trod the marble stage of
Dionysius at Athens, or the theatre of Olympian Zeus by the hill
Kronian, their faces were masked. The lips of Hecuba were always frozen
into horror. The mouths of the heralds of the Lysistrata were set in
one curve of comedy throughout the play. Voices of gladness or sorrow
came from lips of wax or clay, which never changed as the living lips
beneath them needs must do. A certain sharpness and reality, as of life
suddenly arrested at one moment of passion, was aimed at. Men's real
mouths were too mobile and might betray things alien to the words they
chanted.
The mouth of Mary Lothian was beautiful. It was rather large,
well-shaped without possessing any purely æsthetic appeal, and only a
very great painter could have realised it upon canvas. In a photograph
it was nothing, unless a pure accident of the camera had once in a way
caught its expression. The mouth of this woman was absolutely frank and
kind. Its womanly dignity was overlaid with serene tenderness, a firm
sweetness which never left it. In repose or in laughter--it was a mouth
that could really laugh--this kindness and simplicity was always there.
Always it seemed to say "here is a good woman and one without guile."
The whole face was capable without being clever. No freakish wit lurked
in the calm, open eyes, there was nothing of the fantastic, little of
the original in the quiet comely face. All kind and simple people loved
Mary Lothian and her--
"Sweet lips, whereon perpetually did reign
The Summer calm of golden charity."
Men with feverish minds and hectic natures could see but little in
her--a quiet woman moving about a tranquil house. There was nothing
showy in her grave distinction. She never thought about attracting
people, only of being kind to them. Not as a companion for their
lighter hours nor as a sharer in their merriment, did people come to
her. It was when trouble of mind, body or estate assailed them that
they came and found a "most silver flow of subtle-paced counsel in
distress."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account