THE PEARL
modesty.
The beauty of the most lustrous pearl is unobtrusive and its quality is
virginal. In our visions of the spectral past, the shades of the
consorts of the mighty all wear them.
Pearls
hang pendent from the ears of Egypt's voluptuous queens, and Rome's
proud matrons. Pearls clasp the dainty flesh of Moslem houris and rest
in the soft folds of draperies that cling about those daughters of the
Orient, the common mortals of their day might not look upon. Great
pearls hang festooned and pendent round the necks of lightly draped
Dianas of the warm south lands, and coiled about the brown arms of the
daughters of the chiefs in far-off islands of the South Seas.
Upon
reclining figures in the ancient palaces of Persia and Arab tents:
wherever the proud women of the conquering Occident move in stately
measure across the high terraces of noble placement: in all dreams of
fair women and brave men, are swords and pearls. And this is so because
in all the ages, women of high position have loved pearls and writers
have told it. In our old world so far, neither earth nor sea has
yielded ought else so fit
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