The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
"And here was Mr. Carnegie jut
This
To Virginia, Quttn
O Venue by Carnegie Crowned,
More Fair Than She of Sea Foam Wrought,
I Hail Thee, and I Kiss the Ground,
Which Has Thy Slightest Footprint Caught,
fHEN, man?, many years see.
a Grecian gentleman
Darned Paris held a private
beauty contest with Venus, Minerva
and Juno In the ring and picked
out Venus, right sissy there was
trouble. Trouble for Helen, the
moit beautiful woman In the world
whom Venus gave Paris for plotting
her ai the winner, trouble tor her
bukband, trouble for Paris, trouble
for Troy that got Into a tea years'
war on account of It, trouble for
everybody.
And ever since every besuty con
test hasn't been anything bet
trouble.
Tet here comes Mr. Andrew Celt
negle, who ought to know better.
He can't Judge Ooddeitea as Parts
did, because either there area any
nowadays or else they're all ta
skirts. So the Man Who Made Steel
Famous, there being s slump ta
libraries or peace or trust Investi
gations, and his voice having beea
Irrltatlngly Inactive for at least
a day or two, picked a photograph
out of his library drawer and turn
ing a bland face to the world said.
Just casually, sort of:
"Here's the prettiest girl la the
world! Her name Is Virginia Leo
a see Uves to Pittsburg!"
Of course, Mr. Carnegie did not
realise that this Is sn abnormally
np-tothe-second world; thst every,
thing Is on the hair trigger; that
we have beauty nostrums, tonics,
wines, stockings, petticoats, tooth
powders, corsets, fslse hslr, shoes,
hair brushes and a thouisnd other
things whose manufacturers are ell
eager to psy good money to stamp
them with a name that has unique
advertising value.
Therefore, how could he know
whst would tollow when te said
Juit that:
"Here's the prettiest girt la the
world, ete."
Now It Miss Virginia Lee had
been a different kind of a girl, what
Mr. Carnegie had ssld of her would
have been a mllltoa dollar advertise
ment. She could bsve gone Into .
vaudeville at 11,000 a performance!
end we would have had Virgin!"
Lee corsets and Virginia Lee puffs.
Virginia Lee cocktails end Virginia
Lee face powder. Virginia Lee this,
that and everything.
But Miss Lee wasst that kind of
a girl. She didn't have stage am
bitions end she never thought of
eapltallilng herself Into beauty ad
vertising. She was simply a mod
est, retiring business girl with a
horror ot notoriety and an earnest
desire to do her stenography sad
typewriting In a clean-cut way, eara
her money and save It or spend it
quietly ss she pleased.
And so Instead ot getting the ad
vantage et that million dollar ad.
here Is little Mlaa Lee peatwed halt
to death, forced te give up her posi
tion and her plana for earning a
modest living, all her quiet way et
life upset and her health seriously
sffected by the glare of all the
world'e earchMghia so suddenly
turned upon her I
It yon dont think this Is a painful
eiperlenoe for a girl ot this kind,
ust see what Miss Lee had to go
up against The sight Mr. Carnegie
did the Paris trick. Miss Lee slum
bered peacefully as usual. Eves
when she awoke, unlike Byron, she
did not know she was famous It
waa rather early la the morning,
too, because she hsd to eat her
breakfast and get down te her type
writing machine ta the office of the
Losghbridge Engineering Company
at nine sharp. Her grandmother,
looking over the morning paper,
suddenly exclaimed:
"Why. Virginia. Juat look at this!
Mr. Carnegie says 'You're the pree
tlst girl in the world'!"
"My goodness. Grandma! It can't
be me; He some ether "Virginia.'
Mr. Carnegie aerer saw me la all
hla life"
"No. It mease yen," said Orandma.
"Here's our address 830 Jsuncey
Street"
"But Mr. Csrnegfe'e never sees
me." protested Virginia. "Beside.
. nobody has ever aald before thst I
wss even pretty."
"But Mr. Carnegie's seen your
photograph," said Orandma. grow
ing more and more excited. "Toor
father gave him one down la Hot
Springs, He thanked Mr. Carnegie
; Maa x x -i 1 wrc zlwl.' n
like Paris of old, presenting
Is the Kind of Poetry
of Beauts, ....
i
'
..:-.;-v
f -
V4
X "is
1 i
..'. sw -y
Y
Gaby Deslys A New Pho
togrsph Whom Mr. Car
negie's Old Partner Mr.
Charles M. Schwab One
Said Waa the Prettiest
Girl in Europe. Illustrat
ing the Difference in
Tastes.
for the opportunities you hsd en
Joyed ss a student in the Margaret
Morrison Technical School, and
gave him your photograph and
Mr. Carnegie wrote across the
back of the photograph. 'Bonnie
Virginia Lee, a prise for some lucky
man,' and he signed It 'Andrew
Carnegie.'"
"Oh, Grandma, even If It Is true,
why should they put It is the pa
per r said Miss Virginia ead with
rosy cheeks, but furrowed brow, re
turned to breskfsst
Orsndma reminded her that every
thing Mr. Carnegie says etoeyt got
la ALL the papers. And then shs
7
' a. i t : ..... v.-, ' -- '
' - 'J . .'Vt;J r; J' , V-""V- ' ft "-" ; J
' ' ' J-f'" .nf t ? w?"' I " i
CopyrlSht, mi br
the eternal beauty priie and making trouble.'
Miss Lee Has to Read
Thine Eyes of Blue, Thy Bonny Face,
Arc Graven in the Heart I've Lost;
For, by Thy Form of Matchless Grace,
I Swear I'm Thine at Any Cost I
1 i s ''
' I
' v "-J?:-1
4
1 X , "" "te-" "Poor Miss Lee!
.- ..f. fjfCfi ? v " tet. Miss
Amertcn-Examiner. Great Britain
Reginald Veter Jontl, P. 0.
Qtneroi Delivery, Uno York.
1 1
tP ,?,? - K -VS
'.V-.i r -"a, i
4 A
4 f
A.
4
ittiii
Rights Referred.
What happened to the
II .e-vi' V V ' -V, 1
Miss Virginia Lee, the Little Pittsburg Stenographer Whom
Mr. Carnegie Has Made Unhappy by Calling Her the
"The Prettiest Girl in the World."
exclaimed after a glance through
the window:
"Why. what are all those people
doing out In front ot our house?"
Just then the bell rang and Grand
ma admitted one of them
reporter for one of the l'lttaburn
evening papers! He was epoketman
for the rest ot the crowd all
reporters, Including two with cam
eras. They must have photographs
of and Interviews with the girl Mr.
lirnegln tald was the most beau
tiful in the world."
Being SooU-h snd therefore
"canny" Miss Virginia had dla
sppeared. By the beck way she
reached her car and fled to her em
ployers' office. And there she ran
the gauntlet of more reporters,
more photographers.
"Go away," she said, "do go away!
It's sll a mistake or a JoKe. I
don't know Mr. Carnegie. He might
think I'm s pretty girl but, oh.
plesse don't say anything In the
newspapers!"
"Click-click," went the cameras
In snswer.
Once In the office, seated at her
machine, she worked furiously, ears
deaf, eyes blind to everything else.
It waa a terrible day telephone
calls from sll sorts of people with
sll sorts of offers, sll sorts of
schemes to make her fortune. Every
minute there was a messenger with
a telegram. Her mall was larger
than the firm's. She waa pursued to
her doorstep In the evening. The
next day waa worse yet Reporters
snd photographers hsd arrived from
other cities. It waa next to impos
sible to elude them.
And In the office her personal
mail began to pile up enormously.
A New York artist wrote, offering
her $5,000 to pose for him.
Photographers offered her large
sums tor the exclusive right to print
snd sell br pictures; manufac
'Prizetfeaimr
MnCarne&eRcked
With the Limelight Turned on
Her by the Old Steel King,
Miss Virginia Lee, "The
turers of various srtlclea wanted
the use of her esme snd photogrsph
for sdvsrtlstng purposes, offering
generous pay; dressmakers wanted
the privilege ot making fashionable
gowna for her, for nothing except
the advertisement Mo&t pressing
of sll were the offers to go on the
stage legitimate, vaudeville and
moving picture.
And each night when she resched
home, humiliated, tired out, nearly
desperate, there were more letters
containing offers of marriage. Be
ins young and full ot lively spirits,
Virginia at first was much amused
by these. Some contained poetry
like that given above.
Some of the letters mentioned,
or hinted, marriage In connection
with more or less elaborate appeals
for a chance to make her beauty
return dividends 1n cash. Here Is
one of them out of thousands.
My Dear Miss Lee:
Nothing in this world Is ever
accomplished without co-operation.
There is no better co-operation than
that of a man and a woman who
really know what they want snd
have the means snd intelligence to
get It. I am a young man of excep
tional brains. Ton are a girl of ex
ceptional beauty Mr. Carnegie says.
Let us Join our fortunes! With my
brains and your beauty nothing
In the world can stand before us.
Of course, we should have to be
married. But that would only be
to satisfy the conventions and to
make our partnership effective I
have long bad In mind a career
whereby sn Intelligent man of brains,
linked with aa Intelligent woman ot
beauty could, within live years, be
millionaire snd st the top of the
social ladder. If Helen ot Troy hsd
been properly managed by a man of
brains, Troy, instead ot falling,
would have been the metropolis of
its time. If Anthony had only been
Ancient Troy was besieged ten years because of an original beauty con
Lee was besieged by 10,000 press agents, managers, etc"
Prettiest Girl
in the t
World9 Has
Had Nothing
but Trouble,
More Trouble
and Still
More Trouble
a man of brains, Instead of one ot
emotions, he could with Cleopatra
have made Egypt the centre of the
world for at least one hundred years
longer and so It goes. We have
the combination of the beautiful
woman and the man without brains,
or the man with brains and the
ugly woman.
Does this letter arouse your
curiosity? Does It set a new
thought going in your mind? It
so, write to me, letting me know
when and where I may see you,
Then we can go over the detail
Awaiting your answer, and aA
dress me General Delivery, Jersey
City Post Office, I am.
Sincerely yours,
C. D. Bennett.
Only for a few days did these
letters afford poor Miss Virginia any
amusement. Before a week had
passed by, her employers could read
In her harrasned look how unfortu
nate for her the whole episode was.
Finally she had to leave them.
"Virginia has not had a happy
moment since the Interview with
Mr. Carnegie, and her picture ap
peared In print," said her grand
mother. "She has suffered greatly;
It has been most humiliating to
her."
For herself. Miss Lee says:
"I thank Mr. Carnegie for his
flattering compliment, but I ens
sure that had he known how em
barrassing it would prove to me,
he would have kept his opinion to
himself.
"I shall not consider any of the
proposals made to me by wife
hunters and others I Intend to
work for my living If I'm only si
lowed to."
And Andrew Carnegie, the un
lucky Paris, who bestowed this ex
ceedingly bitter Golden Apple on
this Irretrievably modest and re
tiring young working girl, he, too.
Is overwhelmed with Inquiries In
fact, compelled to say:
"I certainly regret having been so
Indiscreet The matter has gone
quite far enough. The least said
about It. the best for all concerned."
And there you are. Mr. Charles
Schwab, one of Mr. Carnegie's old
partners, once said that Gaby Deslys
was the prettiest girl in the world.
Here's her newest picture together
with Miss Lee's Just to show how
tastes differ. But Miss Lee Isn't
the kind of girl Gsby Is And so
It's all been a very great tragedy
to her Indeed.
It Just shows how very dangerous
these beauty contests sre snyway.
V
