taunts and complaints.

The number of those who are, or who consider themselves,
unfortunate in their physical conformation, is larger than the
most of us suppose. I presume that at least one-half of the
readers of this essay are any thing but well satisfied with the
"tabernacle" in which they reside. One man wishes he were a little
larger; one woman wishes she were a little smaller; one does not
like her complexion, or the color of her eyes and hair; one has a
nose too large; another has a nose too small; one has round
shoulders; another has a low forehead; and so every one becomes a
critic of his or her style of structure. When we find a man or a
woman who is absolutely faultless in form and features, we usually
find a fool. I do not remember that I ever met a very handsome man
or woman, who was not as vain and shallow as a peacock. I recently
met a magnificent woman of middle age at a railroad station. She
was surrounded by all those indescribable somethings and nothings
which mark the rich and well-bred traveller, and her face was
queenly--not sweet and pretty like a doll's face--but handsome and
stylish, and strikingly impressive, so that no man could look at
her once without turning to look again; yet I had not been in her
presence a minute, before I found, to my utter disgust, that the
old creature was as vain of her charms as a spoiled girl, and
gloried in the attention which she was conscious her face
everywhere attracted. It would seem as if nature, in making up
mankind, had always been a little short of materials, so that, if
special attention were bestowed upon the form and face, the brain
suffered; and if the brain received particular attention, why then
there was something lacking in the body.