The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1841-10-15
CHI A PIER III,
Nh sweet it is, to gaze upon the face
,ong seen but by the mind ia ipnlly i'm,

All! sweet it is to gaze upon the facc
Long seen but by the mind, to iundy trace
Each look and smile again.
Ana, on, now pines the sou-hOw doth it crave
Only moments look DANA.
How frequently in our walks through life do we
meet with persons-u,er strangers--who remind
us of some friend or acquaintance long since gone
to his rest. There may be nothing in the general
features that awaken the association; nothing in
deed which we can account for or define; We, there
is certain something which serves to recall as il
by magic, the departed. Perhaps if we can scan
the countcnance in search of the likeness we are
unsuccessful; and yet hasiy glance reveals it to
US in all its truIhfulness, A popularity in smile
it may be; a particular expression about the lips
nay, certain movement of the body; a slight in
clinalion Of the head some such trivial cause
awakcns the electric chain Of memory, and the i'm
age of the loved and mourncd are brought for nm
instant before us, as in the fleeing phanasma of Il
dream.
This was the secret of Mrs Randoph's strong
parliaty to the younger Mrs Irving. On the first
interview with Ellen she detected an expression in
her TEXTURES; something in her manner, which
brought instantly before her the husband of hel
youth, And yet when she cas-, a second glance or
the lovely face which had called up such sad
remembrance, for the very purpose of asccrtainins
wherein consisted the likeness, the rescmbanc,
had entirely vanished. Time and again would ,hi,
or some kindred expression fash upon her, thrill
inn the chain Of association, and still as she cndea
vored 10 scan j, more closely like the meteor CLEAN
it was gone. She scrutinized each look of Ellen
with so much interest. that it must have been EN-
barrassing TO her, had she been aware that she was
an obec, Of such rigid notice. As i; was, the
nest, melancholy intensity of Mrs Rando'ph's gazc
which did not escape Ellen's attention, aroused
feelings in her bosom which were both strange and
inexplicable.
In vain, however, did Mrs Randolph eudcavor to
f r that look which so haunted her with n.cmore.
of the past. In state Of repose she could mol
discoy er the least resemblance between the features
of Ellen and those Of the image enshrined in her
widowed heart. Hers were not the broad cypan-
sve forehead; the black, deep.set eve; the slight.
" ac1uiine nose, and the full runded chin of hcl
lamened husband There was no individual fea.
ture or combination Of features that looked natural
TO her; yet let but smile play over Elen's face
or let her engage for moment in an animated
conversation, and there was the look-disiinct bu
Observation-Disclosures yet not the less striking
and apparent. Mrs Randolph called the attention
of her friend, the elder Mrs Irving, to the crcum.
stance, but the passage of years had rendered Toe
nds,inct the image Of the lost on her mind to ena
bic her to recognise anew even recall the minute
lneaments of the deceased.
No wonder that the widows lone heart clunt
with undisguised fondness TO the object who pos
sessed the power of awakening associations so dea
10 it. For Ellen's own sake--her amiable dispo
si,ion- her kind and devoted attention to her, sh
loved her;--how much the tie that bound her 1,
the Young bride was strengthened by the circum
stance we have mentioned, let the reader imagine
Surely never did mothers heart glow with
deeper love toward the child Of her affection tina
did hers toward Ellen. She felt for her oil the so
l;citude which is deemed natural alone to the ma
terna. bosom; manifesing an interest in her hap
piness and in all that related to her welfare, by
thousand little acts Of kindness and tendernss, whic