Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-02-08
FACES ON THE WALL.
by HARRIET BErcrrER STOWE

Author Of URcle TOMS CatiH,' i" Ny Wie
and i" etc.
Once there was a very good little girl, who,
by reason of her goodness, knew where to
find strawberries in the winter. In the same
way less perfect people, blessed by the gen.
erous fairies of memory andimagination, may
sit, as do now, in the midst of falling leaves
and whistling winds, and call back the green
grasses and the summer sun. see yonder in
the glen the darling of our house, the gold
CLEAN i'm her brown hair, chain Of daisies in
her hand, and in her eyes the roguish medita-
tion Of a kitten, weary for an instant only of
its play, and thinking slyly OF another spring.
Thrown back upon the velvet grass, she is
not resting, only pausng; from her bright
glances to the tips of her tiny fingers she is
wide awake.
But now the merry play is over, and our
pet ncstlcs yondcr on the sofa-cushion, tired
at last in earnest. Slowly the lids fall, and
the lingering smile dies out; but the flush
in check and lip remains, like the glow
after sunset. The gathered buttercups and
daisies are loosely held by the fair little
hand no shadows, even Of drcamland, dis
turb the sweet brow's perfect peace. She
is fast asleep.
In other words, two chromos hang upon
the wall, bewitching child-heads, in which
every mother sees something of her own dear
ones, never grown old; and never lost to her,
| however time or death may have dealt with
I them.
Nothing pleases more at first sight or gives
pleasure longer than poetical pictures of
children. "The little child " whom Jesus
sets in the midst of every family is joy that
grows not old and fades not.
Age cannot withsr. custom cannot stale
! Its infinite Variety
For this reason happy pi'ture of n child
/ brings an enjoyment more listing than any
other, because it is a subject Of which no one
ever tires.
But these pictures, besides their constant
charm for grown folks, are such as chHdre'
can understand and love. Our little ''Widt
Awake and EAST Asleep" would give many
a pleasant hour of cOmpanionable amuse
ment and Intercourse to the little people
akin to them in age. The pictures that chill
dren's ewes rest on rs they are dropping of I,
sleep. or as they awake in the morning
seem to them like living friends. All sort
of childish DIRE cams and fancies make of tn
pictured face n real companion. Not only II
the POrlor or ritting-room would they be al
attractive and fitting establishment, bu
they are a charming pair for the adornmen
of q nursery.
Undoubtedly these two pictures are POI
traits. There is a realistic faithfulness an
truth about them that forbids the idea q
their being fancy heads. They will remin
many parents of little ones either here or i
heaven. Dickens says somewhere of hi
, portraiture of little Nell that he has ha
, letters from the farthest regions of the cart
speaking of children who resemble hers
, dear, and so early takeni He who paint
one child well, paints thousands, and speak
to the tenderest feelings of innumerab
hearts.
OF course there is a pleasure in possessin
5 an original pointing; but when the questiO
lies between an original at five hundred do
lars and a chrome which can scarcely be di
tinguished from it, at ten dollars-particl
a larly when one has not the five hundred I
spare-the choice is not very difficult. As I
2 these two exquisite ehromos, only critics
examination can distinguish between IL
copies and the originals, which sold for man
hundreds-which is certainly more than ca
be said of the best copies of most picture
painted by hand.
Blessings upon -lithography, I
: which the successful painting of mast
|, can be reproduced indefinitely, and can ent
: thousands of homes with its educatin
+ quickening, reforming influences
: Ii is not alone into the dwellings of Il
: great and wealthy that we follow this pret
I pair with anticipations of delight. We S
+ them in the cottages of the poor, in the Il
n cabin of the backwoOdsman, brightenil
: the toll of the hard-worked wife and mot
2 er, and receiving the almost adoring wond
!, of children who have never seen pictures
: fore.
God bless the darlings-send the lit
comforters fast and far