Litchfield enquirer., 1872-01-18
FACES ON THE WALL.
BY HARRrFT BEFCHER srowF.

Author of Uncle 70ns's Cdbir,," "My we and -" Ministers Wooing, "elc. 0nce there was very good little girl, V who, by reason of her goodness, knew where to find strawberries in the winter. In the same way less perfect people, bless ed by the generous fairies of memory and imagination, may sit, as I do now, in the midst of falling leaves and whistling winds, and call back the green grasses and the summer sun. see wonder in the glen the darling of our house, the gold gleam in her brown hair, @ chain of daisies in her hand, and in her eyes the roguish medita- tion of kitten, weafy for an instant only of it's play, and thinking slyly of another spring. Thrown back upon the velvet grass. she is not resting, only pausing ; from her bright glanees to the tips of her tiny fingers she is wide awake.
 But now the merry play is over, and our pet nestles yonder on the sofa-cushion, tired at last in earnest. Slowly the lids fall, and the lingering smile dies out; but the flush in the cheek and lip remains, like the glow after sunset. The gathered but ter-cups and daisies are loosely held by the fair little hand; no shadows, even of dream-land, disturb the sweet brow's per feet 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 deal4 with them.
 Nothing pleases more at first sight or gives pleasure longer than poetical pie lures 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 wither, custom cannot stale Its infinite variety."
 For this reason happy picture of a child brings an enjoyment more lasting than any other, because it is subject of which no one ever tires.
 But these pictures, besides their con- stant charm for grown folks, arc such as children can understand and love. Our little ''Wide Awake" and "Fast Asleep" would give many pleasant hour of com panionable amusement and intercourse to
 the little people akin to them in age. The pictures that children's eyes rest on as they. are dropping off to sleep, or as they awake in the morning, seem to. them like living friends. All sorts of childish dreams and fancies make of the pictured face real companion. Not only in the parlor or the sitting-room would they be an at tractive and fitting establishment, but they are charming pair for the adorn- ment of nursery.
 Undoubtedly these two pictures are portraits. There is realistic faithfulness and truth about them that forbids the idea of their being fancy heads. They remind many parents of little ones either here or in heaven. Dickens says somewhere of his portraiture of little Nell that he has had letters from the farthest regions of earth speaking of children who resemble her-so dear, and so early taken He who paints one child well, paints thou sands, and speaks to the tenderest feelings of innumerable hearts.
 Of course there is pleasure in possess ing an original painting; but when the ques- tion lies between an original at five hun dred dollars and @ chromo which can
 scarcely be distinguished from it at ten dollars particularly when one has not the | five hundred to spare-the choice is not
 very difficult. As to these two exquisite
 chromos, only critical examination can
 distinguish between the copies and the
 originals, which sold for many hundreds which is certainly more than can be said of the best copies of most pictures paint ed by hand.
 Blessings upon chromo-lithography, by which the successful painting of master can be reproduced indefinitely, and can enter thousands Of homes with its educat- ing, quickening, reforming influences It is not alone into the dwellings of the great and wealthy that we follow this pret- ty pair with anticipations of delight. We see them in the cottages of the poor. in the log cabin of the back woodsman, bright ening the toll of the hard-wife and mother and receiving the almost adoripg wonder of children who have never s6@n pictures before.
 God bless the darlings- s-send the little comforters fast and far
 The charming pair of oil chromos, "Wide Awake" and s'Fast Asleep" of whose real beauty and attractiveness Mrs. Stowe's graceful sketch can give but an imperfect dea-so pleasing TO they to all who love art or children always sold in the picture stores for $10, and the original publisher has never been able to supply the great demand for them even at that price. And yet, although thousands of them have been sold in America at that high rate, they are now within the reach of all, for they are
 GIVEN 4 WAY
 to every subscriber to The Christian Union an unsectarian, literary, religious and do- mestic weekly newspaper, edited by Hen