Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1872-05-25
EYES.
ORIGIN AL.

| am in the country at this writing, in
the little eight-by-ten library to which
my hostess has pleasantly condemned
me for the morning, that may be safe
from the aggressive tide of house-c!ean-
ing that is sweeping over the cottage.
The one large south window is what
George cDonald-tenderest and god,
liest of all n-writers-would call both
the Eye and the Ear of the room; for it
looks out upon the fairest landscape ever
kissed by the rain-wet lips of April ;
and it hears the song Of the robin, the
bleating OF the little, new, white, weak
legged lambs on the hill, the shouts of
children, the tinkle of COW bells in up
land pastures, and all the sounds that
go up from live and busy world when
it has wakened in the spring.
1t is this Eye of a window, looking up
to the great Eye of the sky-so grandly
and yet so softly blue-that has set me
thinking of the eyes that have known,
the eyes that have seen without know
ing.
Holmes says we make our own mouths,
and | think Holmes never uttered a
more inspired and concise little sermon
But God makes our eyes. He leaves so
much of the yelled soul bare to the
world. They cannot be moulded or
deepened or softened or changed in any
way by human will The mouth can
be made to smile-it can be made to
utter tender, false words-to give healt t.
less, hollow kisses; but the Eye cannot
masquerade. Deceit and treachery may
lurk in the frlnged lid, even, but Il
speaks straight from the conscious,
naked heart.
What culture and variety shows itself
IN human eyes when compared with the
monotonous blackness of birds and ami
mails! Black seems to have been con
sidered good enough" for them-it is
cheap color with artists-but we hu-
mans have our extra hazies, azures and
grays. How kind, how excessively ste.
ful, OF Nature, to give to the fair blonde
creatures who stand at the head of all
forms of life blonde eve!
The Blonde Eyes rank first, | think.
1 do not know why. They are oftenest
sung OF by poets. They are oltenest
associated with romance-especiallv
romance of a pathetic cast. They
are attributed to angels. An in
habitant of the celestial land possessing
raven black hair and midnight eyes is
hard TO be thought o!-though | trust
such angels are to be found there !
There is also tallacy in existence that
glyes to Blue Eyes greater sincerity and
fidelity, greater amiability and evenness
of temperament, while Black Eyes are
associated with the opposite qualities.
That this is a fallacy, my reader may
Inv |,
the Black eyes of his acquaintance.
Hazel Eyes are comfortable sort of
Eye. Spared from the pathos of the
Blue and the diabolism of the Black,
they occupy middle ground. | doubt
If they ale generally addicted to weep.
ing and am certain that they never
hash with the torches Of the Bad Temper
hend. You find them, almost always,
sunny and laughing-hopeful incorri
glble Eyes, whose light it takes "a life.
time OF ill luck to quench Owners of
such eyes are not so plucky as they are
impervious. They cannot absorb a sor-
row.
l like the steel blue Eyes-the North
sky eyes! They are cool and proud
and yet you see the summer lightninss
sometimes at play in them, and the ten
der stars sparkling in their depths,
silent and steadfast. When you have a
friend with such eyes, be true to him :;
for he is worth all your truth.
May Heaven and Earth be kind to
the man or woman who inherits the
hard, cold, glittering "Prussiai blue"
Eye. The light, vacant, shallow eye,
in which the color seems so poor and
thin that you might expect it to fade
out any moment and leave nothing but
a white ground! | sometimes doubt if
God ever Intentionally made such eyes.
1t seems as if human depravity had a
hand in it Ten to one, behind such
eyes you find demons spirit and a
heart. as cold and clammy as the grave
There is the yellow brown, cat-like
Eye, which is also hard eye to over
come, Ii an ancestor has inflicted it
upon one! They are not wrapped up
IN Their own exclusive ugliness, like
the prussian blues; but are inquisitive,
ANXIOUS, prowling! They behold ali
SINS and short comings except those
which they might behold by looking
in Aard. They are gloomy, unrestfui,
and all that i, expressed III that large
word-uncomfortable!
there Is the common Black Eve such
as one meets everywhere-as expires
sioniess as black bead; yet a merry
l. 4