Litchfield enquirer., 1872-01-04
FACES ON THE WALL.
BY HARRIET BEEcHFR STOWE.

\ " "1otots WVV"sS, ot0' 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
 ca by the generous fairias of memory and
 imagination, may sit, as I do now, in the Hldst of falling leaves and whistling winds, and call back the green grasses and the summer sun. see yonder in ths glen the darling of our house, the gold gleam in her brown hair, a chain of daisies in her hand, and in her eyes the roguish medita- ton of 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 pausing 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 nestles yonder on the sofa-cushion, tired at last in earnest. Slowly the lids fail, and the lingering smile dies out; but the flush in the cheek and lip remains, like the glow after sunset. The gathered but ter-cupa 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 dealt with them.
 Nothing pleases more at first sight or gives pleasure longer than poetical pic- lures of children. ''The little child" whom Jesus sets in the midst of every family is a joy that grows not old and fades not.
 Age As ;9sn;,o ssnnot withsr, custom cannot stale
 For this reason happy picture of 8 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, are such as children can understand and love-. Our little ''Wide Awake" and "Fast Asleep" would give many pleasant hour of con- panlonable 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 faIrcies make of the pictured face a 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 a 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 niany 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 we'll, paints thou sands, and speaks to the tenderest feelings of innumerable hearts.
 Of course there is pleasure in possess ing an original painting; butwhen 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 $pare-the choice is not sA, 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 a master can be reproduced indefinitely, and can enter thousands of homes with it's 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 ebackwoodsman, bright ening the toll of the hard-wife and mother and receiving the almost adoring wonder of children who have never seen pictures before. God bless the darlings-send the little comforters fast and far
 The charming pair of oil chromos, s'Wide Awake" and ''Fast Asleep" of whose real beauty and attractiveness Mrs. Stowe's graceful sketch can give but an imperfect dea-so pleasing re they to all who love art or children-have always sold in the picture stores for BIO, and the original publisher has never been able to supply l 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
 4f. GIVEN 4 WAY
 to every subscriber to The Christian Union | an uasectarian, literary, religious and do- mestic weekly newspaper, edited by Hen " Ward Beecher.
 The pair, by fortunate infringement which one of the partners of this house l was able to make in Paris during the late siege, with the proprietors of the pictures. are furnished to Mir. Beecher's publishers at a rate entirely exceptional. The sub- jects are Life Size.
 As to the Christian Union, the great success or that paper has been marvel I in the history of journalism, and the schol- arly and critical New York Nation calls it ''not only the ablest and best, but also the most popular of American religious peri l odicals.
 This paper, after the first of January, will be printed oIf 8 still larger sheet, folded in twenty-four pages, pasted at the back and trimmed at the edges, decided advantage possessed by no other religious weekly published. It contains contribu- tions from eminent writers of all denomi- nations, and has matter of interest for every member of the household, young and old. For the year 1872 Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe will write exclusively for l Christian Union
 |. The terms of subscription to this paper
 are, For one year, only $500. This will
 entitle the subscriber to the paper and to
 the above pair of beautiful Oil Chromos. The Christian Union, including the Illus