Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1872-01-10
FACES ON THE WALL.
BY HARRIET BEEcHER STOWE

author of" Uncle Toms Cabin" My Wife and II
ministers Wooing" 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 generous
FAIRIES of memory and imagination, may sit, as
do now, in the midst of falling leaves and
whstling winds, and call back the green
grasses and the summer sun. I see yonder in
the glen the darling of our house, the gold
CLEAN in Der Brown hair, chain of daisies in
her hand, and in her eyes the rougish 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 chances
to the tips Of her tiny fingers she is vide
awake -l.s-
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 cheek
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 dream-land, disturbs the sweet brow's per-
feet peace. She is fast asleep. sH
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, how
ever life or death may have dealt with them.
Nothing pleases more at first sight or gives
pleasure longer than poetical pictures of chill
dren. g The little child whom Jesus sets in
the midst of every family, is Joy that grows
not old and fades not.
i cage cannot wither, custom cannot stale
! 1ts infinite Variety -. -r.-ss rtre
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 ea t.-3
But these pictures, besides their constant
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 companionable amusement
and intercourse to the little people akin tx
them in age The pictures that children's ever
rest on as they are dropping off to sleep, or al
they awake III the morning seem to them like
living friends All sorts of childish dreams anC
fancles make of the pictured face real com
panion. Not only in the parlor or the sitting
room would they be an attractive and fittine
establishment, but they are charming pai
Tor the adornment of nursery.
! Undoubtedly these two pictures are portraits
There is realistic faithfulness and truth abou
them that forblGs the idea of their being fame,
heads. They will remind many parents of littl,
ones either here or in heaven Dickens saw,
somewhere of his portraiture of little Nell tina
he has had letters from the farthest regiocs O
the earth speaking of children who resemblet
her-so dear, and so early taken He VIII,
paints one child we'll, pants thousands, ant
speaks to the tenderest feelings of innumerabl,
hearts, saa II
Ofcourse there is pleasure in possessing a,
original painting but when the question liei
between an original at five hundred dollars
and chrome which can scarcely be distin-
! gulshed from it at ten dollars--partieularl
when one has not the five hundred to spare
the choice is not very difficult As to these
two exquisite chromo5 only critical exami
nation can distinguish between the copies anC
the originals, which sold for many hundreds
which is certainly more than can be said of the
best copies of most pictures painted by hand
Blessings u on chrome -lithography by which
the successful painting of master can be re-
produced indefinitely, and can enter thousands
of homes with its educating, quickening, re-
forming influences ~
1t is not alone into the dwellings, of the great
and wealthy that we follow this pretty pain
with antioipations of delight We see then
in the cottages of the poor, in the log cabin Of
the backwoodsman; frightening the toll of tn
hard wife and mother, and receiving the al
most adoring wonder of children who have
never seen pictures before
God bless the darlings-send the little com
forters fast and far air sfo.t ...---,