Huntington advertiser. [volume] (Huntington, W. Va.) 1874-1921, 1874-08-20
BY ECILAS.


in the whole narrative which seems
naturally to suggest the idea that she
was beautiful. Every reader gets the
impression instinctively, unconscious
", but cannot tell why. The beauty
OF her character seems to throw Its
soft, sunny reflection ovel her person
We fancy how she looked i'll the
early dawn, treading her way, with
elastic step, through the ripening
grain Of the fields of Boaz.
..Ne'er did Grecian chisel trace
nymph, maiden, or grace,
or faifc. form, OF loyelier face"
Ruth The name carries me back
to the painting Of a youthful woman's
face, which | saw hanging in an OBJ
scure corner Of an art gallery in the
Exposition building at Cincinnati.-
Nearly 4 year has passed since then,
vet that pictured face, looking down
from It's canvass, is as clearly before
me now as on the sunny eve | was
first moved by the strange spell Of Its
beauty. Tired of gazing at and adj
miring the array of smiling landscapes
and bright faces, | had left my com
panions, and sitting down i'll pol
tion of the hall somewhat excluded
firm the light, my eyes fell upon
Ruth" The name came unconscious
" to my lips as / looked upon that
face. 4 broad, 'ow brow, from which
the hair was smoothly parted, Its
darkness shading cheek Of pale pa
rity, mouth with rare tenderness,
eyes large and dark, were the out.
lines OF the lineaments, the sottened
grace Of the form cf features that
caused one to inyoluntarily pause and
look again, and still again. 1t was
the great holy resolve, the unshaken,
unswerving womanly devotion that
dwelt on the pale bow, that fingered
lovingly around the wistful mouth
and found vent in all its subilmity III
the dark and dauntless eyes; yet II
is something that cannot be written
or told, exceeding beautiful. keep
4 copy in my mind and can oft-times
close my eyes and call up the haunt
ing face of Ruth, see the unwaver-
ing resolution Of tie eyes and brow
and near, almost, the quivering lips
imploring "Eutreat me not to leave
thee. or to return from following thee,
for whittier thou goest, | will 60;
where thou lodgest, | will lodge, thy
people shall be my people, thy God,
my God, wheie thou diest | viii die,
and there will | be buried, the Lord
DO 50 to me, if aught but death part
ne and thee" We can look back
ward and fancy sees her rs
,She stood breast high amid the corn
Clasped by the -oidcn light Of mo!n.'
Noble indeed, WAS the choice OF
the lovely Moabitess TO give up all
Tor the people an the service Of the
only living and true God, rather than
live on with her kindred iii idolatry
We know not how long and lpaintu.
nav have been this decision, but II
reveals the intense energy Of a souI
voluntarily rclinquishing all the tie:
OF country and friends, to choose
portion in the God of Israel and al
humble lot among his people. anc
she did not lose her reward. As sh'
toiied there in the fields Of Boaz-ai
unknown stranger among the reap
ers rs-how far from any OF her youth
ful imaginings and day dreams Of tn
future, must have been the though
that the blood which courSed through
| !cr veins and mantled her cheeks
would descend and flow through man.
of the renowned personages OF tn
worlds history-through David an'
So.omon, josiah, Mary and Jesus =
Her history, wonderful in the begin
ming, and wonderful in the grandeu
Of its termination in the great Me,
,iah, is indeed striking illustrates
of the fact that truth is stranger, an'
far more beautiful than fiction.
hxAsDAvILLE, Aug lith, 1879.
!