Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-03-05
HER
A Vision of Beauty Ever Fresh in the Old
Mans Memory. :,

Mans Memory.
"What you looking at, gran'pa?:" u
"Her picture, lass"
"NNhat makes you look at gran'ma's
picture so much? Can't you member
how she looked when she was 'live?"
eyes, lass, but it fades away; fades so
quickly my heart is unsatisfied. I can
see her in the picture here and look at
her n long time"
"What makes you want to so much,
gran pa? The, face is old and
wrinkled-"
mo, no, lass! You don't see! The
face is fair and round, and the roses
come and go in her cheeks like they al
ways did when l looked at her long"
why, gran'pa! Her cheeks are
| wrinkled and sunk in and"
"What's the matter with thee, lass?
Don'tI know her face? l can see it as
plain as the day I kissed it first in the
orchard path long ago-long ago.
Them's dimples you see in her cheeks,
lass. Roguish dimples that always
laugh to gladden. the heart that sees
them. And that rose in her hair"
"Where, gran'pa? Let me see."
"There on that side, lass, where the
curls shine like gold"
"Why, gran'pa, it's all straight and
gray"
"No, no, lass. Don't I see them?
They looked just that way when l first
loved her, lass. They never changed.
I saw them every day till she died
every day for fifty years, the same golden
curls. When your mother was a wee
babe she used to play with them, lass,
and fill her little fingers with the golden
rings. Pretty rings, lass; prettier rings
them golden curis made than ever a
Princess wore"
"Prettier than mine, gran'pa?"
"Prettier than %anybody's, lass. There
never were any like hers before nor
since, never, anywhere. And when she
smiled as she does now"
"Why, gran'pa, she amt smiling,
She's looking as straight"
''There, there, lass; you don't see. ]
say when she was smiling as she is now,
and the dimples danced and deepened
and her eyes sparkled and she shook her
queenly head, them golden curls would
always fall like glittering rings. that she
was beautiful as an angel-look at hel
now, lass"
"Why, gran'pa, she's just the same
all the time. I'll 60 and ask mamma
And she ran away to tell them. will
great tears in her eyes, and grandpa
said grandma's hair in the old picture
was prettier than hers.
They left him alone with her. To hin
she was never old. He sees the face o
the long ago, the fairest of all to him.
He holds the picture SO that the sun
beams will fall among the golden curls
and gazes with all of Il lovers
pride upon the vision of beauty. I'm
consciously his hand brushes the pictur
as if stroking back one of the stray
ing curls his fancy sees. He kisses i
again and again, murmuring tn
fond ~love-names, and whisperin,
words no other on earth must hear
His heart is thrilled with the passion
spell. His soul is free from the thral
of years and lives in its own immcy
tai youth. The form that he knows s.
well and the face that is fairest of al
have never changed in all the year
to loves sweet idolatry.
The angel that smiles from the golde
curls and the spirit that worships i
dateless youth are Joined in q heavenl,,
mystery. Seeing not as mortals see
knowing not as mortals know, yc
somewhere this side the Eternal shor,
they wander on in a limitless way
Chicago Current.