Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-02-11
HER PICTURE.


a Vision of Beauty Ever Fresh In the Old
Mans Memory.
'.What you looking at, gran'pa?
"Her picture, lass"
''What makes you look at gran'ma's
picture so much? Can't you member
how she looked when she was liver"
Eyes, lass, but it fades away; fades so
quickly my heart is unsatisfied. 1 can
see her in the picture here and look at
her long time"
'.What makes you want to so much.
gran'paP The face is old and
wrinkled-"
mo, no, lassi 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 looked at her long"
.sWhy. gran'pa! Her cheeks are
wrinkled and sunk in and"
'.What's the matter with thee. LASS?
Don't 1 know her faceP can see it as
plain as the day 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"
mo, no, lass. Don't I see them?
They looked just that way when 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 curls made than ever a
Princess wore"
s.Prettier than mine, gran'pap'
'sPrettier 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. 1
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 her
now. lass"
"Why, gran'pa, she's just the same
all the time. I'll 90 and ask mamma"
And she ran away to tell them. with
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 him
she was never old. He sees the face of
the long ago, the fairest of all to him.
He holds the picture so that the SUM-
beams will fall among the golden curls,
and gazes with all of a lovers
pride upon the vision of beauty. I'm
consciously his hand brushes the picture
as if stroking back one of the stray
ing curls his fancy sees. He kisses it
again and again, murmuring the
fond love-names, and whispering
words no other on earth must hear
His heart is thrilled with the passion
spell. His soul is free from the thrall
of years and lives in its own immor-
tai youth. The form that he knows so
well and the face that is fairest of all
have never changed in all the years
to loves sweet idolatry.
The angel that smiles from The golden
tcurls and the spirit that worships in
'dateless youth are joined in heavenly
mystery. Seeing not as mortals see,
knowing not as mortals know, yet
somewhere this side the Eternal shore
they wander on in a limitless way
-Ckica0o Current