Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-07-08

real, SllkN. Cnto@uNN h"a pi"i'iNu
around the frame--hair which had
once undoubtedly srrmounte1 that
snowy brow.
AS have said before, the portrait
seemed more like flesh and blood.
from which only glass case sepa-
rated me. than a copy of the origi-
nal
touched it with my hand; |
warmed it with my breath. 1t even
appeared to me that the warmth of
that mysterious divinity communi-
Gated itself to my lips and circulated
through my viens.
was engaged in this occupation
one Sunday when ! heard footsteps
in the hall They Were those of my
aunt. returning from her devotions.
heard her asthnlatic cough and her
slow. gouty foot. teps. ] had barely
time to replace the picture in its case
close it and station myself at the
window before my aunt entered.
assumed an easy and indifferent at
titude. As she came III She blew her
lose vigorously, for the church had
been chilly and she had added a
slight cold to her chronic catarrh.
When she saw me her little red
trimmed eyes twinkled me rliiy. Kind
~ patting me on the head with her
,vithered hand. she inquired whether
/ had been upsettlng her boxes as
usual while she had been gone. Snll-
ing roguishly, she added
wait, wait am going to give
you something to make you smack
your lips.
So saying, she brought out from
the depths of her pockets two or
three fattened gumdrops, stuck to-
gether in such a manner as to be
anything but inviting My aunt's
appearance was not appetizlng
enough to cause one to open his
mouth and devour such sweets.
Her great age; her ugly teeth; her
bleary eyes; her srnken mouth; the
parting of her hair, which was three
inches broad; the scanty gray locks
fiutteling around her temples; her
neck, as flabby and red as an excited
ROSTERS crest-faughl
Of course / could not manage to
swallow the gumdrops.
A feeling of indignation, of manly
protest, caused me to say energetic
ally:
II don't want them don't want
them, tell your
you don't want them2 How sin
gular you who are as fond of good
things as a pussy cat"
Il am not a child" l cried, swell
ing with pride and stretching myself
on tiptoe; II don't want candyl"
My aunt looked at me with an ex-
preston half ironical and half kind
ly. Finally, yielding to the feeling
of merriment which caused her,
she lost all restraint and burst out
laughing, thereby revealing the cav
ernous depths of her mouth.
From that moment onward l could
not get the miniature out of my
thoughts.
Whenever my aunt went out /
would skip up into her room, open
the case, take out the picture and be-
come absorbed in looking at it. After
l had gazed long upon it it was easy
to fancy that the dropping eyes of
my idol, glancing through their thick
shade of lashes, fixed themselves on
mine and that her bosom heaved
with quickened feeling. was even
ashamed to kiss her, fearing that my
audacity might displease her, so
only pressed her td my heart OF
placed my cheek close to hers. All
of my thoughts and acts bore some
relation to the fair dame hidden in
the golden case.
often felt singular scruples in re
gard to her, and before | would en-
ter my aunt's room to look at the
coveted miniature Iwould dress my
self in my very best, as l observed
that young men did when they wen1
to see their sweethearts l Otter
met boys of my age who had sweet
hearts and would eagerly display
their love letters, pictures and tokens
to me, asking me at the same why
did not find some one like them will
whCm | might correspond An in
explicable feeling of delicacy tied my
tongue, but when they asked my
opinion about their lady loves
would shrug my shoulders and char
acterize them as ugly frights
One day / went to see some cousins
of mine who were very pretty LITTLE
girls. The eldest was not yet fifteen
We were looking ut stereoscope
when suddenly the youngest girl
about twelve years old, slyly seize,
hold of my hand. Turning as red n
peony, she whispered in my ear
Take this
At the same time felt something
soft and cool in my hand, and saw
that it was n rosebud with greer
leaves. The little maid went off run
ming, but looking back at me out o
the corner of her eye. With co,
movement, equal to the chaste JIG
seph's, cried in turn, Take this
at the same time throwing the rose
bud in her face, In consequence o
this slight she would not look at m
again, and spent the whole afternool
weeping, Even now, though she i
married and has three children, sh
has not forgiven me.
AS the time which ! found to loo
at the miniature seemed far to