Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-01-19
THROUGH EYES Of
THE HOTEL MIRROR

II is big mirror covering a good
" pertion of the end of this little ho-
tel parlor. the little parlor which is
a sort of withdrawing room from the
hig drawing room beyond, a kind OF
safety valve for that resort. Just at
this moment the peep into that mirror
from behind the curtain in the corner
here is not edifying, fer it shows
repetition of the stuffy, stiff, unhOme-
lv-looking room, flattered repetition,
though, because it is flatterer, that
mirror, as most cf its brethren are.
Didn't you know that about mirrors?
Why, I've known it always. At least
I've known it for quite awhile. |
was about as high the afternoon |
found it out-just ABOUT as high as the
balustrade around my grandmother's
back norch. l know l was because
know | was standing on a chair to get
a view of the premises uninterrupted
spring afternoon, stin and sleepy and
boring, and / finished my survey with.
out finding anything worth bestowing
my valuable time and attention upon.
But when l turned disgustedly away.
10. another back YARD, a back yard
worth gazing at in mute, rapturous
longing for an hour or more.
1t was as if fairy had waved her
wand above the everyday spot and had
transformed it into a place worthy TO
be the home of any fairy queen and
her court. It was the same back
yard that had been thre always and
yet it wasn't the same. For Cne thing,
one wonderful thing, it was turned
around end there was 4 cistern in the
left-hand corner where the We.odpile
always was before, Then it was al4
so little and beautiful and far away,
so smooth and soft aud wonderful, so
mysteriousIy unreachable, that it
would have been worth ali the nickets
and dunes il anybody's little tin bank
to have Eeen able TO play there fer
whole spring afternoon, because, yen
see, the enire place, woodpi.e and
cistern and hedge and fence and trees
and sky. We're there in one pane Of the
dining.room window. And ever since
that afternoon of the transtigured
back yard I've been prepared to be-
lieyc the statement that some people
make viz. that our mirrors say nicer
things to us all than car neighbols
think about US,
That is rather uncomfortable faith
t. possess, and yet, if it be true, ma
ture and our mirrors have provided
kindly for us, and l for one am quite
content to live and die without the
power "to see myself as others see
ne I'll try to be satisfied with my
MIR RS version of me That's bad
enough for me any day.
Dul uSlS lucy Nol1iN, q litAAl upS-Nil VA
them. The mirror says SO. There
they come to find out what the mirror
says. The mirror opens wide its eyes,
i. glcws, it sparkles, it flashes back
smile for smile. and it does not need to
say single flattering word t. say
some very nice Things to thic hevv OF
light-winged creatures dipping aud
eosing and precning here be-
tore it as they retoucn the p.umage
of their new winter suite and hats
and wraps. which to the unlimited
did not seem to need any retouchinG
at all. AS they turn reluctantly away
With last look INer an embroidered
shoulder and another last look cat Of
ti97 corner Of a bright eye, somebody
Says that this is a lovely mirror isn't
III And somebody else says, Yes and
do not murmur something which un-
mistakably means yes. And the lights
in the back parlor have somehow flick
cred lower and the mirror has grown
dim when the last one has fluttercd
cut Of sight. Is it all vanity, all, all
vanity that the mirlior said?
And here they come. The mirror
says so, and the mirror is making
faces. ugly faces. Dear me- if | look
ed like they dc.--at least if l knew
looked like what I know they look