The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1907-10-29

| day that Ii has served me we'll.
look at it almost with reverence; ii
has not won me fame, but it has made
my fortune.
And this is how 1t came about:
was attending medical lectures,
and had a short railroad journey to
and from the city every day. My
train down in the morning, coming
from away up north was often late,
so | sometimes took my camera with
me and amused myself while waiting
by photographing many an unsuspect-
Ing victim on the depot platform. One
week in particular, l had unusually
good success, and / found when
came to develop my plates that l had
three fine negatives, so after / had
printed my proofs, carried them tri-
umphantly down to the parlor to show
the girls" as the two misses, my sis
ters, were usually called.
One Of my pictures was the likeness
of the prettiest faces / have ever
seen; nor was l alone in my admira-
ton; all agreed that she was charm
ing, such beautiful features, such a
sweet expression, such an intelligent
face.
Picture No. was the round chubby
face of little, ragged urchin whom
l occasionally saw around the depot
Picture No. 3 we all pronounced the
homeiiest girl we had ever seen.
photographed her for that very rea-
son; because she looked so placidly
contentedly ugly, resigned to her fate
We named the picture Beauty" and
THE Beast" 1t was a shame, was 1t
not, for who would not be handsome
If 1t were possible?
My sisters loved to tease, and it
was long before I heard the last of
those pictures; 1t was a long time be-
fore | felt the last of them. | could
not get that sweet face out of my
mind. / watched day after day on
the train, eagerly hoping for another
glimpse of 1t; but l was again and
again disappointed. Why should
care so much for a stranger, whom /
had never met? | was thoroughly
provoked with myself, yet / was OBJ
stinately determined that / must and
would see her again. To judge whether
my likeness was true? But the boy
or THE Beast" would have done as
well for that
About that time a friend, Fred
Barnes, came to spend a night with
me, and of course l showed him my
pictures. He merely glanced at that
favorite face and threw it aside.
could have shaken him. He took more
interest in the homely one, and when
he said that he did not think she was
ugly, we made all manner of fun of
him.
III you call that good-looking," 1
remarked, Il truly pity an ugly wom-
an"
Well, the term of lectures came to
an end examinations and the crown
ing time, when found myself a doc
tor of medicine.
All these important events, so much
to fill my head and hands, and vet
they had not crowded out that old
nagging memory Every day / used
to get out that picture and gaze at it.
| hate sentimental youth, and could
have kicked myself every time | did
1t, and yet kept right on. Was fate
driving me? was not to begin my
regular professional work until
autumn. 1t was arranged that l was
to spend week with my friend, Fred
Barnes, and then join a party going
to the mountains.
Late one afternoon | reached Fred's
home. The family were assembled to
greet me, his mother, and Great!
Well, | do not swear, but / never came
so near it in my life as l did then-it
was THE Beast" his sister If the
floor had opened would have willing
ly been swallowed up; If / could have
rushed out of the house, but no,
must stay and face them all.
/ felt as II. l had forfeited all right
to my friends hospitality by my out
rageous talk, when he saw the pic
lures. | wildly wondered whether the
mother and the girl herself knew. /
tried to hope that 1t were possible that
even Fred had not recognized the like
ness. But no, the little camera had
been too true for that, and there 1T
stood out there in the hall with my
valise, truly detective marking me
as the criminal
Well | lived through It; one could
hardly help living and being happy in
so charming place as that home, no
matter what his past misdemeanors
might be. And since l had to live, and
had to stay, all could do to make
amends was to be as polite to them all
as | could, and make myself as agree
able as possible. l did not see how
they could be so kind to me. / had
not been in the house week, before
felt as If ! had known them all my
life, and | was truly sorry when the
time came for us to start on our
mountain trip. There were ten of us
In the party, gentleman and lady
who lived next door, two of our col
lege friends, Mrs. and Miss Barnes.
Fred and myself.
Four of us had cameras, and we
were expected to do great things in
the picture line, especially so, as one
of our friends was an artist. He did