THAT SAME SWEET FACE." 



As a notable Swedish songstress, who was about 

 to depart from home to win fortune and fame in for- 

 eign lands, bid farewell to parents and friends, she 

 said to her mother, " What shall I bring you when I 

 return ?" The maternal reply was, " That same sweet 

 face." But the mother was asking for something 

 which is flitting ; she was governed by an emotion ; 

 she sighed for that which could not be. That face 

 must change its semblance could only be retained in 

 memory and marble. If the daughter of the Swedish 

 matron had never returned, the same sweet face 

 would have been ever present, but after years of exile, 

 of toil, of hope, of triumph, of rivalry, of disappoint- 

 ment, and of heart-rending scenes, the features of that 

 still lovely countenance must have changed. In fact 

 it could not remain as it was. Time is exacting. The 

 varied experiences of each passing year leave their in- 

 delible impress. What did it avail when the maiden 



said, 



" Backward, roll backward, O Time, in thy flight, 

 Make me a child again, just for to-night!" 



The man of fifty has a face on which are written 

 in somewhat mysterious hieroglyphics, the character 

 of the individual. If the possessor of the countenance 

 chiseled by half a century of time has lived a spirit- 

 ual, intellectual, and moral life, that face is a study 

 for the painter and the sculptor ; but if the owner has 

 indulged in stormy passions, partaken of bloating and 



(143) 



