146 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



him ; and he beat his poor wife for his bad luck and 

 ill-fortune. The death of a beloved child, sickness, 

 and poverty drove the woman mad with disappoint- 

 ment and hopelessness. In a few years that once 

 beautiful face was fixed and furrowed like the coun- 

 tenance of a maniac. Can lovely features be made to 

 take the place of those so wo-begone? No, time 

 never rolls backward in its flight. Hope and an agree- 

 able change of circumstances would do something 

 toward restoring cheerful features, yet the same sweet 

 face will never return. 



But, what is ,to compensate for this loss of youth- 

 ful comeliness ? Are our faces to be agreeable only 

 in youth? Let us see. Mrs. Linneman, a lady of 

 fifty in our acquaintance, does not appear old, even to 

 children. Her features are those of a cultivated 

 woman ; her posture is superb ; her general presence 

 is gentle, winning, and commanding. Her face is ex- 

 pressive of matronly goodness, kindness, and grace. 

 Was that face ever so handsome before in her life? 

 Probably not. As a girl she may have been beautful, 

 but as she lost a feature of mere physical beauty, she 

 gained its equivalent in spiritual charms; and as years 

 rolled by the changes necessarily occurring were not 

 against her, but in her favor. Her womanly graces 

 are not less admired than were her youthful attrac- 

 tions. 



The stately gentleman on our streets was said to 

 be handsome when he was twenty -five ; he is fifty 

 now, yet he is still handsome every body acknowl- 

 edges it. That head, face, neck, and shoulders all 

 combine to display the portraiture of a man. Those 

 eyes kindle with light almost divine. There is an in- 

 tellectual halo emanating from that head. It is not 



