The Home Circle | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 3, 1879

The Home Circle.

HIDDEN BEAUTIES.

IN an ancient church in the city of Rome, Far up in the grand and lofty dome, The master hand of an artist had traced Cartoons, which should never have been defaced.

The sun that stole through the turret blinds Had faded the colors and marred the designs; And dust, like a veil, gathered thick and fast, And hid from the present the work of the past.

And the thronging people who worship below, And the priests who are wont to come and go, Ne'er dream, as they gaze on the wall so high, Of the rare beauties that hidden lie.

But a painter, one day enwrapped in thought, On the dingy walls an outline caught, And guessed that under the dust and mould Lay the work of some of the artists old.

And when he had swept the dust away, And freely let in the light of day, The magic brush in his skillful hand Retouched into life the pictures so grand.

And they flooded the chapel with radiance bright, Till it seemed almost like a holy light, And the people, delighted, laughed and wept. To think that the walls such a prize had kept,

So all around in this world of ours Are beautiful characters, fairer than flowers, By evil influence marred and specked, Or hidden away under cold neglect,

That need but the touch of a helping hand, And a pitying love that will understand, To clear the rubbish and wrong away, And raise to the life of an endless day. — Watchman and Reflector.