IN LOVE WITH A PICTURE.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 301, 27 August 1908, Page 7

IN LOVE WITH A PICTURE.

——-o The romantic story of Mr Harold Abbott Titcomb, who fell in love with a picture in the Tate Gallery at Home and married the original of it, was told in many studios. Mr Titcomb is a direct descendant of John and Priscilla Alden, the lovers in Longfellow’s poem, “ The Courtship of Miles Standish.” Two years ago Mr Titcomb, who is a wealthy American mining engineer, visited the Tate Gallery and fell in love at first sight with the face of the younger girl in Mr Ralph Peacock’s painting “ The Sisters.” So fascinated was he with the beauty of the girl, with her classical features, fair hair, and wonderful violet eyes, that he immediately wrote to the artist to see if he would sell him a copy of his picture. The copy, an excellent one, was made by an artist friend of Mr Peacock, and on the occasion of one of Mr Titcomb’s visits to Mr Peacock's house he met Miss Ethel Brignail, the original of the picture, and learned that she was the sister-in-law of the artist. Like his ancestor, Mr Titcomb was successful in his wooing. Readers of Longfellow's poem will remember that when Miles Standish sent young Alden to plead his captain’s cause with Priscilla, the Puritan maid, she archly answered, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” And John Alden spoke for himself and married the maiden.