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TO SHOW PICTURES TO CHILDREN

glowing noontide hours in warm colors, when life and strength are in their fullness, and then the waning hours of afternoon in pale tints and with pensive faces. All are linked hand in hand, keeping perfect step, none missing and none delaying. So the procession moves along, and presently the world awakens to welcome the Dawn, and to follow the course of the chariot across the sky. If you look out of the window and gaze up towards the sun, you may see how far Apollo has gone on his way, and you know that the horses are still speeding onward that every hour may have its turn in blessing the world.

A very simple world-old tale is this, which you might never have thought of putting in this way if the Italian painter had not composed it for you.

In homes which are decorated with good works of art the natural beginning is with the subjects on the walls. When the children come to love the pictures with which they are surrounded, they will hold fast to these ideals all their lives. The “silent influence” of good art is all very well in its way, but it will be greatly strengthened by a little judicious storytelling. I was rather shocked one day when a charming young girl, halfway through college, professed that she knew nothing at all about any of the beautiful pictures with which her home was filled. I have a small boy friend, only five years old, who could quite put her to shame with all he knows about the pictures in his home. He is on familiar terms with Titian’s Lavinia and Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Miss Bowles, and likes to tell of the little English maid’s frolics with her