Page:How to show pictures to children (IA howtoshowpictur00hurl).pdf/67

interests, dealing with the life of the home or with outdoor pursuits, illustrating history, legend, or mythology. In another chapter I have classified some of the material most available and desirable for the purpose. Many of us believe that the most important story subject we can possibly present to the children in our homes is the life of Christ. This is the story, too, which many mothers find the hardest to tell at their own initiative. The New Testament narrative is little beyond the child’s early understanding, and is somewhat lacking in the explicitness which the child loves. The artist’s imagination here comes to our aid with his wonderful magic. With a wealth of illustrations to draw from, we have only to set the pictures before our children and the story unfolds itself with very simple interpretation on our part. We need not be troubled about theological explanations, or stumble over difficult Biblical phrases. The picture does all the story-telling. It shows how the angel Gabriel came to tell Mary of the high calling of her coming babe; how the young mother bent rapturously over her child as he lay on a bed of straw; how the shepherds came from the fields, and the wise men from the East, with their gifts; how the mother carried her babe in her arms as she rode on a donkey into Egypt, with Joseph leading the way; how the twelve-year-old boy astonished the learned doctors in the Temple by his wise questions; how Jesus, come to manhood, was tempted in the wilderness and baptized in the river Jordan; how he went about doing good, gracing the wedding feast, blessing the