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In the world has been illustrated by so many
famous artists. It is easy to see some of the
reasons which have made it. a favorite subject.
First, there is the religious interest which
centers in the entrance of the Divine Saviour
into the world. Such an event, for all who be
lieve in the Christian religion, must have a
profound significance. It is the sunrise of
faith, the beginning of a new spiritual world,
the laying of the cornerstone of the kingdom
of heaven on earth. Even if the artist himself
were not sure of this, did not altogether be
lieve it, he would know that, other people be
lieved it; and by the imagination he could see
what a supreme importance was given by the
faith of Christendom to the'brief and simple
story of the birth at Bethlehem.
Second, there is the human interest which
clings to the ever beautiful relation of mother
hood and childhood. The tenderest and most
unselfish love is that with which a true moth
er looks upon her little child; the most perfect
innocence and trustful joy are revealed in the
deep eyes of the baby who smiles into the face
of his mother bending over him. The paint
ings of the Child Jesus and tlie Virgin Mary
have drawn into themselves the best thoughts
of men concerning the gracious secret of ma
ternity and the unstained bliss of infancy.
Fantastic Legends.
Third, there is the poetic and pictorial inter
est which grows out of the incidents of the
story, the strange contrast between the heaven
ly significance of the birth of Christ and its
outward circumstances, the blending of light
and shade, joy and sorrow, hope and fear, an
gelic songs and earthly persecutions. All these
varied elements, centering about a single figure,
afford a field of illumination and illustration
such as art loves.
My first, advice, then, to those who wish
thoroughly to appreciate and enjoy these pic
tures would be to read and re-read the gospel
of St. Matthew from the eighteenth verse of
the first chapter to the end of the second chap
ter. and the first two chapters of St. Luke's
gospel. Then it would be wise to read some
of the later legends which were woven in the
a] ocryphal books, and in the mediaeval poems
and narratives about the birth and childhood
of Christ. Many of these legends are curious
and fantastic, evidently allegorical and symboli
cal. They have none of the simple directness
.and quiet restraint of the Biblical history.
They are, in effect, clear illustrations of that
native trait of the human mind—familiar to
every one who lias tried to tell a true story
to a child —the craving for picturesque detail.
"How did it happen? Where did it happen?
Who was there? How did they look? What
did they do afterwards?" These are the ques
tions that children ask when they hear a story;
and these are the questions to which men have
given fanciful answers in the apocryphal and
mediaeval legends, such as the protevangelium
of St. James, the gospel of St. Thomas, the
gospel of the pseudo-Matthew. The history of
the nativity of Mary, the golden legend of .laco-
bus de Voragine, the poems
of Konrad of Fussesbrunn,
Walther af Rheinau, Abbess
Kroswitha, and the tradi
tions given by Justin Mar
tyr, St. Jerome, St. Bernard
and many other writers.
Much of this legendary
and symbolist material was
taken up quite naively by
the painters and embodied in their pictures.
Suppose you have a picture of the Annuncia
tion which represents Mary as passing through
a garden when the angel came to her; that is
in accordance with the Protevangelium. which
says that Mary was chcset by lot from among
the virgins of Nazareth to spin the royal
purple of the Temple veil; one day, as
she was returning from the fountain with her
pitcher of water, the angel met her and said:
"Hail, thou who art full of grace!" and when
she went back to her spinning he came again
to her to complete his message. If the picture
represents Mary in the house, working at the
veil, the artist has chosen to show us the sec
ond appearance of the angel. The emblems
which the artists put into their pictures are
significant.. The pot of lilies at Mary's side,
the lily-branch in the angel's hand symbolize
purity. The olive-bough borne by the dove
means peace.
Or here is a picture of the nativity which
shows the Child and his mother and Joseph in
a cave. This is according to the account of
Justin Martyr (and quite in harmony with
the customs of Palestine), that the stable of
the inn where Christ was born was a grotto
in the rocks. Here perhaps you see the ox
and the ass bowing their heads before the
child. This is told by the gospel of the pseudo
Matthew in fulfillment of the prophecy of
Isaiah: "The ox knoweth his owner and the
ass his master's crib." Here, again, is a daz
zling supernatural light radiating from the
ohild, so that shepherds who have just entered
must shade their eyes. This detail Is given
in many legends.
How the Story Develops.
The five chief points around which Ihe paint
ings of Ihe birth and childhood of Christ nat
urally group themselves are (1) The Annun
ciation; (2) The Nativity; (3) The Adoration
of the Magi; (4) The Flight Into Egypt; (5)
The Home at Nazareth.
1. The Annunciation comes from the first
chapter of St. Luke, and with it are associated
two minor incidents, the visit of Mary to her
cousin Elizabeth, and the Mrth of John the
Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. The painters
have delighted to show us the virginal beauty
and meekness of Mary; the joy with which the
angel brought his message, and the awe and
wonder with which she received the new con
ception of her son as the Son of the Highest,
the Saviour of his people. No picture of the
Annunciation is good in which this wonder and
this joy are not expressed. If in addition the
painter hns chosen to putin manv details to
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY DECEMBER 17, 1908.
make us feel the innocence and lovely grace of
Mary's life; if he has shown us the quiet work
with which she is busy; the sweet order of her
room which images the tranquillity of her soul;
this also is well. But the great thing is that
he should perceive and show, as simply as pos
sible, the charm of that perfect figure of maiden
hood, no rude peasant girl, but one with royal
blood in her veins and heavenly thoughts in
her heart.
The Nativity.
2. The pictures of the Nativity have a great
er variety of incidents and of modes of presen
tation. The simplest are those which show
Mary and Joseph in the stable with the child;
then come those in whic*>. the angels appear,
or the shepherds came to pay their adoration;
another conception represents the mother
alone with her babe adoring him or nursing
him. Pictures of the presentation In the tem
ple, and perhaps some of the Madonna and
Child belong to the general theme of the Na
tivity because their central idea is the advent
of Christ as a little babe.
Here the painters have found a wide
field for imagination, and have used large
liberty in expressing the feelings with which
different persons drew near to the holy child.
Mary is almost always shown as wondrously
happy; sometimes, as in Murillo's "Adoration
of the Shepherds," lifting the cloth that cov
ers the child and displaying him with gentle
pride.
3. With the Adoration of the Magi, a new ele
ment. comes into the scene. These wise men
from the east, whether they were kings or
not, were the representatives of the outside
world.
There are pictures which show the Magi on
their journey led by a star, sometimes
shining in the form of a babe in the sky; and
others which show them at the court of
Herod asking their way; and others which
show them being warned by an angel in a
dream not togo back to Jerusalem; and oth
ers which show them returning by sea 10 their
own country. But the great majority of paint
ers have chosen the moment at which the
gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh were
presented to the child. Here there is room for
splendid color and dramatic contrast.
4. The Flight into Egypt is the contrasting
companion-piece to the Adoration of the Magi.
The one biings the great world into the dwell
ing of the Child Jesus; the other carries the
Child Jesus out into the great world.
Story of the Flight.
The pictures of this subject fall into two
main divisions: those which represent its ac
tual journey and those which show the Holy
Family resting, either by the way, or in the
land of Egypt. The paintings which deal with
the latter theme —commonly known as the Re
pose—include some of the most beautiful works
of art, especially during the last three centu
ries. Many details have been introduced from
the legends of the flight, in which the apocry
phal "History of the Nativity of Mary" is par
ticularly rich. This is one of them: "The Holy
Family rested by the road beneath a date palm
and Mary desired to eat of the fruit; but it
hung high above her head. .Joseph, being
weary, was not able to climb the tree. But the
Child Jesus knew his mother's wish, and at his
command the tree bent down its branches.
Then he thrust his lingers into the sand, and
a spring of water gushed forth. The next morn
ing Jesus thanked the obedient tree, and prom
ised that one of its branches should be carried
by the angels and planted in Paradise."
The Triumph of the innocents.
' The landscape is half shadowed by night,
but the moonbeams weave a filmy radiance
over plain and the distant hills where the
watch fires are growing red. In front marches
Josoph, with his bosket of tools on his back,
a sturdy son of toil. The mother, a noble
woman of Palestine, carries the child in her
arms, happy and fearless. Hut who are these
little children that run and float, beside the
travelers? They are the spirits of the mur
dered innocents of Bethlehem, set free to fol
low the infant Saviour, and knowing that
through him they have entered by the gate of
death into eternal joy. Three tiny ghosts in
the rear have not yet felt his presence nor
caught sight of him, and the pain and terror
of mortality are heavy upon them. But the
others are radiant and rejoicing as ransomed
souls; and at their fe* rolls the river of life,
breaking into shimmering bubbles in which
the glories of heaven are reflected. Joseph
does not see the spirits. I doubt whether even
Mary sees them clearly. But Jesus recognizes
his former playmates with joy. He leans from
his mother's arms to greet them, holding out a
handful of wheat, the symbol of the bread of
Heaven.
It is all mystical, visionary, unreal? Or is
it a true picture to the eye of what faith be
holds in the religion of Jesus? Surely if this
gospel has any meaning it is the bringing of
light and blessing to the suffering little ones
of earth; a deeper compassion and a tenderer
care for them, and the promises of a hcavea
full of happy children.
Lessons
the Christ
Woman
By MARGARET SPENCER
«• TELL you we ought
, to cut out t^l ' s y ear ."
L said the hard-up hus
&9 jhe Christmas worn
yfc 1 V_7//jj au P u t both hands on
his shoulders. "We
can 't cut out Christ
nias, dear," she told him,
gently. "But that live
ell vr \/wl dollars which my broth-
HppT <&}' M[ er gave me on my
) birthday is going to
yill PAN «>ver every cent I
¥' \) s P en( l- They'll be just
little remembrances."
"That's it,"he
swe red, impatiently.
"You'll keep it up, one
way or another, and at the last min
ute I'll feel mean if I don't get into
the game and squander a lot of money
on presents."
He closed the door and went away.
By the time he had boarded the oar
for town he knew that she was right.
But the Christmas woman didn't
know that he was thinking this.
She was busy in her own room,
where, on a work table, lay a white
shirt waist pattern stamped with a
graceful design for embroidering. She
had bought it for 50 cents, marked
down from one dollar because it was
the last. Her plan was to transfer its
design to other pieces of cloth which
she had in the house and so evolve
three shirt waists, stamped for em
broidering, to bestow on the three
nieces, who liked to embroider. And
all for 50 cents!
But the Christmas woman had just
begun work, trying bravely to forget
the hard-up husband's last words,
when she was called downstairs to see
the perfectly discouraged person,
whose plaint was after this fashion:
"Oh, dear! It's nothing to me how
many 'shopping days' there are to
Christmas. I can't buy a thing."
"But, my dear," said the Christmas
woman, "think what you can make out
of that luxurious box of pieces you
showed me the other day!"
Thereupon she poured forth many
suggestions about aprons and holders
and shoe bags and top collars—enough
to inspire a church bazar.
"Oh, yes, but everything you make
costs a little for ribbon or something,"
the perfectly discouraged person con
cluded. at the end of her depressing
call. "I wish Christmas was past!"
Then she went straight home,
pulled out her box of pieces, pondered
over the Christmas woman's sugges
tions, schemed out a plan for saving
a little money here and there, and
then fell to work on her Christmas
presents with new courage.
But that Christmas woman didn't
know this.
She was getting at her own work
a#ain. This time she worked for
fully five minutes undisturbed, then
another visitor claimed her —this time
the tired-to-death woman, who couldn't
get away from her teething baby to
go shopping, or to take one stitch on
Christmas presents.
"Give me your list, and I'll shop
for you," the Christmas woman vol
unteered.
"Mercy! I couldn't possibly tell
what I want without seeing things,"
the tired-to-death woman protested.
Not until she was well on her way
down the street did she realize that,
with a little planning, she might shop
by proxy after all. The idea, once it
had penetrated he* mind, pleased her
so much that she was smiling like a
really rested woman when she reached
home and sat down to make out her
list.
But the Christmas woman didn't
know this.
"Have I called you downstairs when
you were doing something impor
tant?" the dead-broke girl was asking
of the Christinas woman by that time.
"I'm sorry if I have, but I had to tell
you my troubles. I'm in debt up to
my ears. I haven't any right to give
Christmas presents this year. I'm
going to be cross until December 26."
"Oh, no!" the Christmas woman
protested. "Why, keeping cheery is
one kind of giving! And at least you
can write Christinas letters."
"Why, who cares for those?" was
the cynical answer.
Yet an hour later, at. her desk, the
dead-broke girl was busily writing
Christmas letters, filling them with
borrowed sweetness and humming a
happy tune as the words flowed from
her pen.
But the Christmas woman didn't
know this.
She had gone back to her room for
'he third time —to find her work table
empty. In vain she searched for the
shirt-waist cloth.
"Bridget," she called at last, "have
you taken anything out of my room?"
Bridget was washing the windows.
"Only the clean rags for polishin' the
glass, mum," she answered. "You said
they'd be on your table."
"Oh!" she began. But at sight of
Bridget's sorry face she caught her
self. "Never mind, Bridget," she add
ed. "Don't feel bad about it."
"Feel bad! Me?" echoed the aston
ished girl. The look in her eyes was
full of admiration. "Sure, now, this is
(lie first place I ever worked where
the lady didn't get cross before Christ
mas!"
This time the Christmas woman
knew.
With great gladness, because she
had carried the message to one heart,
she said, softly:
"Oh, but. Bridget, what do three
little presents matter? It's joy that
we must give!"
9