will find
something to admire.

Among the many, let us take a few for a brief study to show that they
may be used with children to make literature clear, to give interest and
keener appreciation.

The very first picture in Volume One (sub-title, _Nursery Rhymes_, page
1) is frankly intended as an introduction to the rhymes which follow,
and is also a good illustration of many of the principles stated in this
chapter.

The little boy is fond of his playthings and especially of his toy cat,
but you see he is giving his chief thought just now to the rhymes and
jingles which his mother is repeating, while the baby is absorbed and
happy in looking at the pictures. Do you see the sewing-basket with the
knitting which the mother has laid aside while she devotes an hour to
play? Do the other books on the table suggest that she sets a value on
good reading as an important element in the training of children even as
young as these in the picture? The idea is carried out further in the
decorations of the draperies around the window. You see there in simple
outline characters which appear in fuller detail with the rhymes which
follow in this volume. The color tones are subdued and restful, not loud
and glaring, but they are so happily blended, or contrasted, that both
persons and objects are clear and distinct. It tells without words the
story of happy childhood.

_Jack and the Beanstalk_ (Volume One, page 159) is a picture which will
repay study. A child's imagination reaches out more or less vaguely,
though often to his satisfaction, for a visualization of the
exaggerations of nature which appear in almost all fables and fairy
tales. Our artist has given this subject a realistic touch, which makes
Jack's adventure seem almost possible.

Does the beanstalk look natural? Does it look like the beanstalk which
grows in your garden? Are the bean pods like those you have seen? Is the
color natural? Does the stalk look strong enough to bear Jack's weight?
How high up do you think he must go to reach the giant's home? How is
the impression of height given? Do you see the landscape stretching away
in the distance? Do the fields and the stream look far away? Do you
think Jack became frightened or dizzy as he went on--up and up? Doesn't
the picture help you to understand his courage and determination to
carry out his purpose?

[Illustration: ALFRED TENNYSON
ROBERT BROWNING
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
SIR WALTER SCOTT
WILLIAM WO