sts the characteristics attributed in the fable. Thus
unconsciously the little reader gets from the picture an increased
conception of the sly, clever, crafty ways of the fox or the slow,
plodding, steadfast patience of the tortoise.

As literature develops from the simple nursery rhyme and the brief,
abrupt fable to the fairy tale with its illusive beauty, so the pictures
should advance in a parallel and a closely related manner. The
illustrations now take on a mysterious, unreal, esthetic quality, in
harmony with the world of fairy lore, and train the imagination as much
as the direct words of the author. The child realizes that the forest
scenes which furnish the background for so many of his favorite fairy
tales have a subtle beauty which has never been seen by him. Gradually
through such pictures he is led to seek an ideal beauty in the real
world. He also becomes able not only to appreciate the poetic rendering
of this expression of the ideal but is capable of forming more varied
mental images of things about which he reads; to put more of his own
individuality, his own conceptions, into his mental picture.

The passing ages have so completely revolutionized the customs and ways
of life that the child of today finds comparatively little in his
familiar surroundings which he can link with the world of history and
legend. Literature should be supplemented by pictures to bridge this
chasm and to bring legendary and historical heroes into the child's own
world and enable him to follow their thoughts, interpret their emotions
and appreciate their actions.

The child who sees a picture of court life where the cavalier is attired
in richly colored velvet, silk, lace, and jewels, and surrounded by the
luxuries of the court, and compares it with another of the same period
which portrays a Puritan in his somber-hued, severe suit, stiff linen
collar and cuffs, broad-brimmed, plain hat and not a single jewel or
ornament used for mere decorative or esthetic value, realizes the vast
difference in the types and character of the two men. He is furnished
with an appropriate mental atmosphere in which to follow their history
and in which to comprehend the inevitable clash that came between the
Cavaliers and the Roundheads. He will then eagerly and sympathetically
follow the Pilgrims in their lonely stay in Holland and in their brave
struggle in the new country. Here, again, the various pictures portray a
land and climate as vigor