painting, for there is a school of it
to-day. Should you go to Southern Italy or to Russia, you would find
many booths for trading, in the back of which you would see a Madonna,
or some saint, painted in just this style. These pictures have gained a
superstitious value among the lower classes of the people, and are
believed to possess a miraculous power. In Mt. Athos, Greece, is a
school that still produces them. Doubtless this has grown out of the
fact that several of these old paintings, notably Madonnas, are
treasured in the churches, and the people are taught that miracles have
been wrought by them. In the Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, is an example
(the people are told that it was painted by St. Luke), and during the
plague in Rome, and also during a great fire which was most disastrous,
this painting was borne through the city by priests in holy procession,
and the tradition is that both plague and fire were stayed."

"What a painfully ridiculous figure!" exclaimed Barbara, who had been
silently absorbed in study. "It is painful because every line looks as
if the artist had done his very best, and that is so utterly bad. It
means absolutely nothing."

"You have fathomed the woful secret," replied Mr. Sumner. "It shows no
evidence of the slightest thought. Only a man's _fingers_ produced this.
All power of originality had become lost; all desire for it was
unknown."

"Then, how did things ever get better?" asked Malcom.

"An interesting question. I wish you all would read some before I tell
you any more. Find something, please, that treats of the beginnings of
Christian art in the Catacombs of Rome. Read about the manuscript
illuminations produced by monks of the tenth and eleventh centuries,
which are to be found in some great libraries. In these we find the best
art of that time,"

[Illustration: ACADEMY, FLORENCE.

BYZANTINE MAGDALEN.]

"If you find anything about Cimabue and Giotto," he added, "you would
better read that also, for the work of these old painters will be the
subject of our next lesson. For it, we will go to the church Santa Maria
Novella."

"And Santa Croce?" asked Barbara, more timidly than was her wont.

"And Santa Croce too," smilingly added Mr. Sumner.

"And now, Malcom, if you can find a wide carriage, we all will drive for
an hour before going home."

Chapter IV.

A New Friend Appears.

_The first sound in the song of love
Scarce more than silence is, and