the oldest city in the Netherlands; it was
founded in the tenth century. An old woman spinning was a familiar
scene to Maes. Now look at this spinner closely. She will not mind,
for she is too intent on picking up a thread, possibly a broken or a
knotted one. Maes saw a picture in the old woman's dull red dress and
bright red sleeves. He liked the brown wheel and the yellow floor and
the beautiful bit of blue cloth thrown over the wheel-base. Then he
saw how beautifully the white kerchief and apron and wall caught the
light. He saw the helpfulness of the rugged old hand, worn and scarred
as it was, yet patient and firm in repairing a mistake.

Maes's "The Spinner" and Rembrandt's "The Old Woman Cutting her Nails"
make the tasks of every-day life very human. We in America owe much to
these old Dutch women and to the artists who have made them live for
us.

This picture of "The Spinner" is only sixteen and one fourth inches
high and thirteen inches wide, yet that old woman at her
spinning-wheel is as much a real person in the room where she hangs on
the wall as she was when Maes painted her, nearly three hundred years
ago. I want you to love these little Dutch pictures; they are so
honest and true and tell us about real people and real things, and
they make us feel that beauty is everywhere. Now look at your
grandmother as she mends your stockings and see how beautiful she is
with the light on her dear old face and hair.

[Illustration: FIG. 26. THE SPINNER. MAES. RYKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM]

ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON

VITTORE CARFACCIO (1440?-1522)

St. George, a noble youth of Cappadocia, was one of the oldest and
most noted of the saints. The story always told of him is his killing
the dragon. Once upon a time St. George was going through Palestine on
horseback when he came to the City of Beirut. There he found a
beautiful young girl in royal dress weeping outside the walls of the
city. When he asked her why she was crying, she told him that a
terrible dragon lived in the marshes near the city. And to keep him
from destroying every one in the city, each day two young girls must
be fed to him. These young girls were chosen by lot, and this day she,
Cleodolinda, the king's daughter, must be eaten by the dragon.

St. George told her not to be afraid for he would destroy the dragon.
But she cried:

"O noble youth, tarry not here, lest thou perish with me! but fly, I
beseech thee!" St. George answered:

"Go