NDER CLOCK." BY HOWARD PYLE
(HARPER AND BROTHERS)]

[Illustration: ILLUSTRATION FROM "THE WONDER CLOCK." BY HOWARD PYLE
(HARPER AND BROTHERS. 1894)]

It is no overt dispraise to say of Miss Kate Greenaway that few artists
made so great a reputation in so small a field. Inspired by the
children's books of 1820 (as a reference to a design, "Paths of
Learning," reproduced on p. 9 will show), and with a curious naivety
that was even more unconcerned in its dramatic effect than were the
"missal marge" pictures of the illuminators, by her simple presentation
of the childishness of childhood she won all hearts. Her little people
are the _beau-ideal_ of nursery propriety--clean, good-tempered, happy
small gentlefolk. For, though they assume peasants' garb, they never
betray boorish manners. Their very abandon is only that of nice little
people in play-hours, and in their wildest play the penalties that await
torn knickerbockers or soiled frocks are not absent from their minds.
Whether they really interested children as they delighted their elders
is a moot point. The verdict of many modern children is unanimous in
praise, and possibly because they represented the ideal every properly
educated child is supposed to cherish. The slight taint of priggishness
which occasionally is there did not reveal itself to a child's eye. Miss
Greenaway's art, however, is not one to analyse but to enjoy. That she
is a most careful and painstaking worker is a fact, but one that would
not in itself suffice to arouse one's praise. The absence of effort
which makes her work look happy and without effort is not its least
charm. Her gay yet "cultured" colour, her appreciation of green chairs
and formal gardens, all came at the right time. The houses by a Norman
Shaw found a Morris and a Liberty ready with furniture and fabrics, and
all sorts of manufacturers devoting themselves to the production of
pleasant objects, to fill them; and for its drawing-room tables Miss
Greenaway produced books that were in the same key. But as the
architecture and the fittings, at their best, proved to be no passing
whim, but the germ of a style, so her illustration is not a trifling
sport, but a very real, if small, item in the history of the evolution
of picture-books. Good taste is the prominent feature of her work, and
good taste, if out of fashion for a time, always returns, and is
treasured by future generations, no matter whether it be in accord with
the express