IV. THE STUDY OF PICTURES

The full-page pictures in this book are taken from American galleries, so that it is possible for you some day to see the originals of them. If you do, you will find these originals much more interesting to you than they would be if you had not become familiar with their outlines.

Some people in going through a picture gallery look for a long time at a single canvas, until it has meaning for them; but the majority of visitors flit through a gallery of masterpieces with the lightness and quickness of butterflies, casting an indifferent glance for a few seconds at a picture that it took a great artist many months or even years to paint. If you have really learned to look at pictures, you will not be among these careless flitters. You will study one picture until something of the artist's message has reached you.

The original pictures are much more interesting than these copies, both because they are larger and because they glow with rich and beautiful color. But something of the grace and beauty the artist saw when he painted his picture is carried over in the copies. A great poet, Robert Browning, has said:

We're made so that we love

First when we see them painted, things we have passed
Perhaps a hundred times, nor cared to see.

As you look at the pictures in this book and at other pictures, feelings and stories suggested by the pictures will come to you. Often you will wish to tell somebody how these pictures impress you.

Here are two examples of what children have written about pictures they liked:

INTERIOR OF A COTTAGE (See page 19)

The older children are out playing. The mother sits by the baby while he sleeps. She loves to sew for her baby. She is making him a new dress. It is not fine linen or lace that she is sewing. She is poor, and must make her baby's clothes out of coarse cloth. But she makes them as pretty as she can. If she cannot dress the baby in dainty clothes, she can at least keep him clean. She works hard to do this. The baby is clean and everything in the room is neat. It is only a poor, plain home, but it is sweet. I think it would be a pleasant place to come when you were tired of playing.

THE FOG WARNING (See page 79)

This picture gives you a feeling of great effort and great strength. The fisherman fully realizes the dangerous position he is in. He is not frantic in his pulling for shore; he is pulling with hard, long strokes. The fisherman's task is not an easy one. Rowing two big fish, a cask, and a boat is hard work.

The Seeing Eye. - Do not try to copy these stories, but express as clearly as you can what the picture makes you feel. A picture speaks to you only when it makes you feel and see what you otherwise would not feel and see. The artist sees beauty where the average person sees only the commonplace or even the ugly. Though you may not be able to draw or paint very well, you can try to see what is beautiful in nature, in the life and movement of the streets, in the expressions and gestures of people.

Many of the artists who painted the originals of the pictures reproduced in this book worked against difficulties. The short sketches given on the reverses of the pictures may help you to know these artists better.

PICTURE STUDY

INTERIOR OF A COTTAGE

Josef Israels (1824-1911)

Josef Israels was born in Holland, where the love of freedom and the democratic spirit have always flamed in the hearts of the people. The Dutch artists were among the first who became interested in painting scenes from the lives of the lowly. The older artists had confined their subjects to religious themes - the saints, the Madonna, and scenes from the life of Christ. If any other subjects were painted they were the kings, nobles, and rich people. But in Holland painters turned from these religious and noble themes to depict the lives of plain, poor people. Israels especially has caught and expressed the beauty of simple lives spent in poor, lowly homes. His interiors give us a feeling of the hardships of the poor, beautified and ennobled by love and industry.

Interior of a Cottage is a good example of the painter's fine feeling for the lives of the poor. This picture hangs in the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D. C. Other pictures by this artist are to be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Boston Museum, the Chicago Art Institute, and indeed in most of the American galleries.

V. LETTER WRITING

Need for Letters. Most of the writing the average boy or girl and the average man or woman do is the writing of letters. We have seen that in preparing a program we need to write letters for information or letters of invitation. Every day brings occasions for letter writing either for business or as an expression of friendship.

Letters Should Be Definite. If we are writing to some one to ask for information, we should be careful to say definitely what we wish; for the people to whom we write are busy people, and they have no time to waste. Or if we are inviting some one to attend our meeting, for example, we should say definitely what, where, and when the program is to be.

Letters Should Arouse Interest. Since our correspondents are busy people, we must write in such a way that they will feel it is worth while for them to answer. Not every letter is answered. Many letters are thrown into the wastebasket. So save the stamp by planning your letter to escape that fate. In other words, try to make your letter appeal to the feeling and good sense of the recipient. Most people are interested in young people and glad to help them when they can do so without too much trouble. Furthermore, most people in business know that publicity aids their business. If your letter can make the man to whom you are writing feel that in some small way his business will be helped by complying with your request he will be more likely to reply.