Stories Pictures Tell Volume I Part 4

"Cornelia and Her Jewels," and "Corinne." She has also painted a number of portraits. Many of her pictures are of children. She is still living in Paris, France.

=Questions about the artist.= Who painted this picture? Where was the artist born? Where did she study and whom did she marry? Where do you think she must have been sitting when she painted the picture? Name two of her best-known pictures.

CAN'T YOU TALK?

=Artist:= G. A. Holmes (homz).

=Birthplace:= England.

=Dates:= Unknown.

=Questions to arouse interest.= What do you see in this picture? Where are they? Why is the stone floor not too cold for the baby? What time of day do you think it is? why? What do you suppose the baby has been doing? What makes you think the big dog loves the baby? What is the little kitten doing? What do you see on the stone bench? Do you like the picture? why?

=The story of the picture.= It must have been a warm summer day when this little baby slipped out of her bed, crept across the room to the door, and out on the cool stone porch.

It may have been a Monday morning, when the baby's mamma was very busy in the kitchen, washing the clothes. Probably she put the baby to bed for the usual morning nap, and did not hear her wake up.

It must be about noon, for the shadows are short in the picture. The mother is probably out in the yard, taking her clean clothes off the line, so of course she could not hear the baby creep out through the open door to the porch. There the baby found the great dog keeping watch. How wise he looks! He knows the baby's mamma would be worried if she knew what her little one is doing, and his kind eyes seem to say, "Never mind, I'll take care of her."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _"Can't You Talk?"_]

Perhaps the baby asks him, "Where's my mamma?" He looks as if he wanted to answer or say something, and she cannot understand why he does not, so she crawls up to him and says, "Can't you talk?" But the big dog can only wag his tail and watch the baby. If she should crawl too far away, we feel sure he would try to persuade her to come back, or if he could not do that, he would bark and let the mother know something was wrong.

What chubby little hands and feet the baby has! You can almost see the dimples in her cheeks. She is a friendly, happy little child, I'm sure, and you can see that her pets love her. There is the little kitten rubbing up against the door as if waiting to see if the dog will answer baby's question. Kitty seems to be afraid to come out on the porch, although the dog does not look as if he would hurt her.

Sometimes little babies with such chubby hands squeeze their pets too hard, and maybe this little kitten, although she loves the baby, does not want to come too near.

There is a stone bench at one side of the porch. It looks as if some one had left a market basket, a cabbage, and a bag on it. Perhaps in the basket are potatoes from the garden.

What a busy life this baby has with so many things to do and so much to learn! She tries so hard to understand. I suppose she thinks, "Good old dog, you seem to know so much more than I do. How does it happen that I can talk and you cannot?"

The mother will be coming in soon, and how surprised she will be to find her baby up and out on the porch, with the big dog taking such good care of her!

This good old dog does so much to help them! All night long he guards the house, not allowing any one even to stop on the walk in front of the house, without his warning bark. In the daytime, if the people wish to go away, they may be sure the faithful dog will allow no one to enter the house while they are gone. No harm can come to these good people while he is there to help them. You can tell by looking at him that he is well fed and well cared for. That fluffy little kitten, too, just ready to dart back into the house and scamper across the floor, looks happy and contented. Evidently the people who live in this house with its wide stone porch are good and kind. Should you not like to visit them?

=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= How did the baby get out on the porch? Why does she not walk? Where has she been? What time of day is it? Where do you suppose her mother is? What did the baby find on the porch? What does she ask the dog? How can he answer?

How does he take care of her? What makes you think her pets love her?

Why does the little kitten stay inside? What is on the stone bench?

Should you like to visit the people who live in this house? why?

=To the Teacher:= Encourage the children to talk about their pets at home, and to draw pictures of them.

=The story of the artist.= Although Mr. Holmes has painted many very popular pictures of children and their pets, we can find very little information about his life except that he was an Englishman. However, he cannot be forgotten so long as his pictures live to tell us of his little friends and their faithful pets.

=Questions about the artist.= Who painted this picture? What do his pictures tell us about the artist? In what country was he born?

THE SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS

=Studying the picture.= Several days before the lesson is to be taken up, the picture to be studied should be placed where every pupil can see it.

First of all, the children should find out for themselves what is in the picture. The questions accompanying the story of each picture are intended to help them to do this.

=Language work.= The pupils should be encouraged in cla.s.s to talk freely and naturally. In this way the lesson becomes a language exercise in which the pupils will gain in freedom of expression and in the ability to form clear mental images.

If a lesson does not occupy the entire drawing period, the children should be asked to retell the story of the picture.

=Dramatization and drawing.= Most of the stories told by the pictures lend themselves readily to dramatization and, whenever practicable, such stories should be acted out. The stories also offer numerous interesting situations that may be used as subjects for drawing lessons.

=The review lesson.= The review lesson should cover all pictures and artists studied throughout the year. At this time other pictures available by the same artists should be on exhibition.

The review work may be conducted as a contest in which the pictures are held up, one at a time, while the cla.s.s writes the name of the picture and the artist on slips of paper which have been prepared and numbered for that purpose. One teacher who used this device surprised her cla.s.s by presenting those whose lists were correct with their choice of any of the large-sized Perry pictures studied.

Many teachers, however, will prefer to use this time for composition work, although the description of pictures is often given as an English lesson. Pupils may write a description of their favorite picture. In fact, the lessons can be made to correlate with history, geography, English, spelling, reading, or nature study.

In any event the real purpose of the work is that the pupils shall become so familiar with the pictures that they will recognize them as old friends whenever and wherever they may see them.

It is hoped that acquaintance with the picture and the interest awakened by its story will grow into a fuller appreciation and understanding of the artist's work. Thus the children will have many happy hours and will learn to love the good, the true, and the beautiful in everything about them.