of the Lord rolled away the stone and Christ rose from the dead. This was the wonderful event that happened on the first Easter morning, and ever since then people all over the world have been celebrating the event every year with great rejoicing.

Who can tell me what time of the year Easter comes? (Spring). And what great change comes over the earth then? What happens to the trees and the plants and the fields? And what about the birds, and the insects, and the butterflies? Yes, the trees and plants begin to put forth their leaves, the fields show a tender green, and the birds come back from their long sojourn in the south and fill the woods with song again.

A READING FROM HOMER

ALMA TADEMA

Look at your picture and tell me where the water is. Yes, in the distance, just beyond the marble wall. You don't see the water very distinctly in your small pictures, but in the large picture, which the artist painted, the sea is a beautiful transparent blue, just like what you often see in the sky. Is this the natural color of the water? Far away in the beautiful land of Greece, where the scene of this picture is laid, the water has this lovely color and is so clear and pure that you could look away down through it and see the fishes and other things swimming about. In this beautiful country there lived a people who loved all things beautiful. This was long, long before there was any America, or England, or Germany, or France, or Italy, hundreds and hundreds of years ago. These people loved nature very much. They loved music and pictures and poetry and stories of heroic deeds. They built their houses where they could look out upon the ocean and see

the beauties of nature all around them, and, oh, what lovely gardens they had, with flower beds, ponds filled with lily pads and fountains spouting up streams of water and in many parts of the grounds beautiful statuary carved out of pure white marble. And in all these gardens there were beautiful white marble seats just like the one in the picture.

Now, what do you think these people are doing? Yes, they're out here to enjoy themselves in the open air. What is the man who is leaning forward doing? (Speaking, talking, asking a question.) Yes, don't you think they're very much interested in what he is saying? What makes you think so? Yes, he's telling them a very, very interesting story about the beautiful princess Helen. How Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy, carried off this lovely princess and brought her to his home in Troy, and he tells them the long story of the heroic deeds that were done by the Grecians in order to rescue Helen and bring her back to her people.

Now this is a pretty long story; do you think he remembers it all, or has he it written out before him? What is that on his lap? Yes, it's a pretty large sheet. It looks like a newspaper but it isn't paper at all. What is it? Well, this is what they used for books in the olden times. It was a kind of skin, and they wrote on it very much as we do on paper. They had to be very careful of these skins. Yes, you know there were no printing presses in these days. All the books had to be written out by hand, and there were so few of them that they were very precious. What does the man do with his book when he has finished? (He rolls it up.) Who are these people? (The people that belong to the house.) Yes, these are the friends that have

houses where they would have a beautiful outlook, very often overlooking a fine stretch of water or a lovely landscape. Do you think these people lived much out of doors? Yes, a great deal, for although they had such beautiful houses they delighted in the trees and flowers and fields, and all things that nature gave them so bountifully in that beautiful country.

THE DIVINE SHEPHERD

MURILLO

I wonder what the little boy in this picture is doing? He is taking care of the sheep. Has he only one sheep to take care of? (Yes.) Are you sure about that? Look at the picture and see. (He has more.) Where are the rest of the sheep? Do you think this little boy can take care of all the sheep? Oh, yes, a shepherd sometimes takes care of large flocks of sheep. What are these sheep doing down in the field? (Getting something to eat.) Why is this one up here beside the boy? Because he loves the boy. Why does he love the boy? Because he is kind to him, leads him, cares for him, feeds him. Do you think all the sheep like the shepherd? Do all the sheep know the shepherd? Oh, yes. And do you think the shepherd knows each one of his sheep?

I wonder if ever any of these sheep ever wander away? Yes, and when the little shepherd boy finds that some of the sheep have wandered away, what do you think he does? Do the

sheep know his voice when he calls them? Yes, they know his voice and they come back. And when they fall down between the rocks, what does he do? Yes, he helps them out with his crook. Now, who sees the shepherd's crook? Where is it? Point to it. Is the crook very long? Is the shepherd's crook always long? Yes, it's so long because the shepherd sometimes has to reach so far down to lift a little lamb up from where he has fallen. Look at the shepherd boy. Is his dress like yours? No, it's a loose sort of garment tied around the waist.

And

him?

Point out the dark parts of the picture. Now, what's this dark at the shepherd boy's feet? What do you see growing there? Yes, that's grass and flowers. what's the dark part behind branches of bushes.) out the bright part. bright? Where does the sunlight seem to be shining most? (On the shepherd boy.) Why? Yes, it's because he's the Divine Shepherd.

(Leaves and Some one point What makes it

Look at his face. Isn't it very sweet, and gentle, and loving, and kind? Yes, don't you see how bright his face is? See the light coming from it. What makes the brightness shine from his face? (Divine Shepherd, he's so good, so kind, etc.) Yes, and can you have that brightness, too? (Yes.) Yes, when we're kind and good within it'll shine out of our faces and make them beautiful, just like this little shepherd boy.