Year: 1870




still harder to find out which was the


greater bainke1.


Suppose now, the two pictures named


are the greatest in the world, the
Sixtine Madonna must rank third at
least it is third.


: And now we viii go and see it. We
descend the long flight of stone steps.


We pass the Catholic church. Its mu-


sic is very famous: every Sunday at


twelve o'clock a whole orchestra from


the theatre comes down there and falls


in with the organ and choir. There are


all sorts of instruments, even a mighty


drum. Such noise in one of our


small churches would almost blow the


roof off. 1t just fills this one. The one


nice thing about it is, that the voices


soar higher than all the trumpets. They


seem to reach up to heaven.


Very soon we come to a little garden


laid out with walks and flowers. Then


we enter lofty archway under a build
ing. We look through and spy another
garden full of fountains and orange trees.
The building surrounds the garden and


is called the Zwinger. It was meant for


a grand entrance court to a palace. The
palace was never built and the Zwinger


IS used for museums. There are three


or four archways into, and so through this
garden. We stop in this one and enter


a door at the right. Itopens into a spa


cious hall. Men in white uniforms are


everywhere to watch things. Here,


their business IS to see that none of US
carry parasols. canes, &C., into the pic
ture rooms. We ascend two or three
broad flights of stairs, pass two great
pairs of softly swinging doors, turn to


the left, up another flight, and find our
selves at last in a narrow passage with
| picture rooms in front, to the right and
! left Of us. Our way is to the left, through |
| four great halls, and it leaves us in a |
room between two others. They are
numbered from the Madonna room, A, |
B and c. We are in B. And now that
| you are so near, you stop little; you al |
most dread to stir either way, as if Wis |
ion might take away your breath. You
peep in at the left. That is not tie room. |
You go to the right and the first thing /
that comes into view is a half circular, |
! raised, velvet sofa fitted around one /
corner Of the room. We go in without
looking up and take a seat upon this
crimson. throne.


It's filed with people who make
room for us in hushed, solemn way,
as if we were at a funeral. And the /
room is as still as death, Even the /
dressy, fussy people, who come to look 4
because other folks do, scarcely dare
open their lips to whisper while a few
sit apart and gaze by the hour almost
without moving a muscle.


And now you are safely fixed; you
are ready to be crushed at a blow, and
you raise your eyes


Well. you are not blinded and not
hurt


But now, the posting" is all done. II
was over sometime ago when we left the
TerrasSe. Seeing the picture was to be
your business. Not that there is nothing
moret to be said. There is almost every
thing. You may read books upon books
about pictures, and for every book you
read, see something new in the pictures.
And then if you can only faint, as well,
what good time k00kige you will have!
You can then come home and write
a book, which will do so much
more good than writing a letter. Only,
a letter is better than nothing for those
who may not happen to learn to paint,
who may not even have time to read
the books, and who vet NAV. some
time, see the Sixtine Madonna.


"But, you will say, some Of us will
never see it. !" In that case we will 90 on
about It. We will pretend that those
who are to see It, and whom we follow
ed to the Madonna Room, are still sit
ting on the crimson sofa, looking away
as Tor dear life, and are now ready to
write US all about it?


Not unless they are frst-class Judges !
or artists, and can take in all the points of
a fine picture at a few glances. Why I
anybody would have to be k1uEa1eR to do
that even with fine calf Rather, we E
will suppose that they looked an hour t
and then felt deathly dull and tired and {
went home to dinner that they came 7
the next day, and the next, and so on
until they could quite forget "dull and .
tired, IN looking at II, and perhaps
could say, the half was not told me. -
And then they straightway sat down and
wrote US all about it.


And here are two of their letters. We
give two letters instead of one, because S
there are two ways of describing things. z
One IS, to tell all about thing itself, its l
length, breadth, hight, weight and the
like, and stop there the other is to
leave out all this and talk about Voze,- I
Se5, how Y0U felt, what effect the thing
had upon yONr mind Those who can
do only the former are said to "lack i'm
agination, and those who incline to the
latter are said to possess it. Now, as we 2
cannot possibly tell beforehand, who c
will happen to have and who will hap v
pen to lack imagination, since we do t
not know who are going, the only way
will be to suppose letter of each kind.
But there are almost no children who
are lacking in imagination, so we win !
put it in this way. First:
LETTER OF GIRL OF SMALL IAIAGINA-


TIoN.


"The Sixtine Madonna is a very large
picture. 1t is tall enough to reach our !
parlor ceiling. 1t has lasted a great !
while. In order to make it last a great
while longer, they have put it under
glass, in great box-like frame of gilt, &
that reaches across the corner of the s
room. So it does not hang, it stands. - n
The picture has six main figures be-
sides this the air is thick with the heads
of little angels all around. In the cen :;
ire is the Virgin Mary with the child Je
sus. Mary is standing on a cloud and 6
is holding Jesus on her right arm. She =
does not look like any angel ever saw;
! mean like the picture of any angel. Her -
dress is not white and floating, and she ,
has no wings. Her hair is plain It is Q
brown; it is not smooth and shining II
hair, like my mothers, nor loose and r
waving. 1t looks as if it had been s
''slicked' with very coarse comb and V
tucked back in hurry. Her forehead
is low and wide, and her face tapers all h
the way to the chin. There was not I,
much room left for mouth. / thought i
that might be reason why there was such b
a little one.


The baby's hair is a sort Of yellow q
brown. 1t looks as if his mother had
run her fingers through it and it had
stood-all stiff and ragged-like. The &
farrrrr1,N s,fs se mine -
looks that way every morning when l ,.
get up, and then have to comb it. The -
baby is handsome. =.


Below. al Mary's right. is St. Sixtinel q
looking IN. He was the Pope when the W
picture was painted, and he has his crown II
readv beside him, He is very homely
man. Opposite him is St. Barbara d.