XXI
Responsibility and Opportunity, Mary Cassatt, Painter of Mothers and Children; Pathos In Motherhood.
"Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eyes:
In every gesture dignity and love."—Milton.
Did you ever think of the touch of poetry and home life that comes to us out of the past, out of the ancient prophecy of Micah? It concerns the peace of these latter days, "when they shall sit, every man under his vine, and under his own fig tree."
The present condition of the Holy Land today, after warfare, and a painting by Dagnan Bouveret, brought the quotation to mind. It was the custom in the days of Micah to arbor the flat-roofed dwellings (rarely more than one story high) with gourds or grape vines, and to train the fig and pomegranate trees to the wall of the house, even to the lattice that extends to the latticed roof, making the living room of Summer beautiful and cool from the hot sun of that country. The lower branches of such trees gave a grateful shade at the door, and pots of brilliant flowers in the deep window recesses added their beauty to the oriental home that the prophet may have known in his day.
In this setting the modern artist has painted a mother of two thousand years ago, as true of that time as it is today, where modern influence has not set its hand. The Jewish mother, her baby in swaddling clothes, is walking back and forth under the grapevines of her home, as mothers of this Western world still put their little ones to sleep. It is bad practice for both, but oh, they do love it! The cool, green shade under the leaves and clustering fruit, the fresh softness of the mother's gown, form a natural bit of the poetry of art. With the fleetness of vision we come to a French mother teaching her twin blessings to walk in a flowery meadow, where bright colors woo the toddlers from flower to flower, one wavering and uncertain step at a time. Born to a different tongue and climate, they will develop all functions common to all humanity; their first effort at speech may be in any language, barring entirely that of their parents, for environment and example from the beginning will make or mar the future man or woman.
Mme. Virginia DeMont-Breton is the sympathetic painter of "The
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