8.  Mary is spinning with a distaff; behind, Joseph is sawing a beam, on which Jesus is standing above; and two angels are lifting a plank.

9.  Joseph is seen building up the framework of a house, assisted by an angel; Jesus is boring a hole with a large gimlet:  an angel helps him; Mary is winding thread.

10.  Joseph is busy roofing in the house; Jesus, assisted by the angels, is carrying a beam of wood up a ladder; below, in front, Mary is carding wool or flax.

11.  Joseph is building a boat, assisted by Jesus, who has a hammer and chisel in his hand:  two angels help him.  The Virgin is knitting a stocking; and the new-built house is seen in the background.

12.  Joseph is erecting a fence round a garden; Jesus, assisted by the angels, is fastening the palings together; while Mary is weaving garlands of roses.

Justin Martyr mentions, as a tradition of his time, that Jesus assisted his foster-father in making yokes and ploughs.  In Holland, where these prints were published, the substitution of the boat-building seems very natural.  St. Bonaventura, the great Franciscan theologian, and a high authority in all that relates to the life and character of Mary, not only described her as a pattern of female industry, but alludes particularly to the legend of the distaff, and mentions a tradition, that, when in Egypt, the Holy Family was so reduced by poverty, that Mary begged from door to door the fine flax which she afterwards spun into a garment for her Child.

* * * * *

As if to render the circle of maternal duties, and thereby the maternal example, more complete, there are prints of Mary leading her Son to school.  I have seen one in which he carries his hornbook in his hand.  Such representations, though popular, were condemned by the highest church authorities as nothing less than heretical.  The Abbe Mery counts among the artistic errors “which endanger the faith of good Christians,” those pictures which represent Mary or Joseph instructing the Infant Christ; as if all learning, all science, divine and human, were not his by intuition, and without any earthly teaching, (v.  Theologie des Peintres.) A beautiful Holy Family, by Schidone, is entitled, “The Infant Christ learning to read” (Bridgewater Gal.); and we frequently meet with pictures in which the mother holds a book, while the divine Child, with a serious intent expression, turns over the leaves, or points to the letters:  but I imagine that these, and similar groups, represent Jesus instructing Mary and Joseph, as he is recorded to have done.  There is also a very pretty legend, in which he is represented as exciting the astonishment, of the schoolmaster Zaccheus by his premature wisdom.  On these, and other details respecting the infancy of our Saviour, I shall have to say much more when treating of the History of Christ.

THE DISPUTE IN THE TEMPLE.