On her lap is the book from which she has been reading.  The child seems dreaming of the wonderful words he has heard, as he rests his cheek on his little hand, his elbow bent across the open page.  A thoughtful mood is upon them both, and there is something wistful in the boy’s attitude.  The message they have read must indeed be a solemn one.  Perhaps it is something which recalls to the mother the promise of the angel in foretelling the birth of Jesus.  She thinks of the great honors that are to be his, and also of the sacrifices by which they must be won.  The book may be open at the words of one of those old Hebrew prophets who longed for the coming of the Redeemer.  There is a verse in the prophecy of Isaiah, which speaks of a child upon whose shoulders the government shall rest.[4] The writer tells some of the many names by which he shall be called, and we may imagine this mother and child going over together these strange titles:  “Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

[Footnote 4:  Isaiah, chapter ix. verse 6.]

Our illustration is from a bas-relief by Michelangelo, and as we examine it closely we discover that the sculptor’s work was left unfinished.  The rough marks of the chisel are still seen on the surface of the marble.  A child’s figure in the background is quite indistinct.  Probably it was intended for the boy St. John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus.  The child Jesus himself is by no means completed; his right arm is only faintly indicated.

As we shall learn from other examples of sculpture in this book,[5] Michelangelo often neglected to carry his work to completion.  He was so possessed with his ideas that he could not work fast enough in sketching them on the marble, but after this, it did not matter so much to him about the finishing.  He had done enough to show his meaning.

[Footnote 5:  Note particularly the Cupid on page 15, and the tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici on page 81.]

There are reasons for liking such work all the better for being unfinished.  Some of the most delightful stories ever written, like those of Hawthorne, leave something at the end still unexplained.  The reader’s imagination is then free to go on forever exploring the mystery, and inventing new situations.  So in this bas-relief, the great sculptor does not work out the details, but allows us to exercise our own fancy upon them.  He sketches his thought in a few noble lines, and each may round out for himself the completed ideal.

II

DAVID

Long ago in the country of Palestine lived a lad named David, who kept his father’s sheep.  His free life out of doors made him strong and manly beyond his years.  The Israelites were at this time at war with the Philistines, and David’s quick wit and indomitable courage fitted him to play an important part in the issue of the war.