who come
near? This marvellously beautiful creation of Mr. Simmons shows a woman
of exquisite delicacy and loveliness sitting, slightly bending forward,
holding her baby to her breast. The modelling of the draped figure with
the bare arms and neck revealing the tender curves, the yielding
delicacy of the flesh and that inscrutable light upon the beautiful
countenance, whose expression suggests that she is looking far into the
future of the infant whom she holds in her arms, are a wonderful
portrayal of the mystery and the sacredness of motherhood. The one
statue degrades maternity; the other ennobles and exalts. The one
embodies a pernicious and a false ideal; the other embodies the ideal
that must appeal to all that is noble and divine in human life, and it
thus ministers to moral progress by its contribution to the elevation of
the social tone. For indeed, life follows art. It is art that exerts
this powerful influence upon life which it may lead to loftier heights
or drag down to the moral abyss. The artist is not merely the portrayer
of existing types; he is the inspirer of those ideal types which human
life should recognize as its pattern, its model to be followed and
ultimately achieved. The world needs ideal and poetic art to minister to
the attainment of the true social life and to the full and complete
expression of man himself.

Do not the visions of Fra Angelico and Botticelli still inspire the
artist of to-day with the absolute realization of all the deep
significance of the past?

"Is there never a retroscope mirror,
In the realms and corners of space,
That can give us a glimpse of the battle,
And the soldiers face to face?"

Religion and art are inseparably united. In its true significance
religion takes precedence of all else in that its influence is felt in
every department and in every direction and expression of man's
activity. It is the inexhaustible fountain of that lofty energy which
communicates itself to every channel that carries inspiration to life
and to art. Religion is the influence that redeems the mere shallow,
surface presentation,--the petty trick to capture popularity, and holds
art true to its real purpose. The glory of the mediaeval art of Italy
owed its greatness to religion. Cimabue and Giotto were directly
inspired by that spring of a diviner life given to Italy and later to
the world of that "sweet saint," Francis of Assisi. In an age of cruelty
and terror