STORIES OF THE ITALIAN PAINTERS

BY AMY STEEDMAN

AUTHOR OF 'IN GOD'S GARDEN'

TO FRANCESCA

ABOUT THIS BOOK

What would we do without our picture books, I wonder? Before we knew how to read, before even we could speak, we had learned to love them. We shouted with pleasure when we turned the pages and saw the spotted cow standing in the daisy sprinkled meadow, the foolish looking old sheep with her gambolling lambs, the wise dog with his friendly eyes. They were all real friends to us.

Then a little later on, when we began to ask for stories about the pictures, how we loved them more and more. There was the little girl in the red cloak talking to the great grey wolf with the wicked eyes; the cottage with the bright pink roses climbing round the lattice window, out of which jumped a little maid with golden hair, followed by the great big bear, the middle sized bear, and the tiny bear. Truly those stories were a great joy to us, but we would never have loved them quite so much if we had not known their pictured faces as well.