bring to the world.

All these things made a deep impression upon Mary, and she was a proud
and devoted mother. Day by day she watched her child grow "strong in
spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him." It is
said that

"All mothers worship little feet,
And kiss the very ground they've trod,"

and this mother had special cause for child worship.

[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD. _National Museum, Florence._]

The Italians always refer to the mother of Jesus as the Madonna,
which is the old Italian way of addressing a lady. This representation
of the Madonna and Child makes us understand better what the two were
to each other. The confiding way in which the boy leans against his
mother's knee shows the love between them. The mother looks like a
queen; on her well-poised head she wears a headdress something like a
crown. As the mother of a prince she bears her honors proudly.

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