The Vision of Dante: A story for little children and a talk to their mothers / (Second Edition)

DANTE




A STORY FOR LITTLE CHILDREN AND A TALK TO THEIR MOTHERS BY ELIZABETH HARRISON SECOND EDITION ——— ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE ——— PUBLISHED BY THE CHICAGO KINDERGARTEN COLLEGE ART INSTITUTE BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL. 1894

COPYRIGHTED By ELIZABETH HARRISON 1892 The Lakeside Press R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS CO., CHICAGO

Is not the reason why the Divine Comedy is called a “world poem” to be found in these significant facts: it portrays the sudden awakening of a human soul to the consciousness of having gone astray; it shows the loathsome nature of sin; it pictures the struggle necessary to be freed from sin; it emphasizes that God is ready to help as soon as the soul is ready to be helped; and at last it declares that the Vision of God will come to the soul which perseveres in the struggle? These are the essential truths which make the great poem of Dante one of the masterpieces of the world of art. May not it—as well as all other truly great things—be given to little children in a simple way?