Art and Science 



The first chapel to the left on entering the 

 church is that of the Birth of the Virgin. St. 

 Anne is sitting up in bed. She is not at all 

 ill in fact, considering that the Virgin has 

 only been born about five minutes, she is 

 wonderful ; still the doctors think it may be 

 perhaps better that she should keep her room 

 for half an hour longer, so the bed has been 

 festooned with red and white paper roses, and 

 the counterpane is covered with bouquets in 

 baskets and in vases of glass and china. These 

 cannot have been there during the actual birth 

 of the Virgin, so I suppose they had been 

 in readiness, and were brought in from an 

 adjoining room as soon as the baby had been 

 born. A lady on her left is bringing in some 

 more flowers, which St. Anne is receiving 

 with a smile and most gracious gesture of the 

 hands. The first thing she asked for, when 

 the birth was over, was for her three silver 

 hearts. These were immediately brought to 

 her, and she has got them all on, tied 

 round her neck with a piece of blue silk 

 ribbon. 



Dear mamma has come. We felt sure she 



89 



