"Is there a story about it?" asked John. "Please tell us."

"It was the custom in those days for persons who, in any way, had escaped death, to present some gift to the church as a thank offering. This picture was given to a church. by a gentleman who had escaped being killed by lightning. You have often seen a rainbow after a thunderstorm, and this picture represents the distant view of the town of Foligno seen under a rainbow shown in the center."

"The colors must be beautiful, mamma," said Margaret.

"I think the mother and the little baby are beautiful," said Mrs. Merton.

"My teacher drew a rainbow upon the blackboard when she taught us the rainbow colors," said John. "The colors were pretty."

"My teacher hung a prism in the sunlight, and the prismatic colors were reflected upon the wall," said Margaret. "They were lovely. We learned a poem about the rainbow, too, mamma. Would you like to hear it?"

"Certainly, my dear, will you recite it now?" asked Mrs. Merton.

The Rainbow Seen In Town.

"Welcome! thou beauteous messenger

Of peace and promise too; Amidst the city's busy stir,

What wonders thou canst do!

A rush of heaven where sordid earth
Seemed only to have sway-

Of purer light a holy birth

Upon a common day.

"How glad thou mad'st my childish heart,

Placed in the rainy sky;

How watched I then the clouds depart,
And knew the sunshine nigh;

How over hill and heathery plain,

I chased thy colors fair,

And felt a vague delicious pain

To see them melt in air.

"What images thou wakenest now,

Of early scenes and days;

How gleamest thou o'er the mountain's brow
Tinging its crowning haze;

How dost thou bathe the wild greenwood

In liquid gem-like light;

How doth the river's stately flood
Give back their radiance bright!

"The spirits of a thousand flowers,
The soul of every gem,

Essence of buds from Eastern bowers
Say art thou formed from them?
Oh, blessed art thou, graceful Bow,
Who can such pictures bring-
Oh, blessed thou, who makest flow
Each wild imagining—

"But blessed most that thou art yet
To shine on us allowed,

To teach us God's own hand hath set 'His bow within the cloud.'

MRS. JAMES GRAY.

"That is very pretty, Margaret, and it seems almost as if Raphael must have had the same thought when he painted the beautiful rainbow in this picture," said Mrs. Merton.

"Don't you think he saw a rainbow when he used to walk with his father?" asked John.

"Yes, indeed, you remember he loved beautiful colors, and the rainbow would please him more than any," answered Mrs. Merton.