Questions to arouse interest. What does this picture represent? What is the man doing? What effect does that have upon the wolves? Tell some of the general traits of a wolf. How many ever saw a tame wolf? Why do you suppose they have not become domesticated like other animals? On what is the man playing? Why do you suppose this picture is called “The Wolf Charmer”? What kind of a picture would you call it—realistic or imaginative?

The story of the picture. The weird charm of this picture lies in the strange, elfish sympathy which this man seems to have with the evil-looking wolves, and is increased by our knowledge of the nature and disposition of those fierce creatures. We have an instinctive fear of them. Perhaps this is due to the fact that very little good has ever been said or written about a wolf.

History tells us that packs of wolves once howled around the city of Paris all night and even tore people to pieces in the very streets of the city. Stories are told of travelers pursued by hungry packs of wolves and tales of horror are brought by the very few who have escaped with their lives. Legends, fables, myths, and traditions which describe the savage ferocity of the wolf are numerous. How often we hear the expressions,—“a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” and “keep the wolf from the door”!

Such a reputation, coming from so early a date, we may be sure has a foundation in fact. We have not been taught to fear these animals without reason. Wolves are among the wildest and fiercest of animals, and farther removed from human association than any others. Men have tried again and again to tame them, but have been successful only in rare instances.

Some authorities argue that the fact that wolves have occasionally been tamed goes to prove that the wild, ferocious disposition of the wolf is the result of circumstances. Very rare instances are known in which these creatures have been captured and tamed, following their masters like dogs, even making good watch dogs, and learning to bark almost like a dog. A merchant in Petrograd drove a pair in harness, having trained them when very young. But then we have the story of the Duke of WÜrttemberg, who kept a tame wolf in his beautiful Castle of Louisburg. It had been trained like a dog, and had never been known to attack any one. But suddenly one day without any provocation whatever it flew at an officer and bit a piece out of his cheek.

Treachery, caution, and cunning are the qualities usually attributed to wolves. No one has ever accused them of stupidity, however. On the other hand, trappers have been amazed and chagrined by the shrewdness displayed by these animals. When traps have been placed to which a fuse of gunpowder was attached, they have frequently been known to gnaw the strings so as to prevent the explosion, and then make away with the bait, unharmed. Only extreme hunger, however, will ever drive them near a trap.

Wolves belong to the same family as dogs and look very much like them. We can see in our picture that they are about the same size as a large dog, only leaner and more gaunt, and with a wicked expression on their faces. This expression comes partly from the eyes, which are oblique or slanting, the pupils round; and partly from the muzzle, which is somewhat longer than that of most dogs and displays their cruel-looking teeth. The ears are rather small and are held erect.

Wolves are very powerful and very active, and their claws and teeth are formidable even to look at. All their senses seem unusually well developed, so that they can hear, smell, and see an object long before we could.

They travel with great speed. Hunters tell us of the tireless gallop with which they pursue their prey. A horse can outrun them, but only when the distance is not too great.

Wolves are born in dark caverns or in gloomy holes in trees or rocks. They are of many different kinds and colors—red, black, white, and gray. They are still to be found in many countries, and chiefly in the unfrequented and mountainous regions in the northern parts of Europe, Russia, and North America; but man has almost succeeded in exterminating them. We usually think and read of wolves in packs, but authorities tell us that they do not live in communities, and do not go about in groups or packs unless in search of prey.

Ernest Thompson Seton describes the three calls of the hunting wolf. The first is “the long-drawn, deep howl, the muster that tells of game discovered but too strong for the finder to manage alone”; the second call is higher, “that ringing and swelling is the cry of the pack on a hot scent”; the last is a sharp bark and short howl, which, “seeming least of all, is yet a gong of doom, for this is the cry, ‘Close in! This is the finish.’”

The “Charmer” in this picture does not impress us as a hunter who has been surrounded by wolves and is now turning his music to account in making his escape, but rather makes us feel that he has been far within the wilderness of rocks and woods calling these animals to him with the music of his bagpipe. He has a sort of wild, wolf-like look himself. One critic has suggested that he seems to be gnawing the pipes rather than playing upon them, and that his toes look like the claws of the wolves.

No doubt he sat on one of those great rocks and played in his most seductive way, until he was quite surrounded by the savage creatures.

Can you not imagine him seated thus, drawing the weird yet sweet notes from his pipe, as first one pair of shiny eyes peered through the leaves or around the rocks, then another, and another, until gradually the creatures surrounded him? That music has charms has never been disputed. From the earliest history we have read stories of its wonderful subduing effect upon animals. A familiar quotation is this of Congreve’s:

You will remember in the poem by Robert Browning, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, how the old rat explained why he followed the piper: “At the first shrill notes.... I heard ... a moving away of pickle-tubboards, and a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards.” He smelled the most delicious old cheese in the world, and saw sugar barrels ahead of him, and then, just as a great sugar-puncheon seemed to be saying, “Come, bore me,” he felt the Weser rolling o’er him. Perhaps it is in some such way as this that the music holds these wolves as they follow the narrow path between the rocks. Charmed they are no doubt, but not tamed. See how the first two fellows seem to be keeping step with the man and the music, as they move with that soft, cautious tread of the wild animal.

With the artist, La Farge, this picture was purely imaginative. He delighted in all subjects dealing with fairyland or witchcraft.

In this picture we are left to guess what sort of a man this is, and where he is going. Some critics speak of him as a sort of centaur, only instead of being half horse and half man, he is half wolf and half man. However that may be, he is able to control these animals through the power of music. He seems a strange, wild creature, indeed, and as we look at the picture it almost seems as if he were leaving the trees and the companionship of men to go with these wolves to their caves among the rocks.

The glimpse of the thick woods in the distance is interesting because of the variety in the arrangement and size of the tree trunks, the spots of light, and the suggestion of wildness. The picture is made up of curved lines which help give us the feeling of rhythm and music.

Questions to help the pupil understand the picture. What is there unusual about this picture? Describe it. Describe the wolves. Tell something of their characteristics; their habits. Why are they feared? To what extent should you judge this man has tamed them? Where do they usually live? Where can we find wolves now? Why are they such a terror to travelers there? In what ways are they stronger than a horse? Describe the man in the picture.

To the Teacher: Fairy tales which may be read in connection with the study of this picture are “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” “The Sorceress,” “The Fisherman and the Genii,” and “The Siren’s Song.”

Story of the artist. In reading the life of John La Farge, the artist, we cannot fail to be interested also in the more adventurous one of his father before him. For it was in the days of Napoleon the Great that Jean La Farge, then a young officer under General Leclerc, was sent to the West Indies to suppress an insurrection in Santo Domingo, Haiti. Here he was offered the rank of lieutenant if he would remain with the land forces, and this he decided to do.

Hardly had the small force of men which he commanded reached the shore, when they were surrounded and captured by the natives. He endured the agony of looking on while every member of his company was put to death by slow torture. Expecting every moment that it would be his turn next, he was quite overcome when told that his life would be spared that he might teach the rebel leader how to speak and write French. But he was closely guarded and allowed very little liberty while the rebellion lasted. Then, although still under guard, he was given more freedom.

Most of the natives were of African blood, or a mixture of Spaniard, Indian, and negro; but after the rebellion many white men settled on the island on account of the advantages of commerce. About a year after La Farge was taken prisoner he learned that a general massacre of all the white people on the island had been planned. Feeling sure that he would be included this time, with two others he made his escape. They secured a small rowboat and rowed along the shore until they reached a part of the island that belonged to Spain. Here they were fortunate enough to find a ship just ready to sail to Philadelphia. All took passage at once.

Arrived in America, Jean La Farge became much interested in this country. He saw at once the great possibilities in this new land and decided to make it his home. He became a trader and for twenty-five years he went from place to place, growing very wealthy. Then he bought plantations in Louisiana and farm lands in northern New York.

A number of French aristocrats and others formed a French colony in New York City, and here Mr. La Farge finally came to live. He married the daughter of a former Santo Domingan planter who had joined the colony, and it was in New York that their boy, John La Farge, the artist, was born, March 31, 1835. The boy was named after his father, Jean FrÉdÉric de La Farge, but the name was abbreviated and the English spelling used, so that it became John La Farge.

It was a very comfortable home, in some ways luxurious, and his boyhood was passed under most favorable circumstances. His grandfather was a miniature painter of some note and he gave La Farge his first drawing lessons. The boy, however, showed no especial interest or talent for drawing. After he had finished a classical course at school, he decided to become a lawyer. When he had completed the law course he was sent abroad to Paris, to visit his father’s relatives, who were very prominent people. Here he met many writers and artists of note, and finally began to study painting under Couture. He spent most of his time copying the famous paintings in the Louvre, and the etchings of Rembrandt. His idea at this time was not to become a painter by profession but only to use art as a pastime—he was to earn his living as a lawyer. He says, “No one ever struggled more against his destiny than I. Nor did I for many years fully acquiesce in being a painter, though I learned the methods and studied the problems of my art.”

It was about this time that he met the enthusiastic American painter, William Hunt, who so inspired La Farge that he left everything and followed him back to Newport, Rhode Island, where he began studying in earnest under his new master. The two men became close friends.

It was at Newport that La Farge married Miss Margaret Perry, who was the great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin and the granddaughter of Commodore Perry, so well known as commander of the American fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie. They lived in Newport during the summer, but spent their winters in New York City.

At the time of the Civil War, La Farge wished to enlist, but failed to pass the physical examination because he was nearsighted. Then, giving himself entirely to his art, he succeeded in working out his own methods.

His first paintings were for church decorations—the most important being “Saint Paul,” “The Madonna,” and “Saint John.” The last two were painted for the Church of St. Peter in New York City.

Then came a severe illness from which La Farge recovered very slowly, and it was nearly three years before he could become an active painter again. In the meantime he began drawing on wood, illustrating Browning’s and Longfellow’s poems, and Tennyson’s Enoch Arden. Later another trip abroad resulted in the exhibition of his paintings in the galleries there. He made a careful study of stained-glass windows and by much experimenting he discovered a way to produce an opalescent effect in stained glass and to make the glass look like that in the very old cathedrals.

La Farge was always interested in mural or wall decorations for public buildings, and he felt that our buildings in America lacked very much in that respect. He made a special study of this work, and ten years later he began his mural decorations for Trinity Church in Boston. It was one of the first buildings so decorated in this country, and the work was accomplished under great difficulties. The workmen did not understand just what they were to do, the right kind of materials could not always be obtained and so had to be prepared, and the people, having no idea of the task, required that the work be finished in an unreasonably short time. The result was that La Farge and his assistants were compelled to work night and day, in very cold weather, and under many disadvantages. However, when the scaffolding was finally removed the decoration was considered a great success. La Farge was then asked to decorate St. Thomas’ Church in New York.

The artist now began to decorate windows too, that they might be a part of the mural decorations. One of his first window designs was placed in the Congregational Church at Newport, then one in Memorial Hall, Harvard University. They are wonderful in color and design, containing almost every known kind of glass and every precious stone. Then came demands from all over the country for both public buildings and private homes. He was honored both in this country and abroad.

In 1886 La Farge went to Japan. While there he sent a series of very interesting letters to the Century Magazine describing his travels. These letters have since been published in book form. La Farge also wrote Considerations on Painting, a series of books on the Great Masters, and the Japanese Hokusai.

Some of his best-known windows and mural decorations are the Watson Memorial Window in Trinity Church, Buffalo; “The Ascension,” a fresco in the Church of Ascension, New York City; “Athens,” in the Art Gallery at Bowdoin College, Maine; “Law,” in the Supreme Court Room, St. Paul; and “Lawgivers,” in the Court House, Baltimore.

Questions about the artist. Who painted this picture? Tell about his father’s experiences in the West Indies. How did the elder La Farge happen to come to America? What did he do in this country? Where and when was the artist born? What education did he receive? Where did he go after he finished college? How did he seem to regard painting at this time? What American artist encouraged him to study art? Tell about his progress; his marriage; his travels. Tell about his first mural decoration. Why was it so difficult to accomplish? To what did this lead? Tell about his window designs. Where can we see some of La Farge’s work? What books did he write?