An Art Work by Elizabeth Jane Gardner, 1880.
She leaned her head on her confidante,
As they sat crossed-legged, a mark of feminity.
Alongside the unbroken pitcher
Is the unbroken faith.
Purity, modesty, and trust
Rolled up in one frame.
The stone fountain and the cross behind
Evince an appearance of a virtue it claims.
Hung in an institution of girls,
In an era of conservativeness;
Such grace and splendor,
Yet wrongly used —
By a proponent of inquitous belief,
Of a manipulative cultural pridigm,
Of wrongful ideology in their time.
But let this art be a positive image to our generation,
Let it be hung to teach us
Of friendship, of respect
To each secret entrusted;
A paragon to reflect.
Juvenile Journ 