Howard Pyle: “All the World Sweet and Clean and New”

Photographer Unknown, (Spring Blooms in the Forest)

“And, indeed it is a very pleasant thing for to ride forth in the dawning of a Springtime day. For then the little birds do sing their sweetest song, all joining in one joyous medley, whereof one may scarce tell one note from another, so multitudinous is that pretty roundelay; then do the growing things of the earth smell the sweetest in the freshness of the early daytime—the fair flowers, the shrubs, and the blossoms upon the trees; then doth the dew bespangle all the sward as with an incredible multitude of jewels of various colors; then is all the world sweet and clean and new, as though it had been fresh created for him who came to roam abroad so early in the morning.”

Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights

Howard Pyle: ” It Doth Make a Man Better to Hear of Those Noble Men So Long Ago”

Photographer Unknown, (The Archer Tattoo), Model Unknown

“It doth make a man better,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘to bear of those noble men so long ago. When one doth list to such tales, his soul doth say, ‘put by thy poor little likings and seek to do likewise.’ Truly, one may not do as nobly one’s self, but in the striving one is better…”

Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood