Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Arthur S. Maxwell's The Bible Story and the Procession to Heaven


Arthur S. Maxwell’s The Bible Story by Jay


Sometime in 1977… 
It’s just an image, but one that has been imprinted in my brain since I was eight years old.  My parents were sitting at the kitchen table talking to a stranger.  I had never seen him before, which was unusual because I generally knew everyone who came into the house.  He was a salesman, but not a pushy one.  He was selling books - - a set of 10 Bibles for children called The Bible Story by Arthur S. Maxwell.  These were the days when sales people actually came to your house to sell you books like encyclopedias and magazines as well as Bibles!  Unheard of in today’s age of the internet…   But there he was talking to my parents about these crisp, blue books with colorful illustrations.  Of course, at the time I had no idea what he was doing there; however, I soon found out the purpose of his visit, and being the bibliophile I am, was elated to learn that they had just purchased the whole set.  If my memory serves me correctly, the salesman gave them the first volume as a sampler and placed the rest of the set on order.  I devoured that first volume and couldn’t wait until the other books arrived.  Every day I would come home from school hoping to see a box inside the house with the rest of the books.  When it finally arrived, I remember the excitement I felt as I removed each individual volume from the box and carefully flipped through the pages admiring the beautiful pictures.  One picture particularly caught my eye.  It was in Volume Eight and showed a line of people from the modern day going all the way back to Christ.  In the distant background, Christ stood in a white robe with arms outstretched as if saying, “Here I am!  Follow the line to infinity!”  There are a few robed images of people standing around him as if listening to him speak.  His disciples, perhaps?  From this group a line begins to form and weave its way onto the following page, the figures getting larger the closer they approach the modern day until the parade finally ends up back on the first page.  What my eight year old brain found fascinating was the fact that as the line moved away from Christ, the wardrobe of the figures changed as they moved through the centuries.  The first figures are all wearing robes as the first few centuries tick by.  The styles then begin to change, and we begin to see roman sandals, hose on the legs of men and conical hats on the heads of women as people walk forth from the Middle Ages.  We then see a distinctive Renaissance fashion as those from the 1400’s and 1500’s step forward trailing people wearing the garb of Puritan attire, steeple hats and coifs.  The procession continues to march across the page as we see the classic tri-cornered hat and bonnets from the 1700’s.  As we move closer to the present day, top hats begin to replace the tri-cornered ones, and women’s hats begin to show more color and style having flowers and frills.  Finally, as we near the end, we see clothing common in the early part of the twentieth century until we reach the first two people in line, who dominate the entire spectacle.  It is a man and woman dressed in modern clothes (at least by 1950’s standards when these books were first published).  Unlike those behind them, who seem to be looking every which way but up, this couple is gazing skywards, holding their bibles with expressions of complete complacency – the man in particular.  His cherubic, gently smiling face, framed by dark hair is the representation of pure innocence and faith as his raised eyes appear to be scanning the sky for his eternal reward. 

                I recently rediscovered this set of Bible stories, which was actually being used quite irreverently to raise a bed in the guest bedroom at my brother’s.  I had forgotten which volume this illustration was in, so I poured through each one.  However, when I got to Volume Eight, I did not have to scan for it at all.  It popped right open to the illustration as if the book was chiding me for neglect over the past few decades.  Thumb prints and old specks of what was probably 1970’s food stained the pages.  This illustration had been well loved in its day.  The concept of time fascinated me in 1977 as it still does today.  I never really believed in creationism – even then.  The concept seemed too simplistic and pat -- naïve and charming rather than truthful.  But there is an undeniable sincerity and probity in these childhood stories that I just can’t forget. 
                 I’ll always think of that bright faced man in the front, beaming purity and holding his Bible, his benevolent expression fixed in a state of supreme bliss. I suppose the procession of hope for a world hereafter will always continue to march forward regardless of all the darkness, despair and negativity that surround us.  It is a peace we all strive to attain even if our final curtain falls to nothing more than a deep and profound eternal rest.  I would like to think however that the dream is reward enough and is in itself filled with purpose as we continue to march towards that forever elusive heaven in the sky.