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HENRY MEADE BLAND
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PROSE AND POETRY
FOR CHILDREN
BY
HENRY MEADE BLAND, A. M., Ph. D.
Teacher of English in the State Normal School
at San Jose, California.
THIRD EDITION
Published by _
The Pacific Short Story Club
SAN JO3L, CALIFORNIA
PRESS OF EATON & Go.
1912
Dedicated to
whose morn was December 8, 1 832,
and whose eve was May 27, 1909.
Copyright 1908, 1912, by Henry Meadc Bland.
FOREWORD
HE aim of this work is to place in condensed
form, at the disposal of the school, suggestions
for effectively teaching school literature. To that
end, selections have been widely drawn, and an
endeavor has been made to show the work in a
proper prospective. It is hoped that the study of the
extracts will so lead to the development of the pupil's
taste, that the volumes of the school library will more
and more come to their true function in the progress
of education.
H. M. B.
251015
CONTENTS
PAGE
A List of Reading on Holidays j8
A Birdie With a Yellow Bill 59
All Things Bright 60
Aggressive Fighting, Roosevelt 65
A Man May Be Young, Bacon 66
And O the Voices, Miller 67
And Ever and Ever, Miller 67
Arab's Farewell to His Horse, Norton 76
Abou Ben Adhem, Hunt 83
Arrow and the Song, Longfellow 87
A Song of the South, Miller 93
A Man's a Man, Burns 1 10
A Countryman Once 39
Busy Lark, Chaucer 43
Ballad of the Tempest 68
Burial of Sir John Moore, Wolfe 71
Burial of Moses, Alexander 90
Books, Wodsworth 109
Charge of the Light Brigade, Tennyson 78
Casabianca, Hemans 80
Columbus, Miller 93
Daisies, Sherman 22
Dapple Gray 23
Dost Thou Love Life, Franklin -. 61
Destruction of Sennacherib, Byron 74
Daffodils, Wordsworth 105
Death Bed, Hood 109
Eve of Waterloo, Byron .82
Earth's Living Word, Realf '.-,...< Ill
Fiddler. From Dooney, Yeats 37
Flower in the Crannied Wall, Tennyson -. 63
Forenoon and Afternoon and Night, Sill >. 06
Fate, Harte , ; . . ... ...... 69
Fortunate Isles, Miller . . . . . 90
Grammar Grades 30
Good Morning, Little Rose Bush . . ,• 59
Gettysburg Speech, Lincoln , 107
Gouty Merchant and the Stranger, Byrom. .102
CONTENTS — (Continued).
PAGS
Humor 34
Humpty Dumpty 38
He Prayeth Best 60
Heaven Is Not Reached, Holland 65
Inscription for a Fireplace, Van Dyke 12
Intermediate Grades 28
In Blossom Time, Coolbrith 48
If Wisdoms Ways 59
In the Heart of a Deed 59
If a Task Is Once Begun 60
In Men Whom Men, Miller 62
I Like the Lad, Saxe . ; 65
I Would Not Enter, Cowper 66
In the Morning Sow, Bible 67
Is It Worth While, Miller 106
Joy of the Hills, Markham 47
Jog On, Jog On, Shakespeare : 62
Kittie and Mousie , 23
Kind Hearts 38
Kindness 60
Keep Thinking, London 61
Little Birdie, Tennyson 24
Little Nanny Etticoat 38
Little Brook, Riley 45
Let Me Be a Sunbeam 60
Let Those Now Love 63
Look Not Mournfully, Longfellow 63
Look How the Floor, Shakespeare 64
Life Is An Arrow, Van Dyke 65
Little Drops of Water, Brewer 70
Lochinvar, Scott 72
Landing of the Pilgrims, Hemans 79
Lord Ullin's Daughter, Campbell 88
Method ; . 9
Mottoes for the Blackboard 59
My Heart Leaps Up 61
My Star, Browning 62
Man Is His Own Star, Fletcher 67
Mary Had a Little Lamb . . 68
Nature Poetry 42
Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Bourdillon 64
Night Before Christmas, More 85
CONTENTS — (Continued).
PAGE
Nineteenth Psalm 100
O Never Tell, Field 39
One Hundred Good Books 55
O World, Browning 63
O Could I Flow, Denham 65
On First Looking in Chapman's Homer, Keats Ill
On His Blindness, Milton 112
Philosophy of Children's Literature 16
Prose, Comments on 51
Politeness 60
Pied Piper of Hamelin, Browning 94
Primrose of the Rock, Wordsworth 108
References to Morning 43-44
Rain In Summer, Longfellow 66
Rhyme of the Rail, Saxe 99
Sleep, Baby, Sleep 24
Seven Times One, Ingelow 27
Suppose, Cary 36
September, "H. H." 42
Song of the Brown Thrush, Van Dyke 45
Song cf the Forest Ranger, Bashford 49
So Nigh Is Grandeur 61
Stay Not Fettered, Goethe 63
Some Hae Meat Burns 65
Sin Has Many Tools, Holmes 67
Some of the Treasures 68
Sculptor Boy, Doan 70
Singing Lesson, Ingelow 73
Sweet and Low, Tennyson -. 75
Stanzas from "The Fourth in Oregon," Miller 104
Song of the Out O' Doors, Bashford 108
Sonnets Ill
The Star 25
There Are Three Green Eggs, Markham 26
The Father's Business, Markham 30
Two Taverns, Markham 30
The Tree-Toad, Riley 34
The Dragon-Fly, Tennyson 42
The Sea, "Barry Cornwall" 46
The W7orld Is So Full, Stevenson 60
Then Give To the World 61
These Are the Best Days, Seton 61
CONTENTS — (Continued).
PAGE
The Years at the Spring, Browning 61
This Above All, Shakespeare 62
There Is No Death, Longfellow 63
The Quality of Mercy, Shakespeare 64
There Is No Death, Bulwer-Lytton 64
The Brook, Tennyson 84
The Departed, Benjamin 103
Thirtieth Sonnet, Shakespeare Ill
Way Was Long, Scott 18
Winter Jewels 27
Who Says I Will ? 59
Write It On Your Heart, Emerson 61
We Are the Mariners, Gary 62
What Is So Rare As a Day In June, Lowell 66
Way For Billy, Hogg 75
Water Drops 101
World's Wanderers, Shelley 107
Value of Symbolism 39
Voice of the Dove, Miller 25
Voice of the Grass, Roberts 42
PROSE AND POETRY
FOR CHILDREN
THE METHOD
.In the teaching of Reading and Literature there are
.three clear aims to .be held in mind ; first, the giving of
power to take thought from the printed page; second^
the teaching of facile, clear expression, to the end that
the reader may make others understand when he reads
aloud; third, an inculcation of the love of literature that
the reader may get personal pleasure in the pursuit of
thought.
The first aim has to deal with the technique of read-
ing. Technical reading has to do with the process of
association of thought with the written or printed sym+
bol. Every teacher knows that phonetics is the basis of
the teaching of primary reading ; and she therefore
chooses some well-planned system to work with, along
this line. But, as a matter of fact, the child's instinct
to imitate, his memory and his sense of rhythm are pow-
erful factors in determining his progress as a reader;
consequently the picture-reader is also rich in subject
matter for the little one. Such a set of readers ought to
go hand in hand with the more technical phonetic read-
ers. In truth a combination of the two plans is condu-
cive to the best results in the reading room.
While the child is acquiring the power of taking
thought from the printed page, neither of the other two
fundamental aims should be lost sight of. Good enun-
ciation, pronunciation and appreciation must be insisted
10 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
on while the pupil is laboring to grasp thought. Never-
theless the demands of teaching are such that a single
aim must be selected to work for at somewhat regular
intervals (according to the character of the class) and
drilled upon. It is to be remembered continuously that
the greatest joy to come from reading is appreciation.
The regular school reader put into the hands of the
child for daily study is the source of power to read. This
is the book thumbed and studied, carried home, read
aloud, the stories and sayings and poems of which ought
finally to be treasured permanently in the pupils' minds
as the choicest memories of early school days.
Such a reader ought to possess two qualities. First
the thought and words ought to be such as the pupil can
grasp ; not so simple as to fail to call forth mental strug-
gle, not so hard as to be beyond reach. Second the sub-
ject matter must have a permanent interest that it may
invite reading and re-reading, and should be broad so as
to appeal to a variety of interests. A right balance ought
to be maintained between prose and poetry.
Attractive illustrations and clear printing, such as the
best modern book-making can body forth into a beautiful
volume, are the marks of a good reader ; but none of the
technical marks used for phonetic purposes, except in
lists for special study in spelling and pronunciation,
should be in the practice readers to be particularly de-
scribed later.
It follows from the foregoing that three classes of
readers are to be of service in the school room ; first, the
regular text in the pupil's hand ; second, the practice or
sight reader; third, children's literature proper. The
distinctions between these are readily seen, since they lie
more in difficulty in text and in different uses than in-
herent differences in subject-matter.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 11
First, the school reader. It appears, at first glance,
that since the boards of control or supervision choose
the school reader the teacher is not actually concerned
with its quality; but since the board, after all is said,
must rely on the judgment of the instructor it follows
that the teacher should be a careful and rational critic of
her text. The first principle of selection is negative. No
reader should be in use for more than a quadrennium on
the average; for as the life of a people varies, so its
thoughts vary, and for the sake of freshness changes are
necessary. On the other hand economical administration
of the school demands that changes come not too often.
The second requisite is that the subject-matter arouse
interest. Its themes should be such as appeal to the
child-mind — bright, fresh, uplifting.
As to the practice reader, it ought to possess the same
qualities as the formal reader ; but it should be at least a
year lower in grading than the school grade in which it
is used. This reader is not to be in the hands of the pu-
pil, but is to be kept by the teacher, and not handed out
till the moment of reading begins. It is to be taken up at
once when the lesson ends. Such a lesson is pure read-
ing at sight, and its aim is to procure facility. The new
school readers constantly 'appearing should be purchased
for this work and they should be owned by the school.
In this work clear pronunciation and enunciation should
be insisted upon, with a clear understanding of thought.
The work widens \yhen the aim is appreciation. The
ingenuity of the teacher can be brought into play to de-
vise plans. The Library Hour described on page 54
is a good scheme. The use of standard children's period-
icals purchased with the library fund, such as "The
Youth's Companion," "St. Nicholas," "The Boy's
World" and "The American Boy," adds interest. Oc-
12 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
casionally a strong story may be clipped into small sec-
tions and each section handed to a class member to be
read in turn. At times the teacher should read aloud a
whole story, at other times she may read a few para-
graphs into a story to whet her class's appetite, leaving
the pupils to finish as they choose. Much lies in giving
the school an atmosphere of books. The great world-
books and stories such as have captivated the young for
ages must be drawn upon. The child should emerge
from the public school having been taught at least one
great Bible story; one story of Homeric or Greek life—
not a single myth which may be said in a dozen lines,
but a splendid tale like that of Troy ; one Roman story ;
one Norse ; one Teutonic legend ; and one Arthurian tale.
Nothing develops a love of poetry like a judicious use
of memory work. The selections used should be short,
beautiful and emotional. A first requisite is that the
teacher herself appreciate in its fulness the selection.
This is demanded that she may give the desired interpre-
tation. There are two steps in the method ; first an at-
tempt to make clear the meaning of the lines, second
such intensity of study of the wording and expression
as will fix the exact form in the mind.
Suppose the class is an upper grade, and the poem is
Henry van Dyke's "Inscription for a Fireplace."
"When the logs are burning free,
Then the fire is full of glee;
When the heart gives out its best,
Then the talk is full of zest:
Light your fire and never fear,
Life was made for love and cheer."
. Before memorizing this several alluring pictures of
old-fashioned fireplaces con Id be shown the class ; with
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 13
perhaps photo of a big open fire. Selections describing
a happy family around the blaze, such as are to be found
in "Snowbound" or the ''Hanging of the Crane" could
be read by the teacher. Or a selection from van Dyke's
"The Open Fire" in the "Van Dyke Book," could be add-
ed. When the thought is fully grasped, if it is found the
class or any individuals need much drill to fix the lines,
the teacher should follow up for a few minutes such a
system of exercise as will open every avenue to the pu-
pil's brain. Some children are eye-minded and absorb
better with the eye on the printed page. Some are ear-
minded and learn best by hearing a selection. Others
combine both powers and get the thought better by read-
ing it aloud themselves. Some minds are apparently
best approached through the muscular sense. Such re-
member words copied by their own hands and spoken by
use of their own vocal cords. Might not such be said
to be muscular-minded ? Repetition in concert gives ap-
preciation of rhythm and is a certain aid to memory. By
the time a child of apparently slow memory has per-
formed all these processes, provided he first understands
and appreciates the thought, he will almost certainly
know the selection word for word. Finally it should be
said what the teacher loves and appreciates the pupil
will love and appreciate.
The process of reading is mainly learned by modeling
after others. The child first learns speech by imitation.
So he learns to read by the same psychological process.
The teacher is his chief model. Through his inherent
powers or limitations he attains individuality. From the
earliest beginning the pupil however should be encour-
aged to take the initiative — to attempt to read the lesson
in class before he has heard any one read. After he has
made the attempt the instructor may then correct in two
}4 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
ways : first by reading the passage aloud ; second by giv-
ing any formal instruction as to modulation.
The reading lesson really begins with the assignment
of the lesson. This should be done with great care. A
story involving the background of the piece may be told.
This is to arouse interest ; but it should not forestall the
main point of the lesson. Thus a vivid word-picture
might be briefly drawn after this spirit before the chil-
dren study Markham's "Two Taverns":
Edwin Markham one time spent a summery after-
noon in the hills back of the city of Oakland, California,
overlooking San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate.
He was resting on a bank of poppies intently watching
the shiny yellow petals and the insect visitors to the pol-
len of the flowers. It was a scene to enchant and he re-
mained till late in the afternoon when the cool winds
from the bay told the coming of eve. As the sun lowered
and the clouds reddened over Golden Gate, the poet saw
a bee light on one of the big poppies. As sundown passed
and night came on the bee still drank of the flower
sweets while the petals gently closed around it. At last
the insect was caught in the petals and shut in. Mark-
ham went away leaving it in this curious lodging for the
night.
The vivid points of the Columbus Story could suc-
cinctly be recalled before a study of Miller's "Colum-
bus."'
Very often biography may be interestingly interwoven
in these preliminary stories. For example, a very real
picture of the poet William Wordsworth is shown in the
following which mav be used to introduce a lesson on
"The Daffodils."
One time this writer, as was his custom, took a long
walk among the hills about his home in Westmoreland,
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 15
England. About the middle of the afternoon he came to
the top of a hill overlooking a little valley, in the bottom
of which was a small lake. A soft breeze was blowing
and the lake was covered with rippling waves which
glistened in the warm sun.
Along the shores of the lake were some tall trees
something like we know as oaks ; and beneath these and
scattered also along the banks were thousands of flowers
and these danced and waved in the wind. It seemed to
the poet that these flowers were like stars. As he
looked upon this beautiful scene he thought it one of the
most striking his eye had ever rested upon. That af-
ternoon as he went home he began the writing of the
pretty poem which we know as "The Daffodils/' begin-
ning,
"I wandered lonely as a cloud."
Reference later on is made to this interesting piece.
A rule to be followed giving out a lesson is "Be defi-
nite." Point out specifically the six or eight or more
words the children are to look up the meaning of. Some-
times it is best for the teacher to become "dictionary"
and explain the meanings. Sometimes a word is best ex-
plained by comment on the text. There are at times fig-
ures of speech which the dictionary, of course, will give
no help on and which the teacher must explain. Here
are some specific points to keep in mind :
(a) Review and re-review.
(b) The rhythm of a line of poetry is an important clue
to the pronunciation of difficult words.
(c) Criticism should be positive, not negative, and chil-
dren should not be allowed to carpingly criticise each
other, nor should a child be interrupted by another
while he is reading.
16 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHILDREN'S
LITERATURE.
Prehistoric literature was undoubtedly poetic in form.
Our vision of the first literary artist is of a man rather
old, who journeyed from patriarchal family to patriar-
chal family, or from hamlet to hamlet, carrying to man
the only formal message of those times ; for in the prim-
itive there was but one means of literary dissemination —
by word of mouth. Just how the old bard presented his
theme it is difficult to picture. It is certain he was an
adept at oral expression. The rhythm of his lines he
chanted and rechanted 'till it became the essense of song,
and the music of his voice he accompanied with the lyre
or the harp which he himself played. When he sang he
took great care in enunciation; for to make himself clear-
ly understood was very necessary. Combined with all
these agencies of expression the primitive bard was a
master of the art of gesture. But gesture, then, was not
as we understand it now. Not only movement of hand
and arm and not only facial expression, but every muscle
of the body was brought into play and through its move-
ment, made to aid in the expression of the thought.
Thus the bard used the combined arts of music, the reci-
tative, and expressive bodily action.
To the people of the patriarchal camp or the hamlet
the tales of the bard took the place of newspaper, maga-
zine, drama, book, library, lecture, reading-club. His
advent was looked to as the sole source of news and dis-
cussion. He was the only professional purveyor of in-
formation.
Thus his art became the starting point of the world's
literary life. From it was finally differentiated all the
various literary forms as we now7 know them. It may be
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 17
assumed that love, war and the gods were in the main the
themes of the Bard-stories. No doubt the bard learned
to adjust his song to the love-lorn, to the hunter or sol-
dier, or to the religious devotee ; or perhaps the lover or
warrior or prophet himself turned bard, and so had his
own peculiarly colored tale to sing or tell. Thus gradu-
ally the bard-story became differentiated. Music more
fittingly adorned the expression of certain passions and
thus the resultant became lyrical ; or other stones
abounded in strong action, and the bard, with his fol-
lowers, gave himself up to the most violent rhythmical
physical contortions ; and so gesture became the pre-
vailing element in -the expression, and thus the dramatic-
story developed.
Again the pure recitative prevailed to the greater or
less exclusion of the music and action elements, and the
tale became more truly epic.
Thus from the primitive bard-matrix has been shaped
modern poetry. At the same time it must be remem-
bered, no piece of literature is truly poetic in which any
of the ancient elements is lacking. Every true poem has
music ; it advances an idea, and is dramatic.
The more modern bard of which Sir Walter Scott tells
in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel" and "The Lady of the
Lake/' is a partial survival of the ancient bard. Allan-
Bane is both poet and prophet ; but one must believe that
the old man's dependence on the Douglass family was
not at all characteristic of the untrammeled life of the
ancient musician who was free from alliances with par-
ticular towns or hamlets or families, and traveled to the
end of his life bearing his message of love or war. Scott,
however, rang down the curtain on the life-play of the
last of the bards ; bidding him adieu in words that are as
sure of immortality as any Scott wrote :
18 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
The way was long, the wind was cold,
The minstrel was infirm and old ;
His withered cheek, and trusses gray,
Seemed to have known a better day ;
The harp, his sole remaining joy,
Was carried by an orphan boy.
The last of all the bards was he,
Who sang of border chivalry ;
For, well-a-day ! their date was fled,
His tuneful brethren all were dead ;
And he, neglected and oppressed,
Wished to be with them, and at rest.
No more, on prancing palfrey borne,
He caroled light as lark at morn;
No longer courted and caressed,
High placed in hall, a welcome guest,
He poured, to lord and lady gay,
The unpremeditated lay ;
Old times were changed, old manners gone,—
A stranger filled the Stuart's throne;
The bigots of the iron time
Had called his harmless art a crime.
A wandering harper, scorned and poor,
He begged his bread from door to door ;
And tuned, to please a peasant's ear,
The harp a king had loved to hear.
There is a striking analogy between the line of de-
velopment of the child, in its attitude to literature, and
that of the race. The race's first appreciation is of
rhythm ; so is the child's. Jack London, the novelist, in
"Before Adam" gives his idea of the primitive race's
first invention of a piece as follows :
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 19
"We were very angry, insanely, vociferously angry.
Beating our chests, bristling, and gnashing our teeth, we
gathered together in our rage. We felt the prod of gre-
garious instinct, the drawing together as though for
united action, the impulse toward co-operation. In dim
ways this need for united action was impressed upon us.
But there was no way to achieve it because there was no
way to express it. We did not turn to, all of us, and de-
stroy Red-Eye, because we lacked a vocabulary. We
were vaguely thinking thoughts for which there were no
thought symbols. These thought-symbols were yet to
be slowly and painfully invented.
"One after another of us joined in the orgy of rage,
until even old Marrow-Bone was mumbling and sputter-
ing with his cracked voice and withered lips. Some one
seized a stick and began pounding a log. In a moment
he had struck a rhythm. It had a soothing effect upon
us ; and before we knew it, our rage forgotten, we were
in the full swing of a hee-hee council.
"But we Folk of the Younger World lacked speech,
and whenever we were so drawn together we precipitat-
ed babel, out of which arose a unanimity of rhythm that
contained within itself the essentials of art yet to come.
It was art nascent.
"In the intervals of pandemonium, each chattered, cut
up, hooted, screeched, and danced, himself sufficient unto
himself, rilled with his own ideas and volitions to the ex-
clusion of all others, a veritable centre of the universe,
divorced for the time being from any unanimity with the
other universe-centres leaping and yelling around him.
"Then would come the rhythm — a clapping of hands ;
the beating of a stick upon a log; the example of one
that leaped with repetitions ; or the chanting of one that
uttered explosively and regularly, with inflection that
20 PROSE AND POETRY EOR CHILDREN
rose and fell, 'A-bang, a-bang! A-bang, a-bang!' One
after another of the self-centred Folk would yield to it,
and soon all would be dancing or chanting in chorus.
'Ha-ah, ha-ah, ha-ah!11 was one of our favorite choruses,
and another was, 'Eh-wah, eh-wah-hah ?' "
The Anglo-Saxon poem, "Beowulf," with its compli-
cated alliteration, is an illustration of how strongly pure
rhythm appealed to the younger man. But rhythmic
pieces hung only in the borderland between the prehis-
toric and civilization for, with the dawn of intelligence,
the drift was into myth and story or literature in which
action and imagination were recorded. So presently, in
English literature, the poem loses, to a certain extent, its
strongly emphasized lyric cast, and becomes the recita-
tion of a dramatic story, such as is seen in Chaucer's
"Canterbury Tales/'
Lastly the poem passes even out of the story epoch
into the descriptive or narrative, the poetry of thought
and philosophy. That this racial development is, in a
general way, an indication of the line along which the
child develops we shall now see.
All of us know well the child's instinctive love for the
"Mother Goose Melody." A close study of the little one
to determine what there is in the melody to attract shows
it at once to be rhythm. What is suggested in thought is
found to be nothing more than a series of striking pic-
tures which are easily grasped by the senses ; while the
action is fantastic.
When the age of appreciation of the jingle is well un-
der way, there is an unconscious trend into a new field
in which the pieces are a combination of prose and poetic.
"The House that Jack Built" is the type of these. The
chief characteristic is repetition. The separate sentences
are in truth prose but in course of repeating and re-re-
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 21
peating become more or less poetic. Besides the placing
of rhyme ; e. g., "the priest all shaven and shorn, that
married the man all tattered and torn, that kissed
the maiden all forlorn," as well as the alliteration,
gives further rhythmical effect. It is to be noted that
the many repetitions of the same words are of distinct
educational value to the child as distinct pronunciation of
and familiarity with the words are thereby insured.
In "The Old Woman and Her Pig" the prose element
still more fully prevails, yet the recurrence of the jingle
still gives all the charm of the mother-goose melody.
The story beginning "A mouse in the oven was spinning
blue wool" in the " Stepping Stones" Readers, is another
example of this class of children's literature. These
prose-rhythms make an easy step into the appreciation of
the prose of the reading-book, as they lie on the border-
land of myth and story.
Throughout the kindergarten and primary years,
rhythm continues to be the chief element in poetry at-
tractive to the pupil.
So strong is the instinct for music that the six-year-old
may be taught to memorize pieces far beyond his years
in thought and emotion. Teachers, therefore, often de-
ceive themselves into thinking their classes fully appre-
ciate such poems as "The Children's Hour" (Longfel-
low), and "The Little Boy Blue" (Field), because of
certain incidental childish ideas in the poems; but this
apparent interest of the children is the inborn love of
childhood for exquisite poetic music. The attempting of
work thus in thought and action beyond the child's men-
tal capacity, leads to arrested development. The teacher
should watch carefully the materials and should select
not only the rhythmical, but that which combines the
rhythmical with childish experience,
22 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
One of the daintiest conceptions, "Daisies,'' by Frank
Dempster Sherman, is illustrative:
At evening when I go to bed
I see the stars shine overhead ;
They are the little daisies white
That dot the meadow of the night.
And often while I'm dreaming so.
Across the sky the moon will go ;
It is a lady, sweet and fair,
Who comes to gather daisies there.
For, when at morning I arise,
There's not a star left in the skies;
She's picked them all, and dropped them down
Into the meadows of the town.
Note, also, that the rhythm of the following lines by
Charles Warren Stoddard, "The Voice of the Mission
Bell," imitating the ringing of a bell, is to the point :
And every note of every bell
Sang Gabriel, rang Gabriel,
In the tower left the tale to tell
Of Gabriel, the Archangel.
Again the tender love childhood has for animals is a
most fruitful suggestion of material for the reading or
memory lesson. Thus "Kittie and Mouse", "Mary Had
a Little Lamb", "The Owl and the Pussy Cat" and "The
Tree Toad", and others, carry the child into this real
realm of his play life. The following poems are much
beloved by the little ones:
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 23
KITTIE AND MOUSE.
Once there was a little kittle,
White as the snow ;
In a barn she used tp frolic,
Long time ago.
In the barn a little mousie
Ran to and fro ;
And it saw the little kittie
Long time .ago.
Four soft paws had little kittie,
Paws soft as snow ;
And they caught the little mousie
Long time ago.
Nine pearl teeth had little kittie -
All in a row,
And they caught the little mousie
Long time ago.
When the teeth bit the little mousie
Mousie cried out, tkOh"
But it got away from little kittie
Long time ago.
DAPPLE GRAY.
I had a little pony ;
His name was Dapple Gray.
I lent him to a lady,
To ride a mile away.
She whipped him, she lashed him,
She rode him through the mire ;
I would not lend my pony now
For all the lady's hire,
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
SLEEP, BABY, SLEEP.
Sleep, baby, sleep,
Thy father's watching the sheep,
Thy mother's shaking the dreamland tree
And down drops a little dream for thee.
Sleep, baby, sleep!
Sleep, baby, sleep !
The big stars are the sheep ;
The little stars are the lambs, I guess,
The bright moon is the shepherdess,
Sleep, baby, sleep !
LITTLE BIRDIE.
What does little birdie say,
In her nest at peep of day ?
"Let me fly," says little birdie —
"Mother, let me fly away."
"Birdie, rest a little longer,
Till the little wings are stronger."
So she rests a little longer,
Then she flies away.
What does little baby say
In her bed at peep of day?
Baby says, like little birdie,
"Let me rise and fly away."
"Baby, sleep a little longer,
Till the little limbs are stronger."
If she sleeps a little longer,
Baby, too, shall fly away.
— Alfred Tennyson.
(Permission of Houghton Mi film & Co.. Publishers.)
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 25
THE VOICE OF THE DOVE.
Come, listen, O Love, to the voive of the dove,
Come, hearken and hear him say ;
There are many To-morrows, my Love, my Love,
There is only one To-day !
And all day long you can hear him say
This clay in purple is rolled,
And the baby stars of the milky way
They are cradled in cradles of gold.
Now what is thy secret, serene gray dove,
Of singing so sweetly alway?
"Many To-morrows, my Love, my Love,
Only one To-day, To-day !
— Joaqnin Miller.
(Permission of the author, The Whitaker and
Ray Co., Publishers.)
Children's poetry in the kindergarten and largely in
the primary grades falls as regards subject-matter under
two heads, the "wonder-poem" and the "make-believe-
poem."
Good examples of these are respectively, "Twinkle,
Twinkle, Little Star," and "Winter Jewels."
THE STAR.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star ;
How I wonder what you are !
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky !
26 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
When the glorious sun is set,
And the grass with dew is wet,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep ;
For you never shut your eye
Till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveler in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
The child wonder-poem has arisen from a desire to
express in music the numberless thrills the boy or girl
feels as nature or life unfolds its newness to him. Thus,
There are three green eggs in a small round pocket,
And the breeze will swing and the gale will rock it,
Till three little birds on the thin edge teeter,
And our G'od will be glad and the world be sweeter!
(By permission from Edwin Markham. McClure
Phillips & Co., Publishers.)
is a joyous childish revel in the window-bird-nest, — an
illustration of ever-recurring delight that even the adult
has as he looks into the home of , the bird.
Thus it becomes the duty of the teacher to be sensitive
to the touches of emotion that seize the children as the
mysteries of art and nature are unfolded to them, to the
end that the poetry given may nurture and strengthen
the tender impression of the pupil. Thus
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 27
WINTER JEWELS.
A million little diamonds
Sparkled in the trees,
And all the little maidens said,
"A jewel if you please;''
But when they held their hands outstretched
To catch the diamonds gay,
A million little sunbeams came
And stole them all away,
is appropriate to the dewy spring morning ; just as Jean
Ingelow's "Seven Times One" in the "Songs of Seven"
is expressive of the child-delight in outward things.
There's no dew left on the daisies and clover,
There's no rain left in heaven;
I've said my "seven times" over and over;
Seven times one are seven.
I am old, so old, I can write a letter ;
My birthday lessons are done ;
The lambs play always, they know no better ;
They are only one times one.
0 moon ! in the night I have seen you sailing
And shining so round and low;
You were bright! ah bright! but your light is failing,—
You are nothing now but a bow.
You moon, have you done something wrong in heaven
That God has hidden your face?
1 hope if you have you will soon be forgiven,
And shine again in your place.
28 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
O velvet bee, you're a dusty fellow,
You've powder'd your legs with gold !
O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow,
Give me your money to hold !
O Columbine, open your folded wrapper,
Where two twin turtle-doves dwell !
0 cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapper
That hangs in your clear, green bell !
And show me your nest with the young ones in it ;
I will not steal them away;
1 am old ! you may trust me, linnet, linnet, —
I am seven times one to-day.
FOR THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES.
The intermediate years of school conform in a gen-
eral way to the period of child-life known to physiol-
ogists as "childhood proper." This runs approximately
(varying in different children) from eight to eleven in
girls, and from eight to twelve in boys. As it is an age
of great physical activity, so it is also an age of great
mental activity, which manifests itself in exercise of the
imagination. In the earlier part of the period the child
is adjusting himself, preparatory to the later rational
thought processes, through the ' process of fantastic im-
agination. Hence the myth and the story begin here to
be attractive. Later all sorts and forms of adventure,
and exciting contests are the sources of his mental food.
It is not strange then that his taste for the poetic in
this period is far different from what it was in the pre-
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 29
vious period. If we should characterize the literature
which the pupils best react on at this age, we should call
it the heroic, and should perhaps name the good old
production of Mrs. Felicia Hemans, "Casabianca," as
the type. It may be objected that the "Boy on the Burn-
ing Deck" stands for that irrational bravery which is
not just the thing to put before the child. This point is
open to argument ; but the spirit of obedience and re-
spect pictured in the poem commends itself in an age
when the yorfng appear too self-willed.
The story of "Paul Revere's Ride" also presents a
phase of heroism which touches the boy, especially him
who has been fired by reading the stirring times begin-
ning the American Revolution. "Barbara Fritchie" has;
too, the mark of the heroic as has "The Charge of the
Light Brigade," though these belong to the latter part
of the period under consideration.
James T. Field's '4The Tempest," for the lower years
of intermediate, and Browning's "The Ride from Ghent
to Aix," for upper, are two additional heroics which
linger long with the child who reads them.
FOR THE GRAMMAR GRADES.
The seventh and eighth grades are co-ordinate with
the physiological period in the child's growth known as
youth. It is in this age that the pupil's emotional life
begins to expand, for this is when he loses the sponta-
neity of earlier years and awakes to life's problems. The
subject-matter, therefore, suited to this age, is that which
reacts upon the emotional nature and gives control to
the child. A love of direct didactic statement of the truth
begins to dove-tail with the love of the dramatic of ear-
30 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Her period. Description and narrative become satisfy-
ing. The child loves epigram and proverb, and in short
any piece that has a definite clear lesson to teach. An
example is seen in Markham's "The Father's Business."
Who puts back into place a fallen bar,
Or flings a rock out of a traveled road,
His feet are moving toward the central star,
His name is whispered in the God's abode.
(Permission of the author, McClure, Phillips & Co.,
Publishers.)
In the method pursued in upper grades, the aim
should be to make the pupil think. Consequently the
piece must be dwelt upon, mused over, until its entire
setting is visualized and its atmosphere felt.
Suppose, for example, the poem under consideration
is ''Two Taverns," by Markham:
I remember how I lay
On a bank a summer day,
Peering into weed and flower;
Watched a poppy all one hour ;
Watched it 'till the air grew chill ;
In the darkness of the hill :
'Till I saw a wild bee dart
Out of the cold to the poppy's heart ;
Saw the petals gently spin,
Shut the little lodger in.
Then I took the quiet road
To my own secure abode.
All night long his tavern hung;
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 31
Now it rested, now it swung ;
I asleep in steadfast tower,
He asleep in stirring flower ;
In our hearts the same delight
In the hushes of the night;
Over us both the same dear care
As we slumbered unaware.
(Permission of the author, McClure, Phillips an4 Co.,
Publishers.)
The first of these stanzas is pure description, so the
attention of the teacher should be given to bringing out
a clear visualization of the scene depicted.
One might think that the teaching of this poem to
children in a country where the poppy does not grow,
should not be undertaken. But it will be remembered
that the incident of the petals of a flower closing at eve
around an insect could happen with many another flow-
er ; so that a vivid paraphrase by the teacher of the stan-
za, putting some flower that the children know for the
poppy, will bring about the desired understanding.
The striking contrast subtly suggested in the second
stanza between the poet resting in his "steadfast tower,"
and the bee asleep in a stirring flower, and the idea
growing out of it — the natural simple faith which
abounds in life — may be made more vivid by comparing
the poem with "The Sandpiper" and "The Waterfowl."
It should be said once for all that no literary quota-
tion is of much value unless it is placed in the mind with
the group of ideas to which it is naturally related. Ideas
are arranged so that we can remember them by thinking
them together, thus :
32 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
"And are we not God's children both
Thou, little sandpiper and I ?"
and
"Over us both the same dear care
As we slumbered unaware,"
and
"He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone
Will guide my steps aright,"
are different expressions of the same idea, and all can
readily be recalled whenever the central idea, the pro-
tecting All-father, is thought of.
The ability to thus think ideas together gives one's
thought a literary cast.
The "Daffodils" (Wordsworth) is another piece con-
sisting in the first stanzas mainly of description which
later is idealized into what, to the poet, is a tender, ex-
quisite memory. When sympathetically interpreted, it
strikes the older children with great beauty. The ap-
proach to the poem is perhaps best made through a de-
scription of Wordsworth's attitude to nature, and his
habit of wandering by himself through the hills. It was
on one of these wanderings that he came across the scene
the verse describes. The first line it should be noted is
auto-biographical :
"I wandered lonely as a cloud"
for the poem is a faithful reproduction of an experience.
It will be noted an actual knowledge of the daffodil is
not really necessary to an appreciation of the poem. The
individual flower is a small part of the whole scene. The
poet has stood apart, has perhaps just arrived at the sum-
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 33
mit of a divide, and is looking down into the valley at a
lake bordered with trees, under which is a mass of danc-
ing color. Whether this color be from a myriad of daf-
fodils or of poppies, or anemones, or buttercups, the ef-
fect is the same. Bayard Taylor tells us when, upon a
certain time, a regiment of soldiers sang an old love
song, that
"Each heart recalled a different name,
But all sang Annie Laurie/'
So it is when we read, while we say "daffodils" it is very
possible that the mind's eye sees marguerites or yellow
violets, or some other flower we have seen growing en
masse.
It must be remembered that the culminating effect
which makes poetry cling in the mind, is the rhythm.
This should be brought out with all attention to the re-
tard and acceleration, harmonic or melodic effect, neces-
sary to bring out the thought ; for that reading of a good
poem which best brings out the rhythm will best reveal
the thought. Notice especially the effect of the retard in
the line :
"I gazed and gazed, but little thought."
Notice also the emotion comes to a climax in the last
couplet :
"And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils."
In fine, it may be said, that teaching by impression
can be used at its best in this presentation of poetry in
the grades, for in some subtle, not well understood way,
the successful teacher communicates her own apprecia-
tion of the emotion to the pupil.
34 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
HUMOR.
From the world of make-belief there is an easy step
to the humorous. The make-believe becomes mirth-pro-
voking as soon as absurdity of situation can be realized.
In the little child whose power to think has not yet been
tried out on the wings of imagination the absurdities do
not appear. Hence Edward Lear's ''The Owl and the
Pussy Cat" may appear a serious reality to such a one;
but after a while the fantastic oddities appear and the
humor is enjoyed.
It is certain that the power to appreciate humor does
not appear till the child can reason well. Hence the full
beauty is not evident till the little one is well along in
the grades. Eugene Field's "The Duel" appeals more
humorously to younger children than perhaps any other
poem. Close to this ranks Stevenson's "A Birdie With
a Yellow Bill." Riley's "The Tree-Toad" herewith
given in full, is a type of the piece in which childish
make-belief is tempered into delicious fun.
"'Scurious-like," said the tree-toad,
"I've twittered fer rain al! day;
And I got up soon,
And I hollered 'till noon —
But the sun, hit blazed away,
'Till I jest dumb down in a crawfish- hole,
Weary at heart, and sick at soul !
"Dozed away fer an hour,
And I tackled the thing again;
And I sung, and sung,
'Till I knowed my lung
Was jest about give in,
And then, thinks I, ef hit don't rain now
There're nothin' in singin' anyhow !
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 35
"Once in awhile some
Would come a drivhr past
And he'd hear my cry,
And stop and sigh—
'Till I jest laid back, at last.
And hollered rain 'till I thought my th'oat
Would bust right open at ever' note !
"But I fetched her! O I fetched her!
'Cause a little while ago,
As I kind o' set,
With one eye shet,
And a-singin' soft and low,
A voice drapped down on my fevered brain,
Sayiir, — 'Ef you'll jest hush I'll rain!''
— James Whitcomb Riley.
(With the permission of Bowen-Merrill Co., Publishers.)
The pun requires the exercise of so fine a discrimina-
tion in the use of words that, except in the higher grades,
the poem depending for its amusement upon, does not
appeal. Many a child who at twelve or thirteen has
tried to read Hood's "Faithless Nellie Gray," while per-
haps understanding a few of the hits, waits 'till adult-
hood before he grins at the "Stake in His Inside," or
"Badajo's Breaches," or
"The girl that loves a scarlet coat
Should be more uniform."
Good humor always carries with it an important les-
son in that it makes us see ourselves as we see others.
It therefore always is a gentle chiding. "Suppose" by
Phoebe Gary well illustrates this influence of a humorous
production,
36 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Suppose, my little lady,
Your doll should break her head,
Could you make it whole by crying
Till your eyes and nose are red ?
And wouldn't it be pleasanter
To treat it as a joke,
And say you're glad "'twas Dolly's,
And not your head, that broke?"
Suppose you're dressed for walking,
And the rain comes pouring down,
Will it clear off any sooner
Because you scold and frown?
And wouldn't it be nicer
For you to smile than pout,
And so make sunshine in the house
When there is none without?
Suppose your task, my little man,
Is very hard to get,
Will it make it any easier
For you to sit and fret?
And wouldn't it be wiser
Than waiting, like a dunce,
To go to work in earnest,
And learn the thing at once?
Suppose that some boys have a horse,
And some a coach and pair,
Will it tire you less while walking
To say, "It isn't fair" ?
And wouldn't it be nobler
To keep your temper sweet,
And in your heart be thankful
You can walk upon your feet?
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 37
And suppose the world don't please you,
Nor the way some people do,
Do you think the whole creation
Will be altered just for you?
And isn't it, my boy or girl,
The wisest, bravest plan,
Whatever comes or doesn't come,
To do the best you can?
— Phoebe Cary.
''The Fiddler from Dooney" by William Butler Yeats
is a fine example of a humorous poem bearing a gentle
moral :
When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,
Folks dance like a wave of the sea ;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Moharabuiee.
I passed my brother and cousin ;
They read in their books of prayer ;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.
When we come at the end of time,
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate.
For the good are always the merry
' Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance.
38 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With "Here is the fiddler of Dooney!"
And dance like a wave of the sea.
(By permission of The Macmillan Co., Publishers.)
Closely allied to humorous poetry and most useful in
the school-room for touching the uninitiated in lower
grades, and giving them an initiatory experience with
verse, is the rhythmed puzzle or riddle illustrated in the
following stanzas :
"Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall ;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall ;
Not all the king's horses, nor all the king's men
Could put Humpty Dumpty together again."
"Little Nanny Etticott,
In a white petticoat,
And a red rose;
The longer she stands,
The shorter she grows."
From the rhymed riddle, the step is easy to the verse
in which the figure is simply and plainly symbolic ; for
it often requires the same effort of mind to interpret the
quaint figure of speech as it does the puzzle, as in the
following :
"Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the blossoms,
Kind deeds are the fruits."
Again the verse , containing the humorous play on
words, or other striking conceits, adds to the interest
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 39
especially of older pupils. Of the following two, the
first quatrain is as old as Greek literature ; the second
young as the modern magazine :
"A countryman once who was troubled with fleas
Jumped out of bed with a thundering breeze,
And triumphantly cried, as he blew out the light ;
'Now I've got you, you rogue, you can't see where to
bite.' '
"O never tell your secrets to a fish
Whatever else you do;
For fishes carry tales, you know,
And they might tell on you."
—Field.
(Permission of the "Sunset Magazine.")
These skits serve as spice and react pleasantly upon
the usually serious atmosphere of the schoolroom. The
list may be extended ad libitum into carefully chosen
jokes, conundrums and so forth.
THE VALUE OF SYMBOLISM.
In the same way that a word may in the hand of the
literary artist take on a new and varied meaning, which
grows out of the resemblance of object to object; so a.
well known or commonplace thought expressed, not as
a word, but in full sentences, may be given a new and
significant meaning. Thus many times, in teaching,
Christ spoke in parables.
The parable of the sower, while setting forth
commonplace facts about the wheat field, was intended
to tell the disciples that their work must some of it fail,
other prosper*
40 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
The Allegory, Bunyan's "Pilgrims' Progress" for ex-
ample, is an extended symbol, the experiences of Chris-
tian standing in the concrete as an embodiment of the
trials of a follower of Christ. True poetic symbolism is
the art of making one idea or series of ideas stand for
another; thus in "Barnacles":
"My soul is sailing through the sea,
But the past is heavy and hindereth me,
The Past hath crusted' cumbrous shells
That hold the flesh of cold sea-mells
About my soul.
The huge waves wash, the high waves roll,
Each barnacle clingeth and worketh dole
And hindereth me from sailing!
Old Past, let go, and drop i' the sea
Till the fathomless waters cover thee!
For I am living but thou art dead;
Though drawest back, I strive ahead
The Day to find,
Thy shells unbind! Night comes behind,
I needs must hurry with the wind
And trim me best for sailing."
The barnacles are put to concretely embody the ab-
stract past. (From Poems of Sidney Lanier; copyright
1894, 1891, by Mary D. Lanier; published by Chas.
Scribner's Sons.)
The intense power of symbolism lies in its power of
suggestiveness. The mind grasps the clue to thought
and from the clue develops the thought much more
quickly than from the most direct presentation of the
idea. Symbolism presents the glimmer leaving the mind
to catch at the suggestion, e. g. :
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 41
"There was a door to which I found no key,
There was a veil past which I could not see,
Some little thought awhile of me and thee
There seemed, and then no more of thee and me ;"
— Omar Khayyam,
or
"And the brooklet has found the billow
Though they flowed so far apart,
And has filled with its freshness and sweetness
That turbulent, bitter heart."
. — Longfelloiv.
It is fundamental that the occult, the hidden, is a
strong lure to the intellect. It ensnares the imagination
and holds the fancy. More than that, it leads us to take
our own peculiar personal attitude to those scenes and
emotions which, if baldly or openly portrayed, would be
inartistic. Thus the poet instead of "I am sick today,
but tomorrow I will be well," might say, "The tide is
out now, but it will soon be in again." So also it is said
in biblical lore :
"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,"
and
"For wide is the gate, and broad is the way
that leadeth to destruction, and many there
be which go in thereat:"
because "strait is the gate and narrow is the way which
leadeth unto life and few there be which find it."
If the symbolic shows this strong appeal to the adult
imagination, it is doubly attractive to the child — espe-
cially at the age when fancy is most active. Thus na-
ture poetry in which the forces of nature are personified,
or imagined to be other than what they are, has a natu-
ral place in the child's education.
42 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
"Winter Jewels" already quoted is illustrative
the following "The Voice of the Grass" by Sarah T
Roberts :
Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere ;
By the dusty roadside,
On the sunny hillside,
Close by the noisy brook,
In every shady nook
I come creeping, creeping everywhere.
NATURE POETRY.
Productions of this class fall under two heads : first,
the pure description ; secondly, that which is expressive
of the feeling or emotion borne into the mind by nature
as a symbol.
Of the first class, the stanza from "The Two Voices"
by Tennyson, and the following two stanzas by Helen
Hunt Jackson, are types :
"Today 1 saw the dragon fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil,
Of his old husk : from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Through crofts and pastures wet with dew,
A living flash of light he flew."
"The goldenrod is yellow ;
The corn is turning brown ;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending- clown.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 43
The sedges flaunt their harvest,
In every meadow nook ;
And asters by the brook-side
Make asters in the brook."
Lines so purely descriptive as this, and yet so beauti-
ful are rare, for the description easily passes into the
use of the natural to symbolize some mode or quality of
the mind. Thus "The splendor falls on castle wails,"
while pure rhythm and description in the first two stan-
zas, in the third stanza,
"O love, they die in your rich sky
They faint on hill and field and river ;
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow forever and forever."
becomes by contrast a symbol leading to the expression
of an ideal human quality.
In their attempts to describe dawn and the morning,
the poets have on the other hand, often called in sym-
bol. To Homer the dawn was so beautiful that he used
the figure of woman to express it. uRosy-fingered
dawn" is the phrase chosen.
Chaucer, in describing the morning, speaks of the
lark as the day's messenger :
"The busy lark, the messenger of day
Saluteth in her song the morrow gray;
And fiery Phoebus riseth up so bright
That all the orient laugheth of the light."
Shakespeare has two couplets in which morn is sym-
bolized ; in one as a youth, in the other as a maiden :
44 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
"Night's candles are burnt out and jocund day
Stands tie-toe on the misty mountain-top."
and
"But look, the morn in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill."
Tennyson has :
"Morn in the white wake of the morning star,
Came furrowing all the orient into gold."
Sterling has:
"Morn comes drifting on its golden tides."
When it is undertaken to embody the emotion aroused
by certain aspects of nature, the nature quality becomes
secondary to the human qualities the poet sees mirrored
in the phenomena.
This results in such poetic conceptions, quoted later
on, as Edwin Markharrrs "The Joy of the Hills," Her-
bert Bashford's "The Song of the Forest Ranger," Ina
Coolbrith's "In Blossom Time," Barry Cornwall's "The
Sea," and Robert Browning's lines from "Saul" begin-
ning, "O our manhood's prime vigor" and ending, "For-
ever in Joy." These are the record of man's joy in
nature.
The first mentioned is the type. It is later given in
full. All these poems when interpreted with the rhyth-
mic swing belonging to them will strongly appeal to the
older children.
In a group by themselves are those verses which are
supposedly attempts to reproduce the notes of certain
birds. The "Song of the Brown Thrush" by Henry van
Dyke, and "The Voice of the Dove" by Joaquin Miller
are really reflections of bits of Philosophy which the
author chooses to realize in the bird song, thus :
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 45
THE SDNG OF THE BKOWN THBUSH.
Luck, luck,
What luck?
Good enough for me !
I'm alive, you see.
Sun shining,
No repining;
Never borrow
Idle sorrow ;
Drop it !
Cover it up !
Hold your cup !
Joy will fill it,
Don't spill it,
Steady, be ready,
Good luck!
— Henry van Dyke.
(By permission of the author, Chas. Scribners' Sons,
Publishers.)
So also in "The Voice of the Dove'' already quoted.
It should be remarked that only lines of the type of
''Today I saw the dragonfly" are usually strictly inter-
preted as nature poetry. It is noticed that poems like
the last two quoted, when literally construed ascribe to
the birds powers of feeling and reason they do not pos-
ses. This quality of literature, however, is valuable as
beautifully calling attention to the particular nature-ob-
ject.
James Whitcomb Ritey's lines beginning:
"Little brook Little brook!
You have such a happy look ;
Such a very merry manner
As you swerve curve and crook!"
46 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
further illustrate the beauty of this kind of nature pro-
duction. The following poems are striking as they com-
bine with wonderful pictures of nature, wilclness and
swing of melody unrivaled.
THE SEA.
The Sea ! the Sea ! the open Sea !
The blue, the fresh, the ever-free!
Without a mark, without a bound.
It runneth the earth's wide regions round ;
It plays with the clouds, it mocks the skies ;
Or like a cradled creature lies.
I'm on the sea! I'm on the sea!
I am where 1 would ever be ;
With the blue above, and the blue below,
And Silence wheresoe'er I go ;
If a storm should come and awake the deep,
What matter? I shall ride and sleep.
I love (oh! how I love) to ride
On the fierce foaming bursting tide,
When every mad wave drowns the moon,
Or whistles aloft his tempest tune,
And tells how goeth the world below.
And why the southwest blasts do blow.
I never was on the dull tame shore
But I loved the great sea more and more ;
And backwards flew to her billowy breast,
Like a bird that seeketh it's mother's nest:
And a mother she was and is to me,
For I was born on the open Sea !
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 47
The waves were white, and red the morn,
In the noisy hour when I was born;
Arid the whale it whistled, the porpoise rolled.
And the dolphins bared their back of gold ;
And never was heard such an outcry wild
As welcomed to life the Ocean-child !
I have lived since then, in calm and strife,
Full fifty summers a sailor's life,
With wealth to spend and a power to range,
But never have sought, nor sighed for change ;
And death, whenever he come to me
Shall come on the wide unbounded Sea !
THE JOY OF THE HILLS.
I ride on the mountain tops, I ride ;
I have found my life and am satisfied.
Onward I ride in the blowing oats,
Checking the field-lark's rippling notes —
Lightly I sweep
From steep to steep :
Over my head through the branches high
Come glimpses of a rushing sky ;
The tall oats brush my horse's flanks ;
Wild poppies crowd on the sunny banks ;
A bee booms out of the scented grass ;
A jay laughs with me as I pass.
I ride on the hills, I forgive, I forget,
Life's hoard of regret —
All the terror and pain
Of the chafing chain.
Grind on, O cities, grind:
I leave you a blur behind.
48 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
I am lifted elate — the skies expand :
Here the world's heaped gold is a pile of sand.
Let them weary and work in their narrow walls :
I ride with the voices of waterfalls !
I swing on as one in a dream — I swing
Down the airy hollows, I shout, I sing!
The world is gone like an empty word :
My body's a bough in the wind, my heart a bird !
— E du'in M a rkham.
(By permission of the author, McClnre Phillips £ Co..
Publishers.)
IN BLOSSOM TIME.
It's O my heart, my heart.
To be out in the sun and sing —
To sing and shout in the fields about,
In the balm and the blossoming!
Sing loud, O bird in the tree ;
O bird, sing aloud in the sky,
And honey-bees, blacken the clover seas —
There is none of you glad as I.
The leaves laugh low in the wind,
Laugh low, with the wind at play ;
And the odorous call of the flowers all
Entices my soul away! •
For O but the world is fair, is fair —
And O but the world is sweet !
I will out in the gold of the blossoming mould,
And sit at the Master's feet.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 49
And the love my heart would speak,
I will fold in the lily's rim,
That the lips of the blossom, more pure and meek,
May offer it up to Him.
Then sing in the hedgerow green, O thrush,
O skylark, sing in the blue ;
Sing loud, sing clear, that the king may hear,
And my soul shall sing with you !
— Ina Coolbrith.
(Permission of the author, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
Publishers.)
THE SONG OF THE FOREST RANGER.
Oh, to feel the fresh breeze blowing
From lone ridges yet untrod !
Oh, to see the far peak growing
Whiter as it climbs to God!
Where the silver streamlet rushes
I would follow — follow on
Till I heard the happy thrushes
Piping lyrics to the dawn.
I would hear the wild rejoicing
Of the wind-blown cedar tree,
Hear the sturdy hemlock voicing
Ancient epics of the sea.
Forest aisles would I be winding,
Out beyond the gates of Care;
And, in dim cathedrals, finding
Silence at the shrine of Prayer.
50 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
When the mystic night comes stealing-
Through my vast, green room afar,
Never king had richer ceiling —
Bended bough and yellow star!
Ah, to list the sacred preaching
. Of the forest's faithful fir,
With his strong arms upward reaching—
Mighty, trustful worshipper!
Come and learn the joy of living!
Come and you will understand
How the sun his gold is giving
With a great, impartial hand !
How the patient pine is climbing,
Year by year to gain the sky ;
How the rill makes sweetest rhyming,
Where the deepest shadows lie.
I am nearer the great Giver,
Where His handiwork is crude ;
Friend am I of peak and river,
Comrade of Old Solitude.
Not for me the city's riot !
Not for me the towers of Trade !
I would seek the house, of Quiet,
That the Master Workman made !
— Herbert Bashford.
(Permission of the author, The Whitaker & Ray Co.,
Publishers.)
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 51
It must not be forgotten that many times poetry has
an interesting relation to geography. Thus Lanier's
"Song of the Chattahoochie," Joaquin Miller's introduc-
tory stanzas to "A Song of the South" (quoted later in
44 Some of the Treasures") may be read and interpreted
in connection with a study of rivers. So also poetry ad-
dressed to the sea ; e. g., Byron's "Apostrophe to the
Ocean," or Barry Cornwall's "The Sea," may be used
to instill emotions growing out of the study of various
aspects of the sea. But such poems should be done af-
ter the child has something of a perspective of the sub-
ject matter he has mastered ; in other words, after an im-
pression of the river studied has become a memory.
This means that the teacher has been able to give the
children a touch of real knowledge on the subject to
which the poem applies.
PROSE.
All prose reading, except that for pleasure and in-
spiration, is excluded from consideration on these pages
inasmuch as we are concerned only with those lines
which children either are drawn to, naturally, or can be
trained to love ; and which form ideals and react on the
character. The choice of reading for children consists
in drawing from the mass of books called literature those
which are strong and healthful with a view to reacting on
the child's mind in a rational way.
Thus what shall be given to the boy to read who is
fond of personal adventure? What should a girl have
who is just budding into womanhood? What shall the
child be given access to who naturally revels in myth
and fairy-lore? How shall we appeal rationally to the
bov enamored of detective stories? These with a mm-
52 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
dred other questions confront us in the selection of chil-
dren's books.
Before, however, we approach such questions specif-
ically, there are certain broader and fundamental propo-
sitions to be entertained.
First, every school library book, not for information-
al purposes, should stand the test of literature — it should
be recognized as possessing the qualities of permanence.
"Go to the great books/' should be the watchword.
Robinson Crusoe, Plutarch, Bunyan, Hans Christian
Andersen, Arabian Nights, Lamb's Tales from Shake-
speare,— the books that ring true and set exalted ideals.
Secondly, the avoidance of the extended sets that
cumber the shelves and give the children far too much
of the same cast of thought or story, is desired. One
book from Henty, one from Optic, one or two from Al-
cott, one of the Dinsmore books, may perhaps be used to
advantage ; but to allow a child to spend a whole year or
even more, largely to the exclusion of other books, read-
ing a series into the dozens, not only gives the child far
too much of one author, but wastes valuable time.
Third, the books should be attractive in make up. In
these days of skilled illustration and large, clear type,
only the most beautiful in form and the easiest upon the
eye should be placed before the young. The cheaply
printed, even of the standard volumes, in the long run,
is placed in the library at a loss ; not only because it soon
falls to pieces and must soon be rebound, but because it
adds an unnecessary tax to the children's eyesight.
Fourth, there should be a due proportion of the de-
partments of literature on the shelves. No library should
be one-sided. The great stones in history, science, liter-
ature, art, should have their places. This is to give op-
portunity for the young readers to try out their tastes
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 53
and so shape them into the lines of activity they are by
nature fitted for.
Fifth, the varying tastes of both boys and girls should
be looked to. Along with " Little Women" should be
"The Last of the Mohicans," and "Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland" should stand by the side of "Tom Saw-
yer."
In the selection of books to place before individual
children the teacher should study the child's evident in-
stincts in order to know what talents are to be nurtured
and thus give the books needed. Thus artistically writ-
ten biographies, such as the "Making of an American,"
to show how successful men have had to struggle in or-
der to succeed, or Irving's "Columbus," to set the high
ideal before the boy, or "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,"
to give a picture of beautiful, healthful girlhood, should
be chosen.
But the teacher should also look for latent instincts
to the end that books necessary to nourish these instmcts
may be selected. The books should be thoroughly
known by the teachers, so that a child needing particular
phases of thought in his mental development, can be
guided properly. For example, a boy who does not
know the law of co-operation with his fellows, and thus
fails to fit in when work is to be done jointly, will gain
a subtle lesson from "The Swiss Family Robinson/' One
who lacks in dependence and reliance upon his own re-
sources should be given "Robinson Crusoe." A girl, the
tenor of whose life is to the selfish, should be lured into
"Old Curiosity Shop" or "Little Women," or "Ramona."
There are excellent stories having a tendency to make
children kinder in their treatment of animals: "Wilder-
ness Ways", Long; "Animal Heroes", Seton ; "Black
Beauty", Sewell; "The Call of the Wild", London;
54 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
"The Trail of the Sand Hill Stag", Seton ; "A Dog of
Flanders", Ouida ; "Beautiful Joe", Smith; "Our De-
voted Friend, the Dog", Bolton. This list should be in
every school library. Boys who hunger for adventure,
and who have a tendency to drop into the light, trashier
classes of stories, should have access to "Treasure Is-
land", Stevenson ; "Tales of the Fish Patrol", London ;
and "My Own Story", Joaquin Miller.
It will be noted again that reading has a clehnite
function in relation to school literature. The formal
readers, used from day to day in the grades, develop
power in taking thought from the printed page. Sup-
plementary readers, on the others hand, serve to give the
young reader facility.
This is done through sight-reading. The Supple-
mentary is best used when it is kept in the pupil's hand
only during the reading lesson so as to be fresh to the
end. Thus, the two school exercises, one giving power,
the other facility, prepare for the true school reading
which is for culture and reaction on character. What-
ever the child reads in connection with the regular read-
ing lesson, since he does it under more or less stress, is
not so vital to him as what he reads of his own will from
the school library ; since in the latter case he is forming
a life habit. Hence, we finally make a few pointed sug-
gestions as to how to make the library effective.
It is a good plan to set aside at least one period per
week to be used in talking over library books. The pur-
pose of this hour is to aid the children in choosing good
and interesting books to read at home. The keener the
insight, as has been said, into the tastes of the various
pupils, the more intelligently can be placed before them
the stories. The teacher must, beforehand, be prepared
to put before the child such books as will appeal to his
PROSE AND POETRY FOR" CHILDREN 55
instincts. As the new books come into the library, by
reading judiciously, the teacher will whet the appetites
of her charges so that they will desire to read by them-
selves to the end. The greatest liberty should be given
the pupil, as no objectionable book should be allowed on
the shelves. Informal conversational talks about the
stories read, invariably spread interest. Short stories,
selected and read aloud by the children to the school,
also creates enthusiasm.
LIST OF ONE HUNDRED GOOD BOOKS
FOR CHILDREN.
The following will be found of service in making se-
lections for the library :
A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens, Appleton ; Alice of
Old Vincennes, Thompson, Grosset and Dunlap ; Hans
Brinker, Dodge, Grosset and Dunlap ; My Own Story,
Joaquin Miller; Rudder Grange, Stockton, Scribners ;
Plutarch's Lives, Ginn & Co. ; Ivanhoe, Scott, Estes ;
Rose in Bloom, Alcott, Little; Bob, Son of Battle, Olli-
vant, Burt ; Stikeen, Muir, Houghton Mifflin & Co. ; Ro-
mance of the Insect World, Badenock, Macmillan ; Self
Help, Smiles, Donohue ; Stories from Old Germany,
Pratt, Educational; Last Days of Pompeii, Lytton, Es-
tes ; John Halifax, Mulock ; Ben Hur, Wallace, Harper ;
South Sea Idyls, Charles Warren Stoddard, Scribners ;
Wilderness Ways, Long, Ginn & Co. ; The Van Dyke
Book, edited by Nims, Scribners ; Tales from Shake-
speare, Lamb, Houghton Mifflin & Co. ; Selected Poems
and Tales, Poe, Silver Burdett & Co. ; The Last of the
Mohicans, Cooper, Macmillan ; Little Women, Alcott,
Roberts Bros. ; Ramona, "H. H.", Little, Brown & Co. ;
56 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Old Curiosity Shop, Dickens, Little, Brown & Co. ;
Autobiography of Franklin, Ginn & Co. ; The Sketch
Book, Irving, Putnam ; Captain Courageous, Kipling,
Century ; The Conquest of Mexico, Prescott, Lippincott ;
Paul and Virginia, St. Peirre ; Hitherto, Mrs. A. D. T.
Whitney, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ; The Vicar of Wake-
field, Goldsmith, Crowell ; Child's History of England,
Dickens, Dutton ; The Scottish Chiefs, Porter, Crowell ;
Two Years Before the Mast, Dana, Houghton ; The
Winning of the West, Roosevelt, Putnam; Philip of Po-
kanoket, Irving ; Madam How and Lady Why, Kingsley ;
Abraham Lincoln, Beldium, American Book Co. ; Trail
of Sand Hill Stag, Scribners ; Swiss Family Robinson,
Wyss, Ginn & Co., Adventures of Ulysses, Lamb,
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ; The Hoosier Schoolmaster,
Eggleston, Judd ; Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe, Rand
Macnally ; Starland, Ball, Ginn & Co. ; Treasure Island,
Robert Louis Stevenson, Scribners ; Don Quixote, Cer-
vantes, Macmillan ; A Dog of Flanders, Ouida, Rand ;
Old Stories of the East, Baldwin, American Book Co. :
The Making of an American, Riis, Macmillan; Animal
Heroes, Seton, Scribners ; The Jungle Books, 2 Vol..
Kipling, Century; Story of the Iliad, Church, Macmillan ;
Story of the Aeneid, Church, Maynard ; A Man With-
out a Country, Hale, Little, Brown & Co. ; Tales From
Henty, Educational Pub. Co. ; Being a Boy, Warner,
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ; Tanglewood Tales, Haw-
thorne, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ; Tecumseh, Eggleston,
Dodd, Mead £ Co.; Story of a Bad Boy, Aldrich,
Houghton; Cudjo's Cave, Trowbridge ; The Call of the
Wild, London, Macmillan ; Ways of Wood-folk, Long,
Ginn & Co.; Boy's King Arthur, Lanier, Scribners;
Tales of a Grandfather, Harpers ; Those Dreadful Mouse
Boys, Ariel, Ginn & Co. ; Patsy, Wiggin, Houghton,
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 57
Miffiin & Co.; Tom Sawyer, Twain, Harpers; The
Prince and the Pauper, Twain, Harpers ; Pilgrim's
Progress, Bunyan, Century; Stories of Great Americans,
Eggleston, American Book Co. ; Sir Bevis, Jeffries,
Scribners ; Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Wiggin, Little ;
Saint Elizabeth, Burnett, Scribner ; Bobtail Dixie, Smith,
Ed. Publishing Co. ; Rab and His Friends, Brown, Alte-
mus ; The Boy General, Custer, Scribners ; Boys of '76,
Coffin, Estes ; History of the United States, Eggleston,
American Book Co. ; Knight and Barbara, Jordan ; Beau-
tiful Joe, Saunders, American Baptist Pub. Co. ; Arabian
Nights, Rand McNally & Co.; Black Beauty, Sewell,
Lothrop ; The Crofton Boys, Martineau, Routledge ; The
Bird's Christmas Carol, Wiggin, Houghton, Mifflin &
Co.; Water Babies, Kingsley, Macmillan; Uncle Remus,
Harris, Appleton ; Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Ander-
son, Crowell; The Boat Club, Optic, Lee; Little Lord
Fauntleroy, Burnett, Scribners ; Alice in Wonderland,
Carrol, Hurst ; Our Devoted Friend, The Dog, Bolton,
Sage & Co. ; Fables, Aesop, Macmillan ; The King of the
Golden River, Ruskin, McLaughlin ; Letters From a
Cat, Jackson, Little ; Robinson Crusoe, DeFoe, Ameri-
can Book Co. ; Fifty Famous Stories, Baldwin, Ameri-
can Book Co. ; Classic Stories for the Little Ones, Mc-
Murray, Pub. School Pub. Co. ; Fanciful Tales, Stock-
ton, Scribners ; Robinson Crusoe for Youngest Readers,
McMurray, Pub. School Pub. Co.; Old-Time Stories
Retold, Smythe, Werner ; More Bedtime Stories, Moul-
ton, Little, Brown & Co.
58 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
A LIST FOR READING ON HOLIDAYS.
New Years: Ring Out Wild Bells, Tennyson.
Feb. 12: Lincoln, Markham.
Feb. 22: Stanzas from the "Fourth in Oregon,"
Miller.
Arbor Day : God's First Temples, Bryant.
May i : Song of the Out o' Doors, Bashford.
Peace Day: Is It Worth While? Miller.
July 4: Paul Revere's Ride, Longfellow; An Amer-
ican Visiting Europe, Van Dyke.
Oct. 12: Columbus, Miller.
Thanksgiving: Hymn of Thanksgiving, Will Carlton.
Dec. 25 : California's Christmas, Miller ; The Night
before Christmas, More.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 59
Mottoes for the Blackboard
If Wisdom's ways you wisely seek,
Five things observe with care :
To whom you speak, of whom you speak,
And how, and when, and where.
A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon the window sill,
Cocked his shining eye and said:
"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head?"
— R. Z,. Stevenson.
Who says, "I will" to what is right,
"I won't" to what is wrong,
Although a very little child,
Is truly great and strong.
— Author not known.
Good morning, little rose bush,
I pray thee, tell me true,
To be as sweet as a sweet red rose
What must a body do?
To be as sweet as a sweet red rose,
A little girl like you
Just grows, and grows, and grows, and
And that's what she must do.
In the heart of a seed
Buried deep, so deep,
A dear little plant
Lay fast asleep.
"Wake !" said the sunshine,
"And creep to the light !"
"Wake !" said the voice
Of the raindrop bright,
60 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
The little plant heard,
And it rose to see
What the wonderful
Outside world might be.
A
The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm suje we should all be as happy as kings,
— R. L. Stevenson.
All things bright and beautiful,
All things great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
— Mrs. C. F. Alexander.
Let me be a sunbeam
Everywhere I go,
Making glad and happy
Every one I know.
If a task is once begun
Never leave it till it's done ;
Be the labor great or small,
Do it well or not at all.
— Author unknown.
Politeness is to do and say,
The kindest thing in the kindest way.
Swift kindnesses are best ; a long delay
In kindness takes the kindness all away.
He prayeth best who loveth best , /
All things both great and small :
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN r,l.
Then give to the world the best you have,
And the best will come back to you.
— Madeline S. Bridges,
My heart leaps up when I behold
A Rainbow in the sky;
So was it when my life began ;
So is it now I am a Man ;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die !
— Wordsworth.
So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man,
When duty whispers low, "Thou must,"
The youth replies, "I can."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the
year. — Emerson.
These are the best days of my life ; these are my golden
days. — Seton.
-- • -
Keep thinking one thought ahead of the other fellow and
you're bound to win out. — Jack London.
Dost thou love life? then do not squander time for that is
the stuff that life is made of. — Ben/. Franklin.
The year's at the Spring
And day's at the morn ;
Morning's at seven ;
The hill-side's dew-pearled ;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's oft the thorn ;
God's in his heaven —
All's right with the world!
— Robert Browning.
(By permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Jog on, jog on the foot path way,
And merrily hent the stile-a;
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires a mile-a.
— A Winter's Tale.
___ ^ __
This above all : to thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
— Shakespeare.
^
We are the mariners and God the sea ;
And though we make false reckonings, and run
Wide of a righteous course and are undone ;
Out of the depths of His love we cannot be.
— Carey.
All that I know
Of a certain star
Is, it can throw
(Like the angled spar)
Now a dart of red,
Now a dart of blue ;
Till my friends have said
They would fain see, too,
My star that darts the red and the blue !
Then it stops like a bird ; like a flower hangs furled :
They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it.
What matter to me if their star is a world?
Mine has opened its soul to me ; therefore I love it.
— Robert Browning.
(By permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)
Tn men whom men condemn as ill,
I find so much of go.odness still ;
Tn men whom men pronounce divine,
I find so much of sin and blot,
I do not dare to draw a line
Between the two, where God has not.
— Joaquin Miller.
(By permission of the author, The Whitaker & Kay Co.,
Publishers.)
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 63
O world, as God has made it ! All is beauty :
And knowing this, is love, and love is duty.
What further may be sought for or declared?
— Robert Broivning.
(By permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)
Stay not fettered in inaction,
Swiftly venture, swiftly roam,
Head and hand in glad connection,
Everywhere will be at home.
Where beneath the sun you revel,
Care with you will ne'er abide ;
Room there is for all to travel,
Therefore is the world so wide.
— Goethe,
Let those love now,
Who never loved before ;
Let those who always loved,
Now love the more.
Look not mournfully into the past, it comes not back again.
Wisely improve the present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the
shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart. — (From
a German inscription translated by Longfellow in Hyperion.)
Flower in the crannii-d wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower — but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
— Tennyson.
(By permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)
There is no death ! What seems so is transition ;
This life of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life eylsian,
Whose portal we call death.
— Longfellow.
64 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold.
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in its motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim:
Such harmony is in immortal souls ;
But whilst this muddy vesture decay
Doth grossly close us in we cannot hear it.
— Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.
The night has a thousand eyes,
The day but one ;
Yet the light of the whole world dies
When day is done.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
The heart but one;
Yet the light of the whole life dies,
When love is done.
— Bourdillon.
- • -
The quality of mercy is not strained ;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest ;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes ;
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : It becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown :
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ;
But mercy is above the sceptered sway ;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.
— Shakespeare.
There is no death. The stars go down
To rise upon some fairer shore ;
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown
They shine forevermore.
— Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 65
O could I flow with thee,
And make thy stream
My great example,
As it is my theme;
Though deep yet clear,
Though gentle yet dull,
Strong without rage,
Without o'erflowing, full.
— Denham.
Life is an arrow — therefore you must know
What mark to aim at, how to use the bow--
Then draw it to the head, and let it go ! —
— Henry van Dyke.
(By permission of the author, Chas. Scribner's Sons,
Publishers.)
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.
— Burns.
Be ready. — Roosevelt.
Aggressive righting for the right is the greatest sport the
world knows. — Roosevelt.
Heaven is not reached at a single bound,
But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to its summit round by round.
— Josiah Gilbert Holland.
I like the lad, who, when his father thought
To clip his morning nap by hackneyed phrase
Of vagrant worm by early songster caught,
Cried, 'Served him right ! — it's not at all surprising ;
The worm was punished, sir, for early rising!'
— John G. Saxe.
66 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Forenoon, and afternoon, and night, — Forenoon,
And afternoon, and night, — Forenoon, and — What !
The empty song repeats itself. No more?
Yea, that is Life : make this forenoon sublime,
This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer,
And Time is conquered, and thy crown is won.
—E. R. Sill.
(Permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)
RAIN IN SUMMER.
How beautiful is the rain !
After the dust and the heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain !
— Longfellow.
WHAT IS SO RARE AS A DAY IN JUNE?
And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days ;
Then heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays ;
Whether we look or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur or see it glisten ;
Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And, groping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.
— Lowell.
A man may be young in years and old in hours, if he have
lost no time. — Francis Bacon.
I would not enter on my list of friends
(Though graced with polished manners and fine sense
Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
— Cowper.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 67
In the morning sow thy seed, in the evening withhold not
thine hand ; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either
this or that or whether they both shall be alike good. — Eccles.
11-6.
Virtue is like a rich jewel, best plain set. — Bacon.
Sin has a great many tools but a lie is the handle which fits
them all. — Holmes.
And O the voices I have heard !
Such visions where the morning grows !
A brother's soul in some sweet bird !
A sister's spirit in a rose !
—Miller.
And ever and ever the boundless bine ;
And ever and ever the green green sod ;
And ever and ever, between the two,
Walk the wonderful winds of God !
—Miller.
- « -
Man is his own star, and the soul than can
Render an honest and perfect man,
Commands all light, all influence, all fate ;
Nothing to him falls early or too late ;
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
— Fletcher.
68 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Some of the Treasures
THE BALLAD OF THE TEMPEST.
We were crowded in the cabin,
Not a soul would dare to sleep ;
It was midnight on the waters,
And a storm was on the deep.
'Tis a fearful thing in winter
To be shattered by the blast,
And to hear the rattling trumpet
Thunder, "Cut away the mast !"
So we shuddered there in silence —
For the stoutest held his breath —
While the hungry sea was roaring
And the breakers talked with Death.
And as thus we sat in darkness,
Each one busy with his prayers,
"We are lost !" the captain shouted,
As he staggered down the stairs.
But his little daughter whispered,
As she took his icy hand,
"Isn't God upon the ocean,
Just the same as on the land?"
Then we kissed the little maiden,
And we spoke in better cheer,
And we anchored safe in harbor
When the morn was shining clear.
— James T. Field*.
MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB,
Mary had a little lamb,
It's fleece was white as snow ;
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 69
ie followed her to school one day ;
That was against the rule ;
t made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb in school.
So the teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered near,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear.
And then he ran to her, and laid
His head upon her arm,
A.S if he said, "I'm not afraid —
"You'll keep me from all harm."
"What makes the lamb love Mary so?"
The eager children cry.
'*Oh, Mary loves the lamb, you know,"
The teacher did reply.
And you each gentle animal
In confidence may bind,
And make it follow at your will,
If you are only kind.
FATE.
The sky is clouded, the rocks are bare,
The spray of the tempest is white in air,
The winds are out with the waves at play,
f\nd I shall not tempt the sea today.
The trail is narrow, the wood is dim,
The panther clings to the arching limb,
The lion's whelps are abroad at play,
And I shall not join in the chase today.
But the ship sailed safely over the sea.
And the hunters came from the chase in glee,
And the town that was builded upon a rock,
Was swallowed up in an earthquake shock.
— Bret Harte.
(By permission of Houghton, Mifflfn & Co., Publishers.)
70 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
THE SCULPTOR BOY.
Chisel in hand stood a sculptor boy
With his marble block before him,
And his face lit up with a gleam of joy
As an angel dream passed o'er him.
He carved it then on the yielding stone
With many a sharp incision :
With Heaven's own light the sculptor shone ;
He had caught that angel vision.
Scuptors of life are as we stand
With our lives uncarved before us,
Waiting the time when at God's command
The angel dream comes o'er us.
Let us carve it then on the yielding stone
With many a shap incision.
It's Heavenly beauty shall be our own,
Our lives, that angel vision.
— Doan.
•
LITTLE DROPS OF WATER.
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land,
And the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.
So our little errors
Lead the soul away
From the path ,of virtue,
Oft in sin to stray.
Little deeds of kindness.
Little words of love
Make our earth an Eden,
Like the Heaven above.
— Brewer.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 71
BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE.
Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero we buried.
We buried him darkly, at head of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning,
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light,
And the lantern dimly burning.
No useless coffin enclosed his breast,
Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him ;
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest,
With his martial cloak around him.
Few and short were the prayers we said,
And we spoke not a word of sorrow;
But we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead,
And bitterly thought of the morrow.
We thought as we hollowed his narrow bed,
And smoothed down his lonely pillow,
That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,
And we far away on the billow !
Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,
And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him ;
But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on
In the grave where a Briton has laid him.
But half of our heavy task was done
When the clock struck the hour for retiring ;
And we heard the distant and random gun
That the foe was sullenly firing.
Slowly and sadly we laid him down.
From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and wre raised not a stone —
But we left him alone with his glory.
—Charles Wolfe.
72 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
LOCHINVAR.
Oh, young Lochinvar is come put of the West !
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best,
And save his good broadsword, he weapons had nunc ;
He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone.
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was Knight like the young Lochinvar.
He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone,
He swarm the Esk river where lord there was none;
But ere he alighted at Netherby gate,
The bride had consented, the gallant came late.
For a laggard in love and a dastard in war
Was to wed the fair Ellen of young Lochinvar.
So boldly he entered the Netherby Hall,
Among urides-men, and kinsmen, and brothers, and all ;
Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his sword
^For tlie poor craven bridegroom said never a word) :
"Oh, come ye in peace here, or come ye in war,
Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar?"
"1 long wooed your daughter, my suit you denied;
Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide.!
And now, I am come, with this lost love of mine,
To tread but one measure, drink one cup of wine !
There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far
That would gladly be bride to young Lochinvar."
The bride kissed the goblet; the Knight took it up,
He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down the cup.
She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh,
With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.
He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar ;
"Now tread we a measure !" said young Lochinvar.
So stately his form, and so lovely her face,
That never a hall such a galliard did grace ;
While her mother did fret, and her father did fume,
And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume ;
And the bride-maidens whispered, "'Twere better by far
To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar."
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 73
One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear,
When they reached the hall-door, and the charger stood near;
So light to the croup the fair lady he swung,
So light to the saddle before her he sprung!
"She is won !" We are gone, over bank, bush, and scaur ;
They'll have fleet steeds that follow," quoth young Lochinvar.
There was mounting 'mong Graemes of the Netherby clan ;
Fosters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode and they ran ;
There was racing and chasing on Cannobie Lea,
But the lost bride of Netherby ne'er did they see.
So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,
Have ye e'er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?
—Sir Walter Scott.
«
THE SINGING LESSON.
A nightingale made a mistake ;
She sang a few notes out of tune ;
Her heart was ready to break,
And she hid from the moon.
She wrung her claws, poor thing!
But was far too proud to weep ;
She tucked her head under her wing,
And pretended to be asleep.
A lark, arm in arm with a thrush,
Came sauntering up to the place ;
The nightingale felt herself blush,
Though feathers hid her face.
She knew they had heard her song,
She felt them snicker and sneer ;
She thought this life was too long,
And wished she could skip a year
"Oh, Nightingale," cooed a dove —
"Oh, Nightingale, what's the use?
You bird of beauty and love,
Why behave like a goose?
Don't skulk away from our sight,
Like common, contemptible fowl ;
You bird of joy and delight,
Why behave like an owl?"
74 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
"Only think of all you have done,
Only think of all you can do;
A false note is really fun
From such a bird as you.
Lift up your proud little crest,
Open your musical beak ;
Other birds have to do their best —
You need only to speak."
The nightingale shyly took
Her head from under her wing,
And, giving the dove a look,
Straightway began to sing.
There was never a bird could pass ,-
The night was divinely calm,
And the people stood on the grass
To hear that wonderful psalm.
The nightingale did not care ;
She only sang to the skies ;
Her song ascended there,
And there she fixed her eyes.
The people that stood below
She knew but little about ;
And this story's a moral, I know,
If you'll try to find it out.
— Jean Ingelow.
THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB.
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold,
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen ;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
For the angel of Death spread his wings on the T)last,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed ;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever were still.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 75
And there lay the steed with his nostrils all wide,
But through them there rolled not the breath of his pride ;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail,
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances uplifted, the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal,
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord !
— Lord Byron.
^
"SWEET AND LOW."
Sweet and low, sweet and low,
Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
Wind of the western sea !
Over the rolling waters go,
Come from the dying moon, and blow,
Blow him again to me,
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.
Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,
Father will come to thee soon ;
Rest, rest, on mother's breast,
Father will come to thee soon ;
Father will come to his babe in the nest,
Silver sails all out of the west
Under the silver moon :
Sleep, my little one, sleep my pretty one, sleep.
— Alfred Tennyson.
(By permission of Houghton, Mifflin £ Co., Publishers.)
THE WAY FOR BILLY AND ME.
Where the pools are bright and deep,
Where the gray trout lies asleep,
Up the river and o'er the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me.
76 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Where the blackbird sings the latest,
Where the hawthorn blooms the sweetest,
Where the nestlings chirp and flee,
That's the way for Billy and me.
Where the mowers mow the cleanest,
Where the hay lies thick and greenest ;
There to trace the homeward bee,
That's the way for Billy and me.
Where the hazel bank is steepest,
Where the shadow falls the deepest,
Where the clustering nuts fall free,
That's the way for Billy and me.
—Hogg.
THE ARAB'S FAREWELL TO HIS HORSE.
My beautiful ! my beautiful ! that standeth meekly by,
With thy proudly-arched and glossy neck and dark and fiery
eye,
Fret not to roam the desert now, with all thy winged speed;
I may not mount on thee again — thou'rt sold, my Arab steed !
Fret not with that impatient hoof — snuff not the breezy wind —
The farther that thou fliest now, so far am I behind ;
The stranger hath thy bridle-rein — thy master hath his gold —
Fleet-limbed and beautiful, farewell ; thou'rt sold, my steed,
thou'rt sold.
Farewell ! those free, untired limbs full many a mile must roam
To reach the chill and wintry sky which clouds the stranger's
home ;
Some other hand, less fond, must now thy corn and bed prepare,
Thy silky mane, I braided once, must be another's care i
The morning sun shall dawn again, but never more with thee
Shall I gallop through the desert paths where \\o were wont to
be ;
Evening shall darken on the earth, and o'er The sandy plain.
Some other steed, with slower step, shall bear me home again.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 77
Yes, them must go ! the wild, free breeze, the brilliant sun and
sky,
Thy master's home, — from all of these my exiled one must fly;
Thv proud dark eye will grow less proud, thy step become less
fleet,
And vainly shalt thou arch thy neck thy master's hand to meet.
Only in sleep shall I behold that dark eye, glancing bright ; —
Only in sleep shall hear again that step so firm and light ;
And when I raise my dreaming arm to check or cheer thy
speed,
Then must I, starting, wake to feel, — thou'rt sold, my Arab
steed !
Ah ! rudely then, unseen by me, some cruel hand may chide,
Till foam-wreaths lie, like crested waves, along thy panting
side :
And the rich blood that's in thee swells, in thy indignant pain,
Till careless eyes, which rest on thee, may count each started
vein.
Will they ill-use thee? If I thought — but no, it cannot be —
Thou are so swift yet easy curbed; so gentle, yet so free:
And yet, if happy, when thou'rt gone, my lonely heart should
yearn —
Can the hand which casts thee from it now command thee to
return ?
Return ' alas ! my Arab steed ! what shall thy master do
When thou, who wast his all of joy, hast vanished from his
view?
When the dim distance cheats mine eye, and through the gath-
ering tears
Thy bright form, for a moment, like the false mirage appears ;
Slow and unmounted shall I roam, with weary step alone,
Where, with fleet step and joyous bound, thou oft hast borne
me one ;
And sitting down by that green well I'll pause and sadly think,
"It was here he bowed his glossy neck, when last I saw him
drink !"
When last I saw thee drink ! — Away ! the fevered dream is
o'er —
I could not live a day and know that we should meet no more !
78 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Tliex tempted me, my beautiful! — for hunger's power is btiong —
They tempted me, my beautiful ! but I have loved too long.
Who said that I had given thee up? who said that thou wast
sold?
'Tis false — 'tis false, my Arab steed ! I fling them back their
gold!
Thus, thus, I leap upon thy back, and scour the distant plains ;
Away! who overtakes us now shall claim thee for his pains!
— Caroline Norton.
THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward the Light Brigade !
Charge for the guns !" he said :
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward the Light Brigade !"
Was there a man dismayed?
Not, though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die :
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them,
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell,
Rode the six hundred.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 79
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air,
Sab'ring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery smoke,
Right through the line they broke :
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre-stroke,
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them,
Volleyed and thundered.
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
Oh, the wild charge they made !
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made !
Honor the Light Brigade !
Noble six hundred !
— Alfred Tennyson.
(Permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)
THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS.
The breaking waves dashed high
On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods against a stormy sky
Their giant branches tossed ;
And the heavy night hung dark,
The hills and waters o're,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.
80 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Not as the conqueror comes,
In silence and in fear, —
They shook the depths of the desert gloom,
With their hymns of lofty cheer.
Amidst the storm they sang,
And the stars heard, and the sea,
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang
To the anthem of the free.
The ocean eagle soared
From his nest by the white wave's foam,
And the rocking pines of the forest roared —
This was their welcome home.
There were men with hoary hair
Amidst that pilgrim band ;
Why had they come to wither there,
Away from their childhood's land?
There was woman's fearless eye,
Lit by her love's truth ;
There was manhood's brow serenely high,
And the fiery heart of youth.
What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith's pure shrine.
Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod;
They have left unstained what there they found-
Freedom to worship God.
— Felicia Hemans.
CASABIANCA.
The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but him had fled ;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck-
Shone round him o'er the dead.
Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
As born to rule the storm ;
A creature of heroic blood,
A proud, though child-like form.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
The flames rolled on — he would not go
Without his father's word r
That father, faint in death below,
His voice no longer heard.
He called aloud, "Say, father, say,
If yet my task is done?"
He knew not that the chieftain lay
Unconscious of his son.
"Speak, father," once again he cried,
"If I may yet be gone !"
And but the booming shots replied,
And fast the flames rolled on.
Upon his brow he felt their breath,
And in his waving hair,
And looked from that lone post of death
In still, yet brave despair;
And shouted but once more aloud,
"My father, must I stay?"
While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,
The wreathing fires made way.
They wrapt the ship in splendor wild,
They caught the flag on high,
And streamed above the gallant child
Like banners in the sky.
There came a burst of thunder-sound—
The boy ! — oh, where was he ?
Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea —
With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
That well had borne their part:
But the noblest thing, that perished there
Was that young, faithful heart!
— Felicia Dorothea Hemans.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
THE EVE OF WATERLOO.
There was a sound of revelry by night,
And Belgium's capital had gathered then
Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.
A thousand hearts beat happily; and when
Music arose with its voluptuous swell,
Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,
And all went merry as a marriage-bell;
But hush ! hark ! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell !
Did ye not hear it? No; 'twas but the wind,
Or the car rattling o'er the stony street.
On with the^dance! let joy be unconfined !
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet !
But hark ! — the heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat;
And near, clearer, deadlier, than before !
Arm ! arm ! it is — it is the cannon's opening roar !
Ah ! then and there was hurrying to and fro,
And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress
And cheeks all pale, which, but an hour ago,
Blushed at the praise of thejr own loveliness ;
And there were sudden partings, such as press
The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs
Which ne'er might be repeated : who could guess
If ever more should meet those mutual eyes,
Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise?
And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war ;
And the deep thunder peal on peal afar;
And near the beat of the alarming drum
Roused up the soldier ere the morning star ;
While thronged the citizens with terror dumb,
Or whispered with white lips, "The foe ! They come !
They come !"
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN §3
Artel Ardennes waves above them her green leaves,
Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass,
Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,
Over the unreturning brave — alas !
Ere evening to be trodden like the grass
Which, now beneath them, but above shall grow
In its next verdure, when this fiery mass
Of living valour, rolling on the foe,
And burning with. high hope, shall moulder cold and low.
Last noon beheld them full of lusty life,
Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay,
The midnight brought the signal sound of strife,
The morn the marshalling in arms, — the day,
Battle's magnificently stern array !
The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which, when rent,
The earth is covered with other clay,
Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent,
Rider, and horse — friend, foe — in one red burial blent!
— Byron.
ABOU BEN ADHEM.
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel, writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,
And, with a look made of all-sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellowmen."
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo ! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest !
— Leigh Hunt.
84 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
THE BROOK.
I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.
Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men man come and men may go,
But I go on forever.
I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.
With many a curve my banks I fret
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.
I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.
I wind about, and in and put,
With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling.
And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery waterbreak
Above, the golden gravel,
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 85
And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.
] steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers ;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots,
That grow for happy lovers.
I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows ;
I make the netted sunbeams dance
Against my sandy shallows.
I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildnesses ;
I linger by my shingly bars ;
I loiter round my cresses ;
And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever. — Tennyson.
(By permission of Houghton, MifBin & Co., Publishers.)
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse ;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there ;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced through their heads ;
And mama in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave a lustre of mid-day to objects below ;
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
86 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick !
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name :
"Now, Dasher ! now, Dancer ! now, Prancer ! now, Vixen !
On, Comet, on Cupid ! on, Donder and Blitzen ! —
To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall !
Now, dash away, dash away, dash away all !"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky,
So up to the housetops the coursers they flew,
With sleigh full of toys and St. Nicholas too.
And then in a twinkle I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed alt in fur from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot ;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes how they twinkled ! his dimples how merry,
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry ;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump — a right jolly old elf —
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spake not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle;
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night !"
— Clement C. Moore.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN :87
THE ARROW AND THE SONG.
I shot an arrow into the air,
Tt fell to earth, I knew not where ;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where j
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke,
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
— Longfellow.
(By permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)
Thou, too, sail on, O ship of State !
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope !
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale !
In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea !
Our hearts, our hopes are all with thee,
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears ;
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, — are all with thee !
— Longfellow.
(P,y permission of Hong-lit on, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)
88 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land?
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footseps he hath turn'd
From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go mark him well ;
For him no minstrel raptures swell,
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim ;
Despite those titles, power and pelf,
The wretch, concentered all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.
— Scoti.
LORD ULLIN'S DAUGHTER.
A chieftain to the Highlands bound
Cried, "Boatman, do not tarry!
And I'll give thee a silver pound
To row us o'er the ferry."
"Now who be ye would cross Lochgyle,
This dark and stormy water?"
"Oh I'm the chief of Ulva's isle,
And this Lord Ullin's daughter.
"And fast before her father's men
Three days we've fled together,
For should he find us in the glen,
My blood would stain the heather.
"His horsemen hard behind us ride,
Should they our steps discover,
Then who will cheer my bonny bride
When they have slain her lover?"
Outspoke the hardy Highland wight,
"I'll go, my chief, I'm ready,
It is not for your silver bright,
•But for your \vinsome lady ;
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 89
"And, by my word, the bonny bird
In danger shall not tarry:
So, though the waves are raging white,
I'll row you o'er the ferry."
By this the storm grew loud apace,
The water-wraith was shrieking:
And in the scowl of heaven each face
Grew dark as they were speaking.
But still as wilder blew the wind,
And as the night drew drearer,
Adown the glen rode armed men,
Their trampling sounded nearer.
"Oh, haste thee, haste !" the lady cries,
"Though tempests round us gather ;
I'll meet the raging of the skies,
But not an angry father."
The boat has left a stormy land,
A stormy sea before her, —
When, lo! too strong for human hand,
The tempest gathered o'er her.
And still they rowed amidst the roar
Of water fast prevailing:
Lord Ullin reached that fatal shore ;
His wrath was changed to wailing.
For, sore dismayed, through storm and shade
His child he did discover :
One lovely hand she stretched for aid,
And one was round her lover.
"Come back ! Come back !" he cried in grief
Across this stormy water,
"And I'll forgive your Highland chief,
My daughter ! oh, my daughter !"
'Twas vain : the loud waves lashed the shore,
Return or aid preventing;
The waters wild went o'er his child.
And he was left lamenting. —Campbell.
90 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
THE FORTUNATE ISLES.
You sail, and you seek for the Fortunate Isles,
The old Greek Isles of the yellow bird's song?
Then steer straight on through the watery miles,
Straight on, straight on and you can't go wrong.
Nay not to the left, nay not the right,
But on, straight on, and the Isles are in sight,
The Fortunate Isles where the yellow birds sing,
And life lies girt with a golden ring.
These Fortunate Isles, they are not so far,
They lie within reach of the lowliest door ;
You can see them gleam by the twilight star,
You can hear them sing by the moon's white shore —
Nay, never look back ! Those leveled grave stones,
They were landing steps ; they were steps unto thorns
Of glory for souls that have sailed before,
And have set white feet on the Fortunate Shore.
And what the names of the Fortunate Isles?
Why, Duty and Love and a large content.
Lo ! these are the Isles of the watery miles,
That God let down from the firmament.
Lo ! Duty, and Love, and a true man's trust ;
Your forehead to God though your feet in the dust ;
Lo! Duty, and Love, and a sweet babe's smiles,
And these, O friend, are the Fortunate Isles.
— Joaquin Miller.
(Permission of the author, Whitaker & Ray Co., Publishers.)
THE BURIAL OF MOSES.
By Nebo's lonely mountain,
On this side Jordan's wave,
In a vale in the land of Moab
There lies a lonely grave.
And no man knows that sepulchre,
And no man saw it e'er,
For the angels of God upturned the sod
And laid the dead man there.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 91
That was the grandest funeral
That ever passed on earth ;
But no man heard the trampling,
Or saw the train go forth —
Noiselessly as the daylight
Comes back when night is done,
And the crimson streak on ocean's cheek
Grows into the great sun ;
Noiselessly as the spring-time
Her crown of verdure weaves,
And all the trees on all the hills
Open their thousand leaves ;
So without sound of music,
Or voice of them that wept,
Silently down the mountain's crown
The great procession swept.
Perchance the bald old eagle
On gray Beth-peor's height,
Out of his lonely eyrie
Looked on the wondrous sight ;
Perchance the lion stalking
Still shuns that hallowed spot,
For beast and bird have seen and heard
That which man knoweth not.
But when the warrior dieth,
. His comrades in the war,
With arms reversed and muffled drum,
Follow his funeral car ;
They show the banners taken,
They tell his battles won,
And after him lead his masterless steed,
While peals the minute gun.
Amid the noblest of the land
We lay the sage to rest,
And give the bard an honored place,
With costly marble drest,
Jn the great minster transept
92 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Where lights like glories fall,
And the organ rings, and the sweet choir sings
Along the emblazoned wall.
This was the truest warrior
That ever buckled sword,
This the most gifted poet
That ever breathed a word ;
And never earth's philosopher
Traced with his golden pen,
On the deathless page, the truths so sage
As he wrote down for men,
And had he not high honor, —
The hillside for a pall,
To lie in state while angels wait
With stars for tapers tall,
And the dark rock-pines like tossing plumes,
Over his bier to wave,
And God's own hand, in that lonely land,
To lay him in the grave?
In that strange grave without a name,
Whence his uncoffined clay
Shall break again, O wondrous thought !
Before the judgment day,
And stand with glory wrapt around
On the hills he never trod,
And speak of the strife that won our life
With the Inca'rnate Son of God.
O lonely grave in Moab's land !
O dark Beth-peor's hill !
Speak to these curious hearts of ours,
And teach them to be still.
God hath His mysteries of grace,
Ways that we cannot tell ;
He hides them deep, like the hidden sleep
Of him He loved so well.
— Cefil f' ranees Alexander.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 93
A SONG OF THE SOUTH.
Rhyme on, rhyme on, in reedy flow,
O river, rhymer ever sweet !
The story of thy land is meet;
The stars stand listening to know.
Rhyme on, O river of the earth !
Gray father of the dreadful seas,
Rhyme on ! the world upon its knees
Invokes thy songs, thy wealth, thy worth.
Rhyme on ! the reed is at thy mouth,
0 kingly minstrel, mighty stream,
Thy Crescent City, like a dream,
Hangs in the heaven of my South.
Rhyme on ! rhyme on ! these broken strings
Sing sweetest in this warm south wind ;
1 sit thy willow banks and bind
A broken harp that fitful sings.
— Joaquin Miller.
(Permission of the author, Whitaker & Ray Co., Publishers.)
COLUMBUS.
Behind him lay the gray Azores,
Behind the Gates of Hercules ;
Before him not the ghost of shores;
Before him only shoreless seas.
The good mate said : "Now must we pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone.
Brave Adm'r'l, speak; what shall I say?"
"Why, say: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'"
"My men grow mutinous day by day ;
My men grow ghastly wan and weak."
The stout mate thought of home ; a spray
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
"What shall I say, brave Adm'r'l, say,
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"
"Why, you shall say at break of day:
'Sail on ! sail on ! sail on ! and on !' "
94 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,
Until at last the blanched mate said :
"Why, now not even God would know
Should I and all my men fall dead.
These very winds forget their way,
For God from these dread seas is gone.
Now speak, brave AdmVl ; speak and say "
He said : "Sail on ! sail on ! and on !"
They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:
"This mad sea shows his teeth tonight.
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
Brave AdmYl, say but one good word:
What shall we do when hope is gone?"
The words leapt like a leaping sword :
"Sail on ! sail on ! sail on ! and on !"
Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,
And peered through darkness. Ah, that night
Of all dark nights ! And then a speck —
A light ! A light ! A light ! A light !
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world
It's grandest lesson : "On ! sail on !"
— Joaquin Miller.
(Permission of the author, Whitaker & Ray Co., Publishers.)';
THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN.
(Adapted for use in Lower Grades.)
In Hamelin Town by the river Weser about five hundred:
years ago
"Rats !"
They fought the dogs, and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats
By drowning their speaking
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 95 :
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.
It seemed as if the rats would eat everything, when a piper
came to town. He was dressed in the strangest figure.
His queer long coat, from heel to head,
Was half of yellow and half of red.
And he himself was tall and thin,
With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin,
And light, loose hair, yet swarthy skin,
No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin,
But lips where smiles went out and in —
There was no guessing his kith and kin!
And nobody could enough admire
The tall man and his quaint attire :
Quoth one, "It's as my great-grand-sire,
Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone,
Had walked this way from his painted tombstone !"
Then said he quietly:
"As for what your brain bewilders —
If I can rid your town of rats,
Will you give me a thousand guilders?"
The money was promised.
Into the street the piper stept,
Smiling first a little smile,
As if he knew what magic slept
In his quiet pipe 'the while;
Then, like a musical adept,
To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled,
And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled,
Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled ;
And ere three shrill notes the pipe had uttered,
You heard as if an army muttered;
And the muttering grew to a grumbling;
And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling,
And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.
Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,
96 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,
Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,
Families by tens and dozens,
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives —
Followed the piper for their lives.
From street to street he piped advancing,
And step by step they followed dancing,
Until they came to the river Weser,
Wherein all plunged and perished,
Save one, who, stout as Julius Caesar,
Swam across and lived to carry
(As the manuscript he cherished,
To Rat-land home his commentary,
Which was, 'At the first shrill notes of the pipe,
I heard a sound as of scraping tripe,
And putting apples, wondrous ripe,
Into a cider-press's gripe :
And a moving ajar of conserve-cupboarcls,
And a drawing the corks of train-oil flasks,
And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks ;
And it seemed as if a voice
Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery
Is breathed) called out, O rats, rejoice!
The world is grown to one vast dry-saltery!
So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,
Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon !
And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon,
All ready staved, like a great sun shone
Glorious scarce an inch before me,
Just as methought it said, come, bore me,
I found the Weser rolling o'er me.' "
You should have heard the Hamelin people
Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple;
'Go,' cried the Mayor, 'and get long poles !
Poke out the nests and block up the holes !
Consult with carpenters and builders,
And leave in our town not even a trace
Of the rats !' — when suddenly up the face
Of the Piper perked in the market-place,
With a, 'First, if you please, my thousand guilders !'
'A thousand guilders! Come take fifty!" said the
Mayor of Hamelin."
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 97
The piper's face fell and he cried,
'No trifling ! I can't wait ; beside
I've promised to visit by dinner-time
Bagdad, and accept the prime
Of the Head Cook's pottage, all he's rich in,
For having left, in the Caliph's kitchen,
Of a nest of scorpions no survivor —
With him I proved no bargain-driver.
With yon, don't think I'll bait a stiver !'
'How!' cried the Mayor; 'd'ye think I'll brook
Being treated worse than a cook?
You threaten us, fellow? Do your worst;
Blow your pipe until you burst !' "
Once more the piper stept into the street ;
"And to his lips again
Laid his long pipe of smooth, straight cane ;
And ere he blew three notes (such sweet
Soft notes as yet musician's cunning
Never gave the enraptured air)
There was a rustling, that seemed like a bustling
Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling,
Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,
Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering,
And like fowls in a farmyard when barley is scat-
tering,
Out came the children running.
All the little boys and girls,
With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,
And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,
Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.
The Mayor was dumb and the Council s'tood
As if they were changed into blocks of wood,
Unable to move a step, or cry
To the children merrily skipping by,
And could only follow with the eye
That joyous crowd at the Piper's back.
But how the Mayor was on the rack,
And the wretched Council's bosoms beat,
As the Piper turned from the High Street
To where the Weser rolled its waters
Right in the way of their sons and daughters !
98* PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
However, he turned from south to west,
And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed,
And after him the children pressed;
Great was the joy in every breast.
'He never can cross that mighty top !
He's forced to let the piping drop,
And we shall see our children stop !'
When, lo! as they reached the mountain's side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed,
And the Piper advanced and the children followed,
And when all were in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast.
Did I say all? No! one was lame,
And could not dance the whole of the way,
And in after years, if you would blame
His sadness, he was used to say,
'It's dull in our town since my playmates left!
I can't forget that I'm bereft
Of all the pleasant sights they see,
Which the Piper also promised me;
For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,
Joining the town and just at hand,
Where waters gushed and fruit trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
And everything was strange and new ;
The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,
And their dogs outran our fallow deer,
And honey-bees had lost their stings,
And horses were born with eagle's wings :
And just as I became assured
My lame foot would be speedily cured,
The music stopped, and I stood still,
And found myself outside the Hill,
Left alone against my will,
To go now limping as before,
And never hear of that country more !' "
"The Mayor sent east, west, north and south,
To offer the Piper by word of mouth,
Wherever it was men's lot to find him,
Silver and gold to his heart's content,
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 99
If he'd only return the way he went,
And bring the children behind him."
But the children were lost forever,
And all because the fat old Mayor tried to cheat
the Piper.
"So, (Children), let you and me be wipers
Of scores out with all men — especially pipers ;
And, whether they pipe us free, from rats or from
mice,
If we've promised them aught, let us keep our
promise."
— Robert Browning.
(With the permission of Houghtoir, Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)
RHYME OF THE RAIL.
Singing through the forests,
Rattling over ridges,
Shooting under arches,
Rumbling over bridges,
Whizzing through the mountains,
Buzzing o'er the vale, —
Bless me ! this is pleasant,
Riding on the Rail !
Men of different 'stations'
In the eye of Fame
Here are very quickly
Coming to the same.
High and iowly people,
Birds of every feather,
On a common level,
Traveling together !
Gentleman in shorts,
Looming very tall ;
Gentleman at large,
Talking very small ;
Gentleman in tights,
With a loose-ish mien ;
Gentleman in gray,
Looking rather green.
100 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Stranger on the left,
Closing up his peepers ;
Now he snores amain,
Like the Seven Sleepers ;
At his feet a volume
Gives the explanation,
How the man grew stupid
From 'Association' !
Market-woman careful
Of the precious casket,
Knowing eggs are eggs,
Tightly holds her basket;
Feeling that a smash,
If it came, would surely
Send her eggs to pot
Rather prematurely !
Singing through the forests,
Rattling over ridges,
Shooting under arches,
Rumbling over bridges,
Whizzing through the mountains,
Buzzing o'er the vale ;
Bless me ! this is pleasant,
Riding on the Rail !
— John G. Saxe.
19TH PSALM.
The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament
sheweth his handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth
knowledge.
There is no speech nor language', where their voice is not
heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words
to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for
the sun.
His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his cir-
cuit unto the ends of it : and there is nothing hid from the heat
thereof.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 101
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul : the tes-
timony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judg-
ments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine
gold : sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned : and in keeping oi
them there is great reward. ,
Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from se-
cret faults.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins ; let
them not have dominion over me : then shall I be upright, and
I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my re-
deemer.
THE WATER DROPS.
Some little drops of water,
Whose home was in the sea,
To go upon a journey,
Once happened to agree.
A cloud they had for a carriage,
They drove a playful breeze, ,
And over town and country,
They rode along at ease.
But Oh ! they were so many, ,
At last the carriage broke,
And to the ground came tumbling,
These frightened little folk.
And through the moss and grasses
They were compelled to roam,
Until a brooklet found them,
And carried them all home.
— Author not known*
102 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
THE GOUTY MERCHANT AND THE STRANGER.
In Broadstreet building, on a winter night,
Snug by his parlor-fire, a gouty wight
Sat all alone, with one hand rubbing
His feet, rolled up in fleecy hose,
With t'other he'd beneath his nose
The Public Ledger, in whose columns grubbing,
He noted all the sales of hops,
Ships, shops, and slops ;
Gums, galls, and groceries ; ginger, gin.
Tar, tallow, turmeric, turpentine, and tin ;
When lo ! a decent personage in black,
Entered and most politely said :
"Your footman, sir, has gone his nightly track
To the King's Head,
And left your door ajar, which I
Observed in passing by;
And thought it neighborly to give you notice."
"Ten thousand thanks ; how very few do ger,
In time of danger,
Such kind attentions from a stranger !
Assuredly, that fellow's throat is
Doomed to a final drop at Newgate :
He -knows, too (the unconscionable elf),
That there's no soul at home except myself."
"Indeed," replied the stranger, looking grave,
"Then he's ax double knave ; ,
He knows that rogues and thieves by scores
Nightly beset unguarded doors.
And see, how easily might one1
.Of these domestic foes,
Even beneath your very nose.
Perform his knavish tricks ;
Enter your room, as I have done,
Blow out your candles — thus — and — thus — ,
Pocket your silver candlesticks,
And — walk off— thus/'
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 103
So said, so done ; he made no more remark,
Nor waited for replies,
But marched off with his prize,
Leaving the gouty merchant in the dark.
— By row.
THE DEPARTED.
The departed ! the departed !
They visit us in dreams,
And they glide above our memories
Like shadows over streams ;
But where the cheerful lights of home
In constant luster burn,
The departed, the departed,
Can never more return !
The good, the brave, the beautiful,
How dreamless is their sleep,
Where rolls the dirge-like music
Of the ever-tossing deep !
Or where the surging night-winds
Pale winter's robes have spread
Above the narrow palaces,
In the cities of the dead !
I look around, and feel the awe
Of one who walks alone,
Among the wrecks of former days,
In mournful ruin strown ;
I start to hear the stirring sounds
Among the cypress-trees,
For the voice of the departed
Is borne upon the breeze.
That solemn voice ! it mingles with
Each free and careless strain ;
I scarce can think earth's minstrelry
Will cheer my heart again.
The melody of summer waves,
The trilling notes of birds,
Can never be so dear to me,
As their remembered words;
104 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
I sometimes dream their pleasant smiles
Still on me sweetly fall,
Their tones of love I faintly hear
My name in sadness call.
I know that they are happy,
With their angel-plumage on,
But my heart is very desolate,
To think that they are gone.
— Park Benjamin.
STANZAS FROM "THE FOURTH IN OREGON."
The grass is green on Bunker Hill,
The waters sweet in Brandywinc ;
The sword sleeps in the scabbard still,
The farmer keeps his flock and vine ;
Then who would mar the scene today
With vaunt of battle-field or fray?
Aye, wise and great was Washington,
And brave the men of Bunker Hill ;
Most brave and worthy every one,
Tn work and faith and fearless will
And brave endeavor for the right,
Until yon stars burst through their night.
Aye, wise and good was Washington.
Yet when he laid his sword aside,
The bravest deed yet done was done.
And when in stately strength and pride
He took the plow and turned the mold
He wrote God's autograph in gold.
He wrought the fabled fleece of gold
In priceless victories of peace,
With plowshare set in mother mold ;
Then gathering the golden fleece
About his manly, martial breast,
This farmer laid him down to rest.
—Miller.
(Permission of the author, Whitaker £ Ray-Wiggin Co.,
Publishers.)
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 105
THE DAFFODILS.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beside the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay;
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee ; —
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company;
I gazed, and gazed, but little thought ,
What wealth that show to me had brought.
For oft when on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
— Wordsworth.
CALIFORNIA POPPY.
The golden poppy is God's gold,
The gold that lifts, nor weighs us down,
The gold that knows no miser's hold,
The gold that banks not in the town,
But singing, laughing, freely spills
Its hoard far up the happy hills ;
Far up, far down, at every turn, —
What beggar has not gold to burn !
— Miller.
(Permission of the author, Whitaker & Ray-Wiggin Co.,
Publishers.)
106 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
IS IT WORTH WHILE?
Is it worth while that we jostle a brother
Bearing his load on the rough road of life?
Is it worth while that we jeer at each other
In blackness of heart? — that we war to the knife?
God pity us all in our pitiful strife.
God pity us all as we jostle each other;
God pity us all for the triumphs we feel
When a fellow goes down ; poor, heart-broken brother,
Pierced to the heart ; words are keener than steel,
And mightier far for woe or for weal.
Were it not well in this brief little journey,
On over the isthmus, down into the tide,
That we give him a fish instead of a serpent,
Ere folding the hands to be and abide
For ever and aye in dust at his side?
Look at the roses saluting each other ;
Look at the herds all at peace on the plain-
Man, and man only, makes war on his brother,
And dotes in his heart on his peril and pain —
Shamed by the brutes that go down on the plain.
Why should we envy a moment of pleasure
Some poor fellow-mortal has wrung from it all?
Oh ! could you look into life's broken measure —
Look at the dregs — at the wormwood and gall —
Look at his heart hung with crape like a pall —
Look at the skeletons down by his hearthstone —
Look at his cares in their rherciless sway, —
I know you would go and say tenderly, lowly,
Brother, — my brother, for aye and a day, —
Lo! Lethe is washing the blackness away.
—Miller.
(Permission of the author, Whitaker & Ray-Wiggin Co.,
Publishers,)
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 107
THE WORLD'S WANDERERS.
Tell me, thou star, whose wings of light
Speed thee in thy fiery flight,
In what cavern of the night
Will thy pinions close now?
Tell me, moon, thou pale and gray
Pilgrim of heaven's homeless way,
In what depth of night or day
Seekest thou repose now ?
Weary wind, who wanderest
Like the world's rejected guest,
Hast thou still some secret nest
On the tree or billow?
—Shelley.
LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG SPEECH.
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth
upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and ded-
icated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether
that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can
long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war.
We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place
of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot con-
secrate— we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living
and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above
our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor
long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what
they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated
here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly
carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great
task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we
take increased devotion to the cause for which they here gave
the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve
that the dead shall not have died in vain ; that the nation shall,
under God, have a new birth of freedom ; and that government
of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish
from the earthj
108 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
THE PRIMROSE OF THE ROCK.
The flowers, still faithful to the stems,
Their fellowship renew ;
The stems are faithful to the root,
That worketh out of view ;
And to the rock the root adheres,
In every fibre true.
Close clings to earth the living rock,
Though threatening still to fall ;
The earth is constant to her sphere,
And God upholds them all ;
So blooms this lonely plant, nor dreads
Her annual funeral. — Wordsworth.
SONG OF THE OUT O' DOORS.
Come with me, O you world-weary, to the haunts of thrush
and veery,
To the cedar's dim cathedral and the palace of the pine;
Let the soul within you capture something of the wildwood
rapture,
Something of the epic passion of that harmony divine !
Down the pathway let us follow through the hemlocks to the
hollow,
To the woven, vine-wound thickets in the twilight vague and
old,
While the streamlet winding after is a trail of silver laughter,
And the boughs above hint softly of the melodies they hold.
Through the forest, never caring what the way our feet are
faring,
We shall hear the wild birds' revel in the labyrinth of Tune,
And on mossy carpets tarry in His temples cool and airy,
Hung with silence and the splendid, amber tapestry of noon.
Leave the hard heart of the city, with its poverty of pity,
Leave the folly and the fashion wearing out the faith of men,
Breathe the breath of life blown over upland meadows white
with clover,
And with childhood's clearer vision see the face of God again !
— Herbert Bashford.
(From "At the Shrine of Song." Copyright by Whitaker &
Ray-Wiggin Co. Permission of author.)
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 109
THE DEATH BED.
We watched her breathing through the night,
Her breathing, soft and low,
As in her breast the wave of life
Kept heaving to and fro.
So silently we seemed to speak,
So slowly moved about,
As we had lent her half our powers
To eke her living out.
Our very hopes belied our fears,
Our fears our hopes belied ;
We thought her dying when she slept,
And sleeping when she died.
For when the morn came dim and sad,
And chill with early showers,
Her quiet eyelids closed; — she had
Another morn than ours.
, — Hood.
Books ! 'tis a dull and endless strife,
Come ! hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet its music on my life,
There is more than music in it.
And hark, how blithe the throstle sings,
He too is no mean creature ;
Come forth into the heart of things,
Let nature be your teacher.
One impulse from a vernal mood.
Will teach jrou more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
Enough of science and of art,
Close up those barren leaves,
Come forth and bring with you a heart,
And listen ! and receive.
— Wordsworth.
110 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
A MAN'S A MAN FOR A' THAT.
Is there for honest poverty
Thai hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave — we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that !
For a' that, an' a' that,
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.
What though on homely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a' that ;
Gie fools their silk an' knaves their wine,
A Man's a Man for a' that ;
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their tinsel, show, an' a' that, ,
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a 'that.
Ye see yon birkie ca'd 'a lord,'
Wha struts an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that :
For a' that, and a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that ;
The man o' independent mind,
He looks and laughs at a' that.
A prince can make a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that ;
But an honest man's aboon his might,
Gude faith, he mauna fa' that !
For a' that, and' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that ;
The pith o' sense an' pride o' worth
Are higher rank than a' that.
Then let us pray that come it may
(As come it will for a' that)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that. —Mums.
PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN 111
SONNETS
THIRTIETH SONNET.
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste :
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless niglit,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanished sight :
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
Shakespeare.
EARTH'S LIVING WORD.
O Earth ! thou hast not any wind that blows
Which is not music ; every weed of thine,
Pressed rightly, flows in aromatic wine ;
And every humble hedge-row flower that grows,
And every little brown bird that doth sing,
Hath something greater than itself, and bears
A living word to every living thing,
Albeit it hold the message unawares.
All shapes and sounds have something which is not
Of them ; a spirit broods amid the grass ;
Vague outlines of the everlasting thought
Lie in the melting shadows as they pass ;
The touch of an eternal presence thrills
The fringes of the sunsets and the hills.
—Realf.
112 PROSE AND POETRY FOR CHILDREN
ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER.
•Much have I travel'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen ;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold :
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken ;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star'd at the Pacific — and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise —
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
ON HIS BLINDNESS.
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide,
'Doth God exact day labor, light denied?'
I fondly ask. But Patience to prevent
That murmur soon replies, 'God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest ;
They also serve who only stand and wait/
-— Milton.
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