under which head it is required that a certain number of lines of poetry shall be learned in each class.

This book contains poetry suitable for children in the classes corresponding with Standards III. and IV. I would tender my thanks to those who have given me permission to include certain of their poems in this selection (the authorship of each one of these poems is acknowledged herein), and I would also thank Messrs. Warne & Co., Messrs. Macmillan & Co., Messrs. Strahan, Messrs. Weston & Co., Messrs. Nelson & Sons, and Messrs. J. Routledge & Sons, for their courtesy in granting me permission to include poems of which they have the copyright.

FOR TEACHERS.

It is intended that each poem should be studied by the child with the aid of the Notes and Vocabulary, which, however, are not intended to absolve the teacher from all explanation. Even with the abovementioned aids the child may fail to thoroughly grasp the meaning of an involved expression, or somewhat abstruse thought, from not being able to assimilate the information supplied. Judicious questioning will, however, enable the teacher to ascertain how far it is necessary to supplement the information given. I have assumed that the poetry to be learned will generally be studied as a home lesson, a certain number of lines being studied, and committed to memory each week.

Model reading in order to enable the children to gain the metre will of course be required.

The teacher will have to guard against the child assuming that a word given in the vocabulary has no other meaning than, or only a similar meaning to that I have supplied. E. A. HELPS.

LONDON, December, 1881.

THE RAPID STREAM.

Oн streamlet swiftly flowing,
Down through the corn-fields going,

Stay thy course with me;

For us the skylarks sing,

For us awakes the Spring;

There's time to spare, the earth is fair;

Why hurry to the sea?

The sky is bright above thee,

Silvery branches love thee,

Bending to the reeds;

No mill with busy wheel,

Or ship with ploughing keel,

With sad unrest disturbs thy breast,

Amid thy flowery meads.

7

14

C. MACKAY.1

THE BOYS AND THE FROGS.

SOME boys at play

One summer's day,

Beside a streamlet straying,

Happen'd to see,

In harmless glee,

A shoal of frogs there playing.

By permission of F. Warne and Co., Publishers.

6

And with delight

They saw the sight,

Ne'er giving, in their longing

To get some sport,

One tender thought

To those who there were thronging.

So at them fast

They pebbles cast,

Till of the many living
Who there had been,

But few were seen

A sign of life now giving.

Yet did they still,

12

18

THIS life is but a summer's day

Of shadows and of light,

Its brightest sunbeams pass away,

And soon give place to night.

4

Fair childhood is the early dawn,

And youth the morning gay;

Manhood's the noon so quickly gone,

And age the evening ray.

This life was given us to prepare

For that which is to come;

O may I gain admittance there,

And find a heavenly home!

SPRING.

THE bleak winds of winter are past,

The frost and the snow are both gone,
And the trees are beginning at last
Το put their green liveries on.

8

12

4

Not more glad than the bee is to gather
New honey to store in his cell;

He too is abroad this fine weather,

To rifle cup, blossom, and bell.

The goldfinch, and blackbird, and thrush
Are brimful of music and glee;
They have each got a nest in some bush,

And the rook has built his on a tree.

16

20

The lark's home is hid in the corn,
But he springs from it often on high,
And warbles his welcome to morn,

Till he looks like a speck in the sky.

O, who would be sleeping in bed

When the skies with such melody ring, And the bright earth beneath him is spread With the beauty and fragrance of spring. B. BARTON.

24

28

LUCY GRAY.

OFT I had heard of Lucy Gray :
And, when I crossed the wild,
I chanced to see at break of day
The solitary child.

No mate, no comrade Lucy knew:
She dwelt on a wide moor,—
The sweetest thing that ever grew
Beside a human door!

You yet may spy the fawn at play,
The hare upon the green;

But the sweet face of Lucy Gray
Will never more be seen.

66

To-night will be a stormy night

You to the town must go ;

And take a lantern, child, to light

Your mother through the snow."

8

12

16