LITTLE BOY BLUE EUGENE FIELD gem is OME have mistakenly thought this delicate primarily for children, it is the burst of grief of a bereaved father's heart. Although children love this beautiful poem it is not a child's poem, it is a father's poem about a child. Its sweet and lofty sentiment requires a grown-up experience to appreciate it fully. Eugene Field's tender heart was stricken with grief over the death of his beloved little sona grief intensified yet mellowed and sweetened since the angel song awakened the loved dreamer. With tender care, the toys have been left where the tiny hands placed them, and they seem almost a part of the little lost one as the father stands over them and calls to mind the scenes in which the little prattler gave them life. Filled with the tenderness of mingled love and sorrow the father's heart breathes forth this exquisite melody of parental grief. LITTLE BOY BLUE * The little toy dog is covered with dust, Time was when the little toy dog was new And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue Kissed them and put them there. *From "A Little Book of Western Verse"; copyright, 1889, by Eugene Field; published by Charles Scribner's Sons. "Now don't you go till I come," he said, Oh, the years are many, the years are long, Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand, Each in the same old place, Awaiting the touch of a little hand, The smile of a little face. And they wonder, as waiting these long years through, What has become of our Little Boy Blue, SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES 1. Under what circumstances was this poem written? 2. Why should the toys remain untouched? 3. Who is speaking the first lines of the second stanza? 4. In what manner was he saying these words? 5. To whom are the years many and long? 6. What in the father's heart leads him to imagine that these silent toys are waiting faithfully for their little master's return? 7. What comfort comes to the father in the scenes and reminiscences recounted? 8. What has touched the heart of the father so sympathetically? 9. What infinite hope is suggested to the grief-stricken father? 10. Wherein lies the chief charm of this little poem? REFERENCES GILDER: A Child. FIELD: The Lyttel Boy. RILEY: Bereaved. Leonanie. The Lost Kiss. A. C. SWINBURNE: The Salt of the Earth. LITTLE BOY BLUE 141 EMMON A. BROWN: Measuring the Baby. LOWELL: The First Snowfall. The Changeling. HARRY R. SMITH: The Long Night. FREDERICK GEORGE SCOTT: Van Elsen. LONGFELLOW: The Reaper and the Flowers. The Children's Hour. ELLEN HOWARTH: 'Tis But a Little Faded Flower. STEPHEN HENRY THAYER: The Waiting Choir. GERALD MASSEY: Christie's Portrait. GEORGE BARLOW: The Dead Child. JOHN PIERPONT: My Child. WILLIAM C. BENNETT: Baby Shoes. Little Willie. THE LOST CHORD ADELAIDE A. PROCTER LONG since, the sweet English singer said: "The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night And his affections dark as Erebus; Let no such man be trusted." Harmony begets harmony. Harmonious blendings of colors or sounds tend to place us in harmony with the divine plan. The attainment of such a relation is an enviable achievement, but the bootless search for a lost or ideal harmony is not totally without pleasure and benefit as is shown in the following poem, which embodies the hope that springs triumphant over the sorrows and disappointments of life. The human soul insists, as upon its own life, "We always may be what we might have been." THE LOST CHORD Seated one day at the organ, I do not know what I was playing, Like the sound of a great Amen. |