Poems That Every Child Should Know The Arrow and the Song. "The Arrow and the Song," by Longfellow (1807-82), is placed first in this volume out of respect to a little girl of six years who used to love to recite it to me. She knew many poems, but this was her favourite. I SHOT an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; I breathed a song into the air, Long, long afterward, in an oak HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. The Babie. I found "The Babie" in Stedman's "Anthology." It is placed in this volume by permission of the poet, Jeremiah Eames Rankin, of Cleveland (1828-), because it captured the heart of a ten-year-old boy whose fancy was greatly moved by the two beautiful lines: "Her face is like an angel's face, I'm glad she has no wings." NAE shoon to hide her tiny taes, Her simple dress o' sprinkled pink, Her een sae like her mither's een, JEREMIAH EAMES RANKIN. Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite. "Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite," by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), and "Little Drops of Water," by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-97), are poems that the world cannot outgrow. Once in the mind, they fasten. They were not born to die. LET dogs delight to bark and bite, But, children, you should never let Such angry passions rise; Your little hands were never made To tear each other's eyes. ISAAC WATTS. Little Things. Little drops of water, Little grains of sand, Thus the little minutes, Humble though they be, Make the mighty ages Of eternity. EBENEZER COBHAM BRewer. He Prayeth Best. These two stanzas, the very heart of that great poem, "The Ancient Mariner," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), sum up the lesson of this masterpiece-"Insensibility is a crime." FAREWELL, farewell! but this I tell To thee, thou Wedding-Guest! He prayeth best who loveth best SAMUEL T. COLERIDGE. |