THE LISTENING CHILD A SELECTION FROM THE STORES OF ENGLISH READERS AND HEARERS COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped October, 1899. Reprinted July, September, 1901; October, 1903. 1900 Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. PRELIMINARY NOTE SELECTIONS of poetry for children are numerous, perhaps too numerous, but it has not often been my lot to encounter one so carefully thought out and intelligently arranged as that of Mrs. Thacher. A mere glance at the proportions assigned to different authors and periods will show this to be true; and especially the prominence given to purely imaginative writers, like Blake and Emily Dickinson, shows a willingness to recognize and cultivate that ideal side of children which, after all, affords the best part of their lives. The preliminary essay, although it may seem at first to demand too much from young children, and may require in some cases to be read to them, rather than by them, will be found full of suggestion and will be more and more valued with further study. THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON. EDITORIAL NOTE WHILE trustworthy texts have been followed with care, it has nevertheless been found best, in meeting the special needs of young children, to omit certain lines; and some old English words have been modernized in spelling or even replaced, occasionally, by words from the vocabulary of a child of to-day. Thanks are due to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, & Company, as publishers of Holmes, Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, and Mr. Aldrich, to Messrs. Appleton & Company, as publishers of Bryant, and to Messrs. Little, Brown, & Company, as publishers of Emily Dickinson's Poems, for their courtesy in permitting the use of certain poems from their several publications; also to Mr. T. B. Aldrich, for allowing this use of his poems, and to Miss Lydia Very, for similar kindness in regard to poems of Jones Very. vii |