spects. There is nothing in which tastes more differ than in matters
of this kind. And we will admit that in some cases we have let
in--because of the important truth which they so well voiced--stanzas
not fully up to the mark in point of poetic merit. Where it has not been
possible to get the two desirable things together, as it has not always,
we have been more solicitous for the sentiment that would benefit than
for mere prettiness or perfection of form. Helpfulness has been the test
oftener than a high literary standard. The labored workmanship of the
vessel has not weighed so much with us as its perfect fitness to convey
the water of life wherewith the thirsty soul of man has been or may be
refreshed. If poets are properly judged, as has been alleged, by the
frame of mind they induce, then some who have not gained great literary
fame may still hold up their heads and claim a worthy crown.

Some poems fully within the scope of the book--like Longfellow's "Psalm
of Life"--have been omitted because of their exceeding commonness and
their accessibility. Many hymns of very high value--like "Jesus, Lover
of my soul," "My faith looks up to thee," "Nearer, my God, to thee,"
"When all thy mercies, O my God," "How firm a foundation"--have also
been omitted because they are found in all the hymnals, and to include
them would unduly swell the size of the book. A few others, although
similarly familiar, like "Jesus, I my cross have taken," and "God moves
in a mysterious way," have been inserted from a feeling that even yet
their depth and richness are not properly appreciated and that they can
never be sufficiently pondered. A few poems we have been unable to
procure permission to use; but in nearly all cases we have met with most
generous treatment from both authors and publishers owning copyrights,
and we take this occasion to express our hearty thanks for the kindness
afforded in the following instances:

Houghton, Mifflin & Company, for the use of the poems and stanzas
here found from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell,
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Edward Rowland Sill, Celia Thaxter, Caroline Atherton
Mason, Edna Dean Proctor, Edmund Clarence Stedman, John Burroughs,
John Hay, William Dean Howells, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lucy Larcom,
Margaret E. Sangster, Francis Bret Harte, James Freeman Clarke,
Samuel Longfellow, Samuel Johnson,