urage children to read poetry aloud. By
example and suggestion help them keep their
minds on the ideas, the pictures, the
characters. Only by doing this can they really
read so as to interpret a poem. No one can read
with a lazy mind, or merely by imitation.
Encourage them to croon or recite the lines
when alone.

9. It is not necessary that children should
understand everything in a poem. If it is worth
while they will get enough of its meaning to
justify its use and they will gradually see
more and more in it as time passes. In fact it
is this constantly growing content of a poem
that makes its possession in memory such a
treasure. Neither should the presence of
difficult words be allowed to rule out a poem
that possesses some large element of accessible
value. Many words are understood by the ear
that are not recognized by sight.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

Books such as Woodberry's _Heart of Man_ and
_Appreciation of Literature_ are of especial
value for getting the right attitude toward
poetry. The most illuminating practical help
would come from consulting the published
lectures of Lafcadio Hearn, explaining poetry
to Japanese students. His problem was not
unlike that faced by the teacher of poetry in
the grades. These lectures have been edited by
John Erskine as _Interpretations of Literature_
(2 vols.), _Appreciations of Poetry_, and _Life
and Literature_. The whole philosophy of poetry
is treated compactly in Professor Gayley's "The
Principles of Poetry," which forms the
introduction to Gayley and Young's _Principles
and Progress of English Poetry_.

269

Mrs. Follen (1787-1860) was a rather voluminous
writer and adapter of juvenile material. Her
verses are old-fashioned, simple, and
child-like, and have pleased several
generations of children. While they have no
such air of distinction as belongs to
Stevenson's poems for children, they are full
of the fancies that children enjoy, and deserve
their continued popularity.

THE THREE LITTLE KITTENS

ELIZA LEE FOLLEN

Three little kittens lost their mittens;
And they began to