SLEEP, BABY, SLEEP.

Sleep, baby, sleep,

Thy father's watching the sheep,

Thy mother's shaking the dreamland tree
And down drops a little dream for thee.
Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep!
The big stars are the sheep;

The little stars are the lambs, I guess,
The bright moon is the shepherdess,
Sleep, baby, sleep!

LITTLE BIRDIE.

What does little birdie say,
In her nest at peep of day?
"Let me fly," says little birdie—
"Mother, let me fly away."

"Birdie, rest a little longer,
Till the little wings are stronger."
So she rests a little longer,
Then she flies away.

What does little baby say
In her bed at peep of day?
Baby says, like little birdie,

"Let me rise and fly away."

"Baby, sleep a little longer,
Till the little limbs are stronger."
If she sleeps a little longer,

Baby, too, shall fly away.

-Alfred Tennyson.

(Permission of Houghton Mifflin & Co., Publishers.)

THE VOICE OF THE DOVE.

Come, listen, O Love, to the voive of the dove,
Come, hearken and hear him say;

There are many To-morrows, my Love, my Love,
There is only one To-day!

And all day long you can hear him say

This day in purple is rolled,

And the baby stars of the milky way

They are cradled in cradles of gold.

Now what is thy secret, serene gray dove,

Of singing so sweetly alway?

"Many To-morrows, my Love, my Love,

Only one To-day, To-day!

-Joaquin Miller.

(Permission of the author, The Whitaker and
Ray Co., Publishers.)

Children's poetry in the kindergarten and largely in the primary grades falls as regards subject-matter under two heads, the "wonder-poem" and the "make-believepoem."

Good examples of these are respectively, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," and "Winter Jewels."

THE STAR.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star;
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!

When the glorious sun is set,
And the grass with dew is wet,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep;
For you never shut your eye
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveler in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

The child wonder-poem has arisen from a desire to express in music the numberless thrills the boy or girl feels as nature or life unfolds its newness to him. Thus,

There are three green eggs in a small round pocket,
And the breeze will swing and the gale will rock it,
Till three little birds on the thin edge teeter,

And our God will be glad and the world be sweeter! (By permission from Edwin Markham.

Phillips & Co., Publishers.)

McClure

-an

is a joyous childish revel in the window-bird-nest,illustration of ever-recurring delight that even the adult has as he looks into the home of the bird.

Thus it becomes the duty of the teacher to be sensitive to the touches of emotion that seize the children as the mysteries of art and nature are unfolded to them, to the end that the poetry given may nurture and strengthen the tender impression of the pupil. Thus

WINTER JEWELS.

A million little diamonds

Sparkled in the trees,

And all the little maidens said,

"A jewel if you please;"

But when they held their hands outstretched
To catch the diamonds gay,

A million little sunbeams came

And stole them all away,

is appropriate to the dewy spring morning; just as Jean Ingelow's "Seven Times One" in the "Songs of Seven" is expressive of the child-delight in outward things.

There's no dew left on the daisies and clover,
There's no rain left in heaven;

I've said my "seven times" over and over;
Seven times one are seven.

I am old, so old, I can write a letter;
My birthday lessons are done ;

The lambs play always, they know no better;
They are only one times one.

O moon! in the night I have seen you sailing

And shining so round and low;

You were bright! ah bright! but your light is failing,You are nothing now but a bow.

You moon, have you done something wrong in heaven
That God has hidden your face?

I hope if you have you will soon be forgiven,
And shine again in your place.

O velvet bee, you're a dusty fellow,
You've powder'd your legs with gold!
O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow,
Give me your money to hold!

O Columbine, open your folded wrapper,
Where two twin turtle-doves dwell!
O cuckoopint, toll me the purple clapper
That hangs in your clear, green bell!

And show me your nest with the young ones in it;
I will not steal them away;

I am old! you may trust me, linnet, linnet,—
I am seven times one to-day.

FOR THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES.

The intermediate years of school conform in a general way to the period of child-life known to physiologists as "childhood proper." This runs approximately (varying in different children) from eight to eleven in girls, and from eight to twelve in boys. As it is an age of great physical activity, so it is also an age of great mental activity, which manifests itself in exercise of the imagination. In the earlier part of the period the child is adjusting himself, preparatory to the later rational thought processes, through the process of fantastic imagination. Hence the myth and the story begin here to be attractive. Later all sorts and forms of adventure, and exciting contests are the sources of his mental food.

It is not strange then that his taste for the poetic in this period is far different from what it was in the pre