by teachers who may be in themselves deeply religious, but who have not applied intelligence to this matter.  The religious life of a young child is very direct:  there is only a little in the religious experiences of the Jews that can help him, and much that can puzzle and hinder him; their interpretation of God as revengeful, cruel and one-sided in His dealings with their enemies must greatly puzzle him, when he hears on the other hand that God is the Father of all the nations on the earth.  What is suitable should be taken and taken well, but there is no virtue in the Bible misunderstood.

Poetry is a form of literature which appeals to children if they are not made to learn it by rote.  Unconsciously they learn it very quickly and easily, if they understand in a general way the meaning, and if they like the sound of the words.  Rhythm is an early inheritance and can be encouraged by poetry, music and movement.  The sound of words appeals strongly to young children, and rhyming is almost a game.  The kind of poetry preferred varies a good deal but on the whole narrative or nonsense verses seem most popular; few children are ready for sentiment or reflection even about themselves, and this is why some of Stevenson’s most charming poems about children are not appreciated by them as much as by grown-up people.  And for the same reason only a few nature poems are really liked.

Without doubt, the only aim in giving poetry to children is to help them to appreciate it, and the only method to secure this is to read it to them appreciatively and often.

Besides such anthologies as The Golden Staircase, E.V.  Lucas’s Book of Verses for Children, and others, we must go to the Bible for poems like the Song of Miriam, or of Deborah, and the Psalms; to Shakespeare for such songs as “Where the Bee Sucks,” “I know a Bank,” “Ye Spotted Snakes,” either with or without music; to Longfellow’s Hiawatha for descriptive pieces, and to Scott and Tennyson for ballads and songs, and to many other simple classic sources outside the ordinary collections.

In both prose and poetry, probably the ultimate aim is appreciation of beauty in human conduct.  Clutton Brock says, “The value of art is the value of the aesthetic activity of the spirit, and we must all value that before we can value works of art rightly:  and ultimately we must value this glory of the universe, to which we give the name of beauty when we apprehend it.”  Again he says, “Parents, nurses and teachers ought to be aware that the child when he forgets himself in the beauty of the world is passing through a sacred experience which will enrich and glorify the whole of his life.”

If all this is what literature means in a child’s experiences of life, then it must be given a worthy place in the time-table and curriculum and in the serious preparation by the teacher for her work.

CHAPTER XXII