In the department of hymns and strictly devotional pieces, the number which seemed really appropriate in language and thought proved, on examination, to be much smaller than was anticipated. Something more perhaps might have been added from Watts and Jane Taylor, but the one beautiful hymn of Faber, with which the volume closes, contains in itself the substance and spirit of all Of course, fancy and imagination must play a prominent part in such a compilation, as they do in all healthful young minds, but the editor trusts that little will be found which can, by any possibility, leave an impression of evil, or really confuse the distinctions of truth and error. Even pure nonsense, as in the case of Lear's "Owl and Pussy Cat," may not be without a certain moral value as a fitting caricature of the affectation of sentiment. In Hauff's "Fortunes of Fairy-Lore," the heroine complains, to her mother Fancy, that the world has grown uncomfortably wise, and that the very children who used to love her so dearly have become too knowing for their tender age, and, no longer capable of wonder, laugh at her stories and turn their backs upon her. Poor Fairy-Lore is doubtless justified in her complaint, -the school-master and newspaper are busy with their disenchantments, but, as there may be still left among us something of that beautiful unwisdom which once peopled the child's world with visionary shapes, it should have the benefit of such poems as Mary Howitt's "Caldon Low," Allingham's "Fairies," and Allan Cunningham's "Song of the Elfin Miller." While the compiler has endeavored to accommodate his book to the especial tastes of the young, he has not been without hope that maturer readers may find something of interest in it,—something to bring back the freshness of the past,- hints and echoes from the lost world of childhood. He is happy in believing that, in this way, some noontide wayfarer may be able to discover shadowy places of memory where the dew of the morning of life has not wholly dried up, and where may still be heard the music of the birds of sunrise. Sincerely hoping that in the selection of these poems of Child-Life, he has not altogether misunderstood the tastes, wishes, and needs of his young readers; he leaves it in their hands, commending to each of them the words of one who has himself written well and wisely for their class : "Be good dear child, and let who will be clever AMESBURY, 4th Month, 1971. J. G. W. |