"Ye open the eastern windows,
That look towards the sun,

Where thoughts are singing swallows,
And the brooks of morning run."

What does he say is in the hearts of children?

Many great thinkers have said that there is poetry in every child's heart, and that a poet always keeps something of a child's simplicity and love of nature all through his life. Is not this the reason why even young children can understand many of the poems written by Longfellow and other great poets? Tell what he says the world would be without children. To what does he compare

them?

What does he wish them to teach him?

Tell what you think about this oft-quoted stanza :

"Ye are better than all the ballads

That ever were sung or said;

For ye are living poems,

And all the rest are dead."

3. The Poet's Pictures of Childhood.

How does he show in "Hiawatha" his understanding of child-life? Read "The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz," and notice that the entire poem describes the childhood of the great naturalist. In "To the Avon," it is the boy Shakespeare he talks about. See also what thoughts you can get from "To a Child" and "The Castle Builder."

In two of his poems, "The Reaper and the Flowers" and "The Angel and the Child," what beautiful thoughts are there about the death of innocent children ?

Tell what was his thought when he wrote in "Weari

"O little feet! that such long years.

Must wander on through hopes and fears,
Must ache and bleed beneath your load;
I, nearer to the wayside inn

Where toil shall cease and rest begin,

Am weary, thinking of your road!"

4. How Children have felt toward the Poet.

Quote the lines from "The Village Blacksmith" about the children. Tell the story of "The Children's Armchair." Bring to class a description of this chair, of its carving and inscriptions. Describe the feeling of the children of Cambridge toward him. What poem did he write to express his gratitude to the children for this gift? Can you quote any of its stanzas?

In the books about Longfellow find all the incidents you can of the desire of children to see the poet and to tell him of their love. What stories can you bring to the class about his great kindness to his many young visitors, and his entertainment of them in the Craigie House?

His brother tells us his last letter was to a little girl who had sent him a poem written by herself, and the last guests to enjoy the hospitality of his beautiful home were four schoolboys from Boston. See the very interesting account of that visit by Hezekiah Butterworth in St. Nicholas, June, 1882. The same number of the St. Nicholas has an excellent article on Longfellow by Lucy Larcom.

Tell about the hearty celebration of his seventy-fifth birthday throughout the country. How did the children honor this day? Why?

Read Whittier's "The Poet and the Children," written just after Longfellow's death, which occurred a few weeks after this seventy-fifth birthday.

In your concluding paragraph tell why

"From the Golden Gate of sunset

And the cedarn woods of Maine,"

"his country's children were singing the songs of him."

V. POEMS TO BE READ.

You will enjoy now reading by yourself the following poems of Longfellow :

Commit to memory some stanzas from the poet's works.

You will find the stanzas of the following

poems especially fitting:

"The Psalm of Life."

"The Builders."

"The Ladder of St. Augustine."

VI. THE HOME OF LONGFELLOW.

The following books will be helpful:

"Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex."

SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE.

"Poets' Homes." - R. H. STODDARD.

"Little Journeys to the Homes of American Authors." Scribner's Monthly, November, 1878.

See also the biographies referred to at the beginning of this Chapter, all of which give interesting accounts of the old mansion.

In studying about the poet, you have found many references to the Craigie House, "the Mecca of all literary pilgrims in this country." Write a description of this house from the hints below.

You can make your description more vivid, perhaps, by putting it in the form of an imaginary visit to this interesting home. Throughout your visit you will feel

"the poet's memory here

Of the landscape makes a part;

Like the river, swift and clear,

Flows his song through many a heart;
Haunting still"

this enchanted region.

1. Description of the Exterior and Surroundings of the Craigie House.

The Longfellow Park opposite. The view of the River Charles. The poet's love for this view. See the poem "To the River Charles."

2. Its History.

Washington's connection with it. Quote the passage in the poem "To a Child," beginning —

"Once, ah, once within these walls,
One whom memory oft recalls,

The Father of his Country dwelt.”

Tell about Longfellow's first years in this house when a Harvard professor, and how it came into his possession finally.

3. Its Interior.

(a) The colonial hall. The broad staircase. The clock. Was this "The Old Clock on the Stairs"? (b) The Lady Washington reception room.

(c) The nursery, formerly Washington's sleeping-room. See the description of the "painted tiles" in the fireplace of this room in the poem "To a Child.”

(d) The poet's study and its treasures. The historical relics in the cabinets. The famous pictures. The children's armchair. A waste-basket with a history. Two famous inkstands. The iron pen. (Tell its story and read his poem about it.) Get as vivid a picture as you can of this beautiful room. Read the many descriptions of it by the visitors who were entertained there so pleasantly by the poet.

(e) The delightful domestic life of the poet. Why was he so well fitted to be "the poet of the home"? Tell about his family. The sad death of his second wife; how it affected him. Is there in his poems any trace of his suffering at that time?