CLASS ACTIVITIES

1. Explain whether the person in the poem is rich or poor. 2. Who "owns the gold" in line 4? How did you decide? 3. Explain "his spending has no end," in line 6.

4. Explain "would number leaves by notes," in line 10.

5. What does "Be't calico or silk" add to the meaning of the poem? 6. Name the interesting places in your own city or neighborhood which you always show to visitors. Can you think of beautiful places which you sometimes forget to show?

7. Tell about places of interest in other cities which you have visited. 8. When Davies speaks of the sun owning the gold, he does not mean just gold; he wants gold to stand for all kinds of riches. Compare the literal meaning of "my pockets nothing hold," line 3, with the meaning the poet has in mind. Find and discuss other words and phrases in "A Greeting" which have more than their literal meaning.

ADDITIONAL SELECTIONS TO BE READ ALOUD. Hemans, "The Voice of the Spring"; Rands, "The Wonderful World"; Longfellow, "An April Day"; Lowell, "The Fountain"; Longfellow, "Rain in Summer"; Carman, "April Morning"; Burns, "To a Mountain Daisy."

2. THE MAKING OF BIRDS

KATHERINE TYNAN

God made Him birds in a pleasant humor;
Tired of planets and suns was He.
He said: "I will add a glory to summer,
Gifts for my creatures banished from me!"

He had a thought and it set Him smiling,
Of the shape of a bird and its glancing head,
Its dainty air and its grace beguiling:

"I will make feathers," the Lord God said.

He made the robin; He made the swallow;
His deft hands moulding the shape to His mood,
The thrush and lark and the finch to follow,
And laughed to see that His work was good.

He who has given men gift of laughter,

Made in His image; He fashioned fit
The blink of the owl and the stork thereafter,
The little wren and the long-tailed tit.

He spent in the making His wit and fancies;
The wing-feathers He fashioned them strong;
Deft and dear as daisies and pansies,

He crowned His work with the gift of song.

"Dearlings," He said, "make songs for my praises!"
He tossed them loose to the sun and wind,
Airily sweet as pansies and daisies;

He taught them to build a nest to their mind.

The dear Lord God of His glories weary-
Christ our Lord had the heart of a boy –
Made Him birds in a moment merry,
Bade them soar and sing for His joy.

CLASS ACTIVITIES

1. Find several places in which the personal pronoun is capitalized in the poem, and explain in each case how this helps to make the meaning clear.

2. Do you think that stanza 4 represents God as having the trait of laughter? Explain.

3. Give several reasons why the wing-feathers were made strong. 4. See if you can find the word “dearlings” in the dictionary.

5. What is the crowning gift that God gave to men through birds? 6. Does the last stanza mean that God made birds in a careless, offhand way, when he had nothing else to do?

Reading Poetry Aloud

The first poetry was sung or chanted; it was made up of stories and songs which were passed on by word of mouth from father to son, from mother to daughter. Indeed, poetry was made to be heard rather than read. That is why it should be read or recited, to bring out its rhythm, its rhyme, its music. The good reader, like the good singer, always tries to express the spirit of what he reads.

Take turns reading aloud parts of "The Making of Birds." Try to make your reading jolly and happy, as if you were laughing. Make your reading as pleasant as the songs you are talking about. Remember that in the poem the Creator, tired of making planets and suns, turns to the happiness of making birds and flowers.

ADDITIONAL READINGS.

1. Our Vanishing Bird Life, W. T. Hornaday; 2. Birds Every Child Should Know, N. Blanchan. 3. "Shall We Feed the Birds?" in Literary Digest, 52: 1214.

3. LISTENING TO THE SONGS OF BIRDS

VISCOUNT EDWARD GREY

At the close of his service as President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt travelled extensively in Africa and Europe. Almost two years before he was to be in England, he wrote to Lord Grey, Foreign Minister of Great Britain, that he would like to spend a holiday in the country listening to the birds of England. The reading which follows is part of an informal talk which Lord Grey made to a group of Harvard boys while he was visiting in America.

Several years ago, when I was at the Foreign Office in London, I got a letter from Mr. Bryce, who was then British Ambassador at Washington, saying that President Roosevelt intended to travel as soon as he was out of office. He was going to travel in Africa, to visit Europe, and to come to England; he was planning his holiday so minutely as to time his visit to England for the spring, when the birds would be in full song and he could hear them. For this purpose he wanted it to be arranged that somebody who knew the songs of the English birds should go for a walk with him in the country, and as the songs were heard tell him what the birds

were.

That is a pretty good instance of thorough planning for a holiday. It seemed to me very attractive that the executive head of the most powerful country in the world should have this simple, healthy, touching desire to hear the songs of birds, and I wrote back at once to Mr. Bryce to say that when President Roosevelt came to England I should be very

glad to do for him what he wanted. It is no more a necessary qualification for the Secretary of Foreign Affairs in London than it is for the President of the United States that he should know the songs of the birds, and it is amusing that we should have been able to arrange this little matter satisfactorily between us as if it were part of our official duties, without feeling obliged to call in experts.

Time passed, and when Mr. Roosevelt retired from office he went to Africa and had much big-game shooting and travel there. Then he came to Europe. The leading countries of Europe were stirred to do him honor, England not less than others. He had a great reception and everywhere a program of great and dignified character was arranged for him. European newspapers were full of his travels long before he reached England, and I thought this little walk to hear the songs of English birds suggested some two years previously would be forgotten and crowded out by greater matters. it was not so.

But

Without any reminder on my part I received a letter from the English friend who was to be Colonel Roosevelt's host in London that Colonel Roosevelt had written to him to say that the promise of a bird trip had been made and that he wished time to be found for the fulfilment of it. I saw Colonel Roosevelt once soon after he came to London. The day was arranged, and at the appointed time we met at Waterloo Station. We had to ask the newspaper reporters not to go with us, not because it made any difference to Colonel Roosevelt, but because birds are not so tame, or perhaps I should say are more self-conscious than public men, and do not like to be photographed or even interviewed at close quarters; it was necessary not only that Colonel Roosevelt and I should be alone, but that we should make ourselves as inconspicuous as possible.

So we went alone, and for some twenty hours we were lost to the world. We went by train and motor to the little village of Titchborne, arriving shortly after midday. In the