2. Read aloud:

a. "The Fringed Gentian," William Cullen Bryant.
b. "The Rhodora," Ralph Waldo Emerson.

POEMS ABOUT TREES

Play the game "The poem I like best" with these four poems about trees. Read each of them through twice slowly. When you have finished, write the title of the poem you like best and place after it the figure 1; write the title of the poem you like next best and write after it the figure 2; and so on with the rest of the poems. all four poems again, and see if you still would keep No. and the others in the places you first gave them. When you have the poems thus arranged, try to write in two sentences a reason for your first choice and a reason for your last choice.

7. SALUTE TO THE TREES

HENRY VAN DYKE

Then read and No. 4

Many a tree is found in the wood,
And every tree for its use is good:
Some for the strength of the gnarled root,
Some for the sweetness of flower or fruit;
Some for the shelter against the storm,
And some to keep the hearthstone warm;
Some for the roof, and some for the beam,
And some for a boat to breast the stream;
In the wealth of the wood since the world began
The trees have offered their gifts to man.

But the glory of trees is more than their gifts:
'Tis a beautiful wonder of life that lifts,
From a wrinkled seed in an earth-bound clod,
A column, an arch in the temple of God,
A pillar of power, a dome of delight,

A shrine of song, and a joy of sight!

Their roots are the nurses of rivers in birth;

Their leaves are alive with the breath of the earth;

They shelter the dwellings of man; and they bend O'er his grave with the look of a loving friend.

I have camped in the whispering forest of pines,
I have slept in the shadow of olives and vines;
In the knees of an oak, at the foot of a palm
I have found good rest and slumber's balm.
And now, when the morning gilds the boughs
Of the vaulted elm at the door of my house,
I open my window and make salute:

"God bless thy branches, and feed thy root!
Thou hast lived before, live after me,
Thou ancient, friendly, faithful tree."

8. TREES

BLISS CARMAN

In the Garden of Eden, planted by God,
There were goodly trees in the springing sod
Trees of beauty and height and grace,
To stand in splendor before His face:

Apple and hickory, ash and pear,
Oak and beech, and the tulip rare,
The trembling aspen, the noble pine,
The sweeping elm by the river line;

Trees for the birds to build and sing,
And the lilac tree for a joy in spring;

Trees to turn at the frosty call

And carpet the ground for their Lord's footfall;

Trees for fruitage and fire and shade,
Trees for the cunning builder's trade;
Wood for the bow, the spear, and the flail,
The keel and the mast of the daring sail

He made them of every grain and girth
For the use of man in the Garden of Earth.
Then lest the Soul should not lift her eyes
From the gift to the Giver of Paradise
On the crown of a hill, for all to see,
God planted a scarlet maple tree.

9. SHADE

THEODOSIA GARRISON

The kindliest thing God ever made,
His hand of very healing laid
Upon a fevered world, is shade.

His glorious company of trees
Throw out their mantles, and on these
The dust-stained wanderer finds ease.

Green temples, closed against the beat
Of noontime's blinding glare and heat,
Open to any pilgrim's feet.

The white road blisters in the sun;
Now, half the weary journey done,
Enter and rest, O weary one!

And feel the dew of dawn still wet
Beneath thy feet, and so forget
The burning highway's ache and fret.

This is God's hospitality,

And whoso rests beneath a tree

Hath cause to thank Him gratefully.

10. TREES

JOYCE KILMER

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree;

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

CLASS ACTIVITIES

1. Make a table like this on the blackboard:

Write the votes of each pupil beneath his name and find the sums of all the votes for each poem. Such totals in the right-hand column

will show the judgment of the class; the poem with the smallest sum will be the first choice of the class, the one with the next lowest sum the second choice, and so on.

Now read aloud the sentences explaining the choices for No. I and the choices for No. 4.

2. Make a list on the blackboard of all the trees named in the poems, which grow in your neighborhood?

3. Make a list of all the uses of trees mentioned in the poems. 4. Arrange the ten most important uses in the order of their importance.

5. How large a variety of autumn leaves can your class arrange on a large card for the bulletin board?

6. Tell about other poems you have read about trees.

7. What do you think is the prettiest picture in all the poems ? 8. Volunteer work:

a. Memorize Kilmer's "Trees."

b. Those who selected different poems for their first choice, practise reading them aloud. Have a contest to decide who reads best the poem of his choice.

ADDITIONAL READINGS.

Literary Digest, 54: 243-244.

1. "The Oldest Tree in the World," in 2. "The Story of the Trees,” World Book, 8: 5870-5872. 3. "Our Neglected Friends the Birds,” W. P. Eaton, in Harper's Magazine, 136: 701-713. 4. "The Planting of the Apple Tree," W. C. Bryant, in Children's Literature, 417–418.

I.

EXERCISES IN JUDGING POETRY

"A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair."

These two lines will help you judge the beauty of the pictures and the music of any lines of poetry. Write the two lines at the very top of a piece of paper, and slide the paper slowly down over the lines of any poem in this book. Keep on until you find one example which you like equally well.

2. A little girl, speaking of a telephone wire, called it "a message vine."