our national parks and forests. Later he acted as guide over thousands of miles in the wildernesses of Canada and along the northern United States border. All the time he was watching the workings of nature and beginning to put what he saw into verse. Through all of his poetry "one can trace his love of the woods and of wild life; of boundless mountain ranges, of vagrant brooks, of open spaces twinkling in the glow of friendly camp fires."

In his life in the northwest Sarett learned to know and love the Indians so well that his Indian poems "ring true." The Indians in return love their poet. In his home are rare woodland gifts to remind him of the devoted people whose interpreter he is. "When I have to be away from their country, I bring what I can with me," he says with a smile. "Then I take myself back by writing poetry."

Lew Sarett now divides his year into two parts. The second semester of the college year he teaches in Northwestern University and gives lectures for the general public-he has become famous as a reader of his own poetry; all the rest of the year he spends in the woods. Life to Lew Sarett would be poor indeed if he could not live a part of it with the wild life that has grown increasingly dear to him since childhood.

You will enjoy reading the biographical and autobiographical sketches of Sarett in the American Magazine for February and March, 1926. The autobiography has

been recommended by the leaders of the recreation work of the Y. M. C. A. in Salt Lake City as a story which all boys should read and enjoy.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

1. What feelings did the reading of this poem arouse in you? The cruelty of most animal trapping was discussed by Lucy Furman in the Atlantic for February, 1928. You will be interested in reading the article; perhaps some member will wish to make a report on it. The subject can then be discussed generally. Do you know of anything that is being done for the welfare of animals, either tame or wild?

2. If you are interested in joining an association for the protection of animals, you will probably find The American Humane Association or The American Red Star Animal Relief, both at Albany, New York, the most helpful. These organizations publish a monthly magazine which contains many valuable suggestions for its readers.

Class Reading. Let the class choose someone to read aloud "Four Little Foxes" who can bring out Sarett's sympathetic treatment.

Library Reading. Sanctuary! Sanctuary!, Sharp; Days Off in Dixie, Rutledge; Poetry's Plea for Animals, Clarke; Wild Animals at Home, Seton; Animal Personalities, Derieux; Smoky, the Cowhorse, James; Animal Heroes in the Great War, Baynes.

Literature at Hamilton College, a position he has held for many years.

It has been said that "all who write easily are tempted to write carelessly." Clinton Scollard has resisted this temptation; he has produced a large amount of verse, but he is and always has been a careful worker.

In addition to his poetry, collected now in fourteen volumes, Scollard has written six novels, two books on travel, and one volume of nature sketches.

One of the greatest sources of this author's inspiration is his delight in the out-of-doors. On his rambles he has "every sense alert to see, to hear, and to enjoy." You will enjoy reading Scollard's Footfarings, a volume written partly in prose and partly in verse. It is "a book abrim with morning joy, and bringing with it the aroma of wood-flowers and the minstrelsy of birds."

BATES

Katharine Lee Bates (1859- ) was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts. She says of herself, "As a child in what was then a little seafaring village twenty miles from a railroad, I found myself reading poetry with joy, and very soon, child-fashion, making verses of my own. Early in my sophomore year at Wellesley College I was surprised and delighted to have a poem of mine accepted by The Atlantic Monthly, and ever since I have been looking forward to a period in life when I shall be free to devote the best of my strength and the most of my time to poetry. That period has never come, as I have been all my life a very busy teacher, doing a good deal of incidental writing on special subjects."

Miss Bates, after holding a professorship in Wellesley College for many years was made, in 1925, Professor Emeritus (honorary title on resignation after years of service). In spite of her busy life she has found enough time to do much writing, some of it for young people. "Robin's Secret" is taken from Fairy Gold, a book of poems, published by Miss Bates in 1916.

CAWEIN

Madison Cawein (1865-1914) was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and spent most of his life in his native state. When

he was a small boy he lived for a time among the hills and meadows and woodlands of the country near New Albany, Indiana. It was there that Cawein first learned to know and love nature, and to develop his powers of imagination. "If ever children were happy," he said, years later, "they were happy here. We walked two and a half miles every school day from fall to spring to the New Albany district school, but we enjoyed it. I used to walk along by myself, making up wonderful stories of pirate treasures and adventures, which I could continue, in serial form, from day to day in my imagination unending-dependent upon no publisher."

When Cawein began to write, his mind instinctively turned to the nature world he had loved from his early years. Most of the themes for his many verses are taken from it. Cawein will be remembered as one of America's sweet singers in verse.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

1. You have read, just for pleasure, the three bird poems; which one do you like best? Which do you think is the most musical? Tell of anything in the poems that made you smile.

Suggested Problem. Write in your notebooks a paragraph description of the wren, the robin, and the bird you think Cawein may have been describing. Tell some interesting facts about their appearance, habits, nests, etc. If possible, illustrate your compositions by mounting pictures of the birds and their nests. Theme Topics. (Two-minute talks.)

1. The most interesting bird I know. 2. Bird songs we can hear in the morning. 3. Bird songs heard only in the evening. 4. Plain birds with beautiful songs. 5. Beautiful birds that are not songsters. 6. Birds that sing throughout the season. 7. Birds that sing at only one time of the year.

Library Reading. "Sir Robin," Amy Lowell (in Child-Library Readers, Book Six); "Joy of the Morning," Edwin Markham (in The Little Book of American Poets, Rittenhouse); "I Meant to Do My Work Today," Le Gallienne (on page 11 of this book).

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), one of the greatest of British poets, was born at Somersby, England. He was the son of a clergyman, and the fourth in a family of twelve children. Almost from the time he could talk Alfred was composing verses, and at the age of twelve had written a poem of 6000 lines. When he was seventeen he and one of his brothers published a volume of verse. Two years later, after careful training under his father's direction, the youthful poet entered Cambridge University.

Before Tennyson was graduated from college his father died, and the young man took upon himself the management of the family affairs. All his spare time, however, he devoted to eager writing, and published enough to make him known to the general public.

Occasionally Tennyson liked to go to London, where he met other literary men of the day, one of whom described him as

follows: "One of the finest looking men in the world! A great shock of rough, dusky hair; bright, laughing, hazel eyes; massive face, yet most delicate; of sallow brown complexion, almost Indian-looking; clothes loose, free, and easy; voice musical. I do not meet often such company! We shall see what he will grow to."

Tennyson became famous at the age of thirty-three on the publication of Poems by Alfred Tennyson. Both England and America knew that a great writer had appeared. Eighteen hundred and fifty was known as the "golden year" of Tennyson's life: he published "In Memoriam," the beautiful poem on which he had been working for sixteen years, in memory of a college friend who had died suddenly; and he was made poet laureate of England.

For over forty years Tennyson continued to write, his fame constantly increasing. Whatever changes of taste or fashion in poetry may come, we are justified in believing that Tennyson will continue to hold a high rank. His work is too true in thought, in feeling, and in rich musical charm to pass away. You will learn to know and love this great poet as a teller of tales in verse, these tales being both modern ballads and romances about King Arthur and his knights; as a writer of many lovely song poems, or lyrics; and as a poet of religious faith.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

1. The song-thrush, or throstle, found in England and other European countries, is a charming songster. Which lines in the first stanza represent the song of the bird? Which line gives Tennyson's response to the throstle? Read the words in the other stanzas that represent the bird's song.

2. Which lines tell you that Tennyson did not share the throstle's belief that spring had come? What do the last two lines show that the bird did for the poet?

3. Some poems are treasured for their musical quality. Do you think this is such a poem? Give a reason for your answer.

Class Reading. Let two pupils read aloud "The Throstle," one taking the part of the bird, the other that of the poet.

Library Reading. "The Brown Thrush," Larcom in Poetry's Plea for Animals, Clarke.