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Rupert Sargent Holland (1878poet, historian, story-teller, lecturer, and lawyer, was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He received his education at Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania.

Writing had always been Holland's main ambition. He tells us that he quit practicing law and devoted himself entirely to his writing as soon as the financial returns were sufficient for his needs. Walter Scott was one of the boyhood heroes of Mr. Holland, and it occurred to him one day to write a story of the boyhood of his idol. This was so enthusiastically received by the boy and girl readers that the author wrote a number of boyhoods of famous men. This book was soon followed by a volume of the girlhoods of famous women. These two books were the first of a series; of the others in the set, Historic Inventions has been the most popular and has been printed in Braille type for the use of the blind. Historic Ships is a book Mr. Holland says he very much enjoyed writing, as ships

had always seemed to him "preeminently romantic and beautiful." Historic Railroads is a later book in the series.

Mr. Holland finds much enjoyment in his work as an author of exceptional historical stories for boys and girls. He tells us he "likes to set spurs to his horse and gallop away; for children love action and the glamour and trappings of history."

King Arthur and Robin Hood were two of the chief boyhood heroes of this delightful story-writer, and they are still heroes and good friends to him. He believes that the friends a child makes in the pages of his books are among his greatest treasures, and that if an author supplies a boy or girl with a hero or heroine to be loved and admired he ought to enjoy the satisfaction that comes from doing a

good turn to someone.

You will enjoy reading Blackbeard's Island; The Boy Scouts of Snow-shoe Lodge; and The Boy Scouts of Birch-Bark Island.

SHERMAN

Frank Dempster Sherman (1860-1916), born in Peekskill, New York, was the oldest of a family of nine children. The education of the youth was spasmodic, because he was obliged, at times, to discontinue his studies in order to earn money to pay his way through school. After receiving a degree at Columbia University he did a year's post-graduate work at Harvard. Sherman was made a Fellow in Architecture at Columbia in 1887, and throughout the remainder of his life he worked as instructor and professor in that institution.

He was a great favorite among the students, and was known not only as an extraordinarily brilliant lecturer, but also as a guide, counselor, and friend of his students. One of his colleagues has said, "His work will live in the lives of hundreds of those whom he inspired, and in the progress and development of the school, for which more than once, in times of perplexity and uncertainty, his wise counsels and clear-headed vision had proved of inestimable value.”

Sherman was a poet of moods. After periods of silence he would be moved to

write by a visit to the seclusion of the Catskills, the pine groves of Carolina, or the quaintness of St. Augustine's streets. When Professor Sherman began writing, Lowell, Whittier, and Longfellow were still living, but from none of these poets did he draw any direct inspiration. Upon every poem he wrote he "set his own seal of individuality."

The poem, "Goldenrod," is taken from Mr. Sherman's volume of verses called Little Folks Lyrics. Clinton Scollard, whom you know as the author of "The Little Brown Wren," believes that "if one were making up a shelf of poetry for young people, there are two books that, at the beginning, one would unhesitatingly choose. They are Stevenson's Child's Garden of Verses and Sherman's Little Folks Lyrics. It would be purely a matter of taste which to place first, for each has its own especial merit and charm."

CARMAN

Bliss Carman (1861- ), teacher, civil engineer, editor, and poet, was born in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. He was educated at the Universities of New Brunswick, Edinburgh (Scotland), and Harvard.

As literary editor of The Independent and the Chap Book and a contributor to many of our leading magazines, Mr. Carman has become widely known. He left Canada early in his career and has made his home in the United States the greater part of his life, except for occasional brief visits to his old home down by the

sea.

Bliss Carman makes his greatest appeal through his lyrics, interpreting the beauty and wonders of the nature world. He is no mere landscape painter, but translates and interprets for us as only a poet can whose feeling for nature is keen and deep. Mr. Carman, whose birth month is April, sings much of the early spring. Even though he has many poems about April and spring, his songs are always new, fresh, and spontaneous, never monot

onous.

The poem, "The Daisies," is a nature lyric which reveals the poet's love for the flowers, the birds, and the sunshine.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

1. You were asked to read these three little flower poems purely for enjoyment; which one did you enjoy most? Why? In which two of these poems do the poets personify the flowers? To what does Sherman liken the goldenrod? Which one of the poems has humorous touches?

2. Who are the "people God sends us to set our heart free"? Describe, in your own words, the picture Bliss Carman paints in "The Daisies." What birds are mentioned in these poems? Read the lines which tell you what time of the year the goldenrod blooms. Explain the author's meaning in the last stanza of "Goldenrod."

3. You may wish to form a chapter of The American Wild Flower Preservation Society. Mrs. N. L. Britton, New York Botanical Gardens, Bronx Park, New York City, is National Secretary.

4. You learned from the biography of Rupert Sargent Holland that he still regards Robin Hood and King Arthur as his good friends; what book friends have you made that you believe will interest you throughout your lifetime?

Class Reading. Choose three members of your class, each to read aloud one of the three wild flower poems.

Theme Topics. (Two-minute talks.) 1. Read "A Greeting for Spring," Sherman (in Lyrics for the Lute), and "Spring Song," Bliss Carman (in Songs from Vagabondia). Be prepared to tell in class which one you like the better and why. Which gives a better picture of spring as you know it in the region where you live? Cite lines to support your answer. 2. The wild flowers I know and like best. 3. A reading and discussion of another wild flower poem (see the section "Green Things Growing" in The Home Book of Verse, Stevenson). 4. Wild flowers that have been chosen as state flowers.

Library Reading. "Roadside Flowers," Carman (in The Elson Readers, Book Six); "The Violet and the Bee," Tabb (in The Elson Readers, Book Five); "FourLeaf Clovers," Higginson (in The Elson Readers, Book Five); "Cherries" and "Robin's Apology," Sherman (in Little Folks Lyrics).

SWEET PEAS

JOHN KEATS

Here are sweet peas, on tiptoe for a flight,

With wings of gentle flush o'er delicate white,

English critics bitterly assailed the poetry of Keats, who replied that his own criticism of his work had given him pain beyond what his critics could inflict.

In 1820 the third volume of the poet's works appeared and it was certain that the genius of Keats had begun to mature; but his critics were still relentless. At the age of twenty-five Keats, depressed in spirit and severely ill, went to Rome, hoping to gain some benefit from the Italian climate, but he lived only four months. His body was placed in a cemetery

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stone erected to mark the spot was engraved

John Keats (1795-1821) was a poet of humble parentage, his father being first chief hostler and later manager of the "Swan and Hoop," a London inn. When Keats was eight years old his parents, eager for him to receive an education, sent him to school at Enfield. Here he found it a simple task to win all literary prizes offered. Keats was known at school as a rather lively, pugnacious boy, fond of sports and of reading.

At fifteen years of age Keats was taken out of school, both of his parents having died, and apprenticed to a London surgeon for five years. He did not complete his term, but entered the hospital and was ready to begin practice when the desire to become a poet grew so strong he could not resist it; he definitely determined to devote his life to poetry and gave up a career in medicine. Keats soon became acquainted with other authors, Charles Lamb, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Leigh Hunt. The

spirit, had desired: "Here lies one whose name was writ in water." This inscription is now read by thousands of his admirers yearly. Keats never lived to realize his own fame. Had he lived he would undoubtedly have accomplished great things in English poetry. In the sadness of his last days he was mistaken, for his name was not "writ in water." No other poet has a more tender hold upon the memory than John Keats.

Among his greatest poems are "Endymion, "The Eve of St. Agnes," "Lamia," and "Hyperion," all of them narrative; but he also wrote many sonnets and other lyrics of great distinction. These poems are remarkable for their lyrical charm, their imaginative splendor, and their beautiful descriptions of nature.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

1. What different things in nature does the poet mention in this poem? Describe the scene of the poem in your own words. Read the lines which describe the sweet pea. How does the poet make you feel the light, fairy-like quality of the flower?

2. What are some of "Nature's gentle doings" that one would probably see and hear near the "streamlet's rushy banks"? The poet tells of the perfect stillness of the moving water in the stream; what words does he use in the lines immediately preceding to prepare you for the stillness?

Library Reading. The group of flower poems in "This Wonderful World" (in The Home Book of Verse for Young Folks, Stevenson).

best book of poems published in 1925. The announcement of the award was made after her death. A biography of Keats, embodying Miss Lowell's views on the nature of poetry, was published shortly before her death. This poem, "The Tulip Garden" is taken from Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds.

The "New Poets"

Some of the so-called "new poets," of which group Amy Lowell was a leader, have discarded the regular forms of rhythm and rime, and have adopted an irregular phrase and rhythm, by which they claim to gain more freedom in unifying the image and the privilege of using the exact word which will convey the poetic thought as the imagination has conceived it. The following principles, laid down by these imagist poets, were published in 1915. Many of our modern poets aim to follow these guiding principles:

1. To use the language of common speech, but to employ always the exact word, not the nearly-exact, nor the merely decorative word.

2. To create new rhythms as the expression of new moods-and not to copy old rhythms, which merely echo old moods. In poetry a new cadence means a new idea. 3. To allow absolute freedom in the

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Amy Lowell (1874-1925), an American poet, essayist, and critic, was a member of the famous Abbott Lowell family of New England. One of her brothers, A. L. Lowell, is president of Harvard University; another brother, Percival Lowell, was the noted astronomer. Miss Lowell was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and, being privately educated, she was privileged to devote much of her time to literary study. She made a distinctive contribution to the new school of free-verse, known as the school of imagists.

Miss Lowell wrote several volumes of verse, one of which, What's O Clock? gained for her the Pulitzer prize for the

4. To present an image (hence the name "imagist").

5. To produce poetry that is clear, never blurred nor indefinite.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

1. To what does the poet compare the tulips? What colors do the different divisions of the army wear? Read the lines which bring out the dignity of the tulips.

2. What words in the poem give you the feeling of action? Give in your own words the setting used by the poet for the tulip garden.

Theme Topics. (Two-minute talks.) 1. A flower garden I have seen. 2. The kind of flower garden I should like to have. 3. What garden flowers come first in the spring. 4. Thoughts I have had about certain flowers, similar to the thoughts of Amy Lowell, in "The Tulip Garden.”