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Show I T POETRY IN EDUCATION. (Communicated.) j It is high time that we all began to consider the value of poetry as an edu cational element. In our matter of fact age many consider poetry to be waste of time, and even the intellectual and reflective only dimly realize its advantages. ad-vantages. It is true that a kind of moral merit is imputed to the learning learn-ing of hymns, but the hymns usually ; found in selections for children show how little their true power is appre- j hended. For there seems to be an idea that poetry for children must be I written especially for them: while, in fact, such poetry is almost useless. A writer once began his "Tales of a Grandfather," he used language he thought most suitable tor the comprehension compre-hension of children; but he soon found out his mistake, and, with the humility humil-ity of true genius, acknowledged in his preface that children, equally with adults, must be addressed in words far above those of ordinary conversation. Trying to understand is our highest in-, tellectual attitude. Why should children chil-dren be deprived of a mental position which is the very element of growth? It is hard work to be romantic, hard work to realize as they deserve the daily miracles of nature.- Not so with children. They live in a wonder land. All beyond their limited experience is full of mystery, is vast, beautiful or terrible, as their .imagination, as yet free from the dominion of the senses, is clear, keen and effective. This is the time, then, in which to fill its chambers cham-bers with pictures of beauty and purity. When a child is 7 or,8 years old it is not too' young to hang there. Take any little lad of 8 years old and read to him some little ballad and watch how his eyes will kindle and his cheeks glow. It may be asked if the natural bent of a child's mind is toward the wonderful, the mysterious and the romantic, why-it why-it should be necessary to encourage it? Because, if the Imagination faculty is not exercised in a healthy way, it will exercise itself very likely in a wrong direction. So .then, it is well to educate edu-cate and direct the imagination of children chil-dren from a high standard; then in youth, when the senses begin to influence influ-ence it, there will be far less danger of its seduction. Children appreciate poetry po-etry which they cannot comprehend. They enjoy the mark and music of regular reg-ular metre. An object half in mystery ' T T .1 ... : . i . i , . ... iiiia mem wmi mougnis ana aspirations they cannot explain, but which is just as elevating and educational to them. Not the least important aspect of this subject is the power It might be made in imparting religious instruction. The church is rich in glorious hymns. Every child ought to lay in a good store of our hymns and try to comprehend them their interpretation will come. When the father is no longer there to advise, , when the mother is no longer there to comfort, there will be many days and many crucial hours when the hymns learned will soothe their hearts's great bitterness, or enter into and sanctify its joy-. a. |
