IV NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION. In matters of taste and genius we should not limit our children; we should rather rejoice that their larger souls perceive a beauty where ours find none. We must not say, "The trees of the forest may be beautiful, but I first learned beauty from my stately poplars, and they must satisfy my children." Nor should we reject the flora of a new world, because rumor says that Eden also has its weeds. It is not necessary to make known to teachers the want of a collection like the one now offered. The best book of the sort has been for some time out of print, and was intended exclusively for older pupils. While this collection has many pieces which must delight persons of any age, it has some for the youngest readers, and is as well adapt-ed to the family circle as to the school. It gives to children all they could cull from many volumes, and, if inwoven with their earliest recollections, will be remembered with delight in future years. NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION. A new edition of the Poetry for Home and School being called for, it was desirable to reduce its contents sufficiently to form with the Second Part a volume of convenient size. For this reason, the Robin Hood Ballads, and some other pieces of limited interest, have been omitted. The Second Part, being designed for pupils and readers of more mature minds, contains poems of a more imaginative cast than those in the former collection. |