Other kinds of instructive narratives that children like to read include every conceivable subject— from books of travel and geograph ical descriptions to animal stories and nature study excursions. Naturally, these cannot be enumerated here. A few good specimens of the types mentioned must suffice. Thus,
at Many Lands?
People Everywhere?
at Great Cities) and (The Little Cousin
—the last consisting of 40 volumes by various authors— are admirable travel books; such works as Burroughs' 'Birds and
and
Children's It is common knowl edge that a child's first appreciation of verse depends largely on rhythmic quality—hence his great fondness for the old Mother Goose rhymes, those matchless specimens of perfect rhythm. For the same reason children of fairy tale age readily catch the swing of ballads, which they greatly enjoy even when the mean ing of these vigorous poems happens to tran scend their understanding. Among the best old ballads are 'Adam 'Chevy Chase,' Andrew Barton,' Battle of Otter burn,' 'Fair Rosamond,' Cauline,' Heir of Linne,' 'The Blind Beggar's Daugh ter,' of the Clough and Wyllyam of Cloudeslee,' and the cycle of Robin Hood poems. Good collections of such ballads are available in Bates' Book,' Mabie's 'Book of Old English Ballads' and Lanier's Boy's Percy.) A special collection of the Robin Hood series has been made by Perkins Hood)). The great popularity of these old ballads does not suffer even when their tales are retold in prose, which has been done repeatedly—best perhaps by Pyle ((Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)) and Tappan (<01d Ballads in For older children there are, in addition, the more modern ballads of Scott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Browning, Tennyson and others, which are well repre sented in Palgrave's (Golden Treasury,' (The Oxford Book of English and almost any comprehensive collection of children's poetry.
Didactic narrative poetry for children has been well written by the Taylor sisters, whose (Original Poems for Infant Minds) has already been characterized; the Lambs, authors of those charming from Shakespeare) and other excellent Juveniles; the Carys, authors of the delightful for Little Dr. Hoffmann, author of the ever popular
'Slovenly and many others. Lyric verse for young readers is equally abundant. William Blake, already mentioned for his beautiful of Innocence,' and William Allingham, author of many natural and grace ful lyrics, seem to have perfected this type of poem. Other children's poets of the earlier period are Christina Rosetti, referred to else where, Mary Howitt, Celia Thaxter and Lucy Larcom (most of them represented in Whit tier's excellent anthology, (Child Life)). The children's verses of Robert Louis Stevenson, whose (Child's Garden of Verses) has never yet been excelled, of Eugene Field and of James Whitcomb Riley— not to mention their nu merous imitators—are distinctly reminiscent of childhood at play; their appeal is therefore quite as much to adults as to children. Ro mantic poetry, which appeals to children in adolescent years, has been written by Scott, Longfellow, Tennyson and all the other great poets. Much of it can be appreciated in later childhood. When the child's taste for poetry has grown to the appreciation of the best ro mantic poets, he no longer needs any special children's poetry. For anthologies of children's verse, the reader must be referred to the works cited in the bibliography.
Juvenile
From Goldsmith's 'Mar gery Two-Shoes,' Day's