EDITORIAL NOTE WHILE trustworthy texts have been followed with care, it has nevertheless been found best, in meeting the special needs of young children, to omit certain lines; and some old English words have been modernized in spelling or even replaced, occasionally, by words from the vocabulary of a child of to-day. Thanks are due to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, & Company, as publishers of Holmes, Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, and Mr. Aldrich, to Messrs. Appleton & Company, as publishers of Bryant, and to Messrs. Little, Brown, & Company, as publishers of Emily Dickinson's Poems, for their courtesy in permitting the use of certain poems from their several publications; also to Mr. T. B. Aldrich, for allowing this use of his poems, and to Miss Lydia Very, for similar kindness in regard to poems of Jones Very. vii |