All this happened a great many years before Mr. Whittier wrote the poem. At the time this poem was written, the little girl had been dead for forty years.

She had been sorry that she had spelt the word and she had hated to go above him.

But "in life's hard school," he had found that few who pass above him in the successes of life lament their triumph and his loss,

"Like her, because they love him."

Now read over the whole story silently, and try to see all of it just as if you were watching a moving picture. That is what silent reading really is.

But when you read it aloud to the class, try to tell it to the class just as if you were telling them the story of a moving picture that you had seen.

Study the meanings of the following words before reading the poem:

sumachs (sū'măks): a kind of

tree.

icy fretting: ornamental work

selected from a number.

fingered: touched with the fingers; played with.

such as carving. Here it Lament their triumph and his

means the icicles hanging

from the eaves.

singled: chose from others;

loss to express sorrow for

their own

failure.

IN SCHOOL DAYS

1

success and his

Still sits the schoolhouse by the road,

A ragged beggar sunning;
Around it still the sumachs grow,

And blackberry-vines are running.

2

Within, the master's desk is seen,
Deep scarred by raps official;
The warping floor, the battered seats,
The jackknife's carved initial;

3

The charcoal frescoes on its wall;
Its door's worn sill, betraying

The feet that, creeping slow to school,
Went storming out to playing!

4

Long years ago a winter sun
Shone over it at setting;
Lit up its western windowpanes,
And low eaves' icy fretting.

5

It touched the tangled golden curls,
And brown eyes full of grieving,
Of one who still her steps delayed
When all the school were leaving.

6

For near her stood the little boy
Her childish favor singled:
His cap pulled low upon a face

Where pride and shame were mingled.

5

10

15

Because," - the brown eyes lower fell, "Because, you see, I love you!"

10

Still memory to a gray-haired man
That sweet child-face is showing.
Dear girl! the grasses on her grave
Have forty years been growing!

11

He lives to learn, in life's hard school,
How few who pass above him

Lament their triumph and his loss,

20

Like her,

because they love him.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Who is the little boy in this

story supposed to be?

2. Describe the schoolhouse. Why did it look like "a ragged beggar sunning"? Have you ever seen a sumach shrub or small

Idid she do as she stood there? What did the boy do while standing there? Answer by read

ing aloud stanza 7. Why was he so ashamed and hurt?

tree? Try to imagine the 8. Describe her embarrassment

as she waited, afraid to speak. Answer by reading aloud stanza 8. 9. What is meant by "life's hard school"? How, in "life's hard school," could anybody pass above him "? If some other poet could write better poems than Whittier, would that other poet be likely to lament his triumph over Whittier? What became of the little girl?

6. How did she hurt the pride
of the little boy? Tell
what "passing above" 10.
meant then.

7. What time of day was it? 11.
Where were most of the

children? Why had the

little girl waited? What

How did those who "passed

above" him in "life's hard school," differ from his little girl friend?

What peaceful hours I once enjoy'd!
How sweet their memory still!

But they have left an aching void

The world can never fill.

WILLIAM COWPER

THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE

DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK

In this famous and beloved fairy story, Miss Mulock (the name by which Dinah Maria Mulock Craik signed her stories) tells us : "If any reader, big or little, should wonder whether there is a meaning in this story deeper than that of an ordinary fairy tale I will own that there is. But I have hidden it so carefully that the smaller people, and even many of the larger ones, will never find it."

Now we should hardly be willing, should we, to let Miss Mulock prove, by our failure to find it, that we cannot find the hidden meaning?

First, this story is a very delightful fairy tale, if read just as a fairy tale. But before you read the story, we shall give you a hint of what may be the hidden meaning, so that you may look for it as you read.

In the story a little prince, who is to be king and who has prospects of being "as happy as a king," is hurt so that he will never be able to use his legs again. You will surely admit that that was a very great misfortune.

Then his uncle, who was Regent (which means a person who rules when a king is not old enough to rule), had the poor little lad taken away into a desert place, and with only a nurse for company, imprisoned in the top of a tall tower, from which he was never to escape.

You will surely admit that that was being plunged from fine prospects into deep unhappiness.

His name was "Prince Dolor," which means "Prince Sorrow,"