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Through the blooming groves we rustle,
Kissing every bud we pass, -
As we did it in the bustle,

Scarcely knowing how it was.

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Down the glen, across the mountain,
O'er the yellow heath we roam,
Whirling round about the fountain,
Till its little breakers foam.

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Bending down the weeping willows,
While our vesper hymn we sigh;

Then unto our rosy pillows
On our weary wings we hie.

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There of idlenesses dreaming,
Scarce from waking we refrain,
Moments long as ages deeming
Till we're at our play again.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. How many pictures are there

Whirling round about the

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66 rosy pillows" in the west.
What are they?

4. Think that you are following

the wind into the far-away 6.
sunset.

5. Can you think of the winds
sleeping in the west and
dreaming of to-morrow
evening's play? Have
you ever felt that moments
were as long as ages when

you were waiting till it was time for you to play again?

The next time you are in the

country when a summer wind is blowing, try to remember what this poet says the summer wind does, and see whether you can follow it in its play as he did.

George Darley, an Irish poet, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1795, and died in Italy in 1846. Besides writing many poems, several stories and plays, he was a great mathematician. “The Song of the Summer Winds " shows that he loved nature and could see clearly the beautiful things around him.

All green and fair the Summer lies,
Just budded from the bud of Spring,
With tender blue from wistful skies,
And winds which softly sing.

SUSAN COOLIDGE

A breeze came wandering from the sky,
Light as the whispers of a dream;
He put the o'erhanging grasses by,

And softly stooped to kiss the stream,
The pretty stream, the flattered stream,
The shy, yet unreluctant stream.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT

WHAT I LIVE FOR

GEORGE LINNEUS BANKS

This poem contains a great many beautiful and interesting thoughts. If you will study the poem so that you may understand and learn all of them, you will have gained much.

Let us try the first line,

"I live for those who love me."

Remember that you have not read this line unless you know what it means. What is the difference between living for ourselves, and living for others? Can you think of some incident when you lived" for those who love you" instead of for yourself, some time when you "put yourself out" to do some kind thing for some one else? Then think of some incident when you lived only for yourself. In which case were you really happier?

Living "for all human ties that bind us" means that we are bound to all other men and women and girls and boys, to all human beings, and that we should help them and be kind to them. The Boy Scouts are expected to do some kind, helpful deed every day of their lives, whenever and wherever they find a person needing help. They are then living for the human ties that bind them. And every Boy Scout knows how happy he is after he has helped some one in need. It pays.

"The task by God assigned me," means the duties that surround us, no matter where we are placed. To you, it means your lessons, your chores, or whatever task faces you anywhere.

"The bright hopes left behind me " means the youthful hopes and dreams that could come true only in an ideal and perfect world.

It may also mean the good things that one had hoped to do but had neglected to do. In this case it simply means "what might have been." These hopes were left behind because the time and the chance for making them come true had gone and gone forever. "To live for them" means doing all we can to make the world so ideal that these bright youthful hopes can come true; striving daily to do our very best so that we shall not have to leave still more bright hopes behind us.

Now we cannot explain all of the stanzas. We have shown you what the first one means. You must try hard to find out what every line of the other stanzas means. This is "the task assigned you."

To emulate "

means to try to do as noble things as another has done. What does "to emulate their glory" mean then, in the second stanza?

"Bards" are poets. "Martyrs are those who suffered for others' sakes. "Sages are wise men, like Benjamin Franklin. How can we emulate" them every day of our lives? That is, how can you do some act in your life every day that is good or great like their acts?

Now read over the third stanza. "Holding communion " means sharing a feeling with others. A simple example would be to feel sympathy with one who is suffering. "All that is divine" means all that is good and noble, or that which is like God. What would holding communion" with such as this mean?

If there is a "union 'twixt Nature's heart and yours," you will

not grumble at rain, or cold, or snow, or hot sun, but you will know that all these help us. Without them, nothing would grow on the earth, and man would perish.

"Affliction" means suffering. Can you think how we can profit by affliction "?

Have you ever read a story that made you feel that you would like to be what the hero was? Then you have "reaped truths from fields of fiction."

Now try hard to think what living by reason rather than "by gold" means.

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99 Man to man united means when men live as brothers and not as enemies; when there shall be no more selfish greed for gain or gold, and no more strife for place or power.

Be sure to understand and discuss in class the thoughts in the last stanza.

If you will dig out all the thoughts in this fine poem, you will have a delightful and profitable time. But you will do better still if you will try to live them every day of your lives.

WHAT I LIVE FOR

I live for those who love me,

Whose hearts are kind and true,
For the heaven that smiles above me,

And awaits my spirit too;

For all human ties that bind me,
For the task by God assigned me,
For the bright hopes left behind me,
And the good that I can do.

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