The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1920-11-04
"A GROWING CHILD'S
NEED FOR POETRY

BY Grace Hyde Trine, author Of
Voices and Dreams. anthology Of
poems by English and American
poets dealing with the relationship
of Father, Mother and Child.
Every normal child possesses an in
stinctive love of beauty. It is seen in
the trembling eagerness of the babe
to grasp in his tiny hands the daisy or
daffodil. If, in his JOY, he tears and
destroys the fragile thing, it is only
because Of ignorance and inexperience
and if wisely taught, he soon learns
that destruction always brings, as its
result, unhappiness and regret.
Later, as he begins to toddle about,
the child will bring his mother bits Of
bright cloth or paper, pebbles or
shells. If older eyes could see what
the child beholds in these apparently
insignificant things what wonders
would be spread before them!
In the winter time, if the mother is
wise and sympathetic, the child will
show her his wonderful discovery of
snow and frost crystals or the mys-
terry of ice forming on stream with
the shadowy water slipping beneath it.
To be able to see with the eyes OF a
little child is indeed a privilege!
The poet Wordsworth has said
Heaven lies about US in our infancy :"
How is it we can lose it if we once
possessed the secret of its ownership!
How can we be enabled to hold, thru
all the years, the gift which a wise
and loving Father endowed us?
Much depends upon the mother and
later upon the teachers of the child. If
the Unborn love of beauty is wisely fos-
tered and cultivated and the field OF
observation continually expanded until
the trees, the mountains, the sunsets,
the clouds and the stars are loved as
familiar companions a bulwark Will
gradually be built up against the dis
illusionment of life.
One way in which this may be done
is to bring to the chN1's attention bits
of verse and poetry in which the ex-
pressed sentiments akin to his own
or which may arouse in him an inter-
est and kindle his imagination. For
example, this bit Of verse by an un-
known author will appeal to the mag
nation of tiny child and be at the
same time simplified botany lesson:
A GrOwn-up Flower
Little Apple Blossoms, when baby
small,
In tiny crimson cap peeped out first
of all.
Older grown she used to wear snowy
satin gown ~,
Trimmed with ribbons pale and pink
running up and down.
| All her pretty finery she has laid
/ away;
You will find her, if you hunt, in her
workday dress, .&
Making you an apple for next winter
time, guess.
/ There are literally thousands of Ma
ture poems from the simplest lyric
singing of flowers, trees, birds and
brooks to such poems of philosophlc
insight and grandeur as Bryant's
"Thanatopsis," Wordsworth's "Intima.
tions of immortality" and Tennyson's
"Flower in a Crannied Wall If the
child learns to love the simpler things
he will continue to love them as long
as he lives and he will add to these
as he grows older, a host of others to
carry the love Of beauty through the
years and to add to his courage and
strength in Life's battle.
The following list of helpful books
> may be found in most public libraries
"Children's Treasury of Lyrical Poe.
try" published by Macmillan, Fifth
Ave., New York, price $1.4O; "A
Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert
Louis Stevenson, published by Serb
ner, New York, price $500; "Child
ren's First Book Of Poetry" compiled