What does the poet say? "The stars appeared in the sky." In saying it what does he make us feel? As we repeat the lines we see the immense expanse of the heavens, and as we gaze, the sparkling dots of light appear silently, slowly, one after another, just as beautiful flowers appear as the early morning light gilds the green meadows. We think, too, in the poet's fanciful way, that these are no common flowers, but exquisite tokens of the loving care the angels have over us, and a gentle reminder that always should we trust in them. Often the highest sentiment is clothed in lines whose figures, most beautiful in themselves, exalt the spirit as ordinary expressions could never do. At the close of _The Chambered Nautilus_, Oliver Wendell Holmes sings: "Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from Heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!" Is it not well for the parent to lead his child to see such things in literature, to search for them, and when they are found to treasure them and bring them for mutual enjoyment into the family circle? G. EMOTIONAL POWER Fiction appeals strongly to feeling and stimulates the growth of that series of great emotions that make so large a part of character. It may excite ambition and a thirst for power or wealth or give an impulse to labor and self-denial; it may teach us sympathy and love for our fellow-men, or arouse anger, hatred and defiance; it may give us a keener discrimination of right from wrong and lead us far on our search for truth, even into the calm of religious beliefs. We see the play of emotions in the imaginary persons that pass before us, and as we learn to love our new friends, their influence passes out to us through the words of the gifted author. Bob Cratchit's tender love (Volume VI, page 304) makes us more considerate of the sick and helpless; Tom Brown's manly defense of his praying schoolboy friend (Volume V, page 472) leads us to new respect and admiration for the boy who lives up to his principles, and drives us, perhaps, to begin again upon the duties we have neglected. By studying with the children the feelings the characters in a story exhibit, the parent may give the best of moral lessons without the appearance of so doing and more effectively than by countless reprimands and formal orders. As a suggestion of method we offer an outline based upon _Rab and His Friends_ (Volume VI, page 99), one of the most touching stories ever written, a series of incidents that appeal to every holy emotion. Rab, the great mastiff, claims first place in our minds, dog though he is; but James and Ailie are such lovable beings that we never can forget them.