(Here read the poem, _The Petrified Fern_, found in _Journeys_, Volume VII, page 77.) There are very few words or expressions in the poem that will require any explanation. At the end of the first stanza the phrase "keeping holiday" means that as there were no human beings on the earth, there was no real work being done. At the end of the first line in the second stanza the word _main_ is an old term that means _ocean_. The last two lines of the third stanza are meant to show how different life has been on the planet since man came. Until he appeared there was no real agony; there was pain, for animals can suffer, but it takes a mind and soul to know agony. Man cannot live except with suffering and at a bitter cost. Until the last two lines of the fourth stanza are reached the poem is merely a beautiful and musical narrative. The last two lines are the thought that comes to the poet when she considers the history of the little fern. It is thinking such thoughts as this that make the poet different from ordinary men. You and I might see the impression of the fern and think it beautiful, but its beauty would not suggest to us the comforting idea that * * * "God hides some souls away Sweetly to surprise us, the last day." Our own poet Longfellow, in _The Builders_, voices a similar thought when he says: "Nothing useless is, or low; Each thing in its place is best; And what seems but idle show Strengthens and supports the rest." After you have presented these thoughts, read the poem again to the children. Call attention to its musical structure, its simplicity, the beauty of its expressions, and then read it a third time. It is one of those beautiful things which may well be committed to memory. It will be found very helpful, too, for the children to write the story in prose and try to bring out the meaning. Let them use freely the words of the poem, but a different arrangement of words, so that there shall be left no trace of rhyme or meter in their prose. [Illustration: ROBERT SOUTHEY WILLIAM COWPER ROBERT BURNS LORD BYRON JOHN KEATS PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE] _The Forsaken Merman_ (Volume VII, page 180) One of the satisfactory poems for study in the middle years of school life is the one whose name heads this paragraph. It is a great favorite with most children who know it, but it has not found its way largely into school use. For both of these reasons it is worthy of study. I. _Preparation and General Plan._ Let the children read in turn, each taking one stanza, and if a second reading seems desirable let them exchange stanzas so that each will have a part new to himself. Be sure to have a final reading, by yourself or by the best reader among the children, which shall be continuous and without interruption; otherwise the beautiful unity of idea and the relation of the different parts will be overlooked.