Next in simplicity, directness, and in the interest of its appeal is verse in the ballad form. It is the easiest of all poetry to learn, for it tells a dramatic tale in a simple way. But there are few short ballads in the language suited to the grammar grades, and there is not sufficient time for learning the longer ones by heart. Many of the best old English ballads have difficulties for the child in the number of obsolete words that they contain. These two things make it difficult to use this absorbing field of poetry as subject-matter for learning by heart. It is probably best to have the boy come to know the stories of the ballads by hearing a frequent reading of them aloud by the teacher. Of the ballads selected for such reading the teacher must go to the old English field to get the greater number; but the modern field must not be neglected, for no teacher could omit that powerful yet simple work of genius, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Its charm in holding the hearer is as great as was the charm of the old mariner's eye itself when telling the tale. If such a poem has been listened to in the elementary school, it can be taught with greater ease in the secondary school. The same thing is true of many poems. The greater number of selections that follow these two simple and direct types, the nursery rhyme and the ballad, must be classic lyrics, fairly well suited to the boy, and it matters little whether the form be song, sonnet, ode, elegy, or that of Hebrew verse. In making these selections poems of a martial nature are not to be altogether neglected; but they must have fire, for without it a war ode is one of the most obsolete works of the human intellect. An objection may be raised to the effect that this type of poem is not suited to girls. To this objection the answer may be made, that what is good literature for a boy ought to be good literature for a girl. Will not a girl appreciate that great poem of a sea fight, "The 'Revenge'"? It seems unwise to put in a list of poems to be learned by heart an example of nonsense verse. This verse evidently has a definite place in the intellectual equipment of the child, and he may pick it up later of his own accord. No one would knowingly, however, deprive him of "The Owl and the Pussy Cat," or "The Jabberwocky"; even grown-ups dote on "Little Billee," as Thackeray doubtless did himself. We must all fool more or less--even in verse.