, Jiev 104 2.66,10=ame. N. Green, M.D., of Boston. (H. Ul, 1841.} PREFACE. Edue T758.66.710. CHILDREN from six to twelve years of age ought to be accustomed, both at home and at school, to commit to memory some good pieces, adapted to their capacity, and to recite or speak them with the proper action and expression. For this purpose both poetry and prose should be used, but poetry chiefly, poetry that is poetry to childhood, and so gets the entry of the child's heart, poetry that is full of sensible images, rural pictures, and tender and heroic sentiments, and not what is formal, over-refined, and sublimated, and hence to the little folks not poetry, but mere sounding emptiness. Pieces of the right sort children will easily learn so as to repeat them by heart, and not by mere rote; and they will soon speak them well too, if properly encouraged, and not hampered by rules or intimidated by fault-finding. A little skilful management, by the teacher or parent, in reading and talking about pieces, will make the better sort of children feel it to be a privilege "to get pieces and say them." And how much good education they may get in this way! The object of this little Speaker is to furnish a choice collection of pieces suitable for the purposes above named. Some of the pieces are wholly new, being now for the first time published; some of them, though not quite new, are not well known; and others are old favorites, well known and much valued. It is believed that these pieces, which have been selected and prepared with much willing care, will be found both pleasing and useful; that they will be the means of quickening the moral sense, and of promoting the love of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by TAGGARD & THOMPSON, in the ROCKWELL & ROLLINS, STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS, 122 WASHINGTON STREET. 2 I love my Parents Dearly Are you Polite? The Blind Boy ... PAGE 120 Trying to do Right Mrs. Follen, 124 God Never Made a Slave, .125 J. N. Mars, 146 C. Cibber, 125 Burial of Sir John Moore. Wolfe, 147 Twinkle, Little Star . . J. Taylor, 129 Aspirations of Youth, The School Where is God? The Merchant's Career The Burnt Child The Purpose of Life, Early Rising. . 130 J. Montgomery, 148 133 Tear for a Comrade J. G. Whittier, 135 Old Grimes The Child's Talent .... 135 Emancipation. . 136 The Open Door. 136 The Clock . 150 T. F. Winthrop, 151 138 Not to Myself Alone . 126 90 C LIFE SCULPTURE. YHISEL in hand stood a sculptor-boy, With his marble block before him; And his face lit up with a smile of joy, As an angel-dream passed o'er him: He carved it then on the yielding stone, With heaven's own light the sculpture shone: Sculptors of life are we, as we stand If we carve it then, on the yielding stone, |