ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THE selections from James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John James Audubon, John Greenleaf Whittier, are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Co., authorized publishers of their works.

For permission to use copyrighted material, grateful acknowledgment is also made to D. Appleton Co., for "Death of the Flowers," by William Cullen Bryant, and for an extract from the "Boys of Greenway Court," by Hezekiah Butterworth; to G. P. Putnam's Sons, for an extract from "Boys of Other Countries," by Bayard Taylor; to Small, Maynard & Co., for "The Cloud," "The Light of Bethlehem," and "Autumn Song," by the Rev. John B. Tabb; to Little, Brown & Co., for "The Dream of Columbus," by Denis A. McCarthy; to Benziger Brothers, for "A Child Countess," by Mrs. Sophie Dora Maude; to Charles Scribner's Sons, for an extract from "Treasure Island," by Robert Louis Stevenson; to Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., for "The Youth of Lincoln," by Elbridge S. Brooks, and for "Beethoven," by Hezekiah Butterworth; to the George H. Doran Co., for "Memorial Day," by Joyce Kilmer; to Henry van Dyke, for "The Saints"; to Stone & Kimball for "The Toil of God," by Joaquin Miller; to Rev. Denis Oliver Crowley for "Decoration Day" to Mary D. Lanier, for "A Ballad of Trees and the Master," by Sidney Lanier.

IDEAL CATHOLIC LITERARY READER

BOOK I

THE BOY AND THE CHILD JESUS

Among green pleasant meadows,

All in a grove so wild,
Was set a marble image

Of the Virgin and the Child.

Here oft, on summer evenings,
A lovely boy would rove,
To play beside the image
That sanctified the grove.

Oft sat his mother by him,
Among the shadows dim,
And told how the Lord Jesus
Was once a child like him.

"And now from the highest heaven
He doth look down each day,

And sees whate'er thou doest,
And hears what thou dost say!"

Thus spoke his tender mother;

And, on an evening bright,

When the red, round sun descended 'Mid clouds of crimson light,

Again the boy was playing;
And earnestly said he,
"O beautiful Child Jesus!

Come down and play with me.

"I will find Thee flowers the fairest,
And weave for Thee a crown;
I will get Thee ripe, red strawberries,
If Thou wilt but come down.

"O holy, holy Mother!

Put Him down from off thy knee; For in these silent meadows

There are none to play with me."

Thus spoke the boy so lovely,
The while his mother heard;
And on his prayer she pondered,
But spoke to him no word.

That selfsame night she dreamed
A lovely dream of joy :

She thought she saw young Jesus
There, playing with the boy.

"And for the fruits and flowers

Which thou hast brought to Me,