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, Of the Virgin and the Child. Here oft, on summer evenings, Oft sat his mother by him, "And now from the highest heaven And sees whate'er thou doest, 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; Come down and play with me. "I will find Thee flowers the fairest, "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, That selfsame night she dreamed She thought she saw young Jesus "And for the fruits and flowers Which thou hast brought to Me, |