THE SEA-CHILDREN. 



COLE YOUNG RICE. 



"Oh, mother, I lay 



A-dreaming one day 

 By the wreck of the Alberdeen, 



And I heard a singing 



Under the sea 



Of children swinging — 



Their hair was green! — 

 In seaweed swings, and they called to 

 me — 



Oh, mother, they called to me"— 



" Hush, hush thee, my child! 



Thy prattle is wild, 

 For the children that dwell in the sea 



Are the fishes swimming 



Amid white shells 



Whose pearly hymning 



But echoed to thee 

 The strangled songs of the sinking 

 swells — 



My child, 'twas the song of the 

 swells." 



"And, mother, they said 



"Come to us! — oh, dread 

 Not the waves tho' they fret and foam; 



They're far, far over 



Us while we play 



Beneath the cover 



Of our sea- home. 

 All day, all day o'er the beds of the 

 bay!' 



Oh, mother, the beds of the bay!" 



"Hush, hush thee, my child!"- — 



But strangely he smiled 

 As he gazed at the weird-lit waves. 



For he heard a singing — 



"Come to us, come!" 



He saw them swinging 



In crystal caves. 

 And cried, "I'm coming! I'm" — ah, 

 how numb 



His death-dewy lips — how numb! 



NATURE STUDY IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



AT THE Shaw banquet in St. 

 Louis the subject for the even- 

 ing was " Horticultural Educa- 

 tion," and a good deal was 

 said as to the introduction of the 

 study in the public schools. 



On the question of its interfering 

 with other school work. Prof. Jackman 

 of Chicago said: " The intimation has 

 been thrown out here to-night that 

 perhaps the child's study of nature 

 might interfere with something else in 

 the schools. I can assure such ob- 

 jectors that it will interfere with some 

 of the things they are taught. It will 

 interfere with some of the dull routine 

 that you and I can recollect, which we 

 passed through when we were in these 

 schools. The children have waited all 

 too long for such an interference." 



State Superintendent of Schools 

 Kirk, said: "It is my firm conviction 

 that a large part of what we now call 

 ' geography' should be eliminated from 

 the school curriculum. Much of it is 

 so worthless or misleading as to retard 

 education and exhaust the children's 

 energies without any definite purpose. 

 Children should learn about the coun- 

 try they live in, rather than the remote 

 regions of Asia and the Arctic 

 Zone." 



One speaker declared that the re- 

 creation time can be restfully utilized 

 for nature-study work. Memory is 

 good but observation is better, and 

 teachers are asking for specimens of 

 fruits, nuts, grains, grasses, woods, 

 leaves, twigs, buds, and flowers. 



