LURLALINE. 



Old Irish Air. ^■ 



There was a little water sprite, her name was Lurlaline; 

 Amid the water lilies white sometimes she might be seen. 

 She was a fairy child, Lurline, could sit secure and cool, 

 Upon those lily leaves so green you see in some lone pool. 



There would she sit the summer day, singing a song so bright; 

 You never heard the song, you sa}-, and don't believe it quite? 

 But that perhaps is just because when you quite near her stood, 

 You did not notice where she was, or listen as you should. 



It happened in the month of June, the happy summer time. 

 She always sang a lovelier tune and wove a lovelier rhyme. 

 And you, too, like to Lurlaline, a lovelier song would sing, 

 If only you knew what they mean, the flowers and ev'ry thing. 



If you were like a water sprite — the water sprites know well 

 The wondrous things of day and night, and all they have to tell; 

 They know and love the creatures wild, and all the flowers that grow; 

 They live with them and love them well, God's hidden pets they know. 



And now if you want more to know what Amodine saw there, 

 You first must love all things below, in water, earth, and air; 

 You first must love all things that move among the trees and flowers, 

 And then you shall have more to love in shining fairy bowers. 



A CONTRIBUTION TO CHILD-STUDY LITERATURE. 



IT HAS been a blessed thing for the 

 child and for humanity that the 

 former has at last attracted our 

 attention in a way to force upon 

 us the conviction that it is time we 

 found out what to do with him. Peo- 

 ple of scientific bent think this can be 

 done by measurement and test experi- 

 ments. Many fond and utterly unsci- 

 entific mammas think it can be done 

 by an all-absorbing deference to the 

 child's whims; by setting the child on 

 a pedestal and pouring ointments over 

 him and bringing him sweetmeats and 

 nectar on silver platters. I am not 

 sure but it was this latter conduct on 

 the part of the parent that called the 

 attention of teachers to the need of a 

 thorough study of the child and his 

 requirements. For nothing else is so 

 detrimental to the child's development 

 as this growing tendency to pamper 

 him. 



The old method of treating the child 

 was to ignore him; to let him be seen 

 and not heard; to think that because 

 he was young he could run errands all 



day, eat what was left at table, sleep 

 in the coldest bed at night, and be 

 thrust into the corner as an undesirable 

 piece of furniture. Now the custom 

 is exactly the reverse. In most well- 

 to do families the child is the central 

 figure, and the parents stand around to 

 minister to him. Nothing is too rich 

 for him, and he becomes the darling, 

 terror, and tyrant of the household. 



As between the old boxing-glove 

 method and this modern kid-glove 

 method of handling the child the 

 former is preferable — the hardier ones 

 survive; but no character is proof 

 against the seductive enervation of 

 pampering. 



These facts in regard to the develop- 

 ment of youth have not escaped the 

 notice of that keenest of observers, 

 Rudyard Kipling. In "Captains Cour- 

 ageous" he has given us his opinion 

 as to the best means of rescuing boys 

 and girls who threaten to become 

 utterly worthless, and of transforming 

 them into useful men and women. — 

 Child- Study Monthly. 



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