1096  W*  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
■ 
Boys  and  Girls 
By  Edward  M.  Tuttle 
The  only  task  that  of  you  we  ask 
Is  to  do  your  part  with  all  your  heart. 
Drawn  by  William  Smith  (1G  Years),  New  York 
Memory  Verse 
to  A  WATERFOWL 
Whither,  midst  falling  dew, 
While  glow  the  heavens  with  the  last 
steps  of  day. 
Far,  through  their  rosy  depths,  dost  thou 
pursue 
Thy  solitary  way? 
Vainly  the  fowler’s  eye 
Might  mark  thy  distant  flight  to  do 
thee  wrong, 
As,  darkly  seen  against  the  crimson  sky, 
Thy  figure  floats  along. 
Seek’st  thou  the  plashy  brink 
Of  weedy  lake,  or  marge  of  river  wide, 
Or  where  the  rocking  billows  rise  and  sink 
On  the  chafed  ocean-side? 
There  is  a  Power  whose  care 
Teaches  thy  way  along  that  pathless 
coast — 
The  desert  and  illimitable  air — 
Lone  wandering,  but  not  lost. 
All  day  thy  wings  have  fanned, 
At  that  far  height,  the  cold,  thin  atmos¬ 
phere, 
Yet  stoop  not,  weary,  to  the  welcome  land, 
Though  the  dark  night  is  near. 
And  soon  that  toil  shall  end ; 
Soon  shalt  thou  find  a  Summer  home, 
and  rest, 
And  scream  among  thy  fellows ;  reeds 
shall  bend, 
Soon,  o’er  thy  sheltered  nest. 
Thou’rt  gone,  the  abyss  of  heaven 
Hath  swallowed  up  thy  form ;  yet  on 
my  heart 
Deeply  hath  sunk  the  lesson  thou  hast 
given, 
And  shall  not  soon  depart. 
He  who,  from  zone  to  zone. 
Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy 
certain  flight, 
In  the  long  way  that  I  must  tread  alone, 
Will  lead  my  steps  aright. 
— By  WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT. 
This  is  the  poem  which  answers  the 
Poem  Puzzle  given  by  Edith  Beeman  last 
month.  Many  readers  were  able  to  name 
the  title  and  author,  and  some  spoke  of 
learning  the  poem  in  school.  Now  you 
all  have  it  to  copy  in  your  note  books  or 
to  commit  to  memory.  The  habit  of 
learning  some  good  poetry  by  heart  is  a 
fine  one  for  boys  and  girls  to  form.  There 
are  many  beautiful  poems  which  are 
neither  long,  nor  difficult  to  understand, 
and  which  have  become  so  famous  that 
every  well-educated  person  is  familiar 
with  them  and  can  quote  from  them.  The 
easiest  time  to  learn  them  is  when  we  are 
young,  and  they  are  not  easily  forgotten 
as  long  as  we  live.  Such  a  poem  is  this 
one  of  William  Cullen  Bryant’s. 
Several  readers  tried  their  hand  at 
illustrating  the  poem  with  very  good  suc¬ 
cess,  and  I  have  chosen  one  drawing  to 
print.  One  girl  sent  a  drawing  of  Bryant, 
as  you  will  see,  which  gives  a  general 
idea  of  how  the  great  poet  looked.  Others 
made  comments  on  the  poem,  or  told  of 
the  author’s  life,  and  several  of  these 
letters  are  given  below. 
^  In  answer  to  the  poem  puzzle  sent  by 
Edith  Beeman  of  Connecticut,  I  would 
say  this:  The  title  of  the  poem  is  “To 
a  Waterfowl,”  and  the  author  of  it  is 
William  Cullen  Bryant. 
Bryant,  the  author  of  the  above-named 
poem,  was  the  first  great  American  'poet. 
Like  Cooper,  the  novelist,  he  was  a  stu¬ 
dent  of  nature.  One  of  his  chief  delights 
was  to  roam  in  pathless  woods,  to  saunter 
tip  and  down  fields,  and  to  be  sportsman¬ 
like  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word.  His 
delight  in  outdoor  life  and  all  its  beauties 
mingled  with  his  profound  literary  talent, 
poetical  in  particular,  made  him  a  poet 
of  extraordinary  quality.  The  father  of 
Bryant,  a  lover  of  good  books,  cultivated 
this  immense  literary  talent  in  his  son. 
So  when  he  could  not  have  other  boys  for 
companions,  Bryant  supplemented  books. 
In  that  way  he  trained  himself  for  po¬ 
etical  work.  It  is  said  thdt  so  immensely 
desirous  was  he  to  become  famous  that 
he  started  out  at  an  early  age.  When 
eight  years  old,  he  wrote  “The  Embargo,” 
a  poem  that  was  published.  At  seventeen, 
he  wrote  “Thanatopsis.”  In  some  re¬ 
spects  this  poem  is  considered  his  master¬ 
piece,  and  has  been  pronounced  “the  best 
poem  ever  written  by  so  young  a  man.” 
When  a  young  man  of  twenty-two,  while 
climbing  a  hill,  he  saw  a  waterfowl  “dark¬ 
ly  painted  on  a  crimson  sky.”  That  very 
night  he  wrote  one  of  his  most  famous 
poems,  “To  a  Waterfowl.” 
New  York.  cordon  hornbeck. 
William  Cullen  Bryant  was  born  in 
Cummington,  Massachusetts.  November 
3,  1794.  He  was  a  remarkable  child 
from  birth.  He  prepared  for  law  and 
began  its  practice,  but  turned  from  law 
to  literature  and  journalism.  For  many 
years  he  was  editor  of  the  New  York 
Evening  Post. 
“To  a  Waterfowl”  followed  not  long 
after  “Thanatopsis.”  Bryant  was  very 
fond  of  nature  studies.  “An  Inscription 
Upon  Entrance  to  a  Wood”  is  another  of 
his  earlier  poems.  Among  his  other  poems 
are  “The  Yellow  Violet.”  “To  the  Fringed 
Gentian.”  “The  Planting  of  the  Apple 
Tree.”  “Robert  of  Lincoln,”  “Return  of 
the  Birds”  and  “To  a  Mosquito.” 
Bryant  lived  for  many  years  in  Roslyn. 
Long  Island,  and  in  the  cemetery  there 
his  remains  were  placed  at  rest.  He  was 
stricken  down  just  after  delivering  an 
address  in  Central  Park,  New  York  City, 
and  died  from  the  effects  of  the  stroke, 
•Tune  12,  1878.  eyelyn  haskell. 
Massachusetts.  (13  years). 
__ William  Cullen  Bryant  was  born  in 
1794  in  a  log  farmhouse  in  Massachus¬ 
etts.  His  father  was  a  country  physi¬ 
cian,  and  loved  nature,  so  it  is  no  won¬ 
der  that  his  son  did  also,  and  became 
America’s  first  out-of-door’s  poet. 
When  Bryant  was  10,  he  used  to  write 
verses  which  were  published  in  newspa¬ 
pers  and  magazines.  At  10,  he  entered 
Williams  College,  but  he  did  not  like  it 
there,  and  soon  received  an  honorable 
dismissal.  He  was  to  enter  Yale  Univer¬ 
sity  the  following  year,  but  his  father 
could  not  bear  the  expense  and  so  he  re¬ 
mained  at  home.  “Thanatopsis”  was 
written  when  Bryant  was  17. 
It  was  when  he  was  journeying  over 
the  hills  to  Plainfield,  very  forlorn  and 
weary,  to  see  about  practicing  law  there 
that  he  saw  a  very  beautiful  picture.  The 
sun  had  set,  and  as  he  paused  to  view 
the  rosy  splendor,  a  solitary  bird  winged 
its  way  along  the  horizon.  Bryant  con¬ 
tinued  on  his  way  filled  with  new  hope, 
and  when  he  stopped  for  the  night,  he 
sat  down  and  wrote  the  lines,  “To  a 
Waterfowl” — the  concluding  verse  show¬ 
ing  what  a  lesson  in  faith  the  scene  had 
impressed  upon  him. 
emilie  SKIDMORE  (14  Years) 
New  York. 
What  Book  is  This? 
In  merry  old  England,  a  long  time  ago, 
Y\  here  a  forest  of  trees  in  their  grandeur 
did  grow, 
There  dwelt  a  brave  yeoman,  including 
his  band — 
Each  one  stout  of  heart,  as  he  proved 
stout  of  hand. 
They  were  never  immune  to  adventure's 
sweet  lure; 
What  they  took  from  the  rich  folk  they 
gave  to  the  poor. 
Though  oft  they  were  hunted  for  pranks 
they  had  played, 
This  fact  did  not  make  them  the  least  bit 
afraid, 
They  continued  to  live  in  the  midst  of 
the  wood — 
This  bold  outlaw  band,  and  their 
chief,  -  - - . 
By  EDNA  WILFERT  (15  Years) 
New  York. 
Edna  has  given  us  a  very  clever  Book 
Puzzle  in  verse  which  she  says  is  original. 
Of  course  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  guess 
the  answer,  and  in  this  case  there  is  no 
one  author  to  be  mentioned.  lrou  might 
tell  in  your  letter  something  of  where 
the  story  came  from  originally,  where 
and  when  the  scene  of  it  is  laid,  or  why 
you  especially  enjoyed  reading  it.  And, 
of  course,  here  is  a  fine  chance  to  illus¬ 
trate  for  those  who  can  draw  figures. 
The  Guinea  Hen 
'While  a  good  many  of  you  decided  that 
ast  month’s  Nature  Puzzle  was  the  guinea 
hen,  others  though  it  was  the  turkey. 
And  really,  it  might  almost  have  been 
either.  However,  one  familiar  with  both 
would  quickly  decide  that  the  guinea 
was  the  one  described.  It  would  have 
been  interesting  if  we  had  had  a  good 
drawing  of  guinea  hens,  but  none  came 
suitable  to  print.  A  number  of  letters 
told  of  experiences  with  these  noisy  birds. 
Here  are  a  couple : 
We  have  some  speckled  guinea  hens 
and  they  are  regular  watch  dogs  at  night 
and  in  the  daytime,  too.  The  white  ones 
I  do  not  like  very  much.  I  love  the  lit¬ 
tle  ones  when  they  are  very  small.  We 
try  to  find  the  eggs,  and  this  year  found 
a  good  many,  which  we  set,  and  now  have 
a  lot  of  little  ones.  helen  thraul. 
Connecticut. 
Last  Summer  we  had  a  lot  of  guineas. 
They  were  pretty  good  to  scare  hawks. 
August  25,  1923] 
When  a  hawk  came  near  the  henyard  the 
guinea  tvould  sail  right  over  the  fence 
after  the  hawk.  And  when  they  are 
startled  they  will  rise  from  the  ground 
and  fly  over  a  house  and  sometimes  over 
the  barn.  Little  brother  called  them 
his  “buckwheat”  hens  because  their  call 
sounded  like  buckwheat.  Our  guineas 
laid  from  20  to  30  eggs  in  one  nest.  We 
found  one  sitting  on  22  eggs  and  21  of 
them  hatched. 
IVA  Sullivan  (11  Years) 
New  York. 
A  New  Nature  Puzzle 
In  emerald,  silver  and  gold  I’m  dressed, 
But  water  shows  my  silver  best. 
As  I  grow  old  my  temper’s  not  nice, 
I  fly  to  pieces  in  a  trice. 
Now  one,  two,  three, 
13ox.  Ov 
About  one-fourth  natural  size.  Drawn 
by  Carlotta  Baker,  New  York. 
About  one-fifteenth  natural  size.  Drawn 
by  Carlotta  Baker,  New  York. 
J 
Hatch  shill  Turtle 
This  is  the  very  large  sea  turtle  from 
which  comes  the  best  tortoise  shell.  No¬ 
tice  the  fin-like  paddles  in  place  of  legs. 
Drawn  by  Gladys  Bloomer  (12  Years), 
New  Jersey. 
Can  you  guess  me? 
MILDRED  WHITNEY  (10  Years) 
Vermont. 
This  will  make  you  put  on  your  think¬ 
ing  caps.  It  is  as  good  as  a  riddle,  but 
the  answer  is  a  true  object  in  nature, 
with  which  all  boys  and  girls  are  familiar 
wherever  it  is  found.  When  you  answer 
explain  what  the  little  verse  means,  and 
send  a  drawing  if  you  can. 
Turtles 
This  month  we  have  the  best  of  the 
information  on  turtles  that  has  come  in. 
Three  drawings  are  also  printed.  There 
