FOREWORD

Practically every state course of study gives a list of poems from which it is required that selection be made for reading or memorizing.  These lists and their grading vary in the different states, although the same poems are used in many of them and there are some which are required in every state.

In the preparation of this book the lists of the third and fourth grade poems prescribed by the syllabi of twelve states have been examined and the contents have been made up from these.  The breadth of this method of selection insures the inclusion in this volume of a large proportion of the required poems for every state.  Since the grading in different states varies so widely, teachers will find included, also, many poems which in their own particular states are required in other grades.  It is hoped that this volume will be of real service to teachers in providing a collection of “required poems” in a form convenient for school use.

The publishers.

Required Poems for Third and Fourth Grades

POEMS BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

AUTUMN FIRES

In the other gardens
  And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
  See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
  And all the summer flowers;
The red fire blazes,
  The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons! 
  Something bright in all! 
Flowers in the summer,
  Fires in the fall!

THE UNSEEN PLAYMATE

When children are playing alone on the green,
In comes the playmate that never was seen. 
When children are happy and lonely and good,
The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood.

Nobody heard him and nobody saw,
His is a picture you never could draw,
But he’s sure to be present, abroad or at home,
When children are happy and playing alone.

He lies in the laurels, he runs on the grass,
He sings when you tinkle the musical glass;
Whene’er you are happy and cannot tell why,
The Friend of the Children is sure to be by!

He loves to be little, he hates to be big,
’Tis he that inhabits the caves that you dig;
’Tis he when you play with your soldiers of tin
That sides with the Frenchmen and never can win.

’Tis he, when at night you go off to your bed,
Bids you go to your sleep and not trouble your head;
For wherever they’re lying, in cupboard or shelf,
’Tis he will take care of your playthings himself!

THE LAND OF STORY-BOOKS

At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit. 
They sit at home, and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.