"Then tarry,
Oh, tarry, bee!
Fill up your sack;
And carry, oh, carry me
Home on your back."[1]
Now what child will read more than once these empty little verses (very prettily illustrated) when it is in his power to turn back to other sprites that sing in different strains,—to the fairy who wanders
"Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough briar,"
seeking pearl eardrops for the cowslips' ears; or to that softer shape, the music of whose song, once heard, haunts us forever:—
"Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange."
These are the sweet, mysterious echoes of true fairyland, where Shakespeare and little children wander at their will.
Poems of the third class are intended for growing girls and boys, and aspire to be
- ↑ Oliver Herford in St. Nicholas.
