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The chapter 'PERSONS AND PLACES MENTIONED' contains some less commonly
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  upper and lower case c with hyphen through, C̵ and c̵
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      'ROUND THE YEAR IN
         MYTH AND SONG

              BY
       FLORENCE HOLBROOK


  NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO
     AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY


      Copyright, 1897, by
    AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY.


      HOL. MYTH AND SONG.
           W. P. II




                 TO
        MRS. ELLA FLAGG YOUNG
              A FRIEND
           WHOSE ZEAL AND
       ABILITY IN THE CAUSE OF
  EDUCATION ARE KNOWN TO THOUSANDS
    THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED
     BY ONE OF THE MANY TO WHOM
         HER WORDS HAVE BEEN
          AN INCENTIVE AND
             HER WORK AN
             INSPIRATION




PREFACE.


This book is intended for use in all grades of elementary schools,
the method of presentation varying with the age of the pupils. It
has been welcomed even by pupils in higher schools, because easily
familiarizing them with myths and characters that figure so largely
in the literary texts with which they are to deal.

In the first and second grades the teachers should read or tell some
of the stories to the pupils, thus satisfying the demand of children
for a story, and preparing the way for an appreciation of literature.
The pupils should retell the stories, thus enriching their vocabulary
and learning to express thought clearly, easily, consecutively, and
confidently,--a power so much needed and so valuable to citizens of a
republic.

Some of the poems, as "Daybreak," "The Moss Rose," "Forget-me-not,"
"Sweet and Low," "The Child's World," etc., should be memorized. If
this work has been well done in these grades, the pupils of third and
fourth grades will enjoy reading the stories, continuing the reciting
of myth and poem. The pictures that so well illustrate the myths
should be studied and described. In these classes and in the grammar
grades the stories should be written and the poems reproduced
accurately, serving as valuable lessons in form, in spelling,
punctuation, and capitalization. The reproduction of the myth and
poem both orally and in written papers is an exercise whose value
cannot be overestimated.

While the myths are valuable in themselves as stories which appeal
to and which nourish the imagination, and as aids to expression
in oral and written language, they are also very helpful, when
presented early, to the understanding of references with which our
literature is filled, and make the reading of the best in literature
more of a delight because of this knowledge. It is important that
these myths be given to children who enjoy the world of fairy tale
and myth,--children who in their imagination drive the car of Apollo
with the bold Phaëthon, and see with Narcissus the nymph smiling in
the brook.

The poems and pictures in the book serve to illustrate the debt both
poets and artists owe to the fancies of the beauty-loving Greeks, the
children of our race. With imagination and memory nourished and stored
with stories that have been part of men's literary possessions for
centuries, and which have been embodied in all the arts, the love for
literature which is permanent and valuable will leave no room for the
worthless and transitory.

Acknowledgments are due to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Company for
selections from Holmes, Whittier, and Longfellow; to Messrs. D.
Appleton & Company for selections from Bryant; to Messrs. A. C.
McClurg & Company for the poem, "Rainbow Fairies," from Tomlin's
"Child's Garden of Song"; and to Mr. John Burroughs for permission to
use his poem, "Waiting."




CONTENTS.


                                                            PAGE
  'Round the Year                            _Gary Cooper_    15

  The Seasons                                                 22

  Worship of Nature              _John Greenleaf Whittier_    27

  How the Myths arose                                         28

  The Months--