THE MACMILLAN COMPANY MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON. BOMBAY CALCUTTA THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO RECITATIONS FOR ASSEMBLY AND CLASS-ROOM WITH SUGGESTED PROGRAMS COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY ANNA T. LEE O'NEILL, M.A. New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1916 All rights reserved FOREWORD I FEEL that there will be no difficulty in justifying this book to the teachers of the Public Schools, for whose use it is primarily designed. The recitation of short poems, or of passages from the longer ones of our great authors, is a customary part of the morning exercises held in every public school in the country. As to the value of such recitations, cultural and otherwise, as a part of the unconscious teaching which is so important a factor in the education of a child, it is unnecessary for me to speak, since the fact that they are indorsed, if not made obligatory by the most prominent educators, is sufficient proof of their value. The speakers are taken from all grades. On all teachers, therefore, devolves the task of selection and preparation, — and only a teacher knows how burdensome so apparently trivial a duty may become. It necessitates the overlooking of a whole volume or volumes of an author's work in the hope of finding some poem or passage, remembered as suitable. After the remembered ones are exhausted, as, unless the teacher's bent chances to be literature, they are soon likely to be, the task becomes even more onerous, entailing most careful and discriminating reading on the part of one at best hard pressed for time. It is not surprising, therefore, if the selections are more than occasionally of dubious literary value and if threadbare, stock-intrade pieces are made to do service again and again. Then, too, many poems and even prose passages, - of such exquisite beauty that unfamiliarity with them is a downright deprivation |