citizen _ought_ to know the great national songs that keep alive the
spirit of patriotism. Children should build for their future--and get,
while they are children, what only the fresh imagination of the child
can assimilate.

They should store up an untold wealth of heroic sentiment; they should
acquire the habit of carrying a literary quality in their conversation;
they should carry a heart full of the fresh and delightful associations
and memories, connected with poetry hours to brighten mature years. They
should develop their memories while they have memories to develop.

Will the boy who took every poetry hour for a whole school year to learn
"Henry of Navarre" ever regret it, or will the children who listened to
it? No. It was fresh every week and they brought fresh interest in
listening. The boy will always love it because he used to love it. There
were boys who scrambled for the right to recite "The Tournament," "The
Charge of the Light Brigade," "The Star-Spangled Banner," and so on. The
boy who was first to reach the front had the privilege. The triumph of
getting the chance to recite added to the zest of it. Will they ever
forget it?

I know Lowell's "The Finding of the Lyre." Attention, Sir Knights! See
who can learn it first as I say it to you. But I find that I have
forgotten a line of it, so you may open your books and teach it to me.
Now, I can recite every word of it. How much of it can you repeat from
memory? One boy can say it all. Nearly every child has learned the most
of it. Now, it will be easy for you to learn it alone. And Memory, the
Goddess Beautiful, will henceforth go with you to recall this happy
hour.