emotions,--or to give utterance to its aspirations and its hopes, will
live; that which does not thus speak for Humanity, has no right to
live; and the sooner it finds a merited oblivion the better for its
author and the world.

These poems are essentially Canadian. They have nearly all been
written on Canadian soil;-their themes and incidents--those that are
not purely imaginary or suggested by current events in other
countries--are almost wholly Canadian; and they are mainly the
outgrowth of many and varied experiences in Canadian life.

To the author, there is hardly one that has not its little, local
history, and that does not awaken reminiscences of some quiet Canadian
home,--some rustic Canadian school-house,--some dreamy hour in the
beautiful Canadian forests,--some morning or evening walk amidst
Canadian scenery,--or some pleasant sail over Canadian waters.

They have been written under widely different circumstances; and, in
great part, in brief intervals snatched from the arduous duties of
teaching, or the more arduous ones of domestic life.

Of the personal experiences traceable through many of them, it is not
necessary to speak. We read in God's word that "_He fashioneth their
hearts alike_;" therefore there is little to be found in any human
experience, that has not its counterpart, in some sort, in every
other, and he alone is the true Poet who can so interpret his own,
that they will be recognized as, in some sense, the real, or possible
experiences of all.

Trusting that these unpretending lyrics may be able thus to touch a