onnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.

Her brow is like the snawdrift,
Her throat is like the swan,
Her face it is the fairest
That e'er the sun shone on--
That e'er the sun shone on;
And dark blue is her e'e;
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.

Like dew on the gowan lying
Is the fa' o' her fairy feet;
Like the winds in summer sighing,
Her voice is low and sweet--
Her voice is low and sweet;
And she's a' the world to me;
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.

WILLIAM DOUGLAS.

THE SHIP OF STATE.

A president of a well-known college writes me that "The Ship of State"
was his favourite poem when he was a boy, and did more than any other
to shape his course in life. Longfellow (1807-82).

Sail on, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity, with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope;
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were forged the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock--
'Tis of the wave, and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock, and tempest roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee.
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith, triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, are all with thee!

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.

The Constitution and Laws are here personified, and addressed as "The
Ship of State."

AMERICA.

"America" (Samuel Francis Smith, 1808-95) is a good poem to learn as a
poem, regardless of the fact that every American who can sing it ought
to know it, that he may join in the chorus when patriotic celebrations
call for it. My boys love to repeat the entire poem, but I often find
masses of people trying to sing it, knowing only one stanza. It is our
national anthem, and a part of our education to know every word of it.

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fa