those early scenes, the family prayers, morning and evening, led by his grandfather Snell; church service on Sunday morning and afternoon, with a "neighborhood" meeting at home in the evening, conducted by "some lay brother"; the midwinter "awakenings" or revivals, at the Congregational church, where the family attended; the little district school, visited from time to time by the parish minister, the man of God, held in veneration by old and young alike. On these state occasions the scholars were dressed in their Sunday best and were carefully examined in the Westminster Catechism.

As a child, William learned the Lord's Prayer and other petitions at his mother's knee, and then, one day, when all by himself, he added, what became a frequent and fervent request, that he "might receive the gift of poetic genius, and write verses that might endure." He was only eight when his first youthful poem appeared. The hymns of Isaac Watts, especially those written for children, he knew in many cases by heart, and when no more than five years old he would mount a chair and declaim them to imaginary audiences with boyish enthusiasm. Years afterward he still remembered the oldtime singing school, and the teacher who was an "enthusiast in his vocation, and thundered forth the airs set down in the music books, with a fervor that was contagious."

In 1820, Henry D. Sewall undertook the preparation of a hymn book for the Unitarians, who by this time had become somewhat numerous, especially in Massachusetts, and he appealed to Mr. Bryant for several contributions. The young man, already recognized as facile princeps among American poets, gladly accepted the invitation, and at once wrote five hymns for the new book. They illustrate his bent of mind-his love of nature and his disposition to brood upon death. The first one, in praise

"To Him whose wisdom deigned to plan
This fair and bright abode for man,"

must have been inspired, at least in part, by memories of the childhood home in western Massachusetts, for it goes on to sing of the country where

"Rose the hills, and broad and green
The vale's deep pathway sank between"

and where

"earth's blossoms glowed,
Her fountains gushed, her rivers flowed,
And from the shadowy wood was heard
The pleasant sound of breeze and bird."

As a mere child, Bryant was brought into close contact with death. Across the way from his birthplace was a rural graveyard; the funeral of one of his schoolmates made a deep impression

on him, as did the passing of his grandparents Snell, under whose roof he had grown up. Of an unusually serious and sensitive disposition, these early circumstances helped to shape the poet's mind, and doubtless contributed to that noble melancholy so conspicuous in Thanatopsis. But we find no trace of gloom or despair. The comforting hymn entitled, "Blessed are they that mourn"-one of the five mentioned above-is extensively used. At Mr. Bryant's funeral it was sung by the choir with marked effect:

"Deem not that they are blest alone

Whose days a peaceful tenor keep;
The God who loves our race has shown
A blessing for the eyes that weep.
"The light of smiles shall fill again

The lids that overflow with tears;
And weary hours of woe and pain
Are promises of happier years.

"Oh, there are days of sunny rest

For every dark and troubled night;
And Grief may bide an evening guest,
But Joy shall come with early light.

"And thou, who, o'er thy friend's low bier,
Dost shed the bitter drops like rain,
Hope that a brighter, happier sphere,
Will give him to thy arms again.

"Nor let the good man's trust depart,
Though life its common gifts deny;
Though with a pierced and bleeding heart,
And spurned of men, he goes to die.