Longfellow as a Boy

L ONGFELLOW was a noble boy. He always wanted to do right. He could not bear to see one person do any wrong to another.

He was very tender-hearted. One day he took a gun and went shooting. He killed a robin. Then he felt sorry for the robin. He came home with tears in his eyes. He was so grieved, that he never went shooting again.

Longfellow and the Bird

He liked to read Irving's "Sketch Book." Its strange stories about Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle pleased his fancy.

When he was thirteen he wrote a poem. It was about Lovewell's fight with the Indians. He sent his verses to a newspaper. He wondered if the editor would print them. He could not think of anything else. He walked up and down in front of the printing office. He thought that his poem might be in the printer's hands.

When the paper came out, there was his poem. It was signed "Henry." Longfellow read it. He thought it a good poem.

But a judge who did not know whose poem it was talked about it that evening. He said to young Longfellow, "Did you see that poem in the paper? It was stiff. And all taken from other poets, too."

This made Henry Longfellow feel bad. But he kept on trying. After many years, he became a famous poet.

For more than fifty years, young people have liked to read his poem called "A Psalm of Life." Here are three stanzas of it:—