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But when Sally was asked to repeat William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis,” the poem that all of the girls in Miss Torrence classes were required to memorize soon or late, that doll-like little maid became so confused that Virginia quickly realized that she had no understanding of what the lines meant.

“Girls,” Virginia said, looking at the others rather than at the embarrassed newcomer, “there is only one real way to learn poetry, I think, and that is to first picture what it means. When we thoroughly understand the sentiment, we can far more easily memorize the words of the poem.” Then very kindly, “Sally, what picture came to you when you recited the lines

“To him who in the love of nature holds

Communion with her visible forms, she speaks

A various language; for his gayer hours

She has a voice of gladness and a smile

And eloquence of beauty, and she glides

Into his darker musings with a mild

And healing sympathy that steals away

Their sharpness ere he is aware.”

There was an almost startled expression in the baby-blue eyes that turned toward the speaker. “Why, I don’t believe I saw any picture. I was just trying to remember how the words came.”