'Reading to Me When I Was Young'

A reliable fallback volume when no other book will do is Come Hither: A Collection of Rhymes and Poems for the Young of All Ages, edited by Walter de la Mare and first published in 1923. It’s an anthology long on charm and short on pretentiousness. It’s nominally a book for children, yes, but for the sort of children they hardly make anymore. Best of all are de la Mare’s notes, almost 300 pages of them included at the back of the book in a section called “About and Round About.” In the chapter titled “Summer: Greenwood: Solitude,” de la Mare includes an old favorite, “The Book,” by the Scottish poet William Drummond (1585-1649): 

“Of this fair volume which we World do name

If we the sheets and leaves could turn with care,

Of him who it corrects, and did it frame,

We clear might read the art and wisdom rare.

 

“Find out His power which wildest powers doth tame,

His providence extending everywhere,

His justice which proud rebels doth not spare

In every page, no period of the same.

 

“But silly we, like foolish children, rest

Well pleased with colour’d vellum, leaves of gold,

Fair dangling ribbands, leaving what is best,

On the great Writer's sense ne'er taking hold;

 

“Or if by chance we stay our minds on aught,

It is some picture on the margin wrought.”

 

I like the sustained bookish conceit coupled with conversational ease -- “But silly we, like foolish children . . .” De la Mare writes in his notes:

 

“This poem, I think, carries with it the thought that in study of that great book, that fair volume called the World, there is no full stop, no limit, pause, conclusion. Like bees, with their nectar and honeycomb, man stores up his knowledge and experience in books. These and his houses outlast him; the things he makes; and here and there a famous or happy or tragic name is for a while remembered. Else, we are given our brief chequered busy lives – then vanish away, seeming but restless phantoms in Time’s panoramic dream.”

 

I read from Come Hither to my sons when they were young. On Friday we attended a dinner held by the Houston-area parents of U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen. Next month, Michael will graduate and be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. The parents’ group prepared a slide show of the ten Firsties and read from the comments prepared by the soon-to-graduate midshipmen. In the section titled “Words to your parents,” Michael wrote:

 

“I appreciate all of the help, especially concerning my early education. Things such as your investment in private school, reading to me when I was young, and transmission of love of learning are paying dividends now.”

 

De la Mare was born on this date, April 25, in 1873. My brother was born on this date in 1955. Happy birthday, Ken.