Why Children Should Memorize Poetry...

...from a beautiful out of print volume on my shelf called "The Children's Library: Poems", Doubleday & Sons, 1904:

"There are people who believe that in the matter of poetry there is no "ought", but this is a false belief. There is a duty, even there; for every American citizen ought to know the great national songs that keep alive the spirit of patriotism. Children should build for their future -- and get, while they are children, what only the fresh imagination of the child can assimilate.

They should store up an untold wealth of heroic sentiment; they should acquire the habit of carrying a literary quality in their conversation; they should carry a heart full of the fresh and delightful associations and memories connected with poetry hours to brighten mature years. They should develop their memories while they have memories to develop." ~Mary E. Burt, editor