—Longfellow
There had been language lessons on the habits of the Indians; their way of living had been worked out, as far as possible, on the sand-table, and pictures representing Indian life had been shown. The pupils had eagerly constructed an Indian home—"Dark behind it rose the forest" (twigs from the pine and other evergreen trees), "Bright before it beat the water".
The lessons in drawing, painting, end modelling had been connected with this work. From their boxes of coloured crayons, the pupils had selected the colours used in making the pine trees, the grass, the bark of the trees, the owl in the tree, the wigwams, etc.
From the many beautiful Indian lullabies that would have been suitable, the teacher selected the Indian Lullaby by Longfellow. During the periods set apart for music, the pupils had been taught the desired melody with the syllable "loo".
Teacher. "How does your mother put baby to sleep?"
Pupils. "My mother rocks the baby in her arms." "Mine puts him on the bed and he falls asleep." "We rock our baby in a cradle," etc.
Teacher. "The picture I give you will show you what the Indian mother does with her baby."
Each pupil was given a small picture showing an Indian baby in his cradle suspended from a tree. These pictures had been cut from a supplement to Primary Education.
Teacher. "What has the mother done?"
Pupils. "She has put her baby in a basket and hung it on a tree."