administering the list to these isolated pupils, the list was not administered during the three seasons. The rural pupils checked the list in the fall of 1924. To verify the initial findings the rural pupils were again asked to check the list in the fall of 1925. Additional data were secured from 6,000 pupils of Kansas City, Missouri, in January of 1926 and the reliability of the earlier findings further verified. The total number of pupils from whom data were obtained is indicated in table I. It will be noted from table I that the data obtained in the city investigations are assembled separately for white children and for Negroes. This was done in order that a study of race differences might be made.

One of the items included in the list was No. 74, "Writing poems." The pupils were directed to check this activity if they had engaged in writing poems "just for fun" during the preceding week. From responses to this item, the writers hoped to secure significant data in regard to the extent to which pupils now engage in this particular activity. The following paper reports the extent to which white children and Negro children were found to engage in "Writing poems." RESULTS

Table II shows by races the percentages of boys and girls of various age levels who indicated that they had written poems during the course of the week preceding a given investigation. It is of interest to note that marked seasonal differences are not revealed by these data. This fact is best shown by the data obtained from the investigations of Nov. 1923, Feb. 1924, and Apr. 1924, these three investigations having been made among identical groups of children. The similarity of the results obtained from each race in the three investigations is striking.

Sex differences, too, are relatively slight, the girls writing poems only slightly more commonly than the boys of the same age and race. This tendency is consistent in each of the three studies.

The data presented in table II show further that the older individuals included in the study write poems less commonly than the younger ones. The transition from age to age is,

however, gradual.

Very conspicuous is the race difference in reference to writing poems. The Negro children write poems much more commonly than the white children and this race difference is found for each season of the year and for all age levels. The difference is clearly revealed in Figure 1, and table III, which present the composite results obtained from the several investigations.

REMARKS

It is of interest to attempt to account for the racial differences revealed by the data. Kerlin maintains that the Negro possesses certain poetic traits by original nature. In a survey of contemporary Negro poetry in which quotations are made from sixty-odd Negro writers of verse he makes the following statement:

"It comes not within the scope of this anthology to include any of these folk-rhymes of the elder day, but a few specimens seem necessary to indicate to the young Negro who would be a poet his rich heritage of song and to the white reader what essentially poetic traits the Negro has by nature." (6)

Kerlin then cites a few examples of Negro folk-rhymes of earlier times.

Jesperson holds that poetry is a more primitive mode of expression than prose and that poetry is found in every country to precede prose:

"Just as in the literature transmitted to us poetry is found in every country to precede prose, so poetic language is on the whole older than prosaic language; lyrics and cult songs come before science. (7)

The greater interest in poetry demonstrated by the Negro may be due to the stage of development which he exemplifies. It is, however, possible that the interest is due to the markedly emotional nature of the Negro.

"The Negro might well be expected to exhibit a gift for poetry. . It will readily be admitted that the Negro nature is endowed above most others, if not above all others, in fervor of feeling, in the completeness of self-surrender to emotion. Hence we see that marvelous display of rhythm in the individual and in the group." (8)

The pedagogical significance of the Negro's interest in poetry is obvious. If it be desirable to modify instruction in order to better challenge the felt need of each child it is essential that curricula be revised to meet better the felt needs of the Negro. Too little attention has been paid to the Negro child's interests. The present-day attitude of school officials is perhaps a carry-over from an earlier day. It has not been many years since the instruction of Negro children was prohibited by law.

"In the second quarter of the century many Southern States made it a penal offense to teach the Negro or permit or cause him to be taught. From 1870 to 1889 the Negro schools systems of the former slave states have not cost the white tax-payers a cent, except possibly in a few city systems." (9)

The assumption in education has been that materials and technique suitable to the needs of white children are equally desirable for Negro children. The result has been to educate the Negro away from the writings of his own people. It seems reasonable to utilize to a greater extent Negro literature in Negro schools. Educational systems should allow and provide for this. Of late years a number of books have appeared which are devoted exclusively to Negro poems. (10) As regards the quality of this Negro verse Kerlin says:

"As a life-long teacher and student of poetry, I venture, with no fear, the assertion that from no book of verse in our language can the whole art of poetry be so effectively learned as from Mother Goose Melodies. . . . This book that we all love and patronize-is the greatest melodic triumph in the white man's literature.

"Of like merit and certainly no less are the folk rhymes and song, both the Spirituals and the Seculars, of the Negro. Their art possibilities are immense." (11)

The writers suggest that in the selection of reading materials for Negro children, cognizance be taken of the Negro child's keen interest in poetry. The writers would not maintain that Negro poetry only should be read by Negro children. The writers wish merely to emphasize the need of selecting subject-matter in terms of the child's interests. They are concerned not with subject-matter as such but with it as related to the growing experiences of the child. The projects used in the classroom should represent genuine interests of the children of the group for whom they are intended. It would seem that for Negro children who are taking English, supplementary individual or group projects selected might well take into account the interest of the Negro child in rhythm and poetry.

REFERENCES.

1. Witty, P. A. and Decker, A. I. "A Comparative Study of the Educational Attainment of Negro and White Children." Jour. of Edu. Psy., Oct. 1927, 18, 497-500. Reading Interests of Negro Chilon file at Watson Library. 1925.

The

2. Scruggs, Sherman D. dren. Master's Thesis University of Kansas. 3. Scruggs, op. cit. p. 13. 4. Scruggs, op. cit. p. 18. 5. Lehman, H. C. and Witty, P. A. "Church and Sunday School Attendance of Negro Children." Religious Education. Jan. 1927, 22, 50-56.

6. Kerlin, R. T. Negro Poets and Their Poetry. Associated Publishers, Washington, D. C., 1923, p. 13.

7. Jesperson, O. Language; Its Nature, Development and Origin. 1923. New York, Henry Holt & Co., p. 432.

8. Kerlin, T. T., op. cit. p. 4.

9. Miller, G. F. "The Effects of Emancipation Upon the Mental and Physical Health of the Negro in the South." An address before the So. Med. Assn., Asheville, N. C., Sept. 1896. (Quoted by G. S. Hall in Adolescence, Vol. II, p. 676.)

10. (a) Johnson, J. W. The Book of American Negro Poetry. Harcourt Brace & Co.

(b) Shomberg, A. A. A Checklist of American Negro Poetry. Charles P. Hartman, New York.

(c) Talley, T. W. Negro Folk Rhymes. The Macmillan Company.

11. Kerlin, R. T., op. cit. p. 19.

* Insufficient number of cases for computation of per cents.

† Data were assembled for a much larger number of white children in January, 1926, but it was decided that for the present purpose 100 cases for each sex would be sufficient to provide a fair sampling of the returns.