'The object of this anthology is to bring together a collection of English, Scotch, and Irish poems for the use and amusement of boys and girls of our own ages, that is, from six to sixteen. Many of us have not either time or opportunity to pick out our favourite poems from the publications of their different authors, and we hope that this anthology will help others to know and like our favourites at home, and not to think of them as only school lessons, to be forgotten as soon as class is over.
'We have not put in any Browning except Home-Thoughts, from the Sea, because, though many grown-up people prefer Browning to any other poet, the boys and girls we know do not like his poems.'
(from Preface)
