By Charlotte Mew

Toll no bell for me, dear Father dear Mother,
Waste no sighs;
There are my sisters, there is my little brother
Who plays in the place called Paradise,
Your children all, your children for ever;
But I, so wild,
Your disgrace, with the queer brown face, was never,
Never, I know, but half your child!

In the garden at play, all day, last summer,
Far and away I heard
The sweet “tweet-tweet” of a strange new-comer,
The dearest, clearest call of a bird.
It lived down there in the deep green hollow,
My own old home, and the fairies say
The word of a bird is a thing to follow,
So I was away a night and a day.

One evening, too, by the nursery fire,
We snuggled close and sat round so still,
When suddenly as the wind blew higher,
Something scratched on the window-sill,
A pinched brown face peered in–I shivered;
No…

By Mary Carolyn Davies

Dryad, hidden in this tree!
Break your bonds and talk to me!

No one’s watching, only peep
From your cave! The town’s asleep!

No one knows I stand here, so
Come! for they will never know!

Tell me what you think of here
When the moon is sharp and clear,

When the clouds are over you,
When the ground is wet with dew.

Dryad, are you happy, say!
Do you like to live this way?

I will keep your secrets well,
I will never, never tell!

Dryad, hidden in our tree,
Come, oh, come and talk to me!

Ponds and wetlands are a wealth of diversity, but it’s challenging to observe what goes on beneath the surface of the water, or even know what lives there. Fortunately, there is a way to not only see what lives under the water, but to bring it home for long-term observation and study. Creating a wetland container is very simple and requires very few materials. Unlike a fish aquarium, no pumps or other special equipment is needed, and you may already have many of the materials on hand.

MATERIALS

JAR: The first thing you’ll need is a container for your wetland. It can be a large jar or any type of glass container. The container needs to have a wide opening to get materials in and out and also for maintenance. It’s also better…