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Types of Children\'s Literature by Edited by Walter Barnes

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TYPES OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

A COLLECTION OF
THE WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE
FOR CHILDREN

FOR USE IN COLLEGES, NORMAL SCHOOLS
AND LIBRARY SCHOOLS



COLLECTED AND EDITED

BY

WALTER BARNES, A.M.




Application of the world's knowledge to the world's needs is the
guiding aim of this publishing house, and it is in conformity to this
aim that _Types of Children's Literature_ is published. There is
need of helpful direction for parents and teachers who wish to place
within reach of every child the beauty, wisdom, and knowledge stored
up in the world's best literature for children. The domain is so
vast, so rich, and so varied that a single volume which presents
specimens of all the different types for study and analysis by older
readers and for reading by the children themselves, may hope to make
easy and natural for children the entrance to the pleasant land of
books




PREFACE



This collection of specimens of children's literature has evolved
itself naturally and, as it were, inevitably out of the editor's
experience in teaching classes in children's literature in normal
school and college, and it is published in the belief that other
teachers of this subject find the same need of such a book that the
editor has experienced. For it is obvious that if we are to conduct
classes in children's literature either for general culture or for
specific training of teachers, we must have specimens of children's
literature readily accessible to the students. We must bring students
to a knowledge and appreciation of any author, period, or type by
having them study representative selections, and this principle
applies as logically to courses in children's literature as to
courses in other kinds of literature.

_Types of Children's Literature_ is intended to provide students
of the subject with a single-volume anthology of prose and poetry
illustrative of the different types, styles, interests, periods,
authors, etc., of writings for children. There are, of course, many
collections of specimens of children's literature; but they are all
made as reading books for children and, consequently, are
unsatisfactory, in some important respect or other, as source books.
Moreover, these collections are published in several volumes and
contain much that is mediocre and trivial. As far as the editor has
been able to discover, there is but a single one-volume collection,
and that collection, having been compiled solely for juvenile
readers, is impracticable as a text for college and normal school
classes. In teaching classes in children's literature the present
editor has had to use, as the only possible text, such sets of
literary readers as the _Heart of Oak_ series or such miniature
libraries as the ten-volume _The Children's Hour_ or the eight-
volume _Children's Classics_. This procedure has been both
expensive and inconvenient for teacher and students, besides not
supplying some of the material desirable in any symmetrical outline
of study.

In compiling the book the editor kept in mind several guiding aims.
Foremost was the wish to include in the collection at least one
selection--and that a masterpiece--of each type and kind of
children's literature in the English language. The different species
of prose and poetry; the various kinds of stories, such as fables,
myths, and fairy stories; the fundamental forms of discourse, such as
narration, description, the sketch, the essay, the oration, letters--
nearly all the molds, so to speak, into which the molten literary
stream has flowed all these types are represented by the choicest
specimens in the range of children's literature.

A careful inspection of the selections in this volume will reveal the
rich variety of the material. Specimens are to be found of folk
literature and modern literature, of the romantic, of the realistic,
of the crude and naive, of the artistic and sophisticated, of the
humorous and the pathetic. The editor has tried to find specimens
presenting as many themes, as many interests, as many emotions as
possible, characteristic specimens of the most important authors for
children, of all the civilizations that have produced literatures
which have become a part of the English-speaking child's heritage.
The collection contains literature for the little child and
literature for the boy or girl in the early 'teens, and it ranges
from primitive times down to this present decade. Moreover, since a
considerable part of the body of children's literature is made up of
original selections made over for children, a few masterpieces of
translations, re-tellings, abridgments, and reproductions have been
included.

The editor hopes that he has allotted a proportionate and equitable
amount of space and emphasis to each type, department, and section of
the collection. He had it in mind, at least, to give as many pages
over to poetry, for example, in proportion to prose, as many pages to
fairy stories, for example, in proportion to myths, as would indicate
roughly the average child's interests. If this proportion is not due
and just, as the editor sometimes fears, it is to be hoped that
critics will realize the web of difficulties in which such a task as
this is entangled.

A word as to the classification and nomenclature. The editor realizes
that this is neither original nor accurate. It is certainly not
scientific, as the types overlap here and there, and the names are
based partly on form and partly on content. But classification and
class names were indispensable in a book of this nature, and it
seemed a better policy to employ the classification and the names
already firmly established in common use than to attempt to subject
to a new system of scientific terms that which is by nature not
amenable to scientific laws and scientific precision. The
classification appears only in the Contents; it does not stand forth
in the book itself.

It should be said, further, that the order in which the different
types are placed in the book is more or less arbitrary, having been
determined largely by the succession in which children take them up
from year to year, beginning with the simpler forms and more childish
themes, and somewhat by the principle of similarity and contrast in
the types themselves. Needless to say, teachers will change the order
in which the species and specimens are studied in accordance with any
well-defined plan of their own.

A distinct service has been rendered, the editor hopes, by presenting
the definitive and authoritative versions of all the selections
given. This has meant a painstaking reading of every line in every
selection and the collation with editions that are trustworthy. Every
student of children's literature knows that it has been almost
impossible to find exact readings, and that most selections have been
distorted and garbled to suit the purposes of editors. No changes
from the originals have here been made except to abridge in a few
instances where it seemed imperative in a book intended for reading
and discussion in classes of both sexes. The editions used and the
changes made are given in the Notes.

The problems involved in selecting the best versions of certain
stories and the best translations from other languages have been
difficult. In general, the editor endeavored to choose the form which
seemed to have the highest literary value. In cases where two
translations seemed to possess equal merit, both are represented.

Every specimen of literature in this collection is a complete unit or
is at least a section easily detached--like an Uncle Remus or an
Arabian Nights story--from its original setting. This principle
precluded the inclusion of extracts from such children's classics as
_Gulliver's Travels_, _Robinson Crusoe_, and _Treasure
Island_. No survey of children's literature is complete without an
examination of such books as these; but they can easily be supplied
in inexpensive editions and used as supplementary to this collection.

It is evident that not every masterpiece of writing for children
could be included in this volume; but it is believed that no
selection has been included that is not a masterpiece. This belief is
based primarily on the fact that most of the specimens have been
chosen and approved by generation after generation of children,
culled out from the light and worthless as by an unerring hand,
through the most pragmatic of tests.

The only distinct type of children's literature not represented in
this collection is the drama, which is omitted because the editor was
not able to find a dramatic unit that would satisfy the ideal he had
in mind: that it be dramatic, that it be literary, that it be brief,
yet complete within itself, and that it be an original selection, not
a dramatization of some classic. For a similar reason no story of
American Indian life was put into the collection, though this
exclusion does not mean the omission of a type of literature. A large
number of Indian stories, both of Indian folklore and myth, and of
adventures with Indians, were carefully read; but not one of them, in
the editor's opinion, came up to the standard of a masterpiece and
was, at the same time, brief enough to be practicable for this book.
Some undoubted masterpieces from literatures lying outside the
recognized circle of the American child's "culture"--such, for
example, as the Japanese folk stories--also have been omitted. Other
splendid specimens of juvenile literature, as stories from Kipling's
_Jungle Books_ and essays from Burroughs, have been omitted
because of copyright restrictions.

No one realizes more clearly than does the editor of this collection
that no single book can include all the material that a class
studying children's literature should have before it. There are
dozens of children's books, for example, that a class should know or
know about. An appendix has therefore been placed at the end of this
collection, which lists the reading indispensable to a student of
children's literature. These books should be in the school library,
easily accessible to the students, and they should be considered as
an integral part of the body of children's literature.

As a compendium of good literature for children it is hoped that this
book may interest parents and teachers, quite independently of the
fact that it was prepared for classes of young men and women studying
children's literature, and that it may be put into the hands of
children.

There remains but the pleasant duty of acknowledging the advice and
encouragement received from many persons interested in this subject.
To the publishing houses who have granted permission to use
copyrighted material and to the Librarian of Congress thanks are due
for courtesies extended. To Mr. David Dale Johnson of West Virginia
University for collating; to Mr. Hunter Whiting for a great deal of
copying and collating; and especially to Professor Franklin T. Baker
of Teachers College, Columbia University, Professor James F. Hosic of
the Chicago Normal College, and Mr. John Cotton Dana of the Newark,
New Jersey, Free Public Library, for advice and criticism on the
manuscript,--to all of these the editor hereby expresses his
gratitude.

W. B.
FAIRMONT, WEST VIRGINIA





CONTENTS




BOOK ONE--POETRY


NURSERY JINGLES

CHARACTER SKETCHES
Little Miss Muffet
Diddle, diddle, dumpling
Let's go to bed
Jack Sprat
There was a little girl

SCENES AND INCIDENTS
Jack and Jill
Hickory, dickory, dock
There was an old woman
Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater
Little Jack Horner

TALES
Old Mother Hubbard
Little Bo-peep
The Babes in the Woods

NONSENSE AND HUMOROUS RHYMES
Old Dan Tucker
Old Man John
We're all in the dumps
I had a little horse

SATIRES AND TAUNTS
Georgy-porgy
April fool
Johnny's mad
Cry, baby, cry
Tell-tale-tit

TONGUE TWISTERS
Peter Piper
Swan swam over the sea

COUNTING-OUT JINGLES
Ickity, pickity
One-ery, two-ery
Inty, minty
Intery, mintery

GESTURE AND ACTION SONGS
Trit-trot
Hippity-hop
This little mouse
Here we go up, up, up

RIDDLES
A Cherry
A Fodder Field, a Hog, and a Dog
Hens
A Churn
An Egg
A Star

CATCHES
There, was a man who had no eyes
I am a gold lock
As I was going to St. Ives

CHARMS AND SUPERSTITIONS
Star of light
Marble, marble, roll away
Honest and true
Come, butter, come
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Mole on the neck

WEATHER WISDOM
Rain before seven
Evening red
When the fog goes up the hill
When the bees all homeward fly

AIDS TO MEMORY
One, two, three, four
Naught, one
In fourteen hundred and ninety-two
Thirty days hath September

PROVERBS
Birds of a feather
He that would thrive
Little strokes
See a pin and pick it up
For every evil under the sun

PEDDLER'S CRIES
Pease porridge hot
Hot-cross buns


SOME CHILDREN'S POETS

WILLIAM BLAKE
Piping down the valleys wild
The Lamb
Laughing Song

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
The Wind
The City Mouse and the Garden Mouse
Lullaby
A Flint
The Sisters

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
The Wind
Windy Nights
The Whole Duty of Children
My Bed Is a Boat
The Land of Counterpane
The Land of Storybooks

LUCY LARCOM
If I Were a Sunbeam
The Rivulet
The Brown Thrush

ANN AND JANE TAYLOR
Meddlesome Matty
The Violet
The Star
The Way to be Happy

ISAAC WATTS
Against Idleness and Mischief
A Morning Song
A Cradle Hymn

LEWIS CARROLL
Jabberwocky
You Are Old, Father William
The Walrus and the Carpenter

EDWARD LEAR
There was an Old Man of the West
There was an Old Man with a beard
There was an Old Person of Dean
There was a Young Lady whose chin
There is a Young Lady whose nose
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
The Jumblies


BALLADS

POPULAR
Bonny Barbara Allan
Sir Patrick Spence
Robin Hood and Allin a Dale
Kinmont Willie

MODERN
The Wreck of the Hesperus, _Longfellow_
La Belle Dame sans Merci, _Keats_
Lord Ullin's Daughter, _Campbell_
Young Lochinvar, _Scott_
How They Brought the Good News, _Browning_
The Revenge, _Tennyson_


LYRICS

OUR COUNTRY
America, _Smith_
My Native Land, _Scott_
Columbus, _Miller_
Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, _Hemans_
Concord Hymn, _Emerson_
Old Ironsides, _Holmes_
O Captain! My Captain!, _Whitman_

LOVE LYRICS
To Lucasta, _Lovelace_
She Walks in Beauty, _Byron_
A Red, Red Rose, _Burns_

POEMS OF NATURE
The Greenwood Tree, _Shakespeare_
A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea, _Cunningham_
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, _Wordsworth_
The Rhodora, _Emerson_
To the Fringed Genlian, _Bryant_
The Eagle, _Tennyson_
On the Grasshopper and Cricket, _Keats_

LESSONS FROM NATURE
To a Waterfowl, _Bryant_
The Chambered Nautilus, _Holmes_
The Bugle Song, _Tennyson_

SONGS OF LIFE
The Noble Nature, _Jonson_
The Character of a Happy Life, _Wotton_
Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth, _Clough_
For A' That and A' That, _Burns_
Invictus, _Henley_
Opportunity, _Sill_
A Psalm of Life, _Longfellow_



BOOK TWO

PROSE


STORIES

FABLES
The Dog and the Shadow, _AEsop_
The Fox and the Grapes, _AEsop_
The Hare and the Tortoise, _AEsop_
The Shepherd's Boy, _AEsop_
The Husbandman and the Stork, _AEsop_
The Wind and the Sun, _AEsop_
The Tortoise and the Geese, _Bidpai_
The Partridge and the Crow, _Bidpai_
The Fox and the Grapes, _La Fontaine_
The Wolf and the Stork, _La Fontaine_


FAIRY STORIES AND NURSERY TALES

TRADITIONAL

THE ACCUMULATIVE TALE
The Old Woman and Her Pig, _Jacobs_

THE ANIMAL STORY
The Three Little Pigs, _Jacobs_

THE NOODLE STORY
Hans in Luck, _Grimm_

THE HUMBLE HERO STORY
The Valiant Little Tailor, _Grimm_
Cinderella, _Perrault_
Whittington and His Cat, _Old Chapbook_

THE SYMBOLISTIC STORY
The Ugly Duckling, _Andersen_
The Flax, _Andersen_

THE STORY OF HORROR
Blue Beard, _Perrault_

THE GIANT STORY
Jack and the Beanstalk, _Jacobs_

MISCELLANEOUS STORIES
The Elves, _Grimm_
Te Frog-Prince, _Grimm_
The Quern at the Bottom of the Sea, _Asbjornsen_

THE NEGRO FOLK TALE
Brother Rabbit and Brother Bull-Frog, _Harris_


MODERN
Brownie and the Cook, _Craik_
The King of the Golden River, _Ruskin_

THE ORIENTAL WONDER STORY
The Story of Aladdin, Arabian Nights


MYTHS AND LEGENDS

CLASSIC
The Gorgon's Head, _Hawthorne_
Theseus, _Kingsley_

GERMANIC
Thor Goes a-Fishing, _Mabie_
Baldur, _Keary-Morss_

THE HERO STORY
Sir William Wallace, _Scott_

THE REPRODUCTION
The Tempest, _Shakespeare-Lamb_

DIDACTIC STORIES
The Purple Jar, _Edgeworth_
Difference and Agreement, _Aiken and Barbauld_
Eyes and No Eyes, _Aiken and Barbauld_

ANIMAL SKETCHES AND STORIES
Rab and His Friends, _Brown_
The Busy Blue Jay, _Miller_
A Cry in the Night, _Long_

SELECTIONS FROM THE BIBLE
The Story of Joseph
The Story of Samson
David's Psalms: First, Nineteenth, Twenty-third
Christ's Sermon on the Mount
Paul's Discourse on Charity


OTHER PROSE FORMS

LETTERS
Lewis Carroll to Miss Standen
Thomas Hood to Miss Elliot
Charles Dickens to Master Hughes

ESSAYS
Traits of Indian Character, _Irving_
Of Studies, _Bacon_
The American Boy, _Roosevelt_

ORATIONS
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, _Henry_
Supposed Speech of John Adams, _Webster_
Gettysburg Address, _Lincoln_


APPENDIX

NOTES

INDEX TO AUTHORS, TITLES, AND THE FIRST LINES OF POEMS




TYPES OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE



NURSERY JINGLES


Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating of curds and whey;
Along came a spider
And sat down beside her,
Which frightened Miss Muffet away.

* * * * *

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John
Went to bed with his stockings on;
One shoe off, the other shoe on,
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John.

* * * * *

"Let's go to bed,"
Says Sleepy-head;
"Let's stay awhile," says Slow;
"Put on the pot,"
Says Greedy-sot,
"We'll sup before we go."

* * * * *

Jack Sprat could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean:
And so betwixt them both, you see,
They licked the platter clean.

* * * * *

There was a little girl,
And she had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good,
She was very, very good;
But when she was bad--she was horrid.

[Footnote: Attributed to Longfellow.]

* * * * *

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

* * * * *

Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
And down he run,
Hickory, dickory, dock

* * * * *

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe;
She had so many children she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread,
And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

* * * * *

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her.
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well.

* * * * *

Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner,
Eating a Christmas pie:
He put in his thumb
And pulled out a plum
And said, "What a good boy am I!"

* * * * *

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor dog a bone;
But when she got there,
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.

She went to the baker's
To buy him some bread;
And when she came back,
The poor dog was dead.

She went to the joiner's
To buy him a coffin;
And when she came back,
The doggy was laughin'.

She went to the butcher's
To buy him some tripe;
And when she came back,
He was smoking his pipe.

She went to the hatter's
To buy him a hat;
And when she came back,
He was feeding the cat.

She went to the barber's
To buy him a wig;
And when she came back,
He was dancing a jig.

She went to the tailor's
To buy him a coat;
And when she came back,
He was riding a goat.

She went to the cobbler's
To buy him some shoes;
And when she came back,
He was reading the news.

* * * * *

Little Bo-peep
She lost her sheep,
And couldn't tell where to find them.
"Let them alone
And they'll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them."

Little Bo-peep
Fell fast asleep
And dreamt she heard them bleating,
But when she awoke,
She found it a joke,
For still they all were fleeting.

Then up she took
Her little crook,
Determined for to find them.

She found them indeed,
But it made her heart bleed,--
For they'd left their tails behind them.

* * * * *

My dear, do you know
A long time ago
Two poor little children,
Whose names I don't know,
Were taken away on a bright summer day
And left in the woods, as I've heard people say.

And when it was night,
How sad was their plight!
The sun it went down
And the stars hid their light.
They sobbed and they sighed and sadly they cried,
Till the poor little things at last lay down and died.

And when they were dead,
The robins so red
Brought beech and oak leaves
And over them spread.
And all the day long, the branches among,
They sang to them softly, and this was their song:
"Poor babes in the woods, poor babes in the woods,
Oh, who will come find the poor babes in the woods?"

* * * * *

Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man;
He washed his face in a frying pan,
He combed his hair with a wagon wheel,
And died with the toothache in his heel.

* * * * *

Old Man John sitting down by the spring;
He's a Jew, he's a ring,
He's a many pretty thing.
He's a hammer with nine nails,
He's a cat with nine tails.
Whip jack, spur Tom,
Blow the bellows for Old Man John.

* * * * *

We're all in the dumps,
For diamonds are trumps;
The kittens are gone to St. Paul's;
The babies are bit,
The moon's in a fit,
And the houses are built without walls.

* * * * *

I had a little horse, his name was Dapple Gray;
His legs were made of cornstalks, his body made of hay.
I saddled him and bridled him and rode him off to town;
Up came a puff of wind, and blew him up and down.
The saddle flew off, and I let go,--
Now didn't my horse make a pretty little show?

* * * * *

Georgy-porgy, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
When the boys came out to play,
Georgy-porgy ran away.

* * * * *

April fool, go to school,
Sit on a two-legged stool.
Too wise you are, too wise you be;
You are not too wise for me.

* * * * *

Johnny's mad, and I am glad,
And I know what will please him:
A bottle of wine to make him shine,
And Mary Jones to squeeze him.

* * * * *

Cry, baby, cry,
Stick your finger in your eye
And tell your mother 'twasn't I.

* * * * *

Tell-tale-tit,
Your tongue shall be slit,
And all the dogs about the town
Shall have a little bit.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where is the peck of peppers Peter Piper picked?

* * * * *

Swan swam over the sea,
Swim, swan, swim;
Swan swam back again,
Well swum, swan.

* * * * *

Ickity, pickity, ally gadaw,
Dicks, do, ally gamaw,
Okus, pokus, pelly gaw,
Franz.

* * * * *

One-ery, two-ery, three-ery, thum,
Backsley, Billy, Nicholas, Bum,
One-a-tirry, Dick and Sirry,
Pot ban, riddle man,
Link, Pink, Sink.

* * * * *

Inly, minly, dibbity fig,
Delia, Dolia, dominig,
Otcha, potcha, dominotcha,
Ella Bella boo,
Out goes you.

* * * * *

Intery, mintery, cutery corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn,
Wire, brier, limber lock,
Three geese in a flock;
Along came Tod,
With his long rod,
And scared them all to Migly-wod.
One flew east, one flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo's nest.--
Make your way home, Jack.

* * * * *

Trit-trot, trit-trot,
To buy a penny cake;
Home again, home again,
I met a black-snake.
Pick up a stone
And breaky backy-bone
Trit-trot, trit-trot
All the way home.

* * * * *

Hippity--hop to the barber shop,
To buy a stick of candy;
One for you, and one for me,
And one for Brother Andy.

* * * * *

This little mouse got caught in a trap,
And this little mouse she heard it snap,
This little mouse did loudly squeak out,
And this little mouse did run all about,
This little mouse said, "Do not bewail
And let us take hold and pull him out by the tail."

[Footnote: Recited on the baby's fingers or toes.]

* * * * *

Here we go up, up, up,
Here we go down, down, down-y;
Here we go up, and here we go down,
And here we go round, round, round-y.

* * * * *

As I went through the garden gap,
Whom should I meet but Dick Red-cap,--
A stick in his hand,
A stone in his throat,--
If you'll tell me this riddle,
I'll give you a gold fiddle.
(A cherry)

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One of only seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard handwritten by JK Rowling is unveiled at the New York Public Library as the mass market edition goes on sale around the world

The arcane first book that's also a bestseller

Congratulations to Alex Ross, the deserving winner of the 2008 Guardian first book award. There's been a massed chorus of appreciation for this work already, so I shan't add much, except to say that what I particular enjoy about it is the connections it makes between musics and musicians. I'm the sort of person who goes to a lot of concerts, plays the violin, has some kind of grasp of how the history of music works – but frankly, it's all a bit fragmented and vague, since I have never studied the history of music properly and I can't really do the textbook musicological stuff. As I was reading Ross's book, it dawned on me that most of my knowledge of 20th-century music was based on reading the occasional Grove essay – and mostly, reading programme notes. What Ross's book does brilliantly is knit all these odd and isolated bits of knowledge together, so that everything starts to synthesise rather wonderfully, and you get to know what Sibelius thought of Stravinsky, say (not much – "stillborn affectations" was the phrase employed); or that Alban Berg was lionised by George Gershwin; or that David Bowie referenced Philip Glass and vice versa. That, and then the material is set against its historical and political background, such that this is a book for history-lovers as much as music-lovers.

By the way, there's a pungent criticism of the new-music scene by Hans Eisler in 1928, as quoted by Ross. How much have things changed, I wonder?

"The big music festivals have become downright stock exchanges, where the value of the works is assessed and contracts for the coming season are settled. Yet all this noise is carried out in the vacuum of a bell glass, so to speak, so that not a sound can be heard outside. An empty officiousness celebrates orgies of inbreeding, while there is a complete lack of interest or participation of a public of any kind."

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