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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Short Stories and Selections for Use in the
+Secondary Schools, by Emilie Kip Baker
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Short Stories and Selections for Use in the Secondary Schools
+
+Author: Emilie Kip Baker
+
+Posting Date: March 23, 2015 [EBook #7283]
+Release Date: January, 2005
+First Posted: April 7, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHORT STORIES AND SELECTIONS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by V-M Österman, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+SHORT STORIES AND SELECTIONS
+
+FOR USE IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
+
+COMPILED AND ANNOTATED, WITH QUESTIONS FOR STUDY
+BY
+EMILIE KIP BAKER
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Walter Scott's Library at Abbotsford]
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+A LEAF IN THE STORM, _by_ Louise de la Ramee,
+_from_ A Leaf in the Storm and Other Stories
+
+CATS, _by_ Maurice Hewlett,
+_from_ Earthwork out of Tuscany
+
+AN ADVENTURE, _by_ Honore de Balzac,
+_from_ A Passion in the Desert
+
+FOR THOSE WHO LOVE MUSIC, _by_ Axel Munthe,
+_from_ Vagaries
+
+OUT OF DOORS, _by_ Richard Jefferies,
+_from_ Saint Guido
+
+THE TABOO, _by_ Herman Melville,
+_from_ Typee
+
+SCHOOL DAYS AT THE CONVENT, _by_ George Sand,
+_from_ The Story of My Life (adapted)
+
+IN BRITTANY, _by_ Louisa Alcott,
+_from_ Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag
+
+THE ADIRONDACKS, _by_ John Burroughs,
+_from_ Wake Robin
+
+AN ASCENT OF KILAUEA, _by_ Lady Brassey,
+_from_ Around the World in the Yacht Sunbeam
+
+THE FETISH, _by_ George Eliot,
+_from_ The Mill on the Floss
+
+SALMON FISHING IN IRELAND, _by_ James A. Froude,
+_from_ A Fortnight in Kerry
+
+ACROSS RUNNING WATER, _by_ Fiona Macleod,
+_from_ Sea Magic and Running Water
+
+THE PINE-TREE SHILLINGS, _by_ Nathaniel Hawthorne,
+_from_ Grandfather's Chair
+
+THE WHITE TRAIL, _by_ Stewart Edward White,
+_from_ The Silent Places
+
+A DISSERTATION ON ROAST PIG, _by_ Charles Lamb,
+_from_ Essays of Elia
+
+THE LAST CLASS, _by_ Alphonse Daudet,
+_from_ Monday Tales
+
+AN ARAB FISHERMAN, _by_ Albert Edwards,
+_from_ The Barbary Coast
+
+THE ARCHERY CONTEST, _by_ Walter Scott,
+_from_ Ivanhoe
+
+BABY SYLVESTER, _by_ Bret Harte,
+_from_ Bret Harte's Writings
+
+THE ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG, _by_ Abraham Lincoln,
+_from_ Lincoln's Speeches
+
+THE SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, _by_ Abraham Lincoln,
+_from_ Lincoln's Speeches
+
+AN APPRECIATION OF LINCOLN, _by_ John Hay,
+_from_ Life of Lincoln
+
+THE ELEPHANTS THAT STRUCK, _by_ Samuel White Baker,
+_from_ Eight Years in Ceylon
+
+THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP, _by_ Bret Harte
+
+THE STORY OF MUHAMMAD DIN, _by_ Rudyard Kipling,
+_from_ Plain Tales from the Hills
+
+A CHILD, _by_ John Galsworthy,
+_from_ Commentary
+
+TOO DEAR FOR THE WHISTLE, _by_ Benjamin Franklin,
+_from_ The Autobiography
+
+A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT, _by_ Robert Louis Stevenson,
+_from_ The New Arabian Nights
+
+A BAD FIVE MINUTES IN THE ALPS, _by_ Leslie Stephen,
+_from_ Freethinking and Plainspeaking (adapted)
+
+THE GOLD TRAIL, _by_ Stewart Edward White,
+_from_ Gold
+
+TWENTY YEARS OF ARCTIC STRUGGLE, _by_ J. Kennedy McLean,
+_from_ Heroes of the Farthest North and South (adapted)
+
+THE SPEECH IN MANCHESTER, _by_ Henry Ward Beecher,
+_from_ Addresses and Sermons
+
+A GREEN DONKEY DRIVER, _by_ Robert Louis Stevenson,
+_from_ Travels with a Donkey
+
+A NIGHT IN THE PINES, _by_ Robert Louis Stevenson,
+_from_ Travels with a Donkey
+
+LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK, _by_ Washington Irving,
+_from_ Knickerbocker's History of New York
+
+THE BAZAAR IN MOROCCO, _by_ Pierre Loti,
+_from_ Into Morocco
+
+A BATTLE OF THE ANTS, _by_ Henry D. Thoreau,
+_from_ Walden (adapted)
+
+AN AFRICAN PET, _by_ Paul B. du Chaillu,
+_from_ The African Forest and Jungle
+
+ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE, _by_ Lloyd Morgan,
+_from_ Animal Sketches (adapted)
+
+BUCK'S TRIAL OF STRENGTH, _by_ Jack London,
+_from_ The Call of the Wild
+
+ON THE SOLANDER WHALING GROUND, _by_ Frank Bullen,
+_from_ Idylls of the Sea
+
+AN EPISODE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, _by_ Charles Dickens,
+_from_ A Tale of Two Cities
+
+THE COMMANDER OF THE FAITHFUL, _by_ Pierre Loti,
+_from_ Into Morocco (adapted)
+
+WALT WHITMAN, _by_ John Burroughs,
+_from_ Whitman--A Study (adapted)
+
+HEROISM IN HOUSEKEEPING, _by_ Jane Welsh Carlyle,
+_from_ Letters
+
+A YOUTHFUL ACTOR, _by_ Thomas Bailey Aldrich,
+_from_ The Story of a Bad Boy
+
+WAR, _by_ Thomas Carlyle, _from_ Sartor Resartus
+
+COON-HUNTING, _by_ Ernest Ingersoll,
+_from_ Wild Neighbors (adapted)
+
+SIGHT IN SAVAGES, _by_ W. H. Hudson,
+_from_ Idle Days in Patagonia
+
+THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER, _by_ Washington Irving,
+_from_ The Sketch Book
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+The testimony of librarians as to the kind of books people are reading
+nowadays is somewhat discouraging to the book-lover who has been brought
+up in the old traditions. We are told that Scott and Thackeray and
+George Eliot cannot compete with the year's "best sellers," and that the
+old classics are read only by the few who have a cultivated taste and a
+trained intelligence.
+
+The interest of novelty, the dislike of mental effort, the temptation to
+read merely for a mild sensation,--all these undoubtedly tend to keep
+down the level of literary taste. To many readers of good average
+ability, neither the esthetic nor the purely intellectual makes a strong
+appeal. Even minds of fine quality often find a welcome diversion in
+trivial reading. In fact, to expect every one and at all times to have
+his mind keyed up to the higher levels is neither sincere nor
+reasonable. And yet, making due allowance for intellectual limitations,
+for the busy and distracting conditions of modern life, and for the real
+need of light reading at times when recreation is of more value than
+instruction, it would seem that a fair proportion of our reading could
+and should be on a higher plane.
+
+To put it on this high plane is one of the fixed objects of the school.
+For this end the schools have given English an important place, have
+broadened the list of recommended books year by year, and have sought to
+improve the method of teaching literature. Especially have they hoped to
+create in the pupil the habit of reading good books and of discovering
+new material on his own initiative. Thus far their success has fallen
+much below their hopes, as the testimony of librarians, adduced above,
+plainly indicates.
+
+There is one significant fact which both librarians and teachers have
+observed. The average reader, child or adult, seldom knows how or where
+to find things to read. He is lost in a library, whether among the
+book-shelves or at a card-catalogue. He is like a traveler who is
+ignorant of the geography of the country and cannot use the compass. And
+worse still, he has not the explorer's instinct. If he possessed this,
+he would somehow find his way himself,--a thing which occasionally
+happens when the reader has more than usual ability. Between the covers
+of those books, turning to him their uncommunicative backs, behind those
+labels--to him so unexpressive--there may be passages, whole chapters or
+more, that would give him entertainment, if he only knew!
+
+To introduce him to an author may be to give him a new friend.
+Introductions need not imply long and intimate companionship. This
+author may hold him for half an hour, and never again; that one may
+claim his attention for a day; and another may come to rank as one of
+his old friends. In each case the acquaintance may depend upon the fact
+of an introduction, and not upon the reader's own initiative in
+discovery. More than the acquaintances thus made, is the sense of
+at-homeness among books which they gradually bring about. We all know
+that feeling of the unreality of a book of which we have merely heard
+the title, and how soon we forget it. A book that we have seen and
+handled, however, and especially one which we have read or from which we
+have seen a passage quoted in another volume, is somehow real,--an
+entity. Through continued experiences of this sort we come to feel
+really acquainted with books, to know where to find the things we are
+looking for, to judge and appreciate,--in brief, to feel at home among
+them.
+
+It is as a series of such introductions to the larger world of
+literature that this volume has been compiled. Some of the selections
+are from books whose titles are already familiar to high school
+students; many others are from sources that few pupils will know. All of
+them, it is confidently believed, are within the interest and
+comprehension of boys and girls of high school age. The notes and
+questions at the end of each selection will, it is hoped, be of some
+help to the students in getting at the author's meaning, and in
+suggesting interesting topics for discussion. If, after finishing the
+Short Stories and Selections, a few more students will have formed the
+habit of good reading and will feel, not merely willing, but eager, to
+enlarge their acquaintance among good books, this volume has
+accomplished its purpose.
+
+EMILIE K. BAKER
+
+
+
+
+SHORT STORIES AND SELECTIONS
+
+
+
+
+A LEAF IN THE STORM
+
+
+Bernadou clung to his home with a dogged devotion. He would not go from
+it to fight unless compelled, but for it he would have fought like a
+lion. His love for his country was only an indefinite shadowy existence
+that was not clear to him; he could not save a land that he had never
+seen, a capital that was only to him as an empty name; nor could he
+comprehend the danger that his nation ran; nor could he desire to go
+forth and spend his lifeblood in defence of things unknown to him. He
+was only a peasant, and he could not read nor greatly understand. But
+affection for his birthplace was a passion with him,--mute indeed, but
+deep-seated as an oak. For his birthplace he would have struggled as a
+man can struggle only when supreme love as well as duty nerves his arm.
+Neither he nor Reine Allix could see that a man's duty might lie from
+home, but in that home both were alike ready to dare anything and to
+suffer everything. It was a narrow form of patriotism, yet it had
+nobleness, endurance, and patience in it; in song it has been oftentimes
+deified as heroism, but in modern warfare it is punished as the blackest
+crime.
+
+So Bernadou tarried in his cottage till he should be called, keeping
+watch by night over the safety of his village and by day doing all he
+could to aid the deserted wives and mothers of the place by tilling
+their ground for them and by tending such poor cattle as were left in
+their desolate fields. He and Margot and Reine Allix, between them, fed
+many mouths that would otherwise have been closed in death by famine,
+and denied themselves all except the barest and most meagre subsistence,
+that they might give away the little they possessed.
+
+And all this while the war went on, but seemed far from them, so seldom
+did any tidings of it pierce the seclusion in which they dwelt. By and
+by, as the autumn went on, they learned a little more. Fugitives coming
+to the smithy for a horse's shoe; women fleeing to their old village
+homes from their light, gay life in the city; mandates from the
+government of defence sent to every hamlet in the country; stray
+news-sheets brought in by carriers or hawkers and hucksters,--all these
+by degrees told them of the peril of their country,--vaguely, indeed,
+and seldom truthfully, but so that by mutilated rumors they came at last
+to know the awful facts of the fate of Sedan, the fall of the Empire,
+the siege of Paris. It did not alter their daily lives: it was still too
+far off and too impalpable. But a foreboding, a dread, an unspeakable
+woe settled down on them. Already their lands and cattle had been
+harassed to yield provision for the army and large towns; already their
+best horses had been taken for the siege-trains and the forage-wagons;
+already their ploughshares were perforce idle, and their children cried
+because of the scarcity of nourishment; already the iron of war had
+entered into their souls.
+
+The little street at evening was mournful and very silent: the few who
+talked spoke in whispers, lest a spy should hear them, and the young
+ones had no strength to play: they wanted food.
+
+Bernadou, now that all means of defence was gone from him, and the only
+thing left to him to deal with was his own life, had become quiet and
+silent and passionless, as was his habit. He would have fought like a
+mastiff for his home, but this they had forbidden him to do, and he was
+passive and without hope. He closed his door, and sat down with his hand
+in that of Reine Allix and his arm around his wife. "There is nothing to
+do but wait" he said sadly. The day seemed very long in coming.
+
+The firing (which had come nearer each day) ceased for a while; then its
+roll commenced afresh, and grew still nearer to the village. Then again
+all was still.
+
+At noon a shepherd staggered into the place, pale, bleeding, bruised,
+covered with mire. The Prussians, he told them, had forced him to be
+their guide, had knotted him tight to a trooper's saddle, and had
+dragged him with them until he was half dead with fatigue and pain. At
+night he had broken from them and had fled: they were close at hand, he
+said, and had burned the town from end to end because a man had fired at
+them from a house-top. That was all he knew. Bernadou, who had gone out
+to hear his news, returned into the house and sat down and hid his face
+within his hands.
+
+It grew dark. The autumn day died. The sullen clouds dropped scattered
+rain. The red leaves were blown in millions by the wind. The little
+houses on either side the road were dark, for the dwellers in them dared
+not show any light that might be a star to allure to them the footsteps
+of their foes. Bernadou sat with his arms on the table, and his head
+resting on them. Margot nursed her son: Reine Allix prayed.
+
+Suddenly in the street without there was the sound of many feet of
+horses and of men, the shouting of angry voices, the splashing of quick
+steps in the watery ways, the screams of women, the flash of steel
+through the gloom. Bernadou sprang to his feet, his face pale, his blue
+eyes dark as night. "They are come!" he said under his breath. It was
+not fear that he felt, nor horror: it was rather a passion of love for
+his birthplace and his nation,--a passion of longing to struggle and to
+die for both. And he had no weapon!
+
+He drew his house-door open with a steady hand, and stood on his own
+threshold and faced these, his enemies. The street was full of
+them,--some mounted, some on foots crowds of them swarmed in the woods
+on the roads. They had settled on the village as vultures on a dead
+lamb's body. It was a little, lowly place: it might well have been left
+in peace. It had had no more share in the war than a child still unborn,
+but it came in the victor's way, and his mailed heel crushed it as he
+passed. They had heard that arms were hidden and francs-tireurs
+sheltered there, and they had swooped down on it and held it hard and
+fast. Some were told off to search the chapel; some to ransack the
+dwellings; some to seize such food and bring such cattle as there might
+be left; some to seek out the devious paths that crossed and recrossed
+the field; and yet there still remained in the little street hundreds of
+armed men, force enough to awe a citadel or storm a breach.
+
+The people did not attempt to resist. They stood passive, dry-eyed in
+misery, looking on whilst the little treasures of their household lives
+were swept away forever, and ignorant what fate by fire or iron might be
+their portion ere the night was done. They saw the corn that was their
+winter store to save their offspring from famine poured out like
+ditch-water. They saw oats and wheat flung down to be trodden into a
+slough of mud and filth. They saw the walnut presses in their kitchens
+broken open, and their old heirlooms of silver, centuries old, borne
+away as booty. They saw the oak cupboard in their wives' bedchambers
+ransacked, and the homespun linen and the quaint bits of plate that had
+formed their nuptial dowers cast aside in derision or trampled into a
+battered heap. They saw the pet lamb of their infants, the silver
+earrings of their brides, the brave tankards they had drunk their
+marriage wine in, the tame bird that flew to their whistle, all seized
+for food or spoil. They saw all this, and had to stand by with mute
+tongues and passive hands, lest any glance of wrath or gesture of
+revenge should bring the leaden bullets in their children's throats or
+the yellow flame amidst their homesteads. Greater agony the world cannot
+hold.
+
+--LOUISE DE LA RAMEE (Ouida).
+
+[Footnote: This extract is taken from a story by the same title. The
+chief characters are the peasant Bernadou, his wife Margot, and his old
+grandmother Reine Allix. The scene is laid during the Franco-Prussian
+War of 1870. The great defeat of the French at Sedan, and the surrender
+of Paris from starvation after a long siege brought the war to an end.
+The victorious Prussians took from France an indemnity of five billion
+francs ($1,000,000,000), and two of their richest provinces, Alsace and
+Lorraine.
+
+What words in the first sentence show that it is not the beginning of
+the story? Note the repeated use of antithesis (contrast) in the first
+paragraph. By what details do you learn the state of the country? How
+did the war affect even the people remote from the battlefields? How are
+the terror and suffering of the people indicated? Notice the
+effectiveness of the author's use of details. Have you read any prose or
+poetry in which war is made to seem glorious? How does it seem here?
+Does the author make the scene of the arrival of the Prussians vivid?
+How is this done? Note the dramatic contrast between the arrival of the
+Prussians and the actions of the peasants. How has the author drawn the
+character of Bernadou? By what details does the author give special
+poignancy to the pathos of her account? What is the significance of the
+title "A Leaf in the Storm"?]
+
+
+
+
+CATS
+
+
+There was once a man in Italy--so the story runs--who said that animals
+were sacred because God had made them. People didn't believe him for a
+long time; they came, you see, of a race which had found it amusing to
+kill such things, and killed a great many of them too, until it struck
+them one fine day that killing men was better sport still, and watching
+men kill each other the best sport of all because it was the least
+trouble. Animals said they, why, how can they be sacred; things that you
+call beef and mutton when they have left off being oxen and sheep, and
+sell for so much a pound? They scoffed at this mad neighbour, looked at
+each other waggishly and shrugged their shoulders as he passed along the
+street. Well! then, all of a sudden, as you may say, one morning he
+walked into the town--Gubbio it was--with a wolf pacing at his heels--a
+certain wolf which had been the terror of the country-side and eaten I
+don't know how many children and goats. He walked up the main street
+till he got to the open Piazza in front of the great church. And the
+long grey wolf padded beside him with a limp tongue lolling out between
+the ragged palings which stood him for teeth. In the middle of the
+Piazza was a fountain, and above the fountain a tall stone crucifix. Our
+friend mounted the steps of the cross in the alert way he had (like a
+little bird, the story says) and the wolf, after lapping apologetically
+in the basin, followed him up three steps at a time. Then with one arm
+around the shaft to steady himself, he made a fine sermon to the
+neighbours crowding in the Square, and the wolf stood with his fore-paws
+on the edge of the fountain and helped him. The sermon was all about
+wolves (naturally) and the best way of treating them. I fancy the people
+came to agree with it in time; anyhow when the man died they made a
+saint of him and built three churches, one over another, to contain his
+body. And I believe it is entirely his fault that there are a
+hundred-and-three cats in the convent-garden of San Lorenzo in Florence.
+For what are you to do? Animals are sacred, says Saint Francis. Animals
+are sacred, but cats have kittens; and so it comes about that the people
+who agree with Saint Francis have to suffer for the people who don't.
+
+The Canons of San Lorenzo agree with Saint Francis, and it seems to me
+that they must suffer a good deal. The convent is large; it has a great
+mildewed cloister with a covered-in walk all around it built on arches.
+In the middle is a green garth [Footnote: Garth: an inclosure, a yard.]
+with cypresses and yews dotted about; and when you look up you see the
+blue sky cut square, and the hot tiles of a huge dome staring up into
+it. Round the cloister walk are discreet brown doors, and by the side of
+each door a brass plate tells you the name and titles of the Canon who
+lives behind it. It is on the principle of Dean's yard at Westminster;
+only here there are more Canons--and more cats.
+
+The Canons live under the cloister; the cats live on the green garth,
+and sometimes die there. I did not see much of the Canons; but the cats
+seemed to me very sad--depressed, nostalgic even, might describe them,
+if there had not been something more languid, something faded and
+spiritless about their habit. It was not that they quarrelled. I heard
+none of those long-drawn wails, gloomy yet mellow soliloquies, with
+which our cats usher in the crescent moon or hymn her when she swims at
+the full: there lacked even that comely resignation we may see on any
+sunny window-ledge at home;--the rounded back and neatly ordered tail,
+the immaculate fore-paws peering sedately below the snowy chest, the
+squeezed-up eyes which so resolutely shut off a bleak and (so to say)
+unenlightened world. That is pensiveness, sedate chastened melancholy;
+but it is soothing, it speaks a philosophy, and a certain balancing of
+pleasures and pains. In San Lorenzo cloister, when I looked in one hot
+noon seeking a refuge from the glare and white dust of the city, I was
+conscious of a something sinister that forbade such an even existence
+for the smoothest tempered cat. There were too many of them for
+companionship and perhaps too few for the humour of the thing to strike
+them: in and out the chilly shades they stalked gloomily, hither and
+thither like lank and unquiet ghosts of starved cats. They were of all
+colours--gay orange-tawny, tortoise shell with the becoming white patch
+over one eye, delicate tints of grey and fawn and lavender, brindle,
+glossy sable; and yet the gloom and dampness of the place seemed to
+mildew them all so that their brightness was glaring and their softest
+gradations took on a shade as of rusty mourning. No cat could be
+expected to do herself justice.
+
+To and fro they paced, balancing sometimes with hysterical precision
+[Footnote: Hysterical precision. What does this mean?] on the ledge of
+the parapet, passing each other at whisker's length, but cutting each
+other dead. [Footnote: Cutting each other dead. Have you ever thought of
+the quaint absurdity of this figurative expression?] Not a cat had a
+look or a sniff for his fellow; not a cat so much as guessed at
+another's existence. Among those hundred-and-three restless Spirits
+there was not a cat that did not affect to believe that a
+hundred-and-two were away! It was horrible, the inhumanity of it. Here
+were these shreds and waifs, these "unnecessary litters" of Florentine
+households, herded together in the only asylum (short of the Arno
+[Footnote: Arno: the river that flows through Florence.]) open to them,
+driven in like dead leaves in November, flitting dismally round and
+round for a span, and watching each other die without a mew or a lick!
+Saint Francis was not the wise man I had thought him. [Footnote: St.
+Francis not the wise man, etc. Why not?]
+
+It was about two o'clock in the afternoon. I had watched these beasts at
+their feverish exercises for nearly an hour before I perceived that they
+were gradually hemming me in. They seemed to be forming up, in ranks, on
+the garth. Only a ditch separated us--I was in the cloister-walk, a
+hundred-and-three gaunt, expectant, desperate cats facing me. Their
+famished pale eyes pierced me through and through; and
+two-hundred-and-two hungry eyes (four cats supported life on one apiece)
+is more than I can stand, though I am a married man with a family. These
+brutes thought I was going to feed them! I was preparing weakly for
+flight when I heard steps in the gateway; a woman came in with a black
+bag. She must be going to deposit a cat on Jean-Jacques [Footnote: Jean
+Jacques Rousseau: a French philosophical writer of the last part of the
+eighteenth century. His chief works are "Emile," "Social Contract,"
+"Confessions."] ingenious plan of avoiding domestic trouble; it was
+surely impossible she wanted to borrow one! Neither: she came
+confidently in, beaming on our mad fellowship with a pleasant smile of
+preparation. The cats knew her better than I did. Their suspense was
+really shocking to witness. While she was rolling her sleeves up and
+tying on her apron--she was poor, evidently, but very neat and wholesome
+in her black dress and the decent cap which crowned her hair--while she
+unpacked the contents of the bag--two newspaper parcels full of rather
+distressing viands, scissors, and a pair of gloves which had done duty
+more than once,--while all these preparations were soberly fulfilling,
+the agitation of the hundred-and-three was desperate indeed. The air
+grew thick, it quivered with the lashing of tails; hoarse mews echoed
+along the stone walls, paws were raised and let fall with the rhythmical
+patter of raindrops. A furtive beast played the thief: he was one of the
+one-eyed fraternity, red with mange. Somehow he slipped in between us;
+we discovered him crouched by the newspaper raking over the contents.
+This was no time for ceremony; he got a prompt cuff over the head and
+slunk away shivering and shaking his ears. And then the distribution
+began. Now, your cat, at the best of times, is squeamish about his food;
+he stands no tricks. He is a slow eater, though he can secure his dinner
+with the best of us. A vicious snatch, like a snake, and he has it. Then
+he spreads himself out to dispose of the prey--feet tucked well in, head
+low, tail laid close along, eyes shut fast. That is how a cat of
+breeding loves to dine. Alas! many a day of intolerable prowling, many a
+black vigil, had taken the polish off the hundred-and-three. As a matter
+of fact they behaved abominably; they leaped at the scraps, they clawed
+at them in the air, they bolted them whole with staring eyes and
+portentous gulpings, they growled all the while with the smothered
+ferocity of thunder in the hills. No waiting of turns, no licking of
+lips and moustaches to get the lingering flavors, no dalliance. They
+were as restless and suspicious here as everywhere; their feast was the
+horrid hasty orgy of ghouls in a church-yard. But an even distribution
+was made: I don't think any one got more than his share. Of course there
+were underhand attempts in plenty and, at least once, open violence--a
+sudden rush from opposite sides, a growling and spitting like sparks
+from a smithy; and then, with ears laid flat, two ill-favoured beasts
+clawed blindly at each other, and a sly and tigerish brindle made away
+with the morsel. My woman took the thing very coolly I thought, served
+them all alike, and didn't resent (as I should have done) the
+unfortunate want of delicacy there was about these vagrants. A cat that
+takes your food and growls at you for the favor, a cat that would eat
+you if he dared, is a pretty revelation. _Ca donne furieusement a
+penser._ [Footnote: Ca donne furieusement a penser: "That makes one
+think very hard."] It gives you a suspicion of just how far the polish
+we most of us smirk over will go. My cats at San Lorenzo knew some few
+moments of peace between two and three in the afternoon. That would have
+been the time to get up a testimonial to the kind soul who fed them. Try
+them at five and they would ignore you. But try them next morning!
+
+My knowledge of the Italian tongue, in those days, was severely limited
+to the necessaries of existence; to try me on a fancy subject, like
+cats, was to strike me dumb. But at this stage of our intercourse
+(hitherto confined to smiles and eye-service) it became so evident my
+companion had something to say that I must perforce take my hat off and
+stand attentive. She pointed to the middle of the garth, and there,
+under the boughs of a shrub, I saw the hundred-and-fourth cat, sorriest
+of them all. It was a newcomer she told me, and shy. Shy it certainly
+was, poor wretch; it glowered upon me from under the branches like a bad
+conscience. Shyness could not hide hunger--I never saw hungrier eyes
+than hers--but it could hold it in check: the silkiest speech could not
+tempt her out, and when we threw pieces she only winced! What was to be
+done next was my work. Plain duty called me to scale the ditch with some
+of those dripping, slippery, nameless cates [Footnote: Cates: viands;
+things to eat. Why "slippery"? Nameless. What are they called in the
+third sentence from the end of the paragraph?] in my fingers and to
+approach the stranger where she lurked bodeful under her tree. My
+passage toward her lay over the rank vegetation of the garth, in whose
+coarse herbage here and there I stumbled upon a limp white form
+stretched out--a waif the less in the world! I don't say it was a happy
+passage for me: it was made to the visible consternation of her I wished
+to befriend. Her piteous yellow eyes searched mine for sympathy; she
+wanted to tell me something and I wouldn't understand! As I neared her
+she shivered and mewed twice. Then she limped painfully off--poor soul,
+she had but three feet!--to another tree, leaving behind her,
+unwillingly enough, a much-licked dead kitten. That was what she wanted
+to tell, then. As I was there, I deposited the garbage by the side of
+the little corpse, knowing she would resume her watch, and retired. My
+friend who had put up her parcels was prepared to go. She thanked me
+with a smile as she went out, looking carefully round lest she had
+missed out some other night-birds.
+
+One of the Canons had come out of his door and was leaning against the
+lintel, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. He was a spare dry man who seemed
+to have measured life and found it childish business. He jerked his head
+toward the gateway as he glanced at me. "That is a good woman," he said
+in French, "she lendeth unto the Lord.... Yes," he went on, nodding his
+head slowly backwards and forwards, "lends Him something every day." The
+cats were sitting in the shady cloister-garth licking their whiskers:
+one was actually cleaning his paw. I went out into the sun thinking of
+Saint Francis and his wolf.
+
+[Footnote: St. Francis was born in 1182 in the little town of Assissi,
+Italy. He came of a rich and noble family, and was taken into business
+partnership with his father, a wealthy merchant, at the age of fourteen.
+In his twenty-fourth year he suddenly abandoned his friends and work,
+and took up a life of penance and utter poverty. His austerities, his
+sincerity, and his simple eloquence attracted much attention, and he
+soon had many followers. Later on he founded the Franciscan Order of
+monks, and did much missionary work by traveling in the East. He died at
+Assissi in 1226.]
+
+--MAURICE HEWLETT.
+
+[Footnote: What reference in the first sentence to the sports in the
+arena of Rome?
+
+Notice how many times the author refers to the number of cats. Why?
+
+Is the description of the scene objective or subjective? Cf. "A Leaf in
+the Storm."
+
+Notice the suggestiveness of the adjectives as in the reference to
+"Discrete brown doors" on page 7.
+
+How do these cats differ from cats as you know them? What qualities have
+they that you recognize? Where does the author indicate that he is about
+to begin a story? Does the author win your sympathy for the cats? How?
+In what does the humor of the story lie? What is the climax of the
+story? What do you think of the priest and his comment? Does the whole
+sketch interest you because it describes a strange scene, or because it
+raises the question of the humanity of keeping alive one hundred and
+three cats?]
+
+
+
+
+AN ADVENTURE
+
+
+During the expedition to Upper Egypt under General Desaix, a Provencal
+[Footnote: Provencal. Provence was an ancient government of southeastern
+France. It became part of the crown lands in 1481 under Louis XI. The
+term Provencals is used loosely to include dwellers in the south of
+France.] soldier, who had fallen into the clutches of the Maugrabins,
+was marched by these marauders, these tireless Arabs, into the deserts
+lying beyond the cataracts of the Nile.
+
+So as to put a sufficient distance between themselves and the French
+army, to insure their greater safety, the Maugrabins [Footnote:
+Maugrabins: a savage tribe of northern Africa.] made forced marches and
+rested only during the night. They then encamped around a well shaded by
+palm-trees, under which they had previously concealed a store of
+provisions. Never dreaming that their prisoner would think of escaping,
+they satisfied themselves by merely tying his hands, then lay down to
+sleep, after having regaled themselves with a few dates and given
+provender to their horses.
+
+When the courageous Provencal noted that they slept soundly and could no
+longer watch his movements, he made use of his teeth to steal a
+scimitar, [Footnote: Scimitar: a short Turkish sword, carbine: a short
+light rifle.] steadied the blade between his knees, cut through the
+thongs which bound his hands; in an instant he was free. He at once
+seized a carbine and a long dirk, [Footnote: Dirk: a dagger.] then took
+the precaution of providing himself with a stock of dried dates, a small
+bag of oats, some powder and bullets, and hung a scimitar around his
+waist, mounted one of the horses and spurred on in the direction in
+which he supposed the French army to be. So impatient was he to see a
+bivouac [Footnote: Bivouac: an encampment without tents.] again that he
+pressed on the already tired courser at such a speed that its flanks
+were lacerated with the spurs, and soon the poor animal, utterly
+exhausted, fell dead, leaving the Frenchman alone in the midst of the
+desert.
+
+After walking for a long time in the sand, with all the courage and
+firmness of an escaped convict, the soldier was obliged to stop, as the
+day had already come to an end. Despite the beauty of an Oriental night,
+with its exquisite sky, he felt that he could not, though he fain would,
+continue on his weary way. Fortunately he had come to a small eminence,
+on the summit of which grew a few palm-trees whose verdure shot into the
+air and could be seen from afar; this had brought hope and consolation
+to his heart.
+
+(Here follows a description of the cave which the soldier finds in the
+rocks.)
+
+His fatigue was so great that he threw himself down on a block of
+granite, capriciously fashioned [Footnote: Capriciously fashioned.
+Explain this term.] by nature into the semblance of a camp-bed, and,
+without taking any precaution for defense, was soon fast in sleep. In
+the middle of the night his sleep was disturbed by an extraordinary
+sound. He sat up; the profound silence that reigned around enabled him
+to distinguish the alternating rhythm of a respiration whose savage
+energy it was impossible could be that of a human being.
+
+A terrible terror, increased yet more by the silence, the darkness, his
+racing fancy, froze his heart within him. He felt his hair rise on end,
+as his eyes, dilated to their utmost, perceived through the gloom two
+faint amber lights. At first he attributed these lights to the delusion
+of his vision, but presently the vivid brilliance of the night aided him
+to gradually distinguish the objects around him in the cave, when he
+saw, within the space of two feet of him, a huge animal lying at rest.
+Was it a lion? Was it a tiger? Was it a crocodile?
+
+The Provencal was not sufficiently well educated to know under what
+sub-species his enemy should be classed; his fear was but the greater
+because his ignorance led him to imagine every terror at once. He
+endured most cruel tortures as he noted every variation of the breathing
+which was so near him; he dared not make the slightest movement.
+
+An odor, pungent like that of a fox, but more penetrating as it were,
+more profound, filled the cavern. When the Provencal became sensible of
+this, his terror reached the climax, for now he could no longer doubt
+the proximity of a terrible companion, whose royal lair [Footnote: Royal
+lair. Why royal?] he had utilized as a bivouac.
+
+Presently the reflection of the moon as it slowly descended to the
+horizon, lighted up the den, rendering gradually visible the gleaming,
+resplendent, and spotted skin of a panther.
+
+This lion of Egypt lay asleep curled up like a great dog, the peaceful
+possessor of a kennel at the door of some sumptuous hotel; its eyes
+opened for a moment, then closed again; its face was turned towards the
+Frenchman. A thousand confused thoughts passed through the mind of the
+tiger's prisoner. Should he, as he at first thought of doing, kill it
+with a shot from his carbine? But he saw plainly that there was not room
+enough in which to take proper aim; the muzzle would have extended
+beyond the animal--the bullet would miss the mark. And what if it were
+to wake!--this fear kept him motionless and rigid.
+
+He heard the pulsing of his heart beating in the so dread silence and he
+cursed the too violent pulsations which his surging blood brought on,
+lest they should awaken from sleep the dreadful creature; that slumber
+which gave him time to think and plan over his escape.
+
+Twice did he place his hand upon his scimitar, intending to cut off his
+enemy's head; but the difficulty of severing the close haired skin
+caused him to renounce this daring attempt. To miss was certain death.
+He preferred the chance of a fair fight, and made up his mind to await
+the daylight. The dawn did not give him long to wait. It came.
+
+He could now examine the panther at his ease; its muzzle was smeared
+with blood.
+
+"It's had a good dinner," he said, without troubling himself to
+speculate whether the feast might have been of human flesh or not. "It
+won't be hungry when it wakes."
+
+It was a female. The fur on her thighs was glistening white. Many small
+spots like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her paws; her sinuous
+tail was also white, ending in black rings. The back of her dress was
+yellow, like unburnished gold, very lissome, [Footnote: Lissome: supple,
+nimble.] and soft, and had the characteristic blotches in the shape of
+pretty rosettes, which distinguish the panther from every other species
+felis. [Footnote: Species felis. Latin "felis," a cat.]
+
+This formidable hostess lay tranquilly snoring in an attitude as
+graceful and easy as that of a cat on the cushion of an ottoman. Her
+bloody paws, nervous and well armed, were stretched out before her head,
+which rested on the back of them, while from her muzzle radiated her
+straight, slender whiskers, like threads of silver.
+
+If he had seen her lying thus, imprisoned in a cage, the Provencal would
+doubtless have admired the grace of the creature and the vivid contrasts
+of color which gave her robe an imperial splendour; but just then his
+sight was jaundiced [Footnote: Jaundiced. Explain this term.] by
+sinister forebodings.
+
+The presence of the panther, even asleep, had the same effect upon him
+as the magnetic eyes of a snake are said to have on the nightingale.
+
+The soldier's courage oozed away in the presence of this silent danger,
+though he was a man who gathered courage at the mouth of a cannon
+belching forth shot and shell. And yet a bold thought brought daylight
+to his soul and sealed up the source from whence issued the cold sweat
+which gathered on his brow. Like men driven to bay, who defy death and
+offer their bodies to the smiter, so he, seeing in this merely a tragic
+episode, resolved to play his part with honor to the last.
+
+"The day before yesterday," said he, "the Arabs might have killed me."
+
+So considering himself as already dead, he waited bravely, but with
+anxious curiosity, the awakening of his enemy.
+
+When the sun appeared the panther suddenly opened her eyes; then she
+stretched out her paws with energy, as if to get rid of cramp. Presently
+she yawned and showed the frightful armament of her teeth, and the
+pointed tongue rough as a rasp.
+
+"She is dainty as a woman," thought the Frenchman, seeing her rolling
+and turning herself about so softly and coquettishly. She licked off the
+blood from her paws and muzzle, and scratched her head with reiterated
+grace of movement.
+
+"Good, make your little toilet" said the Frenchman to himself; he
+recovered his gayety with his courage. "We are presently about to give
+each other good-morning," and he felt for the short poniard that he had
+abstracted from the Maugrabins. At this instant the panther turned her
+head toward him and gazed fixedly at him, without otherwise moving.
+
+The rigidity of her metallic eyes and their insupportable lustre made
+him shudder. The beast approached him; he looked at her caressingly,
+staring into those bright eyes in an effort to magnetize her--to soothe
+her. He let her come quite close to him before stirring; then with a
+gentle movement, he passed his hand over her whole body, from the head
+to the tail, scratching the flexible vertebrae, [Footnote: Vertebrae:
+the bones of the spinal column.] which divided the yellow back of the
+panther. The animal slightly moved her tail voluptuously, and her eyes
+grew soft and gentle; and when for the third time the Frenchman had
+accomplished this interested flattery, she gave vent to those purrings
+like as cats express their pleasure; but it issued from a throat so
+deep, so powerful, that it resounded through the cave like the last
+chords of an organ rolling along the vaulted roof of a church. The
+Provencal seeing the value of his caresses, redoubled them until they
+completely soothed and lulled this imperious creature.
+
+When he felt assured that he had extinguished the ferocity of his
+capricious companion, whose hunger had so luckily been appeased the day
+before, he got up to leave the grotto. The panther let him go out, but
+when he reached the summit of the little knoll she sprang up and bounded
+after him with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to twig on a
+tree, and rubbed against his legs, arching her back after the manner of
+a domestic cat. Then regarding her guest with eyes whose glare had
+somewhat softened, she gave vent to that wild cry which naturalists
+compare to the grating of a saw.
+
+"Madame is exacting," said the Frenchman, smiling.
+
+He was bold enough to play with her ears; he stroked her body and
+scratched her head good and hard with his nails. He was encouraged with
+his success, and tickled her skull with the point of his dagger,
+watching for an opportune moment to kill her, but the hardness of the
+bone made him tremble, dreading failure.
+
+The sultana of the desert [Footnote: Why does the author call the tiger
+the sultana of the desert?] showed herself gracious to her slave; she
+lifted her head, stretched out her neck, and betrayed her delight by the
+tranquillity of her relaxed attitude. It suddenly occurred to the
+soldier that, to slay this savage princess with one blow, he must stab
+deep in the throat.
+
+He raised the blade, when the panther, satisfied, no doubt, threw
+herself gracefully at his feet and glanced up at him with a look in
+which, despite her natural ferocity, a glimmer of goodwill was apparent.
+The poor Provencal, thus frustrated for the nonce, [Footnote: For the
+nonce: for the present.] ate his dates as he leaned against one of the
+palm-trees, casting an interrogating glance from time to time across the
+desert in quest of some deliverer, and on his terrible companion,
+watching the chance of her uncertain clemency.
+
+The panther looked at the place where the date-stones fell; and each
+time he threw one, she examined the Frenchman with an eye of commercial
+distrust. [Footnote: An eye of commercial distrust. Explain this term.]
+However, the examination seemed to be favorable to him, for, when he had
+eaten his frugal meal, she licked his boots with her powerful, rough
+tongue, cleaning off the dust, which was caked in the wrinkles, in a
+marvellous manner.
+
+"Ah! but how when she is really hungry?" thought the Provencal. In spite
+of the shudder caused by this thought, his attention was curiously drawn
+to the symmetrical proportions of the animal, which was certainly one of
+the most splendid specimens of its race. He began to measure them with
+his eye. She was three feet in height at the shoulders and four feet in
+length, not counting her tail; this powerful weapon was nearly three
+feet long, and rounded like a cudgel. The head, large as that of a
+lioness, was distinguished by an intelligent, crafty expression. The
+cold cruelty of the tiger dominated, and yet it bore a vague resemblance
+to the face of a woman. [Footnote: Face of a woman. The creature, part
+tiger and part woman, suggests what famous monument?] Indeed, the
+countenance of this solitary queen had something of the gayety of a Nero
+[Footnote: Nero: a Roman Emperor notorious for his cruelty.] in his
+cups; her thirst for blood was slaked, now she wished for amusement.
+
+The soldier tried if he might walk up and down, the panther left him
+freedom, contenting herself with following him with her eyes, less like
+a faithful dog watching his master's movements with affectionate
+solicitude, than a huge Angora cat uneasy and suspicious of every
+movement.
+
+When he looked around, he saw, by the spring, the carcass of his horse;
+the panther had dragged the remains all that distance, and had eaten
+about two-thirds of it already. The sight reassured the Frenchman, it
+made it easy to explain the panther's absence and the forbearance she
+had shown him while he slept.
+
+This first good-luck emboldened the soldier to think of the future. He
+conceived the wild idea of continuing on good terms with his companion
+and to share her home, to try every means to tame her, and endeavoring
+to turn her good graces to his account.
+
+With these thoughts he returned to her side, and had the unspeakable joy
+of seeing her wag her tail with an almost imperceptible motion as he
+approached. He sat down beside her, fearlessly, and they began to play
+together. He took her paws and muzzle, twisted her ears, and stroked her
+warm, delicate flanks. She allowed him to do whatever he liked, and,
+when he began to stroke the fur on her feet, she carefully drew in her
+murderously savage claws, which were sharp and curved like a Damascus
+sword. [Footnote: Damascus sword: A Damascus blade was famed for its
+excellence.]
+
+The Frenchman kept one hand on his poniard, and thought to watch his
+chance to plunge it into the belly of the too confiding animal; but he
+was fearful lest he might be strangled in her last convulsive struggles;
+beside this, he felt in his heart a sort of remorse which bade him
+respect this hitherto inoffensive creature that had done him no hurt. He
+seemed to have found a friend in the boundless desert, and,
+half-unconsciously, his mind reverted to his old sweetheart whom he had,
+in derision, nicknamed "Mignonne."
+
+This recollection of his youthful days suggested the idea of making the
+panther answer to this name, now that he began to admire with less fear
+her graceful swiftness, agility, and softness. Toward the close of the
+day he had so familiarized himself with his perilous position that he
+was half in love with his dangerous situation and its painfulness. At
+last his companion had grown so far tamed that she had caught the habit
+of looking up at him whenever he called in a falsetto voice, "Mignonne."
+
+From that time the desert was inhabited for him. It contained a being to
+whom he could talk and whose ferocity was now lulled into gentleness,
+although he could not explain to himself this strange friendship.
+Anxious as he was to keep awake and on guard, as it were, he gradually
+succumbed to his excessive fatigue of body and mind; he threw himself on
+the floor of the cave and slept soundly.
+
+On awakening Mignonne was absent; he climbed the hillock and afar off
+saw her returning in the long bounds characteristic of those animals who
+cannot run owing to the extreme flexibility of the vertebral column.
+
+Mignonne arrived with bloody jaws; she received the wonted caresses, the
+tribute her slave hastened to pay, and showed by her purring how
+transported she was. Her eyes, full of languor, rested more kindly on
+the Provencal than on the previous day, and he addressed her as he would
+have done a domestic animal.
+
+"Ah! mademoiselle, you're a nice girl, ain't you? Just see now! we like
+to be petted, don't we? Are you not ashamed of yourself? So you've been
+eating some Arab or other, eh? Well, that doesn't matter. They're
+animals, the same as you are; but don't take to crunching up a
+Frenchman, bear that in mind, or I shall not love you any longer."
+
+She played like a dog with its master, allowing herself to be rolled
+over, knocked about, stroked, and the rest, alternately; at times she
+would coax him to play by putting her paw upon his knee and making a
+pretty gesture of solicitation.
+
+One day, under a bright midday sun, a great bird hovered in the sky. The
+Provencal left his panther to gaze at this new guest; but after pausing
+for a moment the deserted sultana uttered a deep growl.
+
+"God take me! I do believe that she is jealous," he cried, seeing the
+rigid look appearing again in the metallic eyes. "The soul of Virginie
+has passed into her body, that's sure!"
+
+The eagle disappeared in the ether, and the soldier admired her again,
+recalled by the panther's evident displeasure, her rounded flanks, and
+the perfect grace of her attitude. There was youth and grace in her
+form. The blonde fur of her robe shaded, with delicate gradations, to
+the dead-white tones of her furry thighs; the vivid sunshine brought out
+in its fulness the brilliancy of this living gold and its variegated
+brown spots with indescribable lustre.
+
+The Provencal and the panther looked at each other with a look pregnant
+with meaning. She trembled with delight (the coquettish creature) when
+she felt her friend scratch the strong bones of her skull with his
+nails. Her eyes glittered like lightning-flashes--then she closed them
+tightly.
+
+"She has a soul!" cried he, looking at the stillness of this queen of
+the sands, golden like them, white as their waving light, solitary and
+burning as themselves.
+
+(Here the narrative breaks off somewhat abruptly and continues in the
+first person--that of the soldier.)
+
+"Suddenly she turned on me in a fury, seizing my thigh with her sharp
+teeth, and yet (I thought of this afterwards) not cruelly. I imagined
+that she intended devouring me, and I plunged my poniard in her throat.
+She rolled over with a cry that rent my soul; she looked at me in her
+death-struggle, but without anger. I would have given the whole
+world--my cross, which I had not yet gained, all, everything--to restore
+her life to her. It was as if I had assassinated a real human being, a
+friend. When the soldiers who had seen my flag came to my rescue they
+found me in tears.
+
+"Ah! well, monsieur, I went through the wars in Germany, Spain, Russia,
+and France; I have marched my carcass well-nigh the world over, but I
+have seen nothing comparable to the desert."
+
+--HONORE DE BALZAC (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Note the detailed description. Does it add to the reality of
+the scene? Does the author succeed in making the panther appeal to our
+sympathy? Does the story seem plausible or merely fantastic? Where do
+you find surprises in the story that add to its interest?]
+
+
+
+
+FOR THOSE WHO LOVE MUSIC
+
+
+I had engaged him by the year. Twice a week he came and went through his
+whole repertoire, and lately, out of sympathy for me, he would play the
+_Miserere_ of the _Trovatore_, [Footnote: Miserere of the
+Trovatore. Trovatore is an opera by Verdi.] which was his show piece,
+twice over. He stood there in the middle of the street looking
+steadfastly up at my windows while he played, and when he had finished
+he would take off his hat with an "Addio, Signor!" [Footnote: Addio
+Signer: "Good-by, Sir."]
+
+It is well known that the barrel-organ, like the violin, gets a fuller
+and more sympathetic tone the older it is. The old artist had an
+excellent instrument, not of the modern noisy type which imitates a
+whole orchestra with flutes and bells and beats of drums, but a
+melancholy old-fashioned barrel-organ [Footnote: A melancholy barrel
+organ. What does the author mean by this?] which knew how to lend a
+dreamy mystery to the gayest allegretto, [Footnote: Allegretto: lively,
+a musical term to denote the tempo of a composition.] and in whose
+proudest tempo di Marcia [Footnote: Tempo di Marcia: marching time.]
+there sounded an unmistakable undertone of resignation. And in the
+tenderer pieces of the repertoire, where the melody, muffled and
+staggering like a cracked old human voice, groped its way amongst the
+rusty pipes of the treble, then there was a trembling in the bass like
+suppressed sobs. Now and then the voice of the tired organ failed it
+completely, and then the old man would resignedly turn the handle during
+some bars of rest more touching in their eloquent silence than any
+music.
+
+True, the instrument was itself very expressive, but the old man had
+surely his share in the sensation of melancholy which came over me
+whenever I heard his music. He had his beat in the poor quarter behind
+the Jardin des Plantes, [Footnote: Jardin des Plantes: the botanical
+garden.] and many times during my solitary rambles up there had I
+stopped and taken my place among the scanty audience of ragged street
+boys which surrounded him.
+
+It was not difficult to see that times were hard--the old man's clothes
+were doubtful, and the pallor of poverty lay over his withered features,
+where I read the story of a long life of failure. He came from the
+mountains around Monte Cassino, [Footnote: Monte Cassino: a monastery on
+a hill near Cassino, Italy, about forty-five miles from Naples.] so he
+informed me, but where the monkey hailed from I never quite got to know.
+
+Thus we met from time to time during my rambles in the poor quarters.
+Had I a moment to spare I stopped for a while to listen to a tune or
+two, as I saw that it gratified the old man, and since I always carried
+a lump of sugar in my pocket for any dog acquaintance I might possibly
+meet, I soon made friends with the monkey also. The relations between
+the little monkey and her impressario [Footnote: Impressario: the
+conductor of an opera or a concert.] were unusually cordial, and this
+notwithstanding that she had completely failed to fulfil the
+expectations which had been founded upon her--she had never been able to
+learn a single trick, the old man told me. Thus all attempts at
+education had long ago been abandoned, and she sat there huddled
+together on her barrel-organ and did nothing at all. Her face was sad,
+like that of most animals, and her thoughts were far away. But now and
+then she woke up from her dreams, and her eyes could then take a
+suspicious, almost malignant expression, as they lit upon some of the
+street boys who crowded round her tribune [Footnote: Round her tribune:
+a curious use of this word, which means a pulpit or bench from which
+speeches were made.] and tried to pull her tail, which stuck out from
+her little gold-laced garibaldi. [Footnote: Garibaldi: a jacket which
+took its name from its likeness in shape to the red shirt worn by the
+Italian patriot Garibaldi.] To me she was always very amiable;
+confidently she laid her wrinkled hand in mine and absently she accepted
+the little attentions I was able to offer her. She was very fond of
+sweetmeats, and burnt almonds were, in her opinion, the most delectable
+thing in the world.
+
+Since the old man had once recognized his musical friend on a balcony of
+the Hotel de L'Avenir, [Footnote: Hotel de L'Avenir: literally, "Hotel
+of the Future."] he often came and played under my windows. Later on he
+became engaged, as already said, to come regularly and play twice a
+week,--it may, perhaps, appear superfluous for one who was studying
+medicine, but the old man's terms were so small, and you know I have
+always been so fond of music. Besides it was the only recreation at
+hand--I was working to take my degree in the spring.
+
+So passed the autumn, and the hard times came. The rich tried on the new
+winter fashions, and the poor shivered with the cold. It became more and
+more difficult for well-gloved hands to leave the warm muff or the
+fur-lined coat to take out a copper for the beggar, and more and more
+desperate became the struggle for bread amongst the problematical
+existences [Footnote: The problematical existences. Explain this
+expression.] of the street.
+
+Now and then I came across my friend, and we always had, as before, a
+kind word for one another. He was now, wrapped up in an old Abruzzi
+cloak, [Footnote: Abruzzi cloak. Abruzzi is a division of western Italy
+including three provinces.] and I noticed that the greater the cold
+became the faster did he turn the handle to keep himself warm; and
+towards December the _Miserere_ itself was performed in allegretto.
+
+The monkey had now become civilian, and wrapped up her little thin body
+in a long ulster such as Englishmen wear; but she was fearfully cold
+notwithstanding, and, forgetful of all etiquette, more and more often
+she jumped from the barrel-organ and crept in under the old man's cloak.
+
+And while they were suffering out there in the cold I sat at home in my
+cosy, warm room, and instead of helping them, I forgot all about them,
+more and more taken up as I was with my coming examination, with no
+thought but for myself. And then one day I suddenly left my lodgings and
+removed to the Hotel Dieu to take the place of a comrade, and weeks
+passed before I put my foot out of the hospital.
+
+I remember it so well, it was on New Year's Day we met each other again.
+I was crossing the Place de Notre Dame, [Footnote: Place de Notre Dame.
+The square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.] mass was just over, and
+the people were streaming out of the old cathedral. As usual, a row of
+beggars was standing before the door, imploring the charity of the
+church-goers. At the farther end, and at some distance from the others,
+an old man stood with bent head and outstretched hat, and with painful
+surprise I recognized my friend in his threadbare old coat without the
+Abruzzi cloak, without the barrel-organ, without the monkey. My first
+impulse was to go up to him, but an uneasy feeling of I do not know what
+held me back; I felt that I blushed and I did not move from my place.
+Every now and then a passer-by stopped for a moment and made as if to
+search his pockets, but I did not see a single copper fall into the old
+man's hat. The place became gradually deserted, and one beggar after
+another trotted off with his little earnings. At last a child came out
+of the church, led by a gentleman in mourning; the child pointed towards
+the old man, and then ran up to him and laid a silver coin in his hat.
+The old man humbly bowed his head in thanks, and even I, with my
+unfortunate absent-mindedness, was very nearly thanking the little donor
+also, so pleased was I. My friend carefully wrapped up the precious gift
+in an old pocket-handkerchief, and stooping forward, as if still
+carrying the barrel-organ on his back, he walked off.
+
+I happened to be quite free that morning, and thinking that a little
+walk before luncheon could do me no harm after the hospital air, I
+followed him at a short distance across the Seine. [Footnote: Seine.
+Paris is on the River Seine. "buon giorno": "Good day."] Once or twice I
+nearly caught him up, and all but tapped him on the shoulder, with a
+"Buon giorno, Don Gaetano!" Yet, without exactly knowing why, I drew
+back at the last moment and let him get a few paces ahead of me again.
+
+We had just crossed the Place Maubert [Footnote: Place Maubert:
+Boulevard St. Germain: streets in Paris.] and turned into the Boulevard
+St. Germain; the boulevard was full of people, so that, without being
+noticed, I could approach him quite close. He was standing before an
+elegant confectioners' shop, and to my surprise he entered without
+hesitation. I took up my position before the shop window, alongside some
+shivering street arabs [Footnote: Street Arabs. What is meant by this
+term?] who stood there, absorbed in the contemplation of the
+unattainable delicacies within, and I watched the old man carefully
+untie his pocket-handkerchief and lay the little girl's gift upon the
+counter. I had hardly time to draw back before he came out with a red
+paper bag of sweets in his hand, and with rapid steps he started off in
+the direction of the Jardin des Plantes.
+
+I was very much astonished at what I had seen, and my curiosity made me
+follow him. He slackened his pace at one of the little slums behind
+Hopital de la Pitie, [Footnote: Hopital de la Pitie: literally,
+"Hospital of Pity."] and I saw him disappear into a dirty old house. I
+waited outside a minute or two and then I groped my way through the
+pitch-dark entrance, climbed up a filthy staircase, and found a door
+slightly ajar. An icy, dark room, in the middle three ragged little
+children crouched together around a half-extinct braziero, [Footnote:
+Brazier: a pan for burning coals. Tuscan. Tuscany is one of the
+divisions of northern Italy.] in the corner the only furniture in the
+room--a clean iron bedstead, with crucifix and rosary hung on the wall
+above it, and by the window an image of the Madonna adorned with gaudy
+paper flowers; I was in Italy, in my poor, exiled Italy. And in the
+purest Tuscan the eldest sister informed me that Don Gaetano lived in
+the garret. I went up there and knocked, but got no answer, so I opened
+the door myself. The room was brightly lit by a blazing fire. With his
+back towards the door, Don Gaetano was on his knees before the stove
+busy heating a saucepan over the fire; beside him on the floor lay an
+old mattress with the well-known Abruzzi cloak thrown over it, and close
+by, spread out on a newspaper, were various delicacies--an orange,
+walnuts, and raisins, and there also was the red paper bag. Don Gaetano
+dropped a lump of sugar into the saucepan, stirred it with a stick, and
+in a persuasive voice I heard him say, "Che bella roba, che bella roba,
+quanto e buono questa latte con lo zucchero! Non piange anima mia,
+adesso siamo pronti!" [Footnote: "What nice things, what nice things,
+how good this milk with sugar is! Don't cry, my darling, it is ready
+now!"]
+
+A slight rustling was heard beneath the Abruzzi cloak and a black little
+hand was stretched out toward the red paper bag.
+
+"Primo il latte, primo il latte" admonished the old man. "Non importa,
+piglio tu una," [Footnote: "The milk first, the milk first--never mind,
+take one."] he repeated, and took a big burnt almond out of the paper
+bag; the little hand disappeared, and a crunching was heard under the
+cloak. Don Gaetano poured the warm milk in a saucer, and then he
+carefully lifted up a corner of the cloak. There lay the poor little
+monkey with heaving breast and eyes glowing with fever. Her face had
+become so small and her complexion was ashy gray. The old man took her
+on his knees, and tenderly as a mother he poured some spoonfuls of the
+warm milk into her mouth. She looked with indifferent eyes towards the
+delicacies on the table, and absently she let her fingers pass through
+her master's beard. She was so tired that she could hardly hold her head
+up, and now and then she coughed so that her thin little body trembled,
+and she pressed both her hands to her temples. Don Gaetano shook his
+head sadly, and carefully laid the little invalid back under the cloak.
+
+A feeble blush spread over the old man's face as he caught sight of me.
+I told him that I happened to be passing by just as he was entering his
+house, and that I took the liberty of following him upstairs in order to
+bid him good-morning and to give him my new address, in the hope that he
+would come and play to me as before. I involuntarily looked round for
+the barrel-organ as I spoke, and Don Gaetano, who understood, informed
+me that he no longer played the organ--he sang. I glanced at the
+precious pile of wood beside the fire-place, at the new blanket that
+hung before the window to keep out the draught, at the delicacies on the
+newspaper--and I also understood.
+
+The monkey had been ill three weeks--"la febbre," [Footnote: La febbre:
+the fever.] explained the old man. We knelt one on each side of the bed,
+and the sick animal looked at me with her mute prayer for help. Her nose
+was hot, as it is with sick children and dogs, her face wrinkled like
+that of an old, old woman, and her eyes had got quite a human
+expression. Her breathing was so short, and we could hear how it rattled
+in her throat. The diagnosis was not difficult--she had consumption. Now
+and again she stretched out her thin arms as if she implored us to help
+her, and Don Gaetano thought that she did so because she wished to be
+bled. I would willingly have given in in this case, although opposed in
+principle to this treatment, if I had thought it possible that any
+benefit could have been derived from it; but I knew only too well how
+unlikely this was, and I tried my best to make Don Gaetano understand
+it. Unhappily I did not know myself what there was to be done. I had at
+that time a friend amongst the keepers of the monkey-house in the Jardin
+des Plantes, and the same night he came with me to have a look at her;
+he said that there was nothing to be done, and that there was no hope.
+And he was right. For one week more the fire blazed in Don Gaetano's
+garret, then it was left to go out, and it became cold and dark as
+before in the old man's home.
+
+True, he got his barrel-organ out from the pawn-shop, and now and then a
+copper fell into his hat. He did not die of starvation, and that was
+about all he asked of life.
+
+The spring came and I left Paris; and God knows what become of Don
+Gaetano.
+
+If you happen to hear a melancholy old barrel-organ in the courtyard, go
+to the window and give a penny to the poor errant [Footnote: Errant:
+wandering.] musician--perhaps it is Don Gaetano! If you find that his
+organ disturbs you, try if you like it, better by making him stand a
+little farther off, but don't send him away with harshness! He has to
+bear so many hard words as it is; why should not we then be a little
+kind to him--we who love music?
+
+--AXEL MUNTHE (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What interested the author in the old organ-grinder? What was
+the music like? Explain the title of the story. By what incidents does
+the author show the unselfish devotion of the old musician for his pet?
+Was his pet winning or lovable? Why did the old man care so much for it?
+Is the picture of the old man dignified or sordid?
+
+Why? Point out instances of dramatic contrast. Are the descriptions in
+the story simple or elaborate?]
+
+
+
+
+OUT OF DOORS
+
+
+St. Guido [Footnote: Saint Guido was a fanciful name given to the little
+boy because his shock of golden curls looked like the nimbus around a
+saint's head.] ran out at the garden gate into a sandy lane, and down
+the lane till he came to a grassy bank. He caught hold of the bunches of
+grass and so pulled himself up. There was a footpath on the top which
+went straight in between fir-trees, and as he ran along they stood on
+each side of him like green walls. They were very near together, and
+even at the top the space between them was so narrow that the sky seemed
+to come down, and the clouds to be sailing but just over them, as if
+they would catch and tear in the fir-trees. The path was so little used
+that it had grown green, and as he ran he knocked dead branches out of
+his way. Just as he was getting tired of running he reached the end of
+the path, and came out into a wheat-field. The wheat did not grow very
+closely, and the spaces were filled with azure corn-flowers. St. Guido
+thought he was safe away now, so he stopped to look.
+
+There were the fir-trees behind him--a thick wall of green--hedges on
+the right and left, and the wheat sloped down towards an ash-copse in
+the hollow. No one was in the field, only the fir-trees, the green
+hedges, the yellow, wheat, and the sun overhead. Guido kept quite still,
+because he expected that in a minute the magic would begin, and
+something would speak to him. His cheeks, which had been flushed with
+running, grew less hot, but I cannot tell you the exact color they were;
+for his skin was so white and clear, it would not tan under the sun, yet
+being always out of doors it had taken the faintest tint of golden brown
+mixed with rosiness. His blue eyes which had been wide open, as they
+always were when full of mischief, became softer, and his long eyelashes
+drooped over them. But as the magic did not begin, Guido walked on
+slowly into the wheat, which rose nearly to his head, though it was not
+yet so tall as it would be before the reapers came. He did not break any
+of the stalks, or bend them down and step on them; he passed between
+them, and they yielded on either side. The wheat-ears were pale gold,
+having only just left off their green, and they surrounded him on all
+sides as if he were bathing.
+
+A butterfly painted a velvety red with white spots came floating along
+the surface of the corn, [Footnote: Corn. In England corn means wheat,
+or sometimes rye or barley or oats. What we call corn the English call
+maize.] and played round his cap, which was a little higher, and was so
+tinted by the sun that the butterfly was inclined to settle on it. Guido
+put up his hand to catch the butterfly, forgetting his secret in his
+desire to touch it. The butterfly was too quick--with a snap of his
+wings, disdainfully mocking the idea of catching him, away he went.
+Guido nearly stepped on a humble-bee--buzz-zz! the bee was so alarmed he
+actually crept up Guido's knickers to the knee, and even then knocked
+himself against a wheat-ear when he started to fly. Guido kept quite
+still while the humble-bee was on his knee, knowing that he should not
+be stung if he did not move. He knew, too, that humble-bees have stings
+though people often say they have not, and the reason people think they
+do not possess them is because humble-bees are so good-natured and never
+sting unless they are very much provoked.
+
+Another bumble-bee went over along the tips of the wheat--burr-rr--as he
+passed; then a scarlet fly, and next a bright yellow wasp who was
+telling a friend flying behind him that he knew where there was such a
+capital piece of wood to bite up into tiny pieces and make into paper
+for the nest in the thatch, but his friend wanted to go to the house
+because there was a pear quite ripe there on the wall. Next came a moth,
+and after the moth a golden fly, and three gnats, and a mouse ran along
+the dry ground with a curious sniffing rustle close to Guido. A shrill
+cry came down out of the air, and looking up he saw two swifts
+[Footnote: Swifts: swallows.] turning circles, and as they passed each
+other they shrieked--their voices were so shrill they shrieked. They
+were only saying that in a month their little swifts in the slates would
+be able to fly. While he sat so quiet on the ground and hidden by the
+wheat, he heard a cuckoo such a long way off it sounded like a watch
+when it is covered up. "Cuckoo" did not come full and distinct--it was
+such a tiny little "cuckoo" caught in the hollow of Guido's ear. The
+cuckoo must have been a mile away.
+
+Suddenly he thought something went over, and yet he did not see
+it--perhaps it was the shadow--and he looked up and saw a large bird not
+very far up, not farther than he could fling, or shoot his arrows, and
+the bird was fluttering his wings, but did not move away farther, as if
+he had been tied in the air. Guido knew it was a hawk, and the hawk was
+staying there to see if there was a mouse or a little bird in the wheat.
+After a minute the hawk stopped fluttering and lifted his wings together
+as a butterfly does when he shuts his, and down the hawk came, straight
+into the corn. "Go away!" shouted Guido jumping up, and flinging his
+cap, and the hawk, dreadfully frightened and terribly cross, checked
+himself and rose again with an angry rush. So the mouse escaped, but
+Guido could not find his cap for some time. Then he went on, and still
+the ground sloping sent him down the hill till he came close to the
+copse.
+
+Some sparrows came out from the copse, [Footnote: Copse: a wood of small
+trees.] and he stopped and saw one of them perch on a stalk of wheat,
+with one foot above the other sideways, so that he could pick at the ear
+and get the corn. Guido watched the sparrow clear the ear, then he
+moved, and the sparrows flew back to the copse, where they chattered at
+him for disturbing them. There was a ditch between the corn and the
+copse, and a streamlet; he picked up a stone and threw it in, and the
+splash frightened a rabbit, who slipped over the bank and into a hole.
+The boughs of an oak reached out across to the corn, and made so
+pleasant a shade that Guido, who was very hot from walking in the sun,
+sat down on the bank of the streamlet with his feet dangling over it,
+and watched the floating grass sway slowly as the water ran. Gently he
+leaned back till his back rested on the sloping ground--he raised one
+knee, and left the other foot over the verge where the tip of the
+tallest rushes touched it. Before he had been there a minute he
+remembered the secret which a fern had taught him.
+
+First, if he wanted to know anything, or to hear a story, or what the
+grass was saying, or the oak-leaves singing, he must be careful not to
+interfere as he had done just now with the butterfly by trying to catch
+him. Fortunately, that butterfly was a nice butterfly, and very
+kindhearted, but sometimes, if you interfered with one thing, it would
+tell another thing, and they would all know in a moment, and stop
+talking, and never say a word. Once, while they were all talking
+pleasantly, Guido caught a fly in his hand; he felt his hand tickle as
+the fly stepped on it, and he shut up his little fist so quickly he
+caught the fly in the hollow between the palm and his fingers. The fly
+went buzz, and rushed to get out, but Guido laughed, so the fly buzzed
+again, and just told the grass, and the grass told the bushes, and
+everything knew in a moment, and Guido never heard another word all that
+day. Yet sometimes now they all knew something about him; they would go
+on talking. You see, they all rather petted and spoiled him. Next, if
+Guido did not hear them conversing, the fern said he must touch a little
+piece of grass and put it against his cheek, or a leaf, and kiss it, and
+say, "Leaf, leaf, tell them I am here."
+
+Now, while he was lying down, and the tip of the rushes touched his
+foot, he remembered this, so he moved the rush with his foot and said,
+"Rush, rush, tell them I am here." Immediately there came a little wind,
+and the wheat swung to and fro, the oak-leaves rustled, the rushes
+bowed, and the shadows slipped forwards and back again. Then it was
+still.
+
+--RICHARD JEFFERIES (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Whore do you imagine this scene is laid? What things in the
+text suggest this? Do you get a single picture, or a rapid succession of
+pictures? Which is the author really giving you: nature as it is, or as
+it seems to the boy? Has any of it ever seemed so to you? Note the
+appeal to sight, hearing, and touch; note the use of color. Does the
+author show a love for, and knowledge of, nature? Select the passages in
+which the sympathy between the boy and all nature is dwelt on.]
+
+
+
+
+THE TABOO
+
+
+There is a marked similarity, almost an identity, between the religious
+institutions of most of the Polynesian islands; [Footnote: Polynesian
+Islands: in the Pacific, just east of Australia.] and in all exists the
+mysterious "Taboo," restricted in its uses to a greater or less extent.
+So strange and complex in its arrangements is this remarkable system,
+that I have in several cases met with individuals who, after residing
+for years among the islands in the Pacific, and acquiring a considerable
+knowledge of the language, have nevertheless been altogether unable to
+give any satisfactory account of its operations. Situated as I was in
+the Typce valley, I perceived every hour the effects of this
+all-controlling power, without in the least comprehending it. Those
+effects were indeed wide-spread and universal, pervading the most
+important as well as the minutest transactions of life. The savage, in
+short, lives in the continual observance of its dictates, which guide
+and control every action of his being.
+
+For several days after entering the valley, I had been saluted at least
+fifty times in the twenty-four hours with the talismanic [Footnote:
+Talismanic: having the properties of a charm.] word "Taboo" shrieked in
+my ears, at some gross violation of its provisions, of which I had
+unconsciously been guilty. The day after our arrival I happened to hand
+some tobacco to Toby over the head of a native who sat between us. He
+started up as if stung by an adder; while the whole company, manifesting
+an equal degree of horror, simultaneously screamed out "Taboo!" I never
+again perpetrated a similar piece of ill-manners, which indeed was
+forbidden by the canons of good breeding as well as by the mandates of
+the taboo. But it was not always so easy to perceive wherein you had
+contravened [Footnote: Contravened: come into conflict with.] the spirit
+of this institution. I was many times called to order, if I may use the
+phrase, when I could not for the life of me conjecture what particular
+offense I had committed.
+
+One day I was strolling through a secluded portion of the valley; and
+hearing the musical sound of the cloth-mallet at a little distance, I
+turned down a path that conducted me in a few moments to a house where
+there were some half-dozen girls employed in making tappa. [Footnote:
+Tappa: a kind of cloth made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry.]
+This was an operation I had frequently witnessed, and had handled the
+bark in all the various stages of its preparation. On the present
+occasion the females were intent upon their occupation; and after
+looking up and talking gayly to me for a few moments, they resumed their
+employment. I regarded them for awhile in silence, and then carelessly
+picking up a handful of the material that lay around, proceeded
+unconsciously to pick it apart. While thus engaged, I was suddenly
+startled by a scream, like that of a whole boarding-school of young
+ladies just on the point of going into hysterics. Leaping up with the
+idea of seeing a score of Happar warriors about to perform anew the
+Sabine atrocity, [Footnote: Sabine atrocity: referring to the carrying
+off of the Sabine women by the Romans in the legendary history of early
+Rome.] I found myself confronted by the company of girls, who, having
+dropped their work, stood before me with staring eyes, swelling bosoms,
+and fingers pointed in horror towards me.
+
+Thinking that some venomous reptile must be concealed in the bark which
+I held in my hand, I began cautiously to separate and examine it. Whilst
+I did so the horrified girls redoubled their shrieks. Their wild cries
+and frightened motions actually alarmed me; and throwing down the tappa,
+I was about to rush from the house, when in the same instant their
+clamors ceased, and one of them, seizing me by the arm, pointed to the
+broken fibres that had just fallen from my grasp, and screamed in my ear
+the fatal word "Taboo!"
+
+I subsequently found out that the fabric they were engaged in making was
+of a peculiar kind, destined to be worn on the heads of females; and
+through every stage of its manufacture was guarded by a rigorous taboo,
+which interdicted the whole masculine gender from even so much as
+touching it.
+
+Frequently in walking through the groves, I observed bread-fruit and
+cocoanut trees with a wreath of leaves twined in a peculiar fashion
+about their trunks. This was the mark of the taboo. The trees
+themselves, their fruit, and even the shadows they cast upon the ground,
+were consecrated by its presence. In the same way a pipe which the King
+had bestowed upon me was rendered sacred in the eyes of the natives,
+none of whom could I ever prevail upon to smoke from it. The bowl was
+encircled by a woven band of grass, somewhat resembling those Turks'
+heads occasionally worked in the handles of our whip-stalks. A similar
+badge was once braided about my wrist by the royal hand of Mehevi
+himself, who, as soon as he had concluded the operation, pronounced me
+"Taboo." This occurred shortly after Toby's disappearance; and were it
+not that from the first moment I had entered the valley the natives had
+treated me with uniform kindness, I should have supposed that their
+conduct afterwards was to be ascribed to the fact that I had received
+this sacred investiture.
+
+--HERMAN MELVILLE.
+
+[Footnote: The author, Herman Melville, was born in New York in 1819. In
+his youth he ran away from home and became a sailor on a whaling vessel.
+Escaping from the cruel tyranny of the captain, he reached the Marquesas
+Islands, where he had strange adventures as the captive of a tribe of
+cannibals in the Typee Valley. He lived here many months, and finally
+returned home in an Australian ship.]
+
+[Footnote: Many writers on the customs of primitive people suppose the
+taboo to be the earliest form of law. It is commonly imposed by the king
+or the high priest of the tribe. Does the "taboo" here seem to you to be
+a matter of law or religion? Have we any "taboos" in our social system?
+What do we mean when we say of an act or a thing that it is "taboo," or
+"tabooed"? Does ceremoniousness increase or decrease with civilization?]
+
+
+
+
+SCHOOL DAYS AT THE CONVENT
+
+
+I waited for night and supper very impatiently. Recreation time began as
+soon as we left the refectory. [Footnote: Refectory: the dining hall.]
+In summer the two classes went to the garden. In winter each class went
+to its own room: the seniors to their fine and spacious study; we to our
+forlorn quarters, where there was no room to play, and where our teacher
+forced us to "amuse" ourselves quietly,--that is, not at all. Leaving
+the refectory always made a momentary confusion, and I admired the way
+the "devils" of the two classes managed to create the slight disorder
+under whose favor one could easily escape. The cloister [Footnote:
+Cloister: the covered arched passage on the side of a court.] had but
+one little lamp to light it: this left the other three galleries in
+semi-darkness. Instead of walking straight ahead towards the juniors'
+room, you stepped to the left, let the flock pass on, and you were free.
+I did so, and found myself in the dark with my friend Mary and the other
+"devils" she had told me would be there. They were all armed, some with
+logs, others with tongs. I had nothing, but was bold enough to go to the
+school-room, get a poker, and return to my accomplices without being
+noticed.
+
+Then they initiated me into the great secret, and we started on our
+expedition.
+
+The great secret was the traditional legend of the convent: a dream
+handed down from generation to generation, and from "devil" to "devil,"
+for about two centuries; a romantic fiction which may have had some
+foundation of truth at the beginning, but now rested merely on the needs
+of our imagination. Its object was to "deliver the victim." There was a
+prisoner, some said several prisoners, shut up somewhere in an
+impenetrable retreat: either a cell hidden and bricked up in the
+thickness of the walls, or in a dungeon under the vaults of the immense
+sub-basements extending beneath the monastery as well as under a great
+part of the Saint-Victor district. There were indeed magnificent cellars
+there,--a real subterranean city, whose limits we never found,--and they
+had many mysterious outlets at different points within the vast area of
+the inclosure. We were told that at a great distance off, these cellars
+joined the excavations running under the greater part of Paris and the
+surrounding country as far as Vincennes. [Footnote: Vincennes: a town
+about two miles from Paris.] They said that by following our convent
+cellars you could reach the Catacombs, [Footnote: Catacombs:
+subterranean passages.] the quarries, the baths of Julian, [Footnote:
+Baths of Julian: a Roman emperor of the fourth century.] and what not.
+These vaults were the key to a world of darkness, terrors, mysteries: an
+immense abyss dug beneath our feet, closed by iron gates, whose
+exploration was as perilous as the descent into hell of AEneas or Dante.
+For this reason it was absolutely imperative to get there, in spite of
+the insurmountable difficulties of the enterprise, and the terrible
+punishments the discovery of our secret would provoke.
+
+Entering these subterranean domains was one of those unhoped-for strokes
+of good luck that occurred once, or at most twice, in the life of a
+"devil," after years of perseverance and mental effort. It was of no use
+thinking of getting in by the main door. That door was at the bottom of
+a wide staircase next to the kitchens, which were cellars too; and here
+the lay sisters [Footnote: Lay sisters: the nuns who are not in holy
+orders.] congregated.
+
+But we were sure that the vaults could be reached by a thousand other
+ways, even by the roof. According to us, every nailed-up door, every
+dark corner under a staircase, every hollow-sounding wall, might
+communicate mysteriously with the subterranean region; and we looked for
+that communication most earnestly up to the very attic.
+
+I had read Mrs. Radcliffe's "Castle of the Pyrenees" [Footnote: Castle
+of the Pyrenees. Mrs. Radcliffe's novels were the first "mystery and
+horror" tales to become popular.] at Nohant, with terror and delight. My
+companions had many another Scotch and Irish legend in their heads, all
+fit to set one's hair on end. The convent too had innumerable stories of
+its own lamentable events,--about ghosts, dungeons, inexplicable
+apparitions, and mysterious noises. All this, and the thought of finally
+discovering the tremendous secret of the victim, so kindled our
+imaginations that we were sure we heard sighs and groans start from
+under the stones, or breathe through the cracks of doors and walls.
+
+We started off, my companions for the hundredth, I for the first time,
+in search of that elusive captive,--languishing no one knew where, but
+certainly somewhere, and whom perhaps we were called to discover. She
+must have been very old, considering how long she had been sought in
+vain! She might have been over two hundred years old, but we did not
+mind that! We sought her, called her, thought of her incessantly, and
+never despaired.
+
+That evening I was led into the oldest and most broken-up part of the
+buildings,--perhaps the most exciting locality for our exploration. We
+selected a little passage with wooden railings overlooking an empty
+space without any known outlet. A staircase with banisters led to this
+unknown region, but an oaken door forbade access to the stairs. We had
+to get around the obstacle by passing from the railing to the banisters,
+and walk down the outside of the worm-eaten balusters. There was a dark
+void below us whose depth we could not fathom. We had only a little
+taper (a "rat"), and that hardly let us see more than the first steps of
+the mysterious staircase.
+
+We were at the bottom in a moment; and with more joy than disappointment
+found that we were directly under the passage, in a square space without
+any opening. Not a door nor a window, nor any explicable purpose for
+this sort of closed vestibule. Why was there a staircase leading into a
+blind space? Why was there a strong padlocked door shutting off the
+staircase?
+
+The little taper was divided into several lengths, and each one began
+examining for herself. The staircase was made of wood. A secret spring
+in one of the steps must lead to a passage, another staircase, or a
+hidden trap. While some explored the staircase, and tried to force its
+old planks apart, others groped along the wall in search of a knob, a
+rack, a ring, or any of the thousand contrivances mentioned in the
+chronicles of old manors as moving a stone, turning a panel, or opening
+an entrance into unknown regions.
+
+Alas, there was nothing! The wall was smooth and plastered. The pavement
+sounded dull; not a stone was loose, and the staircase hid no spring.
+One of us looked further. She declared that in the extreme corner under
+the staircase the wall had a hollow sound; we struck it, and found it
+true. "It's here!" we all exclaimed. "There's a walled-up passage in
+there, but that passage leads to the awful dungeon. That is the way down
+to the sepulchre holding the living victims." We glued our ears to the
+wall, heard nothing; still the discoverer maintained that she could hear
+confused groans and clanking chains. What was to be done?
+
+"Why, it's quite plain," said Mary: "we must pull the wall down. All of
+us together can surely make a hole in it."
+
+Nothing seemed easier to us; and we all went to work,--some trying to
+knock it down with their logs, others scraping it with their shovels and
+tongs,--never thinking that by worrying those poor shaky walls, we
+risked tumbling the building down on our heads. Fortunately we could not
+do much harm, because the noise made by the logs would have attracted
+some one.
+
+We had to be satisfied with pushing and scratching. Yet we had managed
+to make quite a noticeable hole in the plaster, lime, and stones, when
+the bell rang for prayers. We had just time to repeat our perilous
+escapade, [Footnote: Escapade: prank.] put out our lights, separate, and
+grope our way back to the schoolrooms. We put off the continuation of
+the enterprise till the next day, and appointed the same place of
+meeting. Those who got there first were not to wait for those who might
+be detained by punishment or unusual surveillance. Each one was to do
+her best to scoop out the wall. It would be just so much done toward the
+next day's work. There was no chance of any one's noticing it, as no one
+ever went down into that blind hallway given over to mice and spiders.
+
+We dusted each other off, regained the cloister, slipped into our
+respective class-rooms, and were ready to kneel at prayers with the
+others. I forget whether we were noticed and punished that evening. It
+happened so often that no single event of the kind has any special date
+in the great number. Still we could often carry on our work with
+impunity.
+
+The search for the great secret and the dungeon lasted the whole winter
+I spent in the junior class. The wall was perceptibly damaged, but we
+were stopped by reaching wooden girders. We looked elsewhere, ransacked
+twenty different places, never having the least success, yet never
+losing hope.
+
+One day we thought we would look for some mansard [Footnote: Mansard:
+having two slopes.] window which might be, so to speak, the upper key to
+the so ardently desired subterranean world. There were many such
+windows, whose purpose we ignored. There was a little room in the attic
+where we practiced on one of the thirty pianos scattered through the
+establishment. We had an hour for this practice every day, and very few
+of us cared for it. As I always loved music, I liked to practice. But I
+was becoming more of an artist in romance than music; for what more
+beautiful poem could there be than the romance in action we were
+pursuing with our joint imaginations, courage, and palpitating emotions?
+
+In this way the piano hour became the daily hour for adventures, without
+detriment, however, to the evening ones. We appointed meetings in one of
+these straggling rooms, and from there would go to the "I don't know
+where" or the "As you please" of fancy.
+
+From the attic where I was supposed to be playing scales, I could see a
+labyrinth of roofs, sheds, lofts, and slopes, all covered with
+moss-grown tiles and decorated with broken chimneys, offering a vast
+field for new explorations. So on the roof we went. It was not hard to
+jump out of the window. Six feet below us there was a gutter joining two
+gables. It was more imprudent than difficult to scale these gables, meet
+others, jump from slope to slope, and run about like cats; and danger,
+far from restraining, only seemed to stimulate us.
+
+There was something exceedingly foolish, but at the same time heroic, in
+this mania of "seeking the victim"; foolish, because we had to suppose
+that the nuns, whose gentleness and kindness we worshipped, were
+practicing horrible tortures upon some one; heroic, because we risked
+our lives every day to deliver an imaginary creature, who was the object
+of our most generous thought and most chivalrous undertakings.
+
+We had been out about an hour, spying into the garden, looking down on a
+great part of the courts and buildings, and carefully hiding behind
+chimneys whenever we saw a black-veiled nun, who might have raised her
+head and seen us in the clouds, when we asked ourselves how we should
+get back. The arrangement of the roofs had allowed us to step or jump
+down. Going up was not so easy. I think it would have been impossible
+without a ladder. We scarcely knew where we were. At last we recognized
+a parlor-boarder's window,--Sidonie Macdonald's, the celebrated
+general's daughter. It could be reached by a final jump, but would be
+more dangerous than the others. I jumped too hurriedly, and caught my
+heel in a flat sky-light, through which I should have fallen thirty feet
+into a hall near the junior's room, if by chance my awkwardness had not
+made me swerve. I got off with two badly flayed knees, but did not give
+them a second thought. My heel had broken into a part of the sash of
+that deuced window, and smashed half a dozen panes, which dropped with a
+frightful crash quite near the kitchen entrance. A great noise arose at
+once among the lay sisters, and through the opening I had just made, we
+could hear Sister Theresa's loud voice screaming, "Cats!" and accusing
+Whisky--Mother Alippe's big tom-cat--of fighting with all his fellows,
+and breaking all the windows in the house. But sister Mary defended the
+cat's morals, and Sister Helen was sure that a chimney had fallen on the
+roof. This discussion started the nervous giggle that nothing can stop
+in little girls. We heard the sisters on the stairs, we should be caught
+in the very act of walking on the roofs, and still we could not stir to
+find refuge. Then I discovered that one of my shoes was gone,--that it
+had dropped through the broken sash into the kitchen hall. Though my
+knees were bleeding, my laughter was so uncontrollable that I could not
+say a word, but merely showed my unshod foot and explained what had
+happened by dumb show. A new explosion of laughter followed, although
+the alarm had been given and the lay sisters were near.
+
+We were soon reassured. Being sheltered and hidden by overhanging roofs,
+we could hardly be discovered without getting up to the broken window by
+a ladder, or following the road we had taken. And that was something we
+could safely challenge any of the nuns to do. So when we had recognized
+the advantage of our position, we began to me-ouw Homerically, so that
+Whisky and his family might be accused and convicted in our stead. Then
+we made for the window of Sidonie, who did not welcome us. The poor
+child was practicing on the piano, and paying no attention to the feline
+howls vaguely striking her ear. She was delicate and nervous, very
+gentle, and quite incapable of understanding what pleasure we could find
+in roaming over roofs. As she sat playing, her back was turned to the
+window; and when we burst into it in a bunch, she screamed aloud. We
+lost little time in quieting her. Her cries would attract the nuns; so
+we sprang into the room and scampered to the door, while she stood
+trembling and staring, seeing all the strange procession flit by without
+understanding it nor recognizing any one of us, so terrified was she. In
+a moment we had all dispersed: one went to the upper room whence we had
+started, and played the piano with might and main; another took a
+round-about way to the school-room. As for me, I had to find my shoe,
+and secure that piece of evidence, if I still had the time. I managed to
+avoid the lay sisters, and to find the kitchen entry free. "Audaces
+fortuna juvat," [Footnote: Audaces fortuna juvat: "Fortune favors the
+brave."] said I to myself thinking of the aphorisms Deschartres
+[Footnote: Deschartres: the tutor of George Sand's father.] had taught
+me And indeed I found the lucky shoe, where it had fallen in a dark
+corner and not been seen. Whisky alone was accused. My knees hurt me
+very much for a few days but, I did not brag of them; and the
+explorations did not slacken.
+
+--GEORGE SAND (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: George Sand is a nom de plume. The author's real name is
+Armandine Lucile Aurore Dupin. She was a famous French novelist and
+playwright--born 1804, died 1876.]
+
+[Footnote: Could you tell from the context where the scene is laid? What
+kind of child do you imagine the writer was? Has the narrative the stamp
+of a real experience? Do you know any books similar to what you may
+imagine the "Castle of the Pyrenees" to be?]
+
+
+
+
+IN BRITTANY
+
+
+She [the writer, L. M. A.] soon ceased to be surprised at any
+demonstration of feminine strength, skill, and independence, for
+everywhere the women took the lead.
+
+They not only kept house, reared children, and knit every imaginable
+garment the human frame can wear, but kept the shops and the markets,
+tilled the gardens, cleaned the streets, and bought and sold cattle,
+leaving the men free to enjoy the only pursuits they seemed inclined to
+follow,--breaking horses, [Footnote: Breaking horses: training horses to
+work, an expression familiar to every country child.] mending roads, and
+getting drunk.
+
+The markets seemed entirely in the hands of the women, and lively scenes
+they presented to unaccustomed eyes, especially the pig-market, held
+every week, in the square before Madame C.'s house. At dawn the
+squealing began, and was kept up till sunset. The carts came in from all
+the neighboring hamlets, with tubs full of infant pigs, over which the
+women watched with maternal care till they were safely deposited among
+the rows of tubs that stood along the walk facing Anne of Bretaigne's
+[Footnote: Anne of Bretaigne: the daughter of Francis II, duke of
+Brittany; born at Nantes, 1476.] gray old tower, and the pleasant
+promenade which was once the fosse [Footnote: Fosse: a moat; a ditch.]
+about the city walls.
+
+Here Madame would seat herself and knit briskly till a purchaser
+applied, when she would drop her work, dive among the pink innocents,
+and hold one up by its unhappy leg, undisturbed by its doleful cries,
+while she settled its price with a blue-gowned, white-capped neighbor,
+as sharp-witted and shrill-tongued as herself. If the bargain was
+struck, they slapped their hands together in a peculiar way, and the new
+owner clapped her purchase into a meal-bag, slung it over her shoulder,
+and departed with her squirming, squealing treasure as calmly as a
+Boston lady with a satchel full of ribbons and gloves.
+
+More mature pigs came to market on their own legs, and very long, feeble
+legs they were, for a more unsightly beast than a Breton pig was never
+seen out of a toy Noah's ark. Tall, thin, high-backed, and sharp-nosed,
+these porcine [Footnote: Porcine: relating to swine; hoglike.] victims
+tottered to their doom, with dismal wailings, and not a vestige of
+spirit till the trials and excitement of the day goaded them to
+rebellion, when their antics furnished fun for the public. Miss Livy
+observed that the women could manage the pigs when men failed entirely.
+The latter hustled, lugged, or lashed, unmercifully and unsuccessfully;
+the former, with that fine tact which helps them to lead nobler animals
+than pigs, would soothe, sympathize, coax, and gently beguile the poor
+beasts, or devise ways of mitigating their bewilderment and woe, which
+did honor to the sex, and triumphantly illustrated the power of moral
+suasion.
+
+One amiable lady, who had purchased two small pigs and a coop full of
+fowls, attempted to carry them all on one donkey. But the piggies
+rebelled lustily in the bags, the ducks remonstrated against their
+unquiet neighbors, and the donkey indignantly refused to stir a step
+till the unseemly uproar was calmed. But the Bretonne was equal to the
+occasion; for, after a pause of meditation, she solved the problem by
+tying the bags round the necks of the pigs so that they could enjoy the
+prospect. This appeased them at once, and produced a general lull; for
+when the pigs stopped squealing, the ducks stopped quacking, the donkey
+ceased his bray, and the party moved on in dignified silence, with the
+youthful pigs, one black, one white, serenely regarding life from their
+bags.
+
+Another time, a woman leading a newly bought cow, came through the
+square, where the noise alarmed the beast so much that she became
+unruly, and pranced in a most dangerous manner. Miss Livy hung out of
+the window, breathless with interest, and ready to fly with brandy and
+bandages at a minute's notice, for it seemed inevitable that the woman
+would be tossed up among the lindens before the cow was conquered. The
+few men who were lounging about, stood with their hands in their
+pockets, watching the struggle without offering to help, till the cow
+scooped the lady up on her horns ready for a toss. Livy shrieked, but
+Madame just held on, kicking so vigorously that the cow was glad to set
+her down, when, instead of fainting she coolly informed the men, who,
+seeing her danger, had approached, that she "could arrange her cow for
+herself and did not want any help," which she proved by tying a big blue
+handkerchief over the animal's eyes, producing instant docility; and
+then she was led away by her flushed but triumphant mistress, who calmly
+settled her cap, and took a pinch of snuff to refresh herself, after a
+scuffle which would have annihilated most women.
+
+When Madame C.'s wood was put in, the newcomers were interested in
+watching the job, for it was done in a truly Bretonesque manner. It
+arrived in several odd carts, each drawn by four great horses, with men
+to each team; and as the carts were clumsy, the horses wild, and the men
+stupid, the square presented a lively spectacle. At one time there were
+three carts, twelve horses, and six men all in a snarl, while a dozen
+women stood at their doors and gave advice. One was washing a lettuce,
+another dressing her baby, a third twirling her distaff, and a fourth
+with her little bowl of soup, which she ate in public while
+gesticulating so frantically that her sabots [Footnote: Sabots: wooden
+shoes.] clattered on the stones.
+
+The horses had a free fight, and the men swore and shouted in vain, till
+the lady with the baby suddenly went to the rescue. Planting the naked
+cherub on the doorstep, this energetic matron charged in among the
+rampant animals, and by some magic touch untangled the teams, quieted
+the most fractious, a big gray brute prancing like a mad elephant, then
+returned to her baby, who was placidly eating dirt, and with a polite
+"Voila, messieurs!" [Footnote: Voila Messieurs: "There you are,
+gentlemen."] she whipped little Jean into his shirt, while the men sat
+down to smoke.
+
+It took two deliberate men nearly a week to split the gnarled logs, and
+one brisk woman carried them into the cellar and piled them neatly. The
+men stopped about once an hour to smoke, drink cider, or rest. The woman
+worked steadily from morning till night, only pausing at noon for a bit
+of bread and the soup good Coste sent out to her. The men got two francs
+a day, the woman half a franc; and, as nothing was taken out of it for
+wine or tobacco, her ten cents probably went farther than their forty.
+
+This same capable lady used to come to market with a baby on one arm, a
+basket of fruit on the other, leading a pig, driving a donkey, and
+surrounded by sheep, while her head bore a pannier [Footnote: Pannier.
+Panniers are a pair of baskets slung across the back of a horse or
+donkey.] of vegetables, and her hands spun busily with a distaff. How
+she ever got on with these trifling incumbrances, was a mystery; but
+there she was, busy, placid, and smiling, in the midst of the crowd, and
+at night went home with her shopping well content.
+
+The washerwomen were among the happiest of these happy souls, and
+nowhere were seen prettier pictures than they made, clustered round the
+fountains or tanks by the way, scrubbing, slapping, singing, and
+gossiping, as they washed or spread their linen on the green hedges and
+daisied grass in the bright spring weather. One envied the cheery faces
+under the queer caps, the stout arms that scrubbed all day, and were not
+too tired to carry some chubby Jean or little Marie when night came,
+and, most of all, the contented hearts in the broad bosoms under the
+white kerchiefs, for no complaint did one hear from these hard-working,
+happy women. The same brave spirit seems to possess them now as that
+which carried them heroically to their fate in the Revolution, when
+hundreds of mothers and children were shot at Nantes [Footnote: Nantes:
+a town near the mouth of the Loire River.] and died without murmur.
+
+--LOUISA ALCOTT.
+
+[Footnote: What traits does the author find most admirable in the women
+of Brittany? Show how these traits are brought out by contrast with the
+behavior of the men. Do women in this country do the same kinds of work
+as the European peasant women? What other things might the descriptions
+have included if the author had not been so much interested in the
+people? What parts of the sketch are humorous? Point out passages that
+are effective through contrast. Show how the women of Brittany are made
+to seem womanly and dignified in spite of the amusement they furnish
+us.]
+
+
+
+
+THE ADIRONDACKS
+
+
+One day we visited a cave some two miles down the stream, which had
+recently been discovered. We squeezed and wriggled through a big crack
+or cleft in the side of the mountain, for about one hundred feet, when
+we emerged into a large dome-shaped passage, the abode, during certain
+seasons of the year, of innumerable bats, and at all times of primeval
+darkness. There were various other crannies and pit-holes opening into
+it, some of which we explored. The voice of running water was heard
+everywhere, betraying the proximity of the little stream by whose
+ceaseless corroding the cave and its entrance had been worn. This
+streamlet flowed out of the mouth of the cave, and came from a lake on
+the top of the mountain; this accounted for its warmth to the hand,
+which surprised us all.
+
+Birds of any kind were rare in these woods. A pigeon-hawk came prowling
+by our camp, and the faint piping call of the nuthatches, leading their
+young through the high trees, was often heard.
+
+On the third day our guide proposed to conduct us to a lake in the
+mountains where we could float for deer.
+
+Our journey commenced in a steep and rugged ascent, which brought us,
+after an hour's heavy climbing, to an elevated region of pine-forest,
+years before ravished by lumbermen, and presenting all manner of
+obstacles to our awkward and incumbered pedestrianism. The woods were
+largely pine, though yellow birch, beech and maple were common. The
+satisfaction of having a gun, should any game show itself, was the chief
+compensation to those of us who were thus burdened. A partridge would
+occasionally whir up before us, or a red squirrel snicker and hasten to
+his den; else the woods appeared quite tenantless. The most noted object
+was a mammoth pine, apparently the last of a great race, which presided
+over a cluster of yellow birches, on the side of the mountain.
+
+About noon we came out upon a long, shallow sheet of water which the
+guide called Bloody Moose Pond, from the tradition that a moose had been
+slaughtered there many years before. Looking out over the silent and
+lovely scene, his eye was the first to detect an object, apparently
+feeding upon lily-pads, which our willing fancies readily shaped into a
+deer. As we were eagerly waiting some movement to confirm this
+impression, it lifted up its head, and lo! a great blue heron. Seeing us
+approach, it spread its long wings and flew solemnly across to a dead
+tree on the other side of the lake, enhancing rather than relieving the
+loneliness and desolation that brooded over the scene. As we proceeded
+it flew from tree to tree in advance of us, apparently loth to be
+disturbed in its ancient and solitary domain. In the margin of the pond
+we found the pitcher-plant growing, and here and there in the sand the
+closed gentian lifted up its blue head.
+
+In traversing the shores of this wild, desolate lake, I was conscious of
+a slight thrill of expectation, as if some secret of Nature might here
+be revealed, or some rare and unheard-of game disturbed. There is ever a
+lurking suspicion that the beginning of things is in some way associated
+with water, and one may notice that in his private walks he is led by a
+curious attraction to fetch all the springs and ponds in his route, as
+if by them was the place for wonders and miracles to happen. Once, while
+in advance of my companions, I saw, from a high rock, a commotion in the
+water near the shore, but on reaching the point found only the marks of
+musquash [Footnote: Musquash: muskrat.] degrees.
+
+Passing on through the forest, after many adventures with the pine
+knots, we reached, about the middle of the afternoon, our destination,
+Nate's Pond--a pretty sheet of water, lying like a silver mirror in the
+lap of the mountain, about a mile long and half a mile wide, surrounded
+by dark forests of balsam, hemlock, and pine, and, like the one we had
+just passed, a very picture of unbroken solitude.
+
+It is not in the woods alone to give one this impression of utter
+loneliness. In the woods are sounds and voices, and a dumb kind of
+companionship; one is little more than a walking tree himself; but come
+upon one of these mountain lakes, and the wildness stands revealed and
+meets you face to face. Water is thus facile and adaptive, that it makes
+the wild more wild, while it enhances culture and art.
+
+The end of the pond which we approached was quite shoal, the stones
+rising above the surface as in a summer brook, and everywhere showing
+marks of the noble game we were in quest of,--footprints, dung, and
+cropped and uprooted lily-pads. After resting for a half hour, and
+replenishing our game-pouches at the expense of the most respectable
+frogs of the locality, we filed on through the soft, resinous pinewoods,
+intending to camp near the other end of the lake, where, the guide
+assured us, we should find a hunter's cabin ready built. A half hour's
+march brought us to the locality, and a most delightful one it was, so
+hospitable and inviting that all the kindly and beneficent influences of
+the woods must have abided there. In a slight depression in the woods,
+about one hundred yards from the lake, though hidden from it for a
+hunter's reasons, surrounded by a heavy growth of birch, hemlock, and
+pine, with a lining of balsam and fir, the rude cabin welcomed us. It
+was of the approved style, three sides inclosed, with a roof of bark and
+a bed of boughs, and a rock in front that afforded a permanent back-log
+to all fires. A faint voice of running water was heard near by, and,
+following the sound, a delicious spring rivulet was disclosed, hidden by
+the moss and debris as by a new fall of snow, but here and there rising
+in little well-like openings, as if for our special convenience.
+
+--JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+[Footnote: What does this power of minute observation tell you about the
+writer? What other qualities of the naturalist does Burroughs show in
+this account? What things in nature seem most to attract his attention?
+Do you know what science now says about "the beginning of things" being
+"associated with water"? What do you imagine were the "adventures with
+the pine knots" that Burroughs speaks of?]
+
+
+
+
+AN ASCENT OF KILAUEA
+
+
+[Footnote: Kilauea: a volcano on the island of Hawaii.]
+
+At last we found ourselves at the very edge of the old crater, the bed
+of which, three or four hundred feet beneath us, was surrounded by steep
+and in many places overhanging sides. It looked like an enormous
+cauldron, four or five miles in width, full of a mass of cooled pitch.
+In the center was the still glowing stream of dark red lava flowing
+slowly toward us, and in every direction were red-hot patches, and
+flames, and smoke, issuing from the ground.
+
+Yet the first sensation is rather one of disappointment, as one expects
+greater activity on the part of the volcano; but the new crater was
+still to be seen, containing the lake of fire, with steep walls rising
+up in the midst of the sea of lava.
+
+We spent the night at the Volcano House, and at three o'clock the next
+afternoon we set out, a party of eight, with two guides, and three
+porters to carry our wraps and provisions, and to bring back specimens.
+
+First of all we descended the precipice, three hundred feet in depth,
+forming the wall of the old crater, but now thickly covered with
+vegetation. It is so steep in many places that flights of zigzag wooden
+steps have been inserted in the face of the cliff in some places, in
+order to render the descent practicable.
+
+At the bottom we stepped straight on to the surface of cold boiled lava,
+which we had seen from above last night. Even here, in every crevice
+where a few grains of soil had collected, delicate little ferns might be
+seen struggling for life, and thrusting out their green fronds towards
+the light.
+
+It was the most extraordinary walk imaginable, over that vast plain of
+lava, twisted and distorted into every conceivable shape and form,
+according to the temperature it had originally attained and the rapidity
+with which it had cooled, its surface, like half-molten glass, cracking
+and breaking beneath our feet.
+
+Sometimes we came to a patch that looked like the contents of a pot,
+suddenly petrified in the act of boiling; sometimes the black,
+iridescent lava had assumed the form of waves, or more frequently of
+huge masses of rope, twisted and coiled together; sometimes it was piled
+up like a collection of organ pipes, or had gathered into mounds and
+cones of various dimensions.
+
+As we proceeded, the lava became hotter and hotter, and from every crack
+arose gaseous fumes, affecting our noses and throats in a painful
+manner; till at last, when we had to pass to leeward [Footnote: Leeward:
+away from the wind.] of the molten stream flowing from the lake, the
+vapors almost choked us, and it was with difficulty we continued to
+advance.
+
+The lava was more glassy and transparent-looking, as if it had been
+fused at a higher temperature than usual; and the crystals of sulphur,
+alum, and other minerals, with which it abounded, reflected the light in
+bright prismatic colors. In places it was quite transparent, and we
+could see beneath it the long streaks of a stringy kind of lava, like
+brown spun glass, called "Pele's hair."
+
+At last we reached the foot of the present crater, and commenced the
+ascent of the outer wall. Many times the thin crust gave way beneath our
+guide, and he had to retire quickly from the hot, blinding, choking
+fumes that immediately burst forth. But we succeeded in reaching the
+top, and then what a sight presented itself to our astonished eyes! I
+could neither speak nor move at first, but could only stand and gaze at
+the horrible grandeur of the scene.
+
+We were standing on the extreme edge of a precipice, overhanging a lake
+of molten fire, a hundred feet below us, nearly a mile across. Dashing
+against the cliffs on the opposite side, with a noise like the roar of a
+stormy ocean, waves of blood-red fiery liquid lava hurled their billows
+upon an iron-bound headland, and then rushed up the face of the cliffs
+to toss their gory spray high in the air.
+
+The restless, heaving lake boiled and bubbled, never remaining the same
+for two minutes together. Its normal color seemed to be a dull dark red,
+covered with a thin gray scum, which every moment and in every part
+swelled and cracked, and emitted fountains, cascades, and whirlpools of
+yellow and red fire, while sometimes one big golden river, sometimes
+four or five, flowed across it.
+
+As the sun set and as darkness enveloped the scene, it became more awful
+than ever. We retired a little way from the brink to breathe some fresh
+air, and to try and eat the food we had brought with us; but this was an
+impossibility. Every instant a fresh explosion or glare made us jump up
+to survey the scene.
+
+The violent struggles of the lava to escape from its fiery bed, and the
+loud and awful noises by which they were at times, accompanied,
+suggested the idea that some imprisoned monsters were trying to release
+themselves from their bondage, with shrieks and groans, and cries of
+agony and despair at the futility of their efforts. Sometimes there were
+at least seven spots on the borders of the lake where the molten lava
+dashed up furiously against the rocks--seven fire fountains playing at
+the same time.
+
+I had for some time been feeling very hot and uncomfortable, and on
+looking round, the cause was at once apparent. Not two inches beneath
+the surface, the gray lava on which we were standing and sitting was red
+hot. A stick thrust through it caught fire, a piece of paper was
+immediately destroyed, and the gentlemen found the heat from the
+crevices so great that they could not approach near enough to light
+their pipes.
+
+One more long last look, and then we turned our faces away from the
+scene that had enthralled us for so many hours. The whole of the lava we
+had crossed in the extinct crater was now aglow in many patches, and in
+all directions flames were bursting forth, fresh lava flowing, and steam
+and smoke were issuing from the surface.
+
+It was a toilsome journey back again, walking as we did in single file,
+and obeying the strict charges of our head guide to follow him closely,
+and to tread exactly in his footsteps. On the whole, it was easier by
+night than by day to distinguish the route to be taken, as we could now
+see the dangers that before we could only feel; and many were the fiery
+crevices we stepped over and jumped across. Once I slipped, and my foot
+sank through the thin crust. Sparks issued from the ground, and the
+stick on which I leaned caught fire before I could fairly recover
+myself.
+
+--LADY BRASSEY.
+
+[Footnote: Note the purely objective description. What colors
+predominate? Point out the similes in use. Do they heighten the picture?
+Does the author succeed in giving a clear picture of the volcano?]
+
+
+
+
+THE FETISH
+
+
+Before this remonstrance was finished, Maggie was already out of
+hearing, making her way towards the great attic that ran under the old
+high-pitched roof, shaking the water from her black locks as she ran,
+like a Skye terrier escaped from his bath. This attic was Maggie's
+favorite retreat on a wet day, when the weather was not too cold; here
+she fretted out all her ill-humors, and talked aloud to the worm-eaten
+floors and the worm-eaten shelves, and the dark rafters festooned with
+cobwebs; and here she kept a Fetish [Footnote: Fetish (also spelt
+"fetich"): a material object, venerated by certain African tribes; a
+sort of idol, which is sometimes punished by its owner in disappointment
+or anger.] which she punished for all her misfortunes. This was the
+trunk of a large wooden doll, which once stared with the roundest of
+eyes above the reddest of cheeks, but was now entirely defaced by a long
+career of vicarious [Footnote: Vicarious: suffered or performed in place
+of another.] suffering. Three nails driven into the head commemorated as
+many crises in Maggie's nine years of earthly struggle; that luxury of
+vengeance having been suggested to her by the picture of Jael [Footnote:
+Jael: referring to the story of how Jael drove the nail into the
+forehead of Sisera. _Judges_ IV: 17 to 22.] destroying Sisera in
+the old Bible. The last nail had been driven in with a fiercer stroke
+than usual, for the Fetish on that occasion represented Aunt Glegg. But
+immediately afterwards Maggie had reflected that if she drove many nails
+in, she would not be so well able to fancy that the head was hurt, when
+she knocked it against the wall, nor to comfort it, and make believe to
+poultice it, when her fury was abated; for even Aunt Glegg would be
+pitiable when she had been hurt very much, and thoroughly humiliated, so
+as to beg her niece's pardon. Since then she had driven no more nails
+in, but had soothed herself by alternately grinding and beating the
+wooden head against the rough brick of the great chimneys that made two
+square pillars supporting the roof. That was what she did this morning
+on reaching the attic, sobbing all the while with a passion that
+expelled every other form of consciousness,--even the memory of the
+grievance that had caused it. As at last the sobs were getting quieter,
+and the grinding less fierce, a sudden beam of sunshine, falling through
+the wire lattice across the worm-eaten shelves, made her throw away the
+Fetish and run to the window. The sun was really breaking out; the sound
+of the mill seemed cheerful again; the granary doors were open; and
+there was Yap, the queer white-and-brown terrier, with one ear turned
+back, trotting about and sniffing vaguely, as if he were in search of a
+companion. It was irresistible. Maggie tossed her hair back and ran
+downstairs, seized her bonnet without putting it on, peeped, and then
+dashed along the passage lest she should encounter her mother, and was
+quickly out in the yard, whirling round like a Pythoness, and singing as
+she whirled, "Yap, Yap, Tom's coming home!" while Yap danced and barked
+round her, as much as to say, if there was any noise wanted he was the
+dog for it.
+
+--GEORGE ELIOT.
+
+[Footnote: What traits of character does Maggie show? Do children think
+of their dolls as alive? Or as representing people they know? Did you
+ever have the impulse to "take your spite out" on something, animate or
+inanimate? Did you feel any better for relieving your feelings so? There
+is an interesting account of a savage beating his idol in Melville's
+"Typee."]
+
+
+
+
+SALMON FISHING IN IRELAND
+
+
+The pool has been cut through a peat bog, [Footnote: Peat-bog. Peat is a
+kind of turf that is used for fuel.] and the greater part of it is
+twenty feet deep. A broad fringe of water-lilies lines the banks,
+leaving, however, an available space for throwing a fly upon between
+them. This is the great resting-place of the fish on their way to the
+lake and the upper river. The water is high, and almost flowing over the
+bog. The wind catches it fairly, tearing along the surface and sweeping
+up the crisp waves in white clouds of spray. The party of strangers who
+had cards to fish were before us, but they are on the wrong side, trying
+vainly to send their flies in the face of the southwester, which whirls
+their casting-lines back over their heads. They have caught a peal
+[Footnote: Peal: a small salmon.] or two, and one of them reports that
+he was broken by a tremendous fish at the end of the round-pool. Jack
+directs them to a bend higher up, where they will find a second pool as
+good as this one, with a more favorable slant of wind, while I put my
+rod together and turn over the leaves of my fly-book. Among the marvels
+of art and nature I know nothing equal to a salmon-fly. It resembles no
+insect, winged or unwinged, which the fish can have seen. A shrimp,
+perhaps, is the most like it, if there are degrees to utter
+dissimilarity. Yet every river is supposed to have its favorite flies.
+Size, color, shape, all are peculiar. Here vain tastes prevail for
+golden pheasant and blue and crimson paroquet. There the salmon are as
+sober as Quakers, and will look at nothing but drabs and browns. Nine
+parts of this are fancy, but there is still a portion of truth in it.
+Bold hungry fish will take anything in any river; shy fish will
+undoubtedly rise and splash at a stranger's fly, while they will swallow
+what is offered them by any one who knows their ways. It may be
+something in the color of the water: it may be something in the color of
+the banks: experience is too uniform to allow the fact itself to be
+questioned. Under Jack's direction, I select small flies about the size
+of green drakes: one a sombre gray, with a silver twist about him, a
+claret hackle, [Footnote: Claret hackle. A hackle is an artificial fly
+made of feathers.] a mallard wing, [Footnote: Mallard wing. A mallard is
+the drake of the wild duck. The artificial fly imitates its wing.]
+streaked faintly on the lower side with red and blue. The drop fly is
+still darker, with purple legs and olive green wings and body.
+
+We move to the head of the pool and begin to cast in the gravelly
+shallows, on which the fish lie to feed in a flood, a few yards above
+the deep water. A white trout or two rise, and presently I am fast in
+something which excites momentary hopes. The heavy rod bends to the
+butt. A yard or two of line runs out, but a few seconds show that it is
+only a large trout which has struck at the fly with his tail, and has
+been hooked foul. He cannot break me, and I do not care if he escapes,
+so I bear hard upon him and drag him by main force to the side, where
+Harper slips the net under his head, and the next moment he is on the
+bank. Two pounds within an ounce or so, but clean run from the sea,
+brought up by last night's flood, and without a stain of the bog-water
+on the pure silver of his scales. He has disturbed the shallow, so we
+move a few steps down.
+
+There is an alder bush on the opposite side, where the strength of the
+river is running. It is a long cast. The wind is blowing so hard that I
+can scarcely keep my footing, and the gusts whirl so unsteadily that I
+cannot hit the exact spot where, if there is a salmon in the
+neighborhood, he is lying.
+
+The line flies out straight at last, but I have now thrown a few inches
+too far; my tail fly is in the bush, dangling across an overhanging
+bough. An impatient movement, a jerk, or a straight pull, and I am "hung
+up," as is the phrase, and delayed for half an hour at least. Happily
+there is a lull in the storm. I shake the point of the rod. The
+vibration runs along the line; the fly drops softly like a leaf upon the
+water--and as it floats away something turns heavily, and a huge brown
+back is visible for an instant through a rift in the surface. But the
+line comes home. He was an old stager, as we could see by his color, no
+longer ravenous as when fresh from the salt-water. He was either lazy
+and missed the fly, or it was not entirely to his mind. He was not
+touched, and we drew back to consider. "Over him again while he is
+angry," is the saying in some rivers, and I have known it to answer
+where the fish feed greedily. But it will not do here; we must give him
+time; and we turn again to the fly-book. When a salmon rises at a small
+fly as if he meant business, yet fails to take it, the rule is to try
+another of the same pattern a size larger. This too, however, just now
+Jack thinks unfavorably of. The salmon is evidently a very large one,
+and will give us enough to do if we hook him. He therefore, as one
+precaution, takes off the drop fly lest it catch in the water-lilies. He
+next puts the knots of the casting-line through a severe trial; replaces
+an unsound joint with a fresh link of gut, and finally produces out of
+his hat a "hook"--he will not call it a fly--of his own dressing. It is
+a particolored father-long-legs, a thing which only some frantic
+specimen of orchid ever seriously approached, a creature whose wings
+were two strips of the fringe of a peacock's tail, whose legs descended
+from blue jay through red to brown, and terminated in a pair of pink
+trailers two inches long. Jack had found it do, and he believed it would
+do for me. And so it did. I began to throw again six feet above the
+bush, for a salmon often shifts his ground after rising. One cast--a
+second--another trout rises which we receive with an anathema,
+[Footnote: Anathema: a curse.] and drag the fly out of his reach. The
+fourth throw there is a swirl like the wave which arises under the blade
+of an oar, a sharp sense of hard resistance, a pause, and then a rush
+for dear life. The wheel shrieks, the line hisses through the rings, and
+thirty yards down the pool the great fish springs madly six feet into
+the air. The hook is firm in his upper jaw; he had not shaken its hold,
+for the hook had gone into the bone--pretty subject of delight for a
+reasonable man, an editor of a magazine, and a would-be philosopher,
+turned fifty! The enjoyments of the unreasoning part of us cannot be
+defended on grounds of reason, and experience shows that men who are all
+logic and morals, and have nothing of the animal left in them, are poor
+creatures after all.
+
+Any way, I defy philosophy with a twenty-pound salmon fast hooked, and a
+pool right ahead four hundred yards long and half full of water-lilies.
+"Keep him up the strame," shrieked a Paddy, who, on the screaming of the
+wheel, had flung down his spade in the turf bog and rushed up to see the
+sport. "Keep him up the strame, your honor--bloody wars! you'll lost him
+else." We were at fault, Jack and I. We did not understand why down
+stream was particularly dangerous, and Pat was too eager and too busy
+swearing to explain himself. Alas, his meaning became soon but too
+intelligible. I had overtaken the fish on the bank and had wheeled in
+the line again, but he was only collecting himself for a fresh rush, and
+the next minute it seemed as if the bottom had been knocked out of the
+pool and an opening made into infinity. Round flew the wheel again;
+fifty yards were gone in as many seconds, the rod was bending double,
+and the line pointed straight down; straight as if there was a lead at
+the end of it and unlimited space in which to sink. "Ah, didn't I tell
+ye so?" said Pat; "what will we do now?" Too late Jack remembered that
+fourteen feet down at the bottom of that pool lay the stem of a fallen
+oak, below which the water had made a clear channel. The fish had turned
+under it, and whether he was now up the river or down, or where he was
+who could tell? He stopped at last. "Hold him hard," said Jack, hurling
+off his clothes, and while I was speculating whether it would be
+possible to drag him back the way that he had gone, a pink body flashed
+from behind me, bounded off the bank with a splendid header, and
+disappeared. He was under for a quarter of a minute; when he rose he had
+the line in his hand between the fish and the tree.
+
+"All right," he sputtered, swimming with the other hand to the bank and
+scrambling up. "Run the rest of the line off the reel and out through
+the rings." He had divined by a brilliant instinct the only remedy for
+our situation. The thing was done, fast as Pat and I could ply our
+fingers. The loose end was drawn round the log, and while Jack was
+humoring the fish with his hand, and dancing up and down the bank
+regardless of proprieties, we had carried it back down the rings,
+replaced it on the reel, wound in the slack, and had again command of
+the situation.
+
+The salmon had played his best stroke. It had failed him, and he now
+surrendered like a gentleman. A mean-spirited fish will go to the
+bottom, bury himself in the weed, and sulk. Ours set his head towards
+the sea, and sailed down the length of the pool in the open water
+without attempting any more plunges. As his strength failed, he turned
+heavily on his back, and allowed himself to be drawn to the shore. The
+gaff [Footnote: Gaff: a large hook fixed on the end of a pole or
+handle.] was in his side and he was ours. He was larger than we had
+guessed him. Clean run he would have weighed twenty-five pounds. The
+fresh water had reduced him to twenty-two, but without softening his
+muscle or touching his strength.
+
+--JAMES FROUDE (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Is the first part of the narrative a typical story of
+"fisherman's luck"? Show how the story illustrates that a real lover of
+fishing is enthusiastic over every detail of his experience. Is the
+story technical at the expense of the reader's interest? How does the
+element of suspense add to the interest? Is the account more interesting
+by being told in the first person? Why?]
+
+
+
+
+ACROSS RUNNING WATER
+
+
+At a running water, that comes out at a place called Srath-namara, near
+the sea-gates of Loch Suibhne, there is a pool called the Pool of the
+Changeling. None ever goes that way from choice, for only the crying of
+the curlew is heard there, or the querulous wailing lapwing.
+
+It was here that one night, in a September of many storms, a woman stood
+staring at the sea. The screaming seamews [Footnote: Seamews: gulls.]
+wheeled and sank and circled overhead, and the solanders [Footnote:
+Solanders: a kind of wild geese.] rose with heavy wing and hoarse cries,
+and the black scarts screeched to the startled guillemots [Footnote:
+Guillemots: birds similar to the auks.] or to the foam-white terns
+[Footnote: Terns: a species of birds allied to the gulls.] blown before
+the wind like froth. The woman looked neither at the seafowl nor at the
+burning glens of scarlet flame which stretched dishevelled among the
+ruined lands of the sunset.
+
+Between the black flurries of the wind, striking the sea like flails,
+came momentary pauses or long silences. In one of these the woman raised
+her arms, she the while unheeding the cold tide wash about her feet,
+where she stood insecurely on the wet slippery tangle.
+
+Seven years ago this woman had taken the one child she had, that she did
+not believe to be her own but a changeling, and had put it on the shore
+at the extreme edge of the tide-reach, and had left it for the space of
+an hour. When she came back, the child she had left with a numbness on
+its face and with the curse of dumbness, was laughing wild, and when she
+came near, it put out its arms and gave the cry of the young of birds.
+She lifted the "leanav" in her arms and stared into its eyes, but there
+was no longer the weary blankness, and the little one yearned with the
+petulant laughing and idle whimpering of the children of other mothers.
+And that mother there gave a cry of joy, and with a singing heart went
+home.
+
+It was in the seventh year after that finding by the sea, that one day,
+when a cold wind was blowing from the west, the child Morag came in by
+the peat-fire, where her mother was boiling the porridge, and looked at
+her without speaking. The mother turned at that, and looked at Morag.
+Her heart sank like a pool-lily at shadow, when she saw that Morag had
+woven a wreath of brown tangled seaweed into her hair. But that was
+nothing to the bite in her breast when the girl began singing a song
+that had not a word in it she had ever heard on her own or other lips,
+but was wild as the sound of the tide calling in dark nights of cloud
+and wind, or as the sudden coming of waves over a quiet sea in the
+silence of the black hours of sleep.
+
+"What is it, Morag-mo-run?" she asked, her voice like a reed in the
+wind.
+
+"It's time," says Morag, with a change in her eyes, and her face shining
+with a gleam on it.
+
+"Time for what, Morag?"
+
+"For me to be going back to the place I came from."
+
+"And where will that be?"
+
+"Where would it be but to the place you took me out of, and called
+across?"
+
+The mother gave a cry and a sob. "Sure, now, Morag-a-ghraidh, you will
+be my own lass and no other?"
+
+"Whist, woman," answered the girl; "don't you hear the laughing in the
+burn, [Footnote: Burn: a small stream.] and the hoarse voice out in the
+sea?"
+
+"That I do not, O Morag-mo-chridh, and sure it's black sorrow to you and
+to me hearing that hoarse voice and that thin laughing."
+
+"Well, sorrow or no sorrow, I'm off now, poor woman. [Footnote: Poor
+woman: a friendly term of address in Ireland.] And it's good-bye, and a
+good-bye to you I'll be saying to you, poor woman. Sure it's a sorrow to
+me to leave you in grief, but if you'll go down to the edge of the
+water, at the place you took me from, where the runnin' water falls into
+the sea-pool, you'll be having there against your breast in no time the
+child of your own that I never was and never could be."
+
+"And why that, and why that, O Morag, lennavanmo?"
+
+"Peace on your sorrow, woman, and good-bye to you now;" and with that
+the sea-changeling went laughing out at the door, singing a wave-song
+that was so wild and strange the mother's woe was turned to a fear that
+rose like chill water in her heart.
+
+When she dared follow--and why she did not go at once she did not
+know--she saw at first no sight of Morag or any other on the lonely
+shore. In vain she called, with a great sorrowing cry. But as, later,
+she stood with her feet in the sea, she became silent of a sudden, and
+was still as a rock, with her ragged dress about her like draggled
+seaweed. She had heard a thin crying. It was the voice of a
+breast-child, and not of a grown lass like Morag.
+
+When a gray heron toiled sullenly from a hollow among the rocks she went
+to the place. She was still now, with a frozen sorrow. She knew what she
+was going to find. But she did not guess till she lifted that little
+frail child she had left upon the shore seven years back, that the
+secret people of the sea or those who call across running water could
+have the hardness and coldness to give her again the unsmiling dumb
+thing she had mothered with so much bitterness of heart.
+
+Morag she never saw again, nor did any other see her, except Padruig
+Macrae, the innocent, who on a New Year's eve, that was a Friday, said
+that as he was whistling to a seal down by the Pool at Srath-na-mara he
+heard someone laughing at him; and when he looked to see who it was he
+saw it was no other than Morag--and he had called to her, he said, and
+she called back to him, "Come away, Padruig dear," and then had swum off
+like a seal, crying the heavy tears of sorrow.
+
+And as for the child she had found again on the place she had left her
+own silent breast-babe seven years back; it never gave a cry or made any
+sound whatever, but stared with round, strange eyes only, and withered
+away in three days, and was hidden by her in a sand-hole at the root of
+a stunted thorn that grew there.
+
+At every going down of the sun thereafter, the mother of the changeling
+went to the edge of the sea, and stood among the wet tangle of the
+wrack, [Footnote: Wrack: coarse seaweed.] and put out her supplicating
+hands, but never spoke word nor uttered cry.
+
+But on this night of September, while the gleaming sea-fowl were flying
+through the burning glens of scarlet flame in the wide purple wildness
+of the sky, with the wind falling and wailing and wailing and falling,
+the woman went over to the running water beyond the seapool, and put her
+skirt over her head and stepped into the pool, and, hooded thus and thus
+patient, waited till the tide came in.
+
+--FIONA MACLEOD.
+
+[Footnote: Notice how the author describes the wildness of nature so as
+to make it seem in sympathy with the strangeness of the human story.
+Pick out words and passages that convey this as: "screaming seamews,"
+"screeched," "dishevelled," "black flurries," etc. Have you ever read
+any stories or fairy tales that tell about changelings? Among what kind
+of people would a story like this be believed? Read Yeats, "The Land of
+Hearts' Desire" and compare with this story. Is the story too fantastic
+to gain the reader's sympathy?]
+
+
+
+
+THE PINE-TREE SHILLINGS
+
+
+The Captain John Hull aforesaid was the mint-master of Massachusetts,
+and coined all the money that was made there. This was a new line of
+business; for, in the earlier days of the colony, the current coinage
+consisted of gold and silver money of England, and Portugal, and Spain.
+These coins being scarce, the people were often forced to barter their
+commodities instead of selling them.
+
+For instance, if a man wanted to buy a coat, he perhaps exchanged a
+bear-skin for it. If he wished for a barrel of molasses, he might
+purchase it with a pile of pine boards. Musket-bullets were used instead
+of farthings. The Indians had a sort of money, called wampum, which was
+made of clam-shells; and this strange sort of specie was likewise taken
+in payment of debts by the English settlers. Bank-bills had never been
+heard of. There was not money enough of any kind, in many parts of the
+country, to pay the salaries of the ministers; so that they sometimes
+had to take quintals [Footnote: Quintals: hundredweights.] of fish,
+bushels of corn, or cords of wood, instead of silver or gold.
+
+As the people grew more numerous, and their trade one with another
+increased, the want of current money was still more sensibly felt. To
+supply the demand, the General Court passed a law for establishing a
+coinage of shillings, sixpences, and threepences. [Footnote: Shillings:
+Sixpences, and three-pences. What country did use and still uses this
+system?] Captain John Hull was appointed to manufacture this money, and
+was to have about one shilling out of every twenty to pay him for the
+trouble of making them.
+
+Hereupon all the old silver in the colony was handed over to Captain
+John Hull. The battered silver cans and tankards, [Footnote: Tankards:
+large drinking vessels.] I suppose, and silver buckles, and broken
+spoons, and silver buttons of wornout coats, and silver hilts of swords
+that had figured at court,--all such curious old articles were doubtless
+thrown into the melting pot together. But by far the greater part of the
+silver consisted of bullion [Footnote: Bullion: uncoined gold or silver
+in the mass.] from the mines of South America, which the English
+buccaneers [Footnote: Buccaneers: pirates.]--who were little better than
+pirates--had taken from the Spaniards, and brought to Massachusetts.
+All this old and new silver being melted down and coined, the result was
+an immense amount of splendid shillings, sixpences, and threepences.
+Each had the date, 1652, on the one side, and the figure of a pine-tree
+on the other. Hence they were called pine-tree shillings. And for every
+twenty shillings that he coined, you will remember, Captain John Hull
+was entitled to put one shilling into his own pocket.
+
+The magistrates soon began to suspect that the mint-master would have
+the best of the bargain. They offered him a large sum of money if he
+would but give up the twentieth shilling which he was continually
+dropping into his own pocket. But Captain Hull declared himself
+perfectly satisfied with the shilling. And well he might be; for so
+diligently did he labor that, in a few years, his pockets, his
+money-bags, and his strong box were overflowing with pine-tree
+shillings. This was probably the case when he came into possession of
+Grandfather's chair; and, as he had worked so hard at the mint, it was
+certainly proper that he should have a comfortable chair to rest himself
+in.
+
+When the mint-master had grown rich, a young man, Samuel Sewell by name,
+came a-courting to his only daughter. His daughter--whose name I do not
+know, but we will call her Betsey--was a fine, hearty damsel, by no
+means so slender as some young ladies of our own days. On the contrary,
+having always fed heartily on pumpkin-pies, doughnuts, Indian puddings,
+and other Puritan dainties, she was as round, and plump as a pudding
+herself. With this round, rosy Miss Betsey did Samuel Sewell fall in
+love. As he was a young man of good character, industrious in his
+business, and a member of the church, the mint-master very readily gave
+his consent.
+
+"Yes, you may take her," said he, in his rough way, "and you'll find her
+a heavy burden enough!"
+
+On the wedding day, we may suppose that honest John Hull dressed himself
+in a plum-colored coat, all the buttons of which were made of pine-tree
+shillings. The buttons of his waistcoat were sixpences; and the knees of
+his smallclothes [Footnote: Smallclothes: knee breeches.] were buttoned
+with silver threepences. Thus attired, he sat with great dignity in
+Grandfather's chair; and, being a portly old gentleman, he completely
+filled it from elbow to elbow. On the opposite side of the room, between
+her bridemaids, sat Miss Betsey. She was blushing with all her might,
+and looked like a full-blown peony, or a great red apple.
+
+There, too, was the bridegroom, dressed in a fine purple coat and
+gold-lace waistcoat, with as much other finery as the Puritan laws and
+customs would allow him to put on. His hair was cropped close to his
+head, because Governor Endicott [Footnote: Governor Endicott: governor
+of the Massachusetts colony from 1647 to 1665.] had forbidden any man to
+wear it below the ears. But he was a very personable young man; and so
+thought the bridemaids and Miss Betsey herself.
+
+The mint-master also was pleased with his new son-in-law; especially as
+he had courted Miss Betsey out of pure love, and had said nothing at all
+about her portion. So, when the marriage ceremony was over, Captain Hull
+whispered a word to two of his men-servants, who immediately went out,
+and soon returned, lugging in a large pair of scales. There were such a
+pair as wholesale merchants use for weighing bulky commodities; and
+quite a bulky commodity was now to be weighed in them.
+
+"Daughter Betsey," said the mint-master, "get into one side of these
+scales."
+
+Miss Betsey--or Mrs. Sewell, as we must now call her--did as she was
+bid, like a dutiful child, without any question of the why and
+wherefore. But what her father could mean, unless to make her husband
+pay for her by the pound (in which case she would have been a dear
+bargain), she had not the least idea.
+
+"And now," said honest John Hull to the servants, "bring that box
+hither."
+
+The box to which the mint-master pointed was a huge square, iron-bound,
+oaken chest; it was big enough, my children, for all four of you to play
+hide-and-seek in. The servants tugged with might and main, but could not
+lift this enormous receptacle, and were finally obliged to drag it
+across the floor. Captain Hull then took a key from his girdle, unlocked
+the chest, and lifted its ponderous lid. Behold! it was full to the brim
+of bright pine-tree shillings, fresh from the mint; and Samuel Sewell
+began to think that his father-in-law had got possession of all the
+money in the Massachusetts treasury. But it was only the mint-master's
+honest share of the coinage.
+
+Then the servants, at Captain Hull's command, heaped double handfuls of
+shillings into one side of the scales, while Betsey remained in the
+other. Jingle, jingle, went the shillings, as handful after handful was
+thrown in, till, plump and ponderous as she was, they fairly weighed the
+young lady from the floor.
+
+"There, son Sewell!" cried the honest mint-master, resuming his seat in
+Grandfather's chair, "take these shillings for my daughter's portion.
+Use her kindly, and thank Heaven for her. It is not every wife that's
+worth her weight in silver!"
+
+--NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
+
+[Footnote: Notice the kindly quality of the humor. Do you know any other
+stories written in this vein? Does the author seem to think that Miss
+Betsey's charms or her money were her attraction?]
+
+
+
+
+THE WHITE TRAIL
+
+
+For the space of nearly ten weeks these people travelled thus in the
+region of the Kabinikagam. Sometimes they made long marches; sometimes
+they camped for the hunting; sometimes the great, fierce storms of the
+north drove them to shelter, snowed them under, and passed on shrieking.
+The wind opposed them. At first of little account, its very insistence
+gave it value. Always the stinging snow whirling into the face; always
+the eyes watering and smarting; always the unyielding opposition against
+which to bend the head; always the rush of sound in the ears,--a
+distraction against which the senses had to struggle before they could
+take their needed cognisance of trail and of game. An uneasiness was
+abroad with the wind, an uneasiness that infected the men, the dogs, the
+forest creatures, the very insentient trees themselves. It racked the
+nerves. In it the inimical Spirit of the North seemed to find its
+plainest symbol; though many difficulties she cast in the way were
+greater to be overcome.
+
+Ever the days grew shorter. The sun swung above the horizon, low to the
+south, and dipped back as though pulled by some invisible string.
+Slanting through the trees it gave little cheer and no warmth. Early in
+the afternoon it sank, silhouetting the pointed firs, casting across the
+snow long, crimson shadows, which faded into gray. It was replaced by a
+moon, chill and remote, dead as the white world on which it looked.
+
+In the great frost continually the trees were splitting with loud,
+sudden reports. The cold had long since squeezed the last drops of
+moisture from the atmosphere. It was metallic, clear, hard as ice,
+brilliant as the stars, compressed with the freezing. The moon, the
+stars, the earth, the very heavens glistened like polished steel. Frost
+lay on the land thick as a coverlid. It hid the east like clouds of
+smoke. Snow remained unmelted two feet from the camp-fire.
+
+And the fire alone saved these people from the enemy. If Sam stooped for
+a moment to adjust his snow-shoe strap, he straightened his back with a
+certain reluctance,--already the benumbing preliminary to freezing had
+begun. If Dick, flipping his mitten from his hand to light his pipe, did
+not catch the fire at the second tug, he had to resume the mitten and
+beat the circulation into his hand before renewing the attempt, lest the
+ends of his fingers become frosted. Movement, always and incessantly,
+movement alone could keep going the vital forces on these few coldest
+days until the fire had been built to fight back the white death.
+
+It was the land of ghosts. Except for the few hours at midday these
+people moved in the gloom and shadow of a nether world. The long
+twilight was succeeded by longer night, with its burnished stars, its
+dead moon, its unearthly aurora. On the fresh snow were the tracks of
+creatures, but in the flesh they glided almost invisible. The
+ptarmigan's [Footnote: Ptarmigan: a species of grouse that is brown in
+summer but turns white, or nearly white, in winter.] bead eye alone
+betrayed him, he had no outline. The ermine's black tip was the only
+indication of his presence. Even the larger animals--the caribou, the
+moose--had either turned a dull gray, or were so rimed by the frost as
+to have lost all appearance of solidity. It was ever a surprise to find
+these phantoms red, to discover that their flesh would resist the knife.
+During the strife of the heavy northwest storms one side of each tree
+had become more or less plastered with snow, so that even their dark
+trunks flashed mysteriously into and out of view. In the entire world of
+the great white silence the only solid, enduring, palpable reality was
+the tiny sledge train crawling with infinite patience across its
+vastness.
+
+White space, a feeling of littleness and impotence, twilight gloom,
+burnished night, bitter cold, unreality, phantasmagoria, [Footnote:
+Phantasmagoria: illusive images.] ghosts like those which surged about
+Aeneas, [Footnote: Ghosts about Aeneas: referring to the descent of
+Aeneas into Hades as told in Virgil's "Aeneid."] and finally clogging,
+white silence,--these were the simple but dreadful elements of that
+journey which lasted, without event, from the middle of November until
+the latter part of January.
+
+--STEWART EDWARD WHITE.
+
+[Footnote: What is the effect of the repeated use of "always" in the
+first paragraph? Cite the passages that help most in giving you a clear
+picture of the scene. What effect is produced by the absence of color in
+the description? Why does the author use almost entirely the short
+sentences? What possibilities of tragedy are hinted at in the narrative?
+How is the sense of silence and isolation conveyed?]
+
+
+
+
+A DISSERTATION ON ROAST PIG
+
+
+Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. was obliging
+enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages
+ate their meat raw, clawing it or biting it from the living animal, just
+as they do in Abyssinia to this day. This period is not obscurely hinted
+at by their great Confucius [Footnote: Confucius: a celebrated Chinese
+philosopher, born about 550 B.C.] in the second chapter of his Mundane
+Mutations, where he designates a kind of golden age by the term
+Cho-fang, literally the Cooks' holiday.
+
+The manuscript goes on to say, that the art of roasting, or rather
+broiling (which I take to be the elder brother) was accidentally
+discovered in the manner following. The swineherd, Ho-ti, having gone
+out into the woods one morning, as his manner was, to collect mast
+[Footnote: Mast-acorns: nuts.] for his hogs, left his cottage in the
+care of his eldest son Bo-bo, a great lubberly boy, who being fond of
+playing with fire, as younkers [Footnote: Younkers: youngsters.] of his
+age commonly are, let some sparks escape into a bundle of straw, which
+kindling quickly, spread the conflagration over every part of their poor
+mansion, till it was reduced to ashes. Together with the cottage (a
+sorry antediluvian makeshift of a building, you may think it), what was
+of much more importance, a fine litter of young pigs, no less than nine
+in number, perished. China pigs [Footnote: China pigs. What adjective
+would we use now?] have been esteemed a luxury all over the East from
+the remotest periods that we read of.
+
+Bo-bo was in the utmost consternation, as you may think, not so much for
+the sake of the tenement, which his father and he could easily build up
+again with a few dry branches, and the labor of an hour or two, at any
+time, as for the loss of the pigs. While he was thinking what he should
+say to his father, and wringing his hands over the smoking remnants of
+one of those untimely sufferers, an odor assailed his nostrils, unlike
+any scent which he had before experienced.
+
+What could it proceed from?--not from the burnt cottage--he had smelled
+that smell before--indeed this was by no means the first accident of the
+kind which had occurred through the negligence of this unlucky young
+firebrand. Much less did it resemble that of any known herb, weed, or
+flower. A premonitory moistening at the same time overflowed his nether
+lip. He knew not what to think.
+
+He next stooped down to feel the pig, if there were any signs of life in
+it. He burned his fingers, and to cool them he applied them in his booby
+fashion to his mouth. Some of the crumbs of the scorched skin had come
+away with his fingers, and for the first time in his life (in the
+world's life indeed, for before him no man had known it) he
+tasted--crackling! [Footnote: Crackling: the brown crisp rind of roasted
+pork.] Again he felt and fumbled at the pig.
+
+It did not burn him so much now, still he licked his fingers from a sort
+of habit.
+
+The truth at length broke into his slow understanding, that it was the
+pig that smelt so, and the pig that tasted so delicious; and,
+surrendering himself to the newborn pleasure, he fell to tearing whole
+handfuls of the scorched skin with the flesh next it, and was cramming
+it down his throat in his beastly fashion, when his sire entered amid
+the smoking rafters, armed with retributory cudgel, and finding how
+affairs stood, began to rain blows upon the young rogue's shoulders, as
+thick as hailstones, which Bo-bo heeded not any more than if they had
+been flies. The tickling pleasure which he experienced in his lower
+regions, had rendered him quite callous to any inconveniences he might
+feel in those remote quarters.
+
+His father might lay on, but he could not beat him from his pig, till he
+had fairly made an end of it, when, becoming a little more sensible of
+his situation, something like the following dialogue ensued:--
+
+"You graceless fellow, what have you got there devouring? Is it not
+enough that you have burned down three houses with your dog's tricks,
+but you must be eating fire and I know not what--what have you got
+there, I say?"
+
+"O father, the pig, the pig, do come and taste how nice the burnt pig
+eats."
+
+The ears of Ho-ti tingled with horror. He cursed his son, and he cursed
+himself that ever he should have a son that should eat burnt pig.
+
+Bo-bo, whose scent was wonderfully sharpened since morning, soon raked
+out another pig, and fairly rending it asunder, thrust the lesser half
+by main force into the fists of Ho-ti, still shouting out, "Eat, eat,
+eat the burnt pig, father, only taste,"--with such like ejaculations,
+cramming all the while as if he would choke.
+
+Ho-ti trembled in every joint while he grasped the abominable thing,
+wavering whether he should not put his son to death for an unnatural
+young monster, when the crackling scorching his fingers, as it had done
+his son's, and applying the same remedy to them, he in his turn tasted
+some of its flavor, which, make what sour mouths he would for a
+pretence, proved not altogether displeasing to him. In conclusion (for
+the manuscript here is a little tedious) both father and son fairly sat
+down to the mess, and never left off till they despatched all that
+remained of the litter.
+
+Bo-bo was strictly enjoined not to let the secret escape, for the
+neighbors would certainly have stoned them for a couple of abominable
+wretches, who could think of improving upon the good meat God had sent
+them. Nevertheless, strange stories got about. It was observed that
+Ho-ti's cottage was burned down now more frequently than ever.
+
+Nothing but fires from this time forward. Some would break out in broad
+day, others in the night-time. And Ho-ti himself, which was the more
+remarkable, instead of chastising his son, seemed to grow more indulgent
+to him than ever.
+
+At length they were watched, the terrible mystery discovered, and father
+and son summoned to take their trial at Pekin, then an inconsiderable
+assize town. [Footnote: Assize town: the place where the court sits to
+conduct trials.] Evidence was given, the obnoxious food itself produced
+in court, and verdict about to be pronounced, when the foreman of the
+jury begged that some of the burnt pig, of which the culprits stood
+accused, might be handed into the box.
+
+He handled it, and they all handled it, and burning their fingers, as
+Bo-bo and his father had done before them, and nature prompting to each
+of them the same remedy, against the face of all the facts, and the
+clearest charge which the judge had ever given,--to the surprise of the
+whole court, townsfolk, strangers, reporters, and all present--without
+leaving the box, or any manner of consultation whatever, they brought in
+a simultaneous verdict of Not Guilty.
+
+The judge, who was a shrewd fellow, winked at the manifest iniquity of
+the decision; and when the court was dismissed, went privily, and bought
+up all the pigs that could be had for love or money. In a few days his
+Lordship's town house was observed to be on fire. The thing took wing,
+and now there was nothing to be seen but fires in every direction. Fuel
+and pigs grew enormously dear all over the district. The insurance
+offices one and all shut up shop. People built slighter and slighter
+every day, until it was feared that the very science of architecture
+would in no long time be lost to the world.
+
+Thus this custom of firing houses continued, till in process of time,
+says my manuscript, a sage arose, like our Locke, [Footnote: Locke: John
+Locke, a celebrated English philosopher of the seventeenth century.] who
+made a discovery, that flesh of swine, or indeed of any other animal,
+might be cooked (burnt, as they called it) without the necessity of
+consuming a whole house to dress it. Then first began the rude form of a
+gridiron.
+
+Roasting by the string, or spit, came in a century or two later, I
+forget in whose dynasty. By such slow degrees, concludes the manuscript,
+do the most useful, and seemingly the most obvious arts, make their way
+among mankind.
+
+--CHARLES LAMB.
+
+[Footnote: In this essay where does the humor lie? Is it in the
+absurdity of the story told? In the exaggerations? What stories, of
+those you have studied, does this most resemble? Why? Notice how bare
+the story is of any description except that which is essential to the
+theme. What is the effect of this? Does the author describe the taste of
+roast pig sympathetically? Does any article of food arouse your
+enthusiasm? If so, try writing an essay on it. Why does the author
+introduce such incongruous terms as "foreman of the jury," "jury box,"
+"insurance offices"?]
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST CLASS
+
+
+I was very late for school that morning, and I was afraid of being
+scolded, especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine
+us on participles, and I did not know the first thing about them. For a
+moment I thought of staying away from school and wandering about the
+fields. It was such a warm, lovely day. I could hear the blackbirds
+whistling on the edge of the wood, and in the Rippert field, behind the
+sawmill, the Prussians going through their drill. [Footnote: Prussians
+going through their drill. The time of the story is laid at the end of
+the Franco-Prussian War.] All that was much more tempting to me than the
+rules concerning participles; but I had the strength to resist, and I
+ran as fast as I could to school. As I passed the Mayor's office, I saw
+that there were people gathered about the little board on which notices
+were posted. For two years all our bad news had come from that
+board--battles lost, conscriptions, [Footnote: Conscription: compulsory
+enrollment for military service.] orders from headquarters; and I
+thought without stopping:
+
+"What can it be now?"
+
+Then, as I ran across the square, Wachter the blacksmith, who stood
+there with his apprentice, reading the placard, called out to me:
+
+"Don't hurry so, my boy; you'll get to your school soon enough!"
+
+I thought that he was making fun of me, and I ran into Monsieur Hamel's
+little yard all out of breath.
+
+Usually, at the beginning of school, there was a great uproar which
+could be heard in the street, desks opening and closing, lessons
+repeated aloud in unison, with our ears stuffed in order to learn
+quicker, and the teacher's stout ruler beating on the desk:
+
+"A little more quiet!"
+
+I counted on all this noise to reach my bench unnoticed, but as it
+happened, that day everything was quiet, like a Sunday morning. Through
+the open window I saw my comrades already in their places, and Monsieur
+Hamel walking back and forth with the terrible iron ruler under his arm.
+I had to open the door and enter, in the midst of that perfect silence.
+You can imagine whether I blushed and whether I was afraid!
+
+But no! Monsieur Hamel looked at me with no sign of anger and said very
+gently:
+
+"Go at once to your seat, my little Frantz; we were going to begin
+without you."
+
+I stepped over the bench and sat down at once at my desk. Not until
+then, when I had partly recovered from my fright, did I notice that our
+teacher had on his handsome blue coat, his plaited ruff, and the black
+embroidered breeches, which he wore on days of inspection or of
+distribution of prizes. Moreover, there was something extraordinary,
+something solemn about the whole class. But what surprised me most was
+to see at the back of the room, on the benches which were usually empty,
+some people from the village sitting, as silent as we were: old Hauser
+with his three-cornered hat, the ex-mayor, the ex-postman, and others
+besides. They all seemed depressed; and Hauser had brought an old
+spelling-book with gnawed edges, which he held wide-open on his knee,
+with his great spectacles askew.
+
+While I was wondering at all this, Monsieur Hamel had mounted his
+platform, and in the same gentle and serious voice with which he had
+welcomed me, he said to us:
+
+"My children, this is the last time that I shall teach you. Orders have
+come from Berlin to teach nothing but German in the schools of Alsace
+and Lorraine. The new teacher arrives to-morrow. This is the last class
+in French, so I beg you to be very attentive."
+
+Those few words overwhelmed me. Ah! the villains! that was what they had
+posted at the mayor's office.
+
+My last class in French!
+
+And I barely knew how to write! So I should never learn! I must stop
+short where I was! How angry I was with myself because of the time I had
+wasted, the lessons I had missed, running about after nests, or sliding
+on the Saar! [Footnote: Saar: a river just beyond the northeast border
+line of the province of Lorraine.] My books, which only a moment before
+I thought so tiresome, so heavy to carry--my grammar, my sacred
+history--seemed to me now like old friends, from whom I should be
+terribly grieved to part. And it was the same about Monsieur Hamel. The
+thought that he was going away, that I should never see him again, made
+me forget the punishments, the blows with the ruler.
+
+Poor man! It was in honor of that last lesson that he had put on his
+fine Sunday clothes; and I understood now why those old fellows from the
+village were sitting at the end of the room. It seemed to mean that they
+regretted not having come oftener to the school. It was also a way of
+thanking our teacher for his forty years of faithful service, and of
+paying their respects to the fatherland which was vanishing.
+
+I was at that point in my reflections, when I heard my name called. It
+was my turn to recite. What would I not have given to be able to say
+from the beginning to the end that famous rule about participles, in a
+loud, distinct voice, without a slip! But I got mixed up at the first
+words, and I stood there swaying against my bench, with a full heart,
+afraid to raise my head. I heard Monsieur Hamel speaking to me:
+
+"I will not scold you, my little Frantz; you must be punished enough;
+that is the way it goes; every day we say to ourselves: 'Pshaw! I have
+time enough. I will learn to-morrow.' And then you see what happens. Ah!
+it has been the great misfortune of our Alsace always to postpone its
+lessons until to-morrow. 'What! you claim to be French, and you can
+neither speak nor write your language!' In all this, my poor Frantz, you
+are not the guiltiest one. We all have our fair share of reproaches to
+address to ourselves.
+
+"Your parents have not been careful enough to see that you were
+educated. They preferred to send you to work in the fields or in the
+factories, in order to have a few more sous. And have I nothing to
+reproach myself for? Have I not often made you water my garden instead
+of studying? And when I wanted to go fishing for trout, have I ever
+hesitated to dismiss you?"
+
+Then passing from one thing to another, Monsieur Hamel began to talk to
+us about the French language, saying that it was the most beautiful
+language in the world, the most clear, the most substantial; that we
+must always retain it among ourselves, and never forget it, because when
+a people falls into servitude, "so long as it clings to its language, it
+is as if it held the key to its prison." Then he took the grammar and
+read us our lesson. I was amazed to see how readily I understood.
+Everything that he said seemed so easy to me, so easy. I believed, too,
+that I had never listened so closely, and that he, for his part, had
+never been so patient with his explanations. One would have said that,
+before going away, the poor man desired to give us all his knowledge, to
+force it all into our heads at a single blow.
+
+When the lesson was at an end, we passed to writing. For that day
+Monsieur Hamel had prepared some entirely new examples, on which was
+written in a fine, round hand: "France, Alsace, France, Alsace." They
+were like little flags, waving all about the class, hanging from the
+rods of our desks. You should have seen how hard we all worked and how
+silent it was! Nothing could be heard save the grinding of the pens over
+the paper. At one time some cockchafers [Footnote: Cockchafers: a
+species of beetle.] flew in; but no one paid any attention to them not
+even the little fellows, who were struggling with their straight lines,
+with a will and conscientious application, as if even the lines were
+French. On the roof of the schoolhouse, pigeons cooed in low tones, and
+I said to myself as I listened to them:
+
+"I wonder if they are going to compel them to sing German too!"
+
+From time to time, when I raised my eyes from my paper, I saw Monsieur
+Hamel sitting motionless in his chair and staring at the objects about
+him as if he wished to carry away in his glance the whole of his little
+schoolhouse. Think of it! For forty years he had been there in the same
+place, with his yard in front of him and his class just as it was! But
+the benches and desks were polished and rubbed by use; the walnuts in
+the yard had grown, and the hop-vine which he himself had planted now
+festooned the windows even to the roof. What a heartrending thing it
+must have been for that poor man to leave all those things, and to hear
+his sister walking back and forth in the room overhead, packing their
+trunks! For they were to go away the next day--to leave the province
+forever.
+
+However, he had the courage to keep the class to the end. After the
+writing, we had the lesson in history; then the little ones sang all
+together the ba, be, bi, bo, bu. Yonder, at the back of the room, old
+Hauser had put on his spectacles, and, holding his spelling-book in both
+hands, he spelled out the letters with them. I could see that he too was
+applying himself. His voice shook with emotion, and it was so funny to
+hear him, that we all longed to laugh and to cry. Ah! I shall remember
+that last class.
+
+Suddenly the church struck twelve, then the Angelus [Footnote: Angelus:
+the angelus bell, which is rung at morning, noon, and night.] rang. At
+the same moment, the bugles of the Prussians returning from drill blared
+under our windows. Monsieur Hamel rose, pale as death, from his chair.
+Never had he seemed to me so tall.
+
+"My friends," he said, "my friends, I--I--"
+
+But something suffocated him. He could not finish the sentence.
+
+Thereupon he turned to the blackboard, took a piece of chalk, and,
+bearing on with all his might, he wrote in the largest letters he could:
+
+"Vive La France!" [Footnote: Vive la France: "Long live France."]
+
+Then he stood there with his head resting against the wall, and without
+speaking, he motioned to us with his hand:
+
+"That is all; go."
+
+--ALPHONSE DAUDET.
+
+[Footnote: Compare this story with "A Leaf in the Storm." What do such
+stories make you think of "the glory of conquest"? Why was the decree
+made that this was to be "the last class in French"? Does the author
+make this story a personal tragedy or the tragedy of France? Where is
+the climax of the story? Is it effective? What kind of spirit does it
+show? Does that spirit live in France to-day?]
+
+
+
+
+AN ARAB FISHERMAN
+
+
+This morning I reached the rocks before the dawn had begun to break. It
+was too dark to fish; but I crept out to the very edge of the ledge, and
+sat down beside a great boulder to wait for the light. I lit my pipe and
+smoked impatiently. It seemed as though the dawn came up out of the
+water itself; long before I could notice any increase of light the waves
+began to change color from the dark, oily olive tint of night to a
+lighter green, and gradually, just as it began to dawn, to their daytime
+blue. A long trailing cloud, which stretched clean across the sky like
+an exaggerated Milky Way, suddenly caught fire at its eastern end.
+Rapidly the red flame along ran its entire length to the other horizon.
+Then countless unexpected shadows woke up on the rocks about me, weird,
+undefined shapes, which became clear-cut only when the rim of the sun
+came up over Cap Rouge.
+
+But a swish in the water beside me, as the first fish rose, recalled me
+to the business in hand. I opened my little tin tackle-box, put the rod
+together, and just as I was tying on the flies I was disturbed by human
+voices. I said several things I shouldn't have, and looked up over my
+rock to motion back the intruders. For a moment I thought I was back in
+Old Greece, the Old Greece where early morning fishers were often
+interrupted by the sea-nymphs. But a second glance reassured me--it was
+only an Arab and his wife hunting crabs.
+
+Their method was typical. He was a sombre old chap, with long, scanty
+white beard, a soiled burnous, [Footnote: Burnous: a cloak-like garment
+with a hood, worn by the Arabs.] and thin, scrawny brown legs. He sat
+stolidly on a dry rock, a basket under his feet, and--this was the
+typical part--watched his wife work. I did not blame him for watching.
+It was a pretty sight. She was a supple young Mauresque, [Footnote:
+Mauresque: Moorish (girl).] slim and graceful as the water-nymph for
+whom I had first mistaken her. She had laid aside her outer cloak-like
+garment, and was clad only in a light cotton tunic. It was very simple
+affair--two small holes for her arms, a bigger one for her head, and a
+still bigger one at the bottom to get in by. I could make one myself. It
+was bound about her waist with a heavy dark red woollen sash, the ends
+of which, hanging down at her side, were adorned with a most amazing
+collection of colored strings, bright yellow, startling orange, pale
+blue, and flaming crimson. It sounds discordant, and I must admit that,
+as it hangs now in my room, it almost makes my head ache. But out there
+on the red, wet rocks it was toned down by the faint morning light, and
+mingled charmingly with the greens on the bank and the far-reaching blue
+of the sea. In her hand was a spear--a stick sharpened in a fire.
+
+If the old gentleman took it sedately and placidly, it was just the
+reverse with her. She was fairly running over with the joy of life. She
+would crawl about deftly until she saw a crab, then she would make a
+long detour to get it between her and the sun, so that her shadow should
+not frighten it. When she got within striking distance, she would wave
+her hand at her husband, as though she thought he could increase the
+intensity of his silence. With a graceful, dextrous thrust she would
+stab her game, and, gathering up her scant skirts, she would dash into
+the water after it. The moment she got her hand on it she would let out
+a delighted little scream of glee, and go bounding over the rocks to
+exhibit it to her lord and master. I wanted to wring his scrawny old
+neck for not being more enthusiastic about it. But he never once lost
+his blase manner. He would look at the crab a moment critically, then
+lift up his foot and let her put it in the basket. Not a word would he
+say. But off she would go again with undimmed ardor. It was a sight for
+the gods. And for half an hour I forgot all about my fishing-rod.
+
+At last their basket was full, and the old man got up and began to come
+my way. She picked up her mantle and the basket and followed him. They
+saw me at the same moment. She gave a startled little squeal and started
+to retreat; but the old man grunted "Roumi," so she stopped.
+
+"Roumi," being translated, means "Infidel." It was as though he had
+said, "Don't get excited; it is only a dog." If I had been a Mussulman,
+she would have run screaming to the woods, and would have had to do--I
+don't know what penance--because I had seen her face unveiled. But I was
+only an infidel dog and didn't count. The old man made the "Sign of
+Peace," and the two sat down beside me.
+
+I didn't return his salute. I had never felt so entirely, so shamefully
+insulted in my life. I have always read a deep contempt for me in the
+eyes of the Mussulmans I have met. The Arab boy who cleans my boots and
+cares for "Citron," my mare, looks down on me from a perfectly
+unspeakable height of superiority. The men do not matter, but to be
+insulted so by a woman, a very pretty woman, made my hair crinkle! I had
+heard that the Mohammedan women do not veil before the infidels. But I
+had never realized the overpowering weight of the insult before. She
+would have been utterly confused if an Arab had seen her face. She sat
+there before me, almost within reach of my hand, in a thin, short, very
+short, tunic, which was wet, and she never turned a hair. I was a
+"Roumi," not a man, a dog. That was all there was to it. I felt that
+unless I could shake her composure I would explode. I tried to convince
+her I was a man by staring at her. I might just as well have tried to
+embarrass the statue of Venus de Milo!
+
+"Bonjour," [Footnote: Bonjour: "good day."] the old man said. He had
+probably learned French working for a colonist; or perhaps he had served
+in the Spahis [Footnote: Spahis: Algerian cavalrymen serving in the
+French army.] when he was younger. I was too mad to return his greeting.
+
+"Fishing?" he asked.
+
+Such insane questions, when the answer is so evident, generally
+infuriate me; and I probably would have told him I was skating if I had
+not been afraid he would get mad and walk off with his wife, and I had
+not yet given up hope of embarrassing her.
+
+"Yes," I replied. "And you?"
+
+"I've been crab-fishing," he said solemnly, and he showed me his basket.
+"I'm a good fisher," he added.
+
+I looked at his wife, but she did not seem to see anything funny in his
+choice of pronouns. I tied another fly on my leader.
+
+"No good," he said. "Use crab meat. Fish don't like feathers."
+
+I made a couple of casts without making a strike. "No good!" he kept
+repeating. He began to get on my nerves. At last I had better luck and
+landed a beautiful three-pounder. I dangled it triumphantly before his
+eyes.
+
+"No good," he said stolidly. "Use crab meat. Fish don't like feathers."
+
+Then I had a run of luck. Almost every cast I got a rise, and soon I had
+a nice string of eight, all from two to five pounds. I noticed that all
+the strikes had been on the same fly, so I stopped for a minute to
+change the other two flies to this variety. I thought that if I should
+have the luck to raise two at once--as sometimes happens--I might
+convince him. When I opened the box to get the new flies, both of them
+came close to look in. In one compartment were some bare hooks on which
+I had not yet built flies. The old man pounced on them at once.
+
+"There!" he cried. "These are good. Use these with crab meat and you
+will catch fish!"
+
+I sat back in dumb amazement. Once upon a time, way back in the dimness
+before history, this chap's ancestors had begun to fish off these rocks
+with a bent wire and a piece of crab meat. Century after century they
+had sat there unchanging. Sat there all day long, and had been lucky to
+catch half as many fish as I had done in fifteen minutes. And glaring
+ocular demonstration did not shake his faith in the methods of his
+ancestors. I began to understand the hopeless discouragement with which
+my host talks of the "Native Question." The Arabs are starving off
+because the French have stolen their land. But the fact remains that
+most of the natives have more land than the colonists. An Arab will
+starve to death on a piece of land which will support two French
+families, simply because the Arabs do not know--and will not learn--how
+to intensify their culture. Somehow--nobody knows just how--the Romans,
+during the long centuries of their occupation, succeeded in teaching
+them to put an iron point on the end of the crooked stick with which
+they scratch the earth. It is the last thing they have learned.
+
+The Arabs employed by my host are good workmen. They seem perfectly
+intelligent; six days a week they yoke his stout oxen before a great
+American plow, turn his soil, scatter his fertilizer, after the harvest
+help him sort out the best grain for the next sowing, and so forth; but
+the seventh day of the week they hitch their wives beside an ass, and
+tickle the soil with their iron-pointed stick. "Why should we put on
+fertilizer?" they ask. "Allah, the Just, will give us the harvest our
+piety deserves."
+
+My speculations about the fate of the race were interrupted by the voice
+of the young woman. Her eye had been caught by a gaudy red-feathered
+trolling-spoon and its polished brass disk. She pointed to it, and said
+something in Arabic. The old man shook his head.
+
+"No good" he repeated his deadly refrain.
+
+"Use these. Crab meat. You will catch fish. Fish don't like feathers."
+
+But I'd lost interest in fishing. I realized that if I pulled up Jonah's
+whale it would not convince the old man. So I started to put up my
+things.
+
+--ALBERT EDWARDS.
+
+[Footnote: Note the use of color. What things in the scene should you
+like to see for yourself? Is the humor of the story one of situation or
+character? Was the old Arab vain or only stupid? Is his attitude toward
+the author a typically Eastern one? Do you know Kipling's ballad, "The
+East and the West"?]
+
+
+
+
+THE ARCHERY CONTEST
+
+
+At the beginning of the contest a stranger appears to take part in the
+shooting. He tells Prince John that his name is Locksley.
+
+A target was placed at the upper end of the southern avenue which led to
+the lists. [Footnote: Lists: fields of combat.] The contending archers
+took their station in turn, at the bottom of the southern access, the
+distance between that station and the mark allowing full distance for
+what was called a shot at rovers. The archers, having previously
+determined by lot their order of precedence, were to shoot each three
+shafts in succession. The sports were regulated by an officer of
+inferior rank, termed the Provost of the Games; for the high rank of the
+marshals of the lists would have been held degraded, had they
+condescended to superintend the sports of the yeomanry. [Footnote:
+Yeomanry: the yeomen in England were the freeholders, the class next in
+order to the gentry.]
+
+One by one the archers, stepping forward, delivered their shafts
+yeomanlike and bravely. Of twenty-four arrows, shot in succession, ten
+were fixed in the target, and the others ranged so near it, that,
+considering the distance of the mark, it was accounted good archery. Of
+the ten shafts which hit the target, two within the inner ring were shot
+by Hubert, a forester in the service of Malvoisin, who was accordingly
+pronounced victorious.
+
+"Now, Locksley," [Footnote: Locksley: a name for Robin Hood who was
+supposed to have been born in Locksley, Nottinghamshire, about 1160.]
+said Prince John [Footnote: Prince John was the brother of King Richard,
+and ruled in England during the time that Richard was absent on the
+Crusades.] to the bold yeoman with a bitter smile, "wilt thou try
+conclusions with Hubert, or wilt thou yield up bow, baldric, [Footnote:
+Baldric: a broad belt worn over one shoulder and under the opposite arm.
+Drew a long bow at Hastings. The archers of that time used what were
+called "long bows." The battle of Hastings was fought in 1066, when
+William of Normandy defeated the English.] and quiver, to the Provost of
+the sports?"
+
+"Sith it be no better," said Locksley, "I am content to try my fortune;
+on condition that when I have shot two shafts at yonder mark of Hubert's
+he shall be bound to shoot at that which I shall propose."
+
+"That is but fair," answered Prince John, "and it shall not be refused
+thee. If thou dost beat this braggart, Hubert, I will fill the bugle
+with silver-pennies for thee."
+
+"A man can do but his best," answered Hubert; "but my grandsire drew a
+good long bow at Hastings, and I trust not to dishonor his memory."
+
+The former target was now removed, and a fresh one of the same size
+placed in its room. Hubert, who, as victor in the first trial of skill,
+had the right to shoot first, took his aim with great deliberation, long
+measuring the distance with his eye, while he held in his hand his
+bended bow, with the arrow placed on the string. At length he made a
+step forward, and raising the bow at the full stretch of his left arm,
+till the centre or grasping-place was nigh level with his face, he drew
+his bowstring to his ear. The arrow whistled through the air, and
+lighted within the inner ring of the target, but not exactly in the
+centre.
+
+"You have not allowed for the wind, Hubert," said his antagonist,
+bending his bow, "or that had been a better shot."
+
+So saying, and without showing the least anxiety to pause upon his aim,
+Locksley stept to the appointed station, and shot his arrow as
+carelessly in appearance as if he had not even looked at the mark. He
+was speaking almost at the instant that the shaft left the bowstring,
+yet it alighted in the target two inches nearer to the white spot which
+marked the centre than that of Hubert.
+
+"By the light of heaven!" said Prince John to Hubert, "an' thou suffer
+that runagate knave to overcome thee, thou art worthy of the gallows!"
+
+Hubert had but one set speech for all occasions.
+
+"An' your highness were to hang me," he said, "a man can do but his
+best. Nevertheless, my grandsire drew a good bow"--
+
+"The foul fiend on thy grandsire and all his generation!" interrupted
+John, "shoot, knave, and shoot thy best, or it shall be the worse for
+thee!"
+
+Thus exhorted, Hubert resumed his place, and not neglecting, he made the
+necessary allowance for a very light air of wind, which had just arisen,
+and shot so successfully that his arrow alighted in the very centre of
+the target.
+
+"A Hubert!" shouted the populace, more interested in a known person than
+in a stranger. "In the clout!--in the clout!--a Hubert for ever!"
+
+"Thou canst not mend that shot, Locksley," said the Prince, with an
+insulting smile.
+
+"I will notch his shaft for him, however," replied Locksley.
+
+And letting fly his arrow with a little more precaution than before, it
+lighted right upon that of his competitor, which it split to shivers.
+The people who stood around were so astonished at his wonderful
+dexterity, that they could not even give vent to their surprise in their
+usual clamor. "This must be the devil, and no man of flesh and blood,"
+whispered the yeomen to each other; "such archery was never seen since a
+bow was first bent in Britain."
+
+"And now," said Locksley, "I will crave your Grace's permission to plant
+such a mark as is used in the North Country; and welcome every brave
+yeoman who shall try a shot at it to win a smile from the bonny lass he
+loves best."
+
+He then turned to leave the lists. "Let your guards attend me," he said,
+"if you please--I go but to cut a rod from the next willow-bush."
+
+Prince John made a signal that some attendants should follow him in case
+of his escape: but the cry of "Shame! shame!" which burst from the
+multitude, induced him to alter his ungenerous purpose.
+
+Locksley returned almost instantly with a willow wand about six feet in
+length, perfectly straight, and rather thicker than a man's thumb. He
+began to peel this with great composure, observing at the same time,
+that to ask a good woodsman to shoot at a target so broad as had
+hitherto been used, was to put shame upon his skill. "For his own part,"
+he said, "and in the land where he was bred, men would as soon take for
+their mark King Arthur's round-table, [Footnote: King Arthur's round
+table. This was the famous table, made by the magician Merlin, which was
+given to King Arthur as a wedding gift by the father of Guinevere. It
+could seat 150 knights.] which held sixty knights around it. A child of
+seven years old," he said, "might hit yonder target with a headless
+shaft; but," added he, walking deliberately to the other end of the
+lists, and sticking the willow wand upright in the ground, "he that hits
+that rod at five-score yards, I call him an archer fit to bear both bow
+and quiver before a king, an it were the stout King Richard himself."
+
+"My grandsire," said Hubert, "drew a good bow at the battle of Hastings,
+and never shot at such a mark in his life,--and neither will I. If this
+yeoman can cleave that rod, I give him the bucklers--or rather I yield
+to the devil that is in his jerkin, and not to any human skill; a man
+can but do his best, and I will not shoot where I am sure to miss. I
+might as well shoot at the edge of our parson's whittle, or at a wheat
+straw, or at a sunbeam, as at a twinkling white streak which I can
+hardly see."
+
+"Cowardly dog!" said Prince John.--"Sirrah Locksley, do thou shoot, but,
+if thou hittest such a mark, I will say thou art the first man ever did
+so. Howe'er it be, thou shalt not crow over us with a mere show of
+superior skill."
+
+"I will do my best, as Hubert says," answered Locksley, "No man can do
+more."
+
+So saying, he again bent his bow, but on the present occasion looked
+with attention to his weapon, and changed the string, which he thought
+was no longer truly round, having been a little frayed by the two former
+shots. He then took his aim with some deliberation, and the multitude
+awaited the event in breathless silence. The archer vindicated their
+opinion of his skill: his arrow split the willow rod against which it
+was aimed. A jubilee of acclamations followed; and even Prince John, in
+admiration of Locksley's skill, lost for an instant his dislike to his
+person. "These twenty nobles," [Footnote: Twenty nobles. A noble was an
+old coin worth about one dollar and sixty cents.] he said, "which, with
+the bugle, thou hast fairly won, are thine own; we will make them fifty,
+if thou wilt take livery and service with us as a yeoman of our
+bodyguard, and be near to our person. For never did so strong a hand
+bend a bow, or so true an eye direct a shaft."
+
+"Pardon me, noble Prince," said Locksley; "but I have vowed, that if
+ever I take service, it should be with your royal brother King Richard.
+[Footnote: King Richard: Richard Coeur de Lion. He was born about 1157
+and became king of England in 1189. He reigned until his death in 1199.
+whittle: a pocket or sheath knife.] These twenty nobles I leave to
+Hubert, who has this day drawn as brave a bow as his grandsire did at
+Hastings. Had his modesty not refused the trial, he would have hit the
+wand as well as I."
+
+Hubert shook his head as he received with reluctance the bounty of the
+stranger, and Locksley, anxious to escape further observation, mixed
+with the crowd, and was seen no more.
+
+--WALTER SCOTT.
+
+[Footnote: State some qualities of Locksley and Prince John that are
+brought out in the narrative. What is the effect of Hubert's repetition
+of the words "my grandsire drew a long bow," etc.? Can you get any hint
+of the social conditions at the time of the story? Is there anything in
+the narrative to suggest the identity of Locksley? Did Robin Hood ever
+take service with King Richard? Why did Locksley refuse the money?]
+
+
+
+
+BABY SYLVESTER
+
+
+(The writer has taken up temporary quarters in the cabin of his friend
+Sylvester, a California miner).
+
+I do not remember how long I slept. I must have been conscious, however,
+during my slumber, of my inability to keep myself covered by the serape,
+[Footnote: Serape: a blanket or shawl commonly worn by the Mexicans.]
+for I awoke once or twice clutching it with a despairing hand as it was
+disappearing over the foot of the couch. Then I became suddenly aroused
+to the fact that my efforts to retain it were resisted by some equally
+persistent force, and letting it go, I was horrified at seeing it
+swiftly drawn under the couch. At this point I sat up, completely awake;
+for immediately after, what seemed to be an exaggerated muff began to
+emerge from under the couch. Presently it appeared fully, dragging the
+serape after it. There was no mistaking it now--it was a baby bear. A
+mere suckling, it was true--a helpless roll of fat and fur--but
+unmistakably, a grizzly cub!
+
+I cannot recall anything more irresistibly ludicrous than its aspect as
+it slowly raised its small wondering eyes to mine. It was so much taller
+in its haunches than its shoulders--its fore legs were so
+disproportionately small--that in walking, its hind feet invariably
+took precedence. It was perpetually pitching forward over its pointed,
+inoffensive nose, and recovering itself always, after these involuntary
+somersaults, with the gravest astonishment. To add to its preposterous
+appearance, one of its hind feet was adorned by a shoe of Sylvester's,
+[Footnote: Sylvester: the author's friend in whose cabin he was staying
+at the time of the story.] into which it had accidentally and
+inextricably [Footnote: Inextricably: in a hopelessly involved manner.]
+stepped. As this somewhat impeded its first impulse to fly, it turned to
+me; and then, possibly recognizing in the stranger, the same species as
+its master, it paused. Presently, it slowly raised itself on its hind
+legs, and vaguely and deprecatingly [Footnote: Deprecatingly:
+regretfully, entreatingly.] waved a baby paw, fringed with little hooks
+of steel. I took the paw, and shook it gravely. From that moment we were
+friends. The little affair of the serape was forgotten.
+
+Nevertheless, I was wise enough to cement our friendship by an act of
+delicate courtesy. Following the direction of his eyes, I had no
+difficulty in finding, on a shelf near the ridge-pole, the sugar box and
+the square lumps of white sugar that even the poorest miner is never
+without. While he was eating them I had time to examine him more
+closely. His body was a silky, dark, but exquisitely modulated gray,
+deepening to black in his paws and muzzle. His fur was excessively long,
+thick, and soft as eider-down, the cushions of flesh beneath perfectly
+infantine in their texture and contour. He was so very young that the
+palms of his half-human feet were still tender as a baby's. Except for
+the bright blue, steely hooks, half sheathed in his little toes, there
+was not a single harsh outline or detail in his plump figure. He was as
+free from angles as one of Leda's [Footnote: Leda: the maiden who was
+wooed by Jupiter in the form of a swan.] offspring. Your caressing hand
+sank away in his fur with dreamy languor. To look at him long was an
+intoxication of the senses; to pat him was a wild delirium; to embrace
+him, an utter demoralization of the intellectual faculties.
+
+When he had finished the sugar he rolled out of the door with a
+half-diffident, half-inviting look in his eye, as if he expected me to
+follow. I did so, but the sniffing and snorting of the keen-scented
+Pomposo [Footnote: Pomposo: the writer's horse.] in the hollow, not only
+revealed the cause of his former terror, but decided me to take another
+direction. After a moment's hesitation he concluded to go with me,
+although I am satisfied, from a certain impish look in his eye, that he
+fully understood and rather enjoyed the fright of Pomposo. As he rolled
+along at my side, with a gait not unlike a drunken sailor, I discovered
+that his long hair concealed a leather collar around his neck, which
+bore for its legend the single word, "Baby!" I recalled the mysterious
+suggestion of the two miners. This, then was the "baby" with whom I was
+to "play."
+
+How we "played"; how Baby allowed me to roll him downhill, crawling and
+puffing up again each time, with perfect good humor; how he climbed a
+young sapling after my Panama hat, which I had "shied" into one of the
+topmost branches; how after getting it he refused to descend until it
+suited his pleasure; how when he did come down he persisted in walking
+about on three legs, carrying my hat, a crushed and shapeless mass,
+clasped to his breast with the remaining one; how I missed him at last,
+and finally discovered him seated on a table in one of the tenantless
+cabins, with a bottle of syrup between his paws, vainly endeavoring to
+extract its contents--these and other details of that eventful day I
+shall not weary the reader with now. Enough, that when Dick Sylvester
+returned, I was pretty well fagged out, and the baby was rolled up, an
+immense bolster at the foot of the couch, asleep.
+
+--BRET HARTE (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Why had the miners chosen the name "Baby Sylvester" for the
+bear cub? Read the story and explain the author's surprise at the
+appearance of the "Baby." Does the author describe the bear
+sympathetically and lovingly or as a naturalist? Illustrate. What
+qualities had the cub that endeared it to the author? Which of the
+senses predominates in the description? Illustrate. Would you consider
+"Baby Sylvester" capable of training? Why? Read the entire story and
+tell what becomes of the "Baby."]
+
+
+
+
+ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG
+
+
+Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
+continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
+proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a
+great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived
+and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of
+that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final
+resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might
+live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But,
+in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
+hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
+have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The
+world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can
+never forget what they did here.
+
+It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished
+work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is
+rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before
+us;--that from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that
+cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion;--that we
+here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that
+this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that
+government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not
+perish from the earth.
+
+--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+[Footnote: Does the style and sentiment expressed remind you of an older
+literature? Illustrate. Do Lincoln's statements about war apply to the
+present great European conflict? Illustrate. Point out the effectiveness
+of repetition. Note the places where the prose becomes almost poetical.
+Is the appeal in the speeches to reason or to feeling? Do you feel the
+personality of Lincoln in these speeches? The Gettysburg speech is
+commonly considered one of the greatest speeches ever made. Can you
+mention any other famous speeches that are regarded as fine literature?]
+
+
+
+
+SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
+
+
+Fellow Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the
+presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than
+there was at the first. Then, a statement, somewhat in detail, of a
+course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration
+of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly
+called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still
+absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little
+that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all
+else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and
+it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With
+high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
+
+On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were
+anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought
+to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this
+place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent
+agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--seeking to
+dissolve the Union, and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties
+deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the
+nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it
+perish. And the war came.
+
+One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed
+generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it.
+These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that
+this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen,
+perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the
+insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while government claimed
+no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
+Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which
+it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the
+conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should
+cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental
+and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and
+each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men
+should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from
+the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not
+judged. The prayers of both could not be answered,--that of neither has
+been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the
+world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but
+woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that
+American slavery is one of these offenses which, in the providence of
+God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed
+time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South
+this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came,
+shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes
+which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we
+hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily
+pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled
+by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall
+be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid
+by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago,
+so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and
+righteous altogether."
+
+With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the
+right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
+work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who
+shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan,--to do
+all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among
+ourselves, and with all nations.
+
+--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+
+
+
+AN APPRECIATION OF LINCOLN
+
+
+To these qualifications of high literary excellence, and easy practical
+mastery of affairs of transcendent importance, we must add as an
+explanation of his immediate and world-wide fame, his possession of
+certain moral qualities rarely combined in such high degree in one
+individual. His heart was so tender that he would dismount from his
+horse in a forest to replace in their nest young birds which had fallen
+by the roadside; he could not sleep at night if he knew that a
+soldier-boy was under sentence of death; he could not, even at the
+bidding of duty or policy, refuse the prayer of age or helplessness in
+distress. Children instinctively loved him; they never found his rugged
+features ugly; his sympathies were quick and seemingly unlimited. He was
+absolutely without prejudice of class or condition. Frederick Douglass
+[Footnote: Frederick Douglass: a noted orator and journalist. He was
+born (a slave) in 1817 and died in 1895.] says he was the only man of
+distinction he ever met who never reminded him, by word or manner, of
+his color; he was as just and generous to the rich and well-born as to
+the poor and humble--a thing rare among politicians. He was tolerant
+even of evil: though no man can ever have lived with a loftier scorn of
+meanness and selfishness, he yet recognized their existence and counted
+with them. He said one day, with a flash of cynical wisdom worthy of a
+La Rochefoucauld, [Footnote: La Rochefoucauld: Francois La Rochefoucauld
+was a French writer and moralist of the seventeenth century.] that
+honest statesmanship was the employment of individual meanness for the
+public good. He never asked perfection of any one; he did not even
+insist, for others, upon the high standards he set up for himself. At a
+time before the word was invented he was the first of opportunists. With
+the fire of a reformer and a martyr in his heart, he yet proceeded by
+the ways of cautious and practical statecraft. He always worked with
+things as they were, while never relinquishing the desire and effort to
+make them better. To a hope which saw the Delectable Mountains of
+absolute justice and peace in the future, to a faith that God in his own
+time would give to all men the things convenient to them, he added a
+charity which embraced in its deep bosom all the good and the bad, all
+the virtues and the infirmities of men, and a patience like that of
+nature, which in its vast and fruitful activity knows neither haste nor
+rest.
+
+--JOHN HAY.
+
+[Footnote: Do you know any facts of Lincoln's life that would support
+some of these statements? What has come to be the universally accepted
+estimate of Lincoln? What qualities of Lincoln seem most to impress the
+writer? Can you point to anything in Lincoln's addresses that proves the
+correctness of the popular judgment of him? Point out instances of
+contrast in this selection. Do you know anything about the "Lincoln
+Mythology" that has grown up since the war?]
+
+
+
+
+THE ELEPHANTS THAT STRUCK
+
+
+I remember an occasion, many years ago, when in Ceylon, I, in connection
+with my brother, had organized a scheme for the development of a
+mountain sanitarium at Newera Ellia. We had a couple of tame elephants
+employed in various works; but it was necessary to obtain the assistance
+of the government stables for the transport of very heavy machinery,
+which could not be conveyed in the ordinary native carts. There were
+accordingly a large number of elephant wagons drawn by their colossal
+teams, some of which required four elephants.
+
+It was the wet season upon the mountains. Our settlement was 6200 feet
+above the sea, and the zigzag pass from Rambodde, at the base of the
+steep ascent, was fifteen miles in length. The crest of the pass was
+7000 feet in altitude, from which we descended 800 feet to the Newera
+Ellia plain.
+
+The elephant wagons having arrived at Rambodde from Colombo, about 100
+miles distant, commenced the heavy uphill journey. The rain was
+unceasing, the roads were soft, and the heavily laden wagons sunk deeply
+in the ruts; but the elephants were mighty beasts, and, laying their
+weight against the work, they slowly dragged the vehicles up the
+yielding and narrow way.
+
+The abrupt zigzags bothered the long wagons, and their still longer
+teams. The bridges over dangerous chasms entailed the necessity of
+unloading the heavier carts, and caused great delay. Day after day
+passed away; but although the ascent was slow, the wagons still moved
+upwards, and the region of everlasting mist (at that season) was
+reached. Dense forests clothed the mountain sides; the roar of
+waterfalls resounded in the depths of black ravines; tangled bamboo
+grass crept upwards from the wet soil into the lower branches of the
+moss-covered trees, and formed a green curtain impenetrable to sight.
+
+The thermometer fell daily as the altitude increased. The elephants
+began to sicken; two fine animals died. There was plenty of food, as the
+bamboo grass was the natural provender, and in the carts was a good
+supply of paddy; [Footnote: Paddy: unhusked rice.] but the elephants'
+intelligence was acting against them--they had reasoned, and had become
+despondent.
+
+For nine or ten days they had been exposed to ceaseless wet and cold,
+dragging their unmanageable wagons up a road that even in dry weather
+was insufficient to sustain the weight. The wheels sank deep below the
+metal foundation, and became hopelessly imbedded. Again and again the
+wagons had to be emptied of their contents, and extra elephants were
+taken from the other carts and harnessed to the empty wagons, which were
+by sheer weight of animals dragged from the deep mire.
+
+Thus the time had passed, and the elephants had evidently reasoned upon
+the situation, and had concluded that there was no summit to the
+mountain, and no end to the steep and horrible ascent; it would be,
+therefore, useless to persevere in unavailing efforts. They determined,
+under these heart-breaking circumstances, to strike work; ... and they
+did strike.
+
+One morning a couple of the elephant drivers appeared at my house in
+Newera Ellia, and described the situation. They declared that it was
+absolutely impossible to induce the elephants to work; they had given it
+up as a bad job!
+
+I immediately mounted my horse and rode up to the pass, and descended
+the road upon the other side, timing the distance with my watch. Rather
+under two miles from the summit I found the road completely blocked with
+elephant carts and wagons; the animals were grazing upon bamboo grass in
+the thick forest; the rain was drizzling, and a thick mist increased the
+misery of the scene. I ordered four elephants to be harnessed to a cart
+intended for only one animal. This was quickly effected, and the drivers
+were soon astride the animals' necks, and prodded them with the
+persuasive iron hooks. Not an elephant would exert itself to draw. In
+vain the drivers, with relentless cruelty, drove the iron points deep
+into the poor brutes' necks and heads, and used every threat of their
+vocabulary; the only response was a kind of marking time on the part of
+the elephants, which simply moved their legs mechanically up and down,
+and swung their trunks to and fro; but none would pull or exert the
+slightest power, neither did they move forward a single inch.
+
+I never saw such an instance of passive and determined obstinacy; the
+case was hopeless.
+
+An idea struck me. I ordered the drivers to detach the four elephants
+from the harness, and to ride them thus unfettered up the pass,
+following behind my horse. It appeared to me that if the elephants were
+heart-broken, and in despair at the apparently interminable mountain
+pass, it would be advisable to let them know the actual truth, by
+showing them that they were hardly two miles from the summit, where they
+would exchange their uphill labor for a descent into Newera Ellia; they
+should then have an extra feed, with plenty of jaggery (a coarse brown
+sugar), and be introduced to the companionship of our two female
+elephants. If they passed an agreeable night, with the best of food and
+warm quarters, they would possibly return the following day to their
+work, and with lighter hearts put their shoulders to the wheel, instead
+of yielding to a dogged attitude of despair.
+
+The success of this ruse was perfect. The elephants accompanied me to
+Newera Ellia, and were well fed and cared for. On the following day we
+returned to the heavy work, and I myself witnessed their start with the
+hitherto unyielding wagon. Not only did they exert their full powers,
+and drag the lumbering load straight up the fatiguing hill without the
+slightest hesitation, but their example, or some unaccountable
+communication between them, appeared to give general encouragement. I
+employed the most willing elephants as extras to each wagon, which they
+drew to the summit of the pass, and then returned to assist the
+others,--thus completing what had been pronounced by the drivers as
+utterly impossible. There can be no doubt that the elephants had at once
+perceived the situation, and in consequence recovered their lost
+courage.
+
+--SAMUEL WHITE BAKER.
+
+[Footnote: What part do you imagine the writer had in the expedition he
+describes? How would the natives have solved the problem? Have you ever
+heard other stories of elephants that seem to show the power of
+reasoning?]
+
+
+
+
+THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP
+
+
+The next day Cherokee Sal had such rude sepulture [Footnote: Sepulture:
+burial.] as Roaring-Camp afforded. After her body had been committed to
+the hillside, there was a formal meeting of the camp to discuss what
+should be done with her infant. A resolution to adopt it was unanimous
+and enthusiastic. But an animated discussion in regard to the manner and
+feasibility of providing for its wants at once sprung up. It was
+remarkable that the argument partook of none of those fierce
+personalities with which discussions were usually conducted at Roaring
+Camp. [Footnote: It was remarkable--Roaring Camp. What does this mean?]
+Tipton proposed that they should send the child to Red Dog,--a distance
+of forty miles,--where female attention could be procured. But the
+unlucky suggestion met with fierce and unanimous opposition. It was
+evident that no plan which entailed parting from their new acquisition
+would for a moment be entertained. "Besides," said Tom Ryder, "them
+fellows at Red Dog would swap it, and ring in somebody else on us." A
+disbelief in the honesty of other camps prevailed at Roaring Camp as in
+other places.
+
+Stumpy advanced nothing. Perhaps he felt a certain delicacy in
+interfering with the selection of a possible successor in office. But
+when questioned, he averred stoutly that he and "Jinny" [Footnote:
+Jinny: the she-ass that had been procured as a nurse.]--the mammal
+before alluded to--could manage to rear the child. There was something
+original, independent, and heroic about the plan that pleased the camp.
+Stumpy was retained. Certain articles were sent for to Sacramento.
+"Mind," said the treasurer, as he pressed a bag of gold-dust into the
+expressman's hand, "the best that can be got,--lace, you know, and
+filigree-work and frills, never mind the cost!"
+
+Strange to say, the child thrived. Perhaps the invigorating climate of
+the mountain camp was compensation for material deficiencies. Nature
+took the foundling to her broader breast. In that rare atmosphere of the
+Sierra foot-hills,--that air pungent with balsamic odor, that ethereal
+cordial at once bracing and exhilarating--he may have found food and
+nourishment, or a subtle chemistry that transmuted ass's milk to lime
+and phosphorus. Stumpy inclined to the belief that it was the latter and
+good nursing. "Me and that ass," he would say, "has been father and
+mother to him! Don't you," he would add, apostrophizing [Footnote:
+Apostrophizing: using a special form of personal address.] the helpless
+bundle before him, "never go back on us."
+
+By the time he was a month old, the necessity of giving him a name
+became apparent. He had generally been known as "the Kid," "Stumpy's
+boy," "the Coyote" [Footnote: Coyote: also called prairie wolf.] (an
+allusion to his vocal powers), and even by Kentuck's endearing
+diminutive of "the little cus." But these were felt to be vague and
+unsatisfactory, and were at last dismissed under another influence.
+Gamblers and adventurers are generally superstitious, and Oakhurst one
+day declared that the baby had brought "the luck" to Roaring Camp. It
+was certain that of late they had been successful. "Luck" was the name
+agreed upon, with the prefix of Tommy for greater convenience. No
+allusion was made to the mother, and the father was unknown. "It's
+better," said the philosophical Oakhurst, "to take a fresh deal all
+round. Call him Luck and start him fair."
+
+And so the work of regeneration began in Roaring Camp. Almost
+imperceptibly a change came over the settlement. The cabin assigned to
+"Tommy Luck"--or "The Luck," as he was more frequently called--first
+showed signs of improvement. It was kept scrupulously clean, and
+white-washed. Then it was boarded, clothed, and prepared. The rosewood
+cradle--packed eighty miles by mule--had, in Stumpy's way of putting it,
+"sorter killed the rest of the furniture." So the rehabilitation of the
+cabin became a necessity. The men who were in the habit of lounging in
+at Stumpy's to see "how The Luck got on" seemed to appreciate the
+change, and, in self-defence, the rival establishment of "Tuttle's
+grocery" bestirred itself, and imported a carpet and mirrors. The
+reflections of the latter on the appearance of Roaring Camp tended to
+produce stricter habits of personal cleanliness. Again, Stumpy imposed a
+kind of quarantine upon those who aspired to the honor and privilege of
+holding "The Luck." It was a cruel mortification to Kentuck--who, in the
+carelessness of a large nature and the habits of frontier life, had
+begun to regard all garments as a second cuticle, [Footnote: Cuticle:
+outer skin.] which, like a snake's, only sloughed off through decay--to
+be debarred this privilege from certain prudential reasons. [Footnote:
+Certain prudential reasons. What were they?] Yet such was the subtle
+influence of innovation that he thereafter appeared regularly every
+afternoon in a clean shirt, and face still shining from his ablutions.
+Nor were normal and social sanitary laws neglected. "Tommy," who was
+supposed to spend his whole existence in a persistent attempt to repose,
+must not be disturbed by noise. The shouting and yelling which had
+gained the camp its infelicitous title were not permitted within hearing
+distance of Stumpy's. The men conversed in whispers, or smoked with
+Indian gravity. Profanity was tacitly given up in these sacred
+precincts, and throughout the camp a popular form of expletive, known as
+"Curse the luck!" was abandoned, as having a new personal bearing. Vocal
+music was not interdicted, [Footnote: Interdicted: forbidden.] being
+supposed to have a soothing, tranquillizing quality, and one song, sung
+by "Man-o'-War Jack," an English sailor, from her majesty's Australian
+colonies, was quite popular as a lullaby. It was a lugubrious recital of
+the exploits of "the Arethusa, Seventy-four," in a muffled minor, ending
+with a prolonged dying fall at the burden of each verse, "On b-o-o-o-ard
+of the Arethusa." It was a fine sight to see Jack holding The Luck,
+rocking from side to side as if with the motion of a ship, and crooning
+forth this naval ditty. Either through the peculiar rocking of Jack or
+the length of his song,--it contained ninety stanzas, and was continued
+with conscientious deliberation to the bitter end,--the lullaby
+generally had the desired effect. At such times the men would lie at
+full length under the trees, in the soft summer twilight, smoking their
+pipes and drinking in the melodious utterances. An indistinct idea that
+this was pastoral happiness pervaded the camp. "This 'ere kind o'
+think," said the Cockney Simmons, meditatively reclining on his elbow,
+"is 'evingly." It reminded him of Greenwich.
+
+On the long summer days The Luck was usually carried to the gulch from
+whence the golden store of Roaring Camp was taken. There, on a blanket
+spread over pine boughs, he would lie while the men were working in the
+ditches below. Latterly there was a rude attempt to decorate this bower
+with flowers and sweet-smelling shrubs, and generally some one would
+bring him a cluster of wild honeysuckles, azaleas, or the painted
+blossoms of Las Mariposas. [Footnote: Las Mariposas: the Mariposa
+lilies; also called butterfly lilies.] The men had suddenly awakened to
+the fact that there were beauty and significance in these trifles, which
+they had so long trodden carelessly beneath their feet. A flake of
+glittering mica, a fragment of variegated quartz, a bright pebble from
+the bed of the creek, became beautiful to eyes thus cleared and
+strengthened, and were invariably put aside for The Luck. It was
+wonderful how many treasures the woods and hillsides yielded that "would
+do for Tommy." Surrounded by playthings such as never child out of
+fairyland had before, it is to be hoped that Tommy was content. He
+appeared to be serenely happy, albeit there was an infantine gravity
+about him, a contemplative light in his round gray eyes, that sometimes
+worried Stumpy. He was always tractable and quiet, and it is recorded
+that once, having crept beyond his "corral," [Footnote: Corral: an
+inclosure for animals.]--a hedge of tessellated [Footnote: Tessellated:
+checkered.] pine boughs which surrounded his bed,--he dropped over the
+bank on his head in the soft earth, and remained with his mottled legs
+in the air in that position for at least five minutes with unflinching
+gravity. He was extricated without a murmur. I hesitate to record the
+many other instances of his sagacity, which rest, unfortunately, upon
+the statements of prejudiced friends. Some of them were not without a
+tinge of superstition. "I crep' up the bank just now," said Kentuck one
+day, in a breathless state of excitement, "and dern my skin if he wasn't
+a-talking to a jaybird as was a-sittin' on his lap. There they was, just
+as free and sociable as anything you please, a-jawin' at each other just
+like two cherrybums." Howbeit, whether creeping over the pine boughs or
+lying lazily on his back blinking at the leaves above him, to him the
+birds sang, the squirrels chattered, and the flowers bloomed. Nature was
+his nurse and playfellow. For him she would let slip between the leaves
+golden shafts of sunlight that fell just within his grasp; she would
+send wandering breezes to visit him with the balm of bay and resinous
+gum; to him the tall redwoods nodded familiarly and sleepily, the
+bumblebees buzzed, and the rooks cawed an accompaniment.
+
+Such was the golden summer of Roaring Camp. They were "flush times," and
+the luck was with them. The claims had yielded enormously. The camp was
+jealous of its privileges and looked suspiciously on strangers. No
+encouragement was given to immigration, and, to make their seclusion
+more perfect, the land on either side of the mountain wall that
+surrounded the camp they duly preempted. [Footnote: Pre-empted: claimed
+by special privilege of purchase.] This, and a reputation for singular
+proficiency with the revolver, kept the reserve of Roaring Camp
+inviolate. The expressman--their only connecting link with the
+surrounding world--sometimes told wonderful stories of the camp. He
+would say, "They've a street up there in 'Roaring' that would lay over
+any street in Red Dog. They've got vines and flowers round their houses,
+and they wash themselves twice a day. But they're mighty rough on
+strangers, and they worship an Ingin baby."
+
+With the prosperity of the camp came a desire for further improvement.
+It was proposed to build a hotel in the following spring, and to invite
+one or two decent families to reside there for the sake of The Luck, who
+might perhaps profit by female companionship. The sacrifice that this
+concession to the sex cost these men, who were fiercely skeptical in
+regard to its general virtue and usefulness, can only be accounted for
+by their affection for Tommy. A few still held out. But the resolve
+could not be carried into effect for three months, and the minority
+meekly yielded in the hope that something might turn up to prevent it.
+And it did. The winter of 1851 will long be remembered in the foot
+hills. The snow lay deep on the Sierras, and every mountain creek became
+a river, and every river a lake. Each gorge and gulch was transformed
+into a tumultuous watercourse that descended the hillsides, tearing down
+giant trees and scattering its drift and debris along the plain. Red Dog
+had been twice under water, and Roaring Camp had been forewarned. "Water
+put the gold into them gulches," said Stumpy. "It's been here once and
+will not be here again!" And that night the North Fork suddenly leaped
+over its banks and swept up the triangular valley of Roaring Camp. In
+the confusion of rushing water, crashing trees, and crackling timber,
+and the darkness which seemed to flow with the water and blot out the
+fair valley, but little could be done to collect the scattered camp.
+When the morning broke, the cabin of Stumpy, nearest the river-bank, was
+gone. Higher up the gulch they found the body of its unlucky owner; but
+the pride, the hope, the joy, The Luck, of Roaring Camp had disappeared.
+
+--BRET HARTE (adapted.)
+
+[Footnote: Where is the scene of the story laid? What is the probable
+time? It was Bret Harte's peculiar power to find tenderness and fineness
+of feeling among rough men. Where do you see these things in this story?
+Does the story show "poetic insight"? Cf. Hawthorne's definition.
+[Footnote: "What is called poetic insight is the gift of discerning,
+in this sphere of strangely mingled elements, the beauty and majesty
+that are compelled to assume a garb so sordid."--House of the
+Seven Gables, Chap. II.] Why did the miners insist on "frills" for
+Tommy? Does the change wrought in Roaring Camp seem to you to be
+reasonable? What was the real "luck" that Tommy brought to Roaring
+Camp?]
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF MUHANNAD DIN
+
+
+The polo-ball was an old one, scarred, chipped, and dinted. It stood on
+the mantelpiece among the pipe-stems which Imam Din, khitmatgar, was
+cleaning for me.
+
+"Does the Heaven-born want this ball?" said Imam Din deferentially.
+
+The Heaven-born set no particular store by it; but of what use was a
+polo-ball to a khitmatgar?
+
+"By Your Honour's favour, I have a little son. He has seen this ball,
+and desires it to play with. I do not want it for myself."
+
+No one would for an instant accuse portly old Imam Din of wanting to
+play with polo-balls. He carried out the battered thing into the
+verandah; and there followed a hurricane of joyful squeaks, a patter of
+small feet, and the thud-thud-thud of the ball rolling along the ground.
+Evidently the little son had been waiting outside the door to secure his
+treasure. But how had he managed to see that polo-ball?
+
+Next day, coming back from office half an hour earlier than usual, I was
+aware of a small figure in the dining-room--a tiny, plump figure in a
+ridiculously inadequate shirt which came, perhaps, half-way down the
+tubby stomach. It wandered round the room, thumb in mouth, crooning to
+itself as it took stock of the pictures. Undoubtedly this was the
+"little son."
+
+He had no business in my room, of course; but was so deeply absorbed in
+his discoveries that he never noticed me in the doorway. I stepped into
+the room and startled him nearly into a fit. He sat down on the ground
+with a gasp. His eyes opened, and his mouth followed suit. I knew what
+was coming, and fled, followed by a long, dry howl which reached the
+servants' quarters far more quickly than any command of mine had ever
+done. In ten seconds Imam Din was in the dining-room. Then despairing
+sobs arose, and I returned to find Imam Din admonishing the small
+sinner, who was using most of his shirt as a handkerchief.
+
+"This boy," said Imam Din judicially, "is a budmash [Footnote: Budmash:
+a disreputable fellow.]--a big budmash. He will, without doubt, go to
+the jail-khana for his behaviour." Renewed yells from the penitent, and
+an elaborate apology to myself from Imam Din.
+
+"Tell the baby," said I, "that the Sahib [Footnote: Sahib: a respectful
+title given to Europeans by the natives of India.] is not angry, and
+take him away." Imam Din conveyed my forgiveness to the offender, who
+had now gathered all his shirt round his neck, stringwise, and the yell
+subsided into a sob. The two set off for the door. "His name," said Imam
+Din, "is Muhammad Din, and he is a budmash." Freed from present danger,
+Muhammad Din turned round in his father's arms, and said gravely, "it is
+true that my name is Muhammad Din, Tahib, but I am not a budmash. I am a
+man!"
+
+From that day dated my acquaintance with Muhammad Din. Never again did
+he come into my dining-room, but on the neutral ground of the garden, we
+greeted each other with much state, though our conversation was confined
+to "Talaam, Tahib" from his side, and "Salaam, Muhammad Din" from mine.
+Daily on my return from office, the little white shirt and the fat
+little body used to rise from the shade of the creeper-covered trellis
+where they had been hid; and daily I checked my horse here, that my
+salutation might not be slurred over or given unseemly.
+
+Muhammad Din never had any companions. He used to trot about the
+compound, [Footnote: Compound: an inclosure containing a house and
+outbuildings.] in and out of the castor-oil bushes, on mysterious
+errands of his own. One day I stumbled upon some of his handiwork far
+down the grounds. He had half buried the polo-ball in the dust, and
+stuck six shrivelled old marigold flowers in a circle round it. Outside
+that circle again was a rude square, traced out in bits of red brick
+alternating with fragments of broken china; the whole bounded by a
+little bank of dust. The water-man from the well-curb put in a plea for
+the small architect, saying that it was only the play of a baby and did
+not much disfigure my garden.
+
+Heaven knows that I had no intention of touching the child's work then
+or later; but, that evening, a stroll through the garden brought me
+unawares full on it; so that I trampled, before I knew, marigold-heads,
+dust-bank, and fragments of broken soap-dish into confusion past all
+hope of mending. Next morning, I came upon Muhammad Din crying softly to
+himself over the ruin I had wrought. Some one had cruelly told him that
+the Sahib was very angry with him for spoiling the garden, and had
+scattered his rubbish, using bad language the while. Muhammad Din
+laboured for an hour at effacing every trace of the dust-bank and
+pottery fragments, and it was with a tearful and apologetic face that he
+said, "Talaam, Tahib," when I came home from office. A hasty inquiry
+resulted in Imam Din informing Muhammad Din that, by my singular favour,
+he was permitted to disport himself as he pleased. Whereat the child
+took heart and fell to tracing the ground-plan of an edifice which was
+to eclipse the marigold-polo-ball creation.
+
+For some months the chubby little eccentricity revolved in his humble
+orbit among the castor-oil bushes and in the dust; always fashioning
+magnificent palaces from stale flowers thrown away by the bearer, smooth
+water-worn pebbles, bits of broken glass, and feathers pulled, I fancy,
+from my fowls--always alone, and always crooning to himself.
+
+A gaily-spotted sea-shell was dropped one day close to the last of his
+little buildings; and I looked that Muhammad Din should build something
+more than ordinarily splendid on the strength of it. Nor was I
+disappointed. He meditated for the better part of an hour, and his
+crooning rose to a jubilant song. Then he began tracing in the dust. It
+would certainly be a wondrous palace, this one, for it was two yards
+long and a yard broad in ground-plan. But the palace was never
+completed.
+
+Next day there was no Muhammad Din at the head of the carriage-drive,
+and no "Talaam, Tahib" to welcome my return. I had grown accustomed to
+the greeting, and its omission troubled me. Next day Imam Din told me
+that the child was suffering slightly from fever and needed quinine. He
+got the medicine, and an English Doctor.
+
+"They have no stamina, these brats," said the Doctor, as he left Imam
+Din's quarters.
+
+A week later, though I would have given much to have avoided it, I met
+on the road to the Mussulman burying-ground Imam Din, accompanied by one
+friend, carrying in his arms, wrapped in a white cloth, all that was
+left of little Muhammad Din.
+
+--RUDYARD KIPLING.
+
+[Footnote: Point out the characteristics of Muhammad Din that are common
+to all childhood, and those that are more especially Oriental. Why do
+you think Muhammad Din always played alone? Note the simple direct way
+of telling the story. What other stories have been told in this way?
+Would you have been able to recognize Muhammad Din from the author's
+description? Would the destruction of the sand-house be a tragedy to
+most Western children? Why was it to Muhammad Din? Notice the simple
+pathos of the ending. Is it made more poignant by being unexpected?]
+
+
+
+
+A CHILD
+
+
+In Kensington Gardens, [Footnote: Kensington Gardens: in southwest
+London.] that February day, it was very still. Trees, stripped of every
+leaf, raised their bare clean twigs towards a sky so grey and so
+unstirring that there might never have been wind or sun. And on those
+branches pigeons sat, silent, as though they understood that there was
+no new life as yet; they seemed waiting, loth to spread their wings lest
+they should miss the coming of the Spring.
+
+Down in the grass the tiniest green flames were burning, a sign of the
+fire flowers that would leap up if the sun would feed them.
+
+And on a seat there sat a child.
+
+He sat between his father and his mother, looking straight before him.
+It was plain that the reason why he looked so straight before him was
+that he really had not strength to care to look to right or left--so
+white his face was, so puny were his limbs. His clothes had evidently
+been designed for others, and this was fortunate, for they prevented the
+actual size of him from being seen. He was not, however, what is called
+neglected; his face was clean, and the utmost of protection that Fate
+and the condition of his parents had vouchsafed was evidently lavished
+on him, for round his neck there was a little bit of draggled fur which
+should have been round the neck of her against whose thin shabby side he
+leaned. This mother of his was looking at the ground; and from the
+expression of her face she seemed to think that looking at the ground
+was all life had to offer.
+
+The father sat with his eyes shut. He had shabby clothes, a grey face,
+and a grey collar that had once been white. Above the collar his thin
+cheeks had evidently just been shaved--for it was Saturday, and by the
+colour of those cheeks, and by his boots, whose soles, hardly thicker
+than a paper sheet, still intervened between him and the ground, he was
+seen not to be a tramp or outdoor person, but an indoor worker of some
+sort, and very likely out of work, who had come out to rest in the
+company of his wife and family. His eyes being shut, he sat without the
+pain of looking at a single thing, moving his jaw at intervals from side
+to side.
+
+And between the man and the woman, the child sat, very still, evidently
+on good terms with them, not realising that they had brought him out of
+a warm darkness where he had been happy, out of a sweet nothingness,
+into which, and soon perhaps, he would pass again--not realising that
+they had so neglected to keep pace with things, or that things had so
+omitted to keep pace with them, that he himself had eaten in his time
+about one half the food he should have eaten, and that of the wrong
+sort. By the expression of his face, that pale small ghost had evidently
+grasped the truth that things were as they had to be. He seemed to sit
+there reviewing his own life, and taking for granted that it must be
+what it was, from hour to hour, and day to day, and year to year.
+
+And before me, too, the incidents of his small journey passed. I saw him
+in the morning getting off the family bed, where it was sometimes warm,
+and chewing at a crust of bread before he set off to school in company
+with other children, some of whom were stouter than himself; saw him
+carrying in his small fist the remnants of his feast, and dropping it,
+or swopping it away for peppermints, because it tired him to consume it,
+having no juices to speak of in his little stomach. I seemed to
+understand that, accustomed as he was to eating little, he almost always
+wanted to eat less, not because he had any wish to die--nothing so
+extravagant--but simply that he nearly always felt a little sick; I felt
+that his pale, despondent mother was always urging him to eat, when
+there were things to eat, and that this bored him, since they did not
+strike him as worth all that trouble with his jaws. She must have found
+it difficult indeed to persuade him that there was any point at all in
+eating; for, from his looks, he could manifestly not now enjoy anything
+but peppermints and kippered herrings. I seemed to see him in his
+school, not learning, not wanting to learn anything, nor knowing why
+this should be so, ignorant of the dispensations of a Providence
+who--after hesitating long to educate him lest this should make his
+parents paupers--now compelled his education, having first destroyed his
+stomach that he might be incapable of taking in what he was taught. That
+small white creature could not as yet have grasped the notion that the
+welfare of the future lay, not with the future, but with the past. He
+only knew that every day he went to school with little in his stomach,
+and every day came back from school with less.
+
+All this he seemed to be reviewing as he sat there, but not in thought;
+his knowledge was too deep for words; he was simply feeling, as a child
+that looked as he looked would naturally be feeling, on that bench
+between his parents. He opened his little mouth at times, as a small
+bird will open its small beak, without apparent purpose; and his lips
+seemed murmuring:
+
+"My stomach feels as if there were a mouse inside it; my legs are
+aching; it's all quite natural, no doubt!"
+
+To reconcile this apathy of his with recollections of his unresting,
+mirthless energy down alleys and on doorsteps, it was needful to
+remember human nature, and its exhaustless cruse [Footnote: Exhaustless
+cruse. See I Kings XVII: 8-16.] of courage. For, though he might not
+care to live, yet, while he was alive he would keep his end up, because
+he must--there was no other way. And why exhaust himself in vain regrets
+and dreams of things he could not see, and hopes of being what he could
+not be! That he had no resentment against anything was certain from his
+patient eyes--not even against those two who sat, one on either side of
+him--unaware that he was what he was, in order that they who against his
+will had brought him into being, might be forced by law to keep a
+self-respect they had already lost, and have the insufficiency of things
+he could not eat. For he had as yet no knowledge of political economy.
+He evidently did not view his case in any petty, or in any party,
+spirit; he did not seem to look on himself as just a half-starved child
+that should have cried its eyes out till it was fed at least as well as
+the dogs that passed him; he seemed to look on himself as that
+impersonal, imperial thing--the Future of the Race.
+
+So profound his apathy!
+
+And, as I looked, the "Future of the Race" turned to his father:
+
+"'Ark at the bird!" he said.
+
+It was a pigeon, who high upon a tree had suddenly begun to croon. One
+could see his head outlined against the grey unstirring sky, first
+bending back, then down into his breast, then back again; and that soft
+song of his filled all the air, like an invocation of fertility.
+
+"The Future of the Race" watched him for a minute without moving, and
+suddenly he laughed. That laugh was a little hard noise like the
+clapping of two boards--there was not a single drop of blood in it, nor
+the faintest sound of music; so might a marionette [Footnote:
+Marionette: a puppet moved by strings.] have laughed--a figure made of
+wood and wire.
+
+And in that laugh I seemed to hear innumerable laughter, the laughter in
+a million homes of the myriad unfed.
+
+So laughed the Future of the richest and the freest and the proudest
+race that has ever lived on earth, that February afternoon, with the
+little green flames lighted in the grass, under a sky that knew not wind
+or sun--so he laughed at the pigeon that was calling for the Spring.
+
+--JOHN GALSWORTHY.
+
+[Footnote: Why could the child enjoy only "peppermints and kippered
+herring"? Why does the author call the child the "Future of the Race"?
+Is the term used seriously or ironically? What plea does the author make
+for all childhood? Does the portrait of the child seem real or
+exaggerated? Does the author place the blame for such conditions as made
+this child an unhappy weakling? Compare this portrait with that of
+Muhammad Din.]
+
+
+
+
+TOO DEAR FOR THE WHISTLE
+
+
+When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled
+my pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys
+for children; and being charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met
+by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave
+all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all over the
+house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My
+brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had
+made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put
+me in mind of what good things I might have bought with the rest of the
+money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with
+vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave
+me pleasure.
+
+This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on
+my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary
+thing, I said to myself, "Don't give too much for the whistle"; and I
+saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the
+actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, "who gave too much
+for the whistle." When I saw one too ambitious of court favor,
+sacrificing his time in attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty,
+his virtue, and perhaps his friends, to attain it, I have said to
+myself--
+
+"This man gives too much for his whistle." When I saw another fond of
+popularity, constantly employing himself in political bustles,
+neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by that neglect, "He pays,
+indeed," said I, "too dear for his whistle."
+
+If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all the
+pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens,
+and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of accumulating
+wealth--"Poor man," said I, "you pay too dear for your whistle." When I
+met a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable improvement of the
+mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal sensations, and ruining his
+health in their pursuit--"Mistaken man," said I, "you are providing
+pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you are paying too dear for your
+whistle." If I see one fond of appearance or fine clothes, fine houses,
+fine furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he
+contracts debts, "Alas," say I, "he has paid dear, very dear for his
+whistle." In short, I conceive that a great part of the miseries of
+mankind are brought upon them by the false estimate they have made of
+the value of things, and by their giving "too much for their whistles."
+
+--BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
+
+[Footnote: This extract was taken from a letter which Franklin wrote
+from Passy in 1779 to Madame Brillon.
+
+The phrase, "paying too dear for his whistle," has become proverbial.
+What does it mean? What famous book of maxims was written by Franklin?
+Can you quote any of the sayings in it? Do you know anything of
+Franklin's life that showed whether he lived up to the moral he sets
+forth in this story?]
+
+
+
+
+A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT
+
+
+He (Villon) [Footnote: Francois Villon: born 1431, died 1484. Stevenson
+characterizes him as "poet, student, and housebreaker."] went boldly to
+the door and knocked with an assured hand. On both previous occasions,
+he had knocked timidly and with some dread of attracting notice; but now
+when he had just discarded the thought of a burglarious entry, knocking
+at a door seemed a mighty simple and innocent proceeding. The sound of
+his blows echoed through the house with thin, phantasmal [Footnote:
+Phantasmal: ghostly.] reverberations, as though it were quite empty; but
+these had scarcely died away before a measured tread drew near, a couple
+of bolts were withdrawn, and one wing was opened broadly, as though no
+guile or fear of guile were known to those within. A tall figure of a
+man, muscular and spare, but a little bent, confronted Villon. The head
+was massive in bulk, but finely sculptured; the nose blunt at the
+bottom, but refining upward to where it joined a pair of strong and
+honest eyebrows; the mouth and eyes surrounded with delicate markings,
+and the whole face based upon a thick white beard, boldly and squarely
+trimmed. Seen as it was by the light of a flickering hand-lamp, it
+looked perhaps nobler than it had a right to do; but it was a fine face,
+honourable rather than intelligent, strong, simple, and righteous.
+
+"You knock late, sir," said the old man in resonant, courteous tones.
+
+Villon cringed, and brought up many servile words of apology; at a
+crisis of this sort, the beggar was uppermost in him, and the man of
+genius hid his head with confusion.
+
+"You are cold," repeated the old man, "and hungry? Well, step in." And
+he ordered him into the house with a noble enough gesture.
+
+"Some great seigneur," [Footnote: Seigneur: lord.] thought Villon, as
+his host, setting down the lamp on the flagged pavement of the entry,
+shot the bolts once more into their places.
+
+"You will pardon me if I go in front," he said, when this was done; and
+he preceded the poet upstairs into a large apartment, warmed with a pan
+of charcoal and lit by a great lamp hanging from the roof. It was very
+bare of furniture: only some gold plate on a sideboard; some folios;
+[Footnote: Folios: large books.] and a stand of armor between the
+windows. Some smart tapestry hung upon the walls, representing the
+crucifixion of our Lord in one piece, and in another a scene of
+shepherds and shepherdesses by a running stream. Over the chimney was a
+shield of arms.
+
+"Will you seat yourself," said the old man, "and forgive me if I leave
+you? I am alone in my house to-night, and if you are to eat I must
+forage for myself."
+
+No sooner was his host gone than Villon leaped from the chair on which
+he had just seated himself, and began examining the room, with the
+stealth and passion of a cat. [Footnote: With the stealth and passion of
+a cat. Does this give you any clue to Villon's character?] He weighed
+the gold flagons in his hand, opened all the folios, and investigated
+the arms upon the shield, and the stuff with which the seats were lined.
+He raised the window curtains, and saw that the windows were set with
+rich stained glass in figures, so far as he could see, of martial
+[Footnote: Martial: warlike.] import. Then he stood in the middle of the
+room, drew a long breath, and retaining it with puffed cheeks, looked
+round and round him, turning on his heels, as if to impress every
+feature of the apartment on his memory.
+
+"Seven pieces of plate," he said. "If there had been ten, I would have
+risked it. A fine house, and a line old master, so help me all the
+saints!"
+
+And just then, hearing the old man's tread returning along the corridor,
+he stole back to his chair and began humbly toasting his wet legs before
+the charcoal pan.
+
+His entertainer had a plate of meat in one hand and a jug of wine in the
+other. He set down the plate upon the table, motioning Villon to draw in
+his chair and going to the sideboard, brought back two goblets, which he
+filled.
+
+"I drink your better fortune," he said, gravely touching Villon's cup
+with his own.
+
+"To our better acquaintance," said the poet, growing bold. A mere man of
+the people would have been awed by the courtesy of the old seigneur, but
+Villon was hardened in that matter; he had made mirth for great lords
+before now, and found them as black rascals as himself. And so he
+devoted himself to the viands [Footnote: Viands: food.] with a ravenous
+gusto, while the old man, leaning backward, watched him with steady,
+curious eyes.
+
+"Have you any money?" asked the old man.
+
+"I have one white," [Footnote: White: a small coin.] returned the poet
+laughing. "I got it out of a dead jade's stocking in a porch. She was as
+dead as Caesar, poor wench, and as cold as a church, with bits of ribbon
+sticking in her hair. This is a hard world in winter for wolves and
+wenches and poor rogues like me."
+
+"I," said the old man, "am Enguerrand de la Feuillee, seigneur de
+Brisetout, bailly du Patatrac. [Footnote: Bailly: bailiff.] Who and what
+may you be?"
+
+Villon rose and made a suitable reverence. "I am called Francis Villon,"
+he said, "a poor Master of Arts of this university. I know some Latin,
+and a deal of vice. I can make chansons, ballades, lais, virelais, and
+roundels, [Footnote: Lais: ... virilais. Chansons ... roundels: different
+types of versification.] and I am very fond of wine. I was born in a
+garret, and I shall not improbably die upon the gallows. I may add, my
+lord, that from this night forward I am your lordship's very obsequious,
+servant to command."
+
+"No servant of mine," said the knight, "my guest for this evening, and
+no more."
+
+"A very grateful guest;" said Villon politely, and he drank in dumb show
+to his entertainer.
+
+"You are shrewd," began the old man, tapping his forehead, "very shrewd;
+you have learning; you are a clerk; [Footnote: Clerk: the term formerly
+applied to a man of letters.] and yet you take a small piece of money
+off a dead woman in the street. Is it not a kind of theft?"
+
+"It is a kind of theft much practiced in the wars, my lord."
+
+"The wars are the field of honor," returned the old man proudly. "There
+a man plays his life upon the cast; he fights in the name of his lord
+the king, his Lord God, and all their lordships the holy saints and
+angels."
+
+"Put it," said Villon, "that I were really a thief, should I not play my
+life also, and against heavier odds?"
+
+"For gain but not for honor."
+
+"Gain?" repeated Villon with a shrug. "Gain! The poor fellow wants
+supper, and takes it. So does the soldier in a campaign. Why, what are
+all these requisitions [Footnote: Requisitions: demands, generally of
+money and supplies, made by invaders upon the people of the invaded
+country.] we hear so much about? If they are not gain to those who take
+them, they are loss enough to the others. The men-at-arms drink by a
+good fire, while the burgher bites his nails to buy them wine and wood.
+I have seen a good many ploughmen swinging on trees about the country;
+ay, I have seen thirty on one elm, and a very poor figure they made; and
+when I asked someone how all these came to be hanged, I was told it was
+because they could not scrape together enough crowns to satisfy the
+men-at-arms."
+
+"These things are a necessity of war, which the lowborn must endure with
+constancy. It is true that some captains drive overhard; there are
+spirits in every rank not easily moved by pity; and indeed many follow
+arms who are no better than brigands."
+
+"You see," said the poet, "you cannot separate the soldier from the
+brigand; and what is a thief but an isolated brigand with circumspect
+[Footnote: Circumspect: wary.] manners? I steal a couple of mutton
+chops, without so much as disturbing people's sleep; the farmer grumbles
+a bit, but sups none the less wholesomely on what remains. You come up
+blowing gloriously on a trumpet, take away the whole sheep, and beat the
+farmer pitifully into the bargain. I have no trumpet; I am only Tom,
+Dick or Harry; I am a rogue and a dog, and hanging's too good for
+me--with all my heart; but just ask the farmer which of us he prefers,
+just find out which of us he lies awake to curse on cold nights."
+
+"Look at us two," said his lordship. "I am old, strong and honored. If I
+were turned from my house tomorrow, hundreds would be proud to shelter
+me. Poor people would go out and pass the night in the streets with
+their children, if I merely hinted that I wished to be alone. And I find
+you up, wandering homeless, and picking farthings off dead women by the
+wayside! I fear no man and nothing; I have seen you tremble and lose
+countenance at a word. I wait God's summons contentedly in my own house,
+or, if it please the king to call me out again, upon the field of
+battle. You look for the gallows; a rough, swift death, without hope or
+honor. Is there no difference between these two?"
+
+"As far as to the moon" Villon acquiesced. "But if I had been born lord
+of Brisetout, and you had been the poor scholar Francis, would the
+difference have been any the less? Should not I have been warming my
+knees at this charcoal pan, and would not you have been groping for
+farthings in the snow? Should not I have been the soldier, and you the
+thief?"
+
+--ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What hints does the sketch give you of the period in which
+the story is laid? What characteristics of Villon are brought out? Is
+there any suggestion of the poet in his remarks? What is the real
+difference between the two men? Does Villon make out a good case? Is his
+description of war a fair one? Why did Villon not steal the goblets?]
+
+
+
+
+A BAD FIVE MINUTES IN THE ALPS
+
+
+It was time to return, and the demon who amuses himself by beguiling
+Alpine travellers suggested the memory of a certain short cut which
+involved a bit of amusing scrambling. I was speedily occupied in
+fighting my way downwards through a steep ravine, cloven by a vicious
+little torrent from a lofty glacier, when--how it happened I know not,
+for all forms of earth and grassy slope were obliterated at a few yards
+by the descending showers--I suddenly found that I had left the right
+track and was descending too sharply towards the stream. At the same
+time I saw, or thought I saw, that by crossing the face of the cliff for
+a few yards I should regain the ordinary route. The first step or two
+was easy; then came a long stride, in which I had to throw out one hand
+by way of grappling-iron to a jutting rock above. The rock was reeking
+with moisture, and as I threw my weight upon it my hand slipped, and
+before I had time to look round I was slithering downwards without a
+single point of support. Below me as I well knew, at a depth of some two
+hundred feet, was the torrent. One plunge through the air upon its
+rugged stones and I should be a heap of mangled flesh and bones.
+Instinctively I flung abroad arms and legs in search of strong supports;
+in another moment I was brought up with a jerk. My hands now rested on
+the narrow ledge where my feet had been a moment before, and one foot
+was propped by some insecure support whose nature I could not precisely
+determine.
+
+Desperately choking back the surging emotions that seemed to shake my
+limbs I sought for some means of escape. By slowly moving my left hand I
+managed to grasp a stem of rhododendron which grew upon the ledge of
+rock, and felt tolerably firm; next I tried to feel for some support
+with the toe of my left boot; the rock, however, against which it rested
+was not only hard, but exquisitely polished by the ancient glacier which
+had forced its way down the gorge. A geologist would have been delighted
+with this admirable specimen of the planing powers of nature; I felt, I
+must confess, rather inclined to curse geology and glaciers. Not a
+projecting edge, corner, or cranny could I discover; I might as well
+have been hanging against a pane of glass. With my right foot, however,
+I succeeded in obtaining a more satisfactory lodgment; had it not been
+for this help I could have supported myself so long as my arms would
+hold out, and I have read somewhere that the strongest man cannot hold
+on by his arms alone for more than five minutes. I am, unluckily, very
+weak in the arms, and was therefore quite unable to perform the
+gymnastic feat of raising myself till I could place a knee upon the
+ledge where my hands were straining. Here, then, I was, in an apparently
+hopeless predicament. I might cling to the rocks like a bat in a cave
+till exhaustion compelled me to let go; on a very liberal allowance,
+that might last for some twenty minutes, or, say half an hour. There
+was, of course, a remote chance that some traveler or tourist might pass
+through the glen; but the ordinary path lay some hundred yards above my
+head, on the other side of the rock-pinnacle, and a hundred yards was,
+for all practical purposes, the same thing as a hundred miles; the
+ceaseless roar of the swollen torrent would drown my voice as
+effectually as a battery of artillery; but, for a moment or two, I
+considered the propriety of shouting for help. The problem was, whether
+I should diminish my strength more by the effort of shouting than the
+additional chance of attracting attention was worth.
+
+A puff of wind had driven aside the wreaths of mist; and high above me I
+could see towering into the gloomy skies a pinnacle of black rock. Sharp
+and needle-like it sprang from its cloud-hidden base, and scarcely a
+flake of snow clung to its terrible precipices. Only a day or two before
+I had been lounging in the inn garden during a delusive sunset gleam of
+bright weather, and admiring its noble proportions. I had been
+discussing with my friends the best mode of assaulting its hitherto
+untrodden summit, on which we had facetiously conferred the name of
+Teufelshorn. Lighted up by the Alpine glow, it seemed to beckon us
+upward, and had fired all my mountaineering zeal. Now, though it was not
+a time for freaks of fancy, it looked like a grim fiend calmly frowning
+upon my agony. I hated it, and yet had an unpleasant sense that my
+hatred could do it no harm. If I could have lightened and thundered, its
+rocks would have come down with a crash; but it stood immovable,
+scornful, and eternal. There is a poetry in the great mountains, but the
+poetry may be stern as well as benevolent. If, to the weary Londoner,
+they speak of fresh air and healthful exercise and exciting adventure,
+they can look tyrannous and forbidding enough to the peasant on whose
+fields they void their rheum--as Shakespeare pleasantly puts it--or to
+the luckless wretch who is clinging in useless supplication at their
+feet. Grim and fierce, like some primeval giant, that peak looked to me,
+and for a time the whole doctrine preached by the modern worshippers of
+sublime scenery seemed inexpressibly absurd and out of place.
+
+It was becoming tempting to throw up the cards and have done with it.
+Even the short sharp pang of the crash on the rocks below seemed
+preferable to draining the last dregs of misery. I gathered myself up,
+crouching as low as I dared, and then springing from the right foot, and
+aiding the spring with my left hand, I threw out my right at the little
+jutting point. The tips of my fingers just reached their aim, but only
+touched without anchoring themselves. As I fell back, my foot missed its
+former support, and my whole weight came heavily on the feeble left
+hand. The clutch was instantaneously torn apart, and I was falling
+through the air. All was over! The mountains sprang upwards with a
+bound. But before the fall had well begun, before the air had begun to
+whistle past me, my movement was arrested. With a shock of surprise I
+found myself lying on a broad bed of deep moss, as comfortably as in my
+bed at home.
+
+--LESLIE STEPHEN (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What do you imagine has preceded this selection? What things
+are contrasted in the account? Do you think that philosophizing helped
+or hindered the climber? Do you know anything about the difficulties of
+Alpine climbing from other accounts you have read? Compare the style of
+this selection with "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and "A Leaf in the
+Storm."]
+
+
+
+
+THE GOLD TRAIL
+
+
+We came upon the diggings quite suddenly. The trail ran around the
+corner of a hill; and there they were below us! In the wide, dry stream
+bottom perhaps fifty men were working busily, like a lot of ants. Some
+were picking away at the surface of the ground, others had dug
+themselves down waist deep, and stooped and rose like legless bodies.
+Others had disappeared below ground, and showed occasionally only as
+shovel blades. From so far above, the scene was very lively and
+animated, for each was working like a beaver, and the red shirts made
+gay little spots of colour. On the hillside clung a few white tents and
+log cabins; but the main town itself, we later discovered, as well as
+the larger diggings, lay around the bend and upstream.
+
+We looked all around us for some path leading down to the river, but
+could find none; so perforce we had to continue on along the trail. Thus
+we entered the camp of Hangman's Gulch for if it had been otherwise, I
+am sure we would have located promptly where we had seen those
+red-shirted men.
+
+The camp consisted merely of a closer-knit group of tents, log shacks,
+and a few larger buildings constructed of a queer combination of heavy
+hewn timbers and canvas. We saw nobody at all, though in some of the
+larger buildings we heard signs of life. However, we did not wait to
+investigate the wonders of Hangman's Gulch, but drove our animals along
+the one street, looking for the trail that should lead us back to the
+diggings. We missed it, somehow, but struck into a beaten path that took
+us upstream. This we followed a few hundred yards. It proceeded along a
+rough, boulder-strewn river-bed, around a point of rough, jagged rocks,
+and out to a very wide gravelly flat through which the river had made
+itself a narrow channel. The flat swarmed with men, all of them busy,
+and very silent.
+
+Leading our pack-horses we approached the nearest pair of these men, and
+stood watching them curiously. One held a coarse screen of willow which
+he shook continuously above a common cooking-pot, while the other slowly
+shovelled earth over this sieve. When the two pots, which with the
+shovel seemed to be all the tools these men possessed, had been half
+filled thus with the fine earth, the men carried them to the river. We
+followed. The miners carefully submerged the pots, and commenced to stir
+their contents with their fists. The light earth muddied the water,
+floated upward, and then flowed slowly over the rim of the pots and down
+the current. After a few minutes of this, they lifted the pots
+carefully, drained off the water, and started back.
+
+"May we look?" ventured Johnny.
+
+The taller man glanced at us, and our pack-horses, and nodded. This was
+the first time he had troubled to take a good look at us. The bottom of
+the pot was covered with fine black sand in which we caught the gleam
+and sparkle of something yellow.
+
+"Is that gold?" I asked, awed.
+
+"That's gold," the man repeated, his rather saturnine features lighting
+up with a grin. Then seeing our interest, he unbent a trifle. "We dry
+the sand, and then blow it away," he explained; and strode back to where
+his companion was impatiently waiting.
+
+We stumbled on over the rocks and debris. There were probably something
+near a hundred men at work in the gulch. We soon observed that the pot
+method was considered a very crude and simple way of getting out the
+gold. Most of the men carried iron pans full of the earth to the
+waterside, where, after submerging until the lighter earth had floated
+off, they slopped the remainder over the side with a peculiar twisting,
+whirling motion, leaving at last only the black sand--and the gold!
+These pan miners were in the great majority. But one group of four men
+was doing business on a larger scale. They had constructed what looked
+like a very shallow baby-cradle on rockers into which they poured their
+earth and water. By rocking the cradle violently but steadily, they
+spilled the mud over the sides. Cleats had been nailed in the bottom to
+catch the black sand.
+
+We wandered about here and there, looking with all our eyes. The miners
+were very busy and silent, but quite friendly, and allowed us to examine
+as much as we pleased the results of their operations. In the pots and
+cradles the yellow flake gold glittered plainly, contrasting with the
+black sand. In the pans, however, the residue spread out fan-shaped
+along the angle between the bottom and the side, and at the apex the
+gold lay heavy and beautiful all by itself. The men were generally
+bearded, tanned with working in this blinding sun, and plastered
+liberally with the red earth. We saw some queer sights, however; as when
+we came across a jolly pair dressed in what were the remains of
+ultra-fashionable garments up to and including plug hats! At one side
+working some distance from the stream were small groups of native
+Californians or Mexicans. They did not trouble to carry the earth all
+the way to the river; but, after screening it roughly, tossed it into
+the air above a canvas, thus winnowing out the heavier pay dirt.
+[Footnote: Pay dirt: dirt that has gold enough in it to pay for working
+it.] I thought this must be very disagreeable.
+
+As we wandered about here and there among all these men so busily
+engaged, and with our own eyes saw pan after pan show gold, actual
+metallic guaranteed gold, such as rings and watches and money are made
+of, a growing excitement possessed us, the excitement of a small boy
+with a new and untried gun. We wanted to get at it ourselves. Only we
+did not know how.
+
+Finally Yank approached one of the busy miners.
+
+"Stranger," said he, "we're new to this. Maybe you can tell us where we
+can dig a little of this gold ourselves."
+
+The man straightened his back, to exhibit a roving humorous blue eye,
+with which he examined Yank from top to toe.
+
+"If," said he, "it wasn't for that eighteen-foot cannon you carry over
+your left arm, and a cold gray pair of eyes you carry in your head, I'd
+direct you up the sidehill yonder, and watch you sweat. As it is, you
+can work anywhere anybody else isn't working. Start in!"
+
+"Can we dig next to you, then?" asked Yank, nodding at an unbroken piece
+of ground just upstream.
+
+The miner clambered carefully out of his waist-deep trench, searched his
+pockets, produced a pipe and tobacco. After lighting this he made Yank a
+low bow.
+
+"Thanks for the compliment; but I warn you, this claim of mine is not
+very rich. I'm thinking of trying somewhere else."
+
+"Don't you get any gold?"
+
+"Oh, a few ounces a day."
+
+"That suits me for a beginning," said Yank decidedly. "Come on boys!"
+
+The miner hopped back into his hole, only to stick his head out again
+for the purpose of telling us:
+
+"Mind you keep fifteen feet away!"
+
+With eager hands we slipped a pick and shovels from beneath the pack
+ropes, undid our iron bucket, and without further delay commenced
+feverishly to dig.
+
+--STEWART EDWARD WHITE.
+
+[Footnote: Where do you imagine this scene is laid? Why was the miner
+willing to admit the newcomers? What success do you think they had? Note
+the simplicity of the style and the diction. Can you tell anything about
+the first rush of gold seekers to California? Read the novel, "Gold,"
+from which this selection is taken. You will find it very interesting.]
+
+
+
+
+TWENTY YEARS OF ARCTIC STRUGGLE
+
+
+On the 28th of February the various parties took their departure from
+Cape Hecla, and following in the rear, Peary hurried on with all
+possible speed, hopeful of reaching the Pole at last.
+
+For some days the ice was in motion everywhere; but it gradually became
+quieter, and as there was very little wind the travelling was
+particularly good. Full of impatience as he tramped along, and grudging
+every moment given to rest, Peary dreaded lest he should meet with some
+obstacle, such as open water or impassable ice, that would put an end to
+the journey northwards.
+
+Delayed by gales and open water, and driven out of his course seventy
+miles to the eastward, Peary was cut off from communication with his
+supporting parties; and finding that he could no longer depend upon
+them, he determined to make a dash for the Pole with the party, eight in
+all, and the supplies which he had with him.
+
+Abandoning everything not absolutely essential and bending every energy
+to set a record pace, they travelled thirty miles in a ten hours' march.
+Storms of wind and snow added considerably to the difficulties of the
+journey, the strain of which told severely on both men and dogs.
+
+The 20th of April brought the weary travellers into a region of open
+leads, [Footnote: Open leads: open ways in an ice-field.] bearing north
+and south. Resting here for a few hours, Peary and his companions
+resumed their march at midnight, pushing on with feverish haste to
+lessen the distance between them and the goal that was luring them on.
+Travelling as fast as they could till noon of the 21st, they then came
+to a final halt.
+
+Disappointed at once more having to stop before the object of all his
+striving had been reached, Peary would have liked to make the last dash
+with only one or two of his men; but he dared not do this in view of the
+condition of the ice, and reluctantly he had to confess that once again
+the prize had eluded his grasp. Making observations, he found that they
+were in 87 deg, 6' north latitude, the most northerly point that had yet
+been reached by man.
+
+Warned by the haggard faces of his comrades and the skeleton figures of
+the few remaining dogs, Peary saw that no time must be lost in turning
+back. After hoisting a flag from the summit of the highest pinnacle, and
+leaving a bottle containing a record of the journey, the exhausted men
+turned their backs on the Pole, and began the weary march homeward.
+
+Trying as the outward march had been, the dangers of the return journey
+were even greater. Besides, there was no longer the excitement of
+possible victory to encourage the men in the face of hardships. Killing
+their dogs for food, and breaking up the sledges to provide fires for
+cooking, the tired and dispirited explorers pushed on till they found
+themselves stranded on an island of ice. Was this, then, to be the end
+of the enterprise, and were they to meet death in that cold and pitiless
+sea? Such a fate seemed inevitable. But just as they were preparing for
+the worst, two of the Eskimo scouts came hurrying back to the camp with
+the report that, a few miles farther on, the water was covered with a
+film of young ice, and that there was a possibility of their being able
+to cross on snow-shoes.
+
+It was a desperate chance, but they were prepared to take it; and
+carefully fixing on their snow-shoes, they made the venture, the
+lightest and most experienced Eskimo taking the lead, with the few
+remaining dogs attached to the long sledge following, "and the rest of
+the party abreast, in widely extended skirmish line, some distance
+behind the sledge." They crossed in silence, the ice swaying beneath
+them as they skimmed along. What the result would be none could tell;
+but they all felt the greatness of their peril.
+
+Peary himself confesses that this was the first and only time in all his
+Arctic experience that he felt doubtful as to what would happen. "When
+near the middle of the lead," he says, "the toe of one of my snow-shoes,
+as I slid forward, broke through twice in succession; then I thought to
+myself, 'This is the finish.' A little later there was a cry from some
+one in the line, but I dared not take my eyes from the steady gliding of
+my snow-shoes. When we stepped upon the firm ice on the southern side of
+the lead, sighs of relief from the two men nearest me were distinctly
+audible. The cry I had heard had been from one of my men, whose toe,
+like mine, had broken through the ice." The crossing had been made just
+in time, for, as the travellers looked round for a moment before turning
+their faces southward, they saw that the sheet of ice on which they had
+crossed was in two pieces. "The lead was widening again."
+
+All were safely across; but they were not yet out of danger. Unable to
+find a route which they might traverse with any degree of safety, Peary
+and his men ascended a high mass of ice to have a better view of their
+surroundings, and to look for a way of escape. What they beheld from
+their elevated position might well have struck terror into the boldest
+heart. Before them extended "such a mass of shattered ice" as Peary had
+never seen before and hoped never to see again, "a confused mass of
+fragments, some only the size of paving-stones, others as large as the
+dome of the Capitol at Washington, but all rounded by the terrific
+grinding they had received."
+
+Once again death was looking them in the face, for it seemed an utter
+impossibility to find a path through that frozen wilderness. But as long
+as they could keep a footing they determined to struggle on; and
+stumbling forward at every step, bruised and sore, they at last struck a
+better road. They made their way to Britannia Island, [Footnote:
+Britannia Island: one of the most northern islands of the Arctic Ocean.]
+and thence to Cape May and Cape Bryant.
+
+The brave party suffered much from want of food. For days on end they
+were on the verge of starvation. A hare that was shot gave them the
+first full meal for nearly forty days. With snow falling around them,
+and without tent or covering of any kind, they lay down on the ground to
+sleep.
+
+Waking in the morning as tired and hungry as ever, they found the tracks
+of musk-oxen [Footnote: Musk-oxen: the musk-ox has long shaggy hair and
+somewhat resembles a buffalo.] in the snow, and their hopes rose as they
+endeavoured to follow the trail. Sweeping the valley with their
+field-glass, they could see no sign of a living thing; but later on they
+espied several black dots at a distance, and knew that they had located
+the herd. Pushing on towards them, Peary and a companion lay down behind
+a big boulder to rest and gather strength, for they dared not risk a
+shot before they were sure of their aim. Resolving at last on an attack,
+the two men grasped their rifles, and, rushing out from behind their
+place of shelter, made straight for the animals, now less than two
+hundred yards away. An old bull that was standing guard gave the signal
+to charge, and in a minute the "black avalanche of thundering beasts"
+was bearing down on their enemies.
+
+Fortunately for Peary his shot went true, and the great bull fell dead.
+The maddened rush was stopped; and before the oxen could make their
+retreat over the ridges six of their number lay dead upon the frozen
+ground; and for the next few days the party revelled in the delights of
+a continuous feast.
+
+Reaching the Roosevelt [Footnote: Roosevelt: Peary's ship.] at the end
+of July, the expedition returned to America a few months later. After
+twenty years of heroic striving, Peary had again missed the prize; but
+the victory was postponed only for a little while.
+
+--J. KENNEDY McLEAN.
+
+[Footnote: How does the heroism shown in this account of Peary's
+struggle compare with military courage? What qualities of the true
+explorer does Peary show? What picture do you get of the country in
+which the travelers journeyed? What do you know of Peary's later
+expedition? Do you think the descriptions would be so purely objective
+if they were written by the explorer himself? Would the account seem
+more real or more interesting if it had been told in the first person?]
+
+
+
+
+HENRY WARD BEECHER'S ACCOUNT OF
+HIS SPEECH IN MANCHESTER
+
+
+I went to my hotel, and when the day came on which I was to make my
+first speech, I struck out the notes of my speech in the morning; and
+then came up a kind of horror--"I don't know whether I can do anything
+with an English audience--I have never had any experience with an
+English audience. My American ways, which are all well enough with
+Americans, may utterly fail here, and a failure in the cause of my
+country now and here is horrible beyond conception to me!" I think I
+never went through such a struggle of darkness and suffering in all my
+life as I did that afternoon. It was about the going down of the sun
+that God brought me to that state in which I said, "Thy will be done. I
+am willing to be annihilated; I am willing to fail if the Lord wants me
+to." I gave it all up into the hands of God, and rose up in a state of
+peace and serenity simply unspeakable, and when the coach came to take
+me down to Manchester Hall I felt no disturbance nor dreamed of anything
+but success.
+
+We reached the hall. The crowd was already beginning to be tumultuous,
+and I recollect thinking to myself as I stood there looking at them, "I
+will control you! I came here for victory, and I will have it, by the
+help of God!" Well, I was introduced, and I must confess that the things
+that I had done and suffered in my own country, according to what the
+chairman who introduced me said, amazed me. The speaker was very English
+on the subject, and I learned that I belonged to an heroic band, and all
+that sort of thing, with Abolitionism [Footnote: Abolitionism: The
+policy of those who worked for the abolition of slavery before the Civil
+War.] mixed in, and so on. By the way, I think it was there that I was
+introduced as the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher Stowe. But as soon as I began
+to speak the great audience began to show its teeth, and I had not gone
+on fifteen minutes before an unparalleled scene of confusion and
+interruption occurred. No American that has not seen an English mob can
+form any conception of one. I have seen all sorts of camp meetings and
+experienced all kinds of public speaking on the stump; I have seen the
+most disturbed meetings in New York City, and they were all of them as
+twilight to midnight compared with an English hostile audience. For in
+England the meeting does not belong to the parties that call it, but to
+whoever chooses to go; and if they can take it out of your hands, it is
+considered fair play. This meeting had a very large multitude of men in
+it who came there for the purpose of destroying the meeting and carrying
+it the other way when it came to a vote.
+
+I took the measure of the audience and said to myself, "About one fourth
+of this audience are opposed to me, and about one fourth will be rather
+in sympathy; and my business now is, not to appeal to that portion that
+is opposed to me nor to those that are already on my side, but to bring
+over the middle section." How to do this was a problem. The question
+was, who could hold out longest. There were five or six storm-centres,
+boiling and whirling at the same time: here some one pounding on a group
+with his umbrella and shouting, "Sit down there;" over yonder a row
+between two or three combatants; somewhere else a group all yelling
+together at the top of their voices. It was like talking to a storm at
+sea. But there were the newspaper reporters just in front, and I said to
+them, "Now, gentlemen, be kind enough to take down what I say. It will
+be in sections, but I will have it connected by and by." I threw my
+notes away, and entered on a discussion of the value of freedom as
+opposed to slavery in the manufacturing interest, arguing that freedom
+everywhere increases a man's necessities, and what he needs he buys, and
+that it was, therefore, to the interest of the manufacturing community
+to stand by the side of labor through the country. I never was more
+self-possessed and never in more perfect good temper, and I never was
+more determined that my hearers should feel the curb before I got
+through with them. The uproar would come in on this side and on that,
+and they would put insulting questions and make all sorts of calls to
+me, and I would wait until the noise had subsided, and then get in about
+five minutes of talk. The reporters would get that down, and then up
+would come another noise. Occasionally I would see things that amused me
+and would laugh outright, and the crowd would stop to see what I was
+laughing at. Then I would sail in again with a sentence or two. A good
+many times the crowd threw up questions which I caught at and answered
+back. I may as well put in here one thing that amused me hugely. There
+were baize doors that opened both ways into side alleys, and there was a
+huge, burly Englishman standing right in front of one of those doors and
+roaring like a bull of Bashan; [Footnote: Bull of Bashan: _Psalm_
+XXII, 12-13] one of the policemen swung his elbow around and hit him in
+the belly and knocked him through the doorway, so that the last part of
+the bawl was outside in the alleyway; it struck me so ludicrously to
+think how the fellow must have looked when he found himself "hollering"
+outside that I could not refrain from laughing outright. The audience
+immediately stopped its uproars, wondering what I was laughing at, and
+that gave me another chance, and I caught it. So we kept on for about an
+hour and a half before they got so far calmed down that I could go on
+peaceably with my speech. They liked the pluck. Englishmen like a man
+that can stand on his feet and give and take; and so for the last hour I
+had pretty clear sailing. The next morning every great paper in England
+had the whole speech. I think it was the design of the men there to
+break me down on that first speech, by fair means or foul, feeling that
+if they could do that it would be trumpeted all over the land. I said to
+them then and there, "Gentlemen, you may break me down now, but I have
+registered a vow that I will never return home until I have been heard
+in every county and principal town in the Kingdom of Great Britain. I am
+not going to be broken down nor put down. I am going to be heard, and my
+country shall be vindicated." Nobody knows better than I did what it is
+to feel that every interest that touches the heart of a Christian man
+and a patriotic man and a lover of liberty is being assailed wantonly,
+to stand between one nation and your own, and to feel that you are in a
+situation in which your country rises or falls with you. And God was
+behind it all; I felt it and knew it; and when I got through and the
+vote was called off, you would have thought it was a tropical
+thunderstorm that swept through that hall as the ayes were thundered,
+while the noes were an insignificant and contemptible minority. It had
+all gone on our side, and such enthusiasm I never saw. I think it was
+there that when I started to go down into the rooms below to get an
+exit, a big burly Englishman in the gallery wanted to shake hands with
+me, and I could not reach him, and he called out, "Shake my umbrella!"
+and he reached it over; I shook it, and as I did so he shouted, "By
+Jock! Nobody shall touch that umbrella again!"
+
+--HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+[Footnote: Henry Ward Beecher was born in 1813 and died in 1887. He was
+a noted lecturer, reformer, author, and clergyman. He was also among the
+most prominent of anti-slavery orators, and delivered many addresses in
+England on subjects relating to the Civil War.
+
+Why do you suppose Mr. Beecher was introduced as Henry Ward Beecher
+Stowe? Name some characteristics of Mr. Beecher as revealed in this
+selection. What qualities would you attribute to an English audience,
+judging from this account? Do you know anything about the custom of
+"heckling" in England? How much was the success of the speech due to Mr.
+Beecher's sense of humor? Do you imagine that Mr. Beecher was successful
+in his addresses to the English people? Why?]
+
+
+
+
+A GREEN DONKEY DRIVER
+
+
+There dwelt an old man in Monastier, [Footnote: Monastier: a little
+village in southern France.] of rather unsound intellect according to
+some, much followed by street-boys, and known to fame as Father Adam.
+Father Adam had a cart, and to draw the cart a diminutive donkey, not
+much bigger than a dog, the color of a mouse, with a kindly eye and a
+determined under-jaw. There was something neat and high-bred, a
+Quakerish elegance, about the rogue that hit my fancy on the spot.
+
+Our first interview was in Monastier market-place. To prove her good
+temper, one child after another was set upon her back to ride, and one
+after another went head over heels into the air; until a want of
+confidence began to reign in youthful bosoms, and the experiment was
+discontinued from a dearth of subjects. I was already backed by a
+deputation [Footnote: Deputation: a group of persons sent to act in
+behalf of others.] of my friends; but as if this were not enough, all
+the buyers and sellers came around and helped me in the bargain; and the
+ass and I and Father Adam were the centre of a hubbub for near half an
+hour. At length she passed into my service for the consideration of
+sixty-five francs and a glass of brandy. The sack had already cost
+eighty francs and two glasses of beer; so that Modestine, as I instantly
+baptized her, was upon all accounts the cheaper article.
+
+By the advice of a fallacious [Footnote: Fallacious: misleading,
+deceptive.] local saddler, a leather pad was made for me with rings to
+fasten on my bundle; and I thoughtfully completed my kit and arranged my
+toilette. By way of armory and utensils, I took a revolver, a little
+spirit lamp and pan, a lantern and some halfpenny candles, a jack-knife
+and a large leather flask. The main cargo consisted of two entire
+changes of warm clothing, besides my travelling wear of country
+velveteen, pilot coat, and knitted spencer, some books, and my
+railway-rug, which, being also in the form of a bag, made me a double
+castle for cold nights. The permanent larder was represented by cakes of
+chocolate and tins of Bologna sausage. All this, except what I carried
+about my person, was easily stowed into the sheepskin bag; and by good
+fortune I threw in my empty knapsack, rather for convenience of carriage
+than from any thought that I should want it on my journey. For more
+immediate needs, I took a leg of cold mutton, a bottle of Beaujolais,
+[Footnote: Beaujolais: a red wine made in southeastern France.] an empty
+bottle to carry milk, an egg-beater, and a considerable quantity of
+black bread and white for myself and donkey.
+
+On the day of my departure I was up a little after five; by six we began
+to load the donkey; and ten minutes after, my hopes were in the dust.
+The pad would not stay on Modestine's back for half a moment. I returned
+it to its maker, with whom I had so contumelious [Footnote:
+Contumelious: rude and abusive.] a passage that the street outside was
+crowded from wall to wall with gossips looking on and listening. The pad
+changed hands with much vivacity; perhaps it would be more descriptive
+to say that we threw it at each other's heads; and, at any rate, we were
+very warm and unfriendly, and spoke with a deal of freedom.
+
+I had a common donkey pack-saddle fitted upon Modestine; and once more
+loaded her with my effects.
+
+The bell of Monastier was just striking nine as I got quit of these
+preliminary troubles and descended the hill through the common. As long
+as I was within sight of the windows, a secret shame and the fear of
+some laughable defeat withheld me from tampering with Modestine. She
+tripped along upon her four small hoofs with a sober daintiness of gait;
+from time to time she shook her ears or her tail; and she looked so
+small under the bundle that my mind misgave me. We got across the ford
+without difficulty--there was no doubt about the matter, she was
+docility itself--and once on the other bank, where the road begins to
+mount through pine-woods, I took in my right hand the unhallowed staff,
+and with a quaking spirit applied it to the donkey. Modestine brisked up
+her pace for perhaps three steps, and then relapsed into her former
+minuet. [Footnote: Minuet: a slow, stately dance.] Another application
+had the same effect, and so with the third. I am worthy the name of an
+Englishman, and it goes against my conscience to lay my hand rudely on a
+female. I desisted, and looked her all over from head to foot; the poor
+brute's knees were trembling and her breathing was distressed; it was
+plain that she could not go faster on a hill. God forbid, thought I,
+that I should brutalize this innocent creature; let her go at her own
+pace, and let me patiently follow.
+
+What that pace was, there is no word mean enough to describe, it was
+something as much slower than a walk as a walk is slower than a run; it
+kept me hanging on each foot for an incredible length of time; in five
+minutes it exhausted the spirit and set up a fever in all the muscles of
+the leg. And yet I had to keep close at hand and measure my advance
+exactly upon hers; for if I dropped a few yards in to the rear, or went
+on a few yards ahead, Modestine came instantly to a halt and began to
+browse. The thought that this was to last from here to Alais [Footnote:
+Alais: a town in southeastern France not far from the Rhone River.]
+nearly broke my heart. Of all conceivable journeys, this promised to be
+the most tedious. I tried to tell myself it was a lovely day; I tried to
+charm my foreboding spirit with tobacco; but I had a vision ever present
+to me of the long long roads, up hill and down dale, and a pair of
+figures ever infinitesimally moving, foot by foot, a yard to the minute,
+and, like things enchanted in a nightmare, approaching no nearer to the
+goal.
+
+In the meantime there came up behind us a tall peasant, perhaps forty
+years of age, of an ironical snuffy countenance, and arrayed in the
+green tail-coat of the country. He overtook us hand over hand, and
+stopped to consider our pitiful advance.
+
+"Your donkey," says he, "is very old?"
+
+I told him, I believed not.
+
+Then, he supposed, we had come far.
+
+I told him we had but newly left Monastier.
+
+"Et vous marchez comme ca!" [Footnote: Et vous marchez comme ca! "and
+you are moving like that!"] cried he; and, throwing back his head, he
+laughed long and heartily. I watched him, half prepared to feel
+offended, until he had satisfied his mirth; and then, "You must have no
+pity on these animals," said he; and, plucking a switch out of a
+thicket, he began to lace Modestine about the stern works, uttering a
+cry. The rogue pricked up her ears and broke into a good round pace,
+which she kept up without flagging, and without exhibiting the least
+symptom of distress, as long as the peasant kept beside us. Her former
+panting and shaking had been, I regret to say, a piece of comedy.
+
+My _deus ex machina_, [Footnote: Deus ex machina: "the god out of
+the machine"; some supernatural intervention.] before he left me,
+supplied some excellent, if inhumane, advice; presented me with the
+switch, which he declared she would feel more tenderly than my cane; and
+finally taught me the true cry or masonic word of donkey-drivers,
+"Proot!" All the time, he regarded me with a comical incredulous air, as
+I might have smiled over his orthography or his green tail-coat. But it
+was not my turn for the moment.
+
+I hurried over my midday meal, and was early forth again. But, alas, as
+we climbed the interminable hill upon the other side, "Proot!" seemed to
+have lost its virtue. I prooted like a lion, I prooted melliflously
+[Footnote: Melliflously: sweetly. Find this allusion in "Midsummer
+Night's Dream," Act I, Scene 2.] like a sucking-dove; but Modestine
+would be neither softened nor intimidated. She held doggedly to her
+pace; nothing but a blow would move her, and that only for a second. I
+must follow at her heels, incessantly belaboring. A moment's pause in
+this ignoble toil, and she relapsed into her own private gait. I think I
+never heard of any one in as mean a situation. I must reach the lake of
+Bouchet, where I meant to camp, before sundown; and, to have even a hope
+of this, I must instantly maltreat this uncomplaining animal. The sound
+of my blows sickened me. Once, when I looked at her, she had a faint
+resemblance to a lady of my acquaintance who formerly loaded me with
+kindness; and this increased my horror of my cruelty.
+
+It was blazing hot up the valley, windless, with vehement sun upon my
+shoulders; and I had to labor so consistently with my stick that the
+sweat ran into my eyes. Every five minutes, too, the pack, the basket,
+and the pilot-coat would take an ugly slew [Footnote: Slew: twist.] to
+one side or the other; and I had to stop Modestine, just when I had got
+her to a tolerable pace of about two miles an hour, to tug, push,
+shoulder, and re-adjust the load. And at last, in the village of Ussel,
+[Footnote: Ussel: a town about one hundred miles northwest of Alais.]
+saddle and all, the whole hypothec [Footnote: Hypothec: literally, the
+property of a tenant held by a landlord as security for rent. Here, of
+course, the property insufficiently secured on the donkey.] turned round
+and grovelled in the dust, below the donkey's belly. She none better
+pleased, incontinently drew up and seemed to smile; and a party of one
+man, two women, and two children came up, and, standing round me in a
+half-circle, encouraged her by their example.
+
+I disposed it, Heaven knows how, so as to be mildly portable, and then
+proceeded to steer Modestine through the village. She tried, as was
+indeed her invariable habit, to enter every house and every courtyard in
+the whole length, and, encumbered as I was, without a hand to help
+myself, no words can render an idea of my difficulties. A priest, with
+six or seven others, was examining a church in process of repair, and
+his acolytes [Footnote: Acolytes: assistants of the priest during mass.]
+laughed loudly as they saw my plight. I remembered having laughed myself
+when I had seen good men struggling with adversity in the person of a
+jackass, and the recollection filled me with penitence. That was in my
+old light days, before this trouble came upon me. God knows at least
+that I shall never laugh again, thought I. But O, what a cruel thing is
+a farce to those engaged in it!
+
+A little out of the village, Modestine, filled with the demon, set her
+heart upon a by-road, and positively refused to leave it. I dropped all
+my bundles, and, I am ashamed to say, struck the poor sinner twice
+across the face. It was pitiful to see her lift up her head with shut
+eyes, as if waiting for another blow. I came very near crying; but I did
+a wiser thing than that, and sat squarely down by the roadside to
+consider my situation. Modestine in the meanwhile, munched some black
+bread with a contrite hypocritical air. It was plain that I must make a
+sacrifice to the gods of shipwreck. I threw away the empty bottles
+destined to carry milk; I threw away my own white bread, and, disdaining
+to act by general average, kept the black bread for Modestine; lastly I
+threw away the cold leg of mutton and the egg whisk, although this last
+was dear to my heart.
+
+Thus I found room for everything in the basket, and even stowed the
+boating-coat on the top. By means of an end of cord I slung it under one
+arm; and although the cord cut my shoulder, and the jacket hung almost
+to the ground, it was with a heart greatly lightened that I set forth.
+
+--ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Would you judge that this was the writer's first experience
+in camping? Why? What is added to the story by attributing human
+qualities to Modestine? How did she seem to be always putting him in the
+wrong? Do people ever work such tricks? What characteristics of the
+author are shown in this sketch? Is the humor of the story one of
+situation merely? What other selections are similar to this in the style
+of writing? in the humor?]
+
+
+
+
+A NIGHT IN THE PINES
+
+
+The trees were not old, but they grew thickly round the glade: there was
+no outlook, except northeastward upon distant hill-tops, or straight
+upward to the sky; and the encampment felt secure and private like a
+room. By the time I had made my arrangements and fed Modestine, the day
+was already beginning to decline. I buckled myself to the knees into my
+sack and made a hearty meal; and as soon as the sun went down, I pulled
+my cap over my eyes and fell asleep.
+
+Night is a dead monotonous period under a roof; but in the open world it
+passes lightly, with its stars and dews and perfumes, and the hours are
+marked by changes in the face of Nature. What seems a kind of temporal
+death to people choked between walls and curtains, is only a light and
+living slumber to the man who sleeps afield. All night long he can hear
+Nature breathing deeply and freely; even as she takes her rest she turns
+and smiles; and there is one stirring hour unknown to those who dwell in
+houses, when a wakeful influence goes abroad over the sleeping
+hemisphere, and all the out-door world are on their feet. It is then
+that the cock first crows, not this time to announce the dawn, but like
+a cheerful watchman speeding the course of night. Cattle awake on the
+meadows; sheep break their fast on dewy hillsides, and change to a new
+lair among the ferns; and houseless men, who have lain down with the
+fowls, open their dim eyes and behold the beauty of the night.
+
+The stars were clear, colored, and jewel-like, but not frosty. A faint
+silvery vapor stood for the Milky Way. All around me the black
+fir-points stood upright and stock-still. By the whiteness of the
+pack-saddle, I could see Modestine walking round and round at the length
+of her tether; I could hear her steadily munching at the sward; but
+there was not another sound, save the indescribable quiet talk of the
+runnel over the stones. I lay lazily smoking and studying the color of
+the sky, as we call the void of space, where it showed a reddish gray
+behind the pines to where it showed a glossy blue-black between the
+stars. As if to be more like a pedler, I wear a silver ring. This I
+could see faintly shining as I raised or lowered the cigarette; and at
+each whiff the inside of my hand was illuminated, and became for a
+second the highest light in the landscape.
+
+A faint wind, more like a moving coolness than a stream of air, passed
+down the glade from time to time; so that even in my great chamber the
+air was being renewed all night long. I thought with horror of the inn
+at Chasserades and the congregated night caps; with horror of the
+nocturnal prowesses of clerks and students, of hot theatres, and
+passkeys and close rooms. I have not often enjoyed a more serene
+possession of myself, nor felt more independent of material aids. The
+outer world, from which we cower into our houses, seemed after all a
+gentle, habitable place; and night after night a man's bed, it seemed,
+was laid and waiting for him in the fields, where God keeps an open
+house.
+
+As I lay thus, between content and longing, a faint noise stole towards
+me through the pines. I thought, at first, it was the crowing of cocks
+or the barking of dogs at some very distant farm; but steadily and
+gradually it took articulate shape in my ears, until I became aware that
+a passenger was going by upon the high-road in the valley, and singing
+loudly as he went. There was more of good-will than grace in his
+performance; but he trolled with ample lungs; and the sound of his voice
+took hold upon the hillside and set the air shaking in the leafy glens.
+I have heard people passing by night in sleeping cities, some of them
+sang; one, I remember, played loudly on the bagpipes. I have heard the
+rattle of a cart or carriage spring up suddenly after hours of
+stillness, and pass for some minutes, within the range of my hearing as
+I lay abed. There is a romance about all who are abroad in the black
+hours, and with something of a thrill we try to guess their business.
+But here the romance was double; first this glad passenger, lit
+internally with wine, who sent up his voice in music through the night;
+and then I, on the other hand, buckled into my sack, and smoking alone
+in the pine-woods between four and five thousand feet towards the stars.
+
+--ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
+
+[Footnote: What use does the author make of contrast? What things does
+he notice? Did you ever sleep at night out of doors? If so, was the
+night empty of impressions or did you hear and see things? What
+characteristic things has Stevenson chosen to give you in the picture of
+camping out at night? What things do you suppose Stevenson most enjoyed
+in his life out of doors?]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK
+
+
+In those good old days of simplicity and sunshine, a passion for
+cleanliness was the leading principle in domestic economy, and the
+universal test of an able housewife.
+
+The front door was never opened, except for marriages, funerals, New
+Year's Day, the festival of St. Nicholas, or some such great occasion.
+It was ornamented with a gorgeous brass knocker, which was curiously
+wrought,--sometimes in the device of a dog, and sometimes in that of a
+lion's head,--and daily burnished with such religious zeal that it was
+often worn out by the very precautions taken for its preservation.
+
+The whole house was constantly in a state of inundation, [Footnote:
+Inundation: a flood.] under the discipline of mops and brooms and
+scrubbing brushes; and the good housewives of those days were a kind of
+amphibious [Footnote: Amphibious: able to live in water and on land.]
+animal, delighting exceedingly to be dabbling in water,--insomuch that
+an historian of the day gravely tells us that many of his townswomen
+grew to have webbed fingers, "like unto ducks."
+
+The grand parlor was the sanctum, where the passion for cleaning was
+indulged without control. No one was permitted to enter this sacred
+apartment, except the mistress and her confidential maid, who visited it
+once a week for the purpose of giving it a thorough cleaning. On these
+occasions they always took the precaution of leaving their shoes at the
+door, and entering devoutly [Footnote: Entering devoutly, etc. What
+Oriental custom is the author alluding to?] in their stocking feet.
+
+After scrubbing the floor, sprinkling it with fine white sand,--which
+was curiously stroked with a broom into angles and curves and
+rhomboids,--after washing the windows, rubbing and polishing the
+furniture, and putting a new branch of evergreens in the fireplace, the
+windows were again closed to keep out the flies, and the room was kept
+carefully locked, until the revolution of time brought round the weekly
+cleaning day.
+
+As to the family, they always entered in at the gate, and generally
+lived in the kitchen. To have seen a numerous household assembled round
+the fire, one would have imagined that he was transported to those happy
+days of primeval simplicity which float before our imaginations like
+golden visions.
+
+The fireplaces were of a truly patriarchal magnitude, where the whole
+family, old and young, master and servant, black and white,--nay, even
+the very cat and dog,--enjoyed a community of privilege, and had each a
+right to a corner. Here the old burgher would sit in perfect silence,
+puffing his pipe, looking in the fire with half-shut eyes, and thinking
+of nothing, for hours together; the good wife on the opposite side,
+would employ herself diligently in spinning yarn or knitting stockings.
+
+The young folks would crowd around the hearth, listening with breathless
+attention to some old crone of a negro, who was the oracle of the
+family, and who, perched like a raven in a corner of the chimney, would
+croak forth, for a long winter afternoon, a string of incredible stories
+about New England witches, grisly ghosts, and bloody encounters among
+Indians.
+
+In these happy days, fashionable parties were generally confined to the
+higher classes, or noblesse; that is to say, such as kept their own
+cows, and drove their own wagons. The company usually assembled at three
+o'clock, and went away about six, unless it was in winter time, when the
+fashionable hours were a little earlier, that the ladies might reach
+home before dark.
+
+The tea table was crowned with a huge earthen dish, well stored with
+slices of fat pork, fried brown, cut up into morsels, and swimming in
+gravy. The company seated round the genial board, evinced their
+dexterity in launching their forks at the fattest pieces in this mighty
+dish,--in much the same manner that sailors harpoon porpoises at sea,
+or our Indians spear salmon in the lakes.
+
+Sometimes the table was graced with immense apple pies, or saucers full
+of preserved peaches and pears; but it was always sure to boast an
+enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat and called
+doughnuts or olykocks, a delicious kind of cake, at present little known
+in this city, except in genuine Dutch families.
+
+The tea was served out of a majestic Delft teapot, ornamented with
+paintings of fat little Dutch shepherds and shepherdesses tending
+pigs,--with boats sailing in the air, and houses built in the clouds,
+and sundry other ingenious Dutch fancies. The beaux distinguished
+themselves by their adroitness in replenishing this pot from a huge
+copper teakettle. To sweeten the beverage, a lump of sugar was laid
+beside each cup, and the company alternately nibbled and sipped with
+great decorum; until an improvement was introduced by a shrewd and
+economic old lady, which was to suspend, by a string from the ceiling, a
+large lump directly over the tea table, so that it could be swung from
+mouth to mouth.
+
+At these primitive tea parties, the utmost propriety and dignity
+prevailed,--no flirting nor coquetting; no romping of young ladies; no
+self-satisfied struttings of wealthy gentlemen, with their brains in
+their pockets, nor amusing conceits and monkey divertisements [Footnote:
+Divertisements: diversions, amusements.] of smart young gentlemen, with
+no brains at all.
+
+On the contrary, the young ladies seated themselves demurely in their
+rush-bottomed chairs, and knit their own woolen stockings; nor ever
+opened their lips, excepting to say yah, Mynheer, or yah, Vroww,
+[Footnote: Yay, Mynheer: "yes, sir." Yay, Vrow: "yes, madam."] to any
+question that was asked them; behaving in all things like decent,
+well-educated damsels. As to the gentlemen, each of them tranquilly
+smoked his pipe, and seemed lost in contemplation of the blue and white
+tiles with which the fireplaces were decorated; wherein sundry passages
+of Scripture were piously portrayed. Tobit [Footnote: Tobit. The Book of
+Tobit is part of the Apocrypha.] and his dog figured to great advantage;
+Haman [Footnote: Haman is the king's counselor in the Book of Esther.]
+swung conspicuously on his gibbet; and Jonah appeared most manfully
+leaping from the whale's mouth, like Harlequin [Footnote: Harlequin: the
+clown in early Italian and later French comedy.] through a barrel of
+fire.
+
+The parties broke up without noise and without confusion. They were
+carried home by their own carriages, that is to say, by the vehicles
+nature had provided them, excepting such of the wealthy as could afford
+to keep a wagon.
+
+--WASHINGTON IRVING.
+
+[Footnote: Are there any parts of the country where the traditions of
+the "best parlor" are still kept? Does the early life in New York appear
+to you attractive or uninteresting? Does the description seem like
+ridicule? The descendants of the old Dutch families resented Irving's
+way of making fun of their ancestors. Point out passages which might
+justify this complaint. Compare this sketch with "A Pine Tree Shilling"
+in the style of writing, method of description, and humor.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BAZAAR IN MOROCCO
+
+
+How can I describe the swarming crowds of the bazaar, the constant,
+noiseless stir of all those bournouses [Footnote: Bournouses: cf. "An
+Arab Fisherman."] in the semi-darkness! The little labyrinthine avenues
+cross each other in every direction, covered with their ancient roofing
+of wood, or else with trellises of cane, over which grape-vines are
+trained. Fronting on these passages are the shops, something like holes
+in a wall as regards size, and in them the turbaned dealers sit
+squatted, stately and impassible, among their rare knick-knacks. Shops
+where the same kind of goods are sold are grouped in quarters by
+themselves. There is the street of the dealers in clothing, where the
+booths are bright with pink, blue, and orange silks, and with brocades
+of gold and silver, and where ladies, veiled and draped like phantoms,
+are posted. There is the street of the leather merchants, where
+thousands of sets of harness of every conceivable color, for horses,
+mules, and asses, are hanging from the walls; there are all sorts of
+objects of strange and ancient fashion for use in the chase or in war:
+powder-horns inlaid with gold and silver, embroidered belts for sword
+and musket, travelling bags for caravans and amulets [Footnote: Amulets:
+ornaments worn as a charm against evil.] to charm away the dangers of
+the desert. Then there is the street of the workers in brass, where from
+morning till night is heard the sound of hammers at work on the
+arabesques [Footnote: Arabesques: a kind of low-relief carving of man
+and animal figures fantastically interlaced.] of vases and plates; the
+street of the papooch embroiderers, where all the little dens are filled
+with velvet, pearls and gold; the street of the furniture decorators;
+that of the naked, grimy blacksmiths; that of the dyers, with purple or
+indigo-bedaubed arms, Finally, the quarter of the armorers, who make
+long flint-lock muskets, thin as cane-stalks, the silver inlaid butt of
+which is made excessively large so as to receive the shoulder. The
+Moroccans [Footnote: The Moroccans ... in this country. What similar
+statement was made in "An Arab Fisherman"?] never have the slightest
+idea of changing the form adopted by their ancestors, and the shape of
+their musket is as immutable as all things else are in this country; it
+seems like a dream to see them at this day making such quantities of
+these old-fashioned arms.
+
+A stifled hum of unceasing activity arises from the mass of people, clad
+in their gray woolen robes, thus congregated from afar to buy and sell
+all sorts of queer small objects. There are sorcerers performing their
+incantations; bands of armed men dancing the war-dance, with firing of
+guns, to the sound of the tambourines and the wailing pipes; beggars
+exposing their sores; negro slaves wheeling their loads; asses rolling
+in the dust. The ground, of the same grayish shade as the multitude upon
+it, is covered with all kinds of filth: animal refuse, chicken feathers,
+dead mice; and the crowd tread down the revolting mass under their
+trailing slippers.
+
+How far removed is all this life from ours! The activity of this people
+is as foreign to us as its stagnation and its slumberousness. An
+indifference which I cannot explain, a disregard of everything, to us
+quite unknown, characterized these burnous-clad folk even in their
+greatest stir and bustle. The cowled heads of the men and the veiled
+heads of the women are occupied by one unchanging dream, even in the
+midst of their bargaining; five times a day they offer up their prayer,
+and their thoughts turn, to the exclusion of all besides, upon eternity
+and death. You will see squalid beggars with the eyes of an inspired
+man; ragged fellows who have noble attitudes and faces of prophets.
+
+People of all the different tribes meet and mingle promiscuously among
+themselves. Negroes from the Soudan [Footnote: Soudan: the region south
+of the Sahara Desert.] and light-colored Arabs: Mussulmans [Footnote:
+Mussulmans: Mohammedans.] without conviction of the faith, whose women
+veil only their mouths; and the green-turbaned Derkaouas, merciless
+fanatics, who turn their heads and spit upon the ground at the sight of
+a Christian. Every day the "Holy woman," with wild eyes and
+vermilion-painted cheeks, is to be seen prophesying in some public
+place. And the "Holy man," too, who is incessantly walking like the
+wandering Jew, always in a hurry and all the while mumbling his prayers.
+
+What queer old jewelry finds a market in Mequinez! [Footnote: Mequinez
+(Mekinez): a city not far from Fez.] When could the things ever have
+been new?--There is not one which has not an air of extreme antiquity;
+old rings for wrists or ankles, worn smooth by centuries of rubbing
+against human flesh; great clasps for fastening veils; little old silver
+bottles with coral pendants to hold the black dye with which the eyes
+are painted, with hooks to fasten them at the belt; boxes to enclose
+Korans, [Footnote: Korans: the Koran is the sacred book of the
+Mohammedans.] carved in arabesques and bearing Solomon's seal; old
+necklaces of gold sequins, defaced by wear on the necks of women long
+since dead; and quantities of those large trefoils [Footnote: Trefoil: a
+shape similar to that of the clover leaf.] in hammered silver, enclosing
+a green stone, which are hung about the neck to avert the bad effect of
+the evil-eye. These things are all spread out on little dirty worm-eaten
+tables, in front of the squatting merchants, in the little dens in the
+old walls.
+
+The bazaar is very near the Jewish quarter, and several of that race,
+knowing us to be here, come and offer us trinkets, bracelets, quaint old
+rings and emerald earrings,--things which they take from the pockets of
+their black robes with furtive airs, after having cast distrustful looks
+around. We are also approached by the dealers in the fine woolen rugs
+and carpets of R'bat, which they throw upon the ground, among the dust,
+refuse, and bones, to show us the rare designs and splendid colors of
+their wares.
+
+The sun is getting low; it is time for us to end our bargaining, which
+has not been conducted without some wrangling, and to leave the sacred
+city which we are to behold no more, and betake ourselves to our tents.
+
+Before passing the last gate of the enclosure, we halt in a sort of
+small bazaar, of whose existence we were not previously aware. It is
+that of the bric-a-brac merchants, and the Lord only knows what queer
+oddities this kind of shop can display. Ancient arms constitute the
+principal stock in trade; rusty yataghans, long Souss muskets; then old
+leather amulets for war or for the chase; ridiculous powder-horns, and
+also musical instruments; guitars covered with snake-skin, pipes and
+tambourines. To keep the rubbish which they are selling in countenance,
+no doubt, the dealers are mostly all broken-down, worn-out, old men.
+
+Undoubtedly the people in this bazaar are very poor and have need to
+sell their goods, for they crowd around us and press us with their
+wares. We make several surprising bargains. As the sky grows yellow and
+the cold breeze of sunset springs up, we are still there, near the
+lonely gate, beneath the branches of the old trees.
+
+--PIERRE LOTI.
+
+[Footnote: Pierre Loti is the nom-de-plume of a well-known French
+writer. His real name is Louis Marie Julien Viaud, and he is an officer
+in the French army. His work is particularly celebrated for the
+vividness and brilliancy of his descriptions. He has described scenes in
+Africa, India, China, and on the ocean. One of his best books is "An
+Iceland Fisherman."]
+
+[Footnote: Select some of the best examples of minute detail in the
+descriptions. Note the use of color, form, and smell. How has the author
+contrasted the civilizations of East and West? Notice how the rapid
+enumeration of objects gives the effect of passing through the bazaar.
+Why would a painter find it easy to paint a picture from these written
+descriptions? What things are sold in the bazaar that show the Eastern
+skill in handicraft? that show superstition? What contrasts between
+beauty and sordidness are made in the descriptions?]
+
+
+
+
+A BATTLE OF THE ANTS
+
+
+One day when I went out to my wood-pile, or rather my pile of stumps, I
+observed two large ants, the one red, the other much larger, nearly half
+an inch long and black, fiercely contending with one another. Having
+once got hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestled and rolled
+on the chips incessantly. Looking farther, I was surprised to find that
+the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a
+"duellum," but a "bellum," [Footnote: Duellum ... bellum: war.] a war
+between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and
+frequently two red ones to one black. The legions of these Myrmidons
+[Footnote: Myrmidons: a fierce tribe that accompanied Achilles, their
+king, to the Trojan War.] covered all the hills and vales in my
+wood-yard, and the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying,
+both red and black. It was the only battle which I had ever witnessed,
+the only battle-field I ever trod while the battle was raging;
+internecine [Footnote: Internecine: mutually destructive.] war; the red
+republicans on the one hand and the black imperialists on the other
+hand. On every side they were engaged in deadly combat, yet without any
+noise that I could hear, and human soldiers never fought so resolutely.
+I watched a couple that were fast locked in each other's embraces, in a
+little sunny valley amid the chips; now at noon-day prepared to fight
+till the sun went down, or life went out. The smaller red champion had
+fastened himself like a vice to his adversary's front, and through all
+the tumblings on that field never for an instant ceased to gnaw at one
+of his feelers near the root, having already caused the other to go by
+the board; while the stronger black one dashed him from side to side,
+and, as I saw on looking nearer, had already divested him of several of
+his members. They fought with more pertinacity [Footnote: Pertinacity:
+persistency, obstinacy.] than bull-dogs. Neither manifested the least
+disposition to retreat. It was evident that their battle-cry was Conquer
+or die. In the meanwhile there came along a single red ant on the
+hillside of this valley, evidently full of excitement, who either had
+dispatched his foe, or had not yet taken part in the battle; probably
+the latter, for he had lost none of his limbs; whose mother had charged
+him to return with his shield or upon it. [Footnote: Return with his
+shield or upon it. What is the allusion? See Brewer's _Reader's
+Handbook_ under "Spartan Mother."] He drew near with rapid pace till
+he stood on his guard within half an inch of the combatants; then,
+watching his opportunity, he sprang upon the black warrior, and
+commenced his operations near the root of his right fore-leg, leaving
+the foe to select among his own members; and so there were three united
+for life, as if a new kind of attraction had been invented which put all
+other locks and cements to shame. I should not have wondered by this
+time to find that they had their respective musical bands stationed on
+some eminent chip, and playing their national airs the while, to excite
+the slow and cheer the dying combatants. I was myself excited somewhat
+even as if they had been men. The more you think of it, the less the
+difference.
+
+I took up the chip on which the three I have particularly described were
+struggling, carried it into my house, and placed it under a tumbler on
+my window-sill, in order to see the issue. Holding a microscope to the
+first-mentioned red ant, I saw that, though he was assiduously
+[Footnote: Assiduously: diligently, laboriously.] gnawing at the near
+foreleg of his enemy, having severed his remaining feeler, his own
+breast was all torn away, exposing what vitals he had there to the jaws
+of the black warrior, whose breast-plate was apparently too thick for
+him to pierce; and the dark carbuncles of the sufferer's eyes shone with
+ferocity such as war only could excite. They struggled half an hour
+longer under the tumbler, and when I looked again the black soldier had
+severed the heads of his foes from their bodies, and the still living
+heads were hanging on either side of him like ghastly trophies at his
+saddle-bow, still apparently as firmly fastened as ever, and he was
+endeavoring with feeble struggles, being without feelers and with only
+the remnant of a leg, and I know not how many other wounds, to divest
+himself of them; which at length, after half an hour more, he
+accomplished. I raised the glass, and he went off over the window-sill
+in that crippled state. Whether he finally survived that combat, and
+spent the remainder of his days in some Hotel des Invalides, [Footnote:
+Hotel des Invalides: an establishment founded in 1670 at Paris for
+disabled and infirm soldiers. It contains military trophies and
+paintings, and a remarkable collection of armor.] I do not know; but I
+thought that his industry would not be worth much thereafter. I never
+learned which party was victorious, nor the cause of the war; but I felt
+for the rest of that day as if I had had my feelings excited and
+harrowed by witnessing the struggle, the ferocity and carnage, of a
+human battle before my door.
+
+--HENRY THOREAU.
+
+[Footnote: What things in the account of the battle show that the writer
+is a trained observer? Does it add to the interest of the battle to
+attribute human qualities to the combatants? Why? What touches of humor
+do you find in the description? Does the author show a sympathetic
+attitude toward war? Illustrate. What do you know of Thoreau's life at
+Walden Pond?]
+
+
+
+
+AN AFRICAN PET
+
+
+Toward twelve o'clock, when we were crossing a kind of high table-land,
+we heard the cry of a young animal, which we all recognized to be a
+nshiego mbouve. [Footnote: Nshiego mbouve: a species of ape.] Then all
+my troubles at once went away out of mind, and I no longer felt either
+sick or hungry.
+
+We crawled through the bush as silently as possible, still hearing the
+baby-like cry. At last, coming out into a little cleared space, we saw
+something running along the ground toward where we stood concealed. When
+it came nearer, we saw it was a female nshiego running on all fours,
+with a young one clinging to her breasts. She was eagerly eating some
+berries, and with one arm supported her little one.
+
+Querlaouen, who had the fairest chance, fired, and brought her down. She
+dropped without a struggle. The poor little one cried, "Hew! hew! hew!"
+and clung to the dead body, burying its head there in its alarm at the
+report of the gun.
+
+We hurried up in great glee to secure our capture. I cannot tell my
+surprise when I saw that the nshiego baby's face was pure
+white--_very_ white indeed--pallid, but as white as a white
+child's.
+
+I looked at the mother, but found her black as soot in the face. The
+little one was about a foot in height. One of the men threw a cloth over
+its head and secured it till we could make it fast with a rope; for,
+though it was quite young, it could walk. The old one was of the
+bald-headed kind, of which I had secured the first known specimen some
+months before.
+
+I immediately ordered a return to the camp, which we reached toward
+evening. The little nshiego had been all this time separated from its
+dead mother, and now when it was put near her body, a most touching
+scene ensued. The little fellow ran instantly to her, but, touching her
+on the face and breast, saw evidently that some great change had
+happened. For a few minutes he caressed her, as though trying to coax
+her back to life. Then he seemed to lose all hope. His little eyes
+became very sad, and he broke out in a long, plaintive wail, "Ooee!
+ooee! ooee!" which made my heart ache for him. He looked quite forlorn,
+and as though he really felt his forsaken lot. The whole camp was
+touched at his sorrows, and the women were especially moved.
+
+All this time I stood wonderingly staring at the white face of the
+creature. It was really marvelous, and quite incomprehensible; and a
+more strange and weird-looking animal I never saw.
+
+While I stood there, up came two of my hunters and began to laugh at me.
+"Look, Chelly," said they, calling me by the name I was known by among
+them; "look at your friend. Every time we kill gorilla, you tell us look
+at your black friend. Now, you see, look at your white friend." Then
+came a roar at what they thought a tremendous joke.
+
+"Look! he got straight hair, all same as you. See white face of your
+cousin from the bush! He is nearer to you than gorilla is to us!" And
+another roar.
+
+"Gorilla no got woolly hair like we. This one straight hair, like you."
+"Yes," said I, "but when he gets old his face is black; and do you not
+see his nose, how flat it is, like yours?"
+
+Whereat there was a louder laugh than before; for so long as he can
+laugh, the negro cares little against whom the joke goes. I may as well
+add here some particulars of the little fellow who excited all this
+surprise and merriment. He lived five months, and became as tame and
+docile as a cat. I called him Tommy, to which name he soon began to
+answer.
+
+In three days after his capture he was quite tame. He then ate crackers
+out of my hand; ate boiled rice and roasted plantains; [Footnote:
+Plantain: a fruit which closely resembles the banana.] and drank milk of
+a goat. Two weeks after his capture he was perfectly tamed, and no
+longer required to be tied up. He ran about the camp, and, when he went
+back to Obindij's town, found his way about the village and into the
+huts just as though he had been raised there.
+
+He had a great affection for me, and used constantly to follow me about.
+When I sat down, he was not content till he had climbed upon me and hid
+his head in my breast. He was extremely fond of being petted and
+fondled, and would sit by the hour while any one stroked his head or
+back.
+
+He soon began to be a very great thief. When the people left their huts
+he would steal in and make off with their plantains or fish. He watched
+very carefully till all had left the house, and it was difficult to
+catch him in the act. I flogged him several times, and, indeed, brought
+him to the conviction that it was wrong to steal; but he could never
+resist the temptation.
+
+From me he stole constantly. He soon found out that my hut was better
+furnished with ripe bananas and other fruit than any other; and also he
+discovered that the best time to steal from me was when I was asleep in
+the morning. At that time he used to crawl in on his tiptoes, move slyly
+toward my bed, look at my closed eyes, and, if he saw no movement, with
+an air of great relief go up and pluck several plantains. If I stirred
+in the least he was off like a flash, and would presently reenter for
+another inspection. If my eyes were open when he came in on such a
+predatory [Footnote: Predatory: plundering.] trip, he at once came up to
+me with an honest face, and climbed on and caressed me. But I could
+easily detect an occasional wishful glance toward the bunch of
+plantains.
+
+My hut had no door, but was closed with a mat, and it was very funny to
+see Tommy gently raising one corner of this mat to see if I was asleep.
+Sometimes I counterfeited sleep, and then stirred just as he was in the
+act of taking off his prize. Then he would drop everything, and make off
+in the utmost consternation.
+
+He kept the run of mealtimes, and was present at as many meals as
+possible; that is, he would go from my breakfast to half a dozen others,
+and beg something at each. But he never missed my breakfast and dinner,
+knowing by experience that he fared best there. I had a kind of rude
+table made, on which my meals were served in the open part of my house.
+This was too high for Tommy to see the dishes; so he used to come in
+before I sat down, when all was ready, and climb up on the pole which
+supported the roof. From here he attentively surveyed every dish on the
+table, and having determined what to have, he would descend and sit down
+at my side.
+
+If I did not immediately pay attention to him, he began to howl, "Hew!
+hew! hew!" louder and louder, till, for peace's sake, his wants were
+satisfied. Of course, I could not tell what he had chosen for dinner of
+my different dishes, and would offer him first one, then another, till
+the right one came. If he received what he did not want, he threw it
+down on the ground with a little shriek of anger and a stamp of his
+foot; and this was repeated till he was served to his liking. In short,
+he behaved very much like a badly spoiled child.
+
+If I pleased him quickly, he thanked me by a kind of gentle murmur, like
+"hooboo," and would hold out his hand to shake mine. He was very fond of
+boiled meat,--particularly boiled fish,--and was constantly picking
+bones he picked up about the town. He wanted always to taste of my
+coffee, and, when Makondai brought it, would beg of me, in the most
+serious manner, for some.
+
+I made him a little pillow to sleep on, and this he was very fond of.
+When he was once accustomed to it he never parted from it more, but
+dragged it after him wherever he went. If by any chance it was lost, the
+whole camp knew it by his howls; and sometimes I had to send people to
+look for it when he had mislaid it on some forest excursion, so that he
+would stop his noise. He slept on it always, coiled up into a little
+heap, and only relinquished it when I gave him permission to accompany
+me into the woods.
+
+As he became more and more used to our ways, he became more impatient of
+contradiction and more fond of being caressed; and whenever he was
+thwarted he howled in his disagreeable way. As the dry season came on,
+it became colder, and Tommy began to wish for company when he slept, to
+keep him warm. The negroes would not have him for a companion, for he
+was for them too much like one of themselves. I would not give him room
+near me. So poor Tommy was reduced to misery, as he seemed to think. But
+soon I found that he waited till everybody was fast asleep at night, and
+then crawled in softly next some of his black friends, and slept there
+till earliest dawn. Then he would up and away undiscovered. Several
+times he was caught and beaten, but he always tried it again.
+
+He had a great deal of intelligence; and if I had had leisure I think I
+might have trained him to some kind of good behavior, though I despaired
+of his thieving disposition. He lived so long, and was growing so
+accustomed to civilized life, that I began to have great hopes of being
+able to carry him to America. But alas! poor Tommy. One morning he
+refused his food, seemed downcast, and was very anxious to be petted and
+held in the arms. I got all kinds of forest berries for him, but he
+refused all. He did not seem to suffer, but ate nothing; and the next
+day, without a struggle, died. Poor fellow! I was very sorry, for he had
+grown to be quite a pet companion for me; and even the negroes, though
+he had given them great trouble, were sorry at his death.
+
+--PAUL B. DU CHAILLU.
+
+[Footnote: Paul du Chaillu was born in Paris in 1835. At the age of
+sixteen he made some exploratory tours around his father's trading
+station in West Africa, and in 1855 he came to America, where he made
+his home. Later he undertook a botanic and zoologic exploration to
+Africa which lasted for four years.]
+
+[Footnote: What qualities of "Tommy" endeared him to his captors? Do you
+know whether the monkey family is capable of the training which the
+author hoped to give to his pet? Does the author succeed in making you
+like or dislike "Tommy"? What human qualities does "Tommy" show? Does
+this story seem to justify a belief in the origin of species? Could you
+infer anything about the writer's character from this sketch?]
+
+
+
+
+ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE
+
+
+The long-tailed cows of the Lama [Footnote: Lama: a priest or monk of
+Thibet and Mongolia who professes Lamaism, a kind of Buddhism.]
+herdsmen, they say, are so restive and difficult to milk, that, to keep
+them at all quiet, the herdsman has to give them a calf to lick
+meanwhile. But for this device not a single drop of milk could be
+obtained from them. One day a herdsman, who lived in the same house with
+ourselves, came, with a dismal face, to announce that the new-born calf
+of a favorite cow was dying. It died in the course of the day. The Lama
+forthwith skinned the poor beast and stuffed it with hay. This
+proceeding surprised us at first, for the Lama had by no means the air
+of a man likely to give himself the luxury of a cabinet of natural
+history. When the operation was completed we found that the hay-calf had
+neither feet nor head; whereupon it occurred to us that, after all,
+perhaps it was a pillow that the Lama contemplated. We were in error;
+but the error was not dissipated till the next morning, when our
+herdsman went to milk his cow. Seeing him issue forth, the pail in one
+hand and the hay-calf under the other arm, the fancy occurred to us to
+follow him. His first proceeding was to put the hay-calf down before the
+cow; he then turned to milk the cow herself. The mother cow at first
+opened enormous eyes at her beloved infant; by degrees she stooped her
+head towards it, then smelt it, sneezed three or four times, and at last
+began to lick it with the most delightful tenderness.
+
+This spectacle grated against our sensibilities; it seemed to us that he
+who first invented this parody [Footnote: Parody: a burlesque or
+mimicking of something, usually written.] upon one of the most touching
+incidents in nature must have been a man without a heart. A somewhat
+burlesque circumstance occurred one day to modify the indignation with
+which this treachery inspired us. By dint of caressing and licking her
+little calf, the tender parent one fine morning unripped it; the hay
+issued from within, and the cow, manifesting not the slightest surprise
+or agitation, proceeded tranquilly to devour the unexpected provender.
+[Footnote: Provender: food, provisions.]
+
+Poor, simple-minded old cow! But let us laugh at her in the right place.
+That she should fail to distinguish between the dead bundle and her
+living offspring is surprising. But being deceived, why should she think
+it odd to find hay inside? Ignorant of anatomy and physiology, she knows
+nothing about insides. Had she considered the matter--and it doesn't
+fall in the line of bovine rumination [Footnote: Bovine rumination:
+chewing a cud.]--she would doubtless have expected to find in her calf
+not hay but condensed milk. But if not milk, why not hay? She was well
+acquainted with the process of putting hay inside, why therefore should
+she be surprised to find hay inside? But of course she had never
+bothered her dear sleepy old head about any matter of the sort. And the
+moral is that we must not expect to find in animals that kind of
+intelligence which has no bearing whatever upon the life that they lead.
+
+       *        *        *        *        *
+
+In Scandinavia, as elsewhere, the bear is sometimes domesticated, and if
+taken young becomes quite tame, and is gentle in its disposition. It is
+not well, however, to annoy even a well-disposed bear; for Bruin, like
+the rest of us, resents practical jokes of too unpleasant a nature. A
+Swedish peasant had one who used to stand on the back of his sledge when
+he was on a journey, and the beast had so good a balance that it was
+next to impossible to upset him. One day, however, the peasant amused
+himself with driving over the very worst ground he could find with the
+intention, if possible, of throwing the bear off his balance. In this he
+succeeded, but not in the manner he expected. The bear retained his
+balance of body, but lost his balance of mind, becoming so irritated
+that he fetched his master, who was in front of him, a tremendous thump
+on the shoulder, which frightened the man so much that he had poor Bruin
+killed immediately.
+
+An American writer gives another instance of ursine [Footnote: Ursine:
+pertaining to a bear.] irritability. A friend of his would persist in
+practising the flute near his tame black bear. Bruin bore this in
+silence for a while, went so far indeed as himself to try and play the
+flute on his favorite stick; but at last he could stand it no longer,
+and one morning knocked the flutist's tall hat over his eyes. If any act
+of retribution is justifiable this was. To practise the flute anywhere
+within earshot is annoying; to do so in a tall hat would be simply
+exasperating.
+
+It would be easy to fill a small volume with anecdotes of captive bears.
+They would show that Bruin is not so stupid as he is sometimes painted,
+even if they did not altogether justify the Swedish saying that the bear
+unites the wit of one man with the strength of ten. Frank Buckland's
+bear, Tiglath Pileser, was cute enough to know where to find the sweet
+stuff, of which he, in common with his race, was so inordinately fond;
+for one day when he had broken his chains he was found in a small
+grocer's shop seated on the counter, and helping himself with liberal
+paw to brown sugar and lollipops, to the no small discomfort of the good
+woman who kept the shop. A black bear in America had a weakness for
+chickens. His master noticed the thinning of the poultry yard, and
+suspicion fell on Bruin owing to the feathers which lay round his pole.
+They could not catch him in the act however. He was too sharp for that,
+and if disturbed, when he had but half demolished [Footnote: Demolished:
+destroyed.] a pullet he would hastily sit on the remainder and look as
+innocent as could be. He was discovered at last, however, by the
+cackling of a tough old hen which he had failed to silence.
+
+--LLOYD MORGAN (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Do the incidents related seem real or exaggerated? Has the
+author used the element of surprise effectively? Illustrate. Would you
+judge that the writer was a scientist? Why?]
+
+
+
+
+BUCK'S TRIAL OF STRENGTH
+
+
+John Thornton, owner of the dog, Buck, had said that Buck could draw a
+sled loaded with one thousand pounds of flour. Another miner bet sixteen
+hundred dollars that he couldn't, and Thornton, though fearing it would
+be too much for Buck, was ashamed to refuse; so he let Buck try to draw
+a load that Matthewson's team of ten dogs had been hauling.
+
+The team of ten dogs was unhitched, and Buck, with his own harness, was
+put into the sled. He had felt the general excitement, and he felt that
+in some way he must do a great thing for John Thornton. Murmurs of
+admiration at his splendid appearance went up. He was in perfect
+condition, without an ounce of superfluous [Footnote: Superfluous:
+unnecessary.] flesh, and the one hundred and fifty pounds that he
+weighed were so many pounds of grit and virility. His furry coat shone
+with the sheen of silk. Down the neck and across the shoulders, his
+mane, in repose as it was, half bristled and seemed to lift with every
+movement, as though excess of vigor made each particular hair alive and
+active. The great breast and heavy forelegs were no more than in
+proportion with the rest of the body, where the muscles showed in tight
+rolls underneath the skin. Men felt these muscles and proclaimed them
+hard as iron, and the odds went down two to one.
+
+"Sir, sir," stuttered a member of the latest dynasty, [Footnote:
+Dynasty: race or succession of kings.] a king of the Skookum Benches. "I
+offer you eight hundred for him, sir, before the test, sir; eight
+hundred just as he stands."
+
+Thornton shook his head and stepped to Buck's side.
+
+"You must stand off from him," Matthewson protested. "Free play and
+plenty of room."
+
+The crowd fell silent; only could be heard the voices of the gamblers
+vainly offering two to one. Everybody acknowledged Buck a magnificent
+animal, but twenty fifty-pound sacks of flour bulked too large in their
+eyes for them to loosen their pouch-strings.
+
+Thornton knelt down by Buck's side. He took his head into his two hands
+and rested cheek on cheek. He did not playfully shake him, as he was
+wont, or murmur soft love curses; but he whispered in his ear. "As you
+love me, Buck. As you love me," [Footnote: As you love me, Buck. Compare
+this incident with the words whispered to his horse by the rider in
+Browning's "Ghent to Aix."] was what he whispered. Buck whined with
+suppressed eagerness.
+
+The crowd was watching curiously. The affair was growing mysterious. It
+seemed like a conjuration. [Footnote: Conjuration: an invoking of
+supernatural aid.] As Thornton got to his feet, Buck seized his mittened
+hand between his jaws, pressing in with his teeth and releasing slowly,
+half-reluctantly. It was the answer, in terms, not of speech, but of
+love. Thornton stepped well back.
+
+"Now, Buck," he said.
+
+Buck tightened the traces, then slacked them for a matter of several
+inches. It was the way he had learned.
+
+"Gee!" Thornton's voice rang out, sharp in the tense silence.
+
+Buck swung to the right, ending the movement in a plunge that took up
+the slack, and, with a sudden jerk, arrested his one hundred and fifty
+pounds. The load quivered, and from under the runners arose a crisp
+crackling.
+
+"Haw!" Thornton commanded.
+
+Buck duplicated the maneuver, [Footnote: Maneuver: dexterous movement.]
+this time to the left. The crackling turned into a snapping, the sled
+pivoting and the runners slipping and grating several inches to the
+side.
+
+The sled was broken out. Men were holding their breaths, intensely
+unconscious of the fact. "Now, Mush!"
+
+Thornton's command cracked out like a pistol shot. Buck threw himself
+forward, tightening the traces with a jarring lunge. His whole body was
+gathered tightly together in a tremendous effort, the muscles writhing
+and knotting like live things under the silky fur. His great chest was
+low to the ground, his head forward and down, while his feet were flying
+like mad, the claws scarring the hard-packed snow in grooves. The sled
+swayed and trembled, half-started forward. One of his feet slipped, and
+one man groaned aloud. Then the sled lurched ahead in what appeared a
+rapid succession of jerks, though it really never came to a dead stop
+again--half an inch--an inch--two inches. The jerks became less as the
+sled gained momentum, he caught them up, till it was moving steadily
+along.
+
+Men gasped and began to breathe again, unaware that for a moment they
+had ceased to breathe. Thornton was running behind, encouraging Buck
+with short, cheery words. The distance had been measured off, and as he
+neared the pile of firewood which marked the end of the hundred yards, a
+cheer began to grow and grow, which burst into a roar as he passed the
+firewood and halted at command. Every man was tearing himself loose,
+even Matthewson, who had lost his wager. Hats and mittens were flying in
+the air. Men were shaking hands, it did not matter with whom, and
+bubbling over in a general incoherent babel. But Thornton fell on his
+knees beside Buck. Head was against head, and he was shaking him back
+and forth.
+
+"I'll give you a thousand for him, sir, a thousand," sputtered the
+Skookum Bench king, "twelve hundred, sir."
+
+Thornton rose to his feet. His eyes were wet. The tears were streaming
+frankly down his cheeks. "Sir," he said to the Skookum Bench king, "no,
+sir. You can hold your tongue, sir. It's the best I can do for you,
+sir."
+
+Buck seized Thornton's hand in his teeth. Thornton shook him back and
+forth. As though moved by a common feeling, the onlookers drew back to a
+respectful distance; nor did they again interrupt.
+
+--JACK LONDON.
+
+[Footnote: Notice the simple direct style of writing. Why does the
+writer dwell on the physical fitness of Buck? Does the understanding
+between Buck and his master seem unusual? What glimpses of the character
+of the miners does the story give you? Show how the element of suspense
+adds to the dramatic force of the story. What is the most interesting
+point in the narrative?]
+
+
+
+
+ON THE SOLANDER WHALING GROUND
+
+
+A bright sunny morning; the gentle north-easterly breeze just keeping
+the sails full as the lumbering whaling-barque "Splendid" dips jerkily
+to the old southerly swell. Astern, the blue hills around Preservation
+Inlet [Footnote: Preservation Inlet ... Solander (island) ... Foveaux
+(strait) ... Stewart Island: places situated on or near the southern end of
+New Zealand.] lie shimmering in the soft spring sunlight, and on the
+port beam the mighty pillar of the Solander Rock, lying off the
+south-western extremity of the New Zealand, is sharply outlined against
+the steel-blue sky. Far beyond that stern sentinel, the converging
+shores of Foveaux Strait are just discernible in dim outline through a
+low haze. Ahead the jagged and formidable rocks of Stewart Island,
+bathed in a mellow golden glow, give no hint of their terrible
+appearance what time the Storm-fiend of the south-west cries havoc and
+urges on his chariot of war.
+
+The keen-eyed Kanaka [Footnote: Kanaka: a native of the Sandwich
+Islands.] in the fore crow's nest [Footnote: Crow's nest: a perch near
+the top of the mast to shelter the man on the lookout.] shades his eyes
+with his hand, peering earnestly out on the weather bow at something
+which has attracted his attention. A tiny plume of vapor rises from the
+blue hollows about ten miles away, but so faint and indefinable that it
+may be only a breaking wavelet's crest caught by the cross wind. Again
+that little bushy jet breaks the monotony of the sea; but this time
+there is no mistaking it. Emerging diagonally from the water, not high
+and thin, but low and spreading, it is an infallible indication to those
+piercing eyes of the presence of a sperm-whale. The watcher utters a
+long, low musical cry, "Blo-o-o-o-w," which penetrates the gloomy
+recesses of the fo'ksle [Footnote: Fo'ksle: the forward part of the
+vessel, under the deck, where the sailors live.] and cuddy, [Footnote:
+Cuddy: small cabin.] where the slumberers immediately engage in fierce
+conflict with whales of a size never seen by waking eyes. The officer
+and white seamen at the main now take up the cry, and in a few seconds
+all hands are swiftly yet silently preparing to leave the ship. She is
+put about, making a course which shortly brings her a mile or two to
+windward of the slowly-moving cachalot. Now it is evident that no
+solitary whale is in sight, but a great school, gambolling in the bright
+spray. One occasionally, in pure exuberance of its tremendous vitality,
+springs twenty feet into the clear air, and falls, a hundred tons of
+massive flesh, with earthquake-like commotion, back into the sea.
+
+Having got the weather-gage, the boats are lowered; sail is immediately
+set, and, like swift huge-winged birds, they swoop down upon the prey.
+Driving right upon the back of the nearest monster, two harpoons are
+plunged into his body up to the "hitches." [Footnote: Hitches: a knot or
+noose that can be readily undone.] The sheet [Footnote: Sheet: the rope
+that regulates the angle of the sail.] is at once hauled aft, [Footnote:
+Hauled aft: hauled toward the stern of the ship.] and the boat flies up
+into the wind; while the terrified cetacean [Footnote: Cetacean: marine
+mammal.] vainly tries, by tremendous writhing and plunging, to rid
+himself of the barbed weapon. The mast is unshipped, and preparation
+made to deliver the coup de grace. [Footnote: Coup de grace: the
+decisive, finishing stroke.] But finding his efforts futile, the whale
+has sounded, and his reappearance must be awaited. Two boats' lines are
+taken out before the slackening comes, and he slowly rises again. Faster
+and faster the line comes in; the blue depths turn a creamy white, and
+it is "Stern all" for dear life. Up he comes, with jaws gaping twenty
+feet wide, gleaming teeth and livid, cavernous throat glittering in the
+brilliant light. But the boat's crew are seasoned hands, to whom this
+dread sight is familiar, and orders are quietly obeyed, the boat
+backing, circling and darting ahead like a sentient thing under their
+united efforts. So the infuriated mammal is baffled and dodged, while
+thrust after thrust of the long lances are got home, and streamlets of
+blood trickling over the edges of his spouthole give warning that the
+end is near. A few wild circlings at tremendous speed, jaws clashing and
+blood foaming in torrents from the spiracle, [Footnote: Spiracle: the
+nostril of a whale.] one mighty leap into the air, and the ocean monarch
+is dead. He lies just awash, gently undulated by the long, low swell,
+one pectoral fin slowly waving like some great stray leaf of _Fucus
+gigantea_. [Footnote: Fucus gigantea: fucus is a kind of tough
+seaweed.] A hole is cut through the fluke and the line secured to it.
+The ship, which has been working to windward during the conflict, runs
+down and receives the line; and in a short time the great inert mass is
+hauled alongside and secured by the fluke [Footnote: Fluke: one of the
+lobes of a whale's tail.] chain.
+
+The vessel, bound to that immense body, can only crawl tortoise-like
+before the wind--lucky, indeed, to have a harbor ahead where the whale
+may be cut in, even though it be forty miles away. Without that refuge
+available, she could not hope to keep the sea and hold her prize through
+the wild weather, now so near. The breeze is freshening fast, and all
+sail is made for Port William. So slow is the progress, that it is past
+midnight before that snug shelter is reached, although for the last four
+hours the old ship is terribly tried and strained by the press of sail
+carried to such a gale.
+
+--FRANK BULLEN.
+
+[Footnote: Show how the rapid action in the narrative makes it more
+dramatic. Why does the danger of the enterprise take so small a part in
+the narrative? Can you characterize this kind of description?]
+
+
+
+
+AN EPISODE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
+
+
+With a wild rattle and clatter, and an inhuman abandonment of
+consideration not easy to be understood in these days, the carriage
+dashed through streets and swept round corners, with women screaming
+before it, and men clutching each other and clutching children out of
+its way. At last, swooping at a street corner by a fountain, one of its
+wheels came to a sickening little jolt, and there was a loud cry from a
+number of voices, and the horses reared and plunged.
+
+But for the latter inconvenience, the carriage probably would not have
+stopped; carriages were often known to drive on, and leave their wounded
+behind, and why not? But the frightened valet had got down in a hurry,
+and there were twenty hands at the horses' bridles.
+
+"What has gone wrong?" said Monsieur, calmly looking out.
+
+A tall man in a nightcap had caught up a bundle from among the feet of
+horses, and had laid it on the basement of the fountain, and was down in
+the mud and wet, howling over it like a wild animal.
+
+"Pardon, Monsieur the Marquis!" said a ragged and submissive man, "it is
+a child."
+
+"Why does he make that abominable noise? Is it his child?"
+
+"Excuse me, Monsieur the Marquis--it is a pity--yes."
+
+The fountain was a little removed; for the street opened, where it was,
+into a space some ten or twelve yards square. As the tall man suddenly
+got up from the ground, and came running at the carriage, Monsieur the
+Marquis clapped his hand for an instant on his sword hilt.
+
+"Killed!" shrieked the man, in wild desperation, extending both arms at
+their length above his head, and staring at him. "Dead!"
+
+The people closed round, and looked at Monsieur the Marquis. There was
+nothing revealed by the many eyes that looked at him but watchfulness
+and eagerness; there was no visible menacing or anger. Neither did the
+people say anything; after the first cry, they had been silent, and they
+remained so. The voice of the submissive man who had spoken, was flat
+and tame in its extreme submission. Monsieur the Marquis ran his eyes
+over them all, as if they had been mere rats come out of their holes.
+
+He took out his purse.
+
+"It is extraordinary to me," said he, "that you people cannot take care
+of yourselves and your children. One or the other of you is for ever in
+the way. How do I know what injury you have done my horses. See! Give
+him that."
+
+He threw out a gold coin for the valet to pick up, and all the heads
+craned forward that all the eyes might look down at it as it fell. The
+tall man called out again with a most unearthly cry. "Dead!"
+
+He was arrested by the quick arrival of another man, for whom the rest
+made way. On seeing him, the miserable creature fell upon his shoulder,
+sobbing and crying, and pointing to the fountain, where some women were
+stooping over the motionless bundle, and moving gently about it. They
+were as silent, however, as the men.
+
+"I know all, I know all," said the last comer. "Be a brave man, my
+Gaspard! It is better for the poor little plaything to die so, than to
+live. It has died in a moment without pain. Could it have lived an hour
+as happily?"
+
+"You are a philosopher, you there," said the Marquis, smiling. "How do
+they call you?"
+
+"They call me Defarge."
+
+"Of what trade?"
+
+"Monsieur the Marquis, vendor [Footnote: Vendor: seller.] of wine."
+
+"Pick up that, philosopher and vendor of wine," said the Marquis,
+throwing him another gold coin, "and spend it as you will. The horses
+there; are they right?"
+
+Without deigning to look at the assemblage a second time, Monsieur the
+Marquis leaned back in his seat, and was just being driven away with the
+air of a gentleman who had accidentally broke some common thing, and had
+paid for it, and could afford to pay for it; when his case was suddenly
+disturbed by a coin flying into his carriage, and ringing on its floor.
+
+"Hold!" said Monsieur the Marquis. "Hold the horses! Who threw that?"
+
+He looked to the spot where Defarge the vendor of wine had stood a
+moment before; but the wretched father was grovelling on his face on the
+pavement in that spot, and the figure that stood beside him was the
+figure of a dark stout woman, knitting.
+
+"You dogs!" said the Marquis, but smoothly, and with an unchanged front,
+except as to the spots on his nose; "I would ride over any of you very
+willingly, and exterminate you from the earth. If I knew which rascal
+threw at the carriage, and if that brigand were sufficiently near it, he
+should be crushed under the wheels."
+
+So cowed was their condition, and so long and hard their experience of
+what such a man could do to them, within the law and beyond it, that not
+a voice or a hand, or even an eye was raised. Among the men, not one.
+But the woman who stood knitting looked up steadily, and looked the
+Marquis in the face. It was not for his dignity to notice it; his
+contemptuous eyes passed over her, and over all the other rats; and he
+leaned back in his seat again, and gave the word "Go on!"
+
+--CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+[Footnote: What things are contrasted in the story? Does the incident
+seem probable from what you know of the period? Can you give any
+instances from history or fiction to show the attitude of the French
+aristocracy before the Revolution? Do you know what happened to the
+Marquis in the "Tale of Two Cities"? Compare the condition of the people
+in this episode with those in a "Leaf in the Storm."]
+
+
+
+
+THE COMMANDER OF THE FAITHFUL
+
+
+These events are succeeded by a few moments of silent waiting. Then
+suddenly the long lines of soldiers vibrate under a thrill of religious
+awe; the band, with its great basses and its drums, strikes up a
+deafening, mournful air. The fifty little black slaves run, run as if
+their lives were at stake, deploying [Footnote: Deploying: unfolding,
+opening out.] from their base like the sticks of a fan, resembling bees
+swarming, or a flock of birds. And yonder, in the shadowy light of the
+ogive, [Footnote: Ogive: the arch which crosses a Gothic vault
+diagonally.] upon which all eyes are turned, there appears a tall,
+brown-faced mannikin, all veiled in white muslin, mounted on a splendid
+white horse led in hand by four slaves; over his head is held an
+umbrella of antique form, such an one as must have protected the Queen
+of Sheba, [Footnote: Queen of Sheba: the queen who came to test the
+wisdom of Solomon.] and two gigantic negroes, one in pink, the other in
+blue, wave fly-flaps around the person of the sovereign.
+
+While the strange mannikin, or mummy, almost shapeless, but majestic
+notwithstanding in his robes of snowy white, is advancing towards us,
+the music, as if exasperated to madness, wails louder and louder and in
+a shriller key; it strikes up a slow and distressful religious air, the
+time of which is accentuated by a frightful beating of the bass-drums.
+The mannikin's horse rears wildly, restrained with difficulty by the
+four black slaves, and this music, so mournful and so strange to us,
+affects our nerves with an indescribable agonizing sensation.
+
+Here, at last, drawn up close beside us, stands this last authentic
+descendant of Mahomet, crossed with Nubian blood. His attire, of the
+finest mousseline-de-laine, is of immaculate whiteness. His charger,
+too, is entirely white, his great stirrups are of gold, and his saddle
+and equipments are of a very pale green silk, lightly embroidered in a
+still paler shade of green. The slaves who hold his horse, the one who
+carries the great red umbrella, and the two--the pink and blue ones--who
+shake napkins in the monarch's face to drive away imaginary flies, are
+all herculean negroes whose countenances are wrinkled into fierce
+smiles; they are all old men, and their gray or white beards contrast
+with the blackness of their features. This ceremonial of a bygone age
+harmonizes with the wailing music, and could not suit better the huge
+walls around us, which rear their crumbling summits high in the air.
+
+This man, who thus presents himself before us with the surroundings
+which I have described, is the last faithful exponent of a religion, a
+civilization that is about to die. He is the personification, in fact,
+of ancient Islam. [Footnote: Islam: the religion of the Mohammedans.]
+What result can we expect to obtain from an embassy to such a man, who,
+together with his people, spends his life torpid and motionless among
+ancient dreams of humanity that have almost disappeared from the surface
+of the earth? There is not a single point on which we can understand
+each other; the distance between us is nearly that which would separate
+us from a caliph [Footnote: Caliph: the head of the Moslem state and
+defender of the faith.] of Cordova [Footnote: Cordova: a city of Spain.
+It is famous for its manufactures of leather and silverware. It contains
+many Moorish antiquities, and is celebrated for its cathedral--once a
+mosque.] or Bagdad [Footnote: Bagdad: a city of Mesopotamia on the
+Tigris. It was formerly a city of great importance, and was a celebrated
+centre of Arabic learning and civilization.] who should come to life
+again after a slumber of a thousand years. What do we wish to obtain
+from him, and why have we brought him forth from his impenetrable
+palace?
+
+His brown, parchment-like face in its setting of white muslin, has
+regular and noble features; dull, expressionless eyes, the whites of
+which appear beneath the balls that are half concealed by the drooping
+lashes; his expression is that of exceeding melancholy, a supreme
+lassitude, a supreme ennui. He has an appearance of benignity, and is
+really kindhearted, according to what they say who know him. (If the
+people of Fez [Footnote: Fez: a city in northern Morocco.] are to be
+believed, he is even too much so--he does not chop off as many heads as
+he ought to for the holy cause of Islam.) But this kindheartedness, no
+doubt, is relative in degree, as was often the case with ourselves in
+the middle ages; a mildness which is not over-sensitive in the face of
+shedding blood when there is a necessity for it, nor in face of an array
+of human heads set up in a row over the fine gateway at the entrance to
+the palace. Assuredly he is not cruel; he could not be so with that
+gentle, sad expression. He punishes with severity sometimes, as his
+divine authority gives him the right to do, but it is said that he finds
+a still keener pleasure in pardoning. He is a priest and a warrior, and
+carries each of these characters perhaps to excess; feeling as deeply as
+a prophet the responsibility of his heavenly mission, chaste in the
+midst of his seraglio, [Footnote: Seraglio: a harem.] strict in his
+attention to onerous [Footnote: Onerous: burdensome.] religious
+observances, and hereditarily very much of a fanatic--he aims to form
+himself upon Mahomet [Footnote: Mahomet (Mohammed): the founder of
+Mohammedanism. Born about 570 in Mecca(?) and died in 632.] as perfectly
+as may be: all this, moreover, is legible in his eyes, upon his fine
+countenance, in the upright majesty of his bearing. He is a man whom we
+can neither understand nor judge in the times we live in, but he is
+surely a great man, a man of mark.
+
+--PIERKE LOTI (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What things in the description would tell you that the scene
+was Oriental? What observations does the author make on the difference
+between East and West? As a spectator, what things would you find most
+interesting in the scene? Do you know why the author calls the Sultan's
+palace impenetrable? Why does the author think that his interview with
+the Sultan may be useless?]
+
+
+
+
+WALT WHITMAN
+
+
+I first heard of him among the sufferers on the Peninsula [Footnote:
+Peninsula: that part of Virginia between the York and James rivers.]
+after a battle there. Subsequently I saw him, time and again, in the
+Washington hospitals, or wending his way there, with basket or haversack
+[Footnote: Haversack: a bag in which a soldier carried his rations when
+on a march.] on his arm, and the strength of beneficence suffusing his
+face. His devotion surpassed the devotion of woman. It would take a
+volume to tell of his kindness, tenderness, and thoughtfulness.
+
+Never shall I forget one night when I accompanied him on his rounds
+through a hospital filled with those wounded young Americans whose
+heroism he has sung in deathless numbers. There were three rows of cots,
+and each cot bore its man. When he appeared, in passing along, there was
+a smile of affection and welcome on every face, however wan, and his
+presence seemed to light up the place as it might be lighted by the
+presence of the God of Love. From cot to cot they called him, often in
+tremulous tones or in whispers; they embraced him; they touched his
+hand; they gazed at him. To one he gave a few words of cheer; for
+another he wrote a letter home; to others he gave an orange, a few
+comfits, [Footnote: Comfits: sweetmeats.] a cigar, a pipe and tobacco, a
+sheet of paper or a postage-stamp, all of which and many other things
+were in his capacious haversack. From another he would receive a dying
+message for mother, wife, or sweetheart; for another he would promise to
+go an errand; [Footnote: To go an errand. What is the usual form?] to
+another, some special friend very low, he would give a manly farewell
+kiss. He did things for them no nurse or doctor could do, and he seemed
+to leave a benediction [Footnote: Benediction: blessing.] at every cot
+as he passed along. The lights had gleamed for hours in the hospital
+that night before he left it, and, as he took his way towards the door,
+you could hear the voices of many a stricken hero calling, "Walt, Walt,
+Walt! come again! come again!"
+
+He carried among them no sentimentalism nor moralizing; spoke not to any
+man of his "sins," but gave something good to eat, a buoying [Footnote:
+Buoying: enlivening, cheering.] word, or trifling gift and a look. He
+appeared with ruddy face, clean dress, with a flower or a green sprig in
+the lapel of his coat. Crossing the fields in summer, he would gather a
+great bunch of dandelion blossoms, and red and while clover, to bring
+and scatter on the cots, as reminders of out-door air and sunshine.
+
+When practicable, he came to the long and crowded wards of the maimed,
+the feeble, and the dying, only after preparations as for a
+festival--strengthened by a good meal, rest, the bath and fresh
+under-clothes. He entered with a huge haversack slung over his shoulder
+full of appropriate articles, with parcels under his arms, and
+protuberant [Footnote: Protuberant: bulging.] pockets. He would
+sometimes come in summer with a good-sized basket filled with oranges,
+and would go round for hours paring and dividing them among the feverish
+and thirsty.
+
+Walt Whitman was of the people, the common people, and always gave out
+their quality and atmosphere. His commonness, his nearness, as of the
+things you have always known,--the day, the sky, the soil, your own
+parents,--were in no way veiled, or kept in abeyance, by his culture or
+poetic gifts. He was redolent of the human and the familiar. Though
+capable, on occasions, of great pride and hauteur, yet his habitual mood
+and presence was that of simple, average, healthful humanity,--the
+virtue and flavor of sailors, soldiers, laborers, travelers, or people
+who live with real things in the open air. His commonness rose into the
+uncommon, the extraordinary, but without any hint of the exclusive or
+specially favored. He was indeed "no sentimentalist, no stander above
+men and women or apart from them."
+
+The spirit that animates every page of his book, and that it always
+effuses, [Footnote: Effuses: sheds, pours out.] is the spirit of common,
+universal humanity,--humanity apart from creed, schools, conventions,
+from all special privileges and refinements, as it is in and of itself
+in its relations to the whole system of things, in contradistinction to
+the literature of culture which effuses the spirit of the select and
+exclusive.
+
+His life was the same. Walt Whitman never stood apart from or above any
+human being. The common people--workingmen, the poor, the illiterate,
+the outcast--saw themselves in him, and he saw himself in them: the
+attraction was mutual. He was always content with common, unadorned
+humanity.
+
+--JOHN BURROUGHS (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What picture do you get of Whitman in this account? What
+qualities of Whitman's do you think most endeared him to the soldiers?
+Was Whitman's carefulness about his personal appearance an evidence of
+egotism or altruism? Compare this estimate of Whitman with the
+"Appreciation of Lincoln." Are there any points of likeness?]
+
+
+
+
+HEROISM IN HOUSEKEEPING
+
+
+So many talents are wasted, so many enthusiasms turned to smoke, so many
+lives spoiled for want of a little patience and endurance, for want of
+understanding and laying to heart the meaning of THE PRESENT--for want
+of recognizing that it is not the greatness or littleness of the duty
+nearest hand, but the spirit in which one does it, which makes one's
+doing noble or mean! I can't think how people who have any natural
+ambition, and any sense of power in them, escape going mad in a world
+like this, without the recognition of that. I know I was very near mad
+when I found it out for myself (as one has to find out for oneself
+everything that is to be of any real practical use to one).
+
+Shall I tell you how it came into my head? Perhaps it may be of comfort
+to you in similar moments of fatigue and disgust. I had gone with my
+husband to live on a little estate of peat-bog, that had descended to me
+all the way down from John Welsh, the Covenanter, [Footnote: Covenanter:
+one who defends the "Solemn League and Covenant" made to preserve the
+reformed religion in Scotland.] who married a daughter of John Knox.
+[Footnote: John Knox: a celebrated Scottish reformer, statesman, and
+writer. Born 1505, died in 1572.] That didn't, I'm ashamed to say, make
+me feel Craigenputtock [Footnote: Craigenputtock: a town fifteen miles
+from Dumfries. Here much of Carlyle's best work was done.] a whit less
+of a peat-bog and a most dreary, untoward place to live at. In fact, it
+was sixteen miles distant on every side from all the conveniences of
+life, shops, and even post-office. Further, we were very poor, and
+further and worst, being an only child, and brought up to great
+prospects, I was sublimely ignorant of every branch of useful knowledge,
+though a capital Latin scholar and very fair mathematician.
+
+It behooved me in these astonishing circumstances to learn to sew.
+Husbands, I was shocked to find, wore their stockings into holes, and
+were always losing buttons, and I was expected to "look to all that";
+also it behooved me to learn to cook! no capable servant choosing to
+live at such an out-of-the-way place, and my husband having bad
+digestion, which complicated my difficulties dreadfully. The bread,
+above all, brought from Dumfries, [Footnote: Dumfries: a town in
+southern Scotland.] "soured on his stomach" and it was plainly my duty
+as a Christian wife to bake at home.
+
+So I sent for Cobbett's "Cottage Economy," and fell to work at a loaf of
+bread. But, knowing nothing about the process of fermentation or the
+heat of ovens, it came to pass that my loaf got put into the oven at the
+time that myself ought to have been put into bed; and I remained the
+only person not asleep in a house in the middle of a desert.
+
+One o'clock struck! and then two!! and then three!!! And still I was
+sitting there in the midst of an immense solitude, my whole body aching
+with weariness, my heart aching with a sense of forlornness and
+degradation. That I, who had been so petted at home, whose comfort had
+been studied by everybody in the house, who had never been required to
+do anything but cultivate my mind, should have to pass all those hours
+of the night in watching a loaf of bread--which mightn't turn out bread
+after all!
+
+Such thoughts maddened me, till I laid down my head on the table and
+sobbed aloud. It was then that somehow the idea of Benvenuto Cellini
+[Footnote: Benvenuto Cellini: a famous Italian sculptor and worker in
+gold and silver. Born in 1500(?) died in 1571. His autobiography is one
+of the most famous of Italian classics. The Perseus of Cellini stands in
+the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, and represents the helmeted hero
+holding up the severed head of Medusa.] sitting up all night watching
+his Perseus in the furnace came into my head, and suddenly I asked
+myself: "After all, in the sight of the upper Powers, what is the mighty
+difference between a statue of Perseus and a loaf of bread, so that each
+be the thing that one's hand has found to do? The man's determined will,
+his energy, his patience, his resource were the really admirable things
+of which his statue of Perseus was the mere chance expression. If he had
+been a woman, living at Craigenputtock with a dyspeptic husband, sixteen
+miles from a baker, and he a bad one, all these qualities would have
+come out more fitly in a good loaf of bread!"
+
+I cannot express what consolation this germ of an idea spread over my
+uncongenial life during the years we lived at that savage place, where
+my two immediate predecessors had gone mad, and a third had taken to
+drink.
+
+--JANE WELSH CARLYLE.
+
+[Footnote: Does the opening paragraph give you any hint as to the source
+of this extract? What traits of character does the writer show? Can you
+show the evidence of Scotch Covenanter inheritance in the writer's
+philosophy? Do you imagine that the writer learned to make bread? Why?
+In what does the humor of the account lie?]
+
+
+
+
+A YOUTHFUL ACTOR
+
+
+My dramatic career was brought to a close by an unfortunate
+circumstance. We were playing the drama of "William Tell, the Hero of
+Switzerland." Of course I was William Tell, in spite of Fred Langdon,
+who wanted to act that character himself. I wouldn't let him, so he
+withdrew from the company, taking the only bow and arrow we had. I made
+a cross-bow out of a piece of whalebone, and did very well without him.
+We had reached that exciting scene where Gessler, the Austrian tyrant,
+commands Tell to shoot the apple from his son's head. Pepper Whitcomb,
+who played all the juvenile and women parts, was my son. To guard
+against mischance, a piece of pasteboard was fastened by a handkerchief
+over the upper portion of Whitcomb's face, while the arrow to be used
+was sewed up in a strip of flannel. I was a capital marksman, and the
+big apple, only two yards distant, turned its russet cheek fairly
+towards me.
+
+I can see poor little Pepper now, as he stood without flinching, waiting
+for me to perform my great feat. I raised the cross-bow amid the
+breathless silence of the crowded audience,--consisting of seven boys
+and three girls, exclusive of Kitty Collins, who insisted on paying her
+way in with a clothes-pin. I raised the cross-bow, I repeat. Twang! went
+the whipcord; but, alas! instead of hitting the apple, the arrow flew
+right into Pepper Whitcomb's mouth, which happened to be open at the
+time, and destroyed my aim.
+
+I shall never be able to banish that awful moment from my memory.
+Pepper's roar, expressive of astonishment, indignation, and pain, is
+still ringing in my ears. I looked upon him as a corpse, and, glancing
+not far into the dreary future, pictured myself led forth to execution
+in the presence of the very same spectators then assembled.
+
+Luckily poor Pepper was not seriously hurt.
+
+--T. B. ALDRICH.
+
+[Footnote: Would you imagine, from this extract, that the book from
+which it was taken would be interesting? Why? Notice the easy
+conversational way of telling the incident. What is gained by this? Do
+you sympathize with Pepper or the author? Why?]
+
+
+
+
+WAR
+
+
+What, speaking in quite unofficial language, is the net purpose and
+upshot of war? To my own knowledge, for example, there dwell and toil in
+the British village of Dumdrudge [Footnote: Dumdrudge: a fictitious
+name.] usually some five hundred souls. From these there are
+successfully selected, during the French war, say thirty able-bodied
+men. Dumdrudge, at her own expense, has suckled and nursed them. She
+has, not without difficulty and sorrow, fed them up to manhood, and even
+trained them to crafts, so that one can weave, another build, another
+hammer, and the weakest can stand under thirty stone avoirdupois.
+Nevertheless, amid much weeping and swearing, they are selected; all
+dressed in red; and shipped away at the public charges some two thousand
+miles, or say only to the south of Spain; and fed there until wanted.
+And now to that same spot in the south of Spain, are thirty similar
+French artisans, from a French Dumdrudge, in like manner wending. At
+length, after infinite effort, the two parties come into actual
+juxtaposition; and thirty stands fronting thirty, each with a gun in his
+hand. Straightway the word "Fire!" is given, and they blow the souls out
+of one another. And in place of sixty brisk useful craftsmen, the world
+has sixty dead carcasses, which it must bury and anew shed tears for.
+Had these men any quarrel? Busy as the Devil is, not the smallest! They
+lived far enough apart, were the entirest strangers, nay, in so wide a
+universe, there was even unconsciously, by commerce, some mutual
+helpfulness between them. How then? Simpleton' their Governors had
+fallen out, and instead of shooting one another, had the cunning to make
+these poor blockheads shoot.
+
+--CARLYLE.
+
+[Footnote: Does Carlyle write from the usual military standpoint? Does
+war seem glorious or heroic from this point of view? Is ridicule an
+effective weapon against wrongs? Do you know of any abuses or wrongs
+that have been abolished by being shown up as ridiculous? Do you think
+it likely that the militaristic type of mind can have much sense of
+humor?]
+
+
+
+
+COON-HUNTING
+
+
+'Coon-Hunting [Footnote: Coon: raccoon, an animal allied to the bears
+but much smaller. Its body is gray, varied with black and white, and it
+has a long full tail banded with black and gray.] is one of the truly
+American sports of the chase, though its devotees have found difficulty
+in persuading folks to take their sport seriously. It is, in truth, a
+comical aspect of hunting, and is scarcely less wanting in dignity than
+a 'possum [Footnote: Possum: opposum; this animal carries its young in a
+pouch, like the kangaroo.] chase, which confessedly has none at all. If
+'coon-hunting be regarded, as a step higher than that, it loses the
+advantage at the end, for a fat 'possum is certainly better eating than
+a 'coon, however rotund. The chase, nevertheless, calls for endurance,
+since an old 'coon may run four or five miles after he has been started,
+zigzagging hither and yon, circling round and round trees, leaving a
+track calculated to make a dog dizzy, swimming streams, and running
+along the tops of logs and snake-fences, [Footnote: Snake-fence (same as
+a worm-fence): a zigzag fence of rails which cross at the ends.] hiding
+his trail with the craftiness of a fox.
+
+The hunt is always organized late at night. Nobody ever heard of a real
+'coon-hunt by daylight. The animals are moving about then, leaving
+trails that, starting at the edge of the woods, lead into the fastnesses
+where they take refuge. Such trails would grow "cold" before noonday.
+
+There are dogs called 'coon-dogs, but of no particular breed or
+pedigree. A local pack will consist of Rag, Tag, and Bobtail, with all
+of Bobtail's friends and connections. One of them is known to be best
+and takes the lead. They call him the trailer. The rest rush yelping
+after, and as fast as possible follow the hunters, with torches or
+lanterns or by moonlight, carrying axes and hatchets, guns, and
+antidotes for snake-bite in flat, black bottles. Trailer's motley crew
+catch a sniff of the trail and disappear in the darkness of the brushy
+woods, baying, barking, yelping, squealing, each after its kind. After
+them go the whooping hunters, following by ear as the dogs do by nose,
+for none can use the sense of sight.
+
+Finally a chorus of eager barking in a different tone from what has thus
+far been heard announces to experienced ears that the dogs have some
+game at bay. The hunters dispute as to what it is as they crash and
+stagger on through the gloom, each swearing he knows by his cur's voice
+what sort of an animal he has in view. Arrived at the scene of the
+clamor, the dogs are found in frantic excitement around the foot of a
+tree, in whose shadowy foliage something is supposed to be hidden. Will
+it be a 'coon, or will it turn out a 'possum, a wild-cat, or mayhap an
+owl?
+
+First of all a fire is lighted, and its upreaching blaze sends fitful
+rays of yellow light far among the overhanging branches. Now there may
+be discerned a hollow near the summit of the trunk, and as dead branches
+are heaped upon the fire, sharp eyes may detect a triangular head
+peering out of what was once, perhaps, the front door of a woodpecker's
+home, and the glints of green are reported to be the glare of a
+raccoon's eyes.
+
+The nimblest man in the party is sent up the tree, and given a stick
+wherewith to frighten or poke or pry the cornered animal out of his
+castle. Compelled to leave the hole, it creeps out upon a limb, and
+squatting down, snarls at the stranger, who tries to shake loose its
+hold. But this is a vain attempt. A raccoon can cling like a burr. Try
+to drag your pet 'coon off the top of a fence, and if he chooses to
+resist, you may pull him limb from limb before he will let go. So they
+take the severer method of chopping the branches, until the poor little
+beast has none left to clutch in falling, and comes down a heap of fur
+and teeth and claws into the midst of the dogs. Instantly there follows
+a scrimmage, where often an honest bark is changed in the middle to a
+yelp of pain, until many a time the melee changes to a ring of hurt and
+angry but vanquished curs around a 'coon lying on his back, with bloody
+teeth and claws ready to try it again; and then he is shot by the
+hunters, merciless to the last. More often the whole tree must be cut
+down, and the brave 'coon falls with it, and is dashed out among his
+enemies to fight for his life at the end of his fall.
+
+--ERNEST INGERSOLL (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What does the phrase "the trails would grow cold" mean? What
+sense would you find most active if you were on the coon-hunt? Does the
+author write as an enthusiastic hunter? What impresses you most in the
+account: the fun or the cruelty of hunting? Does the author succeed in
+giving you an idea of the excitement of coon-hunting? Would the account
+have any added interest if it were told in the first person?]
+
+
+
+
+SIGHT IN SAVAGES
+
+
+In Patagonia [Footnote: Patagonia: the southern part of Argentine
+Republic.] I added something to my small stock of private facts
+concerning eyes--their appearance, color, and expression--and vision,
+subjects which have had a mild attraction for me as long as I can
+remember. When, as a boy, I mixed with the gauchos [Footnote: Gauchos:
+these people are of Spanish-American descent. They are the native
+inhabitants of the pampas, and live chiefly by cattle-raising.] of the
+pampas, [Footnote: Pampas: vast plains in the southern part of South
+America, chiefly in the Argentine Republic.] there was one among them
+who greatly awed me by his appearance and character. He was
+distinguished among his fellows by his tallness, the thickness of his
+eyebrows and the great length of his crow-black beard, the form and
+length of his "facon," or knife, which was nothing but a sword worn
+knife-wise, and the ballads he composed, in which were recounted, in a
+harsh tuneless voice to the strum-strum of a guitar, the hand-to-hand
+combats he had had with others of his class--fighters and
+desperadoes--and in which he had always been the victor, for his
+adversaries had all been slain to a man. But his eyes, his most
+wonderful feature, impressed me more than anything else; for one was
+black and the other dark blue. All other strange and extranatural things
+in nature, of which I had personal knowledge, as, for instance,
+mushrooms growing in rings, and the shrinking of the sensitive plant
+when touched, and Will-o'-the-wisps, and crowing hens, and the murderous
+attack of social birds and beasts on one of their fellows, seemed less
+strange and wonderful than the fact that this man's eyes did not
+correspond, but were the eyes of two men, as if there had been two
+natures and souls in one body. My astonishment was, perhaps, not
+unaccountable, when we reflect that the eye is to us the window of the
+mind or soul, that it expresses the soul, and is, as it were, the soul
+itself materialized.
+
+Some person lately published in England a book entitled "Soul-Shapes,"
+treating not only of the shapes of souls but also of their color. The
+letter-press of this work interests me less than the colored plates
+adorning it. Passing over the mixed and vari-colored souls, which
+resemble, in the illustrations, colored maps in an atlas, we come to the
+blue soul, for which the author has a very special regard. Its blue is
+like that of the commonest type of blue eye. This curious fancy of a
+blue soul probably originated in the close association of eye and soul
+in the mind. It is worthy of note that while the mixed and other colored
+souls seem very much out of shape, like an old felt hat or a stranded
+jelly fish, the pure colored blue soul is round, like an iris, and only
+wanted a pupil to be made an eye.
+
+Here again I recall an incident of my boyhood, and am not sure that it
+was not this that first gave me an interest in the subject.
+
+One summer day, at home, I was attentively listening, out of doors, to a
+conversation between two men, both past middle life and about the same
+age, one an educated Englishman, wearing spectacles, the other a native,
+who was very impressive in his manner, and was holding forth in a loud
+authoritative voice on a variety of subjects. All at once he fixed his
+eyes on the spectacles worn by the other, and, bursting into a laugh,
+cried out, "Why do you always wear those eye-hiding glasses straddled
+across your nose? Are they supposed to make a man look handsomer or
+wiser than his fellows, or do you, a sensible person, really believe
+that you can see better than another man because of them? If so, then
+all I can say is that it is a fable, a delusion; no man can believe such
+a thing."
+
+He was only expressing the feeling that all persons of his class, whose
+lives are passed in the semi-barbarous conditions of the gauchos on the
+pampas, experience at the sight of such artificial helps to vision as
+spectacles. They look through a pane of glass, and it makes the view no
+clearer, but rather dimmer--how can the two diminutive circular panes
+carried before the eyes produce any other effect? Besides, their sight
+as a rule is good when they are young, and as they progress in life they
+are not conscious of decadence in it; from infancy to old age the world
+looks, they imagine, the same; the grass as green, the sky as blue as
+ever, and the scarlet verbenas in the grass just as scarlet. The man
+lives in his sight; it is his life; he speaks of the loss of it as a
+calamity great as the loss of reason. To see spectacles amuses and
+irritates him at the same time; he has the monkey's impulse to snatch
+the idle things from his fellow's nose; for not only is it useless to
+the wearer, and a sham, but it is annoying to others, who do not like to
+look at a man and not properly see his eyes and the thought that is in
+them.
+
+To the mocking speech he had made, the other good humoredly replied that
+he had worn glasses for twenty years, that not only did they enable him
+to see much better than he could without them, but they had preserved
+his sight from further decadence. Not satisfied with defending himself
+against the charge of being a fantastical person for wearing glasses, he
+in his turn attacked the mocker. "How do you know," he said, "that your
+own eyesight has not degenerated with time? You can only ascertain that
+by trying on a number of glasses suited to a variety of sights, all in
+some degree defective. A score of men with defective sight may be
+together, and in no two will the sight be the same. You must try on
+spectacles, as you try on boots, until you find a pair to fit you. You
+may try mine, if you like; our years are the same, and it is just
+possible that our eyes may be in the same condition."
+
+The gaucho laughed a loud and scornful laugh, and exclaimed that the
+idea was too ridiculous. "What, see better with this thing!" and he took
+them gingerly in his hand, and held them up to examine them, and finally
+put them on his nose--something in the spirit of the person who takes a
+newspaper twisted into the shape of an extinguisher, and puts it on his
+head. He looked at the other, then at me, then stared all round him with
+an expression of utter astonishment, and in the end burst out in loud
+exclamations of delight. For, strange to say, the glasses exactly suited
+his vision, which, unknown to him, had probably been decaying for years.
+"Angels of heaven, what is this I see!" he shouted. "What makes the
+trees look so green--they were never so green before! And so distinct--I
+can count their leaves! And the cart over there--why, it is red as
+blood!" And to satisfy himself that it had not just been freshly
+painted, he ran over to it and placed his hand on the wood. It proved
+hard to convince him that objects had once looked as distinct, and
+leaves as green, and the sky as blue, and red paint as red, to his
+natural sight, as they now did through those magical glasses. The
+distinctness and brightness seemed artificial and uncanny. But in the
+end he was convinced, and then he wanted to keep the spectacles, and
+pulled out his money to pay for them there and then, and was very much
+put out when their owner insisted on having them back. However, shortly
+afterwards a pair was got for him; and with these on his nose he
+galloped about the country, exhibiting them to all his neighbors, and
+boasting of the miraculous power they imparted to his eyes of seeing the
+world as no one else could see it.
+
+--W.H. HUDSON.
+
+[Footnote: What things in nature do you think most interested the
+writer? Do you imagine that he would be a good out-of-doors companion?
+Why? Was the native in the story the sort of person whom you would
+expect to "hold forth in an authoritative voice on a variety of
+subjects"? Do you know what the general attitude of the savage and
+semi-civilized people is toward strange things? Note the rambling,
+conversational style in which this sketch is written. Compare it with
+Stevenson, Aldrich, and Edwards. Note the delightfully whimsical quality
+of the humor. Can you see any likeness in this to Lamb and Hawthorne?]
+
+
+
+
+THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER
+
+
+In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American
+history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight
+[Footnote: Wight: a person.] of the name of Ichabod Crane; who
+sojourned, or as he expressed it, "tarried," in Sleepy Hollow, for the
+purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. He was a native of
+Connecticut, a state which supplies the Union with pioneers for the mind
+as well as for the forest, and sends forth yearly its legions of
+frontier woodmen and country schoolmasters. The cognomen of Crane was
+not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with
+narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of
+his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole
+frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at the
+top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so
+that it looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck to tell
+which way the wind blew. To see him striding along the profile of a hill
+on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one
+might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the
+earth, or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield.
+
+In addition to his other vocations, he was the singing-master of the
+neighborhood, and picked up many bright shillings by instructing the
+young folks in psalmody. It was a matter of no little vanity to him on
+Sundays, to take his station in front of the church gallery, with a band
+of chosen singers, where, in his own mind, he completely carried away
+the palm from the parson. Certain it is his voice resounded far above
+all the rest of the congregation, and there are peculiar quavers still
+to be heard in that church, and which may even be heard half a mile off,
+quite to the opposite side of the mill-pond, on a still Sunday morning,
+which are said to be legitimately descended from the nose of Ichabod
+Crane. Thus, by divers little makeshifts, in that ingenious way which is
+commonly denominated "by hook and by crook" the worthy pedagogue got on
+tolerably enough, and was thought, by all who understood nothing of this
+labor of head-work, to have a wonderful easy life of it. The
+schoolmaster is generally a man of some importance in the female circle
+of a rural neighborhood; being considered a kind of idle gentleman-like
+personage, of vastly superior taste and accomplishments to the rough
+country swains, and, indeed, inferior in learning only to the parson.
+His appearance, therefore, is apt to occasion some little stir at the
+tea-table of a farm-house, and the addition of a supernumerary
+[Footnote: Supernumerary: superfluous, unnecessary.] dish of cakes or
+sweetmeats, or, peradventure, the parade of a silver teapot. Our man of
+letters, therefore, was peculiarly happy in the smiles of all the
+country damsels. How he would figure among them in the churchyard,
+between services on Sundays! gathering grapes for them from the wild
+vines that overrun the surrounding trees, reciting for their amusement
+all the epitaphs on the tombstones; or sauntering with a whole bevy of
+them, along the banks of the adjacent millpond, while the more bashful
+country bumpkins hung sheepishly back, envying his superior elegance and
+address.
+
+From his half-itinerant life, he was a kind of travelling gazette,
+carrying the whole budget of local gossip from house to house, so that
+his appearance was always greeted with satisfaction. He was, moreover,
+esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition, [Footnote: Erudition:
+learning, scholarship.] for he had read several books quite through, and
+was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's "History of New England
+Witchcraft," in which, by the way, he most firmly and potently believed.
+
+He was, in fact, an odd mixture of small shrewdness and simple
+credulity. His appetite for the marvellous, and his powers of digesting
+it, were equally extraordinary; and both had been increased by his
+residence in this spellbound region. No tale was too gross or monstrous
+for his capacious swallow. It was often his delight, after his school
+was dismissed in the afternoon, to stretch himself on the rich bed of
+clover bordering the little brook that whimpered by his school-house,
+and there con over old Mather's [Footnote: Cotton Mather: an American
+clergyman, author, and scholar. Born in 1663, died in 1728. He took an
+active part in the persecutions for witchcraft.] direful tales, until
+the gathering dusk of the evening made the printed page a mere mist
+before his eyes. Then as he wended his way by swamp and stream and awful
+woodland, to the farm-house where he happened to be quartered, every
+sound of nature, at that witching hour, fluttered his excited
+imagination,--the moan of the whippoorwill from the hillside, the boding
+cry of the tree-toad, that harbinger of storm, the dreary hooting of the
+screech-owl, or the sudden rustling in the thicket of birds frightened
+from their roost. The fire-flies, too, which sparkled most vividly in
+the darkest places, now and then startled him, as one of uncommon
+brightness would stream across his path; and if by chance a huge
+blackhead of a beetle came winging his blundering flight against him,
+the poor varlet [Footnote: Varlet: rascal.] was ready to give up the
+ghost, with the idea that he was struck with a witch's token. His only
+resource on such occasions, either to drown thought or drive away evil
+spirits, was to sing psalm-tunes; and the good people of Sleepy-Hollow,
+as they sat by their doors of an evening, were often filled with awe at
+hearing his nasal melody, "in linked sweetness long drawn out," floating
+from the distant hill or along the dusky road.
+
+Another of his sources of fearful pleasure was to pass long winter
+evenings with the old Dutch wives, as they sat spinning by the fire,
+with a row of apples roasting and spluttering along the hearth, and
+listen to their marvellous tales of ghosts and goblins, and haunted
+brooks, and haunted bridges, and haunted houses, and particularly of the
+headless horseman, or Galloping Hessian of the Hollow, as they sometimes
+called him. He would delight them equally by his anecdotes of
+witchcraft, and the direful omens and portentous sights and sounds in
+the air, which prevailed in the earlier times of Connecticut; and would
+frighten them wofully with speculations upon comets and shooting stars;
+and with the alarming fact that the world did absolutely turn round and
+that they were half the time topsy-turvy!
+
+But if there was a pleasure in all this, while snugly cuddling in the
+chimney corner of a chamber that was all of a ruddy glow from the
+crackling wood fire, and where, of course, no spectre dared to show its
+face, it was dearly purchased by the terror of his subsequent walk
+homewards. What fearful shapes and shadows beset his path, amidst the
+dim and ghastly glare of a snowy night! With what wistful look did he
+eye every trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields from
+some distant window! How often was he appalled by some shrub covered
+with snow, which like a sheeted spectre beset his very path! How often
+did he shrink with curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on the
+frosty crust beneath his feet! and dread to look over his shoulder, lest
+he should behold some uncouth being tramping close behind him! and how
+often was he thrown into complete dismay by some rushing blast, howling
+among the trees, in the idea that it was the galloping Hessian on one of
+his nightly scourings!
+
+--WASHINGTON IRVING.
+
+[Footnote: Is this style of writing similar to that of any other
+selections you have studied? Illustrate. Compare the kind of words used
+here with the simple diction in "A Youthful Actor," "In Brittany," "The
+Gold Trail." Does the author's humor seem to you unkindly? What other
+selections have you studied in which this sort of humor is shown? What
+courses of study do you imagine were given in Ichabod's school? Does
+Ichabod seem a real character or only a caricature?]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Short Stories and Selections for Use
+in the Secondary Schools, by Emilie Kip Baker
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHORT STORIES AND SELECTIONS ***
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+eBook #7283 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7283)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Short Stories and Selections for Use^M
+in the Secondary Schools, by Emilie Kip Baker
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
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+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
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+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
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+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Short Stories and Selections for Use in the Secondary Schools
+
+Author: Emilie Kip Baker
+
+Release Date: January, 2005  [EBook #7283]
+[This file was first posted on April 7, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SHORT STORIES AND SELECTIONS FOR USE IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS ***
+
+
+
+
+V-M Österman, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+SHORT STORIES AND SELECTIONS
+
+FOR USE IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
+
+COMPILED AND ANNOTATED, WITH QUESTIONS FOR STUDY
+BY
+EMILIE KIP BAKER
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Walter Scott's Library at Abbotsford]
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+A LEAF IN THE STORM, _by_ Louise de la Ramee,
+_from_ A Leaf in the Storm and Other Stories
+
+CATS, _by_ Maurice Hewlett,
+_from_ Earthwork out of Tuscany
+
+AN ADVENTURE, _by_ Honore de Balzac,
+_from_ A Passion in the Desert
+
+FOR THOSE WHO LOVE MUSIC, _by_ Axel Munthe,
+_from_ Vagaries
+
+OUT OF DOORS, _by_ Richard Jefferies,
+_from_ Saint Guido
+
+THE TABOO, _by_ Herman Melville,
+_from_ Typee
+
+SCHOOL DAYS AT THE CONVENT, _by_ George Sand,
+_from_ The Story of My Life (adapted)
+
+IN BRITTANY, _by_ Louisa Alcott,
+_from_ Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag
+
+THE ADIRONDACKS, _by_ John Burroughs,
+_from_ Wake Robin
+
+AN ASCENT OF KILAUEA, _by_ Lady Brassey,
+_from_ Around the World in the Yacht Sunbeam
+
+THE FETISH, _by_ George Eliot,
+_from_ The Mill on the Floss
+
+SALMON FISHING IN IRELAND, _by_ James A. Froude,
+_from_ A Fortnight in Kerry
+
+ACROSS RUNNING WATER, _by_ Fiona Macleod,
+_from_ Sea Magic and Running Water
+
+THE PINE-TREE SHILLINGS, _by_ Nathaniel Hawthorne,
+_from_ Grandfather's Chair
+
+THE WHITE TRAIL, _by_ Stewart Edward White,
+_from_ The Silent Places
+
+A DISSERTATION ON ROAST PIG, _by_ Charles Lamb,
+_from_ Essays of Elia
+
+THE LAST CLASS, _by_ Alphonse Daudet,
+_from_ Monday Tales
+
+AN ARAB FISHERMAN, _by_ Albert Edwards,
+_from_ The Barbary Coast
+
+THE ARCHERY CONTEST, _by_ Walter Scott,
+_from_ Ivanhoe
+
+BABY SYLVESTER, _by_ Bret Harte,
+_from_ Bret Harte's Writings
+
+THE ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG, _by_ Abraham Lincoln,
+_from_ Lincoln's Speeches
+
+THE SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, _by_ Abraham Lincoln,
+_from_ Lincoln's Speeches
+
+AN APPRECIATION OF LINCOLN, _by_ John Hay,
+_from_ Life of Lincoln
+
+THE ELEPHANTS THAT STRUCK, _by_ Samuel White Baker,
+_from_ Eight Years in Ceylon
+
+THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP, _by_ Bret Harte
+
+THE STORY OF MUHAMMAD DIN, _by_ Rudyard Kipling,
+_from_ Plain Tales from the Hills
+
+A CHILD, _by_ John Galsworthy,
+_from_ Commentary
+
+TOO DEAR FOR THE WHISTLE, _by_ Benjamin Franklin,
+_from_ The Autobiography
+
+A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT, _by_ Robert Louis Stevenson,
+_from_ The New Arabian Nights
+
+A BAD FIVE MINUTES IN THE ALPS, _by_ Leslie Stephen,
+_from_ Freethinking and Plainspeaking (adapted)
+
+THE GOLD TRAIL, _by_ Stewart Edward White,
+_from_ Gold
+
+TWENTY YEARS OF ARCTIC STRUGGLE, _by_ J. Kennedy McLean,
+_from_ Heroes of the Farthest North and South (adapted)
+
+THE SPEECH IN MANCHESTER, _by_ Henry Ward Beecher,
+_from_ Addresses and Sermons
+
+A GREEN DONKEY DRIVER, _by_ Robert Louis Stevenson,
+_from_ Travels with a Donkey
+
+A NIGHT IN THE PINES, _by_ Robert Louis Stevenson,
+_from_ Travels with a Donkey
+
+LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK, _by_ Washington Irving,
+_from_ Knickerbocker's History of New York
+
+THE BAZAAR IN MOROCCO, _by_ Pierre Loti,
+_from_ Into Morocco
+
+A BATTLE OF THE ANTS, _by_ Henry D. Thoreau,
+_from_ Walden (adapted)
+
+AN AFRICAN PET, _by_ Paul B. du Chaillu,
+_from_ The African Forest and Jungle
+
+ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE, _by_ Lloyd Morgan,
+_from_ Animal Sketches (adapted)
+
+BUCK'S TRIAL OF STRENGTH, _by_ Jack London,
+_from_ The Call of the Wild
+
+ON THE SOLANDER WHALING GROUND, _by_ Frank Bullen,
+_from_ Idylls of the Sea
+
+AN EPISODE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, _by_ Charles Dickens,
+_from_ A Tale of Two Cities
+
+THE COMMANDER OF THE FAITHFUL, _by_ Pierre Loti,
+_from_ Into Morocco (adapted)
+
+WALT WHITMAN, _by_ John Burroughs,
+_from_ Whitman--A Study (adapted)
+
+HEROISM IN HOUSEKEEPING, _by_ Jane Welsh Carlyle,
+_from_ Letters
+
+A YOUTHFUL ACTOR, _by_ Thomas Bailey Aldrich,
+_from_ The Story of a Bad Boy
+
+WAR, _by_ Thomas Carlyle, _from_ Sartor Resartus
+
+COON-HUNTING, _by_ Ernest Ingersoll,
+_from_ Wild Neighbors (adapted)
+
+SIGHT IN SAVAGES, _by_ W. H. Hudson,
+_from_ Idle Days in Patagonia
+
+THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER, _by_ Washington Irving,
+_from_ The Sketch Book
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+The testimony of librarians as to the kind of books people are reading
+nowadays is somewhat discouraging to the book-lover who has been brought
+up in the old traditions. We are told that Scott and Thackeray and
+George Eliot cannot compete with the year's "best sellers," and that the
+old classics are read only by the few who have a cultivated taste and a
+trained intelligence.
+
+The interest of novelty, the dislike of mental effort, the temptation to
+read merely for a mild sensation,--all these undoubtedly tend to keep
+down the level of literary taste. To many readers of good average
+ability, neither the esthetic nor the purely intellectual makes a strong
+appeal. Even minds of fine quality often find a welcome diversion in
+trivial reading. In fact, to expect every one and at all times to have
+his mind keyed up to the higher levels is neither sincere nor
+reasonable. And yet, making due allowance for intellectual limitations,
+for the busy and distracting conditions of modern life, and for the real
+need of light reading at times when recreation is of more value than
+instruction, it would seem that a fair proportion of our reading could
+and should be on a higher plane.
+
+To put it on this high plane is one of the fixed objects of the school.
+For this end the schools have given English an important place, have
+broadened the list of recommended books year by year, and have sought to
+improve the method of teaching literature. Especially have they hoped to
+create in the pupil the habit of reading good books and of discovering
+new material on his own initiative. Thus far their success has fallen
+much below their hopes, as the testimony of librarians, adduced above,
+plainly indicates.
+
+There is one significant fact which both librarians and teachers have
+observed. The average reader, child or adult, seldom knows how or where
+to find things to read. He is lost in a library, whether among the
+book-shelves or at a card-catalogue. He is like a traveler who is
+ignorant of the geography of the country and cannot use the compass. And
+worse still, he has not the explorer's instinct. If he possessed this,
+he would somehow find his way himself,--a thing which occasionally
+happens when the reader has more than usual ability. Between the covers
+of those books, turning to him their uncommunicative backs, behind those
+labels--to him so unexpressive--there may be passages, whole chapters or
+more, that would give him entertainment, if he only knew!
+
+To introduce him to an author may be to give him a new friend.
+Introductions need not imply long and intimate companionship. This
+author may hold him for half an hour, and never again; that one may
+claim his attention for a day; and another may come to rank as one of
+his old friends. In each case the acquaintance may depend upon the fact
+of an introduction, and not upon the reader's own initiative in
+discovery. More than the acquaintances thus made, is the sense of
+at-homeness among books which they gradually bring about. We all know
+that feeling of the unreality of a book of which we have merely heard
+the title, and how soon we forget it. A book that we have seen and
+handled, however, and especially one which we have read or from which we
+have seen a passage quoted in another volume, is somehow real,--an
+entity. Through continued experiences of this sort we come to feel
+really acquainted with books, to know where to find the things we are
+looking for, to judge and appreciate,--in brief, to feel at home among
+them.
+
+It is as a series of such introductions to the larger world of
+literature that this volume has been compiled. Some of the selections
+are from books whose titles are already familiar to high school
+students; many others are from sources that few pupils will know. All of
+them, it is confidently believed, are within the interest and
+comprehension of boys and girls of high school age. The notes and
+questions at the end of each selection will, it is hoped, be of some
+help to the students in getting at the author's meaning, and in
+suggesting interesting topics for discussion. If, after finishing the
+Short Stories and Selections, a few more students will have formed the
+habit of good reading and will feel, not merely willing, but eager, to
+enlarge their acquaintance among good books, this volume has
+accomplished its purpose.
+
+EMILIE K. BAKER
+
+
+
+
+SHORT STORIES AND SELECTIONS
+
+
+
+
+A LEAF IN THE STORM
+
+
+Bernadou clung to his home with a dogged devotion. He would not go from
+it to fight unless compelled, but for it he would have fought like a
+lion. His love for his country was only an indefinite shadowy existence
+that was not clear to him; he could not save a land that he had never
+seen, a capital that was only to him as an empty name; nor could he
+comprehend the danger that his nation ran; nor could he desire to go
+forth and spend his lifeblood in defence of things unknown to him. He
+was only a peasant, and he could not read nor greatly understand. But
+affection for his birthplace was a passion with him,--mute indeed, but
+deep-seated as an oak. For his birthplace he would have struggled as a
+man can struggle only when supreme love as well as duty nerves his arm.
+Neither he nor Reine Allix could see that a man's duty might lie from
+home, but in that home both were alike ready to dare anything and to
+suffer everything. It was a narrow form of patriotism, yet it had
+nobleness, endurance, and patience in it; in song it has been oftentimes
+deified as heroism, but in modern warfare it is punished as the blackest
+crime.
+
+So Bernadou tarried in his cottage till he should be called, keeping
+watch by night over the safety of his village and by day doing all he
+could to aid the deserted wives and mothers of the place by tilling
+their ground for them and by tending such poor cattle as were left in
+their desolate fields. He and Margot and Reine Allix, between them, fed
+many mouths that would otherwise have been closed in death by famine,
+and denied themselves all except the barest and most meagre subsistence,
+that they might give away the little they possessed.
+
+And all this while the war went on, but seemed far from them, so seldom
+did any tidings of it pierce the seclusion in which they dwelt. By and
+by, as the autumn went on, they learned a little more. Fugitives coming
+to the smithy for a horse's shoe; women fleeing to their old village
+homes from their light, gay life in the city; mandates from the
+government of defence sent to every hamlet in the country; stray
+news-sheets brought in by carriers or hawkers and hucksters,--all these
+by degrees told them of the peril of their country,--vaguely, indeed,
+and seldom truthfully, but so that by mutilated rumors they came at last
+to know the awful facts of the fate of Sedan, the fall of the Empire,
+the siege of Paris. It did not alter their daily lives: it was still too
+far off and too impalpable. But a foreboding, a dread, an unspeakable
+woe settled down on them. Already their lands and cattle had been
+harassed to yield provision for the army and large towns; already their
+best horses had been taken for the siege-trains and the forage-wagons;
+already their ploughshares were perforce idle, and their children cried
+because of the scarcity of nourishment; already the iron of war had
+entered into their souls.
+
+The little street at evening was mournful and very silent: the few who
+talked spoke in whispers, lest a spy should hear them, and the young
+ones had no strength to play: they wanted food.
+
+Bernadou, now that all means of defence was gone from him, and the only
+thing left to him to deal with was his own life, had become quiet and
+silent and passionless, as was his habit. He would have fought like a
+mastiff for his home, but this they had forbidden him to do, and he was
+passive and without hope. He closed his door, and sat down with his hand
+in that of Reine Allix and his arm around his wife. "There is nothing to
+do but wait" he said sadly. The day seemed very long in coming.
+
+The firing (which had come nearer each day) ceased for a while; then its
+roll commenced afresh, and grew still nearer to the village. Then again
+all was still.
+
+At noon a shepherd staggered into the place, pale, bleeding, bruised,
+covered with mire. The Prussians, he told them, had forced him to be
+their guide, had knotted him tight to a trooper's saddle, and had
+dragged him with them until he was half dead with fatigue and pain. At
+night he had broken from them and had fled: they were close at hand, he
+said, and had burned the town from end to end because a man had fired at
+them from a house-top. That was all he knew. Bernadou, who had gone out
+to hear his news, returned into the house and sat down and hid his face
+within his hands.
+
+It grew dark. The autumn day died. The sullen clouds dropped scattered
+rain. The red leaves were blown in millions by the wind. The little
+houses on either side the road were dark, for the dwellers in them dared
+not show any light that might be a star to allure to them the footsteps
+of their foes. Bernadou sat with his arms on the table, and his head
+resting on them. Margot nursed her son: Reine Allix prayed.
+
+Suddenly in the street without there was the sound of many feet of
+horses and of men, the shouting of angry voices, the splashing of quick
+steps in the watery ways, the screams of women, the flash of steel
+through the gloom. Bernadou sprang to his feet, his face pale, his blue
+eyes dark as night. "They are come!" he said under his breath. It was
+not fear that he felt, nor horror: it was rather a passion of love for
+his birthplace and his nation,--a passion of longing to struggle and to
+die for both. And he had no weapon!
+
+He drew his house-door open with a steady hand, and stood on his own
+threshold and faced these, his enemies. The street was full of
+them,--some mounted, some on foots crowds of them swarmed in the woods
+on the roads. They had settled on the village as vultures on a dead
+lamb's body. It was a little, lowly place: it might well have been left
+in peace. It had had no more share in the war than a child still unborn,
+but it came in the victor's way, and his mailed heel crushed it as he
+passed. They had heard that arms were hidden and francs-tireurs
+sheltered there, and they had swooped down on it and held it hard and
+fast. Some were told off to search the chapel; some to ransack the
+dwellings; some to seize such food and bring such cattle as there might
+be left; some to seek out the devious paths that crossed and recrossed
+the field; and yet there still remained in the little street hundreds of
+armed men, force enough to awe a citadel or storm a breach.
+
+The people did not attempt to resist. They stood passive, dry-eyed in
+misery, looking on whilst the little treasures of their household lives
+were swept away forever, and ignorant what fate by fire or iron might be
+their portion ere the night was done. They saw the corn that was their
+winter store to save their offspring from famine poured out like
+ditch-water. They saw oats and wheat flung down to be trodden into a
+slough of mud and filth. They saw the walnut presses in their kitchens
+broken open, and their old heirlooms of silver, centuries old, borne
+away as booty. They saw the oak cupboard in their wives' bedchambers
+ransacked, and the homespun linen and the quaint bits of plate that had
+formed their nuptial dowers cast aside in derision or trampled into a
+battered heap. They saw the pet lamb of their infants, the silver
+earrings of their brides, the brave tankards they had drunk their
+marriage wine in, the tame bird that flew to their whistle, all seized
+for food or spoil. They saw all this, and had to stand by with mute
+tongues and passive hands, lest any glance of wrath or gesture of
+revenge should bring the leaden bullets in their children's throats or
+the yellow flame amidst their homesteads. Greater agony the world cannot
+hold.
+
+--LOUISE DE LA RAMEE (Ouida).
+
+[Footnote: This extract is taken from a story by the same title. The
+chief characters are the peasant Bernadou, his wife Margot, and his old
+grandmother Reine Allix. The scene is laid during the Franco-Prussian
+War of 1870. The great defeat of the French at Sedan, and the surrender
+of Paris from starvation after a long siege brought the war to an end.
+The victorious Prussians took from France an indemnity of five billion
+francs ($1,000,000,000), and two of their richest provinces, Alsace and
+Lorraine.
+
+What words in the first sentence show that it is not the beginning of
+the story? Note the repeated use of antithesis (contrast) in the first
+paragraph. By what details do you learn the state of the country? How
+did the war affect even the people remote from the battlefields? How are
+the terror and suffering of the people indicated? Notice the
+effectiveness of the author's use of details. Have you read any prose or
+poetry in which war is made to seem glorious? How does it seem here?
+Does the author make the scene of the arrival of the Prussians vivid?
+How is this done? Note the dramatic contrast between the arrival of the
+Prussians and the actions of the peasants. How has the author drawn the
+character of Bernadou? By what details does the author give special
+poignancy to the pathos of her account? What is the significance of the
+title "A Leaf in the Storm"?]
+
+
+
+
+CATS
+
+
+There was once a man in Italy--so the story runs--who said that animals
+were sacred because God had made them. People didn't believe him for a
+long time; they came, you see, of a race which had found it amusing to
+kill such things, and killed a great many of them too, until it struck
+them one fine day that killing men was better sport still, and watching
+men kill each other the best sport of all because it was the least
+trouble. Animals said they, why, how can they be sacred; things that you
+call beef and mutton when they have left off being oxen and sheep, and
+sell for so much a pound? They scoffed at this mad neighbour, looked at
+each other waggishly and shrugged their shoulders as he passed along the
+street. Well! then, all of a sudden, as you may say, one morning he
+walked into the town--Gubbio it was--with a wolf pacing at his heels--a
+certain wolf which had been the terror of the country-side and eaten I
+don't know how many children and goats. He walked up the main street
+till he got to the open Piazza in front of the great church. And the
+long grey wolf padded beside him with a limp tongue lolling out between
+the ragged palings which stood him for teeth. In the middle of the
+Piazza was a fountain, and above the fountain a tall stone crucifix. Our
+friend mounted the steps of the cross in the alert way he had (like a
+little bird, the story says) and the wolf, after lapping apologetically
+in the basin, followed him up three steps at a time. Then with one arm
+around the shaft to steady himself, he made a fine sermon to the
+neighbours crowding in the Square, and the wolf stood with his fore-paws
+on the edge of the fountain and helped him. The sermon was all about
+wolves (naturally) and the best way of treating them. I fancy the people
+came to agree with it in time; anyhow when the man died they made a
+saint of him and built three churches, one over another, to contain his
+body. And I believe it is entirely his fault that there are a
+hundred-and-three cats in the convent-garden of San Lorenzo in Florence.
+For what are you to do? Animals are sacred, says Saint Francis. Animals
+are sacred, but cats have kittens; and so it comes about that the people
+who agree with Saint Francis have to suffer for the people who don't.
+
+The Canons of San Lorenzo agree with Saint Francis, and it seems to me
+that they must suffer a good deal. The convent is large; it has a great
+mildewed cloister with a covered-in walk all around it built on arches.
+In the middle is a green garth [Footnote: Garth: an inclosure, a yard.]
+with cypresses and yews dotted about; and when you look up you see the
+blue sky cut square, and the hot tiles of a huge dome staring up into
+it. Round the cloister walk are discreet brown doors, and by the side of
+each door a brass plate tells you the name and titles of the Canon who
+lives behind it. It is on the principle of Dean's yard at Westminster;
+only here there are more Canons--and more cats.
+
+The Canons live under the cloister; the cats live on the green garth,
+and sometimes die there. I did not see much of the Canons; but the cats
+seemed to me very sad--depressed, nostalgic even, might describe them,
+if there had not been something more languid, something faded and
+spiritless about their habit. It was not that they quarrelled. I heard
+none of those long-drawn wails, gloomy yet mellow soliloquies, with
+which our cats usher in the crescent moon or hymn her when she swims at
+the full: there lacked even that comely resignation we may see on any
+sunny window-ledge at home;--the rounded back and neatly ordered tail,
+the immaculate fore-paws peering sedately below the snowy chest, the
+squeezed-up eyes which so resolutely shut off a bleak and (so to say)
+unenlightened world. That is pensiveness, sedate chastened melancholy;
+but it is soothing, it speaks a philosophy, and a certain balancing of
+pleasures and pains. In San Lorenzo cloister, when I looked in one hot
+noon seeking a refuge from the glare and white dust of the city, I was
+conscious of a something sinister that forbade such an even existence
+for the smoothest tempered cat. There were too many of them for
+companionship and perhaps too few for the humour of the thing to strike
+them: in and out the chilly shades they stalked gloomily, hither and
+thither like lank and unquiet ghosts of starved cats. They were of all
+colours--gay orange-tawny, tortoise shell with the becoming white patch
+over one eye, delicate tints of grey and fawn and lavender, brindle,
+glossy sable; and yet the gloom and dampness of the place seemed to
+mildew them all so that their brightness was glaring and their softest
+gradations took on a shade as of rusty mourning. No cat could be
+expected to do herself justice.
+
+To and fro they paced, balancing sometimes with hysterical precision
+[Footnote: Hysterical precision. What does this mean?] on the ledge of
+the parapet, passing each other at whisker's length, but cutting each
+other dead. [Footnote: Cutting each other dead. Have you ever thought of
+the quaint absurdity of this figurative expression?] Not a cat had a
+look or a sniff for his fellow; not a cat so much as guessed at
+another's existence. Among those hundred-and-three restless Spirits
+there was not a cat that did not affect to believe that a
+hundred-and-two were away! It was horrible, the inhumanity of it. Here
+were these shreds and waifs, these "unnecessary litters" of Florentine
+households, herded together in the only asylum (short of the Arno
+[Footnote: Arno: the river that flows through Florence.]) open to them,
+driven in like dead leaves in November, flitting dismally round and
+round for a span, and watching each other die without a mew or a lick!
+Saint Francis was not the wise man I had thought him. [Footnote: St.
+Francis not the wise man, etc. Why not?]
+
+It was about two o'clock in the afternoon. I had watched these beasts at
+their feverish exercises for nearly an hour before I perceived that they
+were gradually hemming me in. They seemed to be forming up, in ranks, on
+the garth. Only a ditch separated us--I was in the cloister-walk, a
+hundred-and-three gaunt, expectant, desperate cats facing me. Their
+famished pale eyes pierced me through and through; and two-hundred-
+and-two hungry eyes (four cats supported life on one apiece)
+is more than I can stand, though I am a married man with a family. These
+brutes thought I was going to feed them! I was preparing weakly for
+flight when I heard steps in the gateway; a woman came in with a black
+bag. She must be going to deposit a cat on Jean-Jacques [Footnote: Jean
+Jacques Rousseau: a French philosophical writer of the last part of the
+eighteenth century. His chief works are "Emile," "Social Contract,"
+"Confessions."] ingenious plan of avoiding domestic trouble; it was
+surely impossible she wanted to borrow one! Neither: she came
+confidently in, beaming on our mad fellowship with a pleasant smile of
+preparation. The cats knew her better than I did. Their suspense was
+really shocking to witness. While she was rolling her sleeves up and
+tying on her apron--she was poor, evidently, but very neat and wholesome
+in her black dress and the decent cap which crowned her hair--while she
+unpacked the contents of the bag--two newspaper parcels full of rather
+distressing viands, scissors, and a pair of gloves which had done duty
+more than once,--while all these preparations were soberly fulfilling,
+the agitation of the hundred-and-three was desperate indeed. The air
+grew thick, it quivered with the lashing of tails; hoarse mews echoed
+along the stone walls, paws were raised and let fall with the rhythmical
+patter of raindrops. A furtive beast played the thief: he was one of the
+one-eyed fraternity, red with mange. Somehow he slipped in between us;
+we discovered him crouched by the newspaper raking over the contents.
+This was no time for ceremony; he got a prompt cuff over the head and
+slunk away shivering and shaking his ears. And then the distribution
+began. Now, your cat, at the best of times, is squeamish about his food;
+he stands no tricks. He is a slow eater, though he can secure his dinner
+with the best of us. A vicious snatch, like a snake, and he has it. Then
+he spreads himself out to dispose of the prey--feet tucked well in, head
+low, tail laid close along, eyes shut fast. That is how a cat of
+breeding loves to dine. Alas! many a day of intolerable prowling, many a
+black vigil, had taken the polish off the hundred-and-three. As a matter
+of fact they behaved abominably; they leaped at the scraps, they clawed
+at them in the air, they bolted them whole with staring eyes and
+portentous gulpings, they growled all the while with the smothered
+ferocity of thunder in the hills. No waiting of turns, no licking of
+lips and moustaches to get the lingering flavors, no dalliance. They
+were as restless and suspicious here as everywhere; their feast was the
+horrid hasty orgy of ghouls in a church-yard. But an even distribution
+was made: I don't think any one got more than his share. Of course there
+were underhand attempts in plenty and, at least once, open violence--a
+sudden rush from opposite sides, a growling and spitting like sparks
+from a smithy; and then, with ears laid flat, two ill-favoured beasts
+clawed blindly at each other, and a sly and tigerish brindle made away
+with the morsel. My woman took the thing very coolly I thought, served
+them all alike, and didn't resent (as I should have done) the
+unfortunate want of delicacy there was about these vagrants. A cat that
+takes your food and growls at you for the favor, a cat that would eat
+you if he dared, is a pretty revelation. _Ca donne furieusement a
+penser._ [Footnote: Ca donne furieusement a penser: "That makes one
+think very hard."] It gives you a suspicion of just how far the polish
+we most of us smirk over will go. My cats at San Lorenzo knew some few
+moments of peace between two and three in the afternoon. That would have
+been the time to get up a testimonial to the kind soul who fed them. Try
+them at five and they would ignore you. But try them next morning!
+
+My knowledge of the Italian tongue, in those days, was severely limited
+to the necessaries of existence; to try me on a fancy subject, like
+cats, was to strike me dumb. But at this stage of our intercourse
+(hitherto confined to smiles and eye-service) it became so evident my
+companion had something to say that I must perforce take my hat off and
+stand attentive. She pointed to the middle of the garth, and there,
+under the boughs of a shrub, I saw the hundred-and-fourth cat, sorriest
+of them all. It was a newcomer she told me, and shy. Shy it certainly
+was, poor wretch; it glowered upon me from under the branches like a bad
+conscience. Shyness could not hide hunger--I never saw hungrier eyes
+than hers--but it could hold it in check: the silkiest speech could not
+tempt her out, and when we threw pieces she only winced! What was to be
+done next was my work. Plain duty called me to scale the ditch with some
+of those dripping, slippery, nameless cates [Footnote: Cates: viands;
+things to eat. Why "slippery"? Nameless. What are they called in the
+third sentence from the end of the paragraph?] in my fingers and to
+approach the stranger where she lurked bodeful under her tree. My
+passage toward her lay over the rank vegetation of the garth, in whose
+coarse herbage here and there I stumbled upon a limp white form
+stretched out--a waif the less in the world! I don't say it was a happy
+passage for me: it was made to the visible consternation of her I wished
+to befriend. Her piteous yellow eyes searched mine for sympathy; she
+wanted to tell me something and I wouldn't understand! As I neared her
+she shivered and mewed twice. Then she limped painfully off--poor soul,
+she had but three feet!--to another tree, leaving behind her,
+unwillingly enough, a much-licked dead kitten. That was what she wanted
+to tell, then. As I was there, I deposited the garbage by the side of
+the little corpse, knowing she would resume her watch, and retired. My
+friend who had put up her parcels was prepared to go. She thanked me
+with a smile as she went out, looking carefully round lest she had
+missed out some other night-birds.
+
+One of the Canons had come out of his door and was leaning against the
+lintel, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. He was a spare dry man who seemed
+to have measured life and found it childish business. He jerked his head
+toward the gateway as he glanced at me. "That is a good woman," he said
+in French, "she lendeth unto the Lord.... Yes," he went on, nodding his
+head slowly backwards and forwards, "lends Him something every day." The
+cats were sitting in the shady cloister-garth licking their whiskers:
+one was actually cleaning his paw. I went out into the sun thinking of
+Saint Francis and his wolf.
+
+[Footnote: St. Francis was born in 1182 in the little town of Assissi,
+Italy. He came of a rich and noble family, and was taken into business
+partnership with his father, a wealthy merchant, at the age of fourteen.
+In his twenty-fourth year he suddenly abandoned his friends and work,
+and took up a life of penance and utter poverty. His austerities, his
+sincerity, and his simple eloquence attracted much attention, and he
+soon had many followers. Later on he founded the Franciscan Order of
+monks, and did much missionary work by traveling in the East. He died at
+Assissi in 1226.]
+
+--MAURICE HEWLETT.
+
+[Footnote: What reference in the first sentence to the sports in the
+arena of Rome?
+
+Notice how many times the author refers to the number of cats. Why?
+
+Is the description of the scene objective or subjective? Cf. "A Leaf in
+the Storm."
+
+Notice the suggestiveness of the adjectives as in the reference to
+"Discrete brown doors" on page 7.
+
+How do these cats differ from cats as you know them? What qualities have
+they that you recognize? Where does the author indicate that he is about
+to begin a story? Does the author win your sympathy for the cats? How?
+In what does the humor of the story lie? What is the climax of the
+story? What do you think of the priest and his comment? Does the whole
+sketch interest you because it describes a strange scene, or because it
+raises the question of the humanity of keeping alive one hundred and
+three cats?]
+
+
+
+
+AN ADVENTURE
+
+
+During the expedition to Upper Egypt under General Desaix, a Provencal
+[Footnote: Provencal. Provence was an ancient government of southeastern
+France. It became part of the crown lands in 1481 under Louis XI. The
+term Provencals is used loosely to include dwellers in the south of
+France.] soldier, who had fallen into the clutches of the Maugrabins,
+was marched by these marauders, these tireless Arabs, into the deserts
+lying beyond the cataracts of the Nile.
+
+So as to put a sufficient distance between themselves and the French
+army, to insure their greater safety, the Maugrabins [Footnote:
+Maugrabins: a savage tribe of northern Africa.] made forced marches and
+rested only during the night. They then encamped around a well shaded by
+palm-trees, under which they had previously concealed a store of
+provisions. Never dreaming that their prisoner would think of escaping,
+they satisfied themselves by merely tying his hands, then lay down to
+sleep, after having regaled themselves with a few dates and given
+provender to their horses.
+
+When the courageous Provencal noted that they slept soundly and could no
+longer watch his movements, he made use of his teeth to steal a
+scimitar, [Footnote: Scimitar: a short Turkish sword, carbine: a short
+light rifle.] steadied the blade between his knees, cut through the
+thongs which bound his hands; in an instant he was free. He at once
+seized a carbine and a long dirk, [Footnote: Dirk: a dagger.] then took
+the precaution of providing himself with a stock of dried dates, a small
+bag of oats, some powder and bullets, and hung a scimitar around his
+waist, mounted one of the horses and spurred on in the direction in
+which he supposed the French army to be. So impatient was he to see a
+bivouac [Footnote: Bivouac: an encampment without tents.] again that he
+pressed on the already tired courser at such a speed that its flanks
+were lacerated with the spurs, and soon the poor animal, utterly
+exhausted, fell dead, leaving the Frenchman alone in the midst of the
+desert.
+
+After walking for a long time in the sand, with all the courage and
+firmness of an escaped convict, the soldier was obliged to stop, as the
+day had already come to an end. Despite the beauty of an Oriental night,
+with its exquisite sky, he felt that he could not, though he fain would,
+continue on his weary way. Fortunately he had come to a small eminence,
+on the summit of which grew a few palm-trees whose verdure shot into the
+air and could be seen from afar; this had brought hope and consolation
+to his heart.
+
+(Here follows a description of the cave which the soldier finds in the
+rocks.)
+
+His fatigue was so great that he threw himself down on a block of
+granite, capriciously fashioned [Footnote: Capriciously fashioned.
+Explain this term.] by nature into the semblance of a camp-bed, and,
+without taking any precaution for defense, was soon fast in sleep. In
+the middle of the night his sleep was disturbed by an extraordinary
+sound. He sat up; the profound silence that reigned around enabled him
+to distinguish the alternating rhythm of a respiration whose savage
+energy it was impossible could be that of a human being.
+
+A terrible terror, increased yet more by the silence, the darkness, his
+racing fancy, froze his heart within him. He felt his hair rise on end,
+as his eyes, dilated to their utmost, perceived through the gloom two
+faint amber lights. At first he attributed these lights to the delusion
+of his vision, but presently the vivid brilliance of the night aided him
+to gradually distinguish the objects around him in the cave, when he
+saw, within the space of two feet of him, a huge animal lying at rest.
+Was it a lion? Was it a tiger? Was it a crocodile?
+
+The Provencal was not sufficiently well educated to know under what
+sub-species his enemy should be classed; his fear was but the greater
+because his ignorance led him to imagine every terror at once. He
+endured most cruel tortures as he noted every variation of the breathing
+which was so near him; he dared not make the slightest movement.
+
+An odor, pungent like that of a fox, but more penetrating as it were,
+more profound, filled the cavern. When the Provencal became sensible of
+this, his terror reached the climax, for now he could no longer doubt
+the proximity of a terrible companion, whose royal lair [Footnote: Royal
+lair. Why royal?] he had utilized as a bivouac.
+
+Presently the reflection of the moon as it slowly descended to the
+horizon, lighted up the den, rendering gradually visible the gleaming,
+resplendent, and spotted skin of a panther.
+
+This lion of Egypt lay asleep curled up like a great dog, the peaceful
+possessor of a kennel at the door of some sumptuous hotel; its eyes
+opened for a moment, then closed again; its face was turned towards the
+Frenchman. A thousand confused thoughts passed through the mind of the
+tiger's prisoner. Should he, as he at first thought of doing, kill it
+with a shot from his carbine? But he saw plainly that there was not room
+enough in which to take proper aim; the muzzle would have extended
+beyond the animal--the bullet would miss the mark. And what if it were
+to wake!--this fear kept him motionless and rigid.
+
+He heard the pulsing of his heart beating in the so dread silence and he
+cursed the too violent pulsations which his surging blood brought on,
+lest they should awaken from sleep the dreadful creature; that slumber
+which gave him time to think and plan over his escape.
+
+Twice did he place his hand upon his scimitar, intending to cut off his
+enemy's head; but the difficulty of severing the close haired skin
+caused him to renounce this daring attempt. To miss was certain death.
+He preferred the chance of a fair fight, and made up his mind to await
+the daylight. The dawn did not give him long to wait. It came.
+
+He could now examine the panther at his ease; its muzzle was smeared
+with blood.
+
+"It's had a good dinner," he said, without troubling himself to
+speculate whether the feast might have been of human flesh or not. "It
+won't be hungry when it wakes."
+
+It was a female. The fur on her thighs was glistening white. Many small
+spots like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her paws; her sinuous
+tail was also white, ending in black rings. The back of her dress was
+yellow, like unburnished gold, very lissome, [Footnote: Lissome: supple,
+nimble.] and soft, and had the characteristic blotches in the shape of
+pretty rosettes, which distinguish the panther from every other species
+felis. [Footnote: Species felis. Latin "felis," a cat.]
+
+This formidable hostess lay tranquilly snoring in an attitude as
+graceful and easy as that of a cat on the cushion of an ottoman. Her
+bloody paws, nervous and well armed, were stretched out before her head,
+which rested on the back of them, while from her muzzle radiated her
+straight, slender whiskers, like threads of silver.
+
+If he had seen her lying thus, imprisoned in a cage, the Provencal would
+doubtless have admired the grace of the creature and the vivid contrasts
+of color which gave her robe an imperial splendour; but just then his
+sight was jaundiced [Footnote: Jaundiced. Explain this term.] by
+sinister forebodings.
+
+The presence of the panther, even asleep, had the same effect upon him
+as the magnetic eyes of a snake are said to have on the nightingale.
+
+The soldier's courage oozed away in the presence of this silent danger,
+though he was a man who gathered courage at the mouth of a cannon
+belching forth shot and shell. And yet a bold thought brought daylight
+to his soul and sealed up the source from whence issued the cold sweat
+which gathered on his brow. Like men driven to bay, who defy death and
+offer their bodies to the smiter, so he, seeing in this merely a tragic
+episode, resolved to play his part with honor to the last.
+
+"The day before yesterday," said he, "the Arabs might have killed me."
+
+So considering himself as already dead, he waited bravely, but with
+anxious curiosity, the awakening of his enemy.
+
+When the sun appeared the panther suddenly opened her eyes; then she
+stretched out her paws with energy, as if to get rid of cramp. Presently
+she yawned and showed the frightful armament of her teeth, and the
+pointed tongue rough as a rasp.
+
+"She is dainty as a woman," thought the Frenchman, seeing her rolling
+and turning herself about so softly and coquettishly. She licked off the
+blood from her paws and muzzle, and scratched her head with reiterated
+grace of movement.
+
+"Good, make your little toilet" said the Frenchman to himself; he
+recovered his gayety with his courage. "We are presently about to give
+each other good-morning," and he felt for the short poniard that he had
+abstracted from the Maugrabins. At this instant the panther turned her
+head toward him and gazed fixedly at him, without otherwise moving.
+
+The rigidity of her metallic eyes and their insupportable lustre made
+him shudder. The beast approached him; he looked at her caressingly,
+staring into those bright eyes in an effort to magnetize her--to soothe
+her. He let her come quite close to him before stirring; then with a
+gentle movement, he passed his hand over her whole body, from the head
+to the tail, scratching the flexible vertebrae, [Footnote: Vertebrae:
+the bones of the spinal column.] which divided the yellow back of the
+panther. The animal slightly moved her tail voluptuously, and her eyes
+grew soft and gentle; and when for the third time the Frenchman had
+accomplished this interested flattery, she gave vent to those purrings
+like as cats express their pleasure; but it issued from a throat so
+deep, so powerful, that it resounded through the cave like the last
+chords of an organ rolling along the vaulted roof of a church. The
+Provencal seeing the value of his caresses, redoubled them until they
+completely soothed and lulled this imperious creature.
+
+When he felt assured that he had extinguished the ferocity of his
+capricious companion, whose hunger had so luckily been appeased the day
+before, he got up to leave the grotto. The panther let him go out, but
+when he reached the summit of the little knoll she sprang up and bounded
+after him with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to twig on a
+tree, and rubbed against his legs, arching her back after the manner of
+a domestic cat. Then regarding her guest with eyes whose glare had
+somewhat softened, she gave vent to that wild cry which naturalists
+compare to the grating of a saw.
+
+"Madame is exacting," said the Frenchman, smiling.
+
+He was bold enough to play with her ears; he stroked her body and
+scratched her head good and hard with his nails. He was encouraged with
+his success, and tickled her skull with the point of his dagger,
+watching for an opportune moment to kill her, but the hardness of the
+bone made him tremble, dreading failure.
+
+The sultana of the desert [Footnote: Why does the author call the tiger
+the sultana of the desert?] showed herself gracious to her slave; she
+lifted her head, stretched out her neck, and betrayed her delight by the
+tranquillity of her relaxed attitude. It suddenly occurred to the
+soldier that, to slay this savage princess with one blow, he must stab
+deep in the throat.
+
+He raised the blade, when the panther, satisfied, no doubt, threw
+herself gracefully at his feet and glanced up at him with a look in
+which, despite her natural ferocity, a glimmer of goodwill was apparent.
+The poor Provencal, thus frustrated for the nonce, [Footnote: For the
+nonce: for the present.] ate his dates as he leaned against one of the
+palm-trees, casting an interrogating glance from time to time across the
+desert in quest of some deliverer, and on his terrible companion,
+watching the chance of her uncertain clemency.
+
+The panther looked at the place where the date-stones fell; and each
+time he threw one, she examined the Frenchman with an eye of commercial
+distrust. [Footnote: An eye of commercial distrust. Explain this term.]
+However, the examination seemed to be favorable to him, for, when he had
+eaten his frugal meal, she licked his boots with her powerful, rough
+tongue, cleaning off the dust, which was caked in the wrinkles, in a
+marvellous manner.
+
+"Ah! but how when she is really hungry?" thought the Provencal. In spite
+of the shudder caused by this thought, his attention was curiously drawn
+to the symmetrical proportions of the animal, which was certainly one of
+the most splendid specimens of its race. He began to measure them with
+his eye. She was three feet in height at the shoulders and four feet in
+length, not counting her tail; this powerful weapon was nearly three
+feet long, and rounded like a cudgel. The head, large as that of a
+lioness, was distinguished by an intelligent, crafty expression. The
+cold cruelty of the tiger dominated, and yet it bore a vague resemblance
+to the face of a woman. [Footnote: Face of a woman. The creature, part
+tiger and part woman, suggests what famous monument?] Indeed, the
+countenance of this solitary queen had something of the gayety of a Nero
+[Footnote: Nero: a Roman Emperor notorious for his cruelty.] in his
+cups; her thirst for blood was slaked, now she wished for amusement.
+
+The soldier tried if he might walk up and down, the panther left him
+freedom, contenting herself with following him with her eyes, less like
+a faithful dog watching his master's movements with affectionate
+solicitude, than a huge Angora cat uneasy and suspicious of every
+movement.
+
+When he looked around, he saw, by the spring, the carcass of his horse;
+the panther had dragged the remains all that distance, and had eaten
+about two-thirds of it already. The sight reassured the Frenchman, it
+made it easy to explain the panther's absence and the forbearance she
+had shown him while he slept.
+
+This first good-luck emboldened the soldier to think of the future. He
+conceived the wild idea of continuing on good terms with his companion
+and to share her home, to try every means to tame her, and endeavoring
+to turn her good graces to his account.
+
+With these thoughts he returned to her side, and had the unspeakable joy
+of seeing her wag her tail with an almost imperceptible motion as he
+approached. He sat down beside her, fearlessly, and they began to play
+together. He took her paws and muzzle, twisted her ears, and stroked her
+warm, delicate flanks. She allowed him to do whatever he liked, and,
+when he began to stroke the fur on her feet, she carefully drew in her
+murderously savage claws, which were sharp and curved like a Damascus
+sword. [Footnote: Damascus sword: A Damascus blade was famed for its
+excellence.]
+
+The Frenchman kept one hand on his poniard, and thought to watch his
+chance to plunge it into the belly of the too confiding animal; but he
+was fearful lest he might be strangled in her last convulsive struggles;
+beside this, he felt in his heart a sort of remorse which bade him
+respect this hitherto inoffensive creature that had done him no hurt. He
+seemed to have found a friend in the boundless desert, and,
+half-unconsciously, his mind reverted to his old sweetheart whom he had,
+in derision, nicknamed "Mignonne."
+
+This recollection of his youthful days suggested the idea of making the
+panther answer to this name, now that he began to admire with less fear
+her graceful swiftness, agility, and softness. Toward the close of the
+day he had so familiarized himself with his perilous position that he
+was half in love with his dangerous situation and its painfulness. At
+last his companion had grown so far tamed that she had caught the habit
+of looking up at him whenever he called in a falsetto voice, "Mignonne."
+
+From that time the desert was inhabited for him. It contained a being to
+whom he could talk and whose ferocity was now lulled into gentleness,
+although he could not explain to himself this strange friendship.
+Anxious as he was to keep awake and on guard, as it were, he gradually
+succumbed to his excessive fatigue of body and mind; he threw himself on
+the floor of the cave and slept soundly.
+
+On awakening Mignonne was absent; he climbed the hillock and afar off
+saw her returning in the long bounds characteristic of those animals who
+cannot run owing to the extreme flexibility of the vertebral column.
+
+Mignonne arrived with bloody jaws; she received the wonted caresses, the
+tribute her slave hastened to pay, and showed by her purring how
+transported she was. Her eyes, full of languor, rested more kindly on
+the Provencal than on the previous day, and he addressed her as he would
+have done a domestic animal.
+
+"Ah! mademoiselle, you're a nice girl, ain't you? Just see now! we like
+to be petted, don't we? Are you not ashamed of yourself? So you've been
+eating some Arab or other, eh? Well, that doesn't matter. They're
+animals, the same as you are; but don't take to crunching up a
+Frenchman, bear that in mind, or I shall not love you any longer."
+
+She played like a dog with its master, allowing herself to be rolled
+over, knocked about, stroked, and the rest, alternately; at times she
+would coax him to play by putting her paw upon his knee and making a
+pretty gesture of solicitation.
+
+One day, under a bright midday sun, a great bird hovered in the sky. The
+Provencal left his panther to gaze at this new guest; but after pausing
+for a moment the deserted sultana uttered a deep growl.
+
+"God take me! I do believe that she is jealous," he cried, seeing the
+rigid look appearing again in the metallic eyes. "The soul of Virginie
+has passed into her body, that's sure!"
+
+The eagle disappeared in the ether, and the soldier admired her again,
+recalled by the panther's evident displeasure, her rounded flanks, and
+the perfect grace of her attitude. There was youth and grace in her
+form. The blonde fur of her robe shaded, with delicate gradations, to
+the dead-white tones of her furry thighs; the vivid sunshine brought out
+in its fulness the brilliancy of this living gold and its variegated
+brown spots with indescribable lustre.
+
+The Provencal and the panther looked at each other with a look pregnant
+with meaning. She trembled with delight (the coquettish creature) when
+she felt her friend scratch the strong bones of her skull with his
+nails. Her eyes glittered like lightning-flashes--then she closed them
+tightly.
+
+"She has a soul!" cried he, looking at the stillness of this queen of
+the sands, golden like them, white as their waving light, solitary and
+burning as themselves.
+
+(Here the narrative breaks off somewhat abruptly and continues in the
+first person--that of the soldier.)
+
+"Suddenly she turned on me in a fury, seizing my thigh with her sharp
+teeth, and yet (I thought of this afterwards) not cruelly. I imagined
+that she intended devouring me, and I plunged my poniard in her throat.
+She rolled over with a cry that rent my soul; she looked at me in her
+death-struggle, but without anger. I would have given the whole
+world--my cross, which I had not yet gained, all, everything--to restore
+her life to her. It was as if I had assassinated a real human being, a
+friend. When the soldiers who had seen my flag came to my rescue they
+found me in tears.
+
+"Ah! well, monsieur, I went through the wars in Germany, Spain, Russia,
+and France; I have marched my carcass well-nigh the world over, but I
+have seen nothing comparable to the desert."
+
+--HONORE DE BALZAC (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Note the detailed description. Does it add to the reality of
+the scene? Does the author succeed in making the panther appeal to our
+sympathy? Does the story seem plausible or merely fantastic? Where do
+you find surprises in the story that add to its interest?]
+
+
+
+
+FOR THOSE WHO LOVE MUSIC
+
+
+I had engaged him by the year. Twice a week he came and went through his
+whole repertoire, and lately, out of sympathy for me, he would play the
+_Miserere_ of the _Trovatore_, [Footnote: Miserere of the
+Trovatore. Trovatore is an opera by Verdi.] which was his show piece,
+twice over. He stood there in the middle of the street looking
+steadfastly up at my windows while he played, and when he had finished
+he would take off his hat with an "Addio, Signor!" [Footnote: Addio
+Signer: "Good-by, Sir."]
+
+It is well known that the barrel-organ, like the violin, gets a fuller
+and more sympathetic tone the older it is. The old artist had an
+excellent instrument, not of the modern noisy type which imitates a
+whole orchestra with flutes and bells and beats of drums, but a
+melancholy old-fashioned barrel-organ [Footnote: A melancholy barrel
+organ. What does the author mean by this?] which knew how to lend a
+dreamy mystery to the gayest allegretto, [Footnote: Allegretto: lively,
+a musical term to denote the tempo of a composition.] and in whose
+proudest tempo di Marcia [Footnote: Tempo di Marcia: marching time.]
+there sounded an unmistakable undertone of resignation. And in the
+tenderer pieces of the repertoire, where the melody, muffled and
+staggering like a cracked old human voice, groped its way amongst the
+rusty pipes of the treble, then there was a trembling in the bass like
+suppressed sobs. Now and then the voice of the tired organ failed it
+completely, and then the old man would resignedly turn the handle during
+some bars of rest more touching in their eloquent silence than any
+music.
+
+True, the instrument was itself very expressive, but the old man had
+surely his share in the sensation of melancholy which came over me
+whenever I heard his music. He had his beat in the poor quarter behind
+the Jardin des Plantes, [Footnote: Jardin des Plantes: the botanical
+garden.] and many times during my solitary rambles up there had I
+stopped and taken my place among the scanty audience of ragged street
+boys which surrounded him.
+
+It was not difficult to see that times were hard--the old man's clothes
+were doubtful, and the pallor of poverty lay over his withered features,
+where I read the story of a long life of failure. He came from the
+mountains around Monte Cassino, [Footnote: Monte Cassino: a monastery on
+a hill near Cassino, Italy, about forty-five miles from Naples.] so he
+informed me, but where the monkey hailed from I never quite got to know.
+
+Thus we met from time to time during my rambles in the poor quarters.
+Had I a moment to spare I stopped for a while to listen to a tune or
+two, as I saw that it gratified the old man, and since I always carried
+a lump of sugar in my pocket for any dog acquaintance I might possibly
+meet, I soon made friends with the monkey also. The relations between
+the little monkey and her impressario [Footnote: Impressario: the
+conductor of an opera or a concert.] were unusually cordial, and this
+notwithstanding that she had completely failed to fulfil the
+expectations which had been founded upon her--she had never been able to
+learn a single trick, the old man told me. Thus all attempts at
+education had long ago been abandoned, and she sat there huddled
+together on her barrel-organ and did nothing at all. Her face was sad,
+like that of most animals, and her thoughts were far away. But now and
+then she woke up from her dreams, and her eyes could then take a
+suspicious, almost malignant expression, as they lit upon some of the
+street boys who crowded round her tribune [Footnote: Round her tribune:
+a curious use of this word, which means a pulpit or bench from which
+speeches were made.] and tried to pull her tail, which stuck out from
+her little gold-laced garibaldi. [Footnote: Garibaldi: a jacket which
+took its name from its likeness in shape to the red shirt worn by the
+Italian patriot Garibaldi.] To me she was always very amiable;
+confidently she laid her wrinkled hand in mine and absently she accepted
+the little attentions I was able to offer her. She was very fond of
+sweetmeats, and burnt almonds were, in her opinion, the most delectable
+thing in the world.
+
+Since the old man had once recognized his musical friend on a balcony of
+the Hotel de L'Avenir, [Footnote: Hotel de L'Avenir: literally, "Hotel
+of the Future."] he often came and played under my windows. Later on he
+became engaged, as already said, to come regularly and play twice a
+week,--it may, perhaps, appear superfluous for one who was studying
+medicine, but the old man's terms were so small, and you know I have
+always been so fond of music. Besides it was the only recreation at
+hand--I was working to take my degree in the spring.
+
+So passed the autumn, and the hard times came. The rich tried on the new
+winter fashions, and the poor shivered with the cold. It became more and
+more difficult for well-gloved hands to leave the warm muff or the
+fur-lined coat to take out a copper for the beggar, and more and more
+desperate became the struggle for bread amongst the problematical
+existences [Footnote: The problematical existences. Explain this
+expression.] of the street.
+
+Now and then I came across my friend, and we always had, as before, a
+kind word for one another. He was now, wrapped up in an old Abruzzi
+cloak, [Footnote: Abruzzi cloak. Abruzzi is a division of western Italy
+including three provinces.] and I noticed that the greater the cold
+became the faster did he turn the handle to keep himself warm; and
+towards December the _Miserere_ itself was performed in allegretto.
+
+The monkey had now become civilian, and wrapped up her little thin body
+in a long ulster such as Englishmen wear; but she was fearfully cold
+notwithstanding, and, forgetful of all etiquette, more and more often
+she jumped from the barrel-organ and crept in under the old man's cloak.
+
+And while they were suffering out there in the cold I sat at home in my
+cosy, warm room, and instead of helping them, I forgot all about them,
+more and more taken up as I was with my coming examination, with no
+thought but for myself. And then one day I suddenly left my lodgings and
+removed to the Hotel Dieu to take the place of a comrade, and weeks
+passed before I put my foot out of the hospital.
+
+I remember it so well, it was on New Year's Day we met each other again.
+I was crossing the Place de Notre Dame, [Footnote: Place de Notre Dame.
+The square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.] mass was just over, and
+the people were streaming out of the old cathedral. As usual, a row of
+beggars was standing before the door, imploring the charity of the
+church-goers. At the farther end, and at some distance from the others,
+an old man stood with bent head and outstretched hat, and with painful
+surprise I recognized my friend in his threadbare old coat without the
+Abruzzi cloak, without the barrel-organ, without the monkey. My first
+impulse was to go up to him, but an uneasy feeling of I do not know what
+held me back; I felt that I blushed and I did not move from my place.
+Every now and then a passer-by stopped for a moment and made as if to
+search his pockets, but I did not see a single copper fall into the old
+man's hat. The place became gradually deserted, and one beggar after
+another trotted off with his little earnings. At last a child came out
+of the church, led by a gentleman in mourning; the child pointed towards
+the old man, and then ran up to him and laid a silver coin in his hat.
+The old man humbly bowed his head in thanks, and even I, with my
+unfortunate absent-mindedness, was very nearly thanking the little donor
+also, so pleased was I. My friend carefully wrapped up the precious gift
+in an old pocket-handkerchief, and stooping forward, as if still
+carrying the barrel-organ on his back, he walked off.
+
+I happened to be quite free that morning, and thinking that a little
+walk before luncheon could do me no harm after the hospital air, I
+followed him at a short distance across the Seine. [Footnote: Seine.
+Paris is on the River Seine. "buon giorno": "Good day."] Once or twice I
+nearly caught him up, and all but tapped him on the shoulder, with a
+"Buon giorno, Don Gaetano!" Yet, without exactly knowing why, I drew
+back at the last moment and let him get a few paces ahead of me again.
+
+We had just crossed the Place Maubert [Footnote: Place Maubert:
+Boulevard St. Germain: streets in Paris.] and turned into the Boulevard
+St. Germain; the boulevard was full of people, so that, without being
+noticed, I could approach him quite close. He was standing before an
+elegant confectioners' shop, and to my surprise he entered without
+hesitation. I took up my position before the shop window, alongside some
+shivering street arabs [Footnote: Street Arabs. What is meant by this
+term?] who stood there, absorbed in the contemplation of the
+unattainable delicacies within, and I watched the old man carefully
+untie his pocket-handkerchief and lay the little girl's gift upon the
+counter. I had hardly time to draw back before he came out with a red
+paper bag of sweets in his hand, and with rapid steps he started off in
+the direction of the Jardin des Plantes.
+
+I was very much astonished at what I had seen, and my curiosity made me
+follow him. He slackened his pace at one of the little slums behind
+Hopital de la Pitie, [Footnote: Hopital de la Pitie: literally,
+"Hospital of Pity."] and I saw him disappear into a dirty old house. I
+waited outside a minute or two and then I groped my way through the
+pitch-dark entrance, climbed up a filthy staircase, and found a door
+slightly ajar. An icy, dark room, in the middle three ragged little
+children crouched together around a half-extinct braziero, [Footnote:
+Brazier: a pan for burning coals. Tuscan. Tuscany is one of the
+divisions of northern Italy.] in the corner the only furniture in the
+room--a clean iron bedstead, with crucifix and rosary hung on the wall
+above it, and by the window an image of the Madonna adorned with gaudy
+paper flowers; I was in Italy, in my poor, exiled Italy. And in the
+purest Tuscan the eldest sister informed me that Don Gaetano lived in
+the garret. I went up there and knocked, but got no answer, so I opened
+the door myself. The room was brightly lit by a blazing fire. With his
+back towards the door, Don Gaetano was on his knees before the stove
+busy heating a saucepan over the fire; beside him on the floor lay an
+old mattress with the well-known Abruzzi cloak thrown over it, and close
+by, spread out on a newspaper, were various delicacies--an orange,
+walnuts, and raisins, and there also was the red paper bag. Don Gaetano
+dropped a lump of sugar into the saucepan, stirred it with a stick, and
+in a persuasive voice I heard him say, "Che bella roba, che bella roba,
+quanto e buono questa latte con lo zucchero! Non piange anima mia,
+adesso siamo pronti!" [Footnote: "What nice things, what nice things,
+how good this milk with sugar is! Don't cry, my darling, it is ready
+now!"]
+
+A slight rustling was heard beneath the Abruzzi cloak and a black little
+hand was stretched out toward the red paper bag.
+
+"Primo il latte, primo il latte" admonished the old man. "Non importa,
+piglio tu una," [Footnote: "The milk first, the milk first--never mind,
+take one."] he repeated, and took a big burnt almond out of the paper
+bag; the little hand disappeared, and a crunching was heard under the
+cloak. Don Gaetano poured the warm milk in a saucer, and then he
+carefully lifted up a corner of the cloak. There lay the poor little
+monkey with heaving breast and eyes glowing with fever. Her face had
+become so small and her complexion was ashy gray. The old man took her
+on his knees, and tenderly as a mother he poured some spoonfuls of the
+warm milk into her mouth. She looked with indifferent eyes towards the
+delicacies on the table, and absently she let her fingers pass through
+her master's beard. She was so tired that she could hardly hold her head
+up, and now and then she coughed so that her thin little body trembled,
+and she pressed both her hands to her temples. Don Gaetano shook his
+head sadly, and carefully laid the little invalid back under the cloak.
+
+A feeble blush spread over the old man's face as he caught sight of me.
+I told him that I happened to be passing by just as he was entering his
+house, and that I took the liberty of following him upstairs in order to
+bid him good-morning and to give him my new address, in the hope that he
+would come and play to me as before. I involuntarily looked round for
+the barrel-organ as I spoke, and Don Gaetano, who understood, informed
+me that he no longer played the organ--he sang. I glanced at the
+precious pile of wood beside the fire-place, at the new blanket that
+hung before the window to keep out the draught, at the delicacies on the
+newspaper--and I also understood.
+
+The monkey had been ill three weeks--"la febbre," [Footnote: La febbre:
+the fever.] explained the old man. We knelt one on each side of the bed,
+and the sick animal looked at me with her mute prayer for help. Her nose
+was hot, as it is with sick children and dogs, her face wrinkled like
+that of an old, old woman, and her eyes had got quite a human
+expression. Her breathing was so short, and we could hear how it rattled
+in her throat. The diagnosis was not difficult--she had consumption. Now
+and again she stretched out her thin arms as if she implored us to help
+her, and Don Gaetano thought that she did so because she wished to be
+bled. I would willingly have given in in this case, although opposed in
+principle to this treatment, if I had thought it possible that any
+benefit could have been derived from it; but I knew only too well how
+unlikely this was, and I tried my best to make Don Gaetano understand
+it. Unhappily I did not know myself what there was to be done. I had at
+that time a friend amongst the keepers of the monkey-house in the Jardin
+des Plantes, and the same night he came with me to have a look at her;
+he said that there was nothing to be done, and that there was no hope.
+And he was right. For one week more the fire blazed in Don Gaetano's
+garret, then it was left to go out, and it became cold and dark as
+before in the old man's home.
+
+True, he got his barrel-organ out from the pawn-shop, and now and then a
+copper fell into his hat. He did not die of starvation, and that was
+about all he asked of life.
+
+The spring came and I left Paris; and God knows what become of Don
+Gaetano.
+
+If you happen to hear a melancholy old barrel-organ in the courtyard, go
+to the window and give a penny to the poor errant [Footnote: Errant:
+wandering.] musician--perhaps it is Don Gaetano! If you find that his
+organ disturbs you, try if you like it, better by making him stand a
+little farther off, but don't send him away with harshness! He has to
+bear so many hard words as it is; why should not we then be a little
+kind to him--we who love music?
+
+--AXEL MUNTHE (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What interested the author in the old organ-grinder? What was
+the music like? Explain the title of the story. By what incidents does
+the author show the unselfish devotion of the old musician for his pet?
+Was his pet winning or lovable? Why did the old man care so much for it?
+Is the picture of the old man dignified or sordid?
+
+Why? Point out instances of dramatic contrast. Are the descriptions in
+the story simple or elaborate?]
+
+
+
+
+OUT OF DOORS
+
+
+St. Guido [Footnote: Saint Guido was a fanciful name given to the little
+boy because his shock of golden curls looked like the nimbus around a
+saint's head.] ran out at the garden gate into a sandy lane, and down
+the lane till he came to a grassy bank. He caught hold of the bunches of
+grass and so pulled himself up. There was a footpath on the top which
+went straight in between fir-trees, and as he ran along they stood on
+each side of him like green walls. They were very near together, and
+even at the top the space between them was so narrow that the sky seemed
+to come down, and the clouds to be sailing but just over them, as if
+they would catch and tear in the fir-trees. The path was so little used
+that it had grown green, and as he ran he knocked dead branches out of
+his way. Just as he was getting tired of running he reached the end of
+the path, and came out into a wheat-field. The wheat did not grow very
+closely, and the spaces were filled with azure corn-flowers. St. Guido
+thought he was safe away now, so he stopped to look.
+
+There were the fir-trees behind him--a thick wall of green--hedges on
+the right and left, and the wheat sloped down towards an ash-copse in
+the hollow. No one was in the field, only the fir-trees, the green
+hedges, the yellow, wheat, and the sun overhead. Guido kept quite still,
+because he expected that in a minute the magic would begin, and
+something would speak to him. His cheeks, which had been flushed with
+running, grew less hot, but I cannot tell you the exact color they were;
+for his skin was so white and clear, it would not tan under the sun, yet
+being always out of doors it had taken the faintest tint of golden brown
+mixed with rosiness. His blue eyes which had been wide open, as they
+always were when full of mischief, became softer, and his long eyelashes
+drooped over them. But as the magic did not begin, Guido walked on
+slowly into the wheat, which rose nearly to his head, though it was not
+yet so tall as it would be before the reapers came. He did not break any
+of the stalks, or bend them down and step on them; he passed between
+them, and they yielded on either side. The wheat-ears were pale gold,
+having only just left off their green, and they surrounded him on all
+sides as if he were bathing.
+
+A butterfly painted a velvety red with white spots came floating along
+the surface of the corn, [Footnote: Corn. In England corn means wheat,
+or sometimes rye or barley or oats. What we call corn the English call
+maize.] and played round his cap, which was a little higher, and was so
+tinted by the sun that the butterfly was inclined to settle on it. Guido
+put up his hand to catch the butterfly, forgetting his secret in his
+desire to touch it. The butterfly was too quick--with a snap of his
+wings, disdainfully mocking the idea of catching him, away he went.
+Guido nearly stepped on a humble-bee--buzz-zz! the bee was so alarmed he
+actually crept up Guido's knickers to the knee, and even then knocked
+himself against a wheat-ear when he started to fly. Guido kept quite
+still while the humble-bee was on his knee, knowing that he should not
+be stung if he did not move. He knew, too, that humble-bees have stings
+though people often say they have not, and the reason people think they
+do not possess them is because humble-bees are so good-natured and never
+sting unless they are very much provoked.
+
+Another bumble-bee went over along the tips of the wheat--burr-rr--as he
+passed; then a scarlet fly, and next a bright yellow wasp who was
+telling a friend flying behind him that he knew where there was such a
+capital piece of wood to bite up into tiny pieces and make into paper
+for the nest in the thatch, but his friend wanted to go to the house
+because there was a pear quite ripe there on the wall. Next came a moth,
+and after the moth a golden fly, and three gnats, and a mouse ran along
+the dry ground with a curious sniffing rustle close to Guido. A shrill
+cry came down out of the air, and looking up he saw two swifts
+[Footnote: Swifts: swallows.] turning circles, and as they passed each
+other they shrieked--their voices were so shrill they shrieked. They
+were only saying that in a month their little swifts in the slates would
+be able to fly. While he sat so quiet on the ground and hidden by the
+wheat, he heard a cuckoo such a long way off it sounded like a watch
+when it is covered up. "Cuckoo" did not come full and distinct--it was
+such a tiny little "cuckoo" caught in the hollow of Guido's ear. The
+cuckoo must have been a mile away.
+
+Suddenly he thought something went over, and yet he did not see
+it--perhaps it was the shadow--and he looked up and saw a large bird not
+very far up, not farther than he could fling, or shoot his arrows, and
+the bird was fluttering his wings, but did not move away farther, as if
+he had been tied in the air. Guido knew it was a hawk, and the hawk was
+staying there to see if there was a mouse or a little bird in the wheat.
+After a minute the hawk stopped fluttering and lifted his wings together
+as a butterfly does when he shuts his, and down the hawk came, straight
+into the corn. "Go away!" shouted Guido jumping up, and flinging his
+cap, and the hawk, dreadfully frightened and terribly cross, checked
+himself and rose again with an angry rush. So the mouse escaped, but
+Guido could not find his cap for some time. Then he went on, and still
+the ground sloping sent him down the hill till he came close to the
+copse.
+
+Some sparrows came out from the copse, [Footnote: Copse: a wood of small
+trees.] and he stopped and saw one of them perch on a stalk of wheat,
+with one foot above the other sideways, so that he could pick at the ear
+and get the corn. Guido watched the sparrow clear the ear, then he
+moved, and the sparrows flew back to the copse, where they chattered at
+him for disturbing them. There was a ditch between the corn and the
+copse, and a streamlet; he picked up a stone and threw it in, and the
+splash frightened a rabbit, who slipped over the bank and into a hole.
+The boughs of an oak reached out across to the corn, and made so
+pleasant a shade that Guido, who was very hot from walking in the sun,
+sat down on the bank of the streamlet with his feet dangling over it,
+and watched the floating grass sway slowly as the water ran. Gently he
+leaned back till his back rested on the sloping ground--he raised one
+knee, and left the other foot over the verge where the tip of the
+tallest rushes touched it. Before he had been there a minute he
+remembered the secret which a fern had taught him.
+
+First, if he wanted to know anything, or to hear a story, or what the
+grass was saying, or the oak-leaves singing, he must be careful not to
+interfere as he had done just now with the butterfly by trying to catch
+him. Fortunately, that butterfly was a nice butterfly, and very
+kindhearted, but sometimes, if you interfered with one thing, it would
+tell another thing, and they would all know in a moment, and stop
+talking, and never say a word. Once, while they were all talking
+pleasantly, Guido caught a fly in his hand; he felt his hand tickle as
+the fly stepped on it, and he shut up his little fist so quickly he
+caught the fly in the hollow between the palm and his fingers. The fly
+went buzz, and rushed to get out, but Guido laughed, so the fly buzzed
+again, and just told the grass, and the grass told the bushes, and
+everything knew in a moment, and Guido never heard another word all that
+day. Yet sometimes now they all knew something about him; they would go
+on talking. You see, they all rather petted and spoiled him. Next, if
+Guido did not hear them conversing, the fern said he must touch a little
+piece of grass and put it against his cheek, or a leaf, and kiss it, and
+say, "Leaf, leaf, tell them I am here."
+
+Now, while he was lying down, and the tip of the rushes touched his
+foot, he remembered this, so he moved the rush with his foot and said,
+"Rush, rush, tell them I am here." Immediately there came a little wind,
+and the wheat swung to and fro, the oak-leaves rustled, the rushes
+bowed, and the shadows slipped forwards and back again. Then it was
+still.
+
+--RICHARD JEFFERIES (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Whore do you imagine this scene is laid? What things in the
+text suggest this? Do you get a single picture, or a rapid succession of
+pictures? Which is the author really giving you: nature as it is, or as
+it seems to the boy? Has any of it ever seemed so to you? Note the
+appeal to sight, hearing, and touch; note the use of color. Does the
+author show a love for, and knowledge of, nature? Select the passages in
+which the sympathy between the boy and all nature is dwelt on.]
+
+
+
+
+THE TABOO
+
+
+There is a marked similarity, almost an identity, between the religious
+institutions of most of the Polynesian islands; [Footnote: Polynesian
+Islands: in the Pacific, just east of Australia.] and in all exists the
+mysterious "Taboo," restricted in its uses to a greater or less extent.
+So strange and complex in its arrangements is this remarkable system,
+that I have in several cases met with individuals who, after residing
+for years among the islands in the Pacific, and acquiring a considerable
+knowledge of the language, have nevertheless been altogether unable to
+give any satisfactory account of its operations. Situated as I was in
+the Typce valley, I perceived every hour the effects of this
+all-controlling power, without in the least comprehending it. Those
+effects were indeed wide-spread and universal, pervading the most
+important as well as the minutest transactions of life. The savage, in
+short, lives in the continual observance of its dictates, which guide
+and control every action of his being.
+
+For several days after entering the valley, I had been saluted at least
+fifty times in the twenty-four hours with the talismanic [Footnote:
+Talismanic: having the properties of a charm.] word "Taboo" shrieked in
+my ears, at some gross violation of its provisions, of which I had
+unconsciously been guilty. The day after our arrival I happened to hand
+some tobacco to Toby over the head of a native who sat between us. He
+started up as if stung by an adder; while the whole company, manifesting
+an equal degree of horror, simultaneously screamed out "Taboo!" I never
+again perpetrated a similar piece of ill-manners, which indeed was
+forbidden by the canons of good breeding as well as by the mandates of
+the taboo. But it was not always so easy to perceive wherein you had
+contravened [Footnote: Contravened: come into conflict with.] the spirit
+of this institution. I was many times called to order, if I may use the
+phrase, when I could not for the life of me conjecture what particular
+offense I had committed.
+
+One day I was strolling through a secluded portion of the valley; and
+hearing the musical sound of the cloth-mallet at a little distance, I
+turned down a path that conducted me in a few moments to a house where
+there were some half-dozen girls employed in making tappa. [Footnote:
+Tappa: a kind of cloth made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry.]
+This was an operation I had frequently witnessed, and had handled the
+bark in all the various stages of its preparation. On the present
+occasion the females were intent upon their occupation; and after
+looking up and talking gayly to me for a few moments, they resumed their
+employment. I regarded them for awhile in silence, and then carelessly
+picking up a handful of the material that lay around, proceeded
+unconsciously to pick it apart. While thus engaged, I was suddenly
+startled by a scream, like that of a whole boarding-school of young
+ladies just on the point of going into hysterics. Leaping up with the
+idea of seeing a score of Happar warriors about to perform anew the
+Sabine atrocity, [Footnote: Sabine atrocity: referring to the carrying
+off of the Sabine women by the Romans in the legendary history of early
+Rome.] I found myself confronted by the company of girls, who, having
+dropped their work, stood before me with staring eyes, swelling bosoms,
+and fingers pointed in horror towards me.
+
+Thinking that some venomous reptile must be concealed in the bark which
+I held in my hand, I began cautiously to separate and examine it. Whilst
+I did so the horrified girls redoubled their shrieks. Their wild cries
+and frightened motions actually alarmed me; and throwing down the tappa,
+I was about to rush from the house, when in the same instant their
+clamors ceased, and one of them, seizing me by the arm, pointed to the
+broken fibres that had just fallen from my grasp, and screamed in my ear
+the fatal word "Taboo!"
+
+I subsequently found out that the fabric they were engaged in making was
+of a peculiar kind, destined to be worn on the heads of females; and
+through every stage of its manufacture was guarded by a rigorous taboo,
+which interdicted the whole masculine gender from even so much as
+touching it.
+
+Frequently in walking through the groves, I observed bread-fruit and
+cocoanut trees with a wreath of leaves twined in a peculiar fashion
+about their trunks. This was the mark of the taboo. The trees
+themselves, their fruit, and even the shadows they cast upon the ground,
+were consecrated by its presence. In the same way a pipe which the King
+had bestowed upon me was rendered sacred in the eyes of the natives,
+none of whom could I ever prevail upon to smoke from it. The bowl was
+encircled by a woven band of grass, somewhat resembling those Turks'
+heads occasionally worked in the handles of our whip-stalks. A similar
+badge was once braided about my wrist by the royal hand of Mehevi
+himself, who, as soon as he had concluded the operation, pronounced me
+"Taboo." This occurred shortly after Toby's disappearance; and were it
+not that from the first moment I had entered the valley the natives had
+treated me with uniform kindness, I should have supposed that their
+conduct afterwards was to be ascribed to the fact that I had received
+this sacred investiture.
+
+--HERMAN MELVILLE.
+
+[Footnote: The author, Herman Melville, was born in New York in 1819. In
+his youth he ran away from home and became a sailor on a whaling vessel.
+Escaping from the cruel tyranny of the captain, he reached the Marquesas
+Islands, where he had strange adventures as the captive of a tribe of
+cannibals in the Typee Valley. He lived here many months, and finally
+returned home in an Australian ship.]
+
+[Footnote: Many writers on the customs of primitive people suppose the
+taboo to be the earliest form of law. It is commonly imposed by the king
+or the high priest of the tribe. Does the "taboo" here seem to you to be
+a matter of law or religion? Have we any "taboos" in our social system?
+What do we mean when we say of an act or a thing that it is "taboo," or
+"tabooed"? Does ceremoniousness increase or decrease with civilization?]
+
+
+
+
+SCHOOL DAYS AT THE CONVENT
+
+
+I waited for night and supper very impatiently. Recreation time began as
+soon as we left the refectory. [Footnote: Refectory: the dining hall.]
+In summer the two classes went to the garden. In winter each class went
+to its own room: the seniors to their fine and spacious study; we to our
+forlorn quarters, where there was no room to play, and where our teacher
+forced us to "amuse" ourselves quietly,--that is, not at all. Leaving
+the refectory always made a momentary confusion, and I admired the way
+the "devils" of the two classes managed to create the slight disorder
+under whose favor one could easily escape. The cloister [Footnote:
+Cloister: the covered arched passage on the side of a court.] had but
+one little lamp to light it: this left the other three galleries in
+semi-darkness. Instead of walking straight ahead towards the juniors'
+room, you stepped to the left, let the flock pass on, and you were free.
+I did so, and found myself in the dark with my friend Mary and the other
+"devils" she had told me would be there. They were all armed, some with
+logs, others with tongs. I had nothing, but was bold enough to go to the
+school-room, get a poker, and return to my accomplices without being
+noticed.
+
+Then they initiated me into the great secret, and we started on our
+expedition.
+
+The great secret was the traditional legend of the convent: a dream
+handed down from generation to generation, and from "devil" to "devil,"
+for about two centuries; a romantic fiction which may have had some
+foundation of truth at the beginning, but now rested merely on the needs
+of our imagination. Its object was to "deliver the victim." There was a
+prisoner, some said several prisoners, shut up somewhere in an
+impenetrable retreat: either a cell hidden and bricked up in the
+thickness of the walls, or in a dungeon under the vaults of the immense
+sub-basements extending beneath the monastery as well as under a great
+part of the Saint-Victor district. There were indeed magnificent cellars
+there,--a real subterranean city, whose limits we never found,--and they
+had many mysterious outlets at different points within the vast area of
+the inclosure. We were told that at a great distance off, these cellars
+joined the excavations running under the greater part of Paris and the
+surrounding country as far as Vincennes. [Footnote: Vincennes: a town
+about two miles from Paris.] They said that by following our convent
+cellars you could reach the Catacombs, [Footnote: Catacombs:
+subterranean passages.] the quarries, the baths of Julian, [Footnote:
+Baths of Julian: a Roman emperor of the fourth century.] and what not.
+These vaults were the key to a world of darkness, terrors, mysteries: an
+immense abyss dug beneath our feet, closed by iron gates, whose
+exploration was as perilous as the descent into hell of AEneas or Dante.
+For this reason it was absolutely imperative to get there, in spite of
+the insurmountable difficulties of the enterprise, and the terrible
+punishments the discovery of our secret would provoke.
+
+Entering these subterranean domains was one of those unhoped-for strokes
+of good luck that occurred once, or at most twice, in the life of a
+"devil," after years of perseverance and mental effort. It was of no use
+thinking of getting in by the main door. That door was at the bottom of
+a wide staircase next to the kitchens, which were cellars too; and here
+the lay sisters [Footnote: Lay sisters: the nuns who are not in holy
+orders.] congregated.
+
+But we were sure that the vaults could be reached by a thousand other
+ways, even by the roof. According to us, every nailed-up door, every
+dark corner under a staircase, every hollow-sounding wall, might
+communicate mysteriously with the subterranean region; and we looked for
+that communication most earnestly up to the very attic.
+
+I had read Mrs. Radcliffe's "Castle of the Pyrenees" [Footnote: Castle
+of the Pyrenees. Mrs. Radcliffe's novels were the first "mystery and
+horror" tales to become popular.] at Nohant, with terror and delight. My
+companions had many another Scotch and Irish legend in their heads, all
+fit to set one's hair on end. The convent too had innumerable stories of
+its own lamentable events,--about ghosts, dungeons, inexplicable
+apparitions, and mysterious noises. All this, and the thought of finally
+discovering the tremendous secret of the victim, so kindled our
+imaginations that we were sure we heard sighs and groans start from
+under the stones, or breathe through the cracks of doors and walls.
+
+We started off, my companions for the hundredth, I for the first time,
+in search of that elusive captive,--languishing no one knew where, but
+certainly somewhere, and whom perhaps we were called to discover. She
+must have been very old, considering how long she had been sought in
+vain! She might have been over two hundred years old, but we did not
+mind that! We sought her, called her, thought of her incessantly, and
+never despaired.
+
+That evening I was led into the oldest and most broken-up part of the
+buildings,--perhaps the most exciting locality for our exploration. We
+selected a little passage with wooden railings overlooking an empty
+space without any known outlet. A staircase with banisters led to this
+unknown region, but an oaken door forbade access to the stairs. We had
+to get around the obstacle by passing from the railing to the banisters,
+and walk down the outside of the worm-eaten balusters. There was a dark
+void below us whose depth we could not fathom. We had only a little
+taper (a "rat"), and that hardly let us see more than the first steps of
+the mysterious staircase.
+
+We were at the bottom in a moment; and with more joy than disappointment
+found that we were directly under the passage, in a square space without
+any opening. Not a door nor a window, nor any explicable purpose for
+this sort of closed vestibule. Why was there a staircase leading into a
+blind space? Why was there a strong padlocked door shutting off the
+staircase?
+
+The little taper was divided into several lengths, and each one began
+examining for herself. The staircase was made of wood. A secret spring
+in one of the steps must lead to a passage, another staircase, or a
+hidden trap. While some explored the staircase, and tried to force its
+old planks apart, others groped along the wall in search of a knob, a
+rack, a ring, or any of the thousand contrivances mentioned in the
+chronicles of old manors as moving a stone, turning a panel, or opening
+an entrance into unknown regions.
+
+Alas, there was nothing! The wall was smooth and plastered. The pavement
+sounded dull; not a stone was loose, and the staircase hid no spring.
+One of us looked further. She declared that in the extreme corner under
+the staircase the wall had a hollow sound; we struck it, and found it
+true. "It's here!" we all exclaimed. "There's a walled-up passage in
+there, but that passage leads to the awful dungeon. That is the way down
+to the sepulchre holding the living victims." We glued our ears to the
+wall, heard nothing; still the discoverer maintained that she could hear
+confused groans and clanking chains. What was to be done?
+
+"Why, it's quite plain," said Mary: "we must pull the wall down. All of
+us together can surely make a hole in it."
+
+Nothing seemed easier to us; and we all went to work,--some trying to
+knock it down with their logs, others scraping it with their shovels and
+tongs,--never thinking that by worrying those poor shaky walls, we
+risked tumbling the building down on our heads. Fortunately we could not
+do much harm, because the noise made by the logs would have attracted
+some one.
+
+We had to be satisfied with pushing and scratching. Yet we had managed
+to make quite a noticeable hole in the plaster, lime, and stones, when
+the bell rang for prayers. We had just time to repeat our perilous
+escapade, [Footnote: Escapade: prank.] put out our lights, separate, and
+grope our way back to the schoolrooms. We put off the continuation of
+the enterprise till the next day, and appointed the same place of
+meeting. Those who got there first were not to wait for those who might
+be detained by punishment or unusual surveillance. Each one was to do
+her best to scoop out the wall. It would be just so much done toward the
+next day's work. There was no chance of any one's noticing it, as no one
+ever went down into that blind hallway given over to mice and spiders.
+
+We dusted each other off, regained the cloister, slipped into our
+respective class-rooms, and were ready to kneel at prayers with the
+others. I forget whether we were noticed and punished that evening. It
+happened so often that no single event of the kind has any special date
+in the great number. Still we could often carry on our work with
+impunity.
+
+The search for the great secret and the dungeon lasted the whole winter
+I spent in the junior class. The wall was perceptibly damaged, but we
+were stopped by reaching wooden girders. We looked elsewhere, ransacked
+twenty different places, never having the least success, yet never
+losing hope.
+
+One day we thought we would look for some mansard [Footnote: Mansard:
+having two slopes.] window which might be, so to speak, the upper key to
+the so ardently desired subterranean world. There were many such
+windows, whose purpose we ignored. There was a little room in the attic
+where we practiced on one of the thirty pianos scattered through the
+establishment. We had an hour for this practice every day, and very few
+of us cared for it. As I always loved music, I liked to practice. But I
+was becoming more of an artist in romance than music; for what more
+beautiful poem could there be than the romance in action we were
+pursuing with our joint imaginations, courage, and palpitating emotions?
+
+In this way the piano hour became the daily hour for adventures, without
+detriment, however, to the evening ones. We appointed meetings in one of
+these straggling rooms, and from there would go to the "I don't know
+where" or the "As you please" of fancy.
+
+From the attic where I was supposed to be playing scales, I could see a
+labyrinth of roofs, sheds, lofts, and slopes, all covered with
+moss-grown tiles and decorated with broken chimneys, offering a vast
+field for new explorations. So on the roof we went. It was not hard to
+jump out of the window. Six feet below us there was a gutter joining two
+gables. It was more imprudent than difficult to scale these gables, meet
+others, jump from slope to slope, and run about like cats; and danger,
+far from restraining, only seemed to stimulate us.
+
+There was something exceedingly foolish, but at the same time heroic, in
+this mania of "seeking the victim"; foolish, because we had to suppose
+that the nuns, whose gentleness and kindness we worshipped, were
+practicing horrible tortures upon some one; heroic, because we risked
+our lives every day to deliver an imaginary creature, who was the object
+of our most generous thought and most chivalrous undertakings.
+
+We had been out about an hour, spying into the garden, looking down on a
+great part of the courts and buildings, and carefully hiding behind
+chimneys whenever we saw a black-veiled nun, who might have raised her
+head and seen us in the clouds, when we asked ourselves how we should
+get back. The arrangement of the roofs had allowed us to step or jump
+down. Going up was not so easy. I think it would have been impossible
+without a ladder. We scarcely knew where we were. At last we recognized
+a parlor-boarder's window,--Sidonie Macdonald's, the celebrated
+general's daughter. It could be reached by a final jump, but would be
+more dangerous than the others. I jumped too hurriedly, and caught my
+heel in a flat sky-light, through which I should have fallen thirty feet
+into a hall near the junior's room, if by chance my awkwardness had not
+made me swerve. I got off with two badly flayed knees, but did not give
+them a second thought. My heel had broken into a part of the sash of
+that deuced window, and smashed half a dozen panes, which dropped with a
+frightful crash quite near the kitchen entrance. A great noise arose at
+once among the lay sisters, and through the opening I had just made, we
+could hear Sister Theresa's loud voice screaming, "Cats!" and accusing
+Whisky--Mother Alippe's big tom-cat--of fighting with all his fellows,
+and breaking all the windows in the house. But sister Mary defended the
+cat's morals, and Sister Helen was sure that a chimney had fallen on the
+roof. This discussion started the nervous giggle that nothing can stop
+in little girls. We heard the sisters on the stairs, we should be caught
+in the very act of walking on the roofs, and still we could not stir to
+find refuge. Then I discovered that one of my shoes was gone,--that it
+had dropped through the broken sash into the kitchen hall. Though my
+knees were bleeding, my laughter was so uncontrollable that I could not
+say a word, but merely showed my unshod foot and explained what had
+happened by dumb show. A new explosion of laughter followed, although
+the alarm had been given and the lay sisters were near.
+
+We were soon reassured. Being sheltered and hidden by overhanging roofs,
+we could hardly be discovered without getting up to the broken window by
+a ladder, or following the road we had taken. And that was something we
+could safely challenge any of the nuns to do. So when we had recognized
+the advantage of our position, we began to me-ouw Homerically, so that
+Whisky and his family might be accused and convicted in our stead. Then
+we made for the window of Sidonie, who did not welcome us. The poor
+child was practicing on the piano, and paying no attention to the feline
+howls vaguely striking her ear. She was delicate and nervous, very
+gentle, and quite incapable of understanding what pleasure we could find
+in roaming over roofs. As she sat playing, her back was turned to the
+window; and when we burst into it in a bunch, she screamed aloud. We
+lost little time in quieting her. Her cries would attract the nuns; so
+we sprang into the room and scampered to the door, while she stood
+trembling and staring, seeing all the strange procession flit by without
+understanding it nor recognizing any one of us, so terrified was she. In
+a moment we had all dispersed: one went to the upper room whence we had
+started, and played the piano with might and main; another took a
+round-about way to the school-room. As for me, I had to find my shoe,
+and secure that piece of evidence, if I still had the time. I managed to
+avoid the lay sisters, and to find the kitchen entry free. "Audaces
+fortuna juvat," [Footnote: Audaces fortuna juvat: "Fortune favors the
+brave."] said I to myself thinking of the aphorisms Deschartres
+[Footnote: Deschartres: the tutor of George Sand's father.] had taught
+me And indeed I found the lucky shoe, where it had fallen in a dark
+corner and not been seen. Whisky alone was accused. My knees hurt me
+very much for a few days but, I did not brag of them; and the
+explorations did not slacken.
+
+--GEORGE SAND (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: George Sand is a nom de plume. The author's real name is
+Armandine Lucile Aurore Dupin. She was a famous French novelist and
+playwright--born 1804, died 1876.]
+
+[Footnote: Could you tell from the context where the scene is laid? What
+kind of child do you imagine the writer was? Has the narrative the stamp
+of a real experience? Do you know any books similar to what you may
+imagine the "Castle of the Pyrenees" to be?]
+
+
+
+
+IN BRITTANY
+
+
+She [the writer, L. M. A.] soon ceased to be surprised at any
+demonstration of feminine strength, skill, and independence, for
+everywhere the women took the lead.
+
+They not only kept house, reared children, and knit every imaginable
+garment the human frame can wear, but kept the shops and the markets,
+tilled the gardens, cleaned the streets, and bought and sold cattle,
+leaving the men free to enjoy the only pursuits they seemed inclined to
+follow,--breaking horses, [Footnote: Breaking horses: training horses to
+work, an expression familiar to every country child.] mending roads, and
+getting drunk.
+
+The markets seemed entirely in the hands of the women, and lively scenes
+they presented to unaccustomed eyes, especially the pig-market, held
+every week, in the square before Madame C.'s house. At dawn the
+squealing began, and was kept up till sunset. The carts came in from all
+the neighboring hamlets, with tubs full of infant pigs, over which the
+women watched with maternal care till they were safely deposited among
+the rows of tubs that stood along the walk facing Anne of Bretaigne's
+[Footnote: Anne of Bretaigne: the daughter of Francis II, duke of
+Brittany; born at Nantes, 1476.] gray old tower, and the pleasant
+promenade which was once the fosse [Footnote: Fosse: a moat; a ditch.]
+about the city walls.
+
+Here Madame would seat herself and knit briskly till a purchaser
+applied, when she would drop her work, dive among the pink innocents,
+and hold one up by its unhappy leg, undisturbed by its doleful cries,
+while she settled its price with a blue-gowned, white-capped neighbor,
+as sharp-witted and shrill-tongued as herself. If the bargain was
+struck, they slapped their hands together in a peculiar way, and the new
+owner clapped her purchase into a meal-bag, slung it over her shoulder,
+and departed with her squirming, squealing treasure as calmly as a
+Boston lady with a satchel full of ribbons and gloves.
+
+More mature pigs came to market on their own legs, and very long, feeble
+legs they were, for a more unsightly beast than a Breton pig was never
+seen out of a toy Noah's ark. Tall, thin, high-backed, and sharp-nosed,
+these porcine [Footnote: Porcine: relating to swine; hoglike.] victims
+tottered to their doom, with dismal wailings, and not a vestige of
+spirit till the trials and excitement of the day goaded them to
+rebellion, when their antics furnished fun for the public. Miss Livy
+observed that the women could manage the pigs when men failed entirely.
+The latter hustled, lugged, or lashed, unmercifully and unsuccessfully;
+the former, with that fine tact which helps them to lead nobler animals
+than pigs, would soothe, sympathize, coax, and gently beguile the poor
+beasts, or devise ways of mitigating their bewilderment and woe, which
+did honor to the sex, and triumphantly illustrated the power of moral
+suasion.
+
+One amiable lady, who had purchased two small pigs and a coop full of
+fowls, attempted to carry them all on one donkey. But the piggies
+rebelled lustily in the bags, the ducks remonstrated against their
+unquiet neighbors, and the donkey indignantly refused to stir a step
+till the unseemly uproar was calmed. But the Bretonne was equal to the
+occasion; for, after a pause of meditation, she solved the problem by
+tying the bags round the necks of the pigs so that they could enjoy the
+prospect. This appeased them at once, and produced a general lull; for
+when the pigs stopped squealing, the ducks stopped quacking, the donkey
+ceased his bray, and the party moved on in dignified silence, with the
+youthful pigs, one black, one white, serenely regarding life from their
+bags.
+
+Another time, a woman leading a newly bought cow, came through the
+square, where the noise alarmed the beast so much that she became
+unruly, and pranced in a most dangerous manner. Miss Livy hung out of
+the window, breathless with interest, and ready to fly with brandy and
+bandages at a minute's notice, for it seemed inevitable that the woman
+would be tossed up among the lindens before the cow was conquered. The
+few men who were lounging about, stood with their hands in their
+pockets, watching the struggle without offering to help, till the cow
+scooped the lady up on her horns ready for a toss. Livy shrieked, but
+Madame just held on, kicking so vigorously that the cow was glad to set
+her down, when, instead of fainting she coolly informed the men, who,
+seeing her danger, had approached, that she "could arrange her cow for
+herself and did not want any help," which she proved by tying a big blue
+handkerchief over the animal's eyes, producing instant docility; and
+then she was led away by her flushed but triumphant mistress, who calmly
+settled her cap, and took a pinch of snuff to refresh herself, after a
+scuffle which would have annihilated most women.
+
+When Madame C.'s wood was put in, the newcomers were interested in
+watching the job, for it was done in a truly Bretonesque manner. It
+arrived in several odd carts, each drawn by four great horses, with men
+to each team; and as the carts were clumsy, the horses wild, and the men
+stupid, the square presented a lively spectacle. At one time there were
+three carts, twelve horses, and six men all in a snarl, while a dozen
+women stood at their doors and gave advice. One was washing a lettuce,
+another dressing her baby, a third twirling her distaff, and a fourth
+with her little bowl of soup, which she ate in public while
+gesticulating so frantically that her sabots [Footnote: Sabots: wooden
+shoes.] clattered on the stones.
+
+The horses had a free fight, and the men swore and shouted in vain, till
+the lady with the baby suddenly went to the rescue. Planting the naked
+cherub on the doorstep, this energetic matron charged in among the
+rampant animals, and by some magic touch untangled the teams, quieted
+the most fractious, a big gray brute prancing like a mad elephant, then
+returned to her baby, who was placidly eating dirt, and with a polite
+"Voila, messieurs!" [Footnote: Voila Messieurs: "There you are,
+gentlemen."] she whipped little Jean into his shirt, while the men sat
+down to smoke.
+
+It took two deliberate men nearly a week to split the gnarled logs, and
+one brisk woman carried them into the cellar and piled them neatly. The
+men stopped about once an hour to smoke, drink cider, or rest. The woman
+worked steadily from morning till night, only pausing at noon for a bit
+of bread and the soup good Coste sent out to her. The men got two francs
+a day, the woman half a franc; and, as nothing was taken out of it for
+wine or tobacco, her ten cents probably went farther than their forty.
+
+This same capable lady used to come to market with a baby on one arm, a
+basket of fruit on the other, leading a pig, driving a donkey, and
+surrounded by sheep, while her head bore a pannier [Footnote: Pannier.
+Panniers are a pair of baskets slung across the back of a horse or
+donkey.] of vegetables, and her hands spun busily with a distaff. How
+she ever got on with these trifling incumbrances, was a mystery; but
+there she was, busy, placid, and smiling, in the midst of the crowd, and
+at night went home with her shopping well content.
+
+The washerwomen were among the happiest of these happy souls, and
+nowhere were seen prettier pictures than they made, clustered round the
+fountains or tanks by the way, scrubbing, slapping, singing, and
+gossiping, as they washed or spread their linen on the green hedges and
+daisied grass in the bright spring weather. One envied the cheery faces
+under the queer caps, the stout arms that scrubbed all day, and were not
+too tired to carry some chubby Jean or little Marie when night came,
+and, most of all, the contented hearts in the broad bosoms under the
+white kerchiefs, for no complaint did one hear from these hard-working,
+happy women. The same brave spirit seems to possess them now as that
+which carried them heroically to their fate in the Revolution, when
+hundreds of mothers and children were shot at Nantes [Footnote: Nantes:
+a town near the mouth of the Loire River.] and died without murmur.
+
+--LOUISA ALCOTT.
+
+[Footnote: What traits does the author find most admirable in the women
+of Brittany? Show how these traits are brought out by contrast with the
+behavior of the men. Do women in this country do the same kinds of work
+as the European peasant women? What other things might the descriptions
+have included if the author had not been so much interested in the
+people? What parts of the sketch are humorous? Point out passages that
+are effective through contrast. Show how the women of Brittany are made
+to seem womanly and dignified in spite of the amusement they furnish
+us.]
+
+
+
+
+THE ADIRONDACKS
+
+
+One day we visited a cave some two miles down the stream, which had
+recently been discovered. We squeezed and wriggled through a big crack
+or cleft in the side of the mountain, for about one hundred feet, when
+we emerged into a large dome-shaped passage, the abode, during certain
+seasons of the year, of innumerable bats, and at all times of primeval
+darkness. There were various other crannies and pit-holes opening into
+it, some of which we explored. The voice of running water was heard
+everywhere, betraying the proximity of the little stream by whose
+ceaseless corroding the cave and its entrance had been worn. This
+streamlet flowed out of the mouth of the cave, and came from a lake on
+the top of the mountain; this accounted for its warmth to the hand,
+which surprised us all.
+
+Birds of any kind were rare in these woods. A pigeon-hawk came prowling
+by our camp, and the faint piping call of the nuthatches, leading their
+young through the high trees, was often heard.
+
+On the third day our guide proposed to conduct us to a lake in the
+mountains where we could float for deer.
+
+Our journey commenced in a steep and rugged ascent, which brought us,
+after an hour's heavy climbing, to an elevated region of pine-forest,
+years before ravished by lumbermen, and presenting all manner of
+obstacles to our awkward and incumbered pedestrianism. The woods were
+largely pine, though yellow birch, beech and maple were common. The
+satisfaction of having a gun, should any game show itself, was the chief
+compensation to those of us who were thus burdened. A partridge would
+occasionally whir up before us, or a red squirrel snicker and hasten to
+his den; else the woods appeared quite tenantless. The most noted object
+was a mammoth pine, apparently the last of a great race, which presided
+over a cluster of yellow birches, on the side of the mountain.
+
+About noon we came out upon a long, shallow sheet of water which the
+guide called Bloody Moose Pond, from the tradition that a moose had been
+slaughtered there many years before. Looking out over the silent and
+lovely scene, his eye was the first to detect an object, apparently
+feeding upon lily-pads, which our willing fancies readily shaped into a
+deer. As we were eagerly waiting some movement to confirm this
+impression, it lifted up its head, and lo! a great blue heron. Seeing us
+approach, it spread its long wings and flew solemnly across to a dead
+tree on the other side of the lake, enhancing rather than relieving the
+loneliness and desolation that brooded over the scene. As we proceeded
+it flew from tree to tree in advance of us, apparently loth to be
+disturbed in its ancient and solitary domain. In the margin of the pond
+we found the pitcher-plant growing, and here and there in the sand the
+closed gentian lifted up its blue head.
+
+In traversing the shores of this wild, desolate lake, I was conscious of
+a slight thrill of expectation, as if some secret of Nature might here
+be revealed, or some rare and unheard-of game disturbed. There is ever a
+lurking suspicion that the beginning of things is in some way associated
+with water, and one may notice that in his private walks he is led by a
+curious attraction to fetch all the springs and ponds in his route, as
+if by them was the place for wonders and miracles to happen. Once, while
+in advance of my companions, I saw, from a high rock, a commotion in the
+water near the shore, but on reaching the point found only the marks of
+musquash [Footnote: Musquash: muskrat.] degrees.
+
+Passing on through the forest, after many adventures with the pine
+knots, we reached, about the middle of the afternoon, our destination,
+Nate's Pond--a pretty sheet of water, lying like a silver mirror in the
+lap of the mountain, about a mile long and half a mile wide, surrounded
+by dark forests of balsam, hemlock, and pine, and, like the one we had
+just passed, a very picture of unbroken solitude.
+
+It is not in the woods alone to give one this impression of utter
+loneliness. In the woods are sounds and voices, and a dumb kind of
+companionship; one is little more than a walking tree himself; but come
+upon one of these mountain lakes, and the wildness stands revealed and
+meets you face to face. Water is thus facile and adaptive, that it makes
+the wild more wild, while it enhances culture and art.
+
+The end of the pond which we approached was quite shoal, the stones
+rising above the surface as in a summer brook, and everywhere showing
+marks of the noble game we were in quest of,--footprints, dung, and
+cropped and uprooted lily-pads. After resting for a half hour, and
+replenishing our game-pouches at the expense of the most respectable
+frogs of the locality, we filed on through the soft, resinous pinewoods,
+intending to camp near the other end of the lake, where, the guide
+assured us, we should find a hunter's cabin ready built. A half hour's
+march brought us to the locality, and a most delightful one it was, so
+hospitable and inviting that all the kindly and beneficent influences of
+the woods must have abided there. In a slight depression in the woods,
+about one hundred yards from the lake, though hidden from it for a
+hunter's reasons, surrounded by a heavy growth of birch, hemlock, and
+pine, with a lining of balsam and fir, the rude cabin welcomed us. It
+was of the approved style, three sides inclosed, with a roof of bark and
+a bed of boughs, and a rock in front that afforded a permanent back-log
+to all fires. A faint voice of running water was heard near by, and,
+following the sound, a delicious spring rivulet was disclosed, hidden by
+the moss and debris as by a new fall of snow, but here and there rising
+in little well-like openings, as if for our special convenience.
+
+--JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+[Footnote: What does this power of minute observation tell you about the
+writer? What other qualities of the naturalist does Burroughs show in
+this account? What things in nature seem most to attract his attention?
+Do you know what science now says about "the beginning of things" being
+"associated with water"? What do you imagine were the "adventures with
+the pine knots" that Burroughs speaks of?]
+
+
+
+
+AN ASCENT OF KILAUEA
+
+
+[Footnote: Kilauea: a volcano on the island of Hawaii.]
+
+At last we found ourselves at the very edge of the old crater, the bed
+of which, three or four hundred feet beneath us, was surrounded by steep
+and in many places overhanging sides. It looked like an enormous
+cauldron, four or five miles in width, full of a mass of cooled pitch.
+In the center was the still glowing stream of dark red lava flowing
+slowly toward us, and in every direction were red-hot patches, and
+flames, and smoke, issuing from the ground.
+
+Yet the first sensation is rather one of disappointment, as one expects
+greater activity on the part of the volcano; but the new crater was
+still to be seen, containing the lake of fire, with steep walls rising
+up in the midst of the sea of lava.
+
+We spent the night at the Volcano House, and at three o'clock the next
+afternoon we set out, a party of eight, with two guides, and three
+porters to carry our wraps and provisions, and to bring back specimens.
+
+First of all we descended the precipice, three hundred feet in depth,
+forming the wall of the old crater, but now thickly covered with
+vegetation. It is so steep in many places that flights of zigzag wooden
+steps have been inserted in the face of the cliff in some places, in
+order to render the descent practicable.
+
+At the bottom we stepped straight on to the surface of cold boiled lava,
+which we had seen from above last night. Even here, in every crevice
+where a few grains of soil had collected, delicate little ferns might be
+seen struggling for life, and thrusting out their green fronds towards
+the light.
+
+It was the most extraordinary walk imaginable, over that vast plain of
+lava, twisted and distorted into every conceivable shape and form,
+according to the temperature it had originally attained and the rapidity
+with which it had cooled, its surface, like half-molten glass, cracking
+and breaking beneath our feet.
+
+Sometimes we came to a patch that looked like the contents of a pot,
+suddenly petrified in the act of boiling; sometimes the black,
+iridescent lava had assumed the form of waves, or more frequently of
+huge masses of rope, twisted and coiled together; sometimes it was piled
+up like a collection of organ pipes, or had gathered into mounds and
+cones of various dimensions.
+
+As we proceeded, the lava became hotter and hotter, and from every crack
+arose gaseous fumes, affecting our noses and throats in a painful
+manner; till at last, when we had to pass to leeward [Footnote: Leeward:
+away from the wind.] of the molten stream flowing from the lake, the
+vapors almost choked us, and it was with difficulty we continued to
+advance.
+
+The lava was more glassy and transparent-looking, as if it had been
+fused at a higher temperature than usual; and the crystals of sulphur,
+alum, and other minerals, with which it abounded, reflected the light in
+bright prismatic colors. In places it was quite transparent, and we
+could see beneath it the long streaks of a stringy kind of lava, like
+brown spun glass, called "Pele's hair."
+
+At last we reached the foot of the present crater, and commenced the
+ascent of the outer wall. Many times the thin crust gave way beneath our
+guide, and he had to retire quickly from the hot, blinding, choking
+fumes that immediately burst forth. But we succeeded in reaching the
+top, and then what a sight presented itself to our astonished eyes! I
+could neither speak nor move at first, but could only stand and gaze at
+the horrible grandeur of the scene.
+
+We were standing on the extreme edge of a precipice, overhanging a lake
+of molten fire, a hundred feet below us, nearly a mile across. Dashing
+against the cliffs on the opposite side, with a noise like the roar of a
+stormy ocean, waves of blood-red fiery liquid lava hurled their billows
+upon an iron-bound headland, and then rushed up the face of the cliffs
+to toss their gory spray high in the air.
+
+The restless, heaving lake boiled and bubbled, never remaining the same
+for two minutes together. Its normal color seemed to be a dull dark red,
+covered with a thin gray scum, which every moment and in every part
+swelled and cracked, and emitted fountains, cascades, and whirlpools of
+yellow and red fire, while sometimes one big golden river, sometimes
+four or five, flowed across it.
+
+As the sun set and as darkness enveloped the scene, it became more awful
+than ever. We retired a little way from the brink to breathe some fresh
+air, and to try and eat the food we had brought with us; but this was an
+impossibility. Every instant a fresh explosion or glare made us jump up
+to survey the scene.
+
+The violent struggles of the lava to escape from its fiery bed, and the
+loud and awful noises by which they were at times, accompanied,
+suggested the idea that some imprisoned monsters were trying to release
+themselves from their bondage, with shrieks and groans, and cries of
+agony and despair at the futility of their efforts. Sometimes there were
+at least seven spots on the borders of the lake where the molten lava
+dashed up furiously against the rocks--seven fire fountains playing at
+the same time.
+
+I had for some time been feeling very hot and uncomfortable, and on
+looking round, the cause was at once apparent. Not two inches beneath
+the surface, the gray lava on which we were standing and sitting was red
+hot. A stick thrust through it caught fire, a piece of paper was
+immediately destroyed, and the gentlemen found the heat from the
+crevices so great that they could not approach near enough to light
+their pipes.
+
+One more long last look, and then we turned our faces away from the
+scene that had enthralled us for so many hours. The whole of the lava we
+had crossed in the extinct crater was now aglow in many patches, and in
+all directions flames were bursting forth, fresh lava flowing, and steam
+and smoke were issuing from the surface.
+
+It was a toilsome journey back again, walking as we did in single file,
+and obeying the strict charges of our head guide to follow him closely,
+and to tread exactly in his footsteps. On the whole, it was easier by
+night than by day to distinguish the route to be taken, as we could now
+see the dangers that before we could only feel; and many were the fiery
+crevices we stepped over and jumped across. Once I slipped, and my foot
+sank through the thin crust. Sparks issued from the ground, and the
+stick on which I leaned caught fire before I could fairly recover
+myself.
+
+--LADY BRASSEY.
+
+[Footnote: Note the purely objective description. What colors
+predominate? Point out the similes in use. Do they heighten the picture?
+Does the author succeed in giving a clear picture of the volcano?]
+
+
+
+
+THE FETISH
+
+
+Before this remonstrance was finished, Maggie was already out of
+hearing, making her way towards the great attic that ran under the old
+high-pitched roof, shaking the water from her black locks as she ran,
+like a Skye terrier escaped from his bath. This attic was Maggie's
+favorite retreat on a wet day, when the weather was not too cold; here
+she fretted out all her ill-humors, and talked aloud to the worm-eaten
+floors and the worm-eaten shelves, and the dark rafters festooned with
+cobwebs; and here she kept a Fetish [Footnote: Fetish (also spelt
+"fetich"): a material object, venerated by certain African tribes; a
+sort of idol, which is sometimes punished by its owner in disappointment
+or anger.] which she punished for all her misfortunes. This was the
+trunk of a large wooden doll, which once stared with the roundest of
+eyes above the reddest of cheeks, but was now entirely defaced by a long
+career of vicarious [Footnote: Vicarious: suffered or performed in place
+of another.] suffering. Three nails driven into the head commemorated as
+many crises in Maggie's nine years of earthly struggle; that luxury of
+vengeance having been suggested to her by the picture of Jael [Footnote:
+Jael: referring to the story of how Jael drove the nail into the
+forehead of Sisera. _Judges_ IV: 17 to 22.] destroying Sisera in
+the old Bible. The last nail had been driven in with a fiercer stroke
+than usual, for the Fetish on that occasion represented Aunt Glegg. But
+immediately afterwards Maggie had reflected that if she drove many nails
+in, she would not be so well able to fancy that the head was hurt, when
+she knocked it against the wall, nor to comfort it, and make believe to
+poultice it, when her fury was abated; for even Aunt Glegg would be
+pitiable when she had been hurt very much, and thoroughly humiliated, so
+as to beg her niece's pardon. Since then she had driven no more nails
+in, but had soothed herself by alternately grinding and beating the
+wooden head against the rough brick of the great chimneys that made two
+square pillars supporting the roof. That was what she did this morning
+on reaching the attic, sobbing all the while with a passion that
+expelled every other form of consciousness,--even the memory of the
+grievance that had caused it. As at last the sobs were getting quieter,
+and the grinding less fierce, a sudden beam of sunshine, falling through
+the wire lattice across the worm-eaten shelves, made her throw away the
+Fetish and run to the window. The sun was really breaking out; the sound
+of the mill seemed cheerful again; the granary doors were open; and
+there was Yap, the queer white-and-brown terrier, with one ear turned
+back, trotting about and sniffing vaguely, as if he were in search of a
+companion. It was irresistible. Maggie tossed her hair back and ran
+downstairs, seized her bonnet without putting it on, peeped, and then
+dashed along the passage lest she should encounter her mother, and was
+quickly out in the yard, whirling round like a Pythoness, and singing as
+she whirled, "Yap, Yap, Tom's coming home!" while Yap danced and barked
+round her, as much as to say, if there was any noise wanted he was the
+dog for it.
+
+--GEORGE ELIOT.
+
+[Footnote: What traits of character does Maggie show? Do children think
+of their dolls as alive? Or as representing people they know? Did you
+ever have the impulse to "take your spite out" on something, animate or
+inanimate? Did you feel any better for relieving your feelings so? There
+is an interesting account of a savage beating his idol in Melville's
+"Typee."]
+
+
+
+
+SALMON FISHING IN IRELAND
+
+
+The pool has been cut through a peat bog, [Footnote: Peat-bog. Peat is a
+kind of turf that is used for fuel.] and the greater part of it is
+twenty feet deep. A broad fringe of water-lilies lines the banks,
+leaving, however, an available space for throwing a fly upon between
+them. This is the great resting-place of the fish on their way to the
+lake and the upper river. The water is high, and almost flowing over the
+bog. The wind catches it fairly, tearing along the surface and sweeping
+up the crisp waves in white clouds of spray. The party of strangers who
+had cards to fish were before us, but they are on the wrong side, trying
+vainly to send their flies in the face of the southwester, which whirls
+their casting-lines back over their heads. They have caught a peal
+[Footnote: Peal: a small salmon.] or two, and one of them reports that
+he was broken by a tremendous fish at the end of the round-pool. Jack
+directs them to a bend higher up, where they will find a second pool as
+good as this one, with a more favorable slant of wind, while I put my
+rod together and turn over the leaves of my fly-book. Among the marvels
+of art and nature I know nothing equal to a salmon-fly. It resembles no
+insect, winged or unwinged, which the fish can have seen. A shrimp,
+perhaps, is the most like it, if there are degrees to utter
+dissimilarity. Yet every river is supposed to have its favorite flies.
+Size, color, shape, all are peculiar. Here vain tastes prevail for
+golden pheasant and blue and crimson paroquet. There the salmon are as
+sober as Quakers, and will look at nothing but drabs and browns. Nine
+parts of this are fancy, but there is still a portion of truth in it.
+Bold hungry fish will take anything in any river; shy fish will
+undoubtedly rise and splash at a stranger's fly, while they will swallow
+what is offered them by any one who knows their ways. It may be
+something in the color of the water: it may be something in the color of
+the banks: experience is too uniform to allow the fact itself to be
+questioned. Under Jack's direction, I select small flies about the size
+of green drakes: one a sombre gray, with a silver twist about him, a
+claret hackle, [Footnote: Claret hackle. A hackle is an artificial fly
+made of feathers.] a mallard wing, [Footnote: Mallard wing. A mallard is
+the drake of the wild duck. The artificial fly imitates its wing.]
+streaked faintly on the lower side with red and blue. The drop fly is
+still darker, with purple legs and olive green wings and body.
+
+We move to the head of the pool and begin to cast in the gravelly
+shallows, on which the fish lie to feed in a flood, a few yards above
+the deep water. A white trout or two rise, and presently I am fast in
+something which excites momentary hopes. The heavy rod bends to the
+butt. A yard or two of line runs out, but a few seconds show that it is
+only a large trout which has struck at the fly with his tail, and has
+been hooked foul. He cannot break me, and I do not care if he escapes,
+so I bear hard upon him and drag him by main force to the side, where
+Harper slips the net under his head, and the next moment he is on the
+bank. Two pounds within an ounce or so, but clean run from the sea,
+brought up by last night's flood, and without a stain of the bog-water
+on the pure silver of his scales. He has disturbed the shallow, so we
+move a few steps down.
+
+There is an alder bush on the opposite side, where the strength of the
+river is running. It is a long cast. The wind is blowing so hard that I
+can scarcely keep my footing, and the gusts whirl so unsteadily that I
+cannot hit the exact spot where, if there is a salmon in the
+neighborhood, he is lying.
+
+The line flies out straight at last, but I have now thrown a few inches
+too far; my tail fly is in the bush, dangling across an overhanging
+bough. An impatient movement, a jerk, or a straight pull, and I am "hung
+up," as is the phrase, and delayed for half an hour at least. Happily
+there is a lull in the storm. I shake the point of the rod. The
+vibration runs along the line; the fly drops softly like a leaf upon the
+water--and as it floats away something turns heavily, and a huge brown
+back is visible for an instant through a rift in the surface. But the
+line comes home. He was an old stager, as we could see by his color, no
+longer ravenous as when fresh from the salt-water. He was either lazy
+and missed the fly, or it was not entirely to his mind. He was not
+touched, and we drew back to consider. "Over him again while he is
+angry," is the saying in some rivers, and I have known it to answer
+where the fish feed greedily. But it will not do here; we must give him
+time; and we turn again to the fly-book. When a salmon rises at a small
+fly as if he meant business, yet fails to take it, the rule is to try
+another of the same pattern a size larger. This too, however, just now
+Jack thinks unfavorably of. The salmon is evidently a very large one,
+and will give us enough to do if we hook him. He therefore, as one
+precaution, takes off the drop fly lest it catch in the water-lilies. He
+next puts the knots of the casting-line through a severe trial; replaces
+an unsound joint with a fresh link of gut, and finally produces out of
+his hat a "hook"--he will not call it a fly--of his own dressing. It is
+a particolored father-long-legs, a thing which only some frantic
+specimen of orchid ever seriously approached, a creature whose wings
+were two strips of the fringe of a peacock's tail, whose legs descended
+from blue jay through red to brown, and terminated in a pair of pink
+trailers two inches long. Jack had found it do, and he believed it would
+do for me. And so it did. I began to throw again six feet above the
+bush, for a salmon often shifts his ground after rising. One cast--a
+second--another trout rises which we receive with an anathema,
+[Footnote: Anathema: a curse.] and drag the fly out of his reach. The
+fourth throw there is a swirl like the wave which arises under the blade
+of an oar, a sharp sense of hard resistance, a pause, and then a rush
+for dear life. The wheel shrieks, the line hisses through the rings, and
+thirty yards down the pool the great fish springs madly six feet into
+the air. The hook is firm in his upper jaw; he had not shaken its hold,
+for the hook had gone into the bone--pretty subject of delight for a
+reasonable man, an editor of a magazine, and a would-be philosopher,
+turned fifty! The enjoyments of the unreasoning part of us cannot be
+defended on grounds of reason, and experience shows that men who are all
+logic and morals, and have nothing of the animal left in them, are poor
+creatures after all.
+
+Any way, I defy philosophy with a twenty-pound salmon fast hooked, and a
+pool right ahead four hundred yards long and half full of water-lilies.
+"Keep him up the strame," shrieked a Paddy, who, on the screaming of the
+wheel, had flung down his spade in the turf bog and rushed up to see the
+sport. "Keep him up the strame, your honor--bloody wars! you'll lost him
+else." We were at fault, Jack and I. We did not understand why down
+stream was particularly dangerous, and Pat was too eager and too busy
+swearing to explain himself. Alas, his meaning became soon but too
+intelligible. I had overtaken the fish on the bank and had wheeled in
+the line again, but he was only collecting himself for a fresh rush, and
+the next minute it seemed as if the bottom had been knocked out of the
+pool and an opening made into infinity. Round flew the wheel again;
+fifty yards were gone in as many seconds, the rod was bending double,
+and the line pointed straight down; straight as if there was a lead at
+the end of it and unlimited space in which to sink. "Ah, didn't I tell
+ye so?" said Pat; "what will we do now?" Too late Jack remembered that
+fourteen feet down at the bottom of that pool lay the stem of a fallen
+oak, below which the water had made a clear channel. The fish had turned
+under it, and whether he was now up the river or down, or where he was
+who could tell? He stopped at last. "Hold him hard," said Jack, hurling
+off his clothes, and while I was speculating whether it would be
+possible to drag him back the way that he had gone, a pink body flashed
+from behind me, bounded off the bank with a splendid header, and
+disappeared. He was under for a quarter of a minute; when he rose he had
+the line in his hand between the fish and the tree.
+
+"All right," he sputtered, swimming with the other hand to the bank and
+scrambling up. "Run the rest of the line off the reel and out through
+the rings." He had divined by a brilliant instinct the only remedy for
+our situation. The thing was done, fast as Pat and I could ply our
+fingers. The loose end was drawn round the log, and while Jack was
+humoring the fish with his hand, and dancing up and down the bank
+regardless of proprieties, we had carried it back down the rings,
+replaced it on the reel, wound in the slack, and had again command of
+the situation.
+
+The salmon had played his best stroke. It had failed him, and he now
+surrendered like a gentleman. A mean-spirited fish will go to the
+bottom, bury himself in the weed, and sulk. Ours set his head towards
+the sea, and sailed down the length of the pool in the open water
+without attempting any more plunges. As his strength failed, he turned
+heavily on his back, and allowed himself to be drawn to the shore. The
+gaff [Footnote: Gaff: a large hook fixed on the end of a pole or
+handle.] was in his side and he was ours. He was larger than we had
+guessed him. Clean run he would have weighed twenty-five pounds. The
+fresh water had reduced him to twenty-two, but without softening his
+muscle or touching his strength.
+
+--JAMES FROUDE (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Is the first part of the narrative a typical story of
+"fisherman's luck"? Show how the story illustrates that a real lover of
+fishing is enthusiastic over every detail of his experience. Is the
+story technical at the expense of the reader's interest? How does the
+element of suspense add to the interest? Is the account more interesting
+by being told in the first person? Why?]
+
+
+
+
+ACROSS RUNNING WATER
+
+
+At a running water, that comes out at a place called Srath-namara, near
+the sea-gates of Loch Suibhne, there is a pool called the Pool of the
+Changeling. None ever goes that way from choice, for only the crying of
+the curlew is heard there, or the querulous wailing lapwing.
+
+It was here that one night, in a September of many storms, a woman stood
+staring at the sea. The screaming seamews [Footnote: Seamews: gulls.]
+wheeled and sank and circled overhead, and the solanders [Footnote:
+Solanders: a kind of wild geese.] rose with heavy wing and hoarse cries,
+and the black scarts screeched to the startled guillemots [Footnote:
+Guillemots: birds similar to the auks.] or to the foam-white terns
+[Footnote: Terns: a species of birds allied to the gulls.] blown before
+the wind like froth. The woman looked neither at the seafowl nor at the
+burning glens of scarlet flame which stretched dishevelled among the
+ruined lands of the sunset.
+
+Between the black flurries of the wind, striking the sea like flails,
+came momentary pauses or long silences. In one of these the woman raised
+her arms, she the while unheeding the cold tide wash about her feet,
+where she stood insecurely on the wet slippery tangle.
+
+Seven years ago this woman had taken the one child she had, that she did
+not believe to be her own but a changeling, and had put it on the shore
+at the extreme edge of the tide-reach, and had left it for the space of
+an hour. When she came back, the child she had left with a numbness on
+its face and with the curse of dumbness, was laughing wild, and when she
+came near, it put out its arms and gave the cry of the young of birds.
+She lifted the "leanav" in her arms and stared into its eyes, but there
+was no longer the weary blankness, and the little one yearned with the
+petulant laughing and idle whimpering of the children of other mothers.
+And that mother there gave a cry of joy, and with a singing heart went
+home.
+
+It was in the seventh year after that finding by the sea, that one day,
+when a cold wind was blowing from the west, the child Morag came in by
+the peat-fire, where her mother was boiling the porridge, and looked at
+her without speaking. The mother turned at that, and looked at Morag.
+Her heart sank like a pool-lily at shadow, when she saw that Morag had
+woven a wreath of brown tangled seaweed into her hair. But that was
+nothing to the bite in her breast when the girl began singing a song
+that had not a word in it she had ever heard on her own or other lips,
+but was wild as the sound of the tide calling in dark nights of cloud
+and wind, or as the sudden coming of waves over a quiet sea in the
+silence of the black hours of sleep.
+
+"What is it, Morag-mo-run?" she asked, her voice like a reed in the
+wind.
+
+"It's time," says Morag, with a change in her eyes, and her face shining
+with a gleam on it.
+
+"Time for what, Morag?"
+
+"For me to be going back to the place I came from."
+
+"And where will that be?"
+
+"Where would it be but to the place you took me out of, and called
+across?"
+
+The mother gave a cry and a sob. "Sure, now, Morag-a-ghraidh, you will
+be my own lass and no other?"
+
+"Whist, woman," answered the girl; "don't you hear the laughing in the
+burn, [Footnote: Burn: a small stream.] and the hoarse voice out in the
+sea?"
+
+"That I do not, O Morag-mo-chridh, and sure it's black sorrow to you and
+to me hearing that hoarse voice and that thin laughing."
+
+"Well, sorrow or no sorrow, I'm off now, poor woman. [Footnote: Poor
+woman: a friendly term of address in Ireland.] And it's good-bye, and a
+good-bye to you I'll be saying to you, poor woman. Sure it's a sorrow to
+me to leave you in grief, but if you'll go down to the edge of the
+water, at the place you took me from, where the runnin' water falls into
+the sea-pool, you'll be having there against your breast in no time the
+child of your own that I never was and never could be."
+
+"And why that, and why that, O Morag, lennavanmo?"
+
+"Peace on your sorrow, woman, and good-bye to you now;" and with that
+the sea-changeling went laughing out at the door, singing a wave-song
+that was so wild and strange the mother's woe was turned to a fear that
+rose like chill water in her heart.
+
+When she dared follow--and why she did not go at once she did not
+know--she saw at first no sight of Morag or any other on the lonely
+shore. In vain she called, with a great sorrowing cry. But as, later,
+she stood with her feet in the sea, she became silent of a sudden, and
+was still as a rock, with her ragged dress about her like draggled
+seaweed. She had heard a thin crying. It was the voice of a
+breast-child, and not of a grown lass like Morag.
+
+When a gray heron toiled sullenly from a hollow among the rocks she went
+to the place. She was still now, with a frozen sorrow. She knew what she
+was going to find. But she did not guess till she lifted that little
+frail child she had left upon the shore seven years back, that the
+secret people of the sea or those who call across running water could
+have the hardness and coldness to give her again the unsmiling dumb
+thing she had mothered with so much bitterness of heart.
+
+Morag she never saw again, nor did any other see her, except Padruig
+Macrae, the innocent, who on a New Year's eve, that was a Friday, said
+that as he was whistling to a seal down by the Pool at Srath-na-mara he
+heard someone laughing at him; and when he looked to see who it was he
+saw it was no other than Morag--and he had called to her, he said, and
+she called back to him, "Come away, Padruig dear," and then had swum off
+like a seal, crying the heavy tears of sorrow.
+
+And as for the child she had found again on the place she had left her
+own silent breast-babe seven years back; it never gave a cry or made any
+sound whatever, but stared with round, strange eyes only, and withered
+away in three days, and was hidden by her in a sand-hole at the root of
+a stunted thorn that grew there.
+
+At every going down of the sun thereafter, the mother of the changeling
+went to the edge of the sea, and stood among the wet tangle of the
+wrack, [Footnote: Wrack: coarse seaweed.] and put out her supplicating
+hands, but never spoke word nor uttered cry.
+
+But on this night of September, while the gleaming sea-fowl were flying
+through the burning glens of scarlet flame in the wide purple wildness
+of the sky, with the wind falling and wailing and wailing and falling,
+the woman went over to the running water beyond the seapool, and put her
+skirt over her head and stepped into the pool, and, hooded thus and thus
+patient, waited till the tide came in.
+
+--FIONA MACLEOD.
+
+[Footnote: Notice how the author describes the wildness of nature so as
+to make it seem in sympathy with the strangeness of the human story.
+Pick out words and passages that convey this as: "screaming seamews,"
+"screeched," "dishevelled," "black flurries," etc. Have you ever read
+any stories or fairy tales that tell about changelings? Among what kind
+of people would a story like this be believed? Read Yeats, "The Land of
+Hearts' Desire" and compare with this story. Is the story too fantastic
+to gain the reader's sympathy?]
+
+
+
+
+THE PINE-TREE SHILLINGS
+
+
+The Captain John Hull aforesaid was the mint-master of Massachusetts,
+and coined all the money that was made there. This was a new line of
+business; for, in the earlier days of the colony, the current coinage
+consisted of gold and silver money of England, and Portugal, and Spain.
+These coins being scarce, the people were often forced to barter their
+commodities instead of selling them.
+
+For instance, if a man wanted to buy a coat, he perhaps exchanged a
+bear-skin for it. If he wished for a barrel of molasses, he might
+purchase it with a pile of pine boards. Musket-bullets were used instead
+of farthings. The Indians had a sort of money, called wampum, which was
+made of clam-shells; and this strange sort of specie was likewise taken
+in payment of debts by the English settlers. Bank-bills had never been
+heard of. There was not money enough of any kind, in many parts of the
+country, to pay the salaries of the ministers; so that they sometimes
+had to take quintals [Footnote: Quintals: hundredweights.] of fish,
+bushels of corn, or cords of wood, instead of silver or gold.
+
+As the people grew more numerous, and their trade one with another
+increased, the want of current money was still more sensibly felt. To
+supply the demand, the General Court passed a law for establishing a
+coinage of shillings, sixpences, and threepences. [Footnote: Shillings:
+Sixpences, and three-pences. What country did use and still uses this
+system?] Captain John Hull was appointed to manufacture this money, and
+was to have about one shilling out of every twenty to pay him for the
+trouble of making them.
+
+Hereupon all the old silver in the colony was handed over to Captain
+John Hull. The battered silver cans and tankards, [Footnote: Tankards:
+large drinking vessels.] I suppose, and silver buckles, and broken
+spoons, and silver buttons of wornout coats, and silver hilts of swords
+that had figured at court,--all such curious old articles were doubtless
+thrown into the melting pot together. But by far the greater part of the
+silver consisted of bullion [Footnote: Bullion: uncoined gold or silver
+in the mass.] from the mines of South America, which the English
+buccaneers [Footnote: Buccaneers: pirates.]--who were little better than
+pirates--had taken from the Spaniards, and brought to Massachusetts.
+All this old and new silver being melted down and coined, the result was
+an immense amount of splendid shillings, sixpences, and threepences.
+Each had the date, 1652, on the one side, and the figure of a pine-tree
+on the other. Hence they were called pine-tree shillings. And for every
+twenty shillings that he coined, you will remember, Captain John Hull
+was entitled to put one shilling into his own pocket.
+
+The magistrates soon began to suspect that the mint-master would have
+the best of the bargain. They offered him a large sum of money if he
+would but give up the twentieth shilling which he was continually
+dropping into his own pocket. But Captain Hull declared himself
+perfectly satisfied with the shilling. And well he might be; for so
+diligently did he labor that, in a few years, his pockets, his
+money-bags, and his strong box were overflowing with pine-tree
+shillings. This was probably the case when he came into possession of
+Grandfather's chair; and, as he had worked so hard at the mint, it was
+certainly proper that he should have a comfortable chair to rest himself
+in.
+
+When the mint-master had grown rich, a young man, Samuel Sewell by name,
+came a-courting to his only daughter. His daughter--whose name I do not
+know, but we will call her Betsey--was a fine, hearty damsel, by no
+means so slender as some young ladies of our own days. On the contrary,
+having always fed heartily on pumpkin-pies, doughnuts, Indian puddings,
+and other Puritan dainties, she was as round, and plump as a pudding
+herself. With this round, rosy Miss Betsey did Samuel Sewell fall in
+love. As he was a young man of good character, industrious in his
+business, and a member of the church, the mint-master very readily gave
+his consent.
+
+"Yes, you may take her," said he, in his rough way, "and you'll find her
+a heavy burden enough!"
+
+On the wedding day, we may suppose that honest John Hull dressed himself
+in a plum-colored coat, all the buttons of which were made of pine-tree
+shillings. The buttons of his waistcoat were sixpences; and the knees of
+his smallclothes [Footnote: Smallclothes: knee breeches.] were buttoned
+with silver threepences. Thus attired, he sat with great dignity in
+Grandfather's chair; and, being a portly old gentleman, he completely
+filled it from elbow to elbow. On the opposite side of the room, between
+her bridemaids, sat Miss Betsey. She was blushing with all her might,
+and looked like a full-blown peony, or a great red apple.
+
+There, too, was the bridegroom, dressed in a fine purple coat and
+gold-lace waistcoat, with as much other finery as the Puritan laws and
+customs would allow him to put on. His hair was cropped close to his
+head, because Governor Endicott [Footnote: Governor Endicott: governor
+of the Massachusetts colony from 1647 to 1665.] had forbidden any man to
+wear it below the ears. But he was a very personable young man; and so
+thought the bridemaids and Miss Betsey herself.
+
+The mint-master also was pleased with his new son-in-law; especially as
+he had courted Miss Betsey out of pure love, and had said nothing at all
+about her portion. So, when the marriage ceremony was over, Captain Hull
+whispered a word to two of his men-servants, who immediately went out,
+and soon returned, lugging in a large pair of scales. There were such a
+pair as wholesale merchants use for weighing bulky commodities; and
+quite a bulky commodity was now to be weighed in them.
+
+"Daughter Betsey," said the mint-master, "get into one side of these
+scales."
+
+Miss Betsey--or Mrs. Sewell, as we must now call her--did as she was
+bid, like a dutiful child, without any question of the why and
+wherefore. But what her father could mean, unless to make her husband
+pay for her by the pound (in which case she would have been a dear
+bargain), she had not the least idea.
+
+"And now," said honest John Hull to the servants, "bring that box
+hither."
+
+The box to which the mint-master pointed was a huge square, iron-bound,
+oaken chest; it was big enough, my children, for all four of you to play
+hide-and-seek in. The servants tugged with might and main, but could not
+lift this enormous receptacle, and were finally obliged to drag it
+across the floor. Captain Hull then took a key from his girdle, unlocked
+the chest, and lifted its ponderous lid. Behold! it was full to the brim
+of bright pine-tree shillings, fresh from the mint; and Samuel Sewell
+began to think that his father-in-law had got possession of all the
+money in the Massachusetts treasury. But it was only the mint-master's
+honest share of the coinage.
+
+Then the servants, at Captain Hull's command, heaped double handfuls of
+shillings into one side of the scales, while Betsey remained in the
+other. Jingle, jingle, went the shillings, as handful after handful was
+thrown in, till, plump and ponderous as she was, they fairly weighed the
+young lady from the floor.
+
+"There, son Sewell!" cried the honest mint-master, resuming his seat in
+Grandfather's chair, "take these shillings for my daughter's portion.
+Use her kindly, and thank Heaven for her. It is not every wife that's
+worth her weight in silver!"
+
+--NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
+
+[Footnote: Notice the kindly quality of the humor. Do you know any other
+stories written in this vein? Does the author seem to think that Miss
+Betsey's charms or her money were her attraction?]
+
+
+
+
+THE WHITE TRAIL
+
+
+For the space of nearly ten weeks these people travelled thus in the
+region of the Kabinikagam. Sometimes they made long marches; sometimes
+they camped for the hunting; sometimes the great, fierce storms of the
+north drove them to shelter, snowed them under, and passed on shrieking.
+The wind opposed them. At first of little account, its very insistence
+gave it value. Always the stinging snow whirling into the face; always
+the eyes watering and smarting; always the unyielding opposition against
+which to bend the head; always the rush of sound in the ears,--a
+distraction against which the senses had to struggle before they could
+take their needed cognisance of trail and of game. An uneasiness was
+abroad with the wind, an uneasiness that infected the men, the dogs, the
+forest creatures, the very insentient trees themselves. It racked the
+nerves. In it the inimical Spirit of the North seemed to find its
+plainest symbol; though many difficulties she cast in the way were
+greater to be overcome.
+
+Ever the days grew shorter. The sun swung above the horizon, low to the
+south, and dipped back as though pulled by some invisible string.
+Slanting through the trees it gave little cheer and no warmth. Early in
+the afternoon it sank, silhouetting the pointed firs, casting across the
+snow long, crimson shadows, which faded into gray. It was replaced by a
+moon, chill and remote, dead as the white world on which it looked.
+
+In the great frost continually the trees were splitting with loud,
+sudden reports. The cold had long since squeezed the last drops of
+moisture from the atmosphere. It was metallic, clear, hard as ice,
+brilliant as the stars, compressed with the freezing. The moon, the
+stars, the earth, the very heavens glistened like polished steel. Frost
+lay on the land thick as a coverlid. It hid the east like clouds of
+smoke. Snow remained unmelted two feet from the camp-fire.
+
+And the fire alone saved these people from the enemy. If Sam stooped for
+a moment to adjust his snow-shoe strap, he straightened his back with a
+certain reluctance,--already the benumbing preliminary to freezing had
+begun. If Dick, flipping his mitten from his hand to light his pipe, did
+not catch the fire at the second tug, he had to resume the mitten and
+beat the circulation into his hand before renewing the attempt, lest the
+ends of his fingers become frosted. Movement, always and incessantly,
+movement alone could keep going the vital forces on these few coldest
+days until the fire had been built to fight back the white death.
+
+It was the land of ghosts. Except for the few hours at midday these
+people moved in the gloom and shadow of a nether world. The long
+twilight was succeeded by longer night, with its burnished stars, its
+dead moon, its unearthly aurora. On the fresh snow were the tracks of
+creatures, but in the flesh they glided almost invisible. The
+ptarmigan's [Footnote: Ptarmigan: a species of grouse that is brown in
+summer but turns white, or nearly white, in winter.] bead eye alone
+betrayed him, he had no outline. The ermine's black tip was the only
+indication of his presence. Even the larger animals--the caribou, the
+moose--had either turned a dull gray, or were so rimed by the frost as
+to have lost all appearance of solidity. It was ever a surprise to find
+these phantoms red, to discover that their flesh would resist the knife.
+During the strife of the heavy northwest storms one side of each tree
+had become more or less plastered with snow, so that even their dark
+trunks flashed mysteriously into and out of view. In the entire world of
+the great white silence the only solid, enduring, palpable reality was
+the tiny sledge train crawling with infinite patience across its
+vastness.
+
+White space, a feeling of littleness and impotence, twilight gloom,
+burnished night, bitter cold, unreality, phantasmagoria, [Footnote:
+Phantasmagoria: illusive images.] ghosts like those which surged about
+Aeneas, [Footnote: Ghosts about Aeneas: referring to the descent of
+Aeneas into Hades as told in Virgil's "Aeneid."] and finally clogging,
+white silence,--these were the simple but dreadful elements of that
+journey which lasted, without event, from the middle of November until
+the latter part of January.
+
+--STEWART EDWARD WHITE.
+
+[Footnote: What is the effect of the repeated use of "always" in the
+first paragraph? Cite the passages that help most in giving you a clear
+picture of the scene. What effect is produced by the absence of color in
+the description? Why does the author use almost entirely the short
+sentences? What possibilities of tragedy are hinted at in the narrative?
+How is the sense of silence and isolation conveyed?]
+
+
+
+
+A DISSERTATION ON ROAST PIG
+
+
+Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. was obliging
+enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages
+ate their meat raw, clawing it or biting it from the living animal, just
+as they do in Abyssinia to this day. This period is not obscurely hinted
+at by their great Confucius [Footnote: Confucius: a celebrated Chinese
+philosopher, born about 550 B.C.] in the second chapter of his Mundane
+Mutations, where he designates a kind of golden age by the term
+Cho-fang, literally the Cooks' holiday.
+
+The manuscript goes on to say, that the art of roasting, or rather
+broiling (which I take to be the elder brother) was accidentally
+discovered in the manner following. The swineherd, Ho-ti, having gone
+out into the woods one morning, as his manner was, to collect mast
+[Footnote: Mast-acorns: nuts.] for his hogs, left his cottage in the
+care of his eldest son Bo-bo, a great lubberly boy, who being fond of
+playing with fire, as younkers [Footnote: Younkers: youngsters.] of his
+age commonly are, let some sparks escape into a bundle of straw, which
+kindling quickly, spread the conflagration over every part of their poor
+mansion, till it was reduced to ashes. Together with the cottage (a
+sorry antediluvian makeshift of a building, you may think it), what was
+of much more importance, a fine litter of young pigs, no less than nine
+in number, perished. China pigs [Footnote: China pigs. What adjective
+would we use now?] have been esteemed a luxury all over the East from
+the remotest periods that we read of.
+
+Bo-bo was in the utmost consternation, as you may think, not so much for
+the sake of the tenement, which his father and he could easily build up
+again with a few dry branches, and the labor of an hour or two, at any
+time, as for the loss of the pigs. While he was thinking what he should
+say to his father, and wringing his hands over the smoking remnants of
+one of those untimely sufferers, an odor assailed his nostrils, unlike
+any scent which he had before experienced.
+
+What could it proceed from?--not from the burnt cottage--he had smelled
+that smell before--indeed this was by no means the first accident of the
+kind which had occurred through the negligence of this unlucky young
+firebrand. Much less did it resemble that of any known herb, weed, or
+flower. A premonitory moistening at the same time overflowed his nether
+lip. He knew not what to think.
+
+He next stooped down to feel the pig, if there were any signs of life in
+it. He burned his fingers, and to cool them he applied them in his booby
+fashion to his mouth. Some of the crumbs of the scorched skin had come
+away with his fingers, and for the first time in his life (in the
+world's life indeed, for before him no man had known it) he tasted
+--crackling! [Footnote: Crackling: the brown crisp rind of roasted
+pork.] Again he felt and fumbled at the pig.
+
+It did not burn him so much now, still he licked his fingers from a sort
+of habit.
+
+The truth at length broke into his slow understanding, that it was the
+pig that smelt so, and the pig that tasted so delicious; and,
+surrendering himself to the newborn pleasure, he fell to tearing whole
+handfuls of the scorched skin with the flesh next it, and was cramming
+it down his throat in his beastly fashion, when his sire entered amid
+the smoking rafters, armed with retributory cudgel, and finding how
+affairs stood, began to rain blows upon the young rogue's shoulders, as
+thick as hailstones, which Bo-bo heeded not any more than if they had
+been flies. The tickling pleasure which he experienced in his lower
+regions, had rendered him quite callous to any inconveniences he might
+feel in those remote quarters.
+
+His father might lay on, but he could not beat him from his pig, till he
+had fairly made an end of it, when, becoming a little more sensible of
+his situation, something like the following dialogue ensued:--
+
+"You graceless fellow, what have you got there devouring? Is it not
+enough that you have burned down three houses with your dog's tricks,
+but you must be eating fire and I know not what--what have you got
+there, I say?"
+
+"O father, the pig, the pig, do come and taste how nice the burnt pig
+eats."
+
+The ears of Ho-ti tingled with horror. He cursed his son, and he cursed
+himself that ever he should have a son that should eat burnt pig.
+
+Bo-bo, whose scent was wonderfully sharpened since morning, soon raked
+out another pig, and fairly rending it asunder, thrust the lesser half
+by main force into the fists of Ho-ti, still shouting out, "Eat, eat,
+eat the burnt pig, father, only taste,"--with such like ejaculations,
+cramming all the while as if he would choke.
+
+Ho-ti trembled in every joint while he grasped the abominable thing,
+wavering whether he should not put his son to death for an unnatural
+young monster, when the crackling scorching his fingers, as it had done
+his son's, and applying the same remedy to them, he in his turn tasted
+some of its flavor, which, make what sour mouths he would for a
+pretence, proved not altogether displeasing to him. In conclusion (for
+the manuscript here is a little tedious) both father and son fairly sat
+down to the mess, and never left off till they despatched all that
+remained of the litter.
+
+Bo-bo was strictly enjoined not to let the secret escape, for the
+neighbors would certainly have stoned them for a couple of abominable
+wretches, who could think of improving upon the good meat God had sent
+them. Nevertheless, strange stories got about. It was observed that
+Ho-ti's cottage was burned down now more frequently than ever.
+
+Nothing but fires from this time forward. Some would break out in broad
+day, others in the night-time. And Ho-ti himself, which was the more
+remarkable, instead of chastising his son, seemed to grow more indulgent
+to him than ever.
+
+At length they were watched, the terrible mystery discovered, and father
+and son summoned to take their trial at Pekin, then an inconsiderable
+assize town. [Footnote: Assize town: the place where the court sits to
+conduct trials.] Evidence was given, the obnoxious food itself produced
+in court, and verdict about to be pronounced, when the foreman of the
+jury begged that some of the burnt pig, of which the culprits stood
+accused, might be handed into the box.
+
+He handled it, and they all handled it, and burning their fingers, as
+Bo-bo and his father had done before them, and nature prompting to each
+of them the same remedy, against the face of all the facts, and the
+clearest charge which the judge had ever given,--to the surprise of the
+whole court, townsfolk, strangers, reporters, and all present--without
+leaving the box, or any manner of consultation whatever, they brought in
+a simultaneous verdict of Not Guilty.
+
+The judge, who was a shrewd fellow, winked at the manifest iniquity of
+the decision; and when the court was dismissed, went privily, and bought
+up all the pigs that could be had for love or money. In a few days his
+Lordship's town house was observed to be on fire. The thing took wing,
+and now there was nothing to be seen but fires in every direction. Fuel
+and pigs grew enormously dear all over the district. The insurance
+offices one and all shut up shop. People built slighter and slighter
+every day, until it was feared that the very science of architecture
+would in no long time be lost to the world.
+
+Thus this custom of firing houses continued, till in process of time,
+says my manuscript, a sage arose, like our Locke, [Footnote: Locke: John
+Locke, a celebrated English philosopher of the seventeenth century.] who
+made a discovery, that flesh of swine, or indeed of any other animal,
+might be cooked (burnt, as they called it) without the necessity of
+consuming a whole house to dress it. Then first began the rude form of a
+gridiron.
+
+Roasting by the string, or spit, came in a century or two later, I
+forget in whose dynasty. By such slow degrees, concludes the manuscript,
+do the most useful, and seemingly the most obvious arts, make their way
+among mankind.
+
+--CHARLES LAMB.
+
+[Footnote: In this essay where does the humor lie? Is it in the
+absurdity of the story told? In the exaggerations? What stories, of
+those you have studied, does this most resemble? Why? Notice how bare
+the story is of any description except that which is essential to the
+theme. What is the effect of this? Does the author describe the taste of
+roast pig sympathetically? Does any article of food arouse your
+enthusiasm? If so, try writing an essay on it. Why does the author
+introduce such incongruous terms as "foreman of the jury," "jury box,"
+"insurance offices"?]
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST CLASS
+
+
+I was very late for school that morning, and I was afraid of being
+scolded, especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine
+us on participles, and I did not know the first thing about them. For a
+moment I thought of staying away from school and wandering about the
+fields. It was such a warm, lovely day. I could hear the blackbirds
+whistling on the edge of the wood, and in the Rippert field, behind the
+sawmill, the Prussians going through their drill. [Footnote: Prussians
+going through their drill. The time of the story is laid at the end of
+the Franco-Prussian War.] All that was much more tempting to me than the
+rules concerning participles; but I had the strength to resist, and I
+ran as fast as I could to school. As I passed the Mayor's office, I saw
+that there were people gathered about the little board on which notices
+were posted. For two years all our bad news had come from that
+board--battles lost, conscriptions, [Footnote: Conscription: compulsory
+enrollment for military service.] orders from headquarters; and I
+thought without stopping:
+
+"What can it be now?"
+
+Then, as I ran across the square, Wachter the blacksmith, who stood
+there with his apprentice, reading the placard, called out to me:
+
+"Don't hurry so, my boy; you'll get to your school soon enough!"
+
+I thought that he was making fun of me, and I ran into Monsieur Hamel's
+little yard all out of breath.
+
+Usually, at the beginning of school, there was a great uproar which
+could be heard in the street, desks opening and closing, lessons
+repeated aloud in unison, with our ears stuffed in order to learn
+quicker, and the teacher's stout ruler beating on the desk:
+
+"A little more quiet!"
+
+I counted on all this noise to reach my bench unnoticed, but as it
+happened, that day everything was quiet, like a Sunday morning. Through
+the open window I saw my comrades already in their places, and Monsieur
+Hamel walking back and forth with the terrible iron ruler under his arm.
+I had to open the door and enter, in the midst of that perfect silence.
+You can imagine whether I blushed and whether I was afraid!
+
+But no! Monsieur Hamel looked at me with no sign of anger and said very
+gently:
+
+"Go at once to your seat, my little Frantz; we were going to begin
+without you."
+
+I stepped over the bench and sat down at once at my desk. Not until
+then, when I had partly recovered from my fright, did I notice that our
+teacher had on his handsome blue coat, his plaited ruff, and the black
+embroidered breeches, which he wore on days of inspection or of
+distribution of prizes. Moreover, there was something extraordinary,
+something solemn about the whole class. But what surprised me most was
+to see at the back of the room, on the benches which were usually empty,
+some people from the village sitting, as silent as we were: old Hauser
+with his three-cornered hat, the ex-mayor, the ex-postman, and others
+besides. They all seemed depressed; and Hauser had brought an old
+spelling-book with gnawed edges, which he held wide-open on his knee,
+with his great spectacles askew.
+
+While I was wondering at all this, Monsieur Hamel had mounted his
+platform, and in the same gentle and serious voice with which he had
+welcomed me, he said to us:
+
+"My children, this is the last time that I shall teach you. Orders have
+come from Berlin to teach nothing but German in the schools of Alsace
+and Lorraine. The new teacher arrives to-morrow. This is the last class
+in French, so I beg you to be very attentive."
+
+Those few words overwhelmed me. Ah! the villains! that was what they had
+posted at the mayor's office.
+
+My last class in French!
+
+And I barely knew how to write! So I should never learn! I must stop
+short where I was! How angry I was with myself because of the time I had
+wasted, the lessons I had missed, running about after nests, or sliding
+on the Saar! [Footnote: Saar: a river just beyond the northeast border
+line of the province of Lorraine.] My books, which only a moment before
+I thought so tiresome, so heavy to carry--my grammar, my sacred
+history--seemed to me now like old friends, from whom I should be
+terribly grieved to part. And it was the same about Monsieur Hamel. The
+thought that he was going away, that I should never see him again, made
+me forget the punishments, the blows with the ruler.
+
+Poor man! It was in honor of that last lesson that he had put on his
+fine Sunday clothes; and I understood now why those old fellows from the
+village were sitting at the end of the room. It seemed to mean that they
+regretted not having come oftener to the school. It was also a way of
+thanking our teacher for his forty years of faithful service, and of
+paying their respects to the fatherland which was vanishing.
+
+I was at that point in my reflections, when I heard my name called. It
+was my turn to recite. What would I not have given to be able to say
+from the beginning to the end that famous rule about participles, in a
+loud, distinct voice, without a slip! But I got mixed up at the first
+words, and I stood there swaying against my bench, with a full heart,
+afraid to raise my head. I heard Monsieur Hamel speaking to me:
+
+"I will not scold you, my little Frantz; you must be punished enough;
+that is the way it goes; every day we say to ourselves: 'Pshaw! I have
+time enough. I will learn to-morrow.' And then you see what happens. Ah!
+it has been the great misfortune of our Alsace always to postpone its
+lessons until to-morrow. 'What! you claim to be French, and you can
+neither speak nor write your language!' In all this, my poor Frantz, you
+are not the guiltiest one. We all have our fair share of reproaches to
+address to ourselves.
+
+"Your parents have not been careful enough to see that you were
+educated. They preferred to send you to work in the fields or in the
+factories, in order to have a few more sous. And have I nothing to
+reproach myself for? Have I not often made you water my garden instead
+of studying? And when I wanted to go fishing for trout, have I ever
+hesitated to dismiss you?"
+
+Then passing from one thing to another, Monsieur Hamel began to talk to
+us about the French language, saying that it was the most beautiful
+language in the world, the most clear, the most substantial; that we
+must always retain it among ourselves, and never forget it, because when
+a people falls into servitude, "so long as it clings to its language, it
+is as if it held the key to its prison." Then he took the grammar and
+read us our lesson. I was amazed to see how readily I understood.
+Everything that he said seemed so easy to me, so easy. I believed, too,
+that I had never listened so closely, and that he, for his part, had
+never been so patient with his explanations. One would have said that,
+before going away, the poor man desired to give us all his knowledge, to
+force it all into our heads at a single blow.
+
+When the lesson was at an end, we passed to writing. For that day
+Monsieur Hamel had prepared some entirely new examples, on which was
+written in a fine, round hand: "France, Alsace, France, Alsace." They
+were like little flags, waving all about the class, hanging from the
+rods of our desks. You should have seen how hard we all worked and how
+silent it was! Nothing could be heard save the grinding of the pens over
+the paper. At one time some cockchafers [Footnote: Cockchafers: a
+species of beetle.] flew in; but no one paid any attention to them not
+even the little fellows, who were struggling with their straight lines,
+with a will and conscientious application, as if even the lines were
+French. On the roof of the schoolhouse, pigeons cooed in low tones, and
+I said to myself as I listened to them:
+
+"I wonder if they are going to compel them to sing German too!"
+
+From time to time, when I raised my eyes from my paper, I saw Monsieur
+Hamel sitting motionless in his chair and staring at the objects about
+him as if he wished to carry away in his glance the whole of his little
+schoolhouse. Think of it! For forty years he had been there in the same
+place, with his yard in front of him and his class just as it was! But
+the benches and desks were polished and rubbed by use; the walnuts in
+the yard had grown, and the hop-vine which he himself had planted now
+festooned the windows even to the roof. What a heartrending thing it
+must have been for that poor man to leave all those things, and to hear
+his sister walking back and forth in the room overhead, packing their
+trunks! For they were to go away the next day--to leave the province
+forever.
+
+However, he had the courage to keep the class to the end. After the
+writing, we had the lesson in history; then the little ones sang all
+together the ba, be, bi, bo, bu. Yonder, at the back of the room, old
+Hauser had put on his spectacles, and, holding his spelling-book in both
+hands, he spelled out the letters with them. I could see that he too was
+applying himself. His voice shook with emotion, and it was so funny to
+hear him, that we all longed to laugh and to cry. Ah! I shall remember
+that last class.
+
+Suddenly the church struck twelve, then the Angelus [Footnote: Angelus:
+the angelus bell, which is rung at morning, noon, and night.] rang. At
+the same moment, the bugles of the Prussians returning from drill blared
+under our windows. Monsieur Hamel rose, pale as death, from his chair.
+Never had he seemed to me so tall.
+
+"My friends," he said, "my friends, I--I--"
+
+But something suffocated him. He could not finish the sentence.
+
+Thereupon he turned to the blackboard, took a piece of chalk, and,
+bearing on with all his might, he wrote in the largest letters he could:
+
+"Vive La France!" [Footnote: Vive la France: "Long live France."]
+
+Then he stood there with his head resting against the wall, and without
+speaking, he motioned to us with his hand:
+
+"That is all; go."
+
+--ALPHONSE DAUDET.
+
+[Footnote: Compare this story with "A Leaf in the Storm." What do such
+stories make you think of "the glory of conquest"? Why was the decree
+made that this was to be "the last class in French"? Does the author
+make this story a personal tragedy or the tragedy of France? Where is
+the climax of the story? Is it effective? What kind of spirit does it
+show? Does that spirit live in France to-day?]
+
+
+
+
+AN ARAB FISHERMAN
+
+
+This morning I reached the rocks before the dawn had begun to break. It
+was too dark to fish; but I crept out to the very edge of the ledge, and
+sat down beside a great boulder to wait for the light. I lit my pipe and
+smoked impatiently. It seemed as though the dawn came up out of the
+water itself; long before I could notice any increase of light the waves
+began to change color from the dark, oily olive tint of night to a
+lighter green, and gradually, just as it began to dawn, to their daytime
+blue. A long trailing cloud, which stretched clean across the sky like
+an exaggerated Milky Way, suddenly caught fire at its eastern end.
+Rapidly the red flame along ran its entire length to the other horizon.
+Then countless unexpected shadows woke up on the rocks about me, weird,
+undefined shapes, which became clear-cut only when the rim of the sun
+came up over Cap Rouge.
+
+But a swish in the water beside me, as the first fish rose, recalled me
+to the business in hand. I opened my little tin tackle-box, put the rod
+together, and just as I was tying on the flies I was disturbed by human
+voices. I said several things I shouldn't have, and looked up over my
+rock to motion back the intruders. For a moment I thought I was back in
+Old Greece, the Old Greece where early morning fishers were often
+interrupted by the sea-nymphs. But a second glance reassured me--it was
+only an Arab and his wife hunting crabs.
+
+Their method was typical. He was a sombre old chap, with long, scanty
+white beard, a soiled burnous, [Footnote: Burnous: a cloak-like garment
+with a hood, worn by the Arabs.] and thin, scrawny brown legs. He sat
+stolidly on a dry rock, a basket under his feet, and--this was the
+typical part--watched his wife work. I did not blame him for watching.
+It was a pretty sight. She was a supple young Mauresque, [Footnote:
+Mauresque: Moorish (girl).] slim and graceful as the water-nymph for
+whom I had first mistaken her. She had laid aside her outer cloak-like
+garment, and was clad only in a light cotton tunic. It was very simple
+affair--two small holes for her arms, a bigger one for her head, and a
+still bigger one at the bottom to get in by. I could make one myself. It
+was bound about her waist with a heavy dark red woollen sash, the ends
+of which, hanging down at her side, were adorned with a most amazing
+collection of colored strings, bright yellow, startling orange, pale
+blue, and flaming crimson. It sounds discordant, and I must admit that,
+as it hangs now in my room, it almost makes my head ache. But out there
+on the red, wet rocks it was toned down by the faint morning light, and
+mingled charmingly with the greens on the bank and the far-reaching blue
+of the sea. In her hand was a spear--a stick sharpened in a fire.
+
+If the old gentleman took it sedately and placidly, it was just the
+reverse with her. She was fairly running over with the joy of life. She
+would crawl about deftly until she saw a crab, then she would make a
+long detour to get it between her and the sun, so that her shadow should
+not frighten it. When she got within striking distance, she would wave
+her hand at her husband, as though she thought he could increase the
+intensity of his silence. With a graceful, dextrous thrust she would
+stab her game, and, gathering up her scant skirts, she would dash into
+the water after it. The moment she got her hand on it she would let out
+a delighted little scream of glee, and go bounding over the rocks to
+exhibit it to her lord and master. I wanted to wring his scrawny old
+neck for not being more enthusiastic about it. But he never once lost
+his blase manner. He would look at the crab a moment critically, then
+lift up his foot and let her put it in the basket. Not a word would he
+say. But off she would go again with undimmed ardor. It was a sight for
+the gods. And for half an hour I forgot all about my fishing-rod.
+
+At last their basket was full, and the old man got up and began to come
+my way. She picked up her mantle and the basket and followed him. They
+saw me at the same moment. She gave a startled little squeal and started
+to retreat; but the old man grunted "Roumi," so she stopped.
+
+"Roumi," being translated, means "Infidel." It was as though he had
+said, "Don't get excited; it is only a dog." If I had been a Mussulman,
+she would have run screaming to the woods, and would have had to do--I
+don't know what penance--because I had seen her face unveiled. But I was
+only an infidel dog and didn't count. The old man made the "Sign of
+Peace," and the two sat down beside me.
+
+I didn't return his salute. I had never felt so entirely, so shamefully
+insulted in my life. I have always read a deep contempt for me in the
+eyes of the Mussulmans I have met. The Arab boy who cleans my boots and
+cares for "Citron," my mare, looks down on me from a perfectly
+unspeakable height of superiority. The men do not matter, but to be
+insulted so by a woman, a very pretty woman, made my hair crinkle! I had
+heard that the Mohammedan women do not veil before the infidels. But I
+had never realized the overpowering weight of the insult before. She
+would have been utterly confused if an Arab had seen her face. She sat
+there before me, almost within reach of my hand, in a thin, short, very
+short, tunic, which was wet, and she never turned a hair. I was a
+"Roumi," not a man, a dog. That was all there was to it. I felt that
+unless I could shake her composure I would explode. I tried to convince
+her I was a man by staring at her. I might just as well have tried to
+embarrass the statue of Venus de Milo!
+
+"Bonjour," [Footnote: Bonjour: "good day."] the old man said. He had
+probably learned French working for a colonist; or perhaps he had served
+in the Spahis [Footnote: Spahis: Algerian cavalrymen serving in the
+French army.] when he was younger. I was too mad to return his greeting.
+
+"Fishing?" he asked.
+
+Such insane questions, when the answer is so evident, generally
+infuriate me; and I probably would have told him I was skating if I had
+not been afraid he would get mad and walk off with his wife, and I had
+not yet given up hope of embarrassing her.
+
+"Yes," I replied. "And you?"
+
+"I've been crab-fishing," he said solemnly, and he showed me his basket.
+"I'm a good fisher," he added.
+
+I looked at his wife, but she did not seem to see anything funny in his
+choice of pronouns. I tied another fly on my leader.
+
+"No good," he said. "Use crab meat. Fish don't like feathers."
+
+I made a couple of casts without making a strike. "No good!" he kept
+repeating. He began to get on my nerves. At last I had better luck and
+landed a beautiful three-pounder. I dangled it triumphantly before his
+eyes.
+
+"No good," he said stolidly. "Use crab meat. Fish don't like feathers."
+
+Then I had a run of luck. Almost every cast I got a rise, and soon I had
+a nice string of eight, all from two to five pounds. I noticed that all
+the strikes had been on the same fly, so I stopped for a minute to
+change the other two flies to this variety. I thought that if I should
+have the luck to raise two at once--as sometimes happens--I might
+convince him. When I opened the box to get the new flies, both of them
+came close to look in. In one compartment were some bare hooks on which
+I had not yet built flies. The old man pounced on them at once.
+
+"There!" he cried. "These are good. Use these with crab meat and you
+will catch fish!"
+
+I sat back in dumb amazement. Once upon a time, way back in the dimness
+before history, this chap's ancestors had begun to fish off these rocks
+with a bent wire and a piece of crab meat. Century after century they
+had sat there unchanging. Sat there all day long, and had been lucky to
+catch half as many fish as I had done in fifteen minutes. And glaring
+ocular demonstration did not shake his faith in the methods of his
+ancestors. I began to understand the hopeless discouragement with which
+my host talks of the "Native Question." The Arabs are starving off
+because the French have stolen their land. But the fact remains that
+most of the natives have more land than the colonists. An Arab will
+starve to death on a piece of land which will support two French
+families, simply because the Arabs do not know--and will not learn--how
+to intensify their culture. Somehow--nobody knows just how--the Romans,
+during the long centuries of their occupation, succeeded in teaching
+them to put an iron point on the end of the crooked stick with which
+they scratch the earth. It is the last thing they have learned.
+
+The Arabs employed by my host are good workmen. They seem perfectly
+intelligent; six days a week they yoke his stout oxen before a great
+American plow, turn his soil, scatter his fertilizer, after the harvest
+help him sort out the best grain for the next sowing, and so forth; but
+the seventh day of the week they hitch their wives beside an ass, and
+tickle the soil with their iron-pointed stick. "Why should we put on
+fertilizer?" they ask. "Allah, the Just, will give us the harvest our
+piety deserves."
+
+My speculations about the fate of the race were interrupted by the voice
+of the young woman. Her eye had been caught by a gaudy red-feathered
+trolling-spoon and its polished brass disk. She pointed to it, and said
+something in Arabic. The old man shook his head.
+
+"No good" he repeated his deadly refrain.
+
+"Use these. Crab meat. You will catch fish. Fish don't like feathers."
+
+But I'd lost interest in fishing. I realized that if I pulled up Jonah's
+whale it would not convince the old man. So I started to put up my
+things.
+
+--ALBERT EDWARDS.
+
+[Footnote: Note the use of color. What things in the scene should you
+like to see for yourself? Is the humor of the story one of situation or
+character? Was the old Arab vain or only stupid? Is his attitude toward
+the author a typically Eastern one? Do you know Kipling's ballad, "The
+East and the West"?]
+
+
+
+
+THE ARCHERY CONTEST
+
+
+At the beginning of the contest a stranger appears to take part in the
+shooting. He tells Prince John that his name is Locksley.
+
+A target was placed at the upper end of the southern avenue which led to
+the lists. [Footnote: Lists: fields of combat.] The contending archers
+took their station in turn, at the bottom of the southern access, the
+distance between that station and the mark allowing full distance for
+what was called a shot at rovers. The archers, having previously
+determined by lot their order of precedence, were to shoot each three
+shafts in succession. The sports were regulated by an officer of
+inferior rank, termed the Provost of the Games; for the high rank of the
+marshals of the lists would have been held degraded, had they
+condescended to superintend the sports of the yeomanry. [Footnote:
+Yeomanry: the yeomen in England were the freeholders, the class next in
+order to the gentry.]
+
+One by one the archers, stepping forward, delivered their shafts
+yeomanlike and bravely. Of twenty-four arrows, shot in succession, ten
+were fixed in the target, and the others ranged so near it, that,
+considering the distance of the mark, it was accounted good archery. Of
+the ten shafts which hit the target, two within the inner ring were shot
+by Hubert, a forester in the service of Malvoisin, who was accordingly
+pronounced victorious.
+
+"Now, Locksley," [Footnote: Locksley: a name for Robin Hood who was
+supposed to have been born in Locksley, Nottinghamshire, about 1160.]
+said Prince John [Footnote: Prince John was the brother of King Richard,
+and ruled in England during the time that Richard was absent on the
+Crusades.] to the bold yeoman with a bitter smile, "wilt thou try
+conclusions with Hubert, or wilt thou yield up bow, baldric, [Footnote:
+Baldric: a broad belt worn over one shoulder and under the opposite arm.
+Drew a long bow at Hastings. The archers of that time used what were
+called "long bows." The battle of Hastings was fought in 1066, when
+William of Normandy defeated the English.] and quiver, to the Provost of
+the sports?"
+
+"Sith it be no better," said Locksley, "I am content to try my fortune;
+on condition that when I have shot two shafts at yonder mark of Hubert's
+he shall be bound to shoot at that which I shall propose."
+
+"That is but fair," answered Prince John, "and it shall not be refused
+thee. If thou dost beat this braggart, Hubert, I will fill the bugle
+with silver-pennies for thee."
+
+"A man can do but his best," answered Hubert; "but my grandsire drew a
+good long bow at Hastings, and I trust not to dishonor his memory."
+
+The former target was now removed, and a fresh one of the same size
+placed in its room. Hubert, who, as victor in the first trial of skill,
+had the right to shoot first, took his aim with great deliberation, long
+measuring the distance with his eye, while he held in his hand his
+bended bow, with the arrow placed on the string. At length he made a
+step forward, and raising the bow at the full stretch of his left arm,
+till the centre or grasping-place was nigh level with his face, he drew
+his bowstring to his ear. The arrow whistled through the air, and
+lighted within the inner ring of the target, but not exactly in the
+centre.
+
+"You have not allowed for the wind, Hubert," said his antagonist,
+bending his bow, "or that had been a better shot."
+
+So saying, and without showing the least anxiety to pause upon his aim,
+Locksley stept to the appointed station, and shot his arrow as
+carelessly in appearance as if he had not even looked at the mark. He
+was speaking almost at the instant that the shaft left the bowstring,
+yet it alighted in the target two inches nearer to the white spot which
+marked the centre than that of Hubert.
+
+"By the light of heaven!" said Prince John to Hubert, "an' thou suffer
+that runagate knave to overcome thee, thou art worthy of the gallows!"
+
+Hubert had but one set speech for all occasions.
+
+"An' your highness were to hang me," he said, "a man can do but his
+best. Nevertheless, my grandsire drew a good bow"--
+
+"The foul fiend on thy grandsire and all his generation!" interrupted
+John, "shoot, knave, and shoot thy best, or it shall be the worse for
+thee!"
+
+Thus exhorted, Hubert resumed his place, and not neglecting, he made the
+necessary allowance for a very light air of wind, which had just arisen,
+and shot so successfully that his arrow alighted in the very centre of
+the target.
+
+"A Hubert!" shouted the populace, more interested in a known person than
+in a stranger. "In the clout!--in the clout!--a Hubert for ever!"
+
+"Thou canst not mend that shot, Locksley," said the Prince, with an
+insulting smile.
+
+"I will notch his shaft for him, however," replied Locksley.
+
+And letting fly his arrow with a little more precaution than before, it
+lighted right upon that of his competitor, which it split to shivers.
+The people who stood around were so astonished at his wonderful
+dexterity, that they could not even give vent to their surprise in their
+usual clamor. "This must be the devil, and no man of flesh and blood,"
+whispered the yeomen to each other; "such archery was never seen since a
+bow was first bent in Britain."
+
+"And now," said Locksley, "I will crave your Grace's permission to plant
+such a mark as is used in the North Country; and welcome every brave
+yeoman who shall try a shot at it to win a smile from the bonny lass he
+loves best."
+
+He then turned to leave the lists. "Let your guards attend me," he said,
+"if you please--I go but to cut a rod from the next willow-bush."
+
+Prince John made a signal that some attendants should follow him in case
+of his escape: but the cry of "Shame! shame!" which burst from the
+multitude, induced him to alter his ungenerous purpose.
+
+Locksley returned almost instantly with a willow wand about six feet in
+length, perfectly straight, and rather thicker than a man's thumb. He
+began to peel this with great composure, observing at the same time,
+that to ask a good woodsman to shoot at a target so broad as had
+hitherto been used, was to put shame upon his skill. "For his own part,"
+he said, "and in the land where he was bred, men would as soon take for
+their mark King Arthur's round-table, [Footnote: King Arthur's round
+table. This was the famous table, made by the magician Merlin, which was
+given to King Arthur as a wedding gift by the father of Guinevere. It
+could seat 150 knights.] which held sixty knights around it. A child of
+seven years old," he said, "might hit yonder target with a headless
+shaft; but," added he, walking deliberately to the other end of the
+lists, and sticking the willow wand upright in the ground, "he that hits
+that rod at five-score yards, I call him an archer fit to bear both bow
+and quiver before a king, an it were the stout King Richard himself."
+
+"My grandsire," said Hubert, "drew a good bow at the battle of Hastings,
+and never shot at such a mark in his life,--and neither will I. If this
+yeoman can cleave that rod, I give him the bucklers--or rather I yield
+to the devil that is in his jerkin, and not to any human skill; a man
+can but do his best, and I will not shoot where I am sure to miss. I
+might as well shoot at the edge of our parson's whittle, or at a wheat
+straw, or at a sunbeam, as at a twinkling white streak which I can
+hardly see."
+
+"Cowardly dog!" said Prince John.--"Sirrah Locksley, do thou shoot, but,
+if thou hittest such a mark, I will say thou art the first man ever did
+so. Howe'er it be, thou shalt not crow over us with a mere show of
+superior skill."
+
+"I will do my best, as Hubert says," answered Locksley, "No man can do
+more."
+
+So saying, he again bent his bow, but on the present occasion looked
+with attention to his weapon, and changed the string, which he thought
+was no longer truly round, having been a little frayed by the two former
+shots. He then took his aim with some deliberation, and the multitude
+awaited the event in breathless silence. The archer vindicated their
+opinion of his skill: his arrow split the willow rod against which it
+was aimed. A jubilee of acclamations followed; and even Prince John, in
+admiration of Locksley's skill, lost for an instant his dislike to his
+person. "These twenty nobles," [Footnote: Twenty nobles. A noble was an
+old coin worth about one dollar and sixty cents.] he said, "which, with
+the bugle, thou hast fairly won, are thine own; we will make them fifty,
+if thou wilt take livery and service with us as a yeoman of our
+bodyguard, and be near to our person. For never did so strong a hand
+bend a bow, or so true an eye direct a shaft."
+
+"Pardon me, noble Prince," said Locksley; "but I have vowed, that if
+ever I take service, it should be with your royal brother King Richard.
+[Footnote: King Richard: Richard Coeur de Lion. He was born about 1157
+and became king of England in 1189. He reigned until his death in 1199.
+whittle: a pocket or sheath knife.] These twenty nobles I leave to
+Hubert, who has this day drawn as brave a bow as his grandsire did at
+Hastings. Had his modesty not refused the trial, he would have hit the
+wand as well as I."
+
+Hubert shook his head as he received with reluctance the bounty of the
+stranger, and Locksley, anxious to escape further observation, mixed
+with the crowd, and was seen no more.
+
+--WALTER SCOTT.
+
+[Footnote: State some qualities of Locksley and Prince John that are
+brought out in the narrative. What is the effect of Hubert's repetition
+of the words "my grandsire drew a long bow," etc.? Can you get any hint
+of the social conditions at the time of the story? Is there anything in
+the narrative to suggest the identity of Locksley? Did Robin Hood ever
+take service with King Richard? Why did Locksley refuse the money?]
+
+
+
+
+BABY SYLVESTER
+
+
+(The writer has taken up temporary quarters in the cabin of his friend
+Sylvester, a California miner).
+
+I do not remember how long I slept. I must have been conscious, however,
+during my slumber, of my inability to keep myself covered by the serape,
+[Footnote: Serape: a blanket or shawl commonly worn by the Mexicans.]
+for I awoke once or twice clutching it with a despairing hand as it was
+disappearing over the foot of the couch. Then I became suddenly aroused
+to the fact that my efforts to retain it were resisted by some equally
+persistent force, and letting it go, I was horrified at seeing it
+swiftly drawn under the couch. At this point I sat up, completely awake;
+for immediately after, what seemed to be an exaggerated muff began to
+emerge from under the couch. Presently it appeared fully, dragging the
+serape after it. There was no mistaking it now--it was a baby bear. A
+mere suckling, it was true--a helpless roll of fat and fur--but
+unmistakably, a grizzly cub!
+
+I cannot recall anything more irresistibly ludicrous than its aspect as
+it slowly raised its small wondering eyes to mine. It was so much taller
+in its haunches than its shoulders--its fore legs were so
+disproportionately small--that in walking, its hind feet invariably
+took precedence. It was perpetually pitching forward over its pointed,
+inoffensive nose, and recovering itself always, after these involuntary
+somersaults, with the gravest astonishment. To add to its preposterous
+appearance, one of its hind feet was adorned by a shoe of Sylvester's,
+[Footnote: Sylvester: the author's friend in whose cabin he was staying
+at the time of the story.] into which it had accidentally and
+inextricably [Footnote: Inextricably: in a hopelessly involved manner.]
+stepped. As this somewhat impeded its first impulse to fly, it turned to
+me; and then, possibly recognizing in the stranger, the same species as
+its master, it paused. Presently, it slowly raised itself on its hind
+legs, and vaguely and deprecatingly [Footnote: Deprecatingly:
+regretfully, entreatingly.] waved a baby paw, fringed with little hooks
+of steel. I took the paw, and shook it gravely. From that moment we were
+friends. The little affair of the serape was forgotten.
+
+Nevertheless, I was wise enough to cement our friendship by an act of
+delicate courtesy. Following the direction of his eyes, I had no
+difficulty in finding, on a shelf near the ridge-pole, the sugar box and
+the square lumps of white sugar that even the poorest miner is never
+without. While he was eating them I had time to examine him more
+closely. His body was a silky, dark, but exquisitely modulated gray,
+deepening to black in his paws and muzzle. His fur was excessively long,
+thick, and soft as eider-down, the cushions of flesh beneath perfectly
+infantine in their texture and contour. He was so very young that the
+palms of his half-human feet were still tender as a baby's. Except for
+the bright blue, steely hooks, half sheathed in his little toes, there
+was not a single harsh outline or detail in his plump figure. He was as
+free from angles as one of Leda's [Footnote: Leda: the maiden who was
+wooed by Jupiter in the form of a swan.] offspring. Your caressing hand
+sank away in his fur with dreamy languor. To look at him long was an
+intoxication of the senses; to pat him was a wild delirium; to embrace
+him, an utter demoralization of the intellectual faculties.
+
+When he had finished the sugar he rolled out of the door with a
+half-diffident, half-inviting look in his eye, as if he expected me to
+follow. I did so, but the sniffing and snorting of the keen-scented
+Pomposo [Footnote: Pomposo: the writer's horse.] in the hollow, not only
+revealed the cause of his former terror, but decided me to take another
+direction. After a moment's hesitation he concluded to go with me,
+although I am satisfied, from a certain impish look in his eye, that he
+fully understood and rather enjoyed the fright of Pomposo. As he rolled
+along at my side, with a gait not unlike a drunken sailor, I discovered
+that his long hair concealed a leather collar around his neck, which
+bore for its legend the single word, "Baby!" I recalled the mysterious
+suggestion of the two miners. This, then was the "baby" with whom I was
+to "play."
+
+How we "played"; how Baby allowed me to roll him downhill, crawling and
+puffing up again each time, with perfect good humor; how he climbed a
+young sapling after my Panama hat, which I had "shied" into one of the
+topmost branches; how after getting it he refused to descend until it
+suited his pleasure; how when he did come down he persisted in walking
+about on three legs, carrying my hat, a crushed and shapeless mass,
+clasped to his breast with the remaining one; how I missed him at last,
+and finally discovered him seated on a table in one of the tenantless
+cabins, with a bottle of syrup between his paws, vainly endeavoring to
+extract its contents--these and other details of that eventful day I
+shall not weary the reader with now. Enough, that when Dick Sylvester
+returned, I was pretty well fagged out, and the baby was rolled up, an
+immense bolster at the foot of the couch, asleep.
+
+--BRET HARTE (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Why had the miners chosen the name "Baby Sylvester" for the
+bear cub? Read the story and explain the author's surprise at the
+appearance of the "Baby." Does the author describe the bear
+sympathetically and lovingly or as a naturalist? Illustrate. What
+qualities had the cub that endeared it to the author? Which of the
+senses predominates in the description? Illustrate. Would you consider
+"Baby Sylvester" capable of training? Why? Read the entire story and
+tell what becomes of the "Baby."]
+
+
+
+
+ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG
+
+
+Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
+continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
+proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a
+great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived
+and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of
+that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final
+resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might
+live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But,
+in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
+hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
+have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The
+world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can
+never forget what they did here.
+
+It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished
+work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is
+rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before
+us;--that from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that
+cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion;--that we
+here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that
+this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that
+government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not
+perish from the earth.
+
+--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+[Footnote: Does the style and sentiment expressed remind you of an older
+literature? Illustrate. Do Lincoln's statements about war apply to the
+present great European conflict? Illustrate. Point out the effectiveness
+of repetition. Note the places where the prose becomes almost poetical.
+Is the appeal in the speeches to reason or to feeling? Do you feel the
+personality of Lincoln in these speeches? The Gettysburg speech is
+commonly considered one of the greatest speeches ever made. Can you
+mention any other famous speeches that are regarded as fine literature?]
+
+
+
+
+SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
+
+
+Fellow Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the
+presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than
+there was at the first. Then, a statement, somewhat in detail, of a
+course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration
+of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly
+called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still
+absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little
+that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all
+else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and
+it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With
+high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
+
+On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were
+anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought
+to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this
+place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent
+agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--seeking to
+dissolve the Union, and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties
+deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the
+nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it
+perish. And the war came.
+
+One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed
+generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it.
+These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that
+this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen,
+perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the
+insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while government claimed
+no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
+Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which
+it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the
+conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should
+cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental
+and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and
+each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men
+should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from
+the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not
+judged. The prayers of both could not be answered,--that of neither has
+been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the
+world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but
+woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that
+American slavery is one of these offenses which, in the providence of
+God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed
+time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South
+this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came,
+shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes
+which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we
+hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily
+pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled
+by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall
+be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid
+by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago,
+so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and
+righteous altogether."
+
+With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the
+right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
+work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who
+shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan,--to do
+all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among
+ourselves, and with all nations.
+
+--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+
+
+
+AN APPRECIATION OF LINCOLN
+
+
+To these qualifications of high literary excellence, and easy practical
+mastery of affairs of transcendent importance, we must add as an
+explanation of his immediate and world-wide fame, his possession of
+certain moral qualities rarely combined in such high degree in one
+individual. His heart was so tender that he would dismount from his
+horse in a forest to replace in their nest young birds which had fallen
+by the roadside; he could not sleep at night if he knew that a
+soldier-boy was under sentence of death; he could not, even at the
+bidding of duty or policy, refuse the prayer of age or helplessness in
+distress. Children instinctively loved him; they never found his rugged
+features ugly; his sympathies were quick and seemingly unlimited. He was
+absolutely without prejudice of class or condition. Frederick Douglass
+[Footnote: Frederick Douglass: a noted orator and journalist. He was
+born (a slave) in 1817 and died in 1895.] says he was the only man of
+distinction he ever met who never reminded him, by word or manner, of
+his color; he was as just and generous to the rich and well-born as to
+the poor and humble--a thing rare among politicians. He was tolerant
+even of evil: though no man can ever have lived with a loftier scorn of
+meanness and selfishness, he yet recognized their existence and counted
+with them. He said one day, with a flash of cynical wisdom worthy of a
+La Rochefoucauld, [Footnote: La Rochefoucauld: Francois La Rochefoucauld
+was a French writer and moralist of the seventeenth century.] that
+honest statesmanship was the employment of individual meanness for the
+public good. He never asked perfection of any one; he did not even
+insist, for others, upon the high standards he set up for himself. At a
+time before the word was invented he was the first of opportunists. With
+the fire of a reformer and a martyr in his heart, he yet proceeded by
+the ways of cautious and practical statecraft. He always worked with
+things as they were, while never relinquishing the desire and effort to
+make them better. To a hope which saw the Delectable Mountains of
+absolute justice and peace in the future, to a faith that God in his own
+time would give to all men the things convenient to them, he added a
+charity which embraced in its deep bosom all the good and the bad, all
+the virtues and the infirmities of men, and a patience like that of
+nature, which in its vast and fruitful activity knows neither haste nor
+rest.
+
+--JOHN HAY.
+
+[Footnote: Do you know any facts of Lincoln's life that would support
+some of these statements? What has come to be the universally accepted
+estimate of Lincoln? What qualities of Lincoln seem most to impress the
+writer? Can you point to anything in Lincoln's addresses that proves the
+correctness of the popular judgment of him? Point out instances of
+contrast in this selection. Do you know anything about the "Lincoln
+Mythology" that has grown up since the war?]
+
+
+
+
+THE ELEPHANTS THAT STRUCK
+
+
+I remember an occasion, many years ago, when in Ceylon, I, in connection
+with my brother, had organized a scheme for the development of a
+mountain sanitarium at Newera Ellia. We had a couple of tame elephants
+employed in various works; but it was necessary to obtain the assistance
+of the government stables for the transport of very heavy machinery,
+which could not be conveyed in the ordinary native carts. There were
+accordingly a large number of elephant wagons drawn by their colossal
+teams, some of which required four elephants.
+
+It was the wet season upon the mountains. Our settlement was 6200 feet
+above the sea, and the zigzag pass from Rambodde, at the base of the
+steep ascent, was fifteen miles in length. The crest of the pass was
+7000 feet in altitude, from which we descended 800 feet to the Newera
+Ellia plain.
+
+The elephant wagons having arrived at Rambodde from Colombo, about 100
+miles distant, commenced the heavy uphill journey. The rain was
+unceasing, the roads were soft, and the heavily laden wagons sunk deeply
+in the ruts; but the elephants were mighty beasts, and, laying their
+weight against the work, they slowly dragged the vehicles up the
+yielding and narrow way.
+
+The abrupt zigzags bothered the long wagons, and their still longer
+teams. The bridges over dangerous chasms entailed the necessity of
+unloading the heavier carts, and caused great delay. Day after day
+passed away; but although the ascent was slow, the wagons still moved
+upwards, and the region of everlasting mist (at that season) was
+reached. Dense forests clothed the mountain sides; the roar of
+waterfalls resounded in the depths of black ravines; tangled bamboo
+grass crept upwards from the wet soil into the lower branches of the
+moss-covered trees, and formed a green curtain impenetrable to sight.
+
+The thermometer fell daily as the altitude increased. The elephants
+began to sicken; two fine animals died. There was plenty of food, as the
+bamboo grass was the natural provender, and in the carts was a good
+supply of paddy; [Footnote: Paddy: unhusked rice.] but the elephants'
+intelligence was acting against them--they had reasoned, and had become
+despondent.
+
+For nine or ten days they had been exposed to ceaseless wet and cold,
+dragging their unmanageable wagons up a road that even in dry weather
+was insufficient to sustain the weight. The wheels sank deep below the
+metal foundation, and became hopelessly imbedded. Again and again the
+wagons had to be emptied of their contents, and extra elephants were
+taken from the other carts and harnessed to the empty wagons, which were
+by sheer weight of animals dragged from the deep mire.
+
+Thus the time had passed, and the elephants had evidently reasoned upon
+the situation, and had concluded that there was no summit to the
+mountain, and no end to the steep and horrible ascent; it would be,
+therefore, useless to persevere in unavailing efforts. They determined,
+under these heart-breaking circumstances, to strike work; ... and they
+did strike.
+
+One morning a couple of the elephant drivers appeared at my house in
+Newera Ellia, and described the situation. They declared that it was
+absolutely impossible to induce the elephants to work; they had given it
+up as a bad job!
+
+I immediately mounted my horse and rode up to the pass, and descended
+the road upon the other side, timing the distance with my watch. Rather
+under two miles from the summit I found the road completely blocked with
+elephant carts and wagons; the animals were grazing upon bamboo grass in
+the thick forest; the rain was drizzling, and a thick mist increased the
+misery of the scene. I ordered four elephants to be harnessed to a cart
+intended for only one animal. This was quickly effected, and the drivers
+were soon astride the animals' necks, and prodded them with the
+persuasive iron hooks. Not an elephant would exert itself to draw. In
+vain the drivers, with relentless cruelty, drove the iron points deep
+into the poor brutes' necks and heads, and used every threat of their
+vocabulary; the only response was a kind of marking time on the part of
+the elephants, which simply moved their legs mechanically up and down,
+and swung their trunks to and fro; but none would pull or exert the
+slightest power, neither did they move forward a single inch.
+
+I never saw such an instance of passive and determined obstinacy; the
+case was hopeless.
+
+An idea struck me. I ordered the drivers to detach the four elephants
+from the harness, and to ride them thus unfettered up the pass,
+following behind my horse. It appeared to me that if the elephants were
+heart-broken, and in despair at the apparently interminable mountain
+pass, it would be advisable to let them know the actual truth, by
+showing them that they were hardly two miles from the summit, where they
+would exchange their uphill labor for a descent into Newera Ellia; they
+should then have an extra feed, with plenty of jaggery (a coarse brown
+sugar), and be introduced to the companionship of our two female
+elephants. If they passed an agreeable night, with the best of food and
+warm quarters, they would possibly return the following day to their
+work, and with lighter hearts put their shoulders to the wheel, instead
+of yielding to a dogged attitude of despair.
+
+The success of this ruse was perfect. The elephants accompanied me to
+Newera Ellia, and were well fed and cared for. On the following day we
+returned to the heavy work, and I myself witnessed their start with the
+hitherto unyielding wagon. Not only did they exert their full powers,
+and drag the lumbering load straight up the fatiguing hill without the
+slightest hesitation, but their example, or some unaccountable
+communication between them, appeared to give general encouragement. I
+employed the most willing elephants as extras to each wagon, which they
+drew to the summit of the pass, and then returned to assist the
+others,--thus completing what had been pronounced by the drivers as
+utterly impossible. There can be no doubt that the elephants had at once
+perceived the situation, and in consequence recovered their lost
+courage.
+
+--SAMUEL WHITE BAKER.
+
+[Footnote: What part do you imagine the writer had in the expedition he
+describes? How would the natives have solved the problem? Have you ever
+heard other stories of elephants that seem to show the power of
+reasoning?]
+
+
+
+
+THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP
+
+
+The next day Cherokee Sal had such rude sepulture [Footnote: Sepulture:
+burial.] as Roaring-Camp afforded. After her body had been committed to
+the hillside, there was a formal meeting of the camp to discuss what
+should be done with her infant. A resolution to adopt it was unanimous
+and enthusiastic. But an animated discussion in regard to the manner and
+feasibility of providing for its wants at once sprung up. It was
+remarkable that the argument partook of none of those fierce
+personalities with which discussions were usually conducted at Roaring
+Camp. [Footnote: It was remarkable--Roaring Camp. What does this mean?]
+Tipton proposed that they should send the child to Red Dog,--a distance
+of forty miles,--where female attention could be procured. But the
+unlucky suggestion met with fierce and unanimous opposition. It was
+evident that no plan which entailed parting from their new acquisition
+would for a moment be entertained. "Besides," said Tom Ryder, "them
+fellows at Red Dog would swap it, and ring in somebody else on us." A
+disbelief in the honesty of other camps prevailed at Roaring Camp as in
+other places.
+
+Stumpy advanced nothing. Perhaps he felt a certain delicacy in
+interfering with the selection of a possible successor in office. But
+when questioned, he averred stoutly that he and "Jinny" [Footnote:
+Jinny: the she-ass that had been procured as a nurse.]--the mammal
+before alluded to--could manage to rear the child. There was something
+original, independent, and heroic about the plan that pleased the camp.
+Stumpy was retained. Certain articles were sent for to Sacramento.
+"Mind," said the treasurer, as he pressed a bag of gold-dust into the
+expressman's hand, "the best that can be got,--lace, you know, and
+filigree-work and frills, never mind the cost!"
+
+Strange to say, the child thrived. Perhaps the invigorating climate of
+the mountain camp was compensation for material deficiencies. Nature
+took the foundling to her broader breast. In that rare atmosphere of the
+Sierra foot-hills,--that air pungent with balsamic odor, that ethereal
+cordial at once bracing and exhilarating--he may have found food and
+nourishment, or a subtle chemistry that transmuted ass's milk to lime
+and phosphorus. Stumpy inclined to the belief that it was the latter and
+good nursing. "Me and that ass," he would say, "has been father and
+mother to him! Don't you," he would add, apostrophizing [Footnote:
+Apostrophizing: using a special form of personal address.] the helpless
+bundle before him, "never go back on us."
+
+By the time he was a month old, the necessity of giving him a name
+became apparent. He had generally been known as "the Kid," "Stumpy's
+boy," "the Coyote" [Footnote: Coyote: also called prairie wolf.] (an
+allusion to his vocal powers), and even by Kentuck's endearing
+diminutive of "the little cus." But these were felt to be vague and
+unsatisfactory, and were at last dismissed under another influence.
+Gamblers and adventurers are generally superstitious, and Oakhurst one
+day declared that the baby had brought "the luck" to Roaring Camp. It
+was certain that of late they had been successful. "Luck" was the name
+agreed upon, with the prefix of Tommy for greater convenience. No
+allusion was made to the mother, and the father was unknown. "It's
+better," said the philosophical Oakhurst, "to take a fresh deal all
+round. Call him Luck and start him fair."
+
+And so the work of regeneration began in Roaring Camp. Almost
+imperceptibly a change came over the settlement. The cabin assigned to
+"Tommy Luck"--or "The Luck," as he was more frequently called--first
+showed signs of improvement. It was kept scrupulously clean, and
+white-washed. Then it was boarded, clothed, and prepared. The rosewood
+cradle--packed eighty miles by mule--had, in Stumpy's way of putting it,
+"sorter killed the rest of the furniture." So the rehabilitation of the
+cabin became a necessity. The men who were in the habit of lounging in
+at Stumpy's to see "how The Luck got on" seemed to appreciate the
+change, and, in self-defence, the rival establishment of "Tuttle's
+grocery" bestirred itself, and imported a carpet and mirrors. The
+reflections of the latter on the appearance of Roaring Camp tended to
+produce stricter habits of personal cleanliness. Again, Stumpy imposed a
+kind of quarantine upon those who aspired to the honor and privilege of
+holding "The Luck." It was a cruel mortification to Kentuck--who, in the
+carelessness of a large nature and the habits of frontier life, had
+begun to regard all garments as a second cuticle, [Footnote: Cuticle:
+outer skin.] which, like a snake's, only sloughed off through decay--to
+be debarred this privilege from certain prudential reasons. [Footnote:
+Certain prudential reasons. What were they?] Yet such was the subtle
+influence of innovation that he thereafter appeared regularly every
+afternoon in a clean shirt, and face still shining from his ablutions.
+Nor were normal and social sanitary laws neglected. "Tommy," who was
+supposed to spend his whole existence in a persistent attempt to repose,
+must not be disturbed by noise. The shouting and yelling which had
+gained the camp its infelicitous title were not permitted within hearing
+distance of Stumpy's. The men conversed in whispers, or smoked with
+Indian gravity. Profanity was tacitly given up in these sacred
+precincts, and throughout the camp a popular form of expletive, known as
+"Curse the luck!" was abandoned, as having a new personal bearing. Vocal
+music was not interdicted, [Footnote: Interdicted: forbidden.] being
+supposed to have a soothing, tranquillizing quality, and one song, sung
+by "Man-o'-War Jack," an English sailor, from her majesty's Australian
+colonies, was quite popular as a lullaby. It was a lugubrious recital of
+the exploits of "the Arethusa, Seventy-four," in a muffled minor, ending
+with a prolonged dying fall at the burden of each verse, "On b-o-o-o-ard
+of the Arethusa." It was a fine sight to see Jack holding The Luck,
+rocking from side to side as if with the motion of a ship, and crooning
+forth this naval ditty. Either through the peculiar rocking of Jack or
+the length of his song,--it contained ninety stanzas, and was continued
+with conscientious deliberation to the bitter end,--the lullaby
+generally had the desired effect. At such times the men would lie at
+full length under the trees, in the soft summer twilight, smoking their
+pipes and drinking in the melodious utterances. An indistinct idea that
+this was pastoral happiness pervaded the camp. "This 'ere kind o'
+think," said the Cockney Simmons, meditatively reclining on his elbow,
+"is 'evingly." It reminded him of Greenwich.
+
+On the long summer days The Luck was usually carried to the gulch from
+whence the golden store of Roaring Camp was taken. There, on a blanket
+spread over pine boughs, he would lie while the men were working in the
+ditches below. Latterly there was a rude attempt to decorate this bower
+with flowers and sweet-smelling shrubs, and generally some one would
+bring him a cluster of wild honeysuckles, azaleas, or the painted
+blossoms of Las Mariposas. [Footnote: Las Mariposas: the Mariposa
+lilies; also called butterfly lilies.] The men had suddenly awakened to
+the fact that there were beauty and significance in these trifles, which
+they had so long trodden carelessly beneath their feet. A flake of
+glittering mica, a fragment of variegated quartz, a bright pebble from
+the bed of the creek, became beautiful to eyes thus cleared and
+strengthened, and were invariably put aside for The Luck. It was
+wonderful how many treasures the woods and hillsides yielded that "would
+do for Tommy." Surrounded by playthings such as never child out of
+fairyland had before, it is to be hoped that Tommy was content. He
+appeared to be serenely happy, albeit there was an infantine gravity
+about him, a contemplative light in his round gray eyes, that sometimes
+worried Stumpy. He was always tractable and quiet, and it is recorded
+that once, having crept beyond his "corral," [Footnote: Corral: an
+inclosure for animals.]--a hedge of tessellated [Footnote: Tessellated:
+checkered.] pine boughs which surrounded his bed,--he dropped over the
+bank on his head in the soft earth, and remained with his mottled legs
+in the air in that position for at least five minutes with unflinching
+gravity. He was extricated without a murmur. I hesitate to record the
+many other instances of his sagacity, which rest, unfortunately, upon
+the statements of prejudiced friends. Some of them were not without a
+tinge of superstition. "I crep' up the bank just now," said Kentuck one
+day, in a breathless state of excitement, "and dern my skin if he wasn't
+a-talking to a jaybird as was a-sittin' on his lap. There they was, just
+as free and sociable as anything you please, a-jawin' at each other just
+like two cherrybums." Howbeit, whether creeping over the pine boughs or
+lying lazily on his back blinking at the leaves above him, to him the
+birds sang, the squirrels chattered, and the flowers bloomed. Nature was
+his nurse and playfellow. For him she would let slip between the leaves
+golden shafts of sunlight that fell just within his grasp; she would
+send wandering breezes to visit him with the balm of bay and resinous
+gum; to him the tall redwoods nodded familiarly and sleepily, the
+bumblebees buzzed, and the rooks cawed an accompaniment.
+
+Such was the golden summer of Roaring Camp. They were "flush times," and
+the luck was with them. The claims had yielded enormously. The camp was
+jealous of its privileges and looked suspiciously on strangers. No
+encouragement was given to immigration, and, to make their seclusion
+more perfect, the land on either side of the mountain wall that
+surrounded the camp they duly preempted. [Footnote: Pre-empted: claimed
+by special privilege of purchase.] This, and a reputation for singular
+proficiency with the revolver, kept the reserve of Roaring Camp
+inviolate. The expressman--their only connecting link with the
+surrounding world--sometimes told wonderful stories of the camp. He
+would say, "They've a street up there in 'Roaring' that would lay over
+any street in Red Dog. They've got vines and flowers round their houses,
+and they wash themselves twice a day. But they're mighty rough on
+strangers, and they worship an Ingin baby."
+
+With the prosperity of the camp came a desire for further improvement.
+It was proposed to build a hotel in the following spring, and to invite
+one or two decent families to reside there for the sake of The Luck, who
+might perhaps profit by female companionship. The sacrifice that this
+concession to the sex cost these men, who were fiercely skeptical in
+regard to its general virtue and usefulness, can only be accounted for
+by their affection for Tommy. A few still held out. But the resolve
+could not be carried into effect for three months, and the minority
+meekly yielded in the hope that something might turn up to prevent it.
+And it did. The winter of 1851 will long be remembered in the foot
+hills. The snow lay deep on the Sierras, and every mountain creek became
+a river, and every river a lake. Each gorge and gulch was transformed
+into a tumultuous watercourse that descended the hillsides, tearing down
+giant trees and scattering its drift and debris along the plain. Red Dog
+had been twice under water, and Roaring Camp had been forewarned. "Water
+put the gold into them gulches," said Stumpy. "It's been here once and
+will not be here again!" And that night the North Fork suddenly leaped
+over its banks and swept up the triangular valley of Roaring Camp. In
+the confusion of rushing water, crashing trees, and crackling timber,
+and the darkness which seemed to flow with the water and blot out the
+fair valley, but little could be done to collect the scattered camp.
+When the morning broke, the cabin of Stumpy, nearest the river-bank, was
+gone. Higher up the gulch they found the body of its unlucky owner; but
+the pride, the hope, the joy, The Luck, of Roaring Camp had disappeared.
+
+--BRET HARTE (adapted.)
+
+[Footnote: Where is the scene of the story laid? What is the probable
+time? It was Bret Harte's peculiar power to find tenderness and fineness
+of feeling among rough men. Where do you see these things in this story?
+Does the story show "poetic insight"? Cf. Hawthorne's definition.
+[Footnote: "What is called poetic insight is the gift of discerning,
+in this sphere of strangely mingled elements, the beauty and majesty
+that are compelled to assume a garb so sordid."--House of the
+Seven Gables, Chap. II.] Why did the miners insist on "frills" for
+Tommy? Does the change wrought in Roaring Camp seem to you to be
+reasonable? What was the real "luck" that Tommy brought to Roaring
+Camp?]
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF MUHANNAD DIN
+
+
+The polo-ball was an old one, scarred, chipped, and dinted. It stood on
+the mantelpiece among the pipe-stems which Imam Din, khitmatgar, was
+cleaning for me.
+
+"Does the Heaven-born want this ball?" said Imam Din deferentially.
+
+The Heaven-born set no particular store by it; but of what use was a
+polo-ball to a khitmatgar?
+
+"By Your Honour's favour, I have a little son. He has seen this ball,
+and desires it to play with. I do not want it for myself."
+
+No one would for an instant accuse portly old Imam Din of wanting to
+play with polo-balls. He carried out the battered thing into the
+verandah; and there followed a hurricane of joyful squeaks, a patter of
+small feet, and the thud-thud-thud of the ball rolling along the ground.
+Evidently the little son had been waiting outside the door to secure his
+treasure. But how had he managed to see that polo-ball?
+
+Next day, coming back from office half an hour earlier than usual, I was
+aware of a small figure in the dining-room--a tiny, plump figure in a
+ridiculously inadequate shirt which came, perhaps, half-way down the
+tubby stomach. It wandered round the room, thumb in mouth, crooning to
+itself as it took stock of the pictures. Undoubtedly this was the
+"little son."
+
+He had no business in my room, of course; but was so deeply absorbed in
+his discoveries that he never noticed me in the doorway. I stepped into
+the room and startled him nearly into a fit. He sat down on the ground
+with a gasp. His eyes opened, and his mouth followed suit. I knew what
+was coming, and fled, followed by a long, dry howl which reached the
+servants' quarters far more quickly than any command of mine had ever
+done. In ten seconds Imam Din was in the dining-room. Then despairing
+sobs arose, and I returned to find Imam Din admonishing the small
+sinner, who was using most of his shirt as a handkerchief.
+
+"This boy," said Imam Din judicially, "is a budmash [Footnote: Budmash:
+a disreputable fellow.]--a big budmash. He will, without doubt, go to
+the jail-khana for his behaviour." Renewed yells from the penitent, and
+an elaborate apology to myself from Imam Din.
+
+"Tell the baby," said I, "that the Sahib [Footnote: Sahib: a respectful
+title given to Europeans by the natives of India.] is not angry, and
+take him away." Imam Din conveyed my forgiveness to the offender, who
+had now gathered all his shirt round his neck, stringwise, and the yell
+subsided into a sob. The two set off for the door. "His name," said Imam
+Din, "is Muhammad Din, and he is a budmash." Freed from present danger,
+Muhammad Din turned round in his father's arms, and said gravely, "it is
+true that my name is Muhammad Din, Tahib, but I am not a budmash. I am a
+man!"
+
+From that day dated my acquaintance with Muhammad Din. Never again did
+he come into my dining-room, but on the neutral ground of the garden, we
+greeted each other with much state, though our conversation was confined
+to "Talaam, Tahib" from his side, and "Salaam, Muhammad Din" from mine.
+Daily on my return from office, the little white shirt and the fat
+little body used to rise from the shade of the creeper-covered trellis
+where they had been hid; and daily I checked my horse here, that my
+salutation might not be slurred over or given unseemly.
+
+Muhammad Din never had any companions. He used to trot about the
+compound, [Footnote: Compound: an inclosure containing a house and
+outbuildings.] in and out of the castor-oil bushes, on mysterious
+errands of his own. One day I stumbled upon some of his handiwork far
+down the grounds. He had half buried the polo-ball in the dust, and
+stuck six shrivelled old marigold flowers in a circle round it. Outside
+that circle again was a rude square, traced out in bits of red brick
+alternating with fragments of broken china; the whole bounded by a
+little bank of dust. The water-man from the well-curb put in a plea for
+the small architect, saying that it was only the play of a baby and did
+not much disfigure my garden.
+
+Heaven knows that I had no intention of touching the child's work then
+or later; but, that evening, a stroll through the garden brought me
+unawares full on it; so that I trampled, before I knew, marigold-heads,
+dust-bank, and fragments of broken soap-dish into confusion past all
+hope of mending. Next morning, I came upon Muhammad Din crying softly to
+himself over the ruin I had wrought. Some one had cruelly told him that
+the Sahib was very angry with him for spoiling the garden, and had
+scattered his rubbish, using bad language the while. Muhammad Din
+laboured for an hour at effacing every trace of the dust-bank and
+pottery fragments, and it was with a tearful and apologetic face that he
+said, "Talaam, Tahib," when I came home from office. A hasty inquiry
+resulted in Imam Din informing Muhammad Din that, by my singular favour,
+he was permitted to disport himself as he pleased. Whereat the child
+took heart and fell to tracing the ground-plan of an edifice which was
+to eclipse the marigold-polo-ball creation.
+
+For some months the chubby little eccentricity revolved in his humble
+orbit among the castor-oil bushes and in the dust; always fashioning
+magnificent palaces from stale flowers thrown away by the bearer, smooth
+water-worn pebbles, bits of broken glass, and feathers pulled, I fancy,
+from my fowls--always alone, and always crooning to himself.
+
+A gaily-spotted sea-shell was dropped one day close to the last of his
+little buildings; and I looked that Muhammad Din should build something
+more than ordinarily splendid on the strength of it. Nor was I
+disappointed. He meditated for the better part of an hour, and his
+crooning rose to a jubilant song. Then he began tracing in the dust. It
+would certainly be a wondrous palace, this one, for it was two yards
+long and a yard broad in ground-plan. But the palace was never
+completed.
+
+Next day there was no Muhammad Din at the head of the carriage-drive,
+and no "Talaam, Tahib" to welcome my return. I had grown accustomed to
+the greeting, and its omission troubled me. Next day Imam Din told me
+that the child was suffering slightly from fever and needed quinine. He
+got the medicine, and an English Doctor.
+
+"They have no stamina, these brats," said the Doctor, as he left Imam
+Din's quarters.
+
+A week later, though I would have given much to have avoided it, I met
+on the road to the Mussulman burying-ground Imam Din, accompanied by one
+friend, carrying in his arms, wrapped in a white cloth, all that was
+left of little Muhammad Din.
+
+--RUDYARD KIPLING.
+
+[Footnote: Point out the characteristics of Muhammad Din that are common
+to all childhood, and those that are more especially Oriental. Why do
+you think Muhammad Din always played alone? Note the simple direct way
+of telling the story. What other stories have been told in this way?
+Would you have been able to recognize Muhammad Din from the author's
+description? Would the destruction of the sand-house be a tragedy to
+most Western children? Why was it to Muhammad Din? Notice the simple
+pathos of the ending. Is it made more poignant by being unexpected?]
+
+
+
+
+A CHILD
+
+
+In Kensington Gardens, [Footnote: Kensington Gardens: in southwest
+London.] that February day, it was very still. Trees, stripped of every
+leaf, raised their bare clean twigs towards a sky so grey and so
+unstirring that there might never have been wind or sun. And on those
+branches pigeons sat, silent, as though they understood that there was
+no new life as yet; they seemed waiting, loth to spread their wings lest
+they should miss the coming of the Spring.
+
+Down in the grass the tiniest green flames were burning, a sign of the
+fire flowers that would leap up if the sun would feed them.
+
+And on a seat there sat a child.
+
+He sat between his father and his mother, looking straight before him.
+It was plain that the reason why he looked so straight before him was
+that he really had not strength to care to look to right or left--so
+white his face was, so puny were his limbs. His clothes had evidently
+been designed for others, and this was fortunate, for they prevented the
+actual size of him from being seen. He was not, however, what is called
+neglected; his face was clean, and the utmost of protection that Fate
+and the condition of his parents had vouchsafed was evidently lavished
+on him, for round his neck there was a little bit of draggled fur which
+should have been round the neck of her against whose thin shabby side he
+leaned. This mother of his was looking at the ground; and from the
+expression of her face she seemed to think that looking at the ground
+was all life had to offer.
+
+The father sat with his eyes shut. He had shabby clothes, a grey face,
+and a grey collar that had once been white. Above the collar his thin
+cheeks had evidently just been shaved--for it was Saturday, and by the
+colour of those cheeks, and by his boots, whose soles, hardly thicker
+than a paper sheet, still intervened between him and the ground, he was
+seen not to be a tramp or outdoor person, but an indoor worker of some
+sort, and very likely out of work, who had come out to rest in the
+company of his wife and family. His eyes being shut, he sat without the
+pain of looking at a single thing, moving his jaw at intervals from side
+to side.
+
+And between the man and the woman, the child sat, very still, evidently
+on good terms with them, not realising that they had brought him out of
+a warm darkness where he had been happy, out of a sweet nothingness,
+into which, and soon perhaps, he would pass again--not realising that
+they had so neglected to keep pace with things, or that things had so
+omitted to keep pace with them, that he himself had eaten in his time
+about one half the food he should have eaten, and that of the wrong
+sort. By the expression of his face, that pale small ghost had evidently
+grasped the truth that things were as they had to be. He seemed to sit
+there reviewing his own life, and taking for granted that it must be
+what it was, from hour to hour, and day to day, and year to year.
+
+And before me, too, the incidents of his small journey passed. I saw him
+in the morning getting off the family bed, where it was sometimes warm,
+and chewing at a crust of bread before he set off to school in company
+with other children, some of whom were stouter than himself; saw him
+carrying in his small fist the remnants of his feast, and dropping it,
+or swopping it away for peppermints, because it tired him to consume it,
+having no juices to speak of in his little stomach. I seemed to
+understand that, accustomed as he was to eating little, he almost always
+wanted to eat less, not because he had any wish to die--nothing so
+extravagant--but simply that he nearly always felt a little sick; I felt
+that his pale, despondent mother was always urging him to eat, when
+there were things to eat, and that this bored him, since they did not
+strike him as worth all that trouble with his jaws. She must have found
+it difficult indeed to persuade him that there was any point at all in
+eating; for, from his looks, he could manifestly not now enjoy anything
+but peppermints and kippered herrings. I seemed to see him in his
+school, not learning, not wanting to learn anything, nor knowing why
+this should be so, ignorant of the dispensations of a Providence
+who--after hesitating long to educate him lest this should make his
+parents paupers--now compelled his education, having first destroyed his
+stomach that he might be incapable of taking in what he was taught. That
+small white creature could not as yet have grasped the notion that the
+welfare of the future lay, not with the future, but with the past. He
+only knew that every day he went to school with little in his stomach,
+and every day came back from school with less.
+
+All this he seemed to be reviewing as he sat there, but not in thought;
+his knowledge was too deep for words; he was simply feeling, as a child
+that looked as he looked would naturally be feeling, on that bench
+between his parents. He opened his little mouth at times, as a small
+bird will open its small beak, without apparent purpose; and his lips
+seemed murmuring:
+
+"My stomach feels as if there were a mouse inside it; my legs are
+aching; it's all quite natural, no doubt!"
+
+To reconcile this apathy of his with recollections of his unresting,
+mirthless energy down alleys and on doorsteps, it was needful to
+remember human nature, and its exhaustless cruse [Footnote: Exhaustless
+cruse. See I Kings XVII: 8-16.] of courage. For, though he might not
+care to live, yet, while he was alive he would keep his end up, because
+he must--there was no other way. And why exhaust himself in vain regrets
+and dreams of things he could not see, and hopes of being what he could
+not be! That he had no resentment against anything was certain from his
+patient eyes--not even against those two who sat, one on either side of
+him--unaware that he was what he was, in order that they who against his
+will had brought him into being, might be forced by law to keep a
+self-respect they had already lost, and have the insufficiency of things
+he could not eat. For he had as yet no knowledge of political economy.
+He evidently did not view his case in any petty, or in any party,
+spirit; he did not seem to look on himself as just a half-starved child
+that should have cried its eyes out till it was fed at least as well as
+the dogs that passed him; he seemed to look on himself as that
+impersonal, imperial thing--the Future of the Race.
+
+So profound his apathy!
+
+And, as I looked, the "Future of the Race" turned to his father:
+
+"'Ark at the bird!" he said.
+
+It was a pigeon, who high upon a tree had suddenly begun to croon. One
+could see his head outlined against the grey unstirring sky, first
+bending back, then down into his breast, then back again; and that soft
+song of his filled all the air, like an invocation of fertility.
+
+"The Future of the Race" watched him for a minute without moving, and
+suddenly he laughed. That laugh was a little hard noise like the
+clapping of two boards--there was not a single drop of blood in it, nor
+the faintest sound of music; so might a marionette [Footnote:
+Marionette: a puppet moved by strings.] have laughed--a figure made of
+wood and wire.
+
+And in that laugh I seemed to hear innumerable laughter, the laughter in
+a million homes of the myriad unfed.
+
+So laughed the Future of the richest and the freest and the proudest
+race that has ever lived on earth, that February afternoon, with the
+little green flames lighted in the grass, under a sky that knew not wind
+or sun--so he laughed at the pigeon that was calling for the Spring.
+
+--JOHN GALSWORTHY.
+
+[Footnote: Why could the child enjoy only "peppermints and kippered
+herring"? Why does the author call the child the "Future of the Race"?
+Is the term used seriously or ironically? What plea does the author make
+for all childhood? Does the portrait of the child seem real or
+exaggerated? Does the author place the blame for such conditions as made
+this child an unhappy weakling? Compare this portrait with that of
+Muhammad Din.]
+
+
+
+
+TOO DEAR FOR THE WHISTLE
+
+
+When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled
+my pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys
+for children; and being charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met
+by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave
+all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all over the
+house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My
+brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had
+made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put
+me in mind of what good things I might have bought with the rest of the
+money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with
+vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave
+me pleasure.
+
+This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on
+my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary
+thing, I said to myself, "Don't give too much for the whistle"; and I
+saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the
+actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, "who gave too much
+for the whistle." When I saw one too ambitious of court favor,
+sacrificing his time in attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty,
+his virtue, and perhaps his friends, to attain it, I have said to
+myself--
+
+"This man gives too much for his whistle." When I saw another fond of
+popularity, constantly employing himself in political bustles,
+neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by that neglect, "He pays,
+indeed," said I, "too dear for his whistle."
+
+If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all the
+pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens,
+and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of accumulating
+wealth--"Poor man," said I, "you pay too dear for your whistle." When I
+met a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable improvement of the
+mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal sensations, and ruining his
+health in their pursuit--"Mistaken man," said I, "you are providing
+pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you are paying too dear for your
+whistle." If I see one fond of appearance or fine clothes, fine houses,
+fine furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he
+contracts debts, "Alas," say I, "he has paid dear, very dear for his
+whistle." In short, I conceive that a great part of the miseries of
+mankind are brought upon them by the false estimate they have made of
+the value of things, and by their giving "too much for their whistles."
+
+--BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
+
+[Footnote: This extract was taken from a letter which Franklin wrote
+from Passy in 1779 to Madame Brillon.
+
+The phrase, "paying too dear for his whistle," has become proverbial.
+What does it mean? What famous book of maxims was written by Franklin?
+Can you quote any of the sayings in it? Do you know anything of
+Franklin's life that showed whether he lived up to the moral he sets
+forth in this story?]
+
+
+
+
+A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT
+
+
+He (Villon) [Footnote: Francois Villon: born 1431, died 1484. Stevenson
+characterizes him as "poet, student, and housebreaker."] went boldly to
+the door and knocked with an assured hand. On both previous occasions,
+he had knocked timidly and with some dread of attracting notice; but now
+when he had just discarded the thought of a burglarious entry, knocking
+at a door seemed a mighty simple and innocent proceeding. The sound of
+his blows echoed through the house with thin, phantasmal [Footnote:
+Phantasmal: ghostly.] reverberations, as though it were quite empty; but
+these had scarcely died away before a measured tread drew near, a couple
+of bolts were withdrawn, and one wing was opened broadly, as though no
+guile or fear of guile were known to those within. A tall figure of a
+man, muscular and spare, but a little bent, confronted Villon. The head
+was massive in bulk, but finely sculptured; the nose blunt at the
+bottom, but refining upward to where it joined a pair of strong and
+honest eyebrows; the mouth and eyes surrounded with delicate markings,
+and the whole face based upon a thick white beard, boldly and squarely
+trimmed. Seen as it was by the light of a flickering hand-lamp, it
+looked perhaps nobler than it had a right to do; but it was a fine face,
+honourable rather than intelligent, strong, simple, and righteous.
+
+"You knock late, sir," said the old man in resonant, courteous tones.
+
+Villon cringed, and brought up many servile words of apology; at a
+crisis of this sort, the beggar was uppermost in him, and the man of
+genius hid his head with confusion.
+
+"You are cold," repeated the old man, "and hungry? Well, step in." And
+he ordered him into the house with a noble enough gesture.
+
+"Some great seigneur," [Footnote: Seigneur: lord.] thought Villon, as
+his host, setting down the lamp on the flagged pavement of the entry,
+shot the bolts once more into their places.
+
+"You will pardon me if I go in front," he said, when this was done; and
+he preceded the poet upstairs into a large apartment, warmed with a pan
+of charcoal and lit by a great lamp hanging from the roof. It was very
+bare of furniture: only some gold plate on a sideboard; some folios;
+[Footnote: Folios: large books.] and a stand of armor between the
+windows. Some smart tapestry hung upon the walls, representing the
+crucifixion of our Lord in one piece, and in another a scene of
+shepherds and shepherdesses by a running stream. Over the chimney was a
+shield of arms.
+
+"Will you seat yourself," said the old man, "and forgive me if I leave
+you? I am alone in my house to-night, and if you are to eat I must
+forage for myself."
+
+No sooner was his host gone than Villon leaped from the chair on which
+he had just seated himself, and began examining the room, with the
+stealth and passion of a cat. [Footnote: With the stealth and passion of
+a cat. Does this give you any clue to Villon's character?] He weighed
+the gold flagons in his hand, opened all the folios, and investigated
+the arms upon the shield, and the stuff with which the seats were lined.
+He raised the window curtains, and saw that the windows were set with
+rich stained glass in figures, so far as he could see, of martial
+[Footnote: Martial: warlike.] import. Then he stood in the middle of the
+room, drew a long breath, and retaining it with puffed cheeks, looked
+round and round him, turning on his heels, as if to impress every
+feature of the apartment on his memory.
+
+"Seven pieces of plate," he said. "If there had been ten, I would have
+risked it. A fine house, and a line old master, so help me all the
+saints!"
+
+And just then, hearing the old man's tread returning along the corridor,
+he stole back to his chair and began humbly toasting his wet legs before
+the charcoal pan.
+
+His entertainer had a plate of meat in one hand and a jug of wine in the
+other. He set down the plate upon the table, motioning Villon to draw in
+his chair and going to the sideboard, brought back two goblets, which he
+filled.
+
+"I drink your better fortune," he said, gravely touching Villon's cup
+with his own.
+
+"To our better acquaintance," said the poet, growing bold. A mere man of
+the people would have been awed by the courtesy of the old seigneur, but
+Villon was hardened in that matter; he had made mirth for great lords
+before now, and found them as black rascals as himself. And so he
+devoted himself to the viands [Footnote: Viands: food.] with a ravenous
+gusto, while the old man, leaning backward, watched him with steady,
+curious eyes.
+
+"Have you any money?" asked the old man.
+
+"I have one white," [Footnote: White: a small coin.] returned the poet
+laughing. "I got it out of a dead jade's stocking in a porch. She was as
+dead as Caesar, poor wench, and as cold as a church, with bits of ribbon
+sticking in her hair. This is a hard world in winter for wolves and
+wenches and poor rogues like me."
+
+"I," said the old man, "am Enguerrand de la Feuillee, seigneur de
+Brisetout, bailly du Patatrac. [Footnote: Bailly: bailiff.] Who and what
+may you be?"
+
+Villon rose and made a suitable reverence. "I am called Francis Villon,"
+he said, "a poor Master of Arts of this university. I know some Latin,
+and a deal of vice. I can make chansons, ballades, lais, virelais, and
+roundels, [Footnote: Lais: ... virilais. Chansons ... roundels: different
+types of versification.] and I am very fond of wine. I was born in a
+garret, and I shall not improbably die upon the gallows. I may add, my
+lord, that from this night forward I am your lordship's very obsequious,
+servant to command."
+
+"No servant of mine," said the knight, "my guest for this evening, and
+no more."
+
+"A very grateful guest;" said Villon politely, and he drank in dumb show
+to his entertainer.
+
+"You are shrewd," began the old man, tapping his forehead, "very shrewd;
+you have learning; you are a clerk; [Footnote: Clerk: the term formerly
+applied to a man of letters.] and yet you take a small piece of money
+off a dead woman in the street. Is it not a kind of theft?"
+
+"It is a kind of theft much practiced in the wars, my lord."
+
+"The wars are the field of honor," returned the old man proudly. "There
+a man plays his life upon the cast; he fights in the name of his lord
+the king, his Lord God, and all their lordships the holy saints and
+angels."
+
+"Put it," said Villon, "that I were really a thief, should I not play my
+life also, and against heavier odds?"
+
+"For gain but not for honor."
+
+"Gain?" repeated Villon with a shrug. "Gain! The poor fellow wants
+supper, and takes it. So does the soldier in a campaign. Why, what are
+all these requisitions [Footnote: Requisitions: demands, generally of
+money and supplies, made by invaders upon the people of the invaded
+country.] we hear so much about? If they are not gain to those who take
+them, they are loss enough to the others. The men-at-arms drink by a
+good fire, while the burgher bites his nails to buy them wine and wood.
+I have seen a good many ploughmen swinging on trees about the country;
+ay, I have seen thirty on one elm, and a very poor figure they made; and
+when I asked someone how all these came to be hanged, I was told it was
+because they could not scrape together enough crowns to satisfy the
+men-at-arms."
+
+"These things are a necessity of war, which the lowborn must endure with
+constancy. It is true that some captains drive overhard; there are
+spirits in every rank not easily moved by pity; and indeed many follow
+arms who are no better than brigands."
+
+"You see," said the poet, "you cannot separate the soldier from the
+brigand; and what is a thief but an isolated brigand with circumspect
+[Footnote: Circumspect: wary.] manners? I steal a couple of mutton
+chops, without so much as disturbing people's sleep; the farmer grumbles
+a bit, but sups none the less wholesomely on what remains. You come up
+blowing gloriously on a trumpet, take away the whole sheep, and beat the
+farmer pitifully into the bargain. I have no trumpet; I am only Tom,
+Dick or Harry; I am a rogue and a dog, and hanging's too good for me--
+with all my heart; but just ask the farmer which of us he prefers, just
+find out which of us he lies awake to curse on cold nights."
+
+"Look at us two," said his lordship. "I am old, strong and honored. If I
+were turned from my house tomorrow, hundreds would be proud to shelter
+me. Poor people would go out and pass the night in the streets with
+their children, if I merely hinted that I wished to be alone. And I find
+you up, wandering homeless, and picking farthings off dead women by the
+wayside! I fear no man and nothing; I have seen you tremble and lose
+countenance at a word. I wait God's summons contentedly in my own house,
+or, if it please the king to call me out again, upon the field of
+battle. You look for the gallows; a rough, swift death, without hope or
+honor. Is there no difference between these two?"
+
+"As far as to the moon" Villon acquiesced. "But if I had been born lord
+of Brisetout, and you had been the poor scholar Francis, would the
+difference have been any the less? Should not I have been warming my
+knees at this charcoal pan, and would not you have been groping for
+farthings in the snow? Should not I have been the soldier, and you the
+thief?"
+
+--ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What hints does the sketch give you of the period in which
+the story is laid? What characteristics of Villon are brought out? Is
+there any suggestion of the poet in his remarks? What is the real
+difference between the two men? Does Villon make out a good case? Is his
+description of war a fair one? Why did Villon not steal the goblets?]
+
+
+
+
+A BAD FIVE MINUTES IN THE ALPS
+
+
+It was time to return, and the demon who amuses himself by beguiling
+Alpine travellers suggested the memory of a certain short cut which
+involved a bit of amusing scrambling. I was speedily occupied in
+fighting my way downwards through a steep ravine, cloven by a vicious
+little torrent from a lofty glacier, when--how it happened I know not,
+for all forms of earth and grassy slope were obliterated at a few yards
+by the descending showers--I suddenly found that I had left the right
+track and was descending too sharply towards the stream. At the same
+time I saw, or thought I saw, that by crossing the face of the cliff for
+a few yards I should regain the ordinary route. The first step or two
+was easy; then came a long stride, in which I had to throw out one hand
+by way of grappling-iron to a jutting rock above. The rock was reeking
+with moisture, and as I threw my weight upon it my hand slipped, and
+before I had time to look round I was slithering downwards without a
+single point of support. Below me as I well knew, at a depth of some two
+hundred feet, was the torrent. One plunge through the air upon its
+rugged stones and I should be a heap of mangled flesh and bones.
+Instinctively I flung abroad arms and legs in search of strong supports;
+in another moment I was brought up with a jerk. My hands now rested on
+the narrow ledge where my feet had been a moment before, and one foot
+was propped by some insecure support whose nature I could not precisely
+determine.
+
+Desperately choking back the surging emotions that seemed to shake my
+limbs I sought for some means of escape. By slowly moving my left hand I
+managed to grasp a stem of rhododendron which grew upon the ledge of
+rock, and felt tolerably firm; next I tried to feel for some support
+with the toe of my left boot; the rock, however, against which it rested
+was not only hard, but exquisitely polished by the ancient glacier which
+had forced its way down the gorge. A geologist would have been delighted
+with this admirable specimen of the planing powers of nature; I felt, I
+must confess, rather inclined to curse geology and glaciers. Not a
+projecting edge, corner, or cranny could I discover; I might as well
+have been hanging against a pane of glass. With my right foot, however,
+I succeeded in obtaining a more satisfactory lodgment; had it not been
+for this help I could have supported myself so long as my arms would
+hold out, and I have read somewhere that the strongest man cannot hold
+on by his arms alone for more than five minutes. I am, unluckily, very
+weak in the arms, and was therefore quite unable to perform the
+gymnastic feat of raising myself till I could place a knee upon the
+ledge where my hands were straining. Here, then, I was, in an apparently
+hopeless predicament. I might cling to the rocks like a bat in a cave
+till exhaustion compelled me to let go; on a very liberal allowance,
+that might last for some twenty minutes, or, say half an hour. There
+was, of course, a remote chance that some traveler or tourist might pass
+through the glen; but the ordinary path lay some hundred yards above my
+head, on the other side of the rock-pinnacle, and a hundred yards was,
+for all practical purposes, the same thing as a hundred miles; the
+ceaseless roar of the swollen torrent would drown my voice as
+effectually as a battery of artillery; but, for a moment or two, I
+considered the propriety of shouting for help. The problem was, whether
+I should diminish my strength more by the effort of shouting than the
+additional chance of attracting attention was worth.
+
+A puff of wind had driven aside the wreaths of mist; and high above me I
+could see towering into the gloomy skies a pinnacle of black rock. Sharp
+and needle-like it sprang from its cloud-hidden base, and scarcely a
+flake of snow clung to its terrible precipices. Only a day or two before
+I had been lounging in the inn garden during a delusive sunset gleam of
+bright weather, and admiring its noble proportions. I had been
+discussing with my friends the best mode of assaulting its hitherto
+untrodden summit, on which we had facetiously conferred the name of
+Teufelshorn. Lighted up by the Alpine glow, it seemed to beckon us
+upward, and had fired all my mountaineering zeal. Now, though it was not
+a time for freaks of fancy, it looked like a grim fiend calmly frowning
+upon my agony. I hated it, and yet had an unpleasant sense that my
+hatred could do it no harm. If I could have lightened and thundered, its
+rocks would have come down with a crash; but it stood immovable,
+scornful, and eternal. There is a poetry in the great mountains, but the
+poetry may be stern as well as benevolent. If, to the weary Londoner,
+they speak of fresh air and healthful exercise and exciting adventure,
+they can look tyrannous and forbidding enough to the peasant on whose
+fields they void their rheum--as Shakespeare pleasantly puts it--or to
+the luckless wretch who is clinging in useless supplication at their
+feet. Grim and fierce, like some primeval giant, that peak looked to me,
+and for a time the whole doctrine preached by the modern worshippers of
+sublime scenery seemed inexpressibly absurd and out of place.
+
+It was becoming tempting to throw up the cards and have done with it.
+Even the short sharp pang of the crash on the rocks below seemed
+preferable to draining the last dregs of misery. I gathered myself up,
+crouching as low as I dared, and then springing from the right foot, and
+aiding the spring with my left hand, I threw out my right at the little
+jutting point. The tips of my fingers just reached their aim, but only
+touched without anchoring themselves. As I fell back, my foot missed its
+former support, and my whole weight came heavily on the feeble left
+hand. The clutch was instantaneously torn apart, and I was falling
+through the air. All was over! The mountains sprang upwards with a
+bound. But before the fall had well begun, before the air had begun to
+whistle past me, my movement was arrested. With a shock of surprise I
+found myself lying on a broad bed of deep moss, as comfortably as in my
+bed at home.
+
+--LESLIE STEPHEN (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What do you imagine has preceded this selection? What things
+are contrasted in the account? Do you think that philosophizing helped
+or hindered the climber? Do you know anything about the difficulties of
+Alpine climbing from other accounts you have read? Compare the style of
+this selection with "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and "A Leaf in the
+Storm."]
+
+
+
+
+THE GOLD TRAIL
+
+
+We came upon the diggings quite suddenly. The trail ran around the
+corner of a hill; and there they were below us! In the wide, dry stream
+bottom perhaps fifty men were working busily, like a lot of ants. Some
+were picking away at the surface of the ground, others had dug
+themselves down waist deep, and stooped and rose like legless bodies.
+Others had disappeared below ground, and showed occasionally only as
+shovel blades. From so far above, the scene was very lively and
+animated, for each was working like a beaver, and the red shirts made
+gay little spots of colour. On the hillside clung a few white tents and
+log cabins; but the main town itself, we later discovered, as well as
+the larger diggings, lay around the bend and upstream.
+
+We looked all around us for some path leading down to the river, but
+could find none; so perforce we had to continue on along the trail. Thus
+we entered the camp of Hangman's Gulch for if it had been otherwise, I
+am sure we would have located promptly where we had seen those
+red-shirted men.
+
+The camp consisted merely of a closer-knit group of tents, log shacks,
+and a few larger buildings constructed of a queer combination of heavy
+hewn timbers and canvas. We saw nobody at all, though in some of the
+larger buildings we heard signs of life. However, we did not wait to
+investigate the wonders of Hangman's Gulch, but drove our animals along
+the one street, looking for the trail that should lead us back to the
+diggings. We missed it, somehow, but struck into a beaten path that took
+us upstream. This we followed a few hundred yards. It proceeded along a
+rough, boulder-strewn river-bed, around a point of rough, jagged rocks,
+and out to a very wide gravelly flat through which the river had made
+itself a narrow channel. The flat swarmed with men, all of them busy,
+and very silent.
+
+Leading our pack-horses we approached the nearest pair of these men, and
+stood watching them curiously. One held a coarse screen of willow which
+he shook continuously above a common cooking-pot, while the other slowly
+shovelled earth over this sieve. When the two pots, which with the
+shovel seemed to be all the tools these men possessed, had been half
+filled thus with the fine earth, the men carried them to the river. We
+followed. The miners carefully submerged the pots, and commenced to stir
+their contents with their fists. The light earth muddied the water,
+floated upward, and then flowed slowly over the rim of the pots and down
+the current. After a few minutes of this, they lifted the pots
+carefully, drained off the water, and started back.
+
+"May we look?" ventured Johnny.
+
+The taller man glanced at us, and our pack-horses, and nodded. This was
+the first time he had troubled to take a good look at us. The bottom of
+the pot was covered with fine black sand in which we caught the gleam
+and sparkle of something yellow.
+
+"Is that gold?" I asked, awed.
+
+"That's gold," the man repeated, his rather saturnine features lighting
+up with a grin. Then seeing our interest, he unbent a trifle. "We dry
+the sand, and then blow it away," he explained; and strode back to where
+his companion was impatiently waiting.
+
+We stumbled on over the rocks and debris. There were probably something
+near a hundred men at work in the gulch. We soon observed that the pot
+method was considered a very crude and simple way of getting out the
+gold. Most of the men carried iron pans full of the earth to the
+waterside, where, after submerging until the lighter earth had floated
+off, they slopped the remainder over the side with a peculiar twisting,
+whirling motion, leaving at last only the black sand--and the gold!
+These pan miners were in the great majority. But one group of four men
+was doing business on a larger scale. They had constructed what looked
+like a very shallow baby-cradle on rockers into which they poured their
+earth and water. By rocking the cradle violently but steadily, they
+spilled the mud over the sides. Cleats had been nailed in the bottom to
+catch the black sand.
+
+We wandered about here and there, looking with all our eyes. The miners
+were very busy and silent, but quite friendly, and allowed us to examine
+as much as we pleased the results of their operations. In the pots and
+cradles the yellow flake gold glittered plainly, contrasting with the
+black sand. In the pans, however, the residue spread out fan-shaped
+along the angle between the bottom and the side, and at the apex the
+gold lay heavy and beautiful all by itself. The men were generally
+bearded, tanned with working in this blinding sun, and plastered
+liberally with the red earth. We saw some queer sights, however; as when
+we came across a jolly pair dressed in what were the remains of
+ultra-fashionable garments up to and including plug hats! At one side
+working some distance from the stream were small groups of native
+Californians or Mexicans. They did not trouble to carry the earth all
+the way to the river; but, after screening it roughly, tossed it into
+the air above a canvas, thus winnowing out the heavier pay dirt.
+[Footnote: Pay dirt: dirt that has gold enough in it to pay for working
+it.] I thought this must be very disagreeable.
+
+As we wandered about here and there among all these men so busily
+engaged, and with our own eyes saw pan after pan show gold, actual
+metallic guaranteed gold, such as rings and watches and money are made
+of, a growing excitement possessed us, the excitement of a small boy
+with a new and untried gun. We wanted to get at it ourselves. Only we
+did not know how.
+
+Finally Yank approached one of the busy miners.
+
+"Stranger," said he, "we're new to this. Maybe you can tell us where we
+can dig a little of this gold ourselves."
+
+The man straightened his back, to exhibit a roving humorous blue eye,
+with which he examined Yank from top to toe.
+
+"If," said he, "it wasn't for that eighteen-foot cannon you carry over
+your left arm, and a cold gray pair of eyes you carry in your head, I'd
+direct you up the sidehill yonder, and watch you sweat. As it is, you
+can work anywhere anybody else isn't working. Start in!"
+
+"Can we dig next to you, then?" asked Yank, nodding at an unbroken piece
+of ground just upstream.
+
+The miner clambered carefully out of his waist-deep trench, searched his
+pockets, produced a pipe and tobacco. After lighting this he made Yank a
+low bow.
+
+"Thanks for the compliment; but I warn you, this claim of mine is not
+very rich. I'm thinking of trying somewhere else."
+
+"Don't you get any gold?"
+
+"Oh, a few ounces a day."
+
+"That suits me for a beginning," said Yank decidedly. "Come on boys!"
+
+The miner hopped back into his hole, only to stick his head out again
+for the purpose of telling us:
+
+"Mind you keep fifteen feet away!"
+
+With eager hands we slipped a pick and shovels from beneath the pack
+ropes, undid our iron bucket, and without further delay commenced
+feverishly to dig.
+
+--STEWART EDWARD WHITE.
+
+[Footnote: Where do you imagine this scene is laid? Why was the miner
+willing to admit the newcomers? What success do you think they had? Note
+the simplicity of the style and the diction. Can you tell anything about
+the first rush of gold seekers to California? Read the novel, "Gold,"
+from which this selection is taken. You will find it very interesting.]
+
+
+
+
+TWENTY YEARS OF ARCTIC STRUGGLE
+
+
+On the 28th of February the various parties took their departure from
+Cape Hecla, and following in the rear, Peary hurried on with all
+possible speed, hopeful of reaching the Pole at last.
+
+For some days the ice was in motion everywhere; but it gradually became
+quieter, and as there was very little wind the travelling was
+particularly good. Full of impatience as he tramped along, and grudging
+every moment given to rest, Peary dreaded lest he should meet with some
+obstacle, such as open water or impassable ice, that would put an end to
+the journey northwards.
+
+Delayed by gales and open water, and driven out of his course seventy
+miles to the eastward, Peary was cut off from communication with his
+supporting parties; and finding that he could no longer depend upon
+them, he determined to make a dash for the Pole with the party, eight in
+all, and the supplies which he had with him.
+
+Abandoning everything not absolutely essential and bending every energy
+to set a record pace, they travelled thirty miles in a ten hours' march.
+Storms of wind and snow added considerably to the difficulties of the
+journey, the strain of which told severely on both men and dogs.
+
+The 20th of April brought the weary travellers into a region of open
+leads, [Footnote: Open leads: open ways in an ice-field.] bearing north
+and south. Resting here for a few hours, Peary and his companions
+resumed their march at midnight, pushing on with feverish haste to
+lessen the distance between them and the goal that was luring them on.
+Travelling as fast as they could till noon of the 21st, they then came
+to a final halt.
+
+Disappointed at once more having to stop before the object of all his
+striving had been reached, Peary would have liked to make the last dash
+with only one or two of his men; but he dared not do this in view of the
+condition of the ice, and reluctantly he had to confess that once again
+the prize had eluded his grasp. Making observations, he found that they
+were in 87 deg, 6' north latitude, the most northerly point that had yet
+been reached by man.
+
+Warned by the haggard faces of his comrades and the skeleton figures of
+the few remaining dogs, Peary saw that no time must be lost in turning
+back. After hoisting a flag from the summit of the highest pinnacle, and
+leaving a bottle containing a record of the journey, the exhausted men
+turned their backs on the Pole, and began the weary march homeward.
+
+Trying as the outward march had been, the dangers of the return journey
+were even greater. Besides, there was no longer the excitement of
+possible victory to encourage the men in the face of hardships. Killing
+their dogs for food, and breaking up the sledges to provide fires for
+cooking, the tired and dispirited explorers pushed on till they found
+themselves stranded on an island of ice. Was this, then, to be the end
+of the enterprise, and were they to meet death in that cold and pitiless
+sea? Such a fate seemed inevitable. But just as they were preparing for
+the worst, two of the Eskimo scouts came hurrying back to the camp with
+the report that, a few miles farther on, the water was covered with a
+film of young ice, and that there was a possibility of their being able
+to cross on snow-shoes.
+
+It was a desperate chance, but they were prepared to take it; and
+carefully fixing on their snow-shoes, they made the venture, the
+lightest and most experienced Eskimo taking the lead, with the few
+remaining dogs attached to the long sledge following, "and the rest of
+the party abreast, in widely extended skirmish line, some distance
+behind the sledge." They crossed in silence, the ice swaying beneath
+them as they skimmed along. What the result would be none could tell;
+but they all felt the greatness of their peril.
+
+Peary himself confesses that this was the first and only time in all his
+Arctic experience that he felt doubtful as to what would happen. "When
+near the middle of the lead," he says, "the toe of one of my snow-shoes,
+as I slid forward, broke through twice in succession; then I thought to
+myself, 'This is the finish.' A little later there was a cry from some
+one in the line, but I dared not take my eyes from the steady gliding of
+my snow-shoes. When we stepped upon the firm ice on the southern side of
+the lead, sighs of relief from the two men nearest me were distinctly
+audible. The cry I had heard had been from one of my men, whose toe,
+like mine, had broken through the ice." The crossing had been made just
+in time, for, as the travellers looked round for a moment before turning
+their faces southward, they saw that the sheet of ice on which they had
+crossed was in two pieces. "The lead was widening again."
+
+All were safely across; but they were not yet out of danger. Unable to
+find a route which they might traverse with any degree of safety, Peary
+and his men ascended a high mass of ice to have a better view of their
+surroundings, and to look for a way of escape. What they beheld from
+their elevated position might well have struck terror into the boldest
+heart. Before them extended "such a mass of shattered ice" as Peary had
+never seen before and hoped never to see again, "a confused mass of
+fragments, some only the size of paving-stones, others as large as the
+dome of the Capitol at Washington, but all rounded by the terrific
+grinding they had received."
+
+Once again death was looking them in the face, for it seemed an utter
+impossibility to find a path through that frozen wilderness. But as long
+as they could keep a footing they determined to struggle on; and
+stumbling forward at every step, bruised and sore, they at last struck a
+better road. They made their way to Britannia Island, [Footnote:
+Britannia Island: one of the most northern islands of the Arctic Ocean.]
+and thence to Cape May and Cape Bryant.
+
+The brave party suffered much from want of food. For days on end they
+were on the verge of starvation. A hare that was shot gave them the
+first full meal for nearly forty days. With snow falling around them,
+and without tent or covering of any kind, they lay down on the ground to
+sleep.
+
+Waking in the morning as tired and hungry as ever, they found the tracks
+of musk-oxen [Footnote: Musk-oxen: the musk-ox has long shaggy hair and
+somewhat resembles a buffalo.] in the snow, and their hopes rose as they
+endeavoured to follow the trail. Sweeping the valley with their
+field-glass, they could see no sign of a living thing; but later on they
+espied several black dots at a distance, and knew that they had located
+the herd. Pushing on towards them, Peary and a companion lay down behind
+a big boulder to rest and gather strength, for they dared not risk a
+shot before they were sure of their aim. Resolving at last on an attack,
+the two men grasped their rifles, and, rushing out from behind their
+place of shelter, made straight for the animals, now less than two
+hundred yards away. An old bull that was standing guard gave the signal
+to charge, and in a minute the "black avalanche of thundering beasts"
+was bearing down on their enemies.
+
+Fortunately for Peary his shot went true, and the great bull fell dead.
+The maddened rush was stopped; and before the oxen could make their
+retreat over the ridges six of their number lay dead upon the frozen
+ground; and for the next few days the party revelled in the delights of
+a continuous feast.
+
+Reaching the Roosevelt [Footnote: Roosevelt: Peary's ship.] at the end
+of July, the expedition returned to America a few months later. After
+twenty years of heroic striving, Peary had again missed the prize; but
+the victory was postponed only for a little while.
+
+--J. KENNEDY McLEAN.
+
+[Footnote: How does the heroism shown in this account of Peary's
+struggle compare with military courage? What qualities of the true
+explorer does Peary show? What picture do you get of the country in
+which the travelers journeyed? What do you know of Peary's later
+expedition? Do you think the descriptions would be so purely objective
+if they were written by the explorer himself? Would the account seem
+more real or more interesting if it had been told in the first person?]
+
+
+
+
+HENRY WARD BEECHER'S ACCOUNT OF
+HIS SPEECH IN MANCHESTER
+
+
+I went to my hotel, and when the day came on which I was to make my
+first speech, I struck out the notes of my speech in the morning; and
+then came up a kind of horror--"I don't know whether I can do anything
+with an English audience--I have never had any experience with an
+English audience. My American ways, which are all well enough with
+Americans, may utterly fail here, and a failure in the cause of my
+country now and here is horrible beyond conception to me!" I think I
+never went through such a struggle of darkness and suffering in all my
+life as I did that afternoon. It was about the going down of the sun
+that God brought me to that state in which I said, "Thy will be done. I
+am willing to be annihilated; I am willing to fail if the Lord wants me
+to." I gave it all up into the hands of God, and rose up in a state of
+peace and serenity simply unspeakable, and when the coach came to take
+me down to Manchester Hall I felt no disturbance nor dreamed of anything
+but success.
+
+We reached the hall. The crowd was already beginning to be tumultuous,
+and I recollect thinking to myself as I stood there looking at them, "I
+will control you! I came here for victory, and I will have it, by the
+help of God!" Well, I was introduced, and I must confess that the things
+that I had done and suffered in my own country, according to what the
+chairman who introduced me said, amazed me. The speaker was very English
+on the subject, and I learned that I belonged to an heroic band, and all
+that sort of thing, with Abolitionism [Footnote: Abolitionism: The
+policy of those who worked for the abolition of slavery before the Civil
+War.] mixed in, and so on. By the way, I think it was there that I was
+introduced as the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher Stowe. But as soon as I began
+to speak the great audience began to show its teeth, and I had not gone
+on fifteen minutes before an unparalleled scene of confusion and
+interruption occurred. No American that has not seen an English mob can
+form any conception of one. I have seen all sorts of camp meetings and
+experienced all kinds of public speaking on the stump; I have seen the
+most disturbed meetings in New York City, and they were all of them as
+twilight to midnight compared with an English hostile audience. For in
+England the meeting does not belong to the parties that call it, but to
+whoever chooses to go; and if they can take it out of your hands, it is
+considered fair play. This meeting had a very large multitude of men in
+it who came there for the purpose of destroying the meeting and carrying
+it the other way when it came to a vote.
+
+I took the measure of the audience and said to myself, "About one fourth
+of this audience are opposed to me, and about one fourth will be rather
+in sympathy; and my business now is, not to appeal to that portion that
+is opposed to me nor to those that are already on my side, but to bring
+over the middle section." How to do this was a problem. The question
+was, who could hold out longest. There were five or six storm-centres,
+boiling and whirling at the same time: here some one pounding on a group
+with his umbrella and shouting, "Sit down there;" over yonder a row
+between two or three combatants; somewhere else a group all yelling
+together at the top of their voices. It was like talking to a storm at
+sea. But there were the newspaper reporters just in front, and I said to
+them, "Now, gentlemen, be kind enough to take down what I say. It will
+be in sections, but I will have it connected by and by." I threw my
+notes away, and entered on a discussion of the value of freedom as
+opposed to slavery in the manufacturing interest, arguing that freedom
+everywhere increases a man's necessities, and what he needs he buys, and
+that it was, therefore, to the interest of the manufacturing community
+to stand by the side of labor through the country. I never was more
+self-possessed and never in more perfect good temper, and I never was
+more determined that my hearers should feel the curb before I got
+through with them. The uproar would come in on this side and on that,
+and they would put insulting questions and make all sorts of calls to
+me, and I would wait until the noise had subsided, and then get in about
+five minutes of talk. The reporters would get that down, and then up
+would come another noise. Occasionally I would see things that amused me
+and would laugh outright, and the crowd would stop to see what I was
+laughing at. Then I would sail in again with a sentence or two. A good
+many times the crowd threw up questions which I caught at and answered
+back. I may as well put in here one thing that amused me hugely. There
+were baize doors that opened both ways into side alleys, and there was a
+huge, burly Englishman standing right in front of one of those doors and
+roaring like a bull of Bashan; [Footnote: Bull of Bashan: _Psalm_
+XXII, 12-13] one of the policemen swung his elbow around and hit him in
+the belly and knocked him through the doorway, so that the last part of
+the bawl was outside in the alleyway; it struck me so ludicrously to
+think how the fellow must have looked when he found himself "hollering"
+outside that I could not refrain from laughing outright. The audience
+immediately stopped its uproars, wondering what I was laughing at, and
+that gave me another chance, and I caught it. So we kept on for about an
+hour and a half before they got so far calmed down that I could go on
+peaceably with my speech. They liked the pluck. Englishmen like a man
+that can stand on his feet and give and take; and so for the last hour I
+had pretty clear sailing. The next morning every great paper in England
+had the whole speech. I think it was the design of the men there to
+break me down on that first speech, by fair means or foul, feeling that
+if they could do that it would be trumpeted all over the land. I said to
+them then and there, "Gentlemen, you may break me down now, but I have
+registered a vow that I will never return home until I have been heard
+in every county and principal town in the Kingdom of Great Britain. I am
+not going to be broken down nor put down. I am going to be heard, and my
+country shall be vindicated." Nobody knows better than I did what it is
+to feel that every interest that touches the heart of a Christian man
+and a patriotic man and a lover of liberty is being assailed wantonly,
+to stand between one nation and your own, and to feel that you are in a
+situation in which your country rises or falls with you. And God was
+behind it all; I felt it and knew it; and when I got through and the
+vote was called off, you would have thought it was a tropical
+thunderstorm that swept through that hall as the ayes were thundered,
+while the noes were an insignificant and contemptible minority. It had
+all gone on our side, and such enthusiasm I never saw. I think it was
+there that when I started to go down into the rooms below to get an
+exit, a big burly Englishman in the gallery wanted to shake hands with
+me, and I could not reach him, and he called out, "Shake my umbrella!"
+and he reached it over; I shook it, and as I did so he shouted, "By
+Jock! Nobody shall touch that umbrella again!"
+
+--HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+[Footnote: Henry Ward Beecher was born in 1813 and died in 1887. He was
+a noted lecturer, reformer, author, and clergyman. He was also among the
+most prominent of anti-slavery orators, and delivered many addresses in
+England on subjects relating to the Civil War.
+
+Why do you suppose Mr. Beecher was introduced as Henry Ward Beecher
+Stowe? Name some characteristics of Mr. Beecher as revealed in this
+selection. What qualities would you attribute to an English audience,
+judging from this account? Do you know anything about the custom of
+"heckling" in England? How much was the success of the speech due to Mr.
+Beecher's sense of humor? Do you imagine that Mr. Beecher was successful
+in his addresses to the English people? Why?]
+
+
+
+
+A GREEN DONKEY DRIVER
+
+
+There dwelt an old man in Monastier, [Footnote: Monastier: a little
+village in southern France.] of rather unsound intellect according to
+some, much followed by street-boys, and known to fame as Father Adam.
+Father Adam had a cart, and to draw the cart a diminutive donkey, not
+much bigger than a dog, the color of a mouse, with a kindly eye and a
+determined under-jaw. There was something neat and high-bred, a
+Quakerish elegance, about the rogue that hit my fancy on the spot.
+
+Our first interview was in Monastier market-place. To prove her good
+temper, one child after another was set upon her back to ride, and one
+after another went head over heels into the air; until a want of
+confidence began to reign in youthful bosoms, and the experiment was
+discontinued from a dearth of subjects. I was already backed by a
+deputation [Footnote: Deputation: a group of persons sent to act in
+behalf of others.] of my friends; but as if this were not enough, all
+the buyers and sellers came around and helped me in the bargain; and the
+ass and I and Father Adam were the centre of a hubbub for near half an
+hour. At length she passed into my service for the consideration of
+sixty-five francs and a glass of brandy. The sack had already cost
+eighty francs and two glasses of beer; so that Modestine, as I instantly
+baptized her, was upon all accounts the cheaper article.
+
+By the advice of a fallacious [Footnote: Fallacious: misleading,
+deceptive.] local saddler, a leather pad was made for me with rings to
+fasten on my bundle; and I thoughtfully completed my kit and arranged my
+toilette. By way of armory and utensils, I took a revolver, a little
+spirit lamp and pan, a lantern and some halfpenny candles, a jack-knife
+and a large leather flask. The main cargo consisted of two entire
+changes of warm clothing, besides my travelling wear of country
+velveteen, pilot coat, and knitted spencer, some books, and my
+railway-rug, which, being also in the form of a bag, made me a double
+castle for cold nights. The permanent larder was represented by cakes of
+chocolate and tins of Bologna sausage. All this, except what I carried
+about my person, was easily stowed into the sheepskin bag; and by good
+fortune I threw in my empty knapsack, rather for convenience of carriage
+than from any thought that I should want it on my journey. For more
+immediate needs, I took a leg of cold mutton, a bottle of Beaujolais,
+[Footnote: Beaujolais: a red wine made in southeastern France.] an empty
+bottle to carry milk, an egg-beater, and a considerable quantity of
+black bread and white for myself and donkey.
+
+On the day of my departure I was up a little after five; by six we began
+to load the donkey; and ten minutes after, my hopes were in the dust.
+The pad would not stay on Modestine's back for half a moment. I returned
+it to its maker, with whom I had so contumelious [Footnote:
+Contumelious: rude and abusive.] a passage that the street outside was
+crowded from wall to wall with gossips looking on and listening. The pad
+changed hands with much vivacity; perhaps it would be more descriptive
+to say that we threw it at each other's heads; and, at any rate, we were
+very warm and unfriendly, and spoke with a deal of freedom.
+
+I had a common donkey pack-saddle fitted upon Modestine; and once more
+loaded her with my effects.
+
+The bell of Monastier was just striking nine as I got quit of these
+preliminary troubles and descended the hill through the common. As long
+as I was within sight of the windows, a secret shame and the fear of
+some laughable defeat withheld me from tampering with Modestine. She
+tripped along upon her four small hoofs with a sober daintiness of gait;
+from time to time she shook her ears or her tail; and she looked so
+small under the bundle that my mind misgave me. We got across the ford
+without difficulty--there was no doubt about the matter, she was
+docility itself--and once on the other bank, where the road begins to
+mount through pine-woods, I took in my right hand the unhallowed staff,
+and with a quaking spirit applied it to the donkey. Modestine brisked up
+her pace for perhaps three steps, and then relapsed into her former
+minuet. [Footnote: Minuet: a slow, stately dance.] Another application
+had the same effect, and so with the third. I am worthy the name of an
+Englishman, and it goes against my conscience to lay my hand rudely on a
+female. I desisted, and looked her all over from head to foot; the poor
+brute's knees were trembling and her breathing was distressed; it was
+plain that she could not go faster on a hill. God forbid, thought I,
+that I should brutalize this innocent creature; let her go at her own
+pace, and let me patiently follow.
+
+What that pace was, there is no word mean enough to describe, it was
+something as much slower than a walk as a walk is slower than a run; it
+kept me hanging on each foot for an incredible length of time; in five
+minutes it exhausted the spirit and set up a fever in all the muscles of
+the leg. And yet I had to keep close at hand and measure my advance
+exactly upon hers; for if I dropped a few yards in to the rear, or went
+on a few yards ahead, Modestine came instantly to a halt and began to
+browse. The thought that this was to last from here to Alais [Footnote:
+Alais: a town in southeastern France not far from the Rhone River.]
+nearly broke my heart. Of all conceivable journeys, this promised to be
+the most tedious. I tried to tell myself it was a lovely day; I tried to
+charm my foreboding spirit with tobacco; but I had a vision ever present
+to me of the long long roads, up hill and down dale, and a pair of
+figures ever infinitesimally moving, foot by foot, a yard to the minute,
+and, like things enchanted in a nightmare, approaching no nearer to the
+goal.
+
+In the meantime there came up behind us a tall peasant, perhaps forty
+years of age, of an ironical snuffy countenance, and arrayed in the
+green tail-coat of the country. He overtook us hand over hand, and
+stopped to consider our pitiful advance.
+
+"Your donkey," says he, "is very old?"
+
+I told him, I believed not.
+
+Then, he supposed, we had come far.
+
+I told him we had but newly left Monastier.
+
+"Et vous marchez comme ca!" [Footnote: Et vous marchez comme ca! "and
+you are moving like that!"] cried he; and, throwing back his head, he
+laughed long and heartily. I watched him, half prepared to feel
+offended, until he had satisfied his mirth; and then, "You must have no
+pity on these animals," said he; and, plucking a switch out of a
+thicket, he began to lace Modestine about the stern works, uttering a
+cry. The rogue pricked up her ears and broke into a good round pace,
+which she kept up without flagging, and without exhibiting the least
+symptom of distress, as long as the peasant kept beside us. Her former
+panting and shaking had been, I regret to say, a piece of comedy.
+
+My _deus ex machina_, [Footnote: Deus ex machina: "the god out of
+the machine"; some supernatural intervention.] before he left me,
+supplied some excellent, if inhumane, advice; presented me with the
+switch, which he declared she would feel more tenderly than my cane; and
+finally taught me the true cry or masonic word of donkey-drivers,
+"Proot!" All the time, he regarded me with a comical incredulous air, as
+I might have smiled over his orthography or his green tail-coat. But it
+was not my turn for the moment.
+
+I hurried over my midday meal, and was early forth again. But, alas, as
+we climbed the interminable hill upon the other side, "Proot!" seemed to
+have lost its virtue. I prooted like a lion, I prooted melliflously
+[Footnote: Melliflously: sweetly. Find this allusion in "Midsummer
+Night's Dream," Act I, Scene 2.] like a sucking-dove; but Modestine
+would be neither softened nor intimidated. She held doggedly to her
+pace; nothing but a blow would move her, and that only for a second. I
+must follow at her heels, incessantly belaboring. A moment's pause in
+this ignoble toil, and she relapsed into her own private gait. I think I
+never heard of any one in as mean a situation. I must reach the lake of
+Bouchet, where I meant to camp, before sundown; and, to have even a hope
+of this, I must instantly maltreat this uncomplaining animal. The sound
+of my blows sickened me. Once, when I looked at her, she had a faint
+resemblance to a lady of my acquaintance who formerly loaded me with
+kindness; and this increased my horror of my cruelty.
+
+It was blazing hot up the valley, windless, with vehement sun upon my
+shoulders; and I had to labor so consistently with my stick that the
+sweat ran into my eyes. Every five minutes, too, the pack, the basket,
+and the pilot-coat would take an ugly slew [Footnote: Slew: twist.] to
+one side or the other; and I had to stop Modestine, just when I had got
+her to a tolerable pace of about two miles an hour, to tug, push,
+shoulder, and re-adjust the load. And at last, in the village of Ussel,
+[Footnote: Ussel: a town about one hundred miles northwest of Alais.]
+saddle and all, the whole hypothec [Footnote: Hypothec: literally, the
+property of a tenant held by a landlord as security for rent. Here, of
+course, the property insufficiently secured on the donkey.] turned round
+and grovelled in the dust, below the donkey's belly. She none better
+pleased, incontinently drew up and seemed to smile; and a party of one
+man, two women, and two children came up, and, standing round me in a
+half-circle, encouraged her by their example.
+
+I disposed it, Heaven knows how, so as to be mildly portable, and then
+proceeded to steer Modestine through the village. She tried, as was
+indeed her invariable habit, to enter every house and every courtyard in
+the whole length, and, encumbered as I was, without a hand to help
+myself, no words can render an idea of my difficulties. A priest, with
+six or seven others, was examining a church in process of repair, and
+his acolytes [Footnote: Acolytes: assistants of the priest during mass.]
+laughed loudly as they saw my plight. I remembered having laughed myself
+when I had seen good men struggling with adversity in the person of a
+jackass, and the recollection filled me with penitence. That was in my
+old light days, before this trouble came upon me. God knows at least
+that I shall never laugh again, thought I. But O, what a cruel thing is
+a farce to those engaged in it!
+
+A little out of the village, Modestine, filled with the demon, set her
+heart upon a by-road, and positively refused to leave it. I dropped all
+my bundles, and, I am ashamed to say, struck the poor sinner twice
+across the face. It was pitiful to see her lift up her head with shut
+eyes, as if waiting for another blow. I came very near crying; but I did
+a wiser thing than that, and sat squarely down by the roadside to
+consider my situation. Modestine in the meanwhile, munched some black
+bread with a contrite hypocritical air. It was plain that I must make a
+sacrifice to the gods of shipwreck. I threw away the empty bottles
+destined to carry milk; I threw away my own white bread, and, disdaining
+to act by general average, kept the black bread for Modestine; lastly I
+threw away the cold leg of mutton and the egg whisk, although this last
+was dear to my heart.
+
+Thus I found room for everything in the basket, and even stowed the
+boating-coat on the top. By means of an end of cord I slung it under one
+arm; and although the cord cut my shoulder, and the jacket hung almost
+to the ground, it was with a heart greatly lightened that I set forth.
+
+--ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Would you judge that this was the writer's first experience
+in camping? Why? What is added to the story by attributing human
+qualities to Modestine? How did she seem to be always putting him in the
+wrong? Do people ever work such tricks? What characteristics of the
+author are shown in this sketch? Is the humor of the story one of
+situation merely? What other selections are similar to this in the style
+of writing? in the humor?]
+
+
+
+
+A NIGHT IN THE PINES
+
+
+The trees were not old, but they grew thickly round the glade: there was
+no outlook, except northeastward upon distant hill-tops, or straight
+upward to the sky; and the encampment felt secure and private like a
+room. By the time I had made my arrangements and fed Modestine, the day
+was already beginning to decline. I buckled myself to the knees into my
+sack and made a hearty meal; and as soon as the sun went down, I pulled
+my cap over my eyes and fell asleep.
+
+Night is a dead monotonous period under a roof; but in the open world it
+passes lightly, with its stars and dews and perfumes, and the hours are
+marked by changes in the face of Nature. What seems a kind of temporal
+death to people choked between walls and curtains, is only a light and
+living slumber to the man who sleeps afield. All night long he can hear
+Nature breathing deeply and freely; even as she takes her rest she turns
+and smiles; and there is one stirring hour unknown to those who dwell in
+houses, when a wakeful influence goes abroad over the sleeping
+hemisphere, and all the out-door world are on their feet. It is then
+that the cock first crows, not this time to announce the dawn, but like
+a cheerful watchman speeding the course of night. Cattle awake on the
+meadows; sheep break their fast on dewy hillsides, and change to a new
+lair among the ferns; and houseless men, who have lain down with the
+fowls, open their dim eyes and behold the beauty of the night.
+
+The stars were clear, colored, and jewel-like, but not frosty. A faint
+silvery vapor stood for the Milky Way. All around me the black
+fir-points stood upright and stock-still. By the whiteness of the
+pack-saddle, I could see Modestine walking round and round at the length
+of her tether; I could hear her steadily munching at the sward; but
+there was not another sound, save the indescribable quiet talk of the
+runnel over the stones. I lay lazily smoking and studying the color of
+the sky, as we call the void of space, where it showed a reddish gray
+behind the pines to where it showed a glossy blue-black between the
+stars. As if to be more like a pedler, I wear a silver ring. This I
+could see faintly shining as I raised or lowered the cigarette; and at
+each whiff the inside of my hand was illuminated, and became for a
+second the highest light in the landscape.
+
+A faint wind, more like a moving coolness than a stream of air, passed
+down the glade from time to time; so that even in my great chamber the
+air was being renewed all night long. I thought with horror of the inn
+at Chasserades and the congregated night caps; with horror of the
+nocturnal prowesses of clerks and students, of hot theatres, and
+passkeys and close rooms. I have not often enjoyed a more serene
+possession of myself, nor felt more independent of material aids. The
+outer world, from which we cower into our houses, seemed after all a
+gentle, habitable place; and night after night a man's bed, it seemed,
+was laid and waiting for him in the fields, where God keeps an open
+house.
+
+As I lay thus, between content and longing, a faint noise stole towards
+me through the pines. I thought, at first, it was the crowing of cocks
+or the barking of dogs at some very distant farm; but steadily and
+gradually it took articulate shape in my ears, until I became aware that
+a passenger was going by upon the high-road in the valley, and singing
+loudly as he went. There was more of good-will than grace in his
+performance; but he trolled with ample lungs; and the sound of his voice
+took hold upon the hillside and set the air shaking in the leafy glens.
+I have heard people passing by night in sleeping cities, some of them
+sang; one, I remember, played loudly on the bagpipes. I have heard the
+rattle of a cart or carriage spring up suddenly after hours of
+stillness, and pass for some minutes, within the range of my hearing as
+I lay abed. There is a romance about all who are abroad in the black
+hours, and with something of a thrill we try to guess their business.
+But here the romance was double; first this glad passenger, lit
+internally with wine, who sent up his voice in music through the night;
+and then I, on the other hand, buckled into my sack, and smoking alone
+in the pine-woods between four and five thousand feet towards the stars.
+
+--ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
+
+[Footnote: What use does the author make of contrast? What things does
+he notice? Did you ever sleep at night out of doors? If so, was the
+night empty of impressions or did you hear and see things? What
+characteristic things has Stevenson chosen to give you in the picture of
+camping out at night? What things do you suppose Stevenson most enjoyed
+in his life out of doors?]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK
+
+
+In those good old days of simplicity and sunshine, a passion for
+cleanliness was the leading principle in domestic economy, and the
+universal test of an able housewife.
+
+The front door was never opened, except for marriages, funerals, New
+Year's Day, the festival of St. Nicholas, or some such great occasion.
+It was ornamented with a gorgeous brass knocker, which was curiously
+wrought,--sometimes in the device of a dog, and sometimes in that of a
+lion's head,--and daily burnished with such religious zeal that it was
+often worn out by the very precautions taken for its preservation.
+
+The whole house was constantly in a state of inundation, [Footnote:
+Inundation: a flood.] under the discipline of mops and brooms and
+scrubbing brushes; and the good housewives of those days were a kind of
+amphibious [Footnote: Amphibious: able to live in water and on land.]
+animal, delighting exceedingly to be dabbling in water,--insomuch that
+an historian of the day gravely tells us that many of his townswomen
+grew to have webbed fingers, "like unto ducks."
+
+The grand parlor was the sanctum, where the passion for cleaning was
+indulged without control. No one was permitted to enter this sacred
+apartment, except the mistress and her confidential maid, who visited it
+once a week for the purpose of giving it a thorough cleaning. On these
+occasions they always took the precaution of leaving their shoes at the
+door, and entering devoutly [Footnote: Entering devoutly, etc. What
+Oriental custom is the author alluding to?] in their stocking feet.
+
+After scrubbing the floor, sprinkling it with fine white sand,--which
+was curiously stroked with a broom into angles and curves and
+rhomboids,--after washing the windows, rubbing and polishing the
+furniture, and putting a new branch of evergreens in the fireplace, the
+windows were again closed to keep out the flies, and the room was kept
+carefully locked, until the revolution of time brought round the weekly
+cleaning day.
+
+As to the family, they always entered in at the gate, and generally
+lived in the kitchen. To have seen a numerous household assembled round
+the fire, one would have imagined that he was transported to those happy
+days of primeval simplicity which float before our imaginations like
+golden visions.
+
+The fireplaces were of a truly patriarchal magnitude, where the whole
+family, old and young, master and servant, black and white,--nay, even
+the very cat and dog,--enjoyed a community of privilege, and had each a
+right to a corner. Here the old burgher would sit in perfect silence,
+puffing his pipe, looking in the fire with half-shut eyes, and thinking
+of nothing, for hours together; the good wife on the opposite side,
+would employ herself diligently in spinning yarn or knitting stockings.
+
+The young folks would crowd around the hearth, listening with breathless
+attention to some old crone of a negro, who was the oracle of the
+family, and who, perched like a raven in a corner of the chimney, would
+croak forth, for a long winter afternoon, a string of incredible stories
+about New England witches, grisly ghosts, and bloody encounters among
+Indians.
+
+In these happy days, fashionable parties were generally confined to the
+higher classes, or noblesse; that is to say, such as kept their own
+cows, and drove their own wagons. The company usually assembled at three
+o'clock, and went away about six, unless it was in winter time, when the
+fashionable hours were a little earlier, that the ladies might reach
+home before dark.
+
+The tea table was crowned with a huge earthen dish, well stored with
+slices of fat pork, fried brown, cut up into morsels, and swimming in
+gravy. The company seated round the genial board, evinced their
+dexterity in launching their forks at the fattest pieces in this mighty
+dish,--in much the same manner that sailors harpoon porpoises at sea,
+or our Indians spear salmon in the lakes.
+
+Sometimes the table was graced with immense apple pies, or saucers full
+of preserved peaches and pears; but it was always sure to boast an
+enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat and called
+doughnuts or olykocks, a delicious kind of cake, at present little known
+in this city, except in genuine Dutch families.
+
+The tea was served out of a majestic Delft teapot, ornamented with
+paintings of fat little Dutch shepherds and shepherdesses tending
+pigs,--with boats sailing in the air, and houses built in the clouds,
+and sundry other ingenious Dutch fancies. The beaux distinguished
+themselves by their adroitness in replenishing this pot from a huge
+copper teakettle. To sweeten the beverage, a lump of sugar was laid
+beside each cup, and the company alternately nibbled and sipped with
+great decorum; until an improvement was introduced by a shrewd and
+economic old lady, which was to suspend, by a string from the ceiling, a
+large lump directly over the tea table, so that it could be swung from
+mouth to mouth.
+
+At these primitive tea parties, the utmost propriety and dignity
+prevailed,--no flirting nor coquetting; no romping of young ladies; no
+self-satisfied struttings of wealthy gentlemen, with their brains in
+their pockets, nor amusing conceits and monkey divertisements [Footnote:
+Divertisements: diversions, amusements.] of smart young gentlemen, with
+no brains at all.
+
+On the contrary, the young ladies seated themselves demurely in their
+rush-bottomed chairs, and knit their own woolen stockings; nor ever
+opened their lips, excepting to say yah, Mynheer, or yah, Vroww,
+[Footnote: Yay, Mynheer: "yes, sir." Yay, Vrow: "yes, madam."] to any
+question that was asked them; behaving in all things like decent,
+well-educated damsels. As to the gentlemen, each of them tranquilly
+smoked his pipe, and seemed lost in contemplation of the blue and white
+tiles with which the fireplaces were decorated; wherein sundry passages
+of Scripture were piously portrayed. Tobit [Footnote: Tobit. The Book of
+Tobit is part of the Apocrypha.] and his dog figured to great advantage;
+Haman [Footnote: Haman is the king's counselor in the Book of Esther.]
+swung conspicuously on his gibbet; and Jonah appeared most manfully
+leaping from the whale's mouth, like Harlequin [Footnote: Harlequin: the
+clown in early Italian and later French comedy.] through a barrel of
+fire.
+
+The parties broke up without noise and without confusion. They were
+carried home by their own carriages, that is to say, by the vehicles
+nature had provided them, excepting such of the wealthy as could afford
+to keep a wagon.
+
+--WASHINGTON IRVING.
+
+[Footnote: Are there any parts of the country where the traditions of
+the "best parlor" are still kept? Does the early life in New York appear
+to you attractive or uninteresting? Does the description seem like
+ridicule? The descendants of the old Dutch families resented Irving's
+way of making fun of their ancestors. Point out passages which might
+justify this complaint. Compare this sketch with "A Pine Tree Shilling"
+in the style of writing, method of description, and humor.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BAZAAR IN MOROCCO
+
+
+How can I describe the swarming crowds of the bazaar, the constant,
+noiseless stir of all those bournouses [Footnote: Bournouses: cf. "An
+Arab Fisherman."] in the semi-darkness! The little labyrinthine avenues
+cross each other in every direction, covered with their ancient roofing
+of wood, or else with trellises of cane, over which grape-vines are
+trained. Fronting on these passages are the shops, something like holes
+in a wall as regards size, and in them the turbaned dealers sit
+squatted, stately and impassible, among their rare knick-knacks. Shops
+where the same kind of goods are sold are grouped in quarters by
+themselves. There is the street of the dealers in clothing, where the
+booths are bright with pink, blue, and orange silks, and with brocades
+of gold and silver, and where ladies, veiled and draped like phantoms,
+are posted. There is the street of the leather merchants, where
+thousands of sets of harness of every conceivable color, for horses,
+mules, and asses, are hanging from the walls; there are all sorts of
+objects of strange and ancient fashion for use in the chase or in war:
+powder-horns inlaid with gold and silver, embroidered belts for sword
+and musket, travelling bags for caravans and amulets [Footnote: Amulets:
+ornaments worn as a charm against evil.] to charm away the dangers of
+the desert. Then there is the street of the workers in brass, where from
+morning till night is heard the sound of hammers at work on the
+arabesques [Footnote: Arabesques: a kind of low-relief carving of man
+and animal figures fantastically interlaced.] of vases and plates; the
+street of the papooch embroiderers, where all the little dens are filled
+with velvet, pearls and gold; the street of the furniture decorators;
+that of the naked, grimy blacksmiths; that of the dyers, with purple or
+indigo-bedaubed arms, Finally, the quarter of the armorers, who make
+long flint-lock muskets, thin as cane-stalks, the silver inlaid butt of
+which is made excessively large so as to receive the shoulder. The
+Moroccans [Footnote: The Moroccans ... in this country. What similar
+statement was made in "An Arab Fisherman"?] never have the slightest
+idea of changing the form adopted by their ancestors, and the shape of
+their musket is as immutable as all things else are in this country; it
+seems like a dream to see them at this day making such quantities of
+these old-fashioned arms.
+
+A stifled hum of unceasing activity arises from the mass of people, clad
+in their gray woolen robes, thus congregated from afar to buy and sell
+all sorts of queer small objects. There are sorcerers performing their
+incantations; bands of armed men dancing the war-dance, with firing of
+guns, to the sound of the tambourines and the wailing pipes; beggars
+exposing their sores; negro slaves wheeling their loads; asses rolling
+in the dust. The ground, of the same grayish shade as the multitude upon
+it, is covered with all kinds of filth: animal refuse, chicken feathers,
+dead mice; and the crowd tread down the revolting mass under their
+trailing slippers.
+
+How far removed is all this life from ours! The activity of this people
+is as foreign to us as its stagnation and its slumberousness. An
+indifference which I cannot explain, a disregard of everything, to us
+quite unknown, characterized these burnous-clad folk even in their
+greatest stir and bustle. The cowled heads of the men and the veiled
+heads of the women are occupied by one unchanging dream, even in the
+midst of their bargaining; five times a day they offer up their prayer,
+and their thoughts turn, to the exclusion of all besides, upon eternity
+and death. You will see squalid beggars with the eyes of an inspired
+man; ragged fellows who have noble attitudes and faces of prophets.
+
+People of all the different tribes meet and mingle promiscuously among
+themselves. Negroes from the Soudan [Footnote: Soudan: the region south
+of the Sahara Desert.] and light-colored Arabs: Mussulmans [Footnote:
+Mussulmans: Mohammedans.] without conviction of the faith, whose women
+veil only their mouths; and the green-turbaned Derkaouas, merciless
+fanatics, who turn their heads and spit upon the ground at the sight of
+a Christian. Every day the "Holy woman," with wild eyes and
+vermilion-painted cheeks, is to be seen prophesying in some public
+place. And the "Holy man," too, who is incessantly walking like the
+wandering Jew, always in a hurry and all the while mumbling his prayers.
+
+What queer old jewelry finds a market in Mequinez! [Footnote: Mequinez
+(Mekinez): a city not far from Fez.] When could the things ever have
+been new?--There is not one which has not an air of extreme antiquity;
+old rings for wrists or ankles, worn smooth by centuries of rubbing
+against human flesh; great clasps for fastening veils; little old silver
+bottles with coral pendants to hold the black dye with which the eyes
+are painted, with hooks to fasten them at the belt; boxes to enclose
+Korans, [Footnote: Korans: the Koran is the sacred book of the
+Mohammedans.] carved in arabesques and bearing Solomon's seal; old
+necklaces of gold sequins, defaced by wear on the necks of women long
+since dead; and quantities of those large trefoils [Footnote: Trefoil: a
+shape similar to that of the clover leaf.] in hammered silver, enclosing
+a green stone, which are hung about the neck to avert the bad effect of
+the evil-eye. These things are all spread out on little dirty worm-eaten
+tables, in front of the squatting merchants, in the little dens in the
+old walls.
+
+The bazaar is very near the Jewish quarter, and several of that race,
+knowing us to be here, come and offer us trinkets, bracelets, quaint old
+rings and emerald earrings,--things which they take from the pockets of
+their black robes with furtive airs, after having cast distrustful looks
+around. We are also approached by the dealers in the fine woolen rugs
+and carpets of R'bat, which they throw upon the ground, among the dust,
+refuse, and bones, to show us the rare designs and splendid colors of
+their wares.
+
+The sun is getting low; it is time for us to end our bargaining, which
+has not been conducted without some wrangling, and to leave the sacred
+city which we are to behold no more, and betake ourselves to our tents.
+
+Before passing the last gate of the enclosure, we halt in a sort of
+small bazaar, of whose existence we were not previously aware. It is
+that of the bric-a-brac merchants, and the Lord only knows what queer
+oddities this kind of shop can display. Ancient arms constitute the
+principal stock in trade; rusty yataghans, long Souss muskets; then old
+leather amulets for war or for the chase; ridiculous powder-horns, and
+also musical instruments; guitars covered with snake-skin, pipes and
+tambourines. To keep the rubbish which they are selling in countenance,
+no doubt, the dealers are mostly all broken-down, worn-out, old men.
+
+Undoubtedly the people in this bazaar are very poor and have need to
+sell their goods, for they crowd around us and press us with their
+wares. We make several surprising bargains. As the sky grows yellow and
+the cold breeze of sunset springs up, we are still there, near the
+lonely gate, beneath the branches of the old trees.
+
+--PIERRE LOTI.
+
+[Footnote: Pierre Loti is the nom-de-plume of a well-known French
+writer. His real name is Louis Marie Julien Viaud, and he is an officer
+in the French army. His work is particularly celebrated for the
+vividness and brilliancy of his descriptions. He has described scenes in
+Africa, India, China, and on the ocean. One of his best books is "An
+Iceland Fisherman."]
+
+[Footnote: Select some of the best examples of minute detail in the
+descriptions. Note the use of color, form, and smell. How has the author
+contrasted the civilizations of East and West? Notice how the rapid
+enumeration of objects gives the effect of passing through the bazaar.
+Why would a painter find it easy to paint a picture from these written
+descriptions? What things are sold in the bazaar that show the Eastern
+skill in handicraft? that show superstition? What contrasts between
+beauty and sordidness are made in the descriptions?]
+
+
+
+
+A BATTLE OF THE ANTS
+
+
+One day when I went out to my wood-pile, or rather my pile of stumps, I
+observed two large ants, the one red, the other much larger, nearly half
+an inch long and black, fiercely contending with one another. Having
+once got hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestled and rolled
+on the chips incessantly. Looking farther, I was surprised to find that
+the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a
+"duellum," but a "bellum," [Footnote: Duellum ... bellum: war.] a war
+between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and
+frequently two red ones to one black. The legions of these Myrmidons
+[Footnote: Myrmidons: a fierce tribe that accompanied Achilles, their
+king, to the Trojan War.] covered all the hills and vales in my
+wood-yard, and the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying,
+both red and black. It was the only battle which I had ever witnessed,
+the only battle-field I ever trod while the battle was raging;
+internecine [Footnote: Internecine: mutually destructive.] war; the red
+republicans on the one hand and the black imperialists on the other
+hand. On every side they were engaged in deadly combat, yet without any
+noise that I could hear, and human soldiers never fought so resolutely.
+I watched a couple that were fast locked in each other's embraces, in a
+little sunny valley amid the chips; now at noon-day prepared to fight
+till the sun went down, or life went out. The smaller red champion had
+fastened himself like a vice to his adversary's front, and through all
+the tumblings on that field never for an instant ceased to gnaw at one
+of his feelers near the root, having already caused the other to go by
+the board; while the stronger black one dashed him from side to side,
+and, as I saw on looking nearer, had already divested him of several of
+his members. They fought with more pertinacity [Footnote: Pertinacity:
+persistency, obstinacy.] than bull-dogs. Neither manifested the least
+disposition to retreat. It was evident that their battle-cry was Conquer
+or die. In the meanwhile there came along a single red ant on the
+hillside of this valley, evidently full of excitement, who either had
+dispatched his foe, or had not yet taken part in the battle; probably
+the latter, for he had lost none of his limbs; whose mother had charged
+him to return with his shield or upon it. [Footnote: Return with his
+shield or upon it. What is the allusion? See Brewer's _Reader's
+Handbook_ under "Spartan Mother."] He drew near with rapid pace till
+he stood on his guard within half an inch of the combatants; then,
+watching his opportunity, he sprang upon the black warrior, and
+commenced his operations near the root of his right fore-leg, leaving
+the foe to select among his own members; and so there were three united
+for life, as if a new kind of attraction had been invented which put all
+other locks and cements to shame. I should not have wondered by this
+time to find that they had their respective musical bands stationed on
+some eminent chip, and playing their national airs the while, to excite
+the slow and cheer the dying combatants. I was myself excited somewhat
+even as if they had been men. The more you think of it, the less the
+difference.
+
+I took up the chip on which the three I have particularly described were
+struggling, carried it into my house, and placed it under a tumbler on
+my window-sill, in order to see the issue. Holding a microscope to the
+first-mentioned red ant, I saw that, though he was assiduously
+[Footnote: Assiduously: diligently, laboriously.] gnawing at the near
+foreleg of his enemy, having severed his remaining feeler, his own
+breast was all torn away, exposing what vitals he had there to the jaws
+of the black warrior, whose breast-plate was apparently too thick for
+him to pierce; and the dark carbuncles of the sufferer's eyes shone with
+ferocity such as war only could excite. They struggled half an hour
+longer under the tumbler, and when I looked again the black soldier had
+severed the heads of his foes from their bodies, and the still living
+heads were hanging on either side of him like ghastly trophies at his
+saddle-bow, still apparently as firmly fastened as ever, and he was
+endeavoring with feeble struggles, being without feelers and with only
+the remnant of a leg, and I know not how many other wounds, to divest
+himself of them; which at length, after half an hour more, he
+accomplished. I raised the glass, and he went off over the window-sill
+in that crippled state. Whether he finally survived that combat, and
+spent the remainder of his days in some Hotel des Invalides, [Footnote:
+Hotel des Invalides: an establishment founded in 1670 at Paris for
+disabled and infirm soldiers. It contains military trophies and
+paintings, and a remarkable collection of armor.] I do not know; but I
+thought that his industry would not be worth much thereafter. I never
+learned which party was victorious, nor the cause of the war; but I felt
+for the rest of that day as if I had had my feelings excited and
+harrowed by witnessing the struggle, the ferocity and carnage, of a
+human battle before my door.
+
+--HENRY THOREAU.
+
+[Footnote: What things in the account of the battle show that the writer
+is a trained observer? Does it add to the interest of the battle to
+attribute human qualities to the combatants? Why? What touches of humor
+do you find in the description? Does the author show a sympathetic
+attitude toward war? Illustrate. What do you know of Thoreau's life at
+Walden Pond?]
+
+
+
+
+AN AFRICAN PET
+
+
+Toward twelve o'clock, when we were crossing a kind of high table-land,
+we heard the cry of a young animal, which we all recognized to be a
+nshiego mbouve. [Footnote: Nshiego mbouve: a species of ape.] Then all
+my troubles at once went away out of mind, and I no longer felt either
+sick or hungry.
+
+We crawled through the bush as silently as possible, still hearing the
+baby-like cry. At last, coming out into a little cleared space, we saw
+something running along the ground toward where we stood concealed. When
+it came nearer, we saw it was a female nshiego running on all fours,
+with a young one clinging to her breasts. She was eagerly eating some
+berries, and with one arm supported her little one.
+
+Querlaouen, who had the fairest chance, fired, and brought her down. She
+dropped without a struggle. The poor little one cried, "Hew! hew! hew!"
+and clung to the dead body, burying its head there in its alarm at the
+report of the gun.
+
+We hurried up in great glee to secure our capture. I cannot tell my
+surprise when I saw that the nshiego baby's face was pure
+white--_very_ white indeed--pallid, but as white as a white
+child's.
+
+I looked at the mother, but found her black as soot in the face. The
+little one was about a foot in height. One of the men threw a cloth over
+its head and secured it till we could make it fast with a rope; for,
+though it was quite young, it could walk. The old one was of the
+bald-headed kind, of which I had secured the first known specimen some
+months before.
+
+I immediately ordered a return to the camp, which we reached toward
+evening. The little nshiego had been all this time separated from its
+dead mother, and now when it was put near her body, a most touching
+scene ensued. The little fellow ran instantly to her, but, touching her
+on the face and breast, saw evidently that some great change had
+happened. For a few minutes he caressed her, as though trying to coax
+her back to life. Then he seemed to lose all hope. His little eyes
+became very sad, and he broke out in a long, plaintive wail, "Ooee!
+ooee! ooee!" which made my heart ache for him. He looked quite forlorn,
+and as though he really felt his forsaken lot. The whole camp was
+touched at his sorrows, and the women were especially moved.
+
+All this time I stood wonderingly staring at the white face of the
+creature. It was really marvelous, and quite incomprehensible; and a
+more strange and weird-looking animal I never saw.
+
+While I stood there, up came two of my hunters and began to laugh at me.
+"Look, Chelly," said they, calling me by the name I was known by among
+them; "look at your friend. Every time we kill gorilla, you tell us look
+at your black friend. Now, you see, look at your white friend." Then
+came a roar at what they thought a tremendous joke.
+
+"Look! he got straight hair, all same as you. See white face of your
+cousin from the bush! He is nearer to you than gorilla is to us!" And
+another roar.
+
+"Gorilla no got woolly hair like we. This one straight hair, like you."
+"Yes," said I, "but when he gets old his face is black; and do you not
+see his nose, how flat it is, like yours?"
+
+Whereat there was a louder laugh than before; for so long as he can
+laugh, the negro cares little against whom the joke goes. I may as well
+add here some particulars of the little fellow who excited all this
+surprise and merriment. He lived five months, and became as tame and
+docile as a cat. I called him Tommy, to which name he soon began to
+answer.
+
+In three days after his capture he was quite tame. He then ate crackers
+out of my hand; ate boiled rice and roasted plantains; [Footnote:
+Plantain: a fruit which closely resembles the banana.] and drank milk of
+a goat. Two weeks after his capture he was perfectly tamed, and no
+longer required to be tied up. He ran about the camp, and, when he went
+back to Obindij's town, found his way about the village and into the
+huts just as though he had been raised there.
+
+He had a great affection for me, and used constantly to follow me about.
+When I sat down, he was not content till he had climbed upon me and hid
+his head in my breast. He was extremely fond of being petted and
+fondled, and would sit by the hour while any one stroked his head or
+back.
+
+He soon began to be a very great thief. When the people left their huts
+he would steal in and make off with their plantains or fish. He watched
+very carefully till all had left the house, and it was difficult to
+catch him in the act. I flogged him several times, and, indeed, brought
+him to the conviction that it was wrong to steal; but he could never
+resist the temptation.
+
+From me he stole constantly. He soon found out that my hut was better
+furnished with ripe bananas and other fruit than any other; and also he
+discovered that the best time to steal from me was when I was asleep in
+the morning. At that time he used to crawl in on his tiptoes, move slyly
+toward my bed, look at my closed eyes, and, if he saw no movement, with
+an air of great relief go up and pluck several plantains. If I stirred
+in the least he was off like a flash, and would presently reenter for
+another inspection. If my eyes were open when he came in on such a
+predatory [Footnote: Predatory: plundering.] trip, he at once came up to
+me with an honest face, and climbed on and caressed me. But I could
+easily detect an occasional wishful glance toward the bunch of
+plantains.
+
+My hut had no door, but was closed with a mat, and it was very funny to
+see Tommy gently raising one corner of this mat to see if I was asleep.
+Sometimes I counterfeited sleep, and then stirred just as he was in the
+act of taking off his prize. Then he would drop everything, and make off
+in the utmost consternation.
+
+He kept the run of mealtimes, and was present at as many meals as
+possible; that is, he would go from my breakfast to half a dozen others,
+and beg something at each. But he never missed my breakfast and dinner,
+knowing by experience that he fared best there. I had a kind of rude
+table made, on which my meals were served in the open part of my house.
+This was too high for Tommy to see the dishes; so he used to come in
+before I sat down, when all was ready, and climb up on the pole which
+supported the roof. From here he attentively surveyed every dish on the
+table, and having determined what to have, he would descend and sit down
+at my side.
+
+If I did not immediately pay attention to him, he began to howl, "Hew!
+hew! hew!" louder and louder, till, for peace's sake, his wants were
+satisfied. Of course, I could not tell what he had chosen for dinner of
+my different dishes, and would offer him first one, then another, till
+the right one came. If he received what he did not want, he threw it
+down on the ground with a little shriek of anger and a stamp of his
+foot; and this was repeated till he was served to his liking. In short,
+he behaved very much like a badly spoiled child.
+
+If I pleased him quickly, he thanked me by a kind of gentle murmur, like
+"hooboo," and would hold out his hand to shake mine. He was very fond of
+boiled meat,--particularly boiled fish,--and was constantly picking
+bones he picked up about the town. He wanted always to taste of my
+coffee, and, when Makondai brought it, would beg of me, in the most
+serious manner, for some.
+
+I made him a little pillow to sleep on, and this he was very fond of.
+When he was once accustomed to it he never parted from it more, but
+dragged it after him wherever he went. If by any chance it was lost, the
+whole camp knew it by his howls; and sometimes I had to send people to
+look for it when he had mislaid it on some forest excursion, so that he
+would stop his noise. He slept on it always, coiled up into a little
+heap, and only relinquished it when I gave him permission to accompany
+me into the woods.
+
+As he became more and more used to our ways, he became more impatient of
+contradiction and more fond of being caressed; and whenever he was
+thwarted he howled in his disagreeable way. As the dry season came on,
+it became colder, and Tommy began to wish for company when he slept, to
+keep him warm. The negroes would not have him for a companion, for he
+was for them too much like one of themselves. I would not give him room
+near me. So poor Tommy was reduced to misery, as he seemed to think. But
+soon I found that he waited till everybody was fast asleep at night, and
+then crawled in softly next some of his black friends, and slept there
+till earliest dawn. Then he would up and away undiscovered. Several
+times he was caught and beaten, but he always tried it again.
+
+He had a great deal of intelligence; and if I had had leisure I think I
+might have trained him to some kind of good behavior, though I despaired
+of his thieving disposition. He lived so long, and was growing so
+accustomed to civilized life, that I began to have great hopes of being
+able to carry him to America. But alas! poor Tommy. One morning he
+refused his food, seemed downcast, and was very anxious to be petted and
+held in the arms. I got all kinds of forest berries for him, but he
+refused all. He did not seem to suffer, but ate nothing; and the next
+day, without a struggle, died. Poor fellow! I was very sorry, for he had
+grown to be quite a pet companion for me; and even the negroes, though
+he had given them great trouble, were sorry at his death.
+
+--PAUL B. DU CHAILLU.
+
+[Footnote: Paul du Chaillu was born in Paris in 1835. At the age of
+sixteen he made some exploratory tours around his father's trading
+station in West Africa, and in 1855 he came to America, where he made
+his home. Later he undertook a botanic and zoologic exploration to
+Africa which lasted for four years.]
+
+[Footnote: What qualities of "Tommy" endeared him to his captors? Do you
+know whether the monkey family is capable of the training which the
+author hoped to give to his pet? Does the author succeed in making you
+like or dislike "Tommy"? What human qualities does "Tommy" show? Does
+this story seem to justify a belief in the origin of species? Could you
+infer anything about the writer's character from this sketch?]
+
+
+
+
+ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE
+
+
+The long-tailed cows of the Lama [Footnote: Lama: a priest or monk of
+Thibet and Mongolia who professes Lamaism, a kind of Buddhism.]
+herdsmen, they say, are so restive and difficult to milk, that, to keep
+them at all quiet, the herdsman has to give them a calf to lick
+meanwhile. But for this device not a single drop of milk could be
+obtained from them. One day a herdsman, who lived in the same house with
+ourselves, came, with a dismal face, to announce that the new-born calf
+of a favorite cow was dying. It died in the course of the day. The Lama
+forthwith skinned the poor beast and stuffed it with hay. This
+proceeding surprised us at first, for the Lama had by no means the air
+of a man likely to give himself the luxury of a cabinet of natural
+history. When the operation was completed we found that the hay-calf had
+neither feet nor head; whereupon it occurred to us that, after all,
+perhaps it was a pillow that the Lama contemplated. We were in error;
+but the error was not dissipated till the next morning, when our
+herdsman went to milk his cow. Seeing him issue forth, the pail in one
+hand and the hay-calf under the other arm, the fancy occurred to us to
+follow him. His first proceeding was to put the hay-calf down before the
+cow; he then turned to milk the cow herself. The mother cow at first
+opened enormous eyes at her beloved infant; by degrees she stooped her
+head towards it, then smelt it, sneezed three or four times, and at last
+began to lick it with the most delightful tenderness.
+
+This spectacle grated against our sensibilities; it seemed to us that he
+who first invented this parody [Footnote: Parody: a burlesque or
+mimicking of something, usually written.] upon one of the most touching
+incidents in nature must have been a man without a heart. A somewhat
+burlesque circumstance occurred one day to modify the indignation with
+which this treachery inspired us. By dint of caressing and licking her
+little calf, the tender parent one fine morning unripped it; the hay
+issued from within, and the cow, manifesting not the slightest surprise
+or agitation, proceeded tranquilly to devour the unexpected provender.
+[Footnote: Provender: food, provisions.]
+
+Poor, simple-minded old cow! But let us laugh at her in the right place.
+That she should fail to distinguish between the dead bundle and her
+living offspring is surprising. But being deceived, why should she think
+it odd to find hay inside? Ignorant of anatomy and physiology, she knows
+nothing about insides. Had she considered the matter--and it doesn't
+fall in the line of bovine rumination [Footnote: Bovine rumination:
+chewing a cud.]--she would doubtless have expected to find in her calf
+not hay but condensed milk. But if not milk, why not hay? She was well
+acquainted with the process of putting hay inside, why therefore should
+she be surprised to find hay inside? But of course she had never
+bothered her dear sleepy old head about any matter of the sort. And the
+moral is that we must not expect to find in animals that kind of
+intelligence which has no bearing whatever upon the life that they lead.
+
+       *        *        *        *        *
+
+In Scandinavia, as elsewhere, the bear is sometimes domesticated, and if
+taken young becomes quite tame, and is gentle in its disposition. It is
+not well, however, to annoy even a well-disposed bear; for Bruin, like
+the rest of us, resents practical jokes of too unpleasant a nature. A
+Swedish peasant had one who used to stand on the back of his sledge when
+he was on a journey, and the beast had so good a balance that it was
+next to impossible to upset him. One day, however, the peasant amused
+himself with driving over the very worst ground he could find with the
+intention, if possible, of throwing the bear off his balance. In this he
+succeeded, but not in the manner he expected. The bear retained his
+balance of body, but lost his balance of mind, becoming so irritated
+that he fetched his master, who was in front of him, a tremendous thump
+on the shoulder, which frightened the man so much that he had poor Bruin
+killed immediately.
+
+An American writer gives another instance of ursine [Footnote: Ursine:
+pertaining to a bear.] irritability. A friend of his would persist in
+practising the flute near his tame black bear. Bruin bore this in
+silence for a while, went so far indeed as himself to try and play the
+flute on his favorite stick; but at last he could stand it no longer,
+and one morning knocked the flutist's tall hat over his eyes. If any act
+of retribution is justifiable this was. To practise the flute anywhere
+within earshot is annoying; to do so in a tall hat would be simply
+exasperating.
+
+It would be easy to fill a small volume with anecdotes of captive bears.
+They would show that Bruin is not so stupid as he is sometimes painted,
+even if they did not altogether justify the Swedish saying that the bear
+unites the wit of one man with the strength of ten. Frank Buckland's
+bear, Tiglath Pileser, was cute enough to know where to find the sweet
+stuff, of which he, in common with his race, was so inordinately fond;
+for one day when he had broken his chains he was found in a small
+grocer's shop seated on the counter, and helping himself with liberal
+paw to brown sugar and lollipops, to the no small discomfort of the good
+woman who kept the shop. A black bear in America had a weakness for
+chickens. His master noticed the thinning of the poultry yard, and
+suspicion fell on Bruin owing to the feathers which lay round his pole.
+They could not catch him in the act however. He was too sharp for that,
+and if disturbed, when he had but half demolished [Footnote: Demolished:
+destroyed.] a pullet he would hastily sit on the remainder and look as
+innocent as could be. He was discovered at last, however, by the
+cackling of a tough old hen which he had failed to silence.
+
+--LLOYD MORGAN (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: Do the incidents related seem real or exaggerated? Has the
+author used the element of surprise effectively? Illustrate. Would you
+judge that the writer was a scientist? Why?]
+
+
+
+
+BUCK'S TRIAL OF STRENGTH
+
+
+John Thornton, owner of the dog, Buck, had said that Buck could draw a
+sled loaded with one thousand pounds of flour. Another miner bet sixteen
+hundred dollars that he couldn't, and Thornton, though fearing it would
+be too much for Buck, was ashamed to refuse; so he let Buck try to draw
+a load that Matthewson's team of ten dogs had been hauling.
+
+The team of ten dogs was unhitched, and Buck, with his own harness, was
+put into the sled. He had felt the general excitement, and he felt that
+in some way he must do a great thing for John Thornton. Murmurs of
+admiration at his splendid appearance went up. He was in perfect
+condition, without an ounce of superfluous [Footnote: Superfluous:
+unnecessary.] flesh, and the one hundred and fifty pounds that he
+weighed were so many pounds of grit and virility. His furry coat shone
+with the sheen of silk. Down the neck and across the shoulders, his
+mane, in repose as it was, half bristled and seemed to lift with every
+movement, as though excess of vigor made each particular hair alive and
+active. The great breast and heavy forelegs were no more than in
+proportion with the rest of the body, where the muscles showed in tight
+rolls underneath the skin. Men felt these muscles and proclaimed them
+hard as iron, and the odds went down two to one.
+
+"Sir, sir," stuttered a member of the latest dynasty, [Footnote:
+Dynasty: race or succession of kings.] a king of the Skookum Benches. "I
+offer you eight hundred for him, sir, before the test, sir; eight
+hundred just as he stands."
+
+Thornton shook his head and stepped to Buck's side.
+
+"You must stand off from him," Matthewson protested. "Free play and
+plenty of room."
+
+The crowd fell silent; only could be heard the voices of the gamblers
+vainly offering two to one. Everybody acknowledged Buck a magnificent
+animal, but twenty fifty-pound sacks of flour bulked too large in their
+eyes for them to loosen their pouch-strings.
+
+Thornton knelt down by Buck's side. He took his head into his two hands
+and rested cheek on cheek. He did not playfully shake him, as he was
+wont, or murmur soft love curses; but he whispered in his ear. "As you
+love me, Buck. As you love me," [Footnote: As you love me, Buck. Compare
+this incident with the words whispered to his horse by the rider in
+Browning's "Ghent to Aix."] was what he whispered. Buck whined with
+suppressed eagerness.
+
+The crowd was watching curiously. The affair was growing mysterious. It
+seemed like a conjuration. [Footnote: Conjuration: an invoking of
+supernatural aid.] As Thornton got to his feet, Buck seized his mittened
+hand between his jaws, pressing in with his teeth and releasing slowly,
+half-reluctantly. It was the answer, in terms, not of speech, but of
+love. Thornton stepped well back.
+
+"Now, Buck," he said.
+
+Buck tightened the traces, then slacked them for a matter of several
+inches. It was the way he had learned.
+
+"Gee!" Thornton's voice rang out, sharp in the tense silence.
+
+Buck swung to the right, ending the movement in a plunge that took up
+the slack, and, with a sudden jerk, arrested his one hundred and fifty
+pounds. The load quivered, and from under the runners arose a crisp
+crackling.
+
+"Haw!" Thornton commanded.
+
+Buck duplicated the maneuver, [Footnote: Maneuver: dexterous movement.]
+this time to the left. The crackling turned into a snapping, the sled
+pivoting and the runners slipping and grating several inches to the
+side.
+
+The sled was broken out. Men were holding their breaths, intensely
+unconscious of the fact. "Now, Mush!"
+
+Thornton's command cracked out like a pistol shot. Buck threw himself
+forward, tightening the traces with a jarring lunge. His whole body was
+gathered tightly together in a tremendous effort, the muscles writhing
+and knotting like live things under the silky fur. His great chest was
+low to the ground, his head forward and down, while his feet were flying
+like mad, the claws scarring the hard-packed snow in grooves. The sled
+swayed and trembled, half-started forward. One of his feet slipped, and
+one man groaned aloud. Then the sled lurched ahead in what appeared a
+rapid succession of jerks, though it really never came to a dead stop
+again--half an inch--an inch--two inches. The jerks became less as the
+sled gained momentum, he caught them up, till it was moving steadily
+along.
+
+Men gasped and began to breathe again, unaware that for a moment they
+had ceased to breathe. Thornton was running behind, encouraging Buck
+with short, cheery words. The distance had been measured off, and as he
+neared the pile of firewood which marked the end of the hundred yards, a
+cheer began to grow and grow, which burst into a roar as he passed the
+firewood and halted at command. Every man was tearing himself loose,
+even Matthewson, who had lost his wager. Hats and mittens were flying in
+the air. Men were shaking hands, it did not matter with whom, and
+bubbling over in a general incoherent babel. But Thornton fell on his
+knees beside Buck. Head was against head, and he was shaking him back
+and forth.
+
+"I'll give you a thousand for him, sir, a thousand," sputtered the
+Skookum Bench king, "twelve hundred, sir."
+
+Thornton rose to his feet. His eyes were wet. The tears were streaming
+frankly down his cheeks. "Sir," he said to the Skookum Bench king, "no,
+sir. You can hold your tongue, sir. It's the best I can do for you,
+sir."
+
+Buck seized Thornton's hand in his teeth. Thornton shook him back and
+forth. As though moved by a common feeling, the onlookers drew back to a
+respectful distance; nor did they again interrupt.
+
+--JACK LONDON.
+
+[Footnote: Notice the simple direct style of writing. Why does the
+writer dwell on the physical fitness of Buck? Does the understanding
+between Buck and his master seem unusual? What glimpses of the character
+of the miners does the story give you? Show how the element of suspense
+adds to the dramatic force of the story. What is the most interesting
+point in the narrative?]
+
+
+
+
+ON THE SOLANDER WHALING GROUND
+
+
+A bright sunny morning; the gentle north-easterly breeze just keeping
+the sails full as the lumbering whaling-barque "Splendid" dips jerkily
+to the old southerly swell. Astern, the blue hills around Preservation
+Inlet [Footnote: Preservation Inlet ... Solander (island) ... Foveaux
+(strait) ... Stewart Island: places situated on or near the southern end of
+New Zealand.] lie shimmering in the soft spring sunlight, and on the
+port beam the mighty pillar of the Solander Rock, lying off the
+south-western extremity of the New Zealand, is sharply outlined against
+the steel-blue sky. Far beyond that stern sentinel, the converging
+shores of Foveaux Strait are just discernible in dim outline through a
+low haze. Ahead the jagged and formidable rocks of Stewart Island,
+bathed in a mellow golden glow, give no hint of their terrible
+appearance what time the Storm-fiend of the south-west cries havoc and
+urges on his chariot of war.
+
+The keen-eyed Kanaka [Footnote: Kanaka: a native of the Sandwich
+Islands.] in the fore crow's nest [Footnote: Crow's nest: a perch near
+the top of the mast to shelter the man on the lookout.] shades his eyes
+with his hand, peering earnestly out on the weather bow at something
+which has attracted his attention. A tiny plume of vapor rises from the
+blue hollows about ten miles away, but so faint and indefinable that it
+may be only a breaking wavelet's crest caught by the cross wind. Again
+that little bushy jet breaks the monotony of the sea; but this time
+there is no mistaking it. Emerging diagonally from the water, not high
+and thin, but low and spreading, it is an infallible indication to those
+piercing eyes of the presence of a sperm-whale. The watcher utters a
+long, low musical cry, "Blo-o-o-o-w," which penetrates the gloomy
+recesses of the fo'ksle [Footnote: Fo'ksle: the forward part of the
+vessel, under the deck, where the sailors live.] and cuddy, [Footnote:
+Cuddy: small cabin.] where the slumberers immediately engage in fierce
+conflict with whales of a size never seen by waking eyes. The officer
+and white seamen at the main now take up the cry, and in a few seconds
+all hands are swiftly yet silently preparing to leave the ship. She is
+put about, making a course which shortly brings her a mile or two to
+windward of the slowly-moving cachalot. Now it is evident that no
+solitary whale is in sight, but a great school, gambolling in the bright
+spray. One occasionally, in pure exuberance of its tremendous vitality,
+springs twenty feet into the clear air, and falls, a hundred tons of
+massive flesh, with earthquake-like commotion, back into the sea.
+
+Having got the weather-gage, the boats are lowered; sail is immediately
+set, and, like swift huge-winged birds, they swoop down upon the prey.
+Driving right upon the back of the nearest monster, two harpoons are
+plunged into his body up to the "hitches." [Footnote: Hitches: a knot or
+noose that can be readily undone.] The sheet [Footnote: Sheet: the rope
+that regulates the angle of the sail.] is at once hauled aft, [Footnote:
+Hauled aft: hauled toward the stern of the ship.] and the boat flies up
+into the wind; while the terrified cetacean [Footnote: Cetacean: marine
+mammal.] vainly tries, by tremendous writhing and plunging, to rid
+himself of the barbed weapon. The mast is unshipped, and preparation
+made to deliver the coup de grace. [Footnote: Coup de grace: the
+decisive, finishing stroke.] But finding his efforts futile, the whale
+has sounded, and his reappearance must be awaited. Two boats' lines are
+taken out before the slackening comes, and he slowly rises again. Faster
+and faster the line comes in; the blue depths turn a creamy white, and
+it is "Stern all" for dear life. Up he comes, with jaws gaping twenty
+feet wide, gleaming teeth and livid, cavernous throat glittering in the
+brilliant light. But the boat's crew are seasoned hands, to whom this
+dread sight is familiar, and orders are quietly obeyed, the boat
+backing, circling and darting ahead like a sentient thing under their
+united efforts. So the infuriated mammal is baffled and dodged, while
+thrust after thrust of the long lances are got home, and streamlets of
+blood trickling over the edges of his spouthole give warning that the
+end is near. A few wild circlings at tremendous speed, jaws clashing and
+blood foaming in torrents from the spiracle, [Footnote: Spiracle: the
+nostril of a whale.] one mighty leap into the air, and the ocean monarch
+is dead. He lies just awash, gently undulated by the long, low swell,
+one pectoral fin slowly waving like some great stray leaf of _Fucus
+gigantea_. [Footnote: Fucus gigantea: fucus is a kind of tough
+seaweed.] A hole is cut through the fluke and the line secured to it.
+The ship, which has been working to windward during the conflict, runs
+down and receives the line; and in a short time the great inert mass is
+hauled alongside and secured by the fluke [Footnote: Fluke: one of the
+lobes of a whale's tail.] chain.
+
+The vessel, bound to that immense body, can only crawl tortoise-like
+before the wind--lucky, indeed, to have a harbor ahead where the whale
+may be cut in, even though it be forty miles away. Without that refuge
+available, she could not hope to keep the sea and hold her prize through
+the wild weather, now so near. The breeze is freshening fast, and all
+sail is made for Port William. So slow is the progress, that it is past
+midnight before that snug shelter is reached, although for the last four
+hours the old ship is terribly tried and strained by the press of sail
+carried to such a gale.
+
+--FRANK BULLEN.
+
+[Footnote: Show how the rapid action in the narrative makes it more
+dramatic. Why does the danger of the enterprise take so small a part in
+the narrative? Can you characterize this kind of description?]
+
+
+
+
+AN EPISODE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
+
+
+With a wild rattle and clatter, and an inhuman abandonment of
+consideration not easy to be understood in these days, the carriage
+dashed through streets and swept round corners, with women screaming
+before it, and men clutching each other and clutching children out of
+its way. At last, swooping at a street corner by a fountain, one of its
+wheels came to a sickening little jolt, and there was a loud cry from a
+number of voices, and the horses reared and plunged.
+
+But for the latter inconvenience, the carriage probably would not have
+stopped; carriages were often known to drive on, and leave their wounded
+behind, and why not? But the frightened valet had got down in a hurry,
+and there were twenty hands at the horses' bridles.
+
+"What has gone wrong?" said Monsieur, calmly looking out.
+
+A tall man in a nightcap had caught up a bundle from among the feet of
+horses, and had laid it on the basement of the fountain, and was down in
+the mud and wet, howling over it like a wild animal.
+
+"Pardon, Monsieur the Marquis!" said a ragged and submissive man, "it is
+a child."
+
+"Why does he make that abominable noise? Is it his child?"
+
+"Excuse me, Monsieur the Marquis--it is a pity--yes."
+
+The fountain was a little removed; for the street opened, where it was,
+into a space some ten or twelve yards square. As the tall man suddenly
+got up from the ground, and came running at the carriage, Monsieur the
+Marquis clapped his hand for an instant on his sword hilt.
+
+"Killed!" shrieked the man, in wild desperation, extending both arms at
+their length above his head, and staring at him. "Dead!"
+
+The people closed round, and looked at Monsieur the Marquis. There was
+nothing revealed by the many eyes that looked at him but watchfulness
+and eagerness; there was no visible menacing or anger. Neither did the
+people say anything; after the first cry, they had been silent, and they
+remained so. The voice of the submissive man who had spoken, was flat
+and tame in its extreme submission. Monsieur the Marquis ran his eyes
+over them all, as if they had been mere rats come out of their holes.
+
+He took out his purse.
+
+"It is extraordinary to me," said he, "that you people cannot take care
+of yourselves and your children. One or the other of you is for ever in
+the way. How do I know what injury you have done my horses. See! Give
+him that."
+
+He threw out a gold coin for the valet to pick up, and all the heads
+craned forward that all the eyes might look down at it as it fell. The
+tall man called out again with a most unearthly cry. "Dead!"
+
+He was arrested by the quick arrival of another man, for whom the rest
+made way. On seeing him, the miserable creature fell upon his shoulder,
+sobbing and crying, and pointing to the fountain, where some women were
+stooping over the motionless bundle, and moving gently about it. They
+were as silent, however, as the men.
+
+"I know all, I know all," said the last comer. "Be a brave man, my
+Gaspard! It is better for the poor little plaything to die so, than to
+live. It has died in a moment without pain. Could it have lived an hour
+as happily?"
+
+"You are a philosopher, you there," said the Marquis, smiling. "How do
+they call you?"
+
+"They call me Defarge."
+
+"Of what trade?"
+
+"Monsieur the Marquis, vendor [Footnote: Vendor: seller.] of wine."
+
+"Pick up that, philosopher and vendor of wine," said the Marquis,
+throwing him another gold coin, "and spend it as you will. The horses
+there; are they right?"
+
+Without deigning to look at the assemblage a second time, Monsieur the
+Marquis leaned back in his seat, and was just being driven away with the
+air of a gentleman who had accidentally broke some common thing, and had
+paid for it, and could afford to pay for it; when his case was suddenly
+disturbed by a coin flying into his carriage, and ringing on its floor.
+
+"Hold!" said Monsieur the Marquis. "Hold the horses! Who threw that?"
+
+He looked to the spot where Defarge the vendor of wine had stood a
+moment before; but the wretched father was grovelling on his face on the
+pavement in that spot, and the figure that stood beside him was the
+figure of a dark stout woman, knitting.
+
+"You dogs!" said the Marquis, but smoothly, and with an unchanged front,
+except as to the spots on his nose; "I would ride over any of you very
+willingly, and exterminate you from the earth. If I knew which rascal
+threw at the carriage, and if that brigand were sufficiently near it, he
+should be crushed under the wheels."
+
+So cowed was their condition, and so long and hard their experience of
+what such a man could do to them, within the law and beyond it, that not
+a voice or a hand, or even an eye was raised. Among the men, not one.
+But the woman who stood knitting looked up steadily, and looked the
+Marquis in the face. It was not for his dignity to notice it; his
+contemptuous eyes passed over her, and over all the other rats; and he
+leaned back in his seat again, and gave the word "Go on!"
+
+--CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+[Footnote: What things are contrasted in the story? Does the incident
+seem probable from what you know of the period? Can you give any
+instances from history or fiction to show the attitude of the French
+aristocracy before the Revolution? Do you know what happened to the
+Marquis in the "Tale of Two Cities"? Compare the condition of the people
+in this episode with those in a "Leaf in the Storm."]
+
+
+
+
+THE COMMANDER OF THE FAITHFUL
+
+
+These events are succeeded by a few moments of silent waiting. Then
+suddenly the long lines of soldiers vibrate under a thrill of religious
+awe; the band, with its great basses and its drums, strikes up a
+deafening, mournful air. The fifty little black slaves run, run as if
+their lives were at stake, deploying [Footnote: Deploying: unfolding,
+opening out.] from their base like the sticks of a fan, resembling bees
+swarming, or a flock of birds. And yonder, in the shadowy light of the
+ogive, [Footnote: Ogive: the arch which crosses a Gothic vault
+diagonally.] upon which all eyes are turned, there appears a tall,
+brown-faced mannikin, all veiled in white muslin, mounted on a splendid
+white horse led in hand by four slaves; over his head is held an
+umbrella of antique form, such an one as must have protected the Queen
+of Sheba, [Footnote: Queen of Sheba: the queen who came to test the
+wisdom of Solomon.] and two gigantic negroes, one in pink, the other in
+blue, wave fly-flaps around the person of the sovereign.
+
+While the strange mannikin, or mummy, almost shapeless, but majestic
+notwithstanding in his robes of snowy white, is advancing towards us,
+the music, as if exasperated to madness, wails louder and louder and in
+a shriller key; it strikes up a slow and distressful religious air, the
+time of which is accentuated by a frightful beating of the bass-drums.
+The mannikin's horse rears wildly, restrained with difficulty by the
+four black slaves, and this music, so mournful and so strange to us,
+affects our nerves with an indescribable agonizing sensation.
+
+Here, at last, drawn up close beside us, stands this last authentic
+descendant of Mahomet, crossed with Nubian blood. His attire, of the
+finest mousseline-de-laine, is of immaculate whiteness. His charger,
+too, is entirely white, his great stirrups are of gold, and his saddle
+and equipments are of a very pale green silk, lightly embroidered in a
+still paler shade of green. The slaves who hold his horse, the one who
+carries the great red umbrella, and the two--the pink and blue ones--who
+shake napkins in the monarch's face to drive away imaginary flies, are
+all herculean negroes whose countenances are wrinkled into fierce
+smiles; they are all old men, and their gray or white beards contrast
+with the blackness of their features. This ceremonial of a bygone age
+harmonizes with the wailing music, and could not suit better the huge
+walls around us, which rear their crumbling summits high in the air.
+
+This man, who thus presents himself before us with the surroundings
+which I have described, is the last faithful exponent of a religion, a
+civilization that is about to die. He is the personification, in fact,
+of ancient Islam. [Footnote: Islam: the religion of the Mohammedans.]
+What result can we expect to obtain from an embassy to such a man, who,
+together with his people, spends his life torpid and motionless among
+ancient dreams of humanity that have almost disappeared from the surface
+of the earth? There is not a single point on which we can understand
+each other; the distance between us is nearly that which would separate
+us from a caliph [Footnote: Caliph: the head of the Moslem state and
+defender of the faith.] of Cordova [Footnote: Cordova: a city of Spain.
+It is famous for its manufactures of leather and silverware. It contains
+many Moorish antiquities, and is celebrated for its cathedral--once a
+mosque.] or Bagdad [Footnote: Bagdad: a city of Mesopotamia on the
+Tigris. It was formerly a city of great importance, and was a celebrated
+centre of Arabic learning and civilization.] who should come to life
+again after a slumber of a thousand years. What do we wish to obtain
+from him, and why have we brought him forth from his impenetrable
+palace?
+
+His brown, parchment-like face in its setting of white muslin, has
+regular and noble features; dull, expressionless eyes, the whites of
+which appear beneath the balls that are half concealed by the drooping
+lashes; his expression is that of exceeding melancholy, a supreme
+lassitude, a supreme ennui. He has an appearance of benignity, and is
+really kindhearted, according to what they say who know him. (If the
+people of Fez [Footnote: Fez: a city in northern Morocco.] are to be
+believed, he is even too much so--he does not chop off as many heads as
+he ought to for the holy cause of Islam.) But this kindheartedness, no
+doubt, is relative in degree, as was often the case with ourselves in
+the middle ages; a mildness which is not over-sensitive in the face of
+shedding blood when there is a necessity for it, nor in face of an array
+of human heads set up in a row over the fine gateway at the entrance to
+the palace. Assuredly he is not cruel; he could not be so with that
+gentle, sad expression. He punishes with severity sometimes, as his
+divine authority gives him the right to do, but it is said that he finds
+a still keener pleasure in pardoning. He is a priest and a warrior, and
+carries each of these characters perhaps to excess; feeling as deeply as
+a prophet the responsibility of his heavenly mission, chaste in the
+midst of his seraglio, [Footnote: Seraglio: a harem.] strict in his
+attention to onerous [Footnote: Onerous: burdensome.] religious
+observances, and hereditarily very much of a fanatic--he aims to form
+himself upon Mahomet [Footnote: Mahomet (Mohammed): the founder of
+Mohammedanism. Born about 570 in Mecca(?) and died in 632.] as perfectly
+as may be: all this, moreover, is legible in his eyes, upon his fine
+countenance, in the upright majesty of his bearing. He is a man whom we
+can neither understand nor judge in the times we live in, but he is
+surely a great man, a man of mark.
+
+--PIERKE LOTI (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What things in the description would tell you that the scene
+was Oriental? What observations does the author make on the difference
+between East and West? As a spectator, what things would you find most
+interesting in the scene? Do you know why the author calls the Sultan's
+palace impenetrable? Why does the author think that his interview with
+the Sultan may be useless?]
+
+
+
+
+WALT WHITMAN
+
+
+I first heard of him among the sufferers on the Peninsula [Footnote:
+Peninsula: that part of Virginia between the York and James rivers.]
+after a battle there. Subsequently I saw him, time and again, in the
+Washington hospitals, or wending his way there, with basket or haversack
+[Footnote: Haversack: a bag in which a soldier carried his rations when
+on a march.] on his arm, and the strength of beneficence suffusing his
+face. His devotion surpassed the devotion of woman. It would take a
+volume to tell of his kindness, tenderness, and thoughtfulness.
+
+Never shall I forget one night when I accompanied him on his rounds
+through a hospital filled with those wounded young Americans whose
+heroism he has sung in deathless numbers. There were three rows of cots,
+and each cot bore its man. When he appeared, in passing along, there was
+a smile of affection and welcome on every face, however wan, and his
+presence seemed to light up the place as it might be lighted by the
+presence of the God of Love. From cot to cot they called him, often in
+tremulous tones or in whispers; they embraced him; they touched his
+hand; they gazed at him. To one he gave a few words of cheer; for
+another he wrote a letter home; to others he gave an orange, a few
+comfits, [Footnote: Comfits: sweetmeats.] a cigar, a pipe and tobacco, a
+sheet of paper or a postage-stamp, all of which and many other things
+were in his capacious haversack. From another he would receive a dying
+message for mother, wife, or sweetheart; for another he would promise to
+go an errand; [Footnote: To go an errand. What is the usual form?] to
+another, some special friend very low, he would give a manly farewell
+kiss. He did things for them no nurse or doctor could do, and he seemed
+to leave a benediction [Footnote: Benediction: blessing.] at every cot
+as he passed along. The lights had gleamed for hours in the hospital
+that night before he left it, and, as he took his way towards the door,
+you could hear the voices of many a stricken hero calling, "Walt, Walt,
+Walt! come again! come again!"
+
+He carried among them no sentimentalism nor moralizing; spoke not to any
+man of his "sins," but gave something good to eat, a buoying [Footnote:
+Buoying: enlivening, cheering.] word, or trifling gift and a look. He
+appeared with ruddy face, clean dress, with a flower or a green sprig in
+the lapel of his coat. Crossing the fields in summer, he would gather a
+great bunch of dandelion blossoms, and red and while clover, to bring
+and scatter on the cots, as reminders of out-door air and sunshine.
+
+When practicable, he came to the long and crowded wards of the maimed,
+the feeble, and the dying, only after preparations as for a
+festival--strengthened by a good meal, rest, the bath and fresh
+under-clothes. He entered with a huge haversack slung over his shoulder
+full of appropriate articles, with parcels under his arms, and
+protuberant [Footnote: Protuberant: bulging.] pockets. He would
+sometimes come in summer with a good-sized basket filled with oranges,
+and would go round for hours paring and dividing them among the feverish
+and thirsty.
+
+Walt Whitman was of the people, the common people, and always gave out
+their quality and atmosphere. His commonness, his nearness, as of the
+things you have always known,--the day, the sky, the soil, your own
+parents,--were in no way veiled, or kept in abeyance, by his culture or
+poetic gifts. He was redolent of the human and the familiar. Though
+capable, on occasions, of great pride and hauteur, yet his habitual mood
+and presence was that of simple, average, healthful humanity,--the
+virtue and flavor of sailors, soldiers, laborers, travelers, or people
+who live with real things in the open air. His commonness rose into the
+uncommon, the extraordinary, but without any hint of the exclusive or
+specially favored. He was indeed "no sentimentalist, no stander above
+men and women or apart from them."
+
+The spirit that animates every page of his book, and that it always
+effuses, [Footnote: Effuses: sheds, pours out.] is the spirit of common,
+universal humanity,--humanity apart from creed, schools, conventions,
+from all special privileges and refinements, as it is in and of itself
+in its relations to the whole system of things, in contradistinction to
+the literature of culture which effuses the spirit of the select and
+exclusive.
+
+His life was the same. Walt Whitman never stood apart from or above any
+human being. The common people--workingmen, the poor, the illiterate,
+the outcast--saw themselves in him, and he saw himself in them: the
+attraction was mutual. He was always content with common, unadorned
+humanity.
+
+--JOHN BURROUGHS (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What picture do you get of Whitman in this account? What
+qualities of Whitman's do you think most endeared him to the soldiers?
+Was Whitman's carefulness about his personal appearance an evidence of
+egotism or altruism? Compare this estimate of Whitman with the
+"Appreciation of Lincoln." Are there any points of likeness?]
+
+
+
+
+HEROISM IN HOUSEKEEPING
+
+
+So many talents are wasted, so many enthusiasms turned to smoke, so many
+lives spoiled for want of a little patience and endurance, for want of
+understanding and laying to heart the meaning of THE PRESENT--for want
+of recognizing that it is not the greatness or littleness of the duty
+nearest hand, but the spirit in which one does it, which makes one's
+doing noble or mean! I can't think how people who have any natural
+ambition, and any sense of power in them, escape going mad in a world
+like this, without the recognition of that. I know I was very near mad
+when I found it out for myself (as one has to find out for oneself
+everything that is to be of any real practical use to one).
+
+Shall I tell you how it came into my head? Perhaps it may be of comfort
+to you in similar moments of fatigue and disgust. I had gone with my
+husband to live on a little estate of peat-bog, that had descended to me
+all the way down from John Welsh, the Covenanter, [Footnote: Covenanter:
+one who defends the "Solemn League and Covenant" made to preserve the
+reformed religion in Scotland.] who married a daughter of John Knox.
+[Footnote: John Knox: a celebrated Scottish reformer, statesman, and
+writer. Born 1505, died in 1572.] That didn't, I'm ashamed to say, make
+me feel Craigenputtock [Footnote: Craigenputtock: a town fifteen miles
+from Dumfries. Here much of Carlyle's best work was done.] a whit less
+of a peat-bog and a most dreary, untoward place to live at. In fact, it
+was sixteen miles distant on every side from all the conveniences of
+life, shops, and even post-office. Further, we were very poor, and
+further and worst, being an only child, and brought up to great
+prospects, I was sublimely ignorant of every branch of useful knowledge,
+though a capital Latin scholar and very fair mathematician.
+
+It behooved me in these astonishing circumstances to learn to sew.
+Husbands, I was shocked to find, wore their stockings into holes, and
+were always losing buttons, and I was expected to "look to all that";
+also it behooved me to learn to cook! no capable servant choosing to
+live at such an out-of-the-way place, and my husband having bad
+digestion, which complicated my difficulties dreadfully. The bread,
+above all, brought from Dumfries, [Footnote: Dumfries: a town in
+southern Scotland.] "soured on his stomach" and it was plainly my duty
+as a Christian wife to bake at home.
+
+So I sent for Cobbett's "Cottage Economy," and fell to work at a loaf of
+bread. But, knowing nothing about the process of fermentation or the
+heat of ovens, it came to pass that my loaf got put into the oven at the
+time that myself ought to have been put into bed; and I remained the
+only person not asleep in a house in the middle of a desert.
+
+One o'clock struck! and then two!! and then three!!! And still I was
+sitting there in the midst of an immense solitude, my whole body aching
+with weariness, my heart aching with a sense of forlornness and
+degradation. That I, who had been so petted at home, whose comfort had
+been studied by everybody in the house, who had never been required to
+do anything but cultivate my mind, should have to pass all those hours
+of the night in watching a loaf of bread--which mightn't turn out bread
+after all!
+
+Such thoughts maddened me, till I laid down my head on the table and
+sobbed aloud. It was then that somehow the idea of Benvenuto Cellini
+[Footnote: Benvenuto Cellini: a famous Italian sculptor and worker in
+gold and silver. Born in 1500(?) died in 1571. His autobiography is one
+of the most famous of Italian classics. The Perseus of Cellini stands in
+the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, and represents the helmeted hero
+holding up the severed head of Medusa.] sitting up all night watching
+his Perseus in the furnace came into my head, and suddenly I asked
+myself: "After all, in the sight of the upper Powers, what is the mighty
+difference between a statue of Perseus and a loaf of bread, so that each
+be the thing that one's hand has found to do? The man's determined will,
+his energy, his patience, his resource were the really admirable things
+of which his statue of Perseus was the mere chance expression. If he had
+been a woman, living at Craigenputtock with a dyspeptic husband, sixteen
+miles from a baker, and he a bad one, all these qualities would have
+come out more fitly in a good loaf of bread!"
+
+I cannot express what consolation this germ of an idea spread over my
+uncongenial life during the years we lived at that savage place, where
+my two immediate predecessors had gone mad, and a third had taken to
+drink.
+
+--JANE WELSH CARLYLE.
+
+[Footnote: Does the opening paragraph give you any hint as to the source
+of this extract? What traits of character does the writer show? Can you
+show the evidence of Scotch Covenanter inheritance in the writer's
+philosophy? Do you imagine that the writer learned to make bread? Why?
+In what does the humor of the account lie?]
+
+
+
+
+A YOUTHFUL ACTOR
+
+
+My dramatic career was brought to a close by an unfortunate
+circumstance. We were playing the drama of "William Tell, the Hero of
+Switzerland." Of course I was William Tell, in spite of Fred Langdon,
+who wanted to act that character himself. I wouldn't let him, so he
+withdrew from the company, taking the only bow and arrow we had. I made
+a cross-bow out of a piece of whalebone, and did very well without him.
+We had reached that exciting scene where Gessler, the Austrian tyrant,
+commands Tell to shoot the apple from his son's head. Pepper Whitcomb,
+who played all the juvenile and women parts, was my son. To guard
+against mischance, a piece of pasteboard was fastened by a handkerchief
+over the upper portion of Whitcomb's face, while the arrow to be used
+was sewed up in a strip of flannel. I was a capital marksman, and the
+big apple, only two yards distant, turned its russet cheek fairly
+towards me.
+
+I can see poor little Pepper now, as he stood without flinching, waiting
+for me to perform my great feat. I raised the cross-bow amid the
+breathless silence of the crowded audience,--consisting of seven boys
+and three girls, exclusive of Kitty Collins, who insisted on paying her
+way in with a clothes-pin. I raised the cross-bow, I repeat. Twang! went
+the whipcord; but, alas! instead of hitting the apple, the arrow flew
+right into Pepper Whitcomb's mouth, which happened to be open at the
+time, and destroyed my aim.
+
+I shall never be able to banish that awful moment from my memory.
+Pepper's roar, expressive of astonishment, indignation, and pain, is
+still ringing in my ears. I looked upon him as a corpse, and, glancing
+not far into the dreary future, pictured myself led forth to execution
+in the presence of the very same spectators then assembled.
+
+Luckily poor Pepper was not seriously hurt.
+
+--T. B. ALDRICH.
+
+[Footnote: Would you imagine, from this extract, that the book from
+which it was taken would be interesting? Why? Notice the easy
+conversational way of telling the incident. What is gained by this? Do
+you sympathize with Pepper or the author? Why?]
+
+
+
+
+WAR
+
+
+What, speaking in quite unofficial language, is the net purpose and
+upshot of war? To my own knowledge, for example, there dwell and toil in
+the British village of Dumdrudge [Footnote: Dumdrudge: a fictitious
+name.] usually some five hundred souls. From these there are
+successfully selected, during the French war, say thirty able-bodied
+men. Dumdrudge, at her own expense, has suckled and nursed them. She
+has, not without difficulty and sorrow, fed them up to manhood, and even
+trained them to crafts, so that one can weave, another build, another
+hammer, and the weakest can stand under thirty stone avoirdupois.
+Nevertheless, amid much weeping and swearing, they are selected; all
+dressed in red; and shipped away at the public charges some two thousand
+miles, or say only to the south of Spain; and fed there until wanted.
+And now to that same spot in the south of Spain, are thirty similar
+French artisans, from a French Dumdrudge, in like manner wending. At
+length, after infinite effort, the two parties come into actual
+juxtaposition; and thirty stands fronting thirty, each with a gun in his
+hand. Straightway the word "Fire!" is given, and they blow the souls out
+of one another. And in place of sixty brisk useful craftsmen, the world
+has sixty dead carcasses, which it must bury and anew shed tears for.
+Had these men any quarrel? Busy as the Devil is, not the smallest! They
+lived far enough apart, were the entirest strangers, nay, in so wide a
+universe, there was even unconsciously, by commerce, some mutual
+helpfulness between them. How then? Simpleton' their Governors had
+fallen out, and instead of shooting one another, had the cunning to make
+these poor blockheads shoot.
+
+--CARLYLE.
+
+[Footnote: Does Carlyle write from the usual military standpoint? Does
+war seem glorious or heroic from this point of view? Is ridicule an
+effective weapon against wrongs? Do you know of any abuses or wrongs
+that have been abolished by being shown up as ridiculous? Do you think
+it likely that the militaristic type of mind can have much sense of
+humor?]
+
+
+
+
+COON-HUNTING
+
+
+'Coon-Hunting [Footnote: Coon: raccoon, an animal allied to the bears
+but much smaller. Its body is gray, varied with black and white, and it
+has a long full tail banded with black and gray.] is one of the truly
+American sports of the chase, though its devotees have found difficulty
+in persuading folks to take their sport seriously. It is, in truth, a
+comical aspect of hunting, and is scarcely less wanting in dignity than
+a 'possum [Footnote: Possum: opposum; this animal carries its young in a
+pouch, like the kangaroo.] chase, which confessedly has none at all. If
+'coon-hunting be regarded, as a step higher than that, it loses the
+advantage at the end, for a fat 'possum is certainly better eating than
+a 'coon, however rotund. The chase, nevertheless, calls for endurance,
+since an old 'coon may run four or five miles after he has been started,
+zigzagging hither and yon, circling round and round trees, leaving a
+track calculated to make a dog dizzy, swimming streams, and running
+along the tops of logs and snake-fences, [Footnote: Snake-fence (same as
+a worm-fence): a zigzag fence of rails which cross at the ends.] hiding
+his trail with the craftiness of a fox.
+
+The hunt is always organized late at night. Nobody ever heard of a real
+'coon-hunt by daylight. The animals are moving about then, leaving
+trails that, starting at the edge of the woods, lead into the fastnesses
+where they take refuge. Such trails would grow "cold" before noonday.
+
+There are dogs called 'coon-dogs, but of no particular breed or
+pedigree. A local pack will consist of Rag, Tag, and Bobtail, with all
+of Bobtail's friends and connections. One of them is known to be best
+and takes the lead. They call him the trailer. The rest rush yelping
+after, and as fast as possible follow the hunters, with torches or
+lanterns or by moonlight, carrying axes and hatchets, guns, and
+antidotes for snake-bite in flat, black bottles. Trailer's motley crew
+catch a sniff of the trail and disappear in the darkness of the brushy
+woods, baying, barking, yelping, squealing, each after its kind. After
+them go the whooping hunters, following by ear as the dogs do by nose,
+for none can use the sense of sight.
+
+Finally a chorus of eager barking in a different tone from what has thus
+far been heard announces to experienced ears that the dogs have some
+game at bay. The hunters dispute as to what it is as they crash and
+stagger on through the gloom, each swearing he knows by his cur's voice
+what sort of an animal he has in view. Arrived at the scene of the
+clamor, the dogs are found in frantic excitement around the foot of a
+tree, in whose shadowy foliage something is supposed to be hidden. Will
+it be a 'coon, or will it turn out a 'possum, a wild-cat, or mayhap an
+owl?
+
+First of all a fire is lighted, and its upreaching blaze sends fitful
+rays of yellow light far among the overhanging branches. Now there may
+be discerned a hollow near the summit of the trunk, and as dead branches
+are heaped upon the fire, sharp eyes may detect a triangular head
+peering out of what was once, perhaps, the front door of a woodpecker's
+home, and the glints of green are reported to be the glare of a
+raccoon's eyes.
+
+The nimblest man in the party is sent up the tree, and given a stick
+wherewith to frighten or poke or pry the cornered animal out of his
+castle. Compelled to leave the hole, it creeps out upon a limb, and
+squatting down, snarls at the stranger, who tries to shake loose its
+hold. But this is a vain attempt. A raccoon can cling like a burr. Try
+to drag your pet 'coon off the top of a fence, and if he chooses to
+resist, you may pull him limb from limb before he will let go. So they
+take the severer method of chopping the branches, until the poor little
+beast has none left to clutch in falling, and comes down a heap of fur
+and teeth and claws into the midst of the dogs. Instantly there follows
+a scrimmage, where often an honest bark is changed in the middle to a
+yelp of pain, until many a time the melee changes to a ring of hurt and
+angry but vanquished curs around a 'coon lying on his back, with bloody
+teeth and claws ready to try it again; and then he is shot by the
+hunters, merciless to the last. More often the whole tree must be cut
+down, and the brave 'coon falls with it, and is dashed out among his
+enemies to fight for his life at the end of his fall.
+
+--ERNEST INGERSOLL (adapted).
+
+[Footnote: What does the phrase "the trails would grow cold" mean? What
+sense would you find most active if you were on the coon-hunt? Does the
+author write as an enthusiastic hunter? What impresses you most in the
+account: the fun or the cruelty of hunting? Does the author succeed in
+giving you an idea of the excitement of coon-hunting? Would the account
+have any added interest if it were told in the first person?]
+
+
+
+
+SIGHT IN SAVAGES
+
+
+In Patagonia [Footnote: Patagonia: the southern part of Argentine
+Republic.] I added something to my small stock of private facts
+concerning eyes--their appearance, color, and expression--and vision,
+subjects which have had a mild attraction for me as long as I can
+remember. When, as a boy, I mixed with the gauchos [Footnote: Gauchos:
+these people are of Spanish-American descent. They are the native
+inhabitants of the pampas, and live chiefly by cattle-raising.] of the
+pampas, [Footnote: Pampas: vast plains in the southern part of South
+America, chiefly in the Argentine Republic.] there was one among them
+who greatly awed me by his appearance and character. He was
+distinguished among his fellows by his tallness, the thickness of his
+eyebrows and the great length of his crow-black beard, the form and
+length of his "facon," or knife, which was nothing but a sword worn
+knife-wise, and the ballads he composed, in which were recounted, in a
+harsh tuneless voice to the strum-strum of a guitar, the hand-to-hand
+combats he had had with others of his class--fighters and
+desperadoes--and in which he had always been the victor, for his
+adversaries had all been slain to a man. But his eyes, his most
+wonderful feature, impressed me more than anything else; for one was
+black and the other dark blue. All other strange and extranatural things
+in nature, of which I had personal knowledge, as, for instance,
+mushrooms growing in rings, and the shrinking of the sensitive plant
+when touched, and Will-o'-the-wisps, and crowing hens, and the murderous
+attack of social birds and beasts on one of their fellows, seemed less
+strange and wonderful than the fact that this man's eyes did not
+correspond, but were the eyes of two men, as if there had been two
+natures and souls in one body. My astonishment was, perhaps, not
+unaccountable, when we reflect that the eye is to us the window of the
+mind or soul, that it expresses the soul, and is, as it were, the soul
+itself materialized.
+
+Some person lately published in England a book entitled "Soul-Shapes,"
+treating not only of the shapes of souls but also of their color. The
+letter-press of this work interests me less than the colored plates
+adorning it. Passing over the mixed and vari-colored souls, which
+resemble, in the illustrations, colored maps in an atlas, we come to the
+blue soul, for which the author has a very special regard. Its blue is
+like that of the commonest type of blue eye. This curious fancy of a
+blue soul probably originated in the close association of eye and soul
+in the mind. It is worthy of note that while the mixed and other colored
+souls seem very much out of shape, like an old felt hat or a stranded
+jelly fish, the pure colored blue soul is round, like an iris, and only
+wanted a pupil to be made an eye.
+
+Here again I recall an incident of my boyhood, and am not sure that it
+was not this that first gave me an interest in the subject.
+
+One summer day, at home, I was attentively listening, out of doors, to a
+conversation between two men, both past middle life and about the same
+age, one an educated Englishman, wearing spectacles, the other a native,
+who was very impressive in his manner, and was holding forth in a loud
+authoritative voice on a variety of subjects. All at once he fixed his
+eyes on the spectacles worn by the other, and, bursting into a laugh,
+cried out, "Why do you always wear those eye-hiding glasses straddled
+across your nose? Are they supposed to make a man look handsomer or
+wiser than his fellows, or do you, a sensible person, really believe
+that you can see better than another man because of them? If so, then
+all I can say is that it is a fable, a delusion; no man can believe such
+a thing."
+
+He was only expressing the feeling that all persons of his class, whose
+lives are passed in the semi-barbarous conditions of the gauchos on the
+pampas, experience at the sight of such artificial helps to vision as
+spectacles. They look through a pane of glass, and it makes the view no
+clearer, but rather dimmer--how can the two diminutive circular panes
+carried before the eyes produce any other effect? Besides, their sight
+as a rule is good when they are young, and as they progress in life they
+are not conscious of decadence in it; from infancy to old age the world
+looks, they imagine, the same; the grass as green, the sky as blue as
+ever, and the scarlet verbenas in the grass just as scarlet. The man
+lives in his sight; it is his life; he speaks of the loss of it as a
+calamity great as the loss of reason. To see spectacles amuses and
+irritates him at the same time; he has the monkey's impulse to snatch
+the idle things from his fellow's nose; for not only is it useless to
+the wearer, and a sham, but it is annoying to others, who do not like to
+look at a man and not properly see his eyes and the thought that is in
+them.
+
+To the mocking speech he had made, the other good humoredly replied that
+he had worn glasses for twenty years, that not only did they enable him
+to see much better than he could without them, but they had preserved
+his sight from further decadence. Not satisfied with defending himself
+against the charge of being a fantastical person for wearing glasses, he
+in his turn attacked the mocker. "How do you know," he said, "that your
+own eyesight has not degenerated with time? You can only ascertain that
+by trying on a number of glasses suited to a variety of sights, all in
+some degree defective. A score of men with defective sight may be
+together, and in no two will the sight be the same. You must try on
+spectacles, as you try on boots, until you find a pair to fit you. You
+may try mine, if you like; our years are the same, and it is just
+possible that our eyes may be in the same condition."
+
+The gaucho laughed a loud and scornful laugh, and exclaimed that the
+idea was too ridiculous. "What, see better with this thing!" and he took
+them gingerly in his hand, and held them up to examine them, and finally
+put them on his nose--something in the spirit of the person who takes a
+newspaper twisted into the shape of an extinguisher, and puts it on his
+head. He looked at the other, then at me, then stared all round him with
+an expression of utter astonishment, and in the end burst out in loud
+exclamations of delight. For, strange to say, the glasses exactly suited
+his vision, which, unknown to him, had probably been decaying for years.
+"Angels of heaven, what is this I see!" he shouted. "What makes the
+trees look so green--they were never so green before! And so distinct--I
+can count their leaves! And the cart over there--why, it is red as
+blood!" And to satisfy himself that it had not just been freshly
+painted, he ran over to it and placed his hand on the wood. It proved
+hard to convince him that objects had once looked as distinct, and
+leaves as green, and the sky as blue, and red paint as red, to his
+natural sight, as they now did through those magical glasses. The
+distinctness and brightness seemed artificial and uncanny. But in the
+end he was convinced, and then he wanted to keep the spectacles, and
+pulled out his money to pay for them there and then, and was very much
+put out when their owner insisted on having them back. However, shortly
+afterwards a pair was got for him; and with these on his nose he
+galloped about the country, exhibiting them to all his neighbors, and
+boasting of the miraculous power they imparted to his eyes of seeing the
+world as no one else could see it.
+
+--W.H. HUDSON.
+
+[Footnote: What things in nature do you think most interested the
+writer? Do you imagine that he would be a good out-of-doors companion?
+Why? Was the native in the story the sort of person whom you would
+expect to "hold forth in an authoritative voice on a variety of
+subjects"? Do you know what the general attitude of the savage and
+semi-civilized people is toward strange things? Note the rambling,
+conversational style in which this sketch is written. Compare it with
+Stevenson, Aldrich, and Edwards. Note the delightfully whimsical quality
+of the humor. Can you see any likeness in this to Lamb and Hawthorne?]
+
+
+
+
+THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER
+
+
+In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American
+history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight
+[Footnote: Wight: a person.] of the name of Ichabod Crane; who
+sojourned, or as he expressed it, "tarried," in Sleepy Hollow, for the
+purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. He was a native of
+Connecticut, a state which supplies the Union with pioneers for the mind
+as well as for the forest, and sends forth yearly its legions of
+frontier woodmen and country schoolmasters. The cognomen of Crane was
+not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with
+narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of
+his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole
+frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at the
+top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so
+that it looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck to tell
+which way the wind blew. To see him striding along the profile of a hill
+on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one
+might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the
+earth, or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield.
+
+In addition to his other vocations, he was the singing-master of the
+neighborhood, and picked up many bright shillings by instructing the
+young folks in psalmody. It was a matter of no little vanity to him on
+Sundays, to take his station in front of the church gallery, with a band
+of chosen singers, where, in his own mind, he completely carried away
+the palm from the parson. Certain it is his voice resounded far above
+all the rest of the congregation, and there are peculiar quavers still
+to be heard in that church, and which may even be heard half a mile off,
+quite to the opposite side of the mill-pond, on a still Sunday morning,
+which are said to be legitimately descended from the nose of Ichabod
+Crane. Thus, by divers little makeshifts, in that ingenious way which is
+commonly denominated "by hook and by crook" the worthy pedagogue got on
+tolerably enough, and was thought, by all who understood nothing of this
+labor of head-work, to have a wonderful easy life of it. The
+schoolmaster is generally a man of some importance in the female circle
+of a rural neighborhood; being considered a kind of idle gentleman-like
+personage, of vastly superior taste and accomplishments to the rough
+country swains, and, indeed, inferior in learning only to the parson.
+His appearance, therefore, is apt to occasion some little stir at the
+tea-table of a farm-house, and the addition of a supernumerary
+[Footnote: Supernumerary: superfluous, unnecessary.] dish of cakes or
+sweetmeats, or, peradventure, the parade of a silver teapot. Our man of
+letters, therefore, was peculiarly happy in the smiles of all the
+country damsels. How he would figure among them in the churchyard,
+between services on Sundays! gathering grapes for them from the wild
+vines that overrun the surrounding trees, reciting for their amusement
+all the epitaphs on the tombstones; or sauntering with a whole bevy of
+them, along the banks of the adjacent millpond, while the more bashful
+country bumpkins hung sheepishly back, envying his superior elegance and
+address.
+
+From his half-itinerant life, he was a kind of travelling gazette,
+carrying the whole budget of local gossip from house to house, so that
+his appearance was always greeted with satisfaction. He was, moreover,
+esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition, [Footnote: Erudition:
+learning, scholarship.] for he had read several books quite through, and
+was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's "History of New England
+Witchcraft," in which, by the way, he most firmly and potently believed.
+
+He was, in fact, an odd mixture of small shrewdness and simple
+credulity. His appetite for the marvellous, and his powers of digesting
+it, were equally extraordinary; and both had been increased by his
+residence in this spellbound region. No tale was too gross or monstrous
+for his capacious swallow. It was often his delight, after his school
+was dismissed in the afternoon, to stretch himself on the rich bed of
+clover bordering the little brook that whimpered by his school-house,
+and there con over old Mather's [Footnote: Cotton Mather: an American
+clergyman, author, and scholar. Born in 1663, died in 1728. He took an
+active part in the persecutions for witchcraft.] direful tales, until
+the gathering dusk of the evening made the printed page a mere mist
+before his eyes. Then as he wended his way by swamp and stream and awful
+woodland, to the farm-house where he happened to be quartered, every
+sound of nature, at that witching hour, fluttered his excited
+imagination,--the moan of the whippoorwill from the hillside, the boding
+cry of the tree-toad, that harbinger of storm, the dreary hooting of the
+screech-owl, or the sudden rustling in the thicket of birds frightened
+from their roost. The fire-flies, too, which sparkled most vividly in
+the darkest places, now and then startled him, as one of uncommon
+brightness would stream across his path; and if by chance a huge
+blackhead of a beetle came winging his blundering flight against him,
+the poor varlet [Footnote: Varlet: rascal.] was ready to give up the
+ghost, with the idea that he was struck with a witch's token. His only
+resource on such occasions, either to drown thought or drive away evil
+spirits, was to sing psalm-tunes; and the good people of Sleepy-Hollow,
+as they sat by their doors of an evening, were often filled with awe at
+hearing his nasal melody, "in linked sweetness long drawn out," floating
+from the distant hill or along the dusky road.
+
+Another of his sources of fearful pleasure was to pass long winter
+evenings with the old Dutch wives, as they sat spinning by the fire,
+with a row of apples roasting and spluttering along the hearth, and
+listen to their marvellous tales of ghosts and goblins, and haunted
+brooks, and haunted bridges, and haunted houses, and particularly of the
+headless horseman, or Galloping Hessian of the Hollow, as they sometimes
+called him. He would delight them equally by his anecdotes of
+witchcraft, and the direful omens and portentous sights and sounds in
+the air, which prevailed in the earlier times of Connecticut; and would
+frighten them wofully with speculations upon comets and shooting stars;
+and with the alarming fact that the world did absolutely turn round and
+that they were half the time topsy-turvy!
+
+But if there was a pleasure in all this, while snugly cuddling in the
+chimney corner of a chamber that was all of a ruddy glow from the
+crackling wood fire, and where, of course, no spectre dared to show its
+face, it was dearly purchased by the terror of his subsequent walk
+homewards. What fearful shapes and shadows beset his path, amidst the
+dim and ghastly glare of a snowy night! With what wistful look did he
+eye every trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields from
+some distant window! How often was he appalled by some shrub covered
+with snow, which like a sheeted spectre beset his very path! How often
+did he shrink with curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on the
+frosty crust beneath his feet! and dread to look over his shoulder, lest
+he should behold some uncouth being tramping close behind him! and how
+often was he thrown into complete dismay by some rushing blast, howling
+among the trees, in the idea that it was the galloping Hessian on one of
+his nightly scourings!
+
+--WASHINGTON IRVING.
+
+[Footnote: Is this style of writing similar to that of any other
+selections you have studied? Illustrate. Compare the kind of words used
+here with the simple diction in "A Youthful Actor," "In Brittany," "The
+Gold Trail." Does the author's humor seem to you unkindly? What other
+selections have you studied in which this sort of humor is shown? What
+courses of study do you imagine were given in Ichabod's school? Does
+Ichabod seem a real character or only a caricature?]
+
+
+
+
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