chapter 19
of _To Have and to Hold_.) If not, is he justified in telling a falsehood? Is he really Kirby? Is he fortunate in his assertion that he is? How does he explain his lack of resemblance to Kirby? What kind of person is the hero? Why does he wish to become the leader of the pirates? Is it possible that the pirate crew should change their attitude so suddenly? Is it a good plan in a story to make a hero tell of his own successes? Characterize the man in black and silver. How does the author make us feel the action and peril of the struggle? How does she make us feel the long duration of the fight with Paradise? Do you like the hero's behavior with the defeated pirates? Why is he so careful to repeat to the minister what he has told the pirates? Why does the minister appear to change his character?
Can you make this piece into a little play?
THEME SUBJECTS
The Real Pirates Spanish Gold A Fight for Life A Famous Duel Buried Treasure Playing Pirates Sea Stories that I Like Captain Kidd Ponce de Leon The Search for Gold Story-book Heroes Along the Sea Shore A Barren Island The Rivals Land Pirates The Pirates in _Peter Pan_ A Struggle for Leadership Our High School Play
SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING
Try to make a fragment of a play out of this selection. In this process, all the class may work together under the direction of the teacher, or each pupil may make his own attempt to dramatize the piece.
In writing the drama, tell first what the setting is. In doing so, you had better look up some modern play and see how the setting is explained to the reader or the actors. Now show the pirates at work, and give a few lines of their conversation; then have the hero come upon the scene. Indicate the speech of each person, and put in all necessary stage directions. Perhaps you will want to add more dialogue than there is here. Some of the onlookers may have something to say. Perhaps you will wish to leave something out. It might be well, while the fighting is going on, to bring in remarks from the combatants and the other pirates. You might look up the duel scene in _Hamlet_ for this point. You can end your play with the departure of the group; or you can write a second scene, in which the hero's companions appear, including the lady. Considerable dialogue could be invented here, and a new episode added--a quarrel, a plan for organization, or a merry-making.
When your play is finished, you may possibly wish to have it acted before the class. A few turbans, sashes, and weapons will be sufficient to give an air of piracy to the group of players. Some grim black mustaches would complete the effect.
=A Pirate Story=:--Tell an old-fashioned "yarn" of adventure, in which a modest hero relates his own experiences. Give your imagination a good deal of liberty. Do not waste much time in getting started, but plunge very soon into the actual story. Let your hero tell how he fell among the pirates. Then go on with the conversation that ensued--the threats, the boasting, and the bravado. Make the hero report his struggles, or the tricks that he resorted to in order to outwit the sea-rovers. Perhaps he failed at first and got into still greater dangers. Follow out his adventures to the moment of his escape. Make your descriptions short and vivid; put in as much direct conversation as possible; keep the action brisk and spirited. Try to write a lively tale that would interest a group of younger boys.
COLLATERAL READINGS
To Have and to Hold Mary Johnston Prisoners of Hope " " The Long Roll " " Cease Firing " " Audrey " " The Virginians W.M. Thackeray White Aprons Maude Wilder Goodwin The Gold Bug Edgar Allan Poe Treasure Island R.L. Stevenson Kidnapped " " Ebb Tide " " Buccaneers and Pirates of our Coast Frank R. Stockton Kate Bonnett " " Drake Julian Corbett Drake and his Yeomen James Barnes Drake, the Sea-king of Devon G.M. Towle Raleigh " " Red Rover J.F. Cooper The Pirate Walter Scott Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe Two Years before the Mast R.H. Dana Tales of a Traveller (Part IV) Washington Irving Nonsense Novels ( chapter 8 ) Stephen Leacock The Duel (in _The Master of Ballantrae_,