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STORY HOUR READINGS
SEVENTH YEAR
BY E. C. HARTWELL, M.A., M.PD.
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS BUFFALO, NEW YORK
Illustrations by George Varian, F. Murch, Wilfred Jones M. M. Jamieson, and others
[Illustration]
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO BOSTON ATLANTA
COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY _All rights reserved_
W. P. II
MADE IN U. S. A.
PREFACE
This reader undertakes to provide desirable material for work in silent reading without losing sight of the other elements essential in a good reader for pupils in the seventh grade or in the first year of the junior high school.
One task before the teacher of Reading in this year is to foster, by stimulating material, a taste for good reading which it is to be hoped has at least been partially formed in the preceding grades. The selections in this volume are made with the purpose of giving the seventh-grade pupils such virile and enjoyable literature as will make them desire more of the same kind. The character and fitness of the material, not the date of its production, have governed the choice of the editor.
ARRANGEMENT BY GROUPS. There is an obvious advantage in grouping kindred reading materials in sections under such captions as "Adventure," "From Great Books," "Our Country," etc. Besides affording some elements of continuity, the plan offers opportunity for comparison and contrast of the treatment of similar themes. It also insures a massing of the effect of the idea for which the section stands. Secondarily, the section divisions break up the solid text, and because of this the pupils feel at frequent intervals that they have completed something definite.
The groupings make no pretense to being mutually exclusive. On occasion a selection may well be transferred to another section. For example, the Washington and Lincoln stories should be used in the proper season in the "Our Country" section although it is obvious that they belong in "Special Days." Teachers should have no hesitation in breaking across from one section to another when the occasion or the children's interest seems to warrant.
MECHANICAL FEATURES. Editor and publisher have spared no pains or expense to make this book attractive to children. The volume is not cumbersome or unwieldy in size. The length of line is that of the normal book with which they regularly will come into contact. The type is clean-cut and legible. Finally, enough white space has been left in the pages to give the book an "open," attractive appearance. No single item has so much to do with children's future attitude toward books as the appearance of their school Readers.
SOCIALIZED WORK. Opportunity for dramatization, committee work, and other team activity is presented repeatedly throughout this volume. Wherever the teacher can profitably get the pupils to work in groups she should take advantage of the cooperative spirit and do so.
CITIZENSHIP. This means more than the passing phase of so-called Americanization. It means a genuine love of country, a reverence for our pioneer fathers, a respect for law, order, and truth. This Reader is rich in patriotic content. It is hoped that the ethical element in the selections will be found to be forceful as well as pleasing. The book emphasizes throughout the importance of the individual and social virtues. If it can help teachers to make clean, upright, and loyal citizens of our great Republic it will not have been made in vain.
Mastery of the printed page is not the sole end and aim of Reading. It is hoped that the devices employed in this Reader, as well as the direction and suggestions in study materials contained in the volume, may assist in developing a genuine love of good books.
MANUAL. Valuable assistance in dealing with the material in this book is supplied by the _Teachers' Manual, Story Hour Readings, Seventh and Eighth Years_. This Manual consists of three parts:
I. An introductory article on the Teaching of Reading, which discusses Silent Reading (with detailed directions for speed tests), Oral Reading, Dramatization, Appreciative Reading, Memorizing, Word Study and Use of the Dictionary, Reading Outside of School, Use of Illustrative Material, and Correlation.
II. Detailed lesson plans for each selection in _Story Hour Readings Seventh Year_.
III. Detailed lesson plans for each selection in _Story Hour Readings Eighth Year_.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In addition to acknowledgments made in connection with material incorporated in this volume, thanks are due as follows for permissions to reprint:
To D. Appleton & Company, Publishers, for permission to use "A Battle with a Whale" from Frank T. Bullen's _The Cruise of the Cachalot_; to Thomas B. Harned, Literary Executor of Walt Whitman, for permission to reprint "O Captain! My Captain."
"The Stagecoach," from Mark Twain's _Roughing It_, is used by express permission of the Estate of Samuel L. Clemens, the Mark Twain Company, and Harper & Brothers, Publishers.
Selections by Emerson, Hawthorne, Holmes, Longfellow, Amy Lowell, James Russell Lowell, Sill, Thoreau, and Whittier are used by permission of and special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company, the authorized publishers of these authors.
Acknowledgment is made to the American Book Company for the use of selections by James Baldwin, John Esten Cooke, Edward Eggleston, Hélène Guerber, Joel Chandler Harris, William Dean Howells, James Johonnot, Orison Swett Marden, W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith, Frank R. Stockton, and Maurice Thompson.
CONTENTS
PAGE A SHEAF OF LEGENDS
Ali Hafed's Quest _Orison Swett Marden_ 13 How Kilhugh Rode to Arthur's Hall _James Baldwin_ 18 The Gift of the White Bear _George Webbe Dasent_ 25 The Story of Iron 31 The Wonderful Artisan _James Baldwin_ 39 Charlemagne and Roland _Hélène A. Guerber_ 46 Keeping the Bridge _Thomas Babington Macaulay_ 50
PIONEER DAYS
The Story of Molly Pitcher _Frank R. Stockton_ 57 King Philip to the White Settlers _Edward Everett_ 60 Pioneer Life in Ohio _William Dean Howells_ 62 Witchcraft _Nathaniel Hawthorne_ 70 Tea Parties in Old New York _Washington Irving_ 70 A School of Long Ago _Edward Eggleston_ 73 French Life in the Northwest _James Baldwin_ 77 A Bear Story _Maurice Thompson_ 82 A Patriot of Georgia _Joel Chandler Harris_ 85 Song of the Pioneers _W. D. Gallagher_ 87
SPECIAL DAYS
Columbus and the Eclipse _James Johonnot_ 91 First Thanksgiving Day Proclamation _George Washington_ 93 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1905 _Theodore Roosevelt_ 93 Harvest Song _James Montgomery_ 95 The Cratchits' Christmas _Charles Dickens_ 96 The Holiday Spirit _Émile Souvestre_ 101 Christmas in the Pines _Meredith Nicholson_ 106 The New Year's Dinner Party _Charles Lamb_ 108 Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln 111 O Captain! My Captain _Walt Whitman_ 114 Washington's Greatest Battle _Frederick Trever Hill_ 116 John James Audubon _W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith_ 122 Memorial Day, 1917 _Woodrow Wilson_ 125
ADVENTURE
A Grandstand Seat in the Sky _Howard Mingos_ 129 Prayer for the Pilot _Cecil Roberts_ 137 A Battle with a Whale _Frank T. Bullen_ 138 The Glove and the Lions _Leigh Hunt_ 145 How Buck Won the Bet _Jack London_ 147 The Loss of the Drake _Charlotte M. Yonge_ 151 The Walrus Hunt _Robert M. Ballantyne_ 155 The Rescue 158 Descending the Grand Cañon 162 Night Fishing in the South Seas _Frederick O'Brien_ 164 A Ballad of East and West _Rudyard Kipling_ 168
UNDER THE OPEN SKY
A Night among the Pines _Robert Louis Stevenson_ 177 Autumn on the Farm _John Greenleaf Whittier_ 183 Goldenrod _Elaine Goodale Eastman_ 186 The Palisades _John Masefield_ 188 On the Grasshopper and Cricket _John Keats_ 189 To a Waterfowl _William Cullen Bryant_ 190 A Night in the Tropics _Richard Henry Dana, Jr._ 192 A Winter Ride _Amy Lowell_ 193 The Snowstorm _Ralph Waldo Emerson_ 194 Snow-Bound _John Greenleaf Whittier_ 195 Tom Pinch's Ride _Charles Dickens_ 198 Ode to a Butterfly _Thomas Wentworth Higginson_ 201 In the Desert _A. W. Kinglake_ 203 May is Building her House _Richard Le Gallienne_ 207 The Daffodils _William Wordsworth_ 208 The Falls of Lodore _Robert Southey_ 210
STORIES THAT TEACH
An Adventure in Brotherhood 215 The Prayer Perfect _James Whitcomb Riley_ 217 Get Out or Get in Line _Elbert Hubbard_ 218 John Marshall of Virginia _John Esten Cooke_ 224 Opportunity _Edward Rowland Sill_ 227 Boy Wanted _Dr. Frank Crane_ 228 John Littlejohn _Charles Mackay_ 230 The Discontented Pendulum 232 Two Sides to Every Question 235 If I were a Boy _Washington Gladden_ 237 The Lesson of the Water Mill _Sarah Doudney_ 239 A Motto of Oxford 241 Sailing and Failing _Hamilton W. Mabie_ 242 Use and Abuse of Time _Archer Brown_ 243 Hidden Treasure _Charles Reade_ 245 The Solitary Reaper _William Wordsworth_ 249
IN GOOD HUMOR
The Stagecoach _Mark Twain_ 253 The Chameleon _James Merrick_ 261 The Pickwick Club on Ice _Charles Dickens_ 263 Darius Green and his Flying Machine _John Townsend Trowbridge_ 270 Aunt Doleful's Visit 279 Gradgrind's Idea of Education _Charles Dickens_ 281 The Deacon's Masterpiece, or The Wonderful "One-Hoss Shay" _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ 286 The Schoolmaster's Ride _Washington Irving_ 291 Signing Petitions 296
IN TIME OF WAR
Great Little Rivers _Frazier Hunt_ 299 The Burial of Sir John Moore _Charles Wolfe_ 302 Lexington and Concord _William Emerson_ 304 Hervé Riel _Robert Browning_ 307 The Song of the Camp _Bayard Taylor_ 313 Cabin Boy and Admiral 315 Little Giffen _Francis O. Ticknor_ 320 Marco Bozzaris _Fitz-Greene Halleck_ 322 San Juan Hill _General John J. Pershing_ 325 Burial of a Soldier in France _Gerald M. Dwyer_ 329
OUR COUNTRY
America for Me _Henry van Dyke_ 333 Warren's Address at the Battle of Bunker Hill _John Pierpont_ 335 What is an American? _Hector Saint Jean de Crèvec[oe]ur_ 336 The Rising of '76 _Thomas Buchanan Read_ 338 Our Own Country _James Montgomery_ 342 Patrick Henry's Speech 343 Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby 347 The Flower of Liberty _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ 348 True Patriotism _Benjamin Harrison_ 350 America the Beautiful _Katharine Lee Bates_ 352 O Beautiful! My Country! _James Russell Lowell_ 353 The Problems of the Republic _Theodore Roosevelt_ 354 The Meaning of Americanism _Charles Evans Hughes_ 356 What Constitutes a State? _William Jones_ 359 A Patriotic Creed _Edgar A. Guest_ 360
FROM GREAT BOOKS
The Lists at Ashby _Sir Walter Scott_ 363 The Twenty-Third Psalm _The Bible_ 376 Doubting Castle _John Bunyan_ 377 Christmas Eve at Fezziwig's _Charles Dickens_ 384 Jean Valjean Meets the Bishop _Victor Hugo_ 387 A Voyage to Lilliput _Jonathan Swift_ 394 The Struggle in the Arena _Henryk Sienkiewicz_ 405 Polonius's Advice to his Son _William Shakespeare_ 413 Mercy _William Shakespeare_ 414
_A SHEAF OF LEGENDS_
_To every important race of people there has come down through the ages a fine heritage of story and song. Usually these tales are largely fiction and partially fact. They may be songs about heroes; stories to account for the existence of things; moral tales; or tales of pure imagination. Whatever they are, they preserve for us from the past the thoughts or the deeds of our early ancestors; and as tales they excite our interest because of their simplicity and straightforwardness._
[Illustration: ALI HAFED'S QUEST
(_See following page_)]
ALI HAFED'S QUEST
BY ORISON SWETT MARDEN
Long, long ago, in the shadowy past, Ali Hafed dwelt on the shores of the River Indus, in the ancient land of the Hindus. His beautiful cottage, set in the midst of fruit and flower gardens, looked from the mountain side on which it stood over the broad expanse of the noble river. 5
Rich meadows, waving fields of grain, and the herds and flocks contentedly grazing on the pasture lands testified to the thrift and prosperity of Ali Hafed. The love of a beautiful wife and a large family of light-hearted boys and girls made his home an earthly paradise. Healthy, 10 wealthy, contented, rich in love and friendship, his cup of happiness seemed full to overflowing.
Happy and contented was the good Ali Hafed, when one evening a learned priest of Buddha, journeying along the banks of the Indus, stopped for rest and refreshment 15 at his home, where all wayfarers were hospitably welcomed and treated as honored guests.
After the evening meal, the farmer and his family with the priest in their midst gathered around the fireside, the chilly mountain air of the late autumn making a fire desirable. 20 The disciple of Buddha entertained his kind hosts with various legends and myths, and last of all with the story of the creation.
He told his wondering listeners how in the beginning the solid earth on which they lived was not solid at all, 25 but a mere bank of fog. "The Great Spirit," said he, "thrust his finger into the bank of fog and began slowly describing a circle in its midst, increasing the speed gradually until the fog went whirling round his finger so rapidly that it was transformed into a glowing ball of fire. Then the Creative Spirit hurled the fiery ball from his hand, and 5 it shot through the universe, burning its way through other banks of fog and condensing them into rain, which fell in great floods, cooling the surface of the immense ball.
"Flames then bursting from the interior through the cooled outer crust, threw up the hills and mountain ranges 10 and made the beautiful fertile valleys. In the flood of rain that followed this fiery upheaval, the substance that cooled very quickly formed granite, that which cooled less rapidly became copper, the next in degree cooled down into silver, and the last became gold. But the most beautiful 15 substance of all, the diamond, was formed by the first beams of sunlight condensed on the earth's surface.
"A drop of sunlight the size of my thumb," said the priest, holding up his hand, "is worth more than mines of gold. With one such drop," he continued, turning to Ali 20 Hafed, "you could buy many farms like yours; with a handful you could buy a province; and with a mine of diamonds you could purchase a whole kingdom."
The company parted for the night, and Ali Hafed went to bed, but not to sleep. All night long he tossed restlessly 25 from side to side, thinking, planning, scheming, how he could secure some diamonds. The demon of discontent had entered his soul, and the blessings and advantages which he possessed in such abundance seemed as by some malicious magic to have vanished utterly. Although his 30 wife and children loved him as before--although his farm, his orchards, his flocks and herds, were as real and prosperous as they had ever been--yet the last words of the priest, which kept ringing in his ears, turned his content into vague longings and blinded him to all that had hitherto made him happy.
Before dawn next morning the farmer, full of his purpose, 5 was astir. Rousing the priest, he eagerly inquired if he could direct him to a mine of diamonds.
"A mine of diamonds!" echoed the astonished priest. "What do you, who already have so much to be grateful for, want with diamonds?" 10
"I wish to be rich and place my children on thrones."
"All you have to do, then," said the Buddhist, "is to go and search until you find them."
"But where shall I go?" questioned the infatuated man.
"Go anywhere," was the vague reply; "north, south, 15 east, or west--anywhere."
"But how shall I know the place?" asked the farmer.
"When you find a river running over white sands between high mountain ranges, in these white sands you will find diamonds. There are many such rivers and many mines 20 of diamonds waiting to be discovered. All you have to do is start out and go somewhere--" and he waved his hand--"away, away!"
Ali Hafed's mind was fully made up. "I will no longer," he thought, "remain on a wretched farm, toiling day in and 25 day out for a mere subsistence, when acres of diamonds--untold wealth--may be had by him who is bold enough to seek them."
He sold his farm for less than half its value. Then, after putting his young family under the care of a neighbor, 30 he set out on his quest--a quest that was to cover many years and lands.
With high hopes and the coveted diamond mines beckoning in the far distance, Ali Hafed began his wanderings. During the first few weeks his spirits did not flag, nor did his feet grow weary. On and on he tramped, until he came to the Mountains of the Moon, beyond the bounds 5 of Arabia. Weeks stretched into months, and the wanderer often looked regretfully in the direction of his once-happy home. Still no gleam of waters glinting over white sands greeted his eyes. But on he went, into Egypt, through Palestine and other eastern lands, always looking 10 for the treasure he still hoped to find.
At last, after years of fruitless search, during which he had wandered north and south, east and west, hope left him. All his money was spent. He was starving and almost naked, and the diamonds--which had lured him 15 away from all that made life dear--where were they? Poor Ali Hafed never knew. He died by the wayside, never dreaming that the wealth for which he had sacrificed happiness and life might have been his had he remained at home. 20
* * * * *
"Here is a diamond! here is a diamond! Has Ali Hafed returned?" shouted an excited voice.
The speaker, no other than our old acquaintance, the Buddhist priest, was standing in the same room where years before he had told poor Ali Hafed how the world was 25 made and where diamonds were to be found.
"No, Ali Hafed has not returned," quietly answered his successor. "Neither is that which you hold in your hand a diamond. It is but a pretty black pebble I picked up in my garden." 30
"I tell you," said the priest excitedly, "this is a genuine diamond. I know one when I see it. Tell me how and where you found it."
"One day," replied the farmer slowly, "having led my camel into the garden to drink, I noticed, as he put his nose into the water, a sparkle of light coming from the 5 white sand at the bottom of the clear stream. Stooping down, I picked up the black pebble you now hold, guided to it by that crystal eye in the center, from which the light flashes so brilliantly."
"Why, thou simple one," cried the priest, "this is no 10 common stone, but a gem of the purest water. Come, show me where thou didst find it."
Together they fled to the spot where the farmer had found the "pebble," and turning over the white sands with eager fingers, they found, to their great delight, other 15 stones even more valuable and beautiful than the first. Then they extended their search, and, so the Oriental story goes, "every shovelful of the old farm, as acre after acre was sifted over, revealed gems with which to decorate the crowns of emperors and moguls." 20
--_Stories from Life._
1. What is a legend? Distinguish between "legend" and "story." In what country is the scene of this legend laid?
2. What is your opinion of Ali Hafed? What happened to his family?
3. Do we have any Ali Hafeds in this country to-day? What do we mean by "Get-rich-quick" schemes? Illustrate.
4. If you were writing this story in these days of intensive farming, in what form would you have the "diamonds" come to the farmer?
HOW KILHUGH RODE TO ARTHUR'S HALL
By JAMES BALDWIN
This is a British legend of the days "when good King Arthur ruled the land." In his castle at Caerleon, according to legend, Arthur had gathered the most famous of his knights about the Round Table; and thither every aspiring knight journeyed in quest of adventure.
Prince Kilhugh blushed. The love of Olwen, the daughter of Thistlehair, filled his heart, although he had not heard her name before. His face flushed with happiness, and his eyes shone with joy.
"What is the matter, my son?" asked his father. "Why 5 are you so gay and glad?"
"Father," answered Kilhugh, "my stepmother says that no one but Olwen shall be my wife."
"Well," quoth the king, "I doubt not there will be trouble enough before that saying comes true. But do 10 not fear, my son. Thou art first cousin to King Arthur. Who but he should cut thy hair and be thy lord? Go to him, and crave this of him as a boon."
To Arthur's Hall, therefore, Prince Kilhugh made ready to go; and his father chose fifty of his bravest knights 15 to go with him, that he might present himself to King Arthur in a befitting manner.
* * * * *
So gayly the youth rode forth upon a steed of dappled gray, four summers old, with shell-shaped hoofs and well-knit limbs. His saddle was of burnished gold, his bridle 20 of shining gold chains. His saddle cloth was of purple silk, with four golden apples embroidered in the four corners.
The war horn slung over his shoulder was of ivory; the sword that hung by his side had a golden hilt and a two-edged 5 blade inlaid with a cross of gold that glittered like the lightning of heaven. His shoes, from the knee to the tip of the toe, were embossed with gold worth three hundred cattle; and his stirrups also were of gold.
In his hand he held two spears, with shafts of silver and 10 heads of tempered steel, and of an edge so sharp as to wound the wind and cause the blood to flow. Two white-breasted greyhounds bounded before his steed. Broad collars set with rubies were on their necks; and to and fro they 15 sprang, like two sea swallows sporting around him. The blades of reed grass bent not beneath him, so light was his courser's tread, as he journeyed toward the gate of Arthur's palace.
* * * * *
The Wide White Hall of Arthur had been built by Rearfort, 20 the architect. Eight and forty were the rafters of its roof. It would hold all Arthur's companions and his nobles, his warriors, his retainers, and his guests.
While Kilhugh was riding thither, the tables were set for the evening meal. The king, with his knights, his friends, and his attendants, were in their places around 25 the board. And the gate of the outer court was locked.
As the prince rode on, he beheld from afar the walls and towers of Arthur's Hall. When he drew rein within the shadow of the vast portal, he saw that the door was closed and barred, and an armed warrior, stalwart and strong, 30 was standing before it.
"O chieftain," he said, "is it King Arthur's custom to have a gatekeeper stationed here?"
"It is," replied the warrior sternly; "and if thou dost not hold thy peace, scant shall be thy welcome. I am Arthur's porter every New Year's Day, and that is why I 5 am here now."
"And who is the porter at other times?" asked Prince Kilhugh.
"At other times the gate is guarded by four lusty chieftains who serve under me," answered the Dusky Hero with 10 the Mighty Grasp. "The names of the first two are Blandmien and Speedguest. The third is Grumgruff, a man who never did anyone a favor in his life. The fourth is Rumbleroll, who goes on his head to save his feet. He neither holds it up to the sky like a man, nor stretches it 15 out toward the ground like a brute; but he goes tumbling about the floor, like nothing but a rolling stone."
"Unbar the door and let me in," commanded Kilhugh.
"Nay, that I will not," answered the Dusky Hero with the Mighty Grasp. 20
"And why not?" cried the prince.