Part 16

5. What incentive to loyalty is suggested here? Name a better one.

(Used by permission of Elbert Hubbard II, East Aurora, N. Y.)

JOHN MARSHALL OF VIRGINIA

BY JOHN ESTEN COOKE

This anecdote about a great American begins with a short account of his life and work. It goes on to tell about his appearance and habits and then relates the story that illustrates something fine in his character. Judge Marshall was born in 1755 and died in 1835. By recalling what events happened during his lifetime and what great men were his contemporaries, you will get a clearer idea of the setting of the story. In reading it try to picture costumes, houses, etc.

Among the great men of Virginia, John Marshall will always be remembered with honor and esteem. He was the son of a poor man, and his early life was spent in poverty; but he was not afraid of labor, and everybody saw that he was a person of more than common ability. 5

Little by little he rose to distinction, and there was scarcely any public office in the gift of the people that he might not have had for the asking. He served in the legislature of Virginia; he was sent as envoy to France; he was made Secretary of State; and finally he became Chief 10 Justice of the United States. When he died at the age of eighty, he was one of the greatest and most famous men in America.

My father knew him well and loved him, and told me many things about him. He was very tall and thin, and 15 dressed very plainly. He wore a suit of plain black cloth, and common yarn stockings, which fitted tightly to his legs and showed how thin they were. He was a very great walker, and would often walk out to his farm, which was several miles from Richmond. But sometimes he went on horseback, and once he was met riding out with a bag of clover seed on the saddle before him.

His manners were plain and simple, and he liked to talk about everyday matters with plain country people and laugh and jest with them. In a word, he was so great a man 5 that he never thought of appearing greater than other people, but was always the same unpretending John Marshall.

It was the fashion among the gentlemen of Richmond to walk to market early in the morning and buy fresh meats 10 and vegetables for their family dinners. This was a good old fashion, and some famous gentlemen continued to do so to the end of their lives. It was the habit of Judge Marshall, and very often he took no servant with him. He would buy what he wanted and return home, carrying his 15 purchases on his arm; and on one of these occasions a little incident occurred which is well worth telling.

Judge Marshall had made his purchases at the market and was just starting for home when he heard some one using very rough and unbecoming language. He turned 20 round and saw what was the cause of the hubbub. A finely dressed young man, who seemed to be a stranger, had just bought a turkey in the market. Finding that it would not be carried home for him, he became very angry. Judge Marshall listened a moment to his ungentlemanly 25 talk, and then stepping up to him asked very kindly, "Where do you live, sir?"

The young man looked at the plainly dressed old countryman, as he supposed him to be, and then named the street and number where he lived. 30

"I happen to be going that way," said Judge Marshall with a smile, "and I will take it for you."

The young man handed him the turkey and left the market, followed by Judge Marshall. When they reached the young man's home, Marshall politely handed him the turkey and turned to go.

"What shall I pay you?" asked the young man. 5

"Oh, nothing," answered Marshall. "You are welcome. It was on my way, and no trouble at all." He bowed and walked away, while the young man looked after him, beginning now to see that he had made a mistake.

"Who is that polite old gentleman who carried my turkey 10 for me?" he asked of a friend who was passing.

"That is John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States," was the answer.

The young man was astounded and ashamed. "But why did he offer to carry my turkey?" he exclaimed. 15

"To give you a reprimand and teach you to attend to your own business and behave like a gentleman."

This little anecdote will show you the character of John Marshall; and I cannot believe that it was his wish merely to reprimand the foolish young man. He was too sweet-tempered 20 and kind to take pleasure in reprimanding anyone; and I have not a doubt that he carried the turkey simply from the wish to be obliging.

--_Stories of the Old Dominion._

1. What were the offices that Judge Marshall held? What great men did he probably meet and talk with? What important events happened during his lifetime? Describe his appearance, character, and habits.

2. Relate the story about the turkey. Did the young man mean to be disagreeable? About whom was he thinking? What was the difference between his point of view and Judge Marshall's? Why did Judge Marshall carry the turkey for him?

OPPORTUNITY

BY EDWARD ROWLAND SILL

This poem is an allegory. In reading it try to get a clear picture of the scene described, and at the same time remember that everything in it has a hidden meaning; to understand it fully, you must find out what the pictures represent. The title gives you the necessary key.

This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:-- There spread a cloud of dust along a plain; And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner 5 Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes. A craven hung along the battle's edge, And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel-- That blue blade that the king's son bears,--but this Blunt thing!" He snapped and flung it from his hand, 10 And lowering crept away and left the field. Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead, And weaponless, and saw the broken sword, Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand, And ran and snatched it, and with battle shout 15 Lifted afresh, he hewed his enemy down, And saved a great cause that heroic day.

1. What do the following represent: the battle; the swords; the craven; the king's son; the broken sword buried in the sand? Express the meaning of the allegory in a sentence of your own.

2. Define an allegory, a fable; a parable. Most allegories are long. Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_ is a very famous one.

BOY WANTED

BY DR. FRANK CRANE

Dr. Frank Crane is an American writer whose little essays you often see in newspapers and magazines. This description of the right sort of boy is put in the form of a "Want ad" in a newspaper. While you read it, consider whether the boy you are best acquainted with could apply for the job.

(Used by special permission of the author.)

A boy who stands straight, sits straight, acts straight, and talks straight.

A boy who listens carefully when spoken to, who asks questions when he does not understand, and does not ask questions about things that are none of his business. 5

A boy whose finger nails are not in mourning, whose ears are clean, whose shoes are polished, whose clothes are brushed, whose hair is combed, and whose teeth are well cared for.

A boy who moves quickly and makes as little noise about 10 it as possible.

A boy who whistles in the street but not where he ought to keep still.

A boy who looks cheerful, has a ready smile for everybody, and never sulks. 15

A boy who is polite to every man and respectful to every woman and girl.

A boy who does not smoke cigarettes and has no desire to learn how.

A boy who never bullies other boys or allows other boys 20 to bully him.

A boy who, when he does not know a thing, says, "I do not know"; and when he has made a mistake says, "I'm sorry"; and when requested to do a thing immediately says, "I'll try."

A boy who looks you right in the eye and tells the truth 5 every time.

A boy who would rather lose his job or be expelled from school than tell a lie or be a cad.

A boy who is more eager to know how to speak good English than to talk slang. 10

A boy who does not want to be "smart" nor in any wise attract attention.

A boy who is eager to read good, wholesome books.

A boy whom other boys like.

A boy who is perfectly at ease in the company of respectable 15 girls.

A boy who is not a goody-goody, a prig, or a little Pharisee, but just healthy, happy, and full of life.

A boy who is not sorry for himself and not forever thinking and talking about himself. 20

A boy who is friendly with his mother and more intimate with her than with anyone else.

A boy who makes you feel good when he is around.

This boy is wanted everywhere. The family wants him, the school wants him, the office wants him, the boys and 25 girls want him, and all creation wants him.

1. What is the difference in use between the first two and the last two "straight's" in the first paragraph?

2. Which of the requirements are matters of good manners? Of health? Of courage? Of ambition? Of unselfishness? Of honesty?

3. Which of these items would you cut out, if any? What others would you put in the list?

JOHN LITTLEJOHN

BY CHARLES MACKAY

John Littlejohn was stanch and strong, Upright and downright, scorning wrong; He gave good weight and paid his way, He thought for himself and said his say. Whenever a rascal strove to pass, 5 Instead of silver, a coin of brass, He took his hammer and said with a frown, "The coin is spurious--nail it down!"

John Littlejohn was firm and true, You could not cheat him in "two and two"; 10 When foolish arguers, might and main, Darkened and twisted the clear and plain, He saw through the mazes of their speech The simple truth beyond their reach; And crushing their logic said with a frown, 15 "Your coin is spurious--nail it down!"

John Littlejohn maintained the right, Through storm and shine, in the world's despite; When fools or quacks desired his vote, Dosed him with arguments learned by rote, 20 Or by coaxing, threats, or promise tried To gain his support to the wrong side, "Nay, nay," said John with an angry frown, "Your coin is spurious--nail it down!"

When told that kings had a right divine, And that the people were herds of swine, That nobles alone were fit to rule, That the poor were unimproved by school, That ceaseless toil was the proper fate 5 Of all but the wealthy and the great, John shook his head and said with a frown, "The coin is spurious--nail it down!"

When told that events might justify A false and crooked policy, 10 That a decent hope of future good Might excuse departure from rectitude, That a lie, if white, was a small offense, To be forgiven by men of sense, "Nay, nay," said John with a sigh and frown, 15 "The coin is spurious--nail it down!"

Whenever the world our eyes would blind With false pretenses of such a kind, With humbug, cant, or bigotry, Or a specious, sham philosophy, 20 With wrong dressed up in the guise of right, And darkness passing itself for light, Let us imitate John and exclaim with a frown, "The coin is spurious--nail it down!"

1. What kinds of cheating are mentioned? Which is most dangerous?

2. Littlejohn could detect and put down lies because he kept his head clear and told the truth to himself. What lines tell you this? Who is the person most likely to deceive you about right and wrong?

3. Explain: spurious, mazes, logic, despite, quacks, rote, policy, rectitude, cant, bigotry, specious.

THE DISCONTENTED PENDULUM

An old clock that had stood for fifty years in a farmer's kitchen without giving its owner any cause of complaint, early one summer's morning, before the family was stirring, suddenly stopped. Upon this, the dial plate (if we may credit the fable) changed countenance with alarm; 5 the hands made a vain effort to continue their course; the wheels remained motionless with surprise; the weights hung speechless; and each member felt disposed to lay the blame on the others. At length the dial instituted a formal inquiry into the cause of the stoppage; when hands, wheels, 10 weights, with one voice, protested their innocence. But now a faint tick was heard below from the pendulum, who thus spoke:

"I confess myself to be the sole cause of the stoppage; and I am willing, for the general satisfaction, to assign my 15 reasons. The truth is, that I am tired of ticking." Upon hearing this the old clock became so enraged that it was on the very point of striking.

"Lazy wire!" exclaimed the dial plate, holding up its hands. 20

"Very good!" replied the pendulum. "It is vastly easy for you, Mistress Dial, who have always, as everybody knows, set yourself up above me--it is vastly easy for _you_, I say, to accuse other people of laziness! You, who have had nothing to do all your life but to stare people in 25 the face and to amuse yourself with watching all that goes on in the kitchen! Think how you would like to be shut up for life in this dark closet and wag backward and forward, year after year, as I do."

"As to that," said the dial, "is there not a window in your house on purpose for you to look through?"

"For all that," resumed the pendulum, "it is very dark 5 here; and although there is a window, I dare not stop, even for an instant, to look out. Besides I am really tired of my way of life; and if you wish, I'll tell you how I took this disgust at my employment. This morning I happened to be calculating how many times I should have to tick in the 10 course of only the next twenty-four hours; perhaps some of you, above there, can give me the exact sum."

The minute hand, being quick at figures, instantly replied, "Eighty-six thousand four hundred times."

"Exactly so," replied the pendulum. "Well, I appeal to 15 you all, if the thought of this was not enough to fatigue one? And when I began to multiply the strokes of one day by those of months and years, really it is no wonder if I felt discouraged at the prospect; so after a great deal of reasoning and hesitation, thinks I to myself, _I'll stop_!" 20

The dial could scarcely keep its countenance during this harangue, but resuming its gravity it at last replied: "Dear Mr. Pendulum, I am really astonished that such a useful, industrious person as yourself should have been overcome by this suggestion. It is true you have done a 25 great deal of work in your time; so have we all, and are likely to do; and though this may fatigue us to _think_ of, the question is, will it fatigue us to _do_? Would you, now, give half a dozen strokes to illustrate my argument?"

The pendulum complied, and ticked six times at its 30 usual pace. "Now," resumed the dial, "may I be allowed to ask, was that exertion at all fatiguing to you?"

"Not in the least," replied the pendulum; "it is not of six strokes that I complain, nor of sixty, but of _millions_."

"Very good," replied the dial; "but recollect that although you may _think_ of a million strokes in an instant, you are required to execute but one, and that however often 5 you may hereafter have to swing, a moment will always be given you to swing in."

"That consideration staggers me, I confess," said the pendulum.

"Then I hope," resumed the dial plate, "we shall all 10 immediately return to our duty; for the maids will be in bed till noon if we stand idling thus."

Upon this the weights, who had never been accused of light conduct, used all their influence in urging him to proceed; when, as with one consent, the wheels began to 15 turn, the hands began to move, the pendulum began to swing, and, to its credit, ticked as loud as ever; while a beam of the rising sun that streamed through a hole in the kitchen shutter, shining full upon the dial plate, made it brighten up as if nothing had been the matter. 20

But when the farmer came down to breakfast that morning, he looked at the clock and declared that his watch had gained half an hour in the night!

1. Write a single short sentence expressing the moral of this story.

2. Why did the minute hand make the calculation (page 233)? Is its calculation correct?

3. What play on words is made in line 21, page 233. In line 13-14, page 234?

4. There is an old saying to the effect that we should let each day's work take care of itself. How far is this true?

TWO SIDES TO EVERY QUESTION

In the days of knight-errantry and paganism, one of the old British princes set up a statue to the goddess of Victory in a point where four roads met together. In her right hand she held a spear, and her left hand rested upon a shield. The outside of this shield was of gold and the inside 5 of silver. On the former was inscribed, in the old British language, "To the goddess ever favorable"; and on the other, "For four victories obtained successively over the Picts and other inhabitants of the northern islands."

It happened one day that two knights completely armed, 10 one in black armor, the other in white, arrived from opposite parts of the country at this statue, just about the same time; and as neither of them had seen it before, they stopped to read the inscription and to observe its workmanship.

After contemplating it for some time, "This golden 15 shield--" said the black knight.

"Golden shield!" cried the white knight (who was as strictly observing the opposite side); "why, if I have my eyes, it is silver."

"I know nothing of your eyes," replied the black knight; 20 "but if ever I saw a golden shield in my life, this is one."

"Yes," returned the white knight smiling, "it is very probable indeed that they should expose a shield of gold in so public a place as this! For my own part, I wonder that even a silver one is not too strong a temptation for the 25 devotion of some people who pass this way; and it appears by the date that this has been here above three years."

The black knight could not bear the smile with which this was delivered and grew so warm in the dispute that it soon ended in a challenge; they both, therefore, turned their horses and rode back so far as to have sufficient space for their career; then, fixing their spears in their rests they flew at each other with the greatest fury and impetuosity. 5 Their shock was so rude, and the blow on each side so effectual, that they both fell to the ground much wounded and lay there for some time as in a trance.

A good druid who was traveling that way found them in this condition. The druids were the physicians of those 10 times as well as the priests. So he stanched their blood, and brought them, as it were, from death to life again. As soon as they were sufficiently recovered he began to inquire into the cause of their quarrel.

"Why this man," cried the black knight, "will have it 15 that yonder shield is silver."

"And he will have it," replied the white knight, "that it is gold."

And then they told him all the particulars of the affair.

"Ah!" said the druid, "my brothers, you are both of you 20 in the right and both of you in the wrong. Had either given himself time to look at the opposite side of the shield, as well as that which first presented itself to view, all this ill feeling and bloodshed might have been avoided. Allow me, therefore, to entreat you by all our gods, and by this 25 goddess of Victory in particular, _never again to enter into any dispute till you have fairly considered both sides of the question_."

1. This story is a fable. State the moral in your own words. Tell a story of your own, with a modern setting, to enforce the same moral; or one with animals for characters, as in Æsop's _Fables_.

IF I WERE A BOY

BY WASHINGTON GLADDEN

If I were a boy again, and knew what I know now, I would not be quite so positive in my opinions as I used to be. Boys generally think that they are very certain about many things. A boy of fifteen is a great deal more sure of what he thinks he knows than most men of 5 fifty. You ask the boy a question and he will answer you right off, up and down; he knows all about it. Ask a man of large experience and ripe wisdom the same question, and he will say, "Well, there is much to be said about it. I am inclined on the whole to think so and so, but other 10 intelligent men think otherwise."

When I was eight years old, I traveled from central Massachusetts to western New York, crossing the river at Albany and going by canal from Schenectady to Syracuse. On the canal boat, a kindly gentleman was talking to me 15 one day, and I remarked that I had crossed the Connecticut River at Albany. How I got it into my head that it was the Connecticut River I do not know, for I knew my geography very well then, but in some unaccountable way I had it fixed in my mind that the river at Albany was the 20 Connecticut, and I called it so.

"Why," said the gentleman, "that is the Hudson River."

"Oh, no, sir!" I replied politely, but firmly. "You're mistaken. That is the Connecticut River."

The gentleman smiled and said no more. I was not 25 much in the habit, I think, of contradicting my elders; but in this matter I was perfectly sure that I was right and so I thought it my duty to correct the gentleman's geography. I felt rather sorry for him that he should be so ignorant. One day, after I reached home, I was looking over my route on the map, and lo! there was Albany standing 5 on the Hudson River, a hundred miles from the Connecticut.