The flash of our righteous lightning Where flying free our foes will see CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Give in a sentence the central thought in this poem. 2. Tell about new Americans who have shown gratitude for what they receive in America. What instances seem to show ingratitude? 3. What experiences of Constantine Panunzio and Edward Steiner might have caused them to have very different feelings from those expressed in this poem? 4. Give reasons for placing this poem in "What the Newcomers Bring to America." Are there reasons against placing it here? 2. THE IMMIGRANT CONTRIBUTION FREDERIC J. HASKIN This author tells what a newcomer might say if he were to speak for all recent immigrants. Make a list of stories and poems in this unit of which you are reminded as you read this selection. In each case note the line which reminds you of the story or poem and be able to tell, if possible, why it made you think of that particular selection. I am the immigrant. Since the dawn of creation my restless feet have beaten new paths across the earth. My uneasy bark has tossed on all seas. My wanderlust was born of the craving for more liberty and a better wage for the sweat of my face. I looked towards the United States with eyes kindled by the fire of ambition and heart quickened with new-born hope. I approached its gates with great expectation. I entered in with fine hope. I have shouldered my burden as the American man-of-allwork. I contribute more than one-third of the labor in the slaughter ing and meat-packing industries. I do more than one-third of the bituminous coal mining. I contribute nearly one-third of the labor in the cotton mills. I manufacture more than one-fourth of the shoes. I build more than one-fourth of the furniture. I make nearly one-third of the felt hats. I turn out nearly half of all the leather. I raise one-fourth of the poultry. I refine nearly half of the sugar. And yet, I am the great American problem. When I pour out my blood on your altar of labor, and lay down my life as a sacrifice to your god of toil, men make no more comment than at the fall of a sparrow. But my brawn is woven into the warp and woof of the fabric of your national being. My children shall be your children and your land shall be my land because my sweat and my blood will cement the foundations of the America of To-morrow. If I can be fused into the body politic, the melting-pot will have stood the supreme test. CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. When is a person a "man-of-all-work"? In what respect is an immigrant a "man-of-all-work"? 2. Explain the second and the third lines of this selection. 3. Name immigrants of whom the fourth line is true. 4. In what ways is the immigrant "the great American problem"? What problem of immigration is referred to in the last line? 5. Volunteer work. Find and tell the class what proportion of the population in your community is classed by the census as "foreign"; also find the chief industries in which these people are employed and the kind of work they usually do. The librarian can help you secure this information. 3. THE ALIEN DANIEL HENDERSON In this poem Mr. Henderson gives a conversation such as might take place between an American and a newcomer to the United States. The American speaks in the first stanza, the newcomer in the second. This poem should be read in the same way as "The Melting-Pot" (p. 334). Clay am I Beneath your sky; Come, what will you make me? CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Explain the first question in the poem. How does it differ from the second question? What is the most important question in the first stanza? In the second stanza? 2. Do any of the preceding readings help you answer the questions asked in this poem? Explain. 3. Explain these lines: a. "Ask your Pilgrim blood what drew me." b. "Chained in tongue." c. "Prey to wild-mouthed agitation." d. "Clay am I Beneath your sky." 4. Are there schools for immigrants in your community? Should schools be provided for them? Why? If schools are provided, should they be paid for by the local, the State, or the national government? Give reasons. 5. Should this poem be read aloud slowly or rapidly? Loudly or softly? Or should there be changes in these respects? Have some of the pupils in the class read the poem aloud as they think it ought to be read. Talk over the differences in their reading. 6. Volunteer problem. What danger to our country is shown in E. M. Larson's story, "Knud, Son of Knud," in The Outlook, 117:22-25? 7. Volunteer enterprise. A spelling match. Two committees draw up two lists of one hundred twenty-five words each from selections in "Seeking New Homes." Choose only words which boys and girls of your grade might use in their own written work. Your teacher may reduce the lists to one hundred words each, and have a spelling match, allowing the chairmen of the committees to choose sides. zen, ADDITIONAL READINGS. 1. "The Foreign-Born American Citi," in W. Talbot's Americanization, 81-88. 2. "The American," G. Phillips, in Century Magazine, 57:93-99. 3. "Americanism," T. Roosevelt, Fear God and Take Your Own Part, 55-57, 104-109, 361–363. A preceding selection told of the coming of Doctor Steiner to America and described his first experiences here. Several years later he became a naturalized American. He is widely known to-day as a lecturer and an author. In this story, he tells what he thinks is the noblest American art. Read rapidly, and as soon as you find his answer, raise your hand. "I wonder why Mrs. Salciccioli is so nervous this morning, I said to my wife. "She acts like a hen on a hot griddle." Now I have never seen a hen on a hot griddle except when properly prepared for the ordeal, and then the hen did not behave at all as our landlady was behaving. She wiped the dust from my desk six times in succession, from the topmost pigeonholes down to the claws of its ill-shaped legs. I endured this until she began the seventh attack, and then, with an oft-repeated "Bene, bene, "" I gently pushed her from the room. I had just succeeded in putting Mrs. Salciccioli out of my 1 Americanus sum: I am an American. 2 Bene, bene: Good, good, meaning here "enough, enough." |