Books worth Reading 197 the Saracens. The ancestors of the English people came to England from Germany, and they brought with them songs and stories. Beowulf, a story about a hero of the same name, is one of the oldest poems in the English language. The Britons, who lived in England before the Angles and Saxons came there, also had their stories. Some of these told of King Arthur and his court, and later on these became the subjects of many famous tales in verse and prose. All of the stories were told hundreds of years ago, before America was discovered, or printing invented; but they all show the same love for bravery, truth, and unselfishness, which we have to-day. Who can tell something about any of the following topics? What would you like to know about them? Siegfried, Brunhild, the Rhinegold, Nibelungen, Roland, Charlemagne, the Saracens, Beowulf, Grendel, King Arthur, Sir Galahad. For a later lesson you are to be prepared to tell one story or incident about some one of the heroes discussed in the present Lesson and in Lesson 213. These stories will be found in Katherine F. Boult's Heroes of the Norselands (Temple Classics for Young People); James Baldwin's Story of Siegfried; C. J. Child's translation of Beowulf (Riverside Series); A. J. Church's Heroes of Chivalry and Romance; Baker's Out of the Northland (Macmillan); Brown's In the Days of Giants (Houghton Mifflin Co.). Keary's Heroes of Asgard; Mabie's Norse Stories (Doubleday); Cox's Popular Romances of the Middle Ages; Butler's translation of the Song of Roland (Riverside Series). Baker and Carpenter's Fifth Year Language Reader (Macmillan) will supply the material needed for class work. You should not forget that the history of our own country is full of brave deeds by land and sea. Every year on Memorial Day as you help to decorate with flowers the graves of the old soldiers, you are celebrating the heroism that was displayed by the armies of the North and South. The following poem was written many years ago by an English. poet in memory of English soldiers and sailors, but no words. could better express our feelings toward both the Blue and the Gray. AN ODE TO THE BRAVE How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, - WILLIAM COLLINS. 220. WRITTEN LESSON Write a brief composition telling an incident from one of the hero tales of Lessons 213 and 219. A story should begin in a simple, clear, and interesting way, and should end when you have reached the ending. Do not try to fill it out when your ideas are all used up, and do not add a "moral." Some of the compositions will be read in the class. Which have the best beginnings? Which tell the story most clearly and directly? Which have good endings? Are any of them good enough to go into the class story-book? Phrases and Prepositions 221. LANGUAGE LESSON PHRASES AND PREPOSITIONS 199 The following expressions are prepositional phrases: of me, with pleasure, on the table, from the country, in time, by courtesy, for us, at the picnic. In each expression there is a principal word, either a noun or a pronoun. In each expression there is an introducing word, called a preposition. The principal word in a phrase (a noun or a pronoun) may be modified by adjectives; as, in the good old summer time, under the long red box. Make sentences, each containing a phrase with one of these prepositions. A phrase may be used like an adjective to modify a noun or pronoun. A phrase may be used like an adverb to modify a verb or an adjective. Make sentences in which the following phrases modify nouns or pronouns: on the table, of honor, under the carpet, in his place, beneath the apple trees, down the street, with me. Make sentences in which the following phrases play the part of adverbs and modify verbs or adjectives: into the shop, in fun, at home, against his father's wishes, down the street, for my own, toward the city, with my old friend. 222. ORAL LESSON HOEING AND FISHING. AN UNFINISHED STORY The sun was warm, and the wind still, as James and his father hurried back and forth through the plowed field along a small New England lake, dropping little handfuls of beans in the furrows and covering them with their hoes. The day was Saturday, ་ ་་ 1/19/1 and James cherished a feeling that a world in which a boy had to work on his one weekly holiday was not ordered properly. The field was big; and although they had been at work all the four hours since sunrise, they would probably not be done until the sun was going down over the wooded hills. Two of his friends were off in the woods following a leaping, dashing little stream up the mountain side, and, he felt sure, filling their baskets with the beautiful spotted trout. To-morrow would be Sunday; he would have to wear a stiff collar and tight, squeaky shoes. After Sunday school his friends would tell him all about their fishing and their catch. Perhaps one of them had already got the famous big trout under the mill-race that every man and boy in the town had tried for, but no one had ever hooked. He thought he had seen that trout once, but he wasn't quite sure. And his hands were getting blistered from this heavy An Unfinished Story 201 hoe (the fishing pole raised blisters sometimes, but that didn't matter), and he was tired and hot and altogether unhappy. noon. So the slow day wore on, with an hour for rest and lunch at At four o'clock one of the neighbors drove up, and hailing his father, took him off to look at some cattle that were for sale. "There are only six rows to do, James," said his father. along, and you'll be through before dark." "Hurry Meanwhile the sky had grown gray, a dark cloud came up out of the west, faint thunder rolled in the distance, and what was that? Yes, a fish leaped in the lake; then another, and another, until they seemed to be calling to James, "Come, have a try at us!" It was too much for the tired boy. He dug a big hole with his hoe, poured in the rest of the beans, and hurried across the field to the woodshed where his fishing tackle hung. Think of what the ending or the sequel to this story might be. Invent as many endings for it as you can. Which is the most natural, or most interesting? |