86 THE ELSON READERS BOOK VII (7th Grade) That night, so disturbed had all become, they lay awake listening, waiting, hoping for a change. About midnight Lincoln noticed that the roar was no longer so steady, so relentless, and so high-keyed as before. It began to lull at times, and though 5 it came back to the attack with all its former ferocity, still there was a perceptible weakening. Its fury was becoming spasmodic. One of the men shouted down to Mr. Stewart, "The storm is over," and when the host called back a ringing word of cheer, Lincoln sank into deep sleep in sheer relief. 10 Oh, the joy with which the children melted the ice on the windowpanes, and peered out on the familiar landscape, dazzling, peaceful, under the brilliant sun and wide blue sky. Lincoln looked out over the wide plain, ridged with vast drifts; on the far blue line of timber, on the near-by cottages sending up 15 cheerful columns of smoke (as if to tell him the neighbors were alive), and his heart seemed to fill his throat. But the wind was with him still, for so long and continuous had its voice sounded in his ears, that even in the perfect calm his imagination supplied its loss with fainter, fancied roarings. 20 Out in the barn the horses and cattle, hungry and cold, kicked and bellowed in pain, and when the men dug them out, they ran and raced like mad creatures, to start the blood circulating in their numbed and stiffened limbs. Mr. Stewart was forced to tunnel to the barn door, cutting through the hard snow as if it 25 were clay. The drifts were solid, and the dirt mixed with the snow was disposed on the surface in beautiful wavelets, like the sands at the bottom of a lake. The drifts would bear a horse. The guests were able to go home by noon, climbing above the fences, and rattling across the plowed ground. 80 And then in the days which followed, came grim tales of suffering and heroism. Tales of the finding of stage-coaches with the driver frozen on his seat and all his passengers within; tales of travelers striving to reach homes and families. Cattle had starved and frozen in their stalls, and sheep lay buried in heaps 85 beside the fences where they had clustered together to keep warm. These days gave Lincoln a new conception of the prairies. It taught him that however bright and beautiful they might be in summer under skies of June, they could be terrible when the Norther was abroad in his wrath. They seemed now 6 as pitiless and destructive as the polar ocean. It seemed as if nothing could live there unhoused. All was at the mercy of that power, the north wind, whom only the Lord Sun could tame. NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. Hamlin Garland (1860- ) was born in Wisconsin. His father was a farmer-pioneer, who, always eager to be upon the border line of agricultural development, moved from Wisconsin to Minnesota, from Minnesota to Iowa, and from Iowa to Dakota. The hope of cheaper acres, better soil, and bigger crops led him on. When Hamlin Garland turned his attention to literature he was keen enough to see the literary value of his early experiences. He resolved to interpret truthfully the life of the western farmer and its great hardships and limitations, no less than its hopes, joys, and achievements. In doing this, through a succession of short stories and novels, he won fame and success. In A Son of the Middle Border, an autobiography, he has written an intensely interesting and valuable record of typical experiences in the development of the Middle West. "The Great Blizzard" is taken from Boy Life on the Prairie. The boy Lincoln was a brother of Hamlin Garland. Discussion. 1. What distinguishes a blizzard from other violent storms? 2. What are the dangers when it comes without ample warning? 3. What was the manner of attack of this blizzard? 4. What caused the early darkness? 5. What in the storm "appalled" the boy's heart and "benumbed his thinking"? 6. What effect had the blizzard upon other members of the household? 7. What was the velocity of the wind? 8. How long did the blizzard last? 9. What name was given it because of its force, fury, and duration? 10. What results proved the violence of the storm? 11. What new idea of the prairie did the storm give the boy Lincoln? 12. On page 19 you read that adventures may come to one who is snow-bound; what unusual happenings and tasks came to Lincoln as a result of the blizzard? Did they seem like adventures to him? 13. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: malevolent; inexorable; portentous; momentum ; appalled; multitudinous; impenetrably; prodigious; invincible; interminable; relentless; spasmodic; conception. 14. Pronounce: recess; infinite; calm; ferocity; heroism. The reading period calls forth many interesting subjects that you will wish to learn more about and discuss with your classmates. You will find it well worth while occasionally to make a report to the class on some particular subject connected with your reading lesson that you have become interested in and to which you have given some thought and study. Most of these reports you will doubtless like to give orally, but some of them you may wish to present in written form. Whether your report is oral or written, always make sure that it has a good beginning, tells interesting facts, and ends well. You will add interest to your report if you appeal to the eyes as well as the ears of your audience by the use of pictures, maps, and blackboard sketches. After reading this thrilling story of a blizzard on the frontier plains, you may wish to read other tales of great storms, comparing them with "The Great Blizzard." Here are some suggestions for further reading, and reporting to. the class: 1. A review of "Lost in a Norther" in Boy Life on the Prairie. 2. A report of winter hunting on the western plains by Theodore Roosevelt (in The Wilderness Hunter, Chapter V, pages 87 to 97). 3. A review of the story "Matches," Paradise (in The Atlantic Monthly, November, 1920). 4. A thrilling experience I had in a winter storm. 5. The most exciting tale I ever heard about a snowstorm. comes he comes-the Frost Spirit comes!-on the rushing Northern blast, I the dark Norwegian pines have bowed as his fearful breath went past. h an unscorched wing he has hurried on, where the fires of Hekla glow the darkly beautiful sky above and the ancient ice below. 90 THE ELSON READERS BOOK VII (7th Grade) And the streams which danced on the broken rocks, or sang to the leaning grass, Shall bow again to their winter chain, and in mournful silence pass. He comes he comes-the Frost Spirit comes!-let us meet him as we may, And turn with the light of the parlor-fire his evil power away; 5 And gather closer the circle round, when that firelight dances high, And laugh at the shriek of the baffled Fiend as his sounding wing goes by! NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) was born near the little town of Haverhill, Massachusetts, about twenty miles from Salem, the birthplace of Hawthorne. The old farmhouse in which Whittier was born was built by the poet's great-great-grandfather, and it still stands to mark the site of the old home. His family were Quakers, sturdy of character as of stature. Whittier's boyhood was in complete contrast to that of Lowell and Longfellow. He led the life of a typical New England farm boy, used to hard work, no luxuries, and few pleasures. His library consisted practically of one book, the family Bible, which was later supplemented by a copy of Burns's Poems, loaned him by the district schoolmaster. Whittier is often compared with Burns in the simple homeliness of his style, his patriotism, his fiery indignation at wrong, and his sympathy with the humble and the oppressed. Discussion. 1. Why does the poet personify "The Frost Spirit"? 2. Why is "Fiend" personified? 3. How can one “trace his footsteps" on woods and fields? 4. Locate on a map Labrador, the pine region of Norway, and the volcano of Hekla. 5. What is the "icy bridge of the northern seas"? 6. Why does the poet say, “In the sunless cold of the lingering night"? 7. What does the poet mean by the "shriek of the baffled Fiend"? 8. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: blasted; smitten. Phrases for Study luckless forms, 89, 7 unscorched wing, 89, 11 torpid touch, 89, 14 Library Reading. "Kathleen," a ballad, Whittier. |