Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year Part 14

--_Last Essays of Elia._

1. Lord Mayor's Day falls on November 9. Explain the reference to Mist. Quarter Day is the day usually looked upon as the day rent falls due. Why did April Fool decide against the Quarter Days in behalf of the Forty Days before Easter? The Second of September is the beginning of the open season for shooting. Explain the reference to "pheasant."

2. How many were at this feast? Why did the Festivals come? Why have only twelve carriers, in the fourth paragraph? Explain how April Fool added to the merriment in seating the guests. What pun did April Fool make?

3. What American holidays would you add if you were writing this essay? How could you make them fit in humorously?

4. Charles Lamb (1775-1834), English essayist, is noted for his humorous sketches. You should read his "Dissertation on Roast Pig" With his sister Mary, he wrote _Tales from Shakespeare_, which you will enjoy reading.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

(WRITTEN FOR JESSE W. FELL, December 20, 1859)

Abraham Lincoln enjoyed telling stories of his youth and early manhood, but he wrote very little about himself. The following is the longest statement he has set down anywhere about his own life. And he did this only at the earnest request of a fellow citizen in Illinois, Mr. Fell. You should read this brief autobiography with two things in mind: the facts of Lincoln's life, and the simplicity and modesty of the statement of these facts.

I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky.

My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside 5 in Adams, and others in Macon County, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky about 1781 or 1782, where a year or two later he was killed by the Indians, not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring 10 to open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks County, Pennsylvania.

An effort to identify them with the New England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite than a similarity of Christian names in both families, such 15 as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like.

My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the state came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher 5 beyond "readin', writin', and cipherin'" to the rule of three.

If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age I did not 10 know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity. 15

I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store. 20

Then came the Black Hawk war, and I was elected a captain of volunteers, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went the campaign, was elated, ran for the legislature the same year (1832), and was beaten--the only time I have ever been beaten by the 25 people. The next and three succeeding biennial elections I was elected to the legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. During this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower house of Congress. Was 30 not a candidate for reelection. From 1849 to 1854, both inclusive, practiced law more a.s.siduously than ever before.

Always Whig in politics; and generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making active canva.s.ses. I was losing interest in politics when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known. 5

If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing on an average one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coa.r.s.e black hair and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected. 10

1. Outline Lincoln's life, ancestry, etc., as here presented, under the proper heads. Test your outline by trying to group all the facts under their proper headings. This will require careful re-reading of the selection.

2. Next take one of your topics and practice _thinking_ of the items you have included under it.

Be ready to speak on any one of your topics at cla.s.s recitation.

3. What major events of Lincoln's life are omitted from this doc.u.ment? Why? (To answer this, refer to your history for the dates of Lincoln's presidency; compare with the date when this was written.)

4. Is there anything in the article that sounds the least boastful? Explain lines 25-26 in this connection.

5. Who were the Whigs? What was the Missouri Compromise?

6. One sentence in this suggests the sly humor of Lincoln. Find it.

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN

BY WALT WHITMAN

The Civil War between the North and the South lasted from 1861-1865. Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States at the time, and it was largely due to his wisdom that the great conflict lasted no longer. The Northern armies were generally victorious in the winter and spring of 1865. The nation, however, was suddenly bowed in grief. The President was shot by an a.s.sa.s.sin on April 14, and died next day.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) at the time was employed in a clerical position in the War Department, and, outside office hours, in nursing wounded soldiers in Washington. He often saw Lincoln, who pa.s.sed Whitman's house almost every day. The "Good Gray Poet" and the President had a bowing acquaintance; and in one of his books Whitman refers to the dark-brown face, deep-cut lines, and sad eyes of Lincoln. Whitman gave expression to his grief at the country's loss in the following poem, in which he refers to the martyred President as the captain of the Ship of State.

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won; The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and 5 daring; But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. 10

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills, For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths--for you the sh.o.r.es a-crowding. 5 For you they call, the swaying ma.s.s, their eager faces turning.

Here, Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck 10 You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; The ship is anch.o.r.ed safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, 15 From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult, O sh.o.r.es, and ring, O bells!

But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. 20

--_Drum Taps._

1. Explain the references to the safe arrival of the ship in port, the ringing of the bells, and the general exultation.

2. Re-read the poem carefully. Picture to yourself what each stanza contributes as you read. When you have finished, test yourself to see how much of it you can recall exactly. Complete the memorization by this same process of careful re-reading.

3. Whitman had his volume, _Drum Taps_, practically completed when Lincoln's a.s.sa.s.sination occurred. He held up its publication to include "O Captain! My Captain" and another poem on the death of Lincoln, called "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed."

Why is the t.i.tle of the latter poem appropriate?

WASHINGTON'S GREATEST BATTLE

BY FREDERICK TREVOR HILL

By 1781 the French were cooperating with our colonial troops against the armies and navies of the British. Lafayette was in the South helping Greene worry Cornwallis. Rochambeau was working with Washington near New York, to keep Clinton from uniting his forces with those of Cornwallis. De Gra.s.se, in charge of the French fleet, was planning a blow at the British squadron. The stage was thus set for a great military stroke--and Washington readily took up the cue.

Word was received from Lafayette that Cornwallis had moved to Yorktown on the York River, Virginia, close to Chesapeake Bay, and almost at the same moment the long-expected dispatch arrived from de Gra.s.se, advising Washington that he was just on the point of 5 sailing for Chesapeake Bay. The instant he received this news the American commander realized that his chance had come. Cornwallis had evidently brought his army to Yorktown that it might cooperate with a British fleet in the Chesapeake, and by good luck de Gra.s.se was heading 10 directly for this very spot. A bold, swift stroke might now end the war, and the plan which Washington immediately put in operation was daring to a really perilous degree.

Up to this point all the movements of the French and Americans had convinced Clinton that an attack would 15 soon be made against New York. Never for a moment did he imagine that his opponent would dare leave the Hudson unguarded and throw his whole army against Cornwallis.

The risk of losing West Point and the difficulty of covering the hundreds of miles that lay between New York and Yorktown seemed to forbid any such maneuver. Nevertheless, this was precisely what Washington intended to do, and within a few days after the receipt of de Gra.s.se's message he was hurrying southward with every man he could 5 possibly spare.

Secrecy and speed were essential to success, for if Clinton discovered what was happening, he would undoubtedly try to throw his army between Cornwallis and the Americans, and even though he failed in stopping them he could 10 easily delay their march until the British force at Yorktown had time to escape. Washington, therefore, took extraordinary care to conceal his plans, not only from his foes but also from his friends. Indeed, Rochambeau was the only officer who knew where the men were being headed as 15 they hurried through New Jersey, and so cleverly was their route selected that even when Clinton learned of their march he still believed that the Americans, having failed in the attempt on his rear door near King's Bridge, were about to swing around and try to get in at the front door 20 from Staten Island or Sandy Hook.

This was just what Washington wanted him to think, and to deceive him still further, camp kitchens were erected along the expected line of march and the troops were so handled that they seemed to be moving straight to an 25 attack on New York. But at the proper moment they were suddenly turned southward at a pace that defied pursuit, and before the true situation dawned on the British commander they were almost at the Delaware River. But though he had by this time acquired a fairly safe lead, 30 Washington did not slacken his speed, and with a roar of cheers from the now excited populace, the dusty columns were soon pouring through Philadelphia, the American commander pushing on ahead to Chester, and sending back word that de Gra.s.se had arrived in Chesapeake Bay and that not a moment must be lost.

Clinton then made a frantic effort to save the day by 5 sending Arnold to attack some of the New England towns, thinking that the American commander might hurry back to their rescue. But Washington was first and foremost a man of good, hard common sense, and he knew that all Arnold could accomplish would be the destruction of a few 10 defenseless towns, and to let Cornwallis escape in order to protect them did not appeal to his practical mind at all.

He therefore paid no attention to the traitor's movements, but bent all his efforts on speeding his army southward.