The Elson Readers Part 9

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS C. L. DODGSON ("Lewis Carroll") Christ Church, Oxford October 13, 1875

My Dear Gertrude:

I never give birthday presents, but you see I do sometimes write a birthday letter; so, as I've just arrived here, I am writing this to wish you many and many a happy return of your birthday tomorrow. I will drink your health, if only I can remember, and if you don't mind--but perhaps you object? You see, if I were to sit by you at breakfast, and to drink your tea, you wouldn't like that, would you?

You would say "Boo! hoo! Here's Mr. Dodgson's drunk all my tea, and I haven't any left!" So I am very much afraid, next time Sybil looks for you, she'll find you sitting by the sad sea-wave, and crying "Boo!

hoo! Here's Mr. Dodgson has drunk my health, and I haven't got any left!" And how it will puzzle Dr. Maund, when he is sent for to see you! "My dear Madam, I'm very sorry to say your little girl has got no health at all! I never saw such a thing in my life!" "Oh, I can easily explain it!" your mother will say. "You see she would go and make friends with a strange gentleman, and yesterday he drank her health!"

"Well, Mrs. Chataway," he will say, "the only way to cure her is to wait till his next birthday, and then for her to drink his health."

And then we shall have changed healths. I wonder how you'll like mine!

Oh, Gertrude, I wish you wouldn't talk such nonsense!

Your loving friend,

LEWIS CARROLL

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), better known by his pen name, "Lewis Carroll," was an English author. He was the son of a clergyman. For four years he attended the famous school at Rugby, after which he entered college at Oxford. He became an excellent scholar and mathematician and was appointed a lecturer on mathematics at Oxford University, a position that he held for many years. His keen sympathy with the imagination of children and their sense of fun led him to tell of the adventures of Alice, in a book called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This book made Lewis Carroll's name famous.

His delightful humor is well ill.u.s.trated in his letter of "Birthday Greetings" to Gertrude Chataway.

Discussion. 1. What is usually meant by "drink your health"? 2. What play on the meaning of these words gives a humorous turn to them? 3.

What remedy does the author suggest the doctor will prescribe for Gertrude? 4. What does the author call this humor? 5. The author was a serious man, yet he believed in the value of wholesome fun; of what great poet did you read, on page 57, who also believed in the value of a hearty laugh?

Phrases for Study

many a happy return, sad sea-wave.

THE WIND AND THE MOON

GEORGE MACDONALD

Said the Wind to the Moon, "I will blow you out.

You stare in the air Like a ghost in a chair, Always looking what I am about.

I hate to be watched; I will blow you out."

The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.

So, deep on a heap Of clouds, to sleep Down lay the Wind, and slumbered soon-- Muttering low. "I've done for that Moon."

He turned in his bed; she was there again.

On high in the sky, With her one ghost eye, The Moon shone white and alive and plain.

Said the Wind, "I will blow you out again."

The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim.

"With my sledge and my wedge I have knocked off her edge.

If only I blow right fierce and grim, The creature will soon be dimmer than dim."

He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread.

"One puff more's enough To blow her to snuff!

One good puff more where the last was bred, And glimmer, glimmer glum will go the thread."

He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone; In the air nowhere Was a moonbeam bare; Far off and harmless the shy stars shone; Sure and certain the Moon was gone!

The Wind he took to his revels once more: On down, in town, Like a merry-mad clown, He leaped and hallooed with whistle and roar-- "What's that?" The glimmering thread once more.

He flew in a rage--he danced and blew; But in vain was the pain Of his bursting brain; For still the broader the moon-sc.r.a.p grew, The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.

Slowly she grew--till she filled the night, And shone on her throne In the sky alone, A matchless, wonderful, silvery light, Radiant and lovely, the queen of the night.

Said the Wind: "What a marvel of power am I With my breath, good faith, I blew her to death-- First blew her away right out of the sky-- Then blew her in; what a strength am I!"

But the Moon she knew nothing about the affair, For, high in the sky, With her one white eye, Motionless, miles above the air, She had never heard the great Wind blare.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. George Macdonald (1824-1905), a Scotch poet, wrote many entertaining poems and stories for children. "The Wind and the Moon"

is a good ill.u.s.tration of the fact that he knew how to interest boys and girls.

Discussion. 1. Why did the wind want to blow out the moon? 2. What natural changes in the shape of the moon take place each month? 3.

What really caused it to disappear? 4. What did the wind do when he thought he had succeeded? 5. Find the lines that tell how the wind felt when he saw the moon grow broader and bigger. 6. Find the lines which tell that the moon did not know that the wind was blowing. 7.

What qualities does this story give to the wind? 8. Do you know any person who has these qualities? 9. The poet aims in this poem to amuse us; by what means does he do this? 10. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: muttering; sledge; wedge; grim; matchless; blare. 11.

p.r.o.nounce: revels; hallooed; radiant.

Phrases for Study

thinned to a thread, took to his revels, where the last was bred, filled the night.

STORIES IN LIGHTER VEIN

A BACKWARD LOOK

Why is it good for us, even in the midst of serious work, to read humorous stories from time to time? An interesting anecdote is told of Abraham Lincoln that shows how he would have answered this question.

One day when the Civil War was at its height, President Lincoln opened his cabinet meeting by saying, "Gentlemen, I am going to read you something that will make you laugh." He then read a chapter from a humorous book, laughing heartily as he read. When he saw that none of the members of his cabinet joined in the laughter, he said with a sigh, "Gentlemen, why don't you laugh? With the fearful strain that is put on me day and night, if I did not laugh once in a while I should die; and you need this medicine as much as I do," What did you read in the Forward Look on page 57 about another serious-minded man who believed that wholesome humor is a "medicine"?

Which selection in this group gave you the heartiest laugh? Often some sensible truth is taught through a little nonsense; of which selections is this particularly true? It is interesting to stop for a moment and think just why certain stories make us laugh. One story is humorous because of its wild exaggeration; another because it makes us see how ridiculous it is to be a boaster or to be conceited or to jump at conclusions; and still another because it has an interesting little play upon words. What is the source of humor in "The Savage Boar"; "A Narrow Escape"; "How the Baron Saved Gibraltar"; "The Blind Men and the Elephant"; "Birthday Greetings"; "The Wind and the Moon"?

How does the present-day newspaper furnish fun for its readers? Which newspaper cartoons do you look at regularly, and which are your favorites? Bring to cla.s.s examples of cartoons, and then divide the collection into three groups--those that you think drive home a truth; those that you think are funny and clever; and those that you think are merely silly. Prepare an exhibit for "Cartoon Day" in your school, selecting the material from these examples. Clip and bring to cla.s.s newspaper jokes that you and your family particularly enjoyed.

Recommend to your cla.s.smates humorous stories that you have read in The Junior Red Cross News, Life, St. Nicholas, The Youth's Companion, or in some other magazine.

In previous pages you have found occasional suggestions for problems similar to those of the preceding paragraph. Like suggestions will be found later in the book. The working out of these problems and reporting on them in cla.s.s will add greatly to the value and pleasure of your reading.

Some of these suggested problems are: (a) Silent Reading--Making a report showing comparisons month by month of individual and cla.s.s progress in silent reading; (b) Books I Have Read--Reviewing a favorite book, giving t.i.tle, author, time and scene of story, princ.i.p.al characters, and a brief outline of the story, with readings of the selected pa.s.sages that will give your cla.s.smates most pleasure; (c) Magazine Reading--Reporting monthly on current numbers of magazines, telling your cla.s.smates what you have found that is interesting; in this way you will help each other to become acquainted with a number of magazines; (d) Newspaper Reading--Reporting current events, and showing in the newspapers that you read the place of general news, of editorials, society news, sports, the joke column, cartoons, advertis.e.m.e.nts, etc.; (e) Dramatizing--Planning and presenting before your cla.s.s some selection or some incident from a selection that you think will make an interesting play; (f) Good Citizenship--Making a list of the suggestions you find in this Reader that help you to be a useful home-member and a good citizen, and preparing a program from selections in this book for "Citizenship Day"