Various - Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools

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Perhaps you can put the story into the form of a series of brief
conversations about the stranger or with him.

=An Incident of the Civil War=:--Select some historical incident, or one
that you have heard from an old soldier, and tell it simply and vividly
in your own words.

COLLATERAL READINGS

The Story of a Bad Boy Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Marjorie Daw and Other People " " "
The Stillwater Tragedy " " "
Prudence Palfrey " " "
From Ponkapog to Pesth " " "
The Queen of Sheba " " "
A Sea Turn and Other Matters " " "
For Bravery on the Field of Battle
(in _Two Bites at a Cherry_) " " "
The Return of a Private
(in _Main-Travelled Roads_) Hamlin Garland
On the Eve of the Fourth Harold Frederic
Marse Chan Thomas Nelson Page
Meh Lady " " "
The Burial of the Guns " " "
Red Rock " " "
The Long Roll Mary Johnston
Cease Firing " "
The Crisis Winston Churchill
Where the Battle was Fought Mary N. Murfree
The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come John Fox, Jr.
Hospital Sketches Louisa M. Alcott
A Blockaded Family P.A. Hague
He Knew Lincoln[2] Ida Tarbell
The Perfect Tribute[3] M.R.S. Andrews
The Toy Shop[4] M.S. Gerry
Thomas Bailey Aldrich Ferris Greenslet
Park Street Papers, pp. 143-70 Bliss Perry
American Writers of To-day, pp. 104-23 H.C. Vedder
American Authors and their Homes,
pp. 89-98 F.W. Halsey
American Authors at Home, pp. 3-16 J.L. and J.B. Gilder
Literary Pilgrimages in New England,
pp. 89-97 E.M. Bacon
Thomas Bailey Aldrich (poem) Henry van Dyke

For biographies and criticisms of Thomas B. Aldrich, see also: Outlook,
86:922, August 24, 1907; 84:735, November 24, 1906; 85:737, March 30,
1907. Bookman, 24:317, December, 1906 (Portrait); also 25:218
(Portrait). Current Literature, 42:49, January, 1907 (Portrait).
Chautauquan, 65:168, January, 1912.

PAN IN WALL STREET

A.D. 1867

EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN

Just where the Treasury's marble front
Looks over Wall Street's mingled nations;
Where Jews and Gentiles most are wont
To throng for trade and last quotations;
Where, hour by hour, the rates of gold
Outrival, in the ears of people,
The quarter-chimes, serenely tolled
From Trinity's undaunted steeple,--

Even there I heard a strange, wild strain
Sound high above the modern clamor,
Above the cries of greed and gain,
The curbstone war, the auction's hammer;
And swift, on Music's misty ways,
It led, from all this strife for millions.
To ancient, sweet-do-nothing days
Among the kirtle-robed Sicilians.

And as it stilled the multitude,
And yet more joyous rose, and shriller,
I saw the minstrel where he stood
At ease against a Doric pillar:
One hand a droning organ played,
The other held a Pan's-pipe (fashioned
Like those of old) to lips that made
The reeds give out that strain impassioned.

'Twas Pan himself had wandered here
A-strolling through this sordid city,
And piping to the civic ear
The prelude of some pastoral ditty!
The demigod had crossed the seas,--
From haunts of shepherd, nymph, and satyr,
And Syracusan times,--to these
Far shores and twenty centuries later.

A ragged cap was on his head;
But--hidden thus--there was no doubting
That, all with crispy locks o'erspread,
His gnarled horns were somewhere sprouting;
His club-feet, cased in rusty shoes,
Were crossed, as on some frieze you see them,
And trousers, patched of divers hues,
Concealed his crooked shanks beneath them.

He filled the quivering reeds with sound,
And o'er his mouth their changes shifted,
And with his goat's-eyes looked around
Where'er the passing current drifted;
And soon, as on Trinacrian hills
The nymphs and herdsmen ran to hear him,
Even now the tradesmen from their tills,
With clerks and porters, crowded near him.

The bulls and bears together drew
From Jauncey Court and New Street Alley,
As erst, if pastorals be true,
Came beasts from every wooded valley;
And random passers stayed to list,--
A boxer AEgon, rough and merry,
A Broadway Daphnis, on his tryst
With Nais at the Brooklyn Ferry.

A one-eyed Cyclops halted long
In tattered cloak of army pattern,
And Galatea joined the throng,--
A blowsy apple-vending slattern;
While old Silenus staggered out
From some new-fangled lunch-house handy,
And bade the piper, with a shout,
To strike up Yankee Doodle Dandy!

A newsboy and a peanut-girl
Like little Fauns began to caper;
His hair was all in tangled curl,
Her tawny legs were bare and taper;
And still the gathering larger grew,
And gave its pence and crowded nigher,
While aye the shepherd-minstrel blew
His pipe, and struck the gamut higher.

O heart of Nature, beating still
With throbs her vernal passion taught her,--
Even here, as on the vine-clad hill,
Or by the Arethusan water!
New forms may fold the speech, new lands
Arise within these ocean-portals,
But Music waves eternal wands,--
Enchantress of the souls of mortals!

So thought I,--but among us trod
A man in blue, with legal baton,
And scoffed the vagrant demigod,
And pushed him from the step I sat on.
Doubting I mused upon the cry,
"Great Pan is dead!"--and all the people
Went on their ways:--and clear and high
The quarter sounded from the steeple.

NOTES

=Wall Street=:--An old street in New York faced by the Stock Exchange
and the offices of the wealthiest bankers and brokers.

=the Treasury=:--The Sub-Treasury Building.

=last quotations=:--The latest information on stock values given out
before the Stock Exchange closes.

=Trinity=:--The famous old church that stands at the head of Wall
Street.

=curbstone war=:--The clamorous quoting, auctioning, and bidding of
stock out on the street curb, where the "curb brokers"--brokers who do
not have seats on the Stock Exchange--do business.

=sweet-do-nothing=:--A translation of an Italian expression, _dolce far
niente_.

=Sicilians=:--Theocritus (3rd century before Christ), the Greek pastoral
poet, wrote of the happy life of the shepherds and shepherdesses in
Sicily.

=Doric pillar=:--A heavy marble pillar, such as was used in the
architecture of the Dorians in Greece.

=Pan's pipe=:--Pan was the Greek god of shepherds, and patron of fishing
and hunting. He is represented as having the head and body of a man,
with the legs, horns, and tail of a goat. It was said that he invented
the shepherd's pipe or flute, which he made from reeds plucked on the
bank of a stream.

=pastoral ditty=:--A poem about shepherds and the happy outdoor life.
The word pastoral comes from the Latin _pastor_, shepherd.

=Syracusan times=:--Syracuse was an important city in Sicily. See the
note on Sicilians, above.

=Trinacrian hills=:--Trinacria is an old name for Sicily.

=bulls and bears=:--A bull, on the Stock Exchange, is one who operates
in expectation of a rise in stocks; a bear is a person who sells stocks
in expectation of a fall in the market.

=Jauncey Court=:--The Jauncey family were prominent in the early New
York days. This court was probably named after them.

=AEgon=:--Usually spelled AEgaeon; another name for Briareus, a monster
with a hundred arms.

=Daphnis=:--In Greek myth, a shepherd who loved music.

=Nais=:--In Greek myth, a happy young girl, a nymph.

=Cyclops=:--One of a race of giants having but one eye--in the middle of
the forehead. These giants helped Vulcan at his forge under Aetna.

=Galatea=:--A sea-nymph beloved by the Cyclops Polyphemus.

=Silenus=:--The foster-father and companion of Bacchus, god of wine. In
pictures and sculpture Silenus is usually represented as intoxicated.

=Fauns=:--Fabled beings, half goat and half man.

=Arethusan water=:--Arethusa, in Greek myth, was a wood-nymph, who was
pursued by the river Alpheus. She was changed into a fountain, and ran
under the sea to Sicily, where she rose near the city of Syracuse.
Shelley has a poem on Arethusa.

=baton=:--A rod or wand; here, of course, a policeman's club.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

The author sees an organ-grinder playing his gay tunes in Wall Street,
New York, among the buildings where enormous financial transactions are
carried on. He (the author) imagines this wandering minstrel to be Pan
himself, assuming a modern form. Read the notes carefully for what is
said about Pan. Notice, in the poem, how skillfully the author brings
out the contrast between the easy-going days of ancient Greece and the
busy, rushing times of modern America. Of what value is the word
_serenely_ in the first stanza? What is the "curbstone war"? Do you
think the old-fashioned Pan's pipe is common now? Could a man play an
organ and a pipe at the same time? Why is the city spoken of as
"sordid"? What is the "civic ear"? In the description of the player, how
is the idea of his being Pan emphasized? How was it that the bulls and
bears drew together? In plain words who were the people whom the author
describes under Greek names? Show how aptly the mythological characters
are fitted to modern persons. Read carefully what is said about the
power of music, in the stanza beginning "O heart of Nature." Who was the
man in blue? Why did he interfere? Why is the organ-grinder called a
"vagrant demigod"? What was it that the author doubted? What is meant
here by "Great Pan is dead"? Does the author mean more than the mere
words seem to express? Do you think that people are any happier in these
commercial times than they were in ancient Greece? After you have
studied the poem and mastered all the references, read the poem through,
thinking of its meaning and its lively measure.

Read Mrs. Browning's poem, _A Musical Instrument_, which is about Pan
and his pipe of reeds.

COLLATERAL READINGS

Nooks and Corners of Old New York Charles Hemstreet
In Old New York Thomas A. Janvier
The Greatest Street in the World:
Broadway Stephen Jenkins
The God of Music (poem) Edith M. Thomas
A Musical Instrument Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Classic Myths (See Index) C.M. Gayley
The Age of Fable Thomas Bulfinch
A Butterfly in Wall Street
(in _Madrigals and Catches_) Frank D. Sherman
Come Pan, and Pipe
(in _Madrigals and Catches_) " " "
Pan Learns Music (poem) Henry van Dyke
Peeps at Great Cities: New York Hildegarde Hawthorne
Vignettes of Manhattan Brander Matthews
New York Society Ralph Pulitzer
In the Cities (poem) R.W. Gilder
Up at a Villa--Down in the City Robert Browning
The Faun in Wall Street[5] (poem) John Myers O'Hara

THE HAND OF LINCOLN

EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN

Look on this cast, and know the hand
That bore a nation in its hold;
From this mute witness understand
What Lincoln was,--how large of mould

The man who sped the woodman's team,
And deepest sunk the ploughman's share,
And pushed the laden raft astream,
Of fate before him unaware.

This was the hand that knew to swing
The axe--since thus would Freedom train
Her son--and made the forest ring,
And drove the wedge, and toiled amain.

Firm hand, that loftier office took,
A conscious leader's will obeyed,
And, when men sought his word and look,
With steadfast might the gathering swayed.

No courtier's, toying with a sword,
Nor minstrel's, laid across a lute;
A chief's, uplifted to the Lord
When all the kings of earth were mute!

The hand of Anak, sinewed strong,
The fingers that on greatness clutch;
Yet, lo! the marks their lines along
Of one who strove and suffered much.

For here in knotted cord and vein
I trace the varying chart of years;
I know the troubled heart, the strain,
The weight of Atlas--and the tears.

Again I see the patient brow
That palm erewhile was wont to press;
And now 'tis furrowed deep, and now
Made smooth with hope and tenderness.

For something of a formless grace
This moulded outline plays about;
A pitying flame, beyond our trace,
Breathes like a spirit, in and out,--

The love that cast an aureole
Round one who, longer to endure,
Called mirth to ease his ceaseless dole,
Yet kept his nobler purpose sure.

Lo, as I gaze, the statured man,
Built up from yon large hand, appears;
A type that Nature wills to plan
But once in all a people's years.

What better than this voiceless cast
To tell of such a one as he,
Since through its living semblance passed
The thought that bade a race be free!

NOTES

=this cast=:--A cast of Lincoln's hand was made by Leonard W. Volk, in
1860, on the Sunday following the nomination of Lincoln for the
Presidency. The original, in bronze, can be seen at the National Museum
in Washington. Various copies have been made in plaster. An anecdote
concerning one of these is told on page 107 of William Dean Howells's
_Literary Friends and Acquaintances_; facing page 106 of the same book
there is an interesting picture. In the _Critic_, volume 44, page 510,
there is an article by Isabel Moore, entitled _Hands that have Done
Things_; a picture of Lincoln's hand, in plaster, is given in the course
of this article.

=Anak=:--The sons of Anak are spoken of in the Bible as a race of
giants. See Numbers, 13:33; Deuteronomy, 9:2.

=Atlas=:--In Greek story, the giant who held the world on his shoulders.

=the thought=:--The Emancipation Proclamation.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

Read the poem through from beginning to end. Then go back to the first
and study it more carefully. Notice that there is no pause at the end of
the first stanza. In the ninth line, mentally put in _how_ after _know_.
Explain what is said about Freedom's training her son. _Loftier office_:
Loftier than what? Note that _might_ is a noun. Mentally insert _hand_
after _courtier's_. Can you tell from the hand of a person whether he
has suffered or not? What does the author mean here by "the weight of
Atlas"? What is a "formless grace"? Is the expression appropriate here?
What characteristic of Lincoln is referred to in the line beginning
"Called mirth"? Are great men so rare as the author seems to think? Why
is the cast a good means of telling of "such a one as he"? Look
carefully at one of Lincoln's portraits, and then read this poem aloud
to yourself.

Compare this poem with the sonnet _On the Life-Mask of Abraham Lincoln_,
page 210.

COLLATERAL READINGS

Abraham Lincoln: A Short Life John G. Nicolay
The Boys' Life of Lincoln Helen Nicolay
Personal Traits of Abraham Lincoln " "
Lincoln the Lawyer F.T. Hill
Passages from the Speeches and Letters
of Abraham Lincoln R.W. Gilder (Ed.)
Lincoln's Own Stories Anthony Gross
Lincoln Norman Hapgood
Abraham Lincoln, the Boy and the Man James Morgan
Father Abraham Ida Tarbell
He Knew Lincoln[6] " "
Life of Abraham Lincoln " "
Abraham Lincoln Robert G. Ingersoll
Abraham Lincoln Noah Brooks
Abraham Lincoln for Boys and Girls C.W. Moores
The Graysons Edward Eggleston
The Perfect Tribute[6] M.R.S. Andrews
The Toy Shop[6] M.S. Gerry
We Talked of Lincoln (poem)[7] E.W. Thomson
Lincoln and the Sleeping Sentinel L.E. Chittenden
O Captain, my Captain! Walt Whitman
When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloomed " "
Poems E.C. Stedman
An American Anthology " " "
American Authors and their Homes, pp. 157-172 F.W. Halsey
American Authors at Home, pp. 273-291 J.L. and J.B. Gilder

For portraits of E.C. Stedman, see Bookman, 34:592; Current Literature,
42:49.

JEAN VALJEAN

AUGUSTA STEVENSON

(Dramatized from Victor Hugo's _Les Miserables_)

SCENE II

TIME: _Evening._

PLACE: _Village of D----; dining room of the Bishop's house._

* * * * *

[_The room is poorly furnished, but orderly. A door at the back opens on
the street. At one side, a window overlooks the garden; at the other,
curtains hang before an alcove._ MADEMOISELLE, _the Bishop's_ SISTER, _a
sweet-faced lady, sits by the fire, knitting._ MADAME, _his_
HOUSEKEEPER, _is laying the table for supper._]

MLLE. Has the Bishop returned from the service?

MADAME. Yes, Mademoiselle. He is in his room, reading. Shall I
call him?

MLLE. No, do not disturb him--he will come in good time--when
supper is ready.

MADAME. Dear me--I forgot to get bread when I went out to-day.

MLLE. Go to the baker's, then; we will wait.

[_Exit Madame. Pause._]

[_Enter the_ BISHOP. _He is an old man, gentle and kindly._]

BISHOP. I hope I have not kept you waiting, sister.

MLLE. No, brother, Madame has just gone out for bread. She
forgot it this morning.

BISHOP (_having seated himself by the fire_). The wind blows
cold from the mountains to-night.

MLLE. (_nodding_). All day it has been growing colder.

BISHOP. 'Twill bring great suffering to the poor.

MLLE. Who suffer too much already.

BISHOP. I would I could help them more than I do!

MLLE. You give all you have, my brother. You keep nothing for
yourself--you have only bare necessities.

BISHOP. Well, I have sent in a bill for carriage hire in making
pastoral visits.

MLLE. Carriage hire! I did not know you ever rode. Now I am
glad to hear that. A bishop should go in state sometimes. I venture to
say your bill is small.

BISHOP. Three thousand francs.

MLLE. Three thousand francs! Why, I cannot believe it!

BISHOP. Here is the bill.

MLLE. (_reading bill_). What is this!

EXPENSES OF CARRIAGE

For furnishing soup to hospital 1500 francs
For charitable society of D---- 500 "
For foundlings 500 "
For orphans 500 "
----
Total 3000 francs

So! that is your carriage hire! Ha, ha! I might have known it!

[_They laugh together._]

[_Enter_ MADAME, _excited, with bread._]

MADAME. Such news as I have heard! The whole town is talking
about it! We should have locks put on our doors at once!

MLLE. What is it, Madame? What have you heard?

MADAME. They say there is a suspicious vagabond in the town.
The inn-keeper refused to take him in. They say he is a released convict
who once committed an awful crime.

[_The Bishop is looking into the fire, paying no attention to Madame._]

MLLE. Do you hear what Madame is saying, brother?

BISHOP. Only a little. Are we in danger, Madame?

MADAME. There is a convict in town, your Reverence!

BISHOP. Do you fear we shall be robbed?

MADAME. I do, indeed!

BISHOP. Of what?

MADAME. There are the six silver plates and the silver
soup-ladle and the two silver candlesticks.

BISHOP. All of which we could do without.

MADAME. Do without!

MLLE. 'Twould be a great loss, brother. We could not treat a
guest as is our wont.

BISHOP. Ah, there you have me, sister. I love to see the silver
laid out for every guest who comes here. And I like the candles lighted,
too; it makes a brighter welcome.

MLLE. A bishop's house should show some state.

BISHOP. Aye--to every stranger! Henceforth, I should like every
one of our six plates on the table whenever we have a guest here.

MLLE. All of them?

MADAME. For one guest?

BISHOP. Yes--we have no right to hide treasures. Each guest
shall enjoy all that we have.

MADAME. Then 'tis time we should look to the locks on the
doors, if we would keep our silver. I'll go for the locksmith now--

BISHOP. Stay! This house shall not be locked against any man!
Would you have me lock out my brothers?

[_A loud knock is heard at street door._]

Come in!

[_Enter_ JEAN VALJEAN, _with his knapsack and cudgel. The women
are frightened._]

JEAN (_roughly_). See here! My name is Jean Valjean. I am a
convict from the galleys. I was set free four days ago, and I am looking
for work. I hoped to find a lodging here, but no one will have me. It
was the same way yesterday and the day before. To-night a good woman
told me to knock at your door. I have knocked. Is this an inn?

BISHOP. Madame, put on another plate.

JEAN. Stop! You do not understand, I think. Here is my
passport--see what it says: "Jean Valjean, discharged convict, has been
nineteen years in the galleys; five years for theft; fourteen years for
having attempted to escape. He is a very dangerous man." There! you know
it all. I ask only for straw in your stable.

BISHOP. Madame, you will put white sheets on the bed in the
alcove.

[_Exit Madame. The Bishop turns to Jean._]

We shall dine presently. Sit here by the fire, sir.

JEAN. What! You will keep me? You call me "sir"! Oh! I am going
to dine! I am to have a bed with sheets like the rest of the world--a
bed! It is nineteen years since I have slept in a bed! I will pay
anything you ask. You are a fine man. You are an innkeeper, are you not?

BISHOP. I am a priest who lives here.

JEAN. A priest! Ah, yes--I ask your pardon--I didn't notice
your cap and gown.

BISHOP. Be seated near the fire, sir.

[_Jean deposits his knapsack, repeating to himself with delight._]

JEAN. He calls me _sir_--_sir_. (_Aloud._) You will require me
to pay, will you not?

BISHOP. No, keep your money. How much have you?

JEAN. One hundred and nine francs.

BISHOP. How long did it take you to earn it?

JEAN. Nineteen years.

BISHOP (_sadly_). Nineteen years--the best part of your life!

JEAN. Aye, the best part--I am now forty-six. A beast of burden
would have earned more.

BISHOP. This lamp gives a very bad light, sister.

[_Mlle. gets the two silver candlesticks from the mantel, lights them,
and places them on the table._]

JEAN. Ah, but you are good! You don't despise me. You light
your candles for me,--you treat me as a guest,--and I've told you where
I come from, who I am!

BISHOP. This house does not demand of him who enters whether he
has a name, but whether he has a grief. You suffer--you are hungry--you
are welcome.

JEAN. I cannot understand it--

BISHOP. This house is home to the man who needs a refuge. So,
sir, this is your house now more than it is mine. Whatever is here is
yours. What need have I to know your name? Besides, before you told me,
I knew it.

JEAN. What! You knew my name!

BISHOP. Yes, your name is--Brother.

JEAN. Stop! I cannot bear it--you are so good--

[_He buries his face in his hands._]

[_Enter_ MADAME _with dishes for the table; she continues
passing in and out, preparing supper._]

BISHOP. You have suffered much, sir--

JEAN (_nodding_). The red shirt, the ball on the ankle, a plank
to sleep on, heat, cold, toil, the whip, the double chain for nothing,
the cell for one word--even when sick in bed, still the chain! Dogs,
dogs are happier! Nineteen years! and now the yellow passport!

BISHOP. Yes, you have suffered.

JEAN (_with violence_). I hate this world of laws and courts! I
hate the men who rule it! For nineteen years my soul has had only
thoughts of hate. For nineteen years I've planned revenge. Do you hear?
Revenge--revenge!

BISHOP. It is not strange that you should feel so. And if you
continue to harbor those thoughts, you are only deserving of pity. But
listen, my brother; if, in spite of all you have passed through, your
thoughts could be of peace and love, you would be better than any one of
us.

[_Pause. Jean reflects._]

JEAN (_speaking violently_). No, no! I do not belong to your
world of men. I am apart--a different creature from you all. The galleys
made me different. I'll have nothing to do with any of you!

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