Various - Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools

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Three years passed in sordid struggle and disappointment. He was not
prepared to make a living even in America, where the day laborer eats
wheat instead of rye. Apparently the American flag could not protect him
against the pursuing Nemesis of his limitations; he must expiate the
sins of his fathers who slept across the seas. He had been endowed at
birth with a poor constitution, a nervous, restless temperament, and an
abundance of hindering prejudices. In his boyhood his body was starved,
that his mind might be stuffed with useless learning. In his youth this
dearly gotten learning was sold, and the price was the bread and salt
which he had not been trained to earn for himself. Under the wedding
canopy he was bound for life to a girl whose features were still strange
to him; and he was bidden to multiply himself, that sacred learning
might be perpetuated in his sons, to the glory of the God of his
fathers. All this while he had been led about as a creature without a
will, a chattel, an instrument. In his maturity he awoke, and found
himself poor in health, poor in purse, poor in useful knowledge, and
hampered on all sides. At the first nod of opportunity he broke away
from his prison, and strove to atone for his wasted youth by a life of
useful labor; while at the same time he sought to lighten the gloom of
his narrow scholarship by freely partaking of modern ideas. But his
utmost endeavor still left him far from his goal. In business nothing
prospered with him. Some fault of hand or mind or temperament led him to
failure where other men found success. Wherever the blame for his
disabilities be placed, he reaped their bitter fruit. "Give me bread!"
he cried to America. "What will you do to earn it?" the challenge came
back. And he found that he was master of no art, of no trade; that even
his precious learning was of no avail, because he had only the most
antiquated methods of communicating it.

So in his primary quest he had failed. There was left him the
compensation of intellectual freedom. That he sought to realize in every
possible way. He had very little opportunity to prosecute his education,
which, in truth, had never been begun. His struggle for a bare living
left him no time to take advantage of the public evening school; but he
lost nothing of what was to be learned through reading, through
attendance at public meetings, through exercising the rights of
citizenship. Even here he was hindered by a natural inability to acquire
the English language. In time, indeed, he learned to read, to follow a
conversation or lecture; but he never learned to write correctly, and
his pronunciation remains extremely foreign to this day.

If education, culture, the higher life were shining things to be
worshipped from afar, he had still a means left whereby he could draw
one step nearer to them. He could send his children to school, to learn
all those things that he knew by fame to be desirable. The common
school, at least, perhaps high school; for one or two, perhaps even
college! His children should be students, should fill his house with
books and intellectual company; and thus he would walk by proxy in the
Elysian Fields of liberal learning. As for the children themselves, he
knew no surer way to their advancement and happiness.

So it was with a heart full of longing and hope that my father led us
to school on that first day. He took long strides in his eagerness, the
rest of us running and hopping to keep up.

At last the four of us stood around the teacher's desk; and my father,
in his impossible English, gave us over in her charge, with some broken
word of his hopes for us that his swelling heart could no longer
contain. I venture to say that Miss Nixon was struck by something
uncommon in the group we made, something outside of Semitic features and
the abashed manner of the alien. My little sister was as pretty as a
doll, with her clear pink-and-white face, short golden curls, and eyes
like blue violets when you caught them looking up. My brother might have
been a girl, too, with his cherubic contours of face, rich red color,
glossy black hair, and fine eyebrows. Whatever secret fears were in his
heart, remembering his former teachers, who had taught with the rod, he
stood up straight and uncringing before the American teacher, his cap
respectfully doffed. Next to him stood a starved-looking girl with eyes
ready to pop out, and short dark curls that would not have made much of
a wig for a Jewish bride.

All three children carried themselves rather better than the common run
of "green" pupils that were brought to Miss Nixon. But the figure that
challenged attention to the group was the tall, straight father, with
his earnest face and fine forehead, nervous hands eloquent in gesture,
and a voice full of feeling. This foreigner, who brought his children to
school as if it were an act of consecration, who regarded the teacher of
the primer class with reverence, who spoke of visions, like a man
inspired, in a common schoolroom, was not like other aliens, who
brought their children in dull obedience to the law; was not like the
native fathers, who brought their unmanageable boys, glad to be relieved
of their care. I think Miss Nixon guessed what my father's best English
could not convey. I think she divined that by the simple act of
delivering our school certificates to her he took possession of America.

NOTES

=The Promised Land=:--The land of freedom and peace which the Jews have
hoped to attain. See Exodus, 3:8; 6:8; Genesis, 12:5-7; Deuteronomy,
8:7-10; Hebrews, 11:9.

=his three years of probation=:--Mary Antin's father had spent three
years in America before sending back to Russia for his family.

=Polotzk=:--Pronounced P[=o]'lotsk; a town in Russia on the Dwina River.

=seven lean years=:--A reference to the famine in Egypt predicted by
Joseph, Pharaoh's Hebrew favorite. See Genesis, 40.

=Dvina=:--The Duena or Dwina River, in Russia.

=originally destined=:--Mr. Antin's parents had intended him to be a
scholar and teacher.

=Yiddish=:--From the German word _juedisch_, meaning Jewish; a mixed
language made up of German, Hebrew, and Russian words. It is generally
spoken by Jews.

=Chelsea=:--A suburb of Boston.

=Nemesis=:--In Greek mythology, a goddess of vengeance or punishment for
sins and errors.

=the sins of his fathers=:--See Exodus, 20:5; Numbers, 14:18;
Deuteronomy, 5:9.

=Elysian fields=:--In Greek thought, the home of the happy dead.

=Semitic=:--Jewish; from the name of Shem, the son of Noah.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

This selection gives the experience of a Jewish girl who came from
Polotzk, Russia, to Boston. Read rather slowly, with the help of these
questions: What is meant by "centuries of repression"? Is there no such
repression in America? How is it true that the Jew peddler "was born
thousands of years before the oldest native American"? What are the
educational advantages of a thickly populated neighborhood? What is your
idea of the slums? Why did the children expect every comfort to be
supplied? How much is really free in America? Is education free? How
does one secure an education in Russia? How are American machine-made
garments superior to those made by hand in Russia? Was it a good thing
to change the children's names? What effect does the sea have upon those
who live near it? What effect has a great change of environment on a
growing young person? What kind of person was Mrs. Wilner? What does Mr.
Antin mean when he says, "America is not Polotzk"? Are all men equal in
America? Read carefully the description of Mr. Wilner: How does the
author make it vivid and lively? Why was Mary Antin's first day in
school so important to her? Was it fair that Frieda should not go to
school? Should an older child be sacrificed for a younger? Should a slow
child always give way to a bright one? What do you think of the way in
which Mary accepted the situation when Frieda had to go to work? Read
carefully what Mary says about it. Is it easy to make a living in
America? Why did Mr. Antin not succeed in business? What is meant by
"the compensation of intellectual freedom"? What did Mr. Antin gain from
his life in America? What sort of man was he? In reading the selection,
what idea do you get of the Russian immigrant? Of what America means to
the poor foreigner?

THEME SUBJECTS

The Foreigners in our Town
The "Greenhorn"
The Immigrant Family
The Peddler
Ellis Island
What America Means to the Foreigner
The Statue of Liberty
A Russian Woman
The New Girl at School
The Basement Store
A Large Family
Learning to Speak a New Language
What the Public School can Do
A Russian Brass Shop
The Factory Girl
My Childish Sports
The Refreshment Stand
On the Sea Shore
The Popcorn Man
A Home in the Tenements
Earning a Living
More about Mary Antin[9]
How Children Amuse Themselves
A Fragment of My Autobiography
An Autobiography that I Have Read

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING

=The Immigrant Family=:--Have you ever seen a family that have just
arrived in America from a foreign land? Tell where you saw them. How
many persons were there? What were they doing? Describe each person,
noting especially anything odd or picturesque in looks, dress, or
behavior. Were they carrying anything? What expressions did they have on
their faces? Did they seem pleased with their new surroundings? Was
anyone trying to help them? Could they speak English? If possible,
report a few fragments of their conversation. Did you have a chance to
find out what they thought of America? Do you know what has become of
them, and how they are getting along?

=A Fragment of my Autobiography=:--Did you, as a child, move into a
strange town, or make a visit in a place entirely new to you? Tell
rather briefly why you went and what preparations were made. Then give
an account of your arrival. What was the first thing that impressed you?
What did you do or say? What did the grown people say? Was there
anything unusual about the food, or the furniture, or the dress of the
people? Go on and relate your experiences, telling any incidents that
you remember. Try to make your reader share the bewilderment and
excitement you felt. Did anyone laugh at you, or make fun of you, or
hurt your feelings? Were you glad or sorry that you had come? Finish
your story by telling of your departure from the place, or of your
gradually getting used to your new surroundings.

Try to recall some other experiences of your childhood. Write them out
quite fully, giving space to your feelings as well as to the events.

COLLATERAL READINGS

The Promised Land Mary Antin
They Who Knock at Our Gates " "
The Lie " "
(Atlantic Monthly, August, 1913)
Children of the Tenements Jacob A. Riis
The Making of an American " " "
On the Trail of the Immigrant E.A. Steiner
Against the Current " " "
The Immigrant Tide " " "
The Man Farthest Down Booker T. Washington
Up from Slavery " " "
The Woman who Toils Marie and Mrs. John Van Vorst
The Long Day Anonymous
Old Homes of New Americans F.E. Clark
Autobiography S.S. McClure
Autobiography Theodore Roosevelt
A Buckeye Boyhood W.H. Venable
A Tuscan Childhood Lisa Cipriani
An Indian Boyhood Charles Eastman
When I Was Young Yoshio Markino
When I Was a Boy in Japan Sakae Shioya
The Story of my Childhood Clara Barton
The Story of my Boyhood and Youth John Muir
The Biography of a Prairie Girl Eleanor Gates
Autobiography of a Tomboy Jeanette Gilder
The One I Knew Best of All Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Story of my Life Helen Keller
The Story of a Child Pierre Loti
A New England Girlhood Lucy Larcom
Autobiography Joseph Jefferson
Dream Days Kenneth Grahame
The Golden Age " "
The Would-be-Goods E. Nesbit
In the Morning Glow Roy Rolfe Gilson
Chapters from a Life Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward

Mary Antin: Outlook, 102:482, November 2, 1912; 104:473, June 28, 1913
(Portrait). Bookman, 35:419-421, June 1912.

WARBLE FOR LILAC-TIME

WALT WHITMAN

Warble me now for joy of lilac-time (returning in reminiscence),
Sort me, O tongue and lips for Nature's sake, souvenirs of
earliest summer,
Gather the welcome signs (as children with pebbles or
stringing shells),
Put in April and May, the hylas croaking in the ponds, the elastic air,
Bees, butterflies, the sparrow with its simple notes,
Blue-bird and darting swallow, nor forget the high-hole
flashing his golden wings,
The tranquil sunny haze, the clinging smoke, the vapor,
Shimmer of waters with fish in them, the cerulean above,
All that is jocund and sparkling, the brooks running,
The maple woods, the crisp February days, and the sugar-making,
The robin where he hops, bright-eyed, brown-breasted,
With musical clear call at sunrise and again at sunset,
Or flitting among the trees of the apple-orchard, building the
nest of his mate,
The melted snow of March, the willow sending forth its
yellow-green sprouts,
For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in
it and from it?
Thou, soul, unloosen'd--the restlessness after I know not what;
Come, let us lag here no longer, let us be up and away!

O if one could but fly like a bird!
O to escape, to sail forth as in a ship!
To glide with thee, O soul, o'er all, in all, as a ship o'er
the waters;
Gathering these hints, the preludes, the blue sky, the grass,
the morning drops of dew,
The lilac-scent, the bushes with dark-green heart-shaped leaves,
Wood-violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence,
Samples and sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere,
To grace the bush I love--to sing with the birds,
A warble for joy of lilac-time, returning in reminiscence.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

What is the meaning of "sort me"? Why jumble all these signs of summer
together? Does one naturally think in an orderly way when recalling the
details of spring or summer? Can you think of any important points that
the author has left out? Is _samples_ a poetic word? What is meant by
the line "not for themselves alone," etc.? Note the sound-words in the
poem: What is their value here? Read the lines slowly to yourself, or
have some one read them aloud, and see how many of them suggest little
pictures. Note the punctuation: Do you approve? Is this your idea of
poetry? What is poetry? Would this be better if it were in the full form
of verse? Can you see why the critics have disagreed over Whitman's
poetry?

WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER

WALT WHITMAN

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide
and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

Why did the listener become tired of the lecturer who spoke with much
applause? What did he learn from the stars when he was alone out of
doors? Does he not think the study of astronomy worth while? What would
be his feeling toward other scientific studies? What do you get out of
this poem? What do you think of the way in which it is written?

VIGIL STRANGE I KEPT ON THE FIELD ONE NIGHT

WALT WHITMAN

Vigil strange I kept on the field one night;
When you my son and my comrade dropt at my side that day,
One look I but gave which your dear eyes return'd with a look
I shall never forget,
One touch of your hand to mine, O boy, reach'd up as you lay
on the ground,
Then onward I sped in the battle, the even-contested battle,
Till late in the night reliev'd to the place at last again I made
my way,
Found you in death so cold dear comrade, found your body,
son of responding kisses (never again on earth responding),
Bared your face in the starlight, curious the scene,
cool blew the moderate night-wind,
Long there and then in vigil I stood,
dimly around me the battle-field spreading,
Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet there in the fragrant silent night,
But not a tear fell, not even a long-drawn sigh, long, long I gazed,
Then on the earth partially reclining sat by your side
leaning my chin in my hands,
Passing sweet hours, immortal and mystic hours with you dearest
comrade--not a tear, not a word,
Vigil of silence, love and death, vigil for you my son and my soldier,
As onward silently stars aloft, eastward new ones upward stole,
Vigil final for you brave boy, (I could not save you, swift was
your death,
I faithfully loved you and cared for you living,
I think we shall surely meet again,)
Till at latest lingering of the night, indeed just as the
dawn appear'd,
My comrade I wrapt in his blanket, envelop'd well his form,
Folded the blanket well, tucked it carefully over head and
carefully under feet,
And there and then and bathed by the rising sun, my son in his grave,
in his rude-dug grave I deposited,
Ending my strange vigil with that, vigil of night and battlefield dim,
Vigil for boy of responding kisses (never again on earth responding),
Vigil for comrade swiftly slain, vigil I never forget,
how as day brighten'd,
I rose from the chill ground and folded my soldier well in his blanket,
And buried him where he fell.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

What is a vigil? Was Whitman ever in battle? Does he mean himself
speaking? Was the boy really his son? Is the man's calmness a sign that
he does not care? Why does he call the vigil "wondrous" and "sweet"?
What does he think about the next life? Read the poem over slowly and
thoughtfully to yourself, or aloud to some one: How does it make you
feel?

Can you see any reason for calling Whitman a great poet? Has he
broadened your idea of what poetry may be? Read, if possible, in John
Burroughs's book on Whitman, pages 48-53.

EXERCISES

Re-read the _Warble for Lilac-Time_. Can you write of the signs of fall,
in somewhat the same way? Choose the most beautiful and the most
important characteristics that you can think of. Try to use color-words
and sound-words so that they make your composition vivid and musical.
Compare the _Warble for Lilac-Time_ with the first lines of Chaucer's
_Prologue_ to the _Canterbury Tales_. With Lowell's _How Spring Came in
New England_.

THEME SUBJECTS

A Walk in the Woods
A Spring Day
Sugar-Making
My Flower Garden
The Garden in Lilac Time
The Orchard in Spring
On a Farm in Early Summer
A Walk on a Summer Night
Waiting for Morning
The Stars
Walt Whitman and his Poetry

COLLATERAL READINGS

Poems by Whitman suitable for class reading:--
On the Beach at Night
Bivouac on a Mountain Side
To a Locomotive in Winter
A Farm Picture
The Runner
I Hear It was Charged against Me
A Sight in Camp
By the Bivouac's Fitful Flame
Song of the Broad-Axe
A Child said _What is the grass?_ (from _A Song of Myself_)

The Rolling Earth (Selections from Whitman) W.R. Browne (Ed.)
The Life of Walt Whitman H.B. Binns
Walt Whitman John Burroughs
A Visit to Walt Whitman (Portraits) John Johnston
Walt Whitman the Man (Portraits) Thomas Donaldson
Walt Whitman G.R. Carpenter
Walt Whitman (Portraits) I.H. Platt
Whitman Bliss Perry
Early May in New England (poem) Percy Mackaye
Knee-deep in June J.W. Riley
Spring Henry Timrod
Spring Song Bliss Carman

ODYSSEUS IN PHAEACIA

TRANSLATED BY GEORGE HERBERT PALMER

Thus long-tried royal Odysseus slumbered here, heavy with sleep and
toil; but Athene went to the land and town of the Phaeacians. This
people once in ancient times lived in the open highlands, near that rude
folk the Cyclops, who often plundered them, being in strength more
powerful than they. Moving them thence, godlike Nausithoues, their
leader, established them at Scheria, far from toiling men. He ran a wall
around the town, built houses there, made temples for the gods, and laid
out farms; but Nausithoues had met his doom and gone to the house of
Hades, and Alcinoues now was reigning, trained in wisdom by the gods. To
this man's dwelling came the goddess, clear-eyed Athene, planning a safe
return for brave Odysseus. She hastened to a chamber, richly wrought, in
which a maid was sleeping, of form and beauty like the immortals,
Nausicaae, daughter of generous Alcinoues. Near by two damsels, dowered
with beauty by the Graces, slept by the threshold, one on either hand.
The shining doors were shut; but Athene, like a breath of air, moved to
the maid's couch, stood by her head, and thus addressed her,--taking the
likeness of the daughter of Dymas, the famous seaman, a maiden just
Nausicaae's age, dear to her heart. Taking her guise, thus spoke
clear-eyed Athene:--

"Nausicaae, how did your mother bear a child so heedless? Your gay
clothes lie uncared for, though the wedding time is near, when you must
wear fine clothes yourself and furnish them to those that may attend
you. From things like these a good repute arises, and father and honored
mother are made glad. Then let us go a-washing at the dawn of day, and I
will go to help, that you may soon be ready; for really not much longer
will you be a maid. Already you have for suitors the chief ones of the
land throughout Phaeacia, where you too were born. Come, then, beg your
good father early in the morning to harness the mules and cart, so as to
carry the men's clothes, gowns, and bright-hued rugs. Yes, and for you
yourself it is more decent so than setting forth on foot; the pools are
far from the town."

Saying this, clear-eyed Athene passed away, off to Olympus, where they
say the dwelling of the gods stands fast forever. Never with winds is it
disturbed, nor by the rain made wet, nor does the snow come near; but
everywhere the upper air spreads cloudless, and a bright radiance plays
over all; and there the blessed gods are happy all their days. Thither
now came the clear-eyed one, when she had spoken with the maid.

Soon bright-throned morning came, and waked fair-robed Nausicaae. She
marveled at the dream, and hastened through the house to tell it to her
parents, her dear father and her mother. She found them still in-doors:
her mother sat by the hearth among the waiting-women, spinning
sea-purple yarn; she met her father at the door, just going forth to
join the famous princes at the council, to which the high Phaeacians
summoned him. So standing close beside him, she said to her dear
father:--

"Papa dear, could you not have the wagon harnessed for me,--the high
one, with good wheels,--to take my nice clothes to the river to be
washed, which now are lying dirty? Surely for you yourself it is but
proper, when you are with the first men holding councils, that you
should wear clean clothing. Five good sons too are here at home,--two
married, and three merry young men still,--and they are always wanting
to go to the dance wearing fresh clothes. And this is all a trouble on
my mind."

Such were her words, for she was shy of naming the glad marriage to her
father; but he understood it all, and answered thus:

"I do not grudge the mules, my child, nor anything beside. Go! Quickly
shall the servants harness the wagon for you, the high one, with good
wheels, fitted with rack above."

Saying this, he called to the servants, who gave heed. Out in the court
they made the easy mule-cart ready; they brought the mules and yoked
them to the wagon. The maid took from her room her pretty clothing, and
stowed it in the polished wagon; her mother put in a chest food the maid
liked, of every kind, put dainties in, and poured some wine into a
goat-skin bottle,--the maid, meanwhile, had got into the wagon,--and
gave her in a golden flask some liquid oil, that she might bathe and
anoint herself, she and the waiting-women. Nausicaae took the whip and
the bright reins, and cracked the whip to start. There was a clatter of
the mules, and steadily they pulled, drawing the clothing and the
maid,--yet not alone; beside her went the waiting-women too.

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