Part 47 (1/2)

CALIFORNIA

_The Cat and the Cherub_, Chester B. Fernald.

_The Luck of Roaring Camp_; _Tales of the Argonauts_, Bret Harte.

_The Splendid Idle Forties_, Gertrude Atherton.

NEW MEXICO

_The King of the Broncos_, Charles F. Lummis.

_Santa Fe's Partner_, Thomas A. Janvier.

WYOMING

_Red Men and White_; _The Virginian_; _Members of the Family_, Owen Wister.

_Teepee Tales_, Grace Coolidge.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

_Caybigan_, James N. Hopper.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS FOR STUDY

THE RIGHT PROMETHEAN FIRE

In Greek mythology, the work of creating living things was entrusted to two of the G.o.ds, Epimetheus and Prometheus. Epimetheus gave to the different animals various powers, to the lion strength, to the bird swiftness, to the fox sagacity, and so on until all the good gifts had been bestowed, and there was nothing left for man. Then Prometheus ascended to heaven and brought down fire, as his gift to man. With this, man could protect himself, could forge iron to make weapons, and so in time develop the arts of civilization. In this story the ”Promethean Fire” of love is the means of giving little Emmy Lou her first lesson in reading.

1. A test that may be applied to any story is, Does it read as if it were true? Would the persons in the story do the things they are represented as doing? Test the acts of Billy Traver in this way, and see if they are probable.

2. In writing stories about children, a writer must have the power to present life as a child sees it. Point out places in this story where school life is described as it appears to a new pupil.

3. One thing we ought to gain from our reading is a larger vocabulary. In this story there are a number of words worth adding to our stock. Define these exactly: inquisitorial; lachrymose; laconic; surrept.i.tious; contumely.

Get the habit of looking up new words and writing down their meanings.

4. Can you write a story about a school experience?

5. Other books containing stories of school life are:

_Little Aliens_, Myra Kelly; _May Iverson Tackles Life_, Elizabeth Jordan; _Ten to Seventeen_, Josephine Daskam Bacon; _Closed Doors_, Margaret P. Montague. Read a story from one of these books, and compare it with this story.

THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE

Central Park, New York, covers an era of more than eight hundred acres, with a zoo and several small lakes. On one of the lakes there are large boats with a huge wooden swan on each side. Richard Harding Davis located one of his stories here: See ”Van Bibber and the Swan Boats,”