The Elson Readers, Book 5
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William H. Elson and Christine M. Keck >> The Elson Readers, Book 5
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On pages 19 and 20 you read that the world of Nature is a fairyland,
and that the poets help us to see the beauty that lies about us.
Perhaps now when you look up into a starry sky you say to yourself
almost without thinking, "The night has a thousand eyes--" What other
poems have revealed beauties of Nature to you?
A FORWARD LOOK
Here is matter for your entertainment. Several interesting persons
will appear and will show you that a small part of the joy of reading
consists in the merry tales that you may find in books. One of the
English poets somewhere calls upon the spirits of fun and joy, a
cheerful nymph and her companions, to drive dull care away. This poet,
John Milton by name, wrote many poems and prose works on very serious
matters. He lived in a serious time, the time when many Englishmen
were leaving their native country and emigrating to America in order
that they might find a freedom that was denied to them at home.
But even under these circumstances, sympathizing with those who went
into exile for freedom, and studying night and day how he could
himself advance the cause of liberty, John Milton was too great a man
to believe that life is altogether serious and earnest. Humor and
jesting and wholesome fun have a part in every life; they are no more
to be neglected than the spices in a Thanksgiving pie. So the poet
called upon the cheerful nymph and her attendants to help him see the
brighter side of life; the fun that there is in foolishness, and the
health that comes with a hearty laugh. Here is what he wrote:
"Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollity,
Come, and trip it, as you go,
On the light, fantastic toe."
Now let us imagine that we, also, are inviting these kindly spirits of
Mirth. Our lives are serious, too. We have arithmetic to learn, or
we have a composition to write. People expect us to do all sorts of
things that take our time, and of course we want to do these things.
But here comes Laughter holding both his sides, a fat old gentleman
who makes you feel merry the moment you set eyes on him. And Father
Laughter first introduces the Baron Munchausen, who will tell some
of his marvelous experiences. We are not compelled to believe all of
them. Perhaps Father Laughter wanted to take a sly dig or two at the
yarns some travelers tell when they get home. By this means the story
illustrates one of the great sources of humor--monstrous exaggeration.
It also shows what a foolish thing it is to be a boaster. Most people,
at one time or another, are tempted to brag about their deeds, their
possessions, or their smartness. If they would only think of Baron
Munchausen, they would flee from this temptation.
After this comes a story about the blind men and the elephant. Here
Father Laughter gets his way with you by making you see how absurd
were the guesses about the elephant made by men who knew only the
animal's trunk, or his tusks, or his tail. And here, too, after you
have laughed heartily at the foolish fellows who were so positive that
they knew everything when they knew nothing, you begin to see the
danger in what are called "snap judgments." "Look at these ridiculous
fellows," says Father Laughter, "and consider how silly it is to jump
to a conclusion unless you have all the facts."
You will agree that Father Laughter's next performer, Darius Green, is
especially interesting in these days when men fly across the Atlantic
or from New York to San Francisco. Darius seems to have been the first
"bird-man," and though he was absurd enough, he reminds one of the
fact that many useful inventions that now add to our comfort were
prepared for by men who seemed to their friends and acquaintances
crazy enough.
But this is introduction a-plenty; there's really no need to keep you
any longer from getting acquainted with Father Laughter and the antics
he likes to play.
ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN
R. E. Raspe
The Savage Boar
Baron Munchausen had feasted his friends right well, and after supper
he leaned back in his chair and said, "So you want me to tell you of
my adventures in the past." His guests eagerly urged him on, and he
began his story.
Once, when I was returning from a hunt, with an empty gun (having used
all my ammunition), a raging wild boar rushed at me. Well, you know
how unpleasant such an encounter may be, so I am sure none of you will
think me a coward for hastily climbing the nearest tree; it was a
young birch which could hardly bear my weight. The boar made a dash
for the tree, but was a moment too late, for I had just drawn my legs
out of his reach. But so violent was his rush that his tusks went
through the trunk of the tree and projected an inch through the other
side. I slid down the tree, picked up a stone the size of my fist, and
riveted down the projecting points of the tusks. You can imagine what
a narrow escape I had when I tell you that the beast weighed five
tons--a good deal for a wild boar."
A Narrow Escape
"At another time, when I was hunting in Ceylon, I was terrified to see
a gigantic lion approaching, with the evident intention of devouring
me. My gun was only loaded with bird-shot, and I had no other about
me. The savage animal shook his head several times, uttered a loud
roar, and prepared to spring. I turned to flee, and--my flesh creeps
even now at the recollection of it--there, on the bank of a river that
lay behind me, was a huge crocodile with his terrible jaws open ready
to swallow me!
"Imagine, gentlemen, the horror of my situation--before me the lion,
behind me the crocodile, on my left a rushing torrent, and on the
right an abyss full of poisonous snakes! I gave myself up for lost,
and fell to the ground in an almost fainting condition, expecting
nothing better than to meet with a horrible death from one or the
other of these terrible animals.
"After waiting a few seconds I heard a violent noise, different from
any that had fallen on my ears before. I ventured to raise my head,
and what do you think had happened?
"The lion had, in his eagerness, jumped clean over me into the
crocodile's jaws; the head of the one stuck in the throat of the
other, and they were struggling to free themselves. I quickly sprang
to my feet, drew out my hunting-knife, and with one blow severed the
lion's head. Then, with the butt-end of my gun, I rammed the head
farther into the throat of the crocodile, and destroyed him by
suffocation. The hide of the crocodile, which was exactly forty
feet in length, I had stuffed, and it now forms one of the chief
attractions in the museum at Amsterdam, where the superintendent
relates the story to all spectators, with harrowing additions.
"One of these is that the lion jumped right through the crocodile,
but as soon as the head appeared, Monsieur the Famous Baron (as he is
pleased to call me) cut it off, and three feet of the crocodile's tail
as well, whereupon the crocodile turned round, snatched the knife out
of my hand, and swallowed it so greedily that it pierced his heart and
killed him!
"I need not tell you how annoyed I was by these exaggerations. In
this age of doubt people who do not know me might possibly be led to
disbelieve the real facts when they are mixed up with such absurd
inventions.
HOW THE BARON SAVED GIBRALTAR
"Some years later I made a voyage to Gibraltar to visit my old friend,
General Elliott. He received me with joy and took me for a stroll
along the ramparts to examine the operations of the enemy. I had
brought with me an excellent telescope, which I had purchased in Rome.
Looking through it, I saw that the enemy were about to discharge a
thirty-six pound cannon at the very spot where we were standing. I
rushed toward our nearest cannon, a forty-eight pounder, and placed it
exactly facing that of the enemy. I watched carefully till I saw the
Spanish gunner apply a match to the touchhole, and then I, too, gave
the word 'Fire.'
"Both reports rang out at the same instant, and the two cannon balls
met halfway with amazing force. Ours, being the heavier, caused the
enemy's ball to recoil with such violence as to kill the man who had
discharged it; it then passed through the masts of three ships which
lay in a line behind each other, and flew across the Straits of
Gibraltar some miles into Africa. Our own ball, after repelling the
other, proceeded on its way, dismounted the very cannon which had just
been used against us, and forced it into the hold of the ship, where
it fell with so much force as to break its way through the bottom.
The ship immediately filled and sank, with about a thousand Spanish
sailors and a large number of soldiers on board, who were all drowned.
"You can see for yourselves that this strange tale must be true,
however improbable it sounds, or else how could it possibly have
happened?"
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
A long time ago a book called The Travels of Baron Munchausen was
written by Rudolph Erich Raspe. The tales told in this book were so
extravagant that the name Munchausen is often applied to boasters. The
author pretends that the stories are all strictly true.
Discussion. 1. What extravagant statements do you find in the story
"The Savage Boar"? In "A Narrow Escape"? In "How the Baron Saved
Gibraltar"? 2. Which of the incidents mentioned do you think is the
most ridiculous? 3. What do you think of the proof given by the author
to prove the truthfulness of the last story? 4. Which of the sources
of humor mentioned on page 58 does this story illustrate? 5. Find
in the Glossary the meaning of: boar; encounter; tusks; riveted;
gigantic; abyss; severed; whereupon; exaggerations; ramparts;
touchhole; recoil; repelling; dismounted; hold. 6. Pronounce:
Munchausen; projected; harrowing; Monsieur.
Phrases for Study
evident intention, age of doubt, horror of my situation, absurd
inventions, gave myself up for lost, operations of the enemy,
harrowing additions, Straits of Gibraltar.
THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
John G. Saxe
It was six men of Indostan,
To learning much inclined
Who went to see the elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The first approached the elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the elephant
Is very like a wall!"
The second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an elephant
Is very like a spear!"
The third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a snake!"
The fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"'Tis clear enough the elephant
Is very like a tree!"
The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant
Is very like a fan!"
The sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail,
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
Biography. John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887), an American poet, was born
in Vermont. He is best known by his humorous poems, of which "The
Blind Men and the Elephant" is most widely read.
Discussion. 1. How could blind men "see" the elephant? 2. To what did
each compare the elephant? 3. Explain the comparison each made. 4.
Why is comparison a common way of describing objects? 5. Point out
instances of its use by other authors in this book. 6. Why were these
blind men all "in the wrong"? 7. How far was each "in the right"? 8.
What makes this poem humorous? 9. What may we learn from this story?
10. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: learning; observation;
approached; bawl; wonder; resembles; marvel; grope; disputed; stiff.
11. Pronounce: sturdy; wondrous; scope.
Phrases for Study
much inclined, eager hand, satisfy his mind, within his scope.
DARIUS GREEN AND HIS FLYING-MACHINE
JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE
If ever there lived a Yankee lad,
Wise or otherwise, good or bad,
Who, seeing the birds fly, didn't jump
With flapping arms from stake or stump,
Or, spreading the tail
Of his coat for a sail,
Take a soaring leap from post or rail,
And wonder why
He couldn't fly,
And flap and flutter and wish and try--
If ever you knew a country dunce
Who didn't try that as often as once,
All I can say is, that's a sign
He never would do for a hero of mine.
An aspiring genius was D. Green;
The son of a farmer--age fourteen.
His body was long and lank and lean--
Just right for flying, as will be seen;
He had two eyes, each bright as a bean,
And a freckled nose that grew between,
A little awry--for I must mention
That he had riveted his attention
Upon his wonderful invention,
Twisting his tongue as he twisted the strings,
Working his face as he worked the wings,
Arid with every turn of gimlet and screw
Turning and screwing his mouth round, too,
Till his nose seemed bent
To catch the scent,
Around some corner, of new-baked pies,
And his wrinkled cheeks and his squinting eyes
Grew puckered into a queer grimace,
That made him look very droll in the face,
And also very wise.
And wise he must have been, to do more
Than ever a genius did before,
Excepting Daedalus of yore
And his son Icarus, who wore
Upon their backs
Those wings of wax
He had read of in the old almanacs.
Darius was clearly of the opinion
That the air is also man's dominion,
And that, with paddle or fin or pinion,
We soon or late
Shall navigate
The azure as now we sail the sea.
The thing looks simple enough to me;
And if you doubt it,
Hear how Darius reasoned about it.
"Birds can fly,
An' why can't I?
Must we give in,"
Says he with a grin,
"'T the bluebird an' phoebe
Are smarter'n we be?
Jest fold our hands an' see the swaller
An' blackbird an' catbird beat us holler?
Does the leetle, chatterin', sassy wren,
No bigger'n my thumb, know more than men
Jest show me that!
Er prove't the bat
Has got more brains than's in my hat,
An' I'll back down, an' not till then!"
He argued further: "Ner I can't see
What's th' use o' wings to a bumblebee,
Fer to git a livin' with, more'n to me;
Ain't my business
Importanter'n his'n is?
That Icarus
Was a silly cuss--
Him an' his daddy, Daedalus.
They might 'a' knowed wings made o' wax
Wouldn't stan' sun-heat an' hard whacks;
I'll make mine o' luther,
Er suthin' er other."
And he said to himself, as he tinkered and planned:
"But I ain't goin' to show my hand
To mummies that never can understand
The fust idee that's big an' grand.
They'd 'a' laft an' made fun
O' Creation itself afore 'twas done!"
So he kept his secret from all the rest,
Safely buttoned within his vest;
And in the loft above the shed
Himself he locks, With thimble and thread
And wax and hammer and buckles and screws,
And all such things as geniuses use;
Two bats for patterns, curious fellows!
A charcoal-pot and a pair of bellows;
An old hoop-skirt or two, as Well as
Some wire and several old umbrellas;
A carriage-cover, for tail and wings;
A piece of harness; and straps and strings;
And a big strong box,
In which he locks
These and a hundred other things.
His grinning brothers, Reuben and Burke
And Nathan and Jotham and Solomon, lurk
Around the corner to see him work--
Sitting cross-legged, like a Turk,
Drawing the waxed end through with a jerk,
And boring the holes with a comical quirk
Of his wise old head, and a knowing smirk.
But vainly they mounted each other's backs,
And poked through knot-holes and pried through cracks;
With wood from the pile and straw from the stacks
He plugged the knot-holes and calked the cracks;
And a bucket of water, which one would think;
He had brought up into the loft to drink
When he chanced to be dry,
Stood always nigh,
For Darius was sly!
And whenever at work he happened to spy
At chink or crevice a blinking eye,
He let a dipper of water fly.
"Take that! an' ef ever ye get a peep,
Guess ye'll ketch a weasel asleep!"
And he sings as he locks
His big strong box:
"The weasel's head is small an' trim,
An' he is leetle an' long an' slim,
An' quick of motion an' nimble of limb,
An' ef yeou'll be
Advised by me,
Keep wide awake when ye're ketchin' him!"
So day after day
He stitched and tinkered and hammered
Till at last 'twas done--
The greatest invention under the sun!
"An' now," says Darius, "hooray fer some fun!"
'Twas the Fourth of July,
And the weather was dry,
And not a cloud was on all the sky
Save a few light fleeces, which here and there.
Half mist, half air,
Like foam on the ocean went floating by;
Just as lovely a morning as ever was seen
For a nice little trip in a flying-machine.
Thought cunning Darius: "Now I shan't go
Along 'ith the fellers to see the show.
I'll say I've got sich a terrible cough!
An' then, when the folks 'ave all gone off,
I'll hev full swing
For to try the thing,
An' practyse a leetle on the wing."
"Ain't goin' to see the celebration?"
Says Brother Nate. "No; botheration!
I've got sich a cold--a toothache--I--
My gracious!--feel's though I should fly!"
Said Jotham, "Sho!
Guess ye better go."
But Darius said, "No!
Shouldn't wonder 'f yeou might see me, though,
'Long 'bout noon, ef I git red
O' this jumpin', thumpin' pain 'n my head."
For all the while to himself he said:
"I'll tell ye what!
I'll fly a few times around the lot,
To see how 't seems; then soon's I've got
The hang o' the thing, ez likely's not,
I'll astonish the nation,
And all creation,
By flyin' over the celebration!
Over their heads I'll sail like an eagle;
I'll balance myself on my wings like a sea-gull;
I'll dance on the chimbleys; I'll stan' on the steeple;
I'll flop up to winders an' scare the people!
I'll light on the libbe'ty-pole, an' crow;
An' I'll say to the gawpin' fools below,
'What world's this 'ere
That I've come near?'
Fer I'll make 'em believe I'm a chap f'm the moon!
An' I'll try a race 'ith their ol' bulloon."
He crept from his bed;
And, seeing the others were gone, he said,
"I'm a gittin' over the cold 'n my head."
And away he sped
To open the wonderful box in the shed.
His brothers had walked but a little way
When Jotham to Nathan chanced to say,
"What on airth is he up to, hey?"
"Don'o'--the' 's suthin' er other to pay,
Er he wouldn't 'a' stayed to hum today."
Says Burke, "His toothache's all 'n his eye!
He never'd miss a Fo'th-o'-July
Ef he hedn't got some machine to try.
Le's hurry back an' hide in the barn,
An' pay him fer tellin' us that yarn!"
"Agreed!" Through the orchard they creep back,
Along by the fences, behind the stack,
And one by one, through a hole in the wall,
In under the dusty barn they crawl,
Dressed in their Sunday garments all;
And a very astonishing sight was that,
When each in his cobwebbed coat and hat
Came up through the floor like an ancient rat
And there they hid;
And Reuben slid
The fastenings back, and the door undid.
"Keep dark!" said he,
"While I squint an' see what the' is to see."
As knights of old put on their mail--
From head to foot
An iron suit,
Iron jacket and iron boot,
Iron breeches, and on the head
No hat, but an iron pot instead,
And under the chin the bail
(I believe they called the thing a helm);
And the lid they carried they called a shield;
And, thus accoutered, they took the field,
Sallying forth to overwhelm
The dragons and pagans that plagued the realm--
So this modern knight
Prepared for flight,
Put on his wings and strapped them tight;
Jointed and jaunty, strong and light;
Buckled them fast to shoulder and hip--
Ten feet they measured from tip to tip!
And a helm had he, but that he wore,
Not on his head like those of yore,
But more like the helm of a ship.
"Hush!" Reuben said,
"He's up in the shed!
He's opened the winder--I see his head!
He stretches it out,
An' pokes it about,
Lookin' to see 'f the coast is clear,
An' nobody near;
Guess he don'o' who's hid in here!
He's riggin' a spring-board over the sill!
Stop laffin', Solomon! Burke, keep still!
He's a climbin' out now--of all the things!
What's he got on? I van, it's wings!
An' that 'tother thing? I yum, it's a tail!
An' there he sets like a hawk on a rail!
Steppin' careful, he travels the length
Of his spring-board, and teeters to try its strength.
Now he stretches his wings, like a monstrous bat;
Peeks over his shoulder, this way an' that,
Fer to see 'f the' 's anyone passin' by;
But the' 's on'y a ca'f an' a goslin' nigh.
They turn up at him a wonderin' eye,
To see--the dragon! he's goin' to fly!
Away he goes! Jimminy! what a jump!
Flop--flop--an' plump
To the ground with a thump!
Flutt'rin' an' flound'rin', all in a lump!"
As a demon is hurled by an angel's spear,
Heels over head, to his proper sphere--
Heels over head, and head over heels,
Dizzily down the abyss he wheels--
So fell Darius. Upon his crown,
In the midst of the barnyard, he came down,
In a wonderful whirl of tangled strings,
Broken braces and broken springs,
Broken tail and broken wings,
Shooting-stars, and various things!
Away with a bellow fled the calf,
And what was that? Did the gosling laugh?
'Tis a merry roar
From the old barn-door,
And he hears the voice of Jotham crying,
"Say, D'rius! how de yeou like flyin'?"
Slowly, ruefully, where he lay,
Darius just turned and looked that way,
As he stanched his sorrowful nose with his cuff.
"Wal, I like flyin' well enough,"
He said; "but the' ain't sich a thunderin' sight
O' fun in 't when ye come to light."
MORAL
I just have room for the moral here,
And this is the moral: Stick to your sphere.
Or if you insist, as you have the right,
On spreading your wings for a loftier flight,
The moral is: Take care how you light.
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
Biography. John Townsend Trowbridge (1827-1916), an American writer,
lived in Cambridge. He and Lucy Larcom were for a time editors of Our
Young Folks' Magazine. Trowbridge first saw a flying-machine sixty
years after he wrote "Darius Green and His Flying-Machine." He was
then eighty-three years old.
Discussion. 1. What did Darius Green believe that men would soon be
able to do? 2. What did Darius determine to use as material for his
machine? 3. Why did he not tell his brothers what he was trying to do?
4. When did he plan to try his machine? 5. Find the lines that tell
what he imagined he would do. 6. Find the lines that tell what he
really did. 7. What did he say was the unpleasant part of flying? 8.
Mention some inventions that people once thought were as impossible as
the boys thought this flying-machine was. 9. Mention some inventors at
whom people once laughed but who are now honored. 10. In what way does
the author make his story humorous? 11. Notice Darius's language on
pages 67 and 68. The writer shows by such words that Darius was not a
well-educated boy; are persons often judged by the way they talk? 12.
In Wildman's Famous Leaders of Industry, you will find interesting
facts about Orville and Wilbur Wright..You will enjoy reading The
Boys' Airplane Book, Collins. 13, Report any current news on airplane
development, airplane mail routes, etc., that you can find. 14. Find
in the Glossary the meaning of: soaring; lank; gimlet; yore; pinion;
tinkered; mummies; quirk; smirk; crevice; weasel; cunning; ancient;
helm; ruefully. 15. Pronounce: Darius; aspiring; genius; awry;
grimace; droll; Daedalus; Icarus; almanacs; phoebe; calked; breeches;
accoutered; pagans; jaunty; stanched.
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