fellow from Missouri, with a hard sort of chin. He come riding up near
the Baton Pass, and asked to stay the night and get supper and breakfast
with us. Well, it so happened I had caught cold and wasn’t feeling
extra. The boys was worried and sort of mad,--that was the worst trouble
we had,--because I would mend and cook just the same. The boys cooked
terrible, and it seemed as though I couldn’t have no peace of mind,
unless I did it. It made me feel so as though I was no use to them and
not paying my share by what I did, you know. Well, this man from
Missouri was a fine cook. He stayed with us three days, and by the time
he went I was all right again. He was real helpful. They never got him.
When we come to Trinidad, we was good and surprised to find he was a
cattle thief that shot a sheriff that tried to arrest him.'
The lake was paler now. White clouds plumed on the horizon, and an
evening glow, green and faintly flushing, was reflected delicately from
the west. The dunes were browner and darker. The visitor sat thinking,
evidently, of her long, free wandering days. Elsie, putting on her
shoes, sat thinking of her wayfaring companion’s mean and hateful life
in the very midst of what is called civilization and respectability; of
her struggle for existence--a struggle in which she had been all but
killed by the greedinesses around her; a struggle just as sharp as any
of the nail-and-claw-depredations commonly attributed exclusively to
wilder-nesses. They watched the sky change, in an unspoken
friendliness.
'And now, you are much better?' said Elsie quietly.
'Yes. Now I’m well, thank God! And the Bronson boy as sound as a bell.
That was the most lucky illness you can imagine for me. I couldn’t go
back after that to the way I lived before. I always would live
different--more outdoors, and just looking after myself better. Since
that time, I’ve been lots more use to myself and everybody else. After
we got to California, I sewed here and there for the people where we
boarded first, and they liked my sewing so much, and I made so much
money, that when Kip got a job to Gary, engineering for the electric
plant, and I come too, to keep house for him, I put up a sign and
gradually I’d worked up a good trade, before he was married. Why I’m
going to be able to send Babe to Vassar, and plenty for me to take a
trip west, too, next summer. Kip married such a nice girl.' She rose.
'I’ve talked you to death. But when you spoke about your cousin, it
brought everything right out of my lips some way. I hope he’s not so
very sick.'
'No. He will be well again. He has a splendid constitution.'
Miss Brackett shook hands with her. 'I wish you would come in for a
minute and see me, if you ever have time some day when you’re in Gary.'
'I will.'
'Good-night.'
'Good-night.'
As her visitor disappeared over the rounded ridge of the dune, Elsie
heard the home-coming voices of the campers. They had brought
peanut-taffy to her, and they praised her none the less highly for her
intended sacrifice to the Moloch of Mrs. Horick and the dullness of the
world that she had not needed to make this sacrifice.
For some reason, she could not have explained to them about her chance
guest. But she was still thinking of her, as she walked from the shore a
little later to gather firewood for supper. The sun dropped long-ribbed
level beams over the russet oak-brush and buff shadows of the dunes.
Crimson rifts broke in the amber ether of the west. Rich, rich, soft,
and deep, the fragrance of some far autumnal bonfire breathed in the
cool air.
'Where are the songs of spring? oh, where are they? Mourn not for them,
thou hast thy music, too,' rang silently in the girl’s fancy as she
stood looking around her. And she wondered that she never till that day
had realized how deeply wild creation is the birthright of every
creature, not only for the power of tooth and fang, the strength of the
marauder, but for the vitality of speed and sensitiveness,
ground-squirrel, deer, and cricket; and how Nature’s most profound
magnificence might sing, perhaps, not in her thrilling melody to April
pulses, but in her proud cadence to November hearts.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND INTERPRETATIVE NOTES
THE LIE
MARY ANTIN, ever since _The Promised Land_ first appeared in the
_Atlantic Monthly_, has come to mark the highest standard of literary
excellence and political idealism possible for the best and most gifted
of our foreigners to attain. Born in Russia, educated in Boston and New
York, her influence has been widely exerted by her books and by her
public addresses.
One of the chief points of interest in Mary Antin’s story lies in the
conflict of ideas about truth. David had learned that in America a good
patriotic citizen should learn to tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. The demand for this strictness, he came to learn,
was more particularly severe when assertions were recorded in writing on
public documents. The little boy understood equally well that the
training which his father had received in Russia made it seem right in
certain cases to swear falsely and deceive the government. David
therefore saw the tragical significance of his father’s false record on
the American public school document. In David’s conception Mr. Rudinsky
had done no wrong in telling the lie; yet that lie nevertheless stood
out as a bold contrast to George Washington’s idea of truth. How could
the little boy be loyal to both ideas, when the ideas were diametrically
opposed to each other?
_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_
1. What are some of the differences suggested between life for the
Jewish person in Russia and in America?
2. How does the author indicate her own feelings in regard to the
problems that confront David and his father?
3. What does citizenship mean to Mr. Rudinsky? What are some of the more
concrete forms by which he makes his ideas of freedom evident? Does his
conception of Americanism coincide with that of the average American?
4. Has the literalness of David’s interpretation of "America" any real
connection with the time of the story? Was it necessary to give so much
general detail before the question of David’s age came up?
5. Why is Bennie introduced into the story? Do you find any other
characters contributing to the humor or acting as foils?
6. How does the author reveal Miss Ralston’s competence to reconcile the
two ideals of truth?
STUDENT’S COMMENT ON 'THE LIE'
To me the chief interest in _The Lie_ centres in the portrayal of
character. Naturally I was most interested in David, and I found myself
contrasting David’s habitually serious devotion to his studies with my
own rather fitful habits of attack. The contrast was not comforting.
Little Bennie I liked, too. Indeed, I think that for everyday living, I
should find him the more agreeable companion of the two. He bubbles over
so easily and charms us with his frankness and unconscious humor. Mr.
Rudinsky’s ambition for David is splendid--so splendid that we can
pretty readily excuse the lie he told about David’s age. I was not so
much interested in Mrs. Rudinsky, but I nevertheless felt that if I were
grading her on her proficiency in motherhood, I’d have to give her an
A-,--or at least a B+. And Miss Ralston was wonderful. Wouldn’t it be
splendid if every teacher could have such a sympathetic understanding of
children’s hearts!
The second item that interested me was the patriotic note. In these war
days everything even remotely connected with the patriotic ideal stirs
us. I was proud that I could think of America as the land where my
fathers had freely died in order that I might live in freedom. And I
rather guiltily questioned whether I have been showing by my own service
any real appreciation of the sacrifice which these fathers had made. And
I felt a bit ashamed when I thought that David’s admiration for George
Washington somehow seemed loftier and more deeply personal than my own
had been.
Another characteristic struck me: Miss Antin portrayed her separate
scenes with such graphic power. I am sure that I shall always remember
the whimsical figure of David in the George Washington coat that was so
much too big for the tiny figure. But I was almost afraid to laugh for
fear of hurting David’s feelings, for David somehow seemed so very near.
This touch of reality is equally strong in the passage which describes
Mrs. Rudinsky and her hasty toilet, and her hands on which the scrubbing
brush and paring knife had left their unmistakable marks.
I, of course, find that I was interested in the plot. Indeed, I read
stories principally for the fun of seeing how the events shape
themselves at the close. It doesn’t matter here that we are not told
exactly what happened in that conversation between Miss Ralston and
David. We know that the trouble was all smoothed out. Personally, I feel
quite sure that David finally took part in that school entertainment.
BLUE REEFERS
ELIZABETH ASHE is the pen name of Georgiana Pentlarge, a young and
promising story-writer, living in Boston.
A reefer properly belongs in the category useful. Even in its second or
third season of usefulness, it retains certain warm and comforting
qualities. How its sphere of endeavor may be extended to include a
divine mission of poetic justice, Miss Ashe unfolds in a delightfully
humorous experience of two little girls--one very pretty and habitually
urbane, the other very homely and rather crude. With reefers smothering
all glories of Persian lawn and fine silk slips, we have two little
girls arrived at the height of ecstatic self-forgetfulness in the
excitement of giving a recitation for the Christmas entertainment.
Complete satisfaction, too, is the reader’s. What a delightful chuckle
he gives over Aunt Emma’s chagrin at discovering that, in the matter of
little girls, golden hair and pink cheeks, or freckles and a 'jaw,' make
very little difference! Yet his chuckle, after all, is only an echo from
an adult world, a world suggested to Martha by the vague whisperings of
Father and Mother after she has gone to bed. Far more real is the world
Miss Ashe has created, where Miss Miriam’s black dress and gold cross
present a charming but insoluble mystery; where one is forced, however
regretfully, to reconcile cotton-batting with a Sunday-School Christmas
tree, and where 'it is so nice to be in things.'
_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_
1. Comment on the author’s use of detail. Does it create a real
atmosphere?
2. Is the author successful in her interpretation of the mind of the
small girl? Is the author’s own personality ever intruded? How is she
able to secure the larger view of the events that take place?
3. Is the climax made more or less effective by the children’s
unconsciousness of their act? Would you have preferred a more startling
dénouement?
4. Why is Luella sketched so lightly? Is the contrast only between the
two little girls?
5. How does Miss Miriam contribute to the interest in the story?
6. Comment on the skillful ending of the story.
THE DEBT
KATHLEEN CARMAN (Mrs. L. N. Dodge), a writer of interesting short
stories, lives in Evanston, Illinois. _The Debt_ is her first
contribution to _The Atlantic_.
Certain of the old Flemish painters present a canvas which seems to
suggest that a peaceful meadow-land, a winding river, or a distant
mountain-slope, exists only as a background for the figure in which they
are interested. The relative importance is indicated by the proportions
that make the figure loom large and masterful within the scene. Miss
Carman, too, has cleared her canvas for the presentation of her figure;
but her heroine is very small, very insignificant, in the presence of
greater realities of expansive sea, cloud-fancies, or the rising moon.
The interest of the story centres in the relation between Nature--more
exactly God in Nature--and patient, plodding Sister Anne.
Nothing else matters. The problem itself is clear to Sister Anne; only
the solution is difficult. To one whose life has seen all the
unloveliness of heavy manual labor, there exists a pressing necessity to
pay for the joy of living that is in her: a strange, absorbing joy in
the beauty that God has created. Praise and prayer are not her
instruments. A loving attendance at chapel and early matins cannot
translate her feelings. Love and worship must be transmuted into the
thing she knows--service.
The time comes. Simply, consciously, unquestioning, she risks her life
to return another’s to God--a small payment for what He has given her.
The problem is between them. Her devout companions may admire, the
wealthy landowner wonder; nothing can be given to this 'poor, lonely,
ignorant, toil-worn being, who in her starved existence had found more
joy than she could make return for.'
_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_
1. The reader will find it interesting to contrast the ways in which
Sister Anne and The Princess, in Miss Donnell’s story of _The Princess
of Make-Believe_, reconcile themselves to the drudgery of dish-washing
and similar tasks of kitchen routine.
2. What various manifestations of nature especially impressed Sister
Anne? What appeal did these make to her companions?
3. Do you regard the author’s prolonged analytical method of
characterization--as employed in the first part of the story--as the
most effective means of bringing the reader into an understanding of
the deeper personality of Sister Anne?
4. What special detail in this analysis most strongly impresses you?
5. What other method might have been adopted?
6. Characterize fully the spirit and the motive which impel Sister
Anne’s final deed of sacrifice. What impresses you as the finest element
in her act?
7. Comment upon the author’s way of ending the story.
SETH MILES AND THE SACRED FIRE
CORNELIA A. P. COMER, accomplished critic, essayist, and writer of short
stories, was educated at Vassar, and afterwards engaged in journalistic
work in the Middle West and California. She now lives in Seattle.
There are really three stories in one: Cynthia’s and Dick’s we put
together from suggestions; that of Seth Miles we know from his own
detailed narrative; Richard’s remains for our forming. All the details
are woven into a tale of one day. A day hot and sultry in itself is made
to coincide with the grumblings and self-pitying of a pampered son; both
day and character are cleared without the arrival of the threatened
storm, and duty is made as splendid and beautiful as the sun emerging
from a darkened sky. A dilettante, conceiving in his cultured self an
appropriate offering from Mammon to the Muses, learns that even the heir
of millions has work to do. The place and the teacher emphasize the
greatness of the lesson. There is little doubt in the reader’s mind that
Seth Miles’s sacrifice has been worth while. To him comes a double
reward: the realization that Cynthia and Dick have lived lives worth his
self-denial, and the satisfaction that to their son, through his own
wise teachings, has come the ability to 'sense things.'
_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_
1. Comment upon the advantages secured by opening the story with direct
quotations.
2. What light do these quotations throw upon the character of Richard’s
father?
3. Note how quickly the transfer is made from the office of Mr.
Bonniwell, Senior, to Seth Miles’s farm house. Such compression is
necessary in a short story.
4. How do you explain Richard’s first attitude toward his teaching and
toward all his surroundings at Garibaldi?
5. What was the first surprise Richard received concerning the character
of Seth Miles?
6. What, according to Mr. Miles, was the marked change which the young
teacher, 'Earnin' money to get through college,' effected?
7. Was Seth Miles’s sacrifice--the sacrifice he made when he gave up
Cynthia--a natural one under the circumstances? Why? What helped to
console him for his loss?
8. What was the second sacrifice, and in what spirit was it met?
9. Contrast Seth Miles’s spirit with the spirit of Sister Anne in Miss
Carman’s The Debt.
BURIED TREASURE
MISS MAZO DE LA ROCHE has attained her most notable literary success in
_Buried Treasure_. So apparent is this success, that a moving-picture
company has recently asked the privilege of producing this story.
One suspects that Mrs. Mortimer Pegg never was a little girl; one is
surprised to learn that Mr. Mortimer Pegg was, in a mysterious long ago,
'just so high'; that Mrs. Handsomebody issued from some unnamable
monstrosity a fullfledged, much-starched governess, is beyond doubt. If
not, how could they fail to enter with zest into the midnight
treasure-hunt? What a wonderful scene it is: a burly old pirate in
leather jerkin, breeches, and top-boots, not to mention a gleaming
cutlass, surrounded by an Angel, a Seraph, and 'just John,' with as
bloodthirsty appointments, all intent on the treasure-trove mysteriously
located in Mrs. Handsomebody’s back yard. And then come the Grown-Ups!
Poor Mr. Pegg must return to the disguise of an archæologist and the
realms of respectable age.
_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_
1. Divide the story into scenes for a motion-picture production. What
would be the most regrettable loss in such a representation?
2. What do the names of the characters contribute to the charm of the
story? Are they any help to your interpretation of the characters?
3. Comment on the characterization of Mary Ellen. Is she a type? Are
there any other characters that you recognize as types? Do the presence
of these detract from the real interest of the story?
4. Discuss the author’s power of word-selection and striking
comparisons. What does this power add to her style?
THE PRINCESS OF MAKE-BELIEVE
ANNIE HAMILTON DONNELL was born in Maine, where much of her life has
been spent. She has, however, lived in the Middle West, and her present
home is in Framingham, Massachusetts. She has been a frequent
contributor to many of our best periodicals.
It is the charm of perfect understanding that lifts Annie Hamilton
Donnell’s story, out of the many, into that enchanting region inhabited
by such bewildering creatures as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Anne of
the famed Green Gables. To the author must be attributed that same
responsive gift that makes the Prince really a Prince. For the Princess
there is no evil to her who will not see it; so there is no harsh
stepmother or horrid witch--only a Queen who 'never enjoys herself on
wash-days.' The author’s delightful touches of humor make an easy and
comfortable medium from Make-Believe to a no less interesting world of
Little Willow Twins and fishing pools.
_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_
1. What is the most marked characteristic of the Princess?
2. What foils are introduced to bring this characteristic into bolder
view?
3. In what particular items is the author’s sense of humor best
displayed?
4. Where is the emotion of the Princess most intense?
5. Is this emotion suddenly or gradually destroyed?
6. What are the points of strongest contrast between the imagined Prince
and the real little neighbor-boy?
7. Comment on the sudden ending of the story.
THE TWO APPLES
JAMES EDWARD DUNNING, journalist and publicist, is the author of many
reviews, government reports, essays, and short stories. He has had a
long and honorable connection with the Department of State at
Washington.
What has happened before the sixteenth day, what ship it was, what its
destination, who its crew, how they had been wrecked, we are not told;
nor are we particularly concerned with the history of those preceding
events. We are intent on one man living with half-mad intensity a whole
life in a single day. It is not so much that he knows the pain of
diminishing vitality, the scorchings of hunger and thirst, as it is the
spiritual tortures he undergoes. Everything that treacherous Desire can
mean, he feels. It is only an apple, but as he, in his hungered,
famished state, gazes upon it, every sense is alive with an intense
elemental desire. At the moment of severest trial, with the clearness of
vision of those near death, he sees himself, knows his sin, feels the
mercy of God. And as the day closes, he experiences the happiness of
sacrifice. Beside him Zadoc sleeps, perhaps drifts off into the Unknown.
Suggested Points for Study and Comment
1. If the author had wished to make a much longer story of this, what
episode or episodes could he have greatly elaborated? Can you surmise
why he did not do this, but preferred rather to develop the situation he
had selected?
2. What artistic effect is created by the description of the Cape Cod
farm? Analyze the sensory imagery.
3. Why does Zadoc command that the last apple be placed 'under the tin
cup in the middle of the raft'?
4. What had previously been Jeems’s attitude toward the sea? Has his
attitude now changed? Why, or why not?
5. From the standpoint of mere sense-impression, what is the most
significant moment in the story?
6. What is the point of highest spiritual interest?
THE PURPLE STAR
MRS. REBECCA HOOPER EASTMAN, a magazine writer of distinction, lives in
Brooklyn, New York. Her father, the late Dr. Hooper, was for many years
president of the Brooklyn Institute.
The judgment of his peers proved fatal to the glory of Charley Starr.
Miss Prawl, the sixth-grade teacher, learned, too, with surprise, that
if one is a dutiful child who neither disobeys nor deceives, he thereby
lessens his opportunity to achieve the heroic. The literalness of
Theodora and her zealots destroys any romantic impulse to make reckless
synonymous with brave. One is reminded that the youthful escapades which
brighten the biographies of certain national heroes--always making
notable exception of the Father of Our Country--would not have met the
rigorous demands of Theodora’s approval. The conclusion is obvious: it
is difficult to become a hero and at the same time retain all the
virtues--particularly the much-desired charity. And who would be judge?
Let the order of the Purple Star be abolished!
_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_
1. What is the author’s purpose in writing this story?
2. What are the chief points of interest, besides this well-defined
purpose?
3. Are you satisfied with the outcome of the story? Could you suggest
any other way of meeting the problem?
4. Do you find the characters real? Is Theodora typical?
5. Why is it necessary to make character and setting somewhat
subordinate?
6. Do you like the introduction? What is the basis of its charm?
7. Do you find the author critical of other things outside the immediate
purpose of the story?
RUGGS--R. O. T. C.
WILLIAM A. GANOE, now stationed at West Point, is a captain in the
Regular Army. When _Ruggs--R. O. T. C._ was printed in the _Atlantic_,
it was immediately tried out in the class-room, where it won the instant
favor of high-school pupils. It was the first story to be issued in the
series of _Atlantic Readings_.
Amusing situations, with lively dialogue a-plenty, in this training-camp
story of Mr. Ganoe, are the conveyances for a splendid lesson in pluck.
Ruggs, the successful bank-manager, knew that only the best in the
individual is worthy of recognition when it comes to government service.
He meant to give that best. The trial came. Despite the confusion and
the jeers, Ruggs came through; brains and thorough-going effort counted.
To Ruggs it meant a first lieutenancy for his pluck, something to tell
Alice, and a ride in a blanket for the glorious 'sell' he had practised
on his jeering comrades. Underneath the fun and the hazing, there is, on
all sides, sincere appreciation of merit.
_Suggested Points for Study and Comment_
1. What purpose does the opening dream serve, besides that of arousing
immediate interest?
2. Besides his ability for quick decision, what is the outstanding
feature of Ruggs’s character?
3. How is the character of the Meter drawn? Is there any advantage in
not naming him?
4. Are you prepared for the Meter’s decision in regard to the Duke? Is
the latter introduced into the story for any purpose other than to
amuse?
5. What are the author’s chief means of keeping suspense?
6. What ends do Squirmy’s nightly exercises serve?