Your teacher is going to help you in every possible way and _The Silent Readers: Sixth Reader

THE

SILENT READERS

WILLIAM D. LEWIS, Pd.D., Litt.D.

FORMERLY DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

ALBERT LINDSAY ROWLAND, A.M., Ph.D.

DIRECTOR BUREAU OF TEACHER TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION, DEPARTMENT

OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

AND

ETHEL H. MALTBY GEHRES

CO-AUTHOR OF THE WINSTON READERS

ILLUSTRATED BY

FREDERICK RICHARDSON

AND

EDWIN J. PRITTIE

SIXTH READER

THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY

CHICAGO

SAN FRANCISCO

PHILADELPHIA

DALLAS

TORONTO, CAN.

THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY

BRITISH DOMINIONS AND POSSESSIONS

PRINTED IN THE U. S. A.

INTRODUCTION

=The purpose of this series.= This series of readers is definitely

designed to provide working material for the development of efficient

"silent reading". It is not planned to compete with the many excellent

series of readers now available. The authors believe that it will

efficiently supplement the well-nigh universal school practice of

conducting all reading lessons aloud.

=Oral reading not sufficient.= In the majority of classes the pupils

are all supplied with the same text. One pupil reads aloud while the

others are supposed to follow his reading silently. When he has

finished his portion of the text, the teacher or the pupils make

corrections of his pronunciation or phrasing, and the teacher may ask

questions or add comments or explanations. This incentive to adequate

expression by the reader is lacking because his classmates all have

the text before them; it is natural for the hearers to read on ahead

of the oral reader if the material is of interest; and it is perfectly

easy for them to gaze absently at the book while employing their minds

with matters wholly unrelated to the class exercise. Perhaps most

important of all, reading aloud is an experience of rare occurrence

outside the classroom, while silent reading is a universal daily

experience for all but the illiterate.

The mechanics of reading are fairly well mastered in the third--some

authorities say the second--grade. Some oral reading is doubtless

desirable beyond these grades, but the relative amount should diminish

rapidly.

Experts have recognized the importance of silent reading for many years.

Briggs and Coffman showed its value in their book, "Reading in Public

Schools," published in 1908. Studies in this field have been made by

Gray, Starch, Judd, Courtis, Monroe, Kelly, and many others. They have

made no attempt to deny that oral reading has a place in the curriculum,

but have merely pointed out that from the third grade on its place is

less and less important in comparison with silent reading.

=Reading to get the thought quickly.= Once the mechanics of reading

are mastered, the problem becomes one of speed and accuracy in

thought-getting. Upon these two qualities depends the pupil's progress

in school and his use of the deluge of ideas that appeal only through

the printed page. If he reads and understands, if he quickly grasps

the important idea from a mass of details, if he arranges the

relations of the ideas presented, we say that he is good in geography,

history, science, or mathematics. If he comprehends only slowly or

fails to understand, he is a dullard or a defective.

=Speed usually goes with comprehension.= At first glance it would seem

that comprehension would be inversely proportional to speed; that is,

the greater the speed the poorer the comprehension and _vice versa_.

The standard tests of Gray, Courtis, Kelly, and Monroe, however, which

have been given to thousands of children, prove exactly the reverse.

The rapid silent readers have almost invariably shown the best

understanding of the matter read. It would thus seem that concentrated

effort on either speed or comprehension would tend to improve the

other factor. It is necessary, however, to test speed results

carefully to insure conscientious reading of the text.

=The material in these books.= In selecting the material for these books

the authors have purposely avoided the established paths of literary

reputation, and have selected from a wide variety of sources interesting

material representative of the printed matter the child will inevitably

read. Every effort has been made to avoid the necessity of explanation

by the teacher to elucidate the text. In general, the exercises have

been under- rather than over-graded, as the pupil should read for

content and should be as far as possible relieved from technical

grammatical or vocabulary difficulties. Occasionally, however, in each

book exercises somewhat more difficult or of a more or less unusual

nature have been included, because everyone, old or young, is called

upon to read a variety of material, and pupils should have some

experience with selections that require special effort.

=Why we read.= Most of the reading which we do has one of three

purposes: we read for information; we read for instruction; we read

for appreciation or entertainment. These purposes are somewhat

determined by the nature of the material read. Rarely do we read an

encyclopedia article for appreciation. On the other hand, we lose

ourselves in the quiet humor of Rip Van Winkle merely for

entertainment through appreciation. Contrasted with this would be our

reading of a biography of Irving in order to find out who were his

American contemporaries. The boy who reads an explanation of how to

make a rabbit trap with the purpose of making one is reading for

instruction, while his father who scans the evening paper to see how

his representative in Congress or the State Legislature voted on a

bill is reading purely for information.

=The Pedagogical Editing.= The authors have kept constantly in mind the

purposes of each selection in the directions they have given to the

pupils. They have also had clearly in mind certain fundamental things

that they wish pupils to learn and certain habits which they wish them

to form by the use of these books. A perusal of the directions given

before and after any given selection will suffice to make this purpose

clear. For example, much attention is given to the writing of headings

for certain parts of a selection or to the statement of the most

important thought in a given paragraph. With increasing emphasis in the

upper grades this type of exercise is developed into the complete

outline. The authors believe that practice of this kind will develop in

pupils the habit of looking for the important thought and of grouping

around it related subordinate ideas. This is perhaps the habit most

essential to good reading for instruction or information. On the other

hand, selections which are of a purely literary character and which

should be read for appreciation and entertainment are given without

exhaustive notes or questions, because minute discussion of this kind

of reading would detract from its value.

=Method of handling the books.= Many teachers will prefer to keep the

books in the class room, distributing them at the time of the silent

reading lesson and collecting them again at its conclusion. In this

way the material will remain fresh, and the drill exercises will

always be under the control of the teacher.

In many places, however, text books are not supplied by the school

authorities, but are purchased by the pupils directly. Inasmuch as

this series of books contains all the necessary instruction for the

use of each exercise, they become peculiarly helpful where the pupil

is thrown upon his own resources. He is able to test his own speed and

comprehension and his ability to analyze or outline any of the

material by the plain directions that are given for handling the

books. Although the instructions accompanying various selections are

addressed to the pupils, they contain suggestions for the teacher. It

is, therefore, important that the teacher read in advance of the

lesson such instructions or comments as appear before or after the

text or the particular exercise to be read.

=Speed drills.= As much of the value of teaching silent reading lies

in the development of speed, a number of exercises are designated as

speed drills. For these drills it is suggested that the teacher

prepare, on the mimeograph if possible, a considerable number of slips

to be filled out arranged as follows:

10/4/22 5A G. P. W.

------- ----- --------------------

Date Grade Teacher's Initials

or Room Number.

------------------------------------------

Name of Exercise Page

Pupils Time in Minutes

------ ---------------

Brown, Mary 5-1/2

Carmalt, Joseph 3

Derr, Jane 4

Eldridge, Henry 5

Fisher, Mary 5-1/2

Green, Alice 6

Hunt, Roy 8-1/2

Knowlton, William 5

Manly, Rose 4

Morris, Mary 4-1/2

Newton, George 5

Newton, Thomas 4-1/2

Orr, Robert 5

Pierce, Helen 6

Porter, Clara 5

Roberts, John 4

Rowe, Gertrude 6

Smith, Fred 5

Vaughn, Lee 6

Wilson, Alice 3-1/2

1-3, 1-3-1/2, 3-4, 2-4-1/2, 6-5, 2-5-1/2, 4-6, 1-8-1/2.

Class median 5 Class mode 5

For a speed drill the teacher should have one of these slips and a

watch with a second hand. A stop watch would be valuable. Directions

should be given for all the pupils to begin reading at the same moment

and raise their hands as a signal to the teacher when they have

finished. The teacher should give the signal for them to begin as the

second hand of her watch reaches sixty. As each pupil raises his hand

indicating that he has finished, the teacher should note the time in

half minutes opposite that pupil's name on the drill sheet. Any

pupil's time should be indicated at the nearest half minute space. For

example, a pupil who finishes at two minutes ten seconds should be

marked as two minutes; one who finishes at two minutes twenty seconds,

at two and one-half.

=Mode and Median.= In the illustration above, the sheet has been

filled with names and scores of a supposed fifth grade class of twenty

pupils. On this sheet three minutes occurs once, three and one-half

minutes once, four minutes three times, four and one-half minutes

twice, five minutes six times, five and one-half minutes twice, six

minutes four times and eight and one-half minutes once. The number

occurring the largest number of times is five.

This number is called the "mode".

If all the scores are arranged in order with the highest score at the

top and the lowest score at the bottom, the middle score in this

series is called the "median" and is in this case also "five".

=Individual scores.= The class median or mode is, however, not so

significant as the individual scores. The class score is always

determined by the ease or difficulty as well as by the length of the

particular exercise read. This makes comparison with other exercises

almost valueless. The only significant comparison in this case is

between individuals of the same class, and between the score of this

class and of other classes of parallel grade who have read the same

exercise.

Important facts for G. P. W., the class teacher, in this case are the

individual scores and their relative standing. Roy Hunt, who took

eight and one-half minutes to read this exercise, is the slowest

reader on this occasion. Is this true of other occasions? If so, Roy

needs special help and training. It is also clear that Joseph Carmalt

and Alice Wilson are rapid readers and it is important to see that

their comprehension of the exercise is also adequate. Thus, for the

class teacher the important facts are the relative scores of the

pupils both in comparison with other pupils and with the former scores

of the same pupils.

=Scale of approximate speed.= The following scale of speeds by grades

is based roughly on the Courtis standard tests and may be somewhat

helpful to the teacher who may desire such norms.

Grade Words per minute

4 140-180

5 160-200

6 180-220

7 190-230

8 200-240

Of course it must be recognized that no standard speeds are possible

without also standardizing the material. To be absolutely accurate,

each separate exercise should be its own speed standard. This,

although possible, would be a device so cumbersome as to defeat its

own purpose. Every bit of reading presents its peculiar difficulties,

its slow spots, its points of interest, its urge to hurry on. These in

turn vary with the apperception of the reader, with his peculiarities,

his interests, and his motives. These largely determine his speed. The

authors have thought it unwise in the vast majority of cases to

indicate with any degree of definiteness the time required for various

exercises. Their experience in trying out these exercises with

different classes showed so wide a variation that it was thought that

specific statements would tend only to mislead the teacher.

=Testing Comprehension.= It is, however, equally important that the

teacher know that the pupils are understanding what they read. As each

pupil is reading silently, there is no guarantee of comprehension

without some form of check. This may be as simple a device as watching

the expression of the children's faces to see registered there

appreciation of the exercise read; or it may be as complex as a

dramatic reproduction of the incidents.

Devices for checking comprehension are suggested in connection with

each exercise. The more usual and effective methods of teaching

comprehension are dramatization, reproduction, writing of headlines,

development of outlines, expression of opinion based upon facts read,

topical analysis, the naming of characters and statements of their

relationships, and appreciation of ethical or artistic appeal.

=The test material.= The drill exercise, although modeled in some

cases upon the standard reading and intelligence tests, expressly

disclaim any attempt to displace or supersede these tests. The

function of the two is wholly different. The material in the readers

is for drill and improvement in speed and comprehension. The standard

tests are for the measurement of achievement. No devices can be used

as a measure until it has been standardized by application in

thousands of concrete cases without substantial variation.

=Standard Tests.= This is the case with a number of standard tests now

in general use. In the field of reading the most notable are the

Courtis Standard Tests devised by S. A. Courtis, Director of

Instruction, Teacher Training and Research, and Dean of Teachers

College, Detroit, Michigan, and Walter S. Monroe, Professor of

Education and Director of the Bureau of Educational Research,

University of Illinois. The necessary instructions, record blanks and

test sheets giving these tests may be obtained as follows:

DIRECTIONS FOR ORDERING STANDARDIZED TESTS

----------------------------------------------------------------------

|How | | | |

----------+------+--------------------+-------+------------+----------

| | | | |per 100.

| | | | |

Courtis's |One |Folder B, Series R, |2 to 6 |S. A. |Test only,

Reading |of |directions for | | |100;

|for |pupils. One copy is | | |D, 5c;

| |Series R, contains | | |1-1/2c

| |recording the | | |3 and

| |scores. One copy is | | |1-1/2c

----------------------------------------------------------------------

These tests should be given at least once a year and if possible

semi-annually in order to determine progress in speed and

comprehension in silent reading, as well as to measure the pupils by a

well established standard.

=Topical recitation.= Particular emphasis, especially in the later

grades, should be placed upon the complete presentation of a topic by a

pupil standing in front of the class and making the group understand

what he has to say without questions by the teacher. More and more this

is coming to be emphasized as a means of good teaching everywhere; and

pupils are being trained to stand before a group of their classmates and

give an intelligent account of anything of which they have adequate

knowledge without the painful tooth-pulling process of extracting ideas.

=The philosophy of study.= One of the most important results of

efficient teaching of silent reading is the contribution which it makes

to the whole problem of study in the school. Briggs says that the

primary purpose of the school is to teach people to do better the

desirable things that they are likely to do anyway. One of the desirable

things that school children are not only likely but certain to have to

do is to study. A large portion of the studying that the child as well

as the adult does consists in the acquirement of information from the

printed page. It is essentially silent reading. Much of the difficulty

teachers now meet in the inability of their pupils to study will be

dispelled by effective teaching of silent reading. Probably no use of

the same amount of time would yield more definite and valuable results

than will thorough instruction in the process of thought getting from a

printed page--in other words--silent reading.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following authors and

publishers for their courtesy in allowing the use of the copyrighted

material in this volume: to J. Russell Smith for "The Eskimo" and

"Otelne, the Indian of the Great North Woods"; to A. and C. Black for

five selections from the series "Peeps at Many Lands"; to Augustus R.

Keller and Company for Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince"; to J. Berg

Esenwein for two selections from "Stories for Children and How to Tell

Them"; to W. F. Quarrie and Company for four selections from "The

World Book"; to _The Youth's Companion_ for John Clair Minot's

"Pietro's Adventure", and "Noblesse Oblige"; to the J. B. Lippincott

Company for "The Mole Awakes" from Dr. S. C. Schmucker's "Under the

Open Sky", and "A Trip to the Moon" from Charles R. Gibson's "The

Stars and Their Mysteries"; to D. Appleton and Company for two

selections from the "Boy Scouts' Year Book"; to the Federal Reserve

Bank of Philadelphia for C. A. Sienkiewicz's "The Safest Place"; to

the Association Press for "The First Potter" and "The Fire Spirit"

from Hanford M. Burr's "Around the Fire"; to _Boys' Life, the Boy

Scouts' Magazine_, for "The Ghost of Terrible Terry"; to Longmans,

Green and Company for "The Boyhood of a Painter", from Andrew Lang's

"The Strange Story Book"; and to the _Public Ledger_ of Philadelphia

for "General Pershing's Welcome Home". Henry W. Longfellow's "The

Skeleton in Armor" is used by permission of, and under arrangement

with, Houghton Mifflin Company, authorized publishers.

The authors of _The Silent Readers_ wish to acknowledge the careful

and efficient assistance of Miss Mabel Dodge Holmes of the William

Penn High School of Philadelphia, and of Superintendent Sidney V.

Rowland of Radnor Township, Pa.

CONTENTS

PAGE

SILENT READING 1

THE ESKIMO _J. Russell Smith_ 2

SCOTTISH BORDER WARFARE _Elizabeth Grierson_ 9

THE NEW WONDERLAND _Mabel Dodge Holmes_ 11

BRISTOL 16

ON THE FRONTIER 18

THE HAPPY PRINCE _Oscar Wilde_ 19

CAN YOU FOLLOW DIRECTIONS? 29

FEEDING FRENCH CHILDREN 30

GENEVIEVE'S LETTER 34

TRAVEL _Robert Louis Stevenson_ 35

HOW THE WISH CAME TRUE 36

RULES FOR USING THE EYES 37

ACTING FOR THE MOVIES 38

CLEAR THINKING 40

THE LAND OF EQUAL CHANCE 41

THE BROKEN FLOWER-POT _Bulwer-Lytton_ 46

SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON 51

NONSENSE TEST 56

TURNING OUT THE INTRUDER 57

ROOSEVELT'S FAVORITE STUDY _William Draper Lewis_ 58

WHAT A CHIMNEY IS 61

IS IT TRUE? 62

FRANKLIN WRITES FOR THE NEWSPAPER 63

YES OR NO? 64

HOW TO MAKE A SUN-DIAL 65

PUTTING WORDS WHERE THEY BELONG 67

AN INDIAN BUFFALO HUNT 68

INDIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS 76

CAN YOU UNDERSTAND RELATIONSHIP? 89

OPENING THE GREAT WEST 90

TURNING OUT THE INTRUDER 96

THE TRAINING OF A BOY KING _H. E. Marshall_ 97

"SOME UGLY OLD LAWYER" 103

ADDING THE RIGHT WORDS 104

THE DESERT INDIANS' "FIRE BED" 105

YES OR NO? 105

PIETRO'S ADVENTURE _John Clair Minot_ 106

SOME PATRIOTIC MINE WORKERS 111

FATHER DOMINO 112

THE GOOD GIANT WINS HIS FORTUNE 116

THE MOLE AWAKES _S. C. Schmucker_ 117

THE COUNT AND THE ROBBERS _Beatrix Jungman_ 119

WHAT THE EARLIEST MEN DID FOR US _Smith Burnham_ 124

TRY THIS 136

PUTTING WORDS WHERE THEY BELONG 137

MAKING MONEY EARN MONEY 138

HEROES OF HISTORY _Mabel Dodge Holmes_ 139

THE SKELETON IN ARMOR _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_ 149

ACTING FOR THE MOVIES 156

THE SAFEST PLACE _Casimir A. Sienkiewicz_ 158

UNPATRIOTIC CARELESSNESS 167

A MEMORY TEST 169

CALIPH FOR ONE DAY 170

THE FIRST POTTER _Hanford M. Burr_ 180

FINDING OPPOSITES 187

"IT'S QUITE TRUE!" _Hans Christian Andersen_ 188

TANGLED SENTENCES 191

HOW SELLA LOST HER SLIPPERS _Mabel Dodge Holmes_ 192

THE GHOST OF TERRIBLE TERRY 198

ROAST CHICKEN 203

WHY THE ECHO ANSWERS _Mabel Dodge Holmes_ 204

THE FIGHT WITH THE SEA _Beatrix Jungman_ 207

AGRICULTURE 210

CAN YOU DO THIS ONE? 215

THE INCHCAPE ROCK _Robert Southey_ 216

SOME DEFINITIONS 218

THE BATTLE OF MORGARTEN _John Finnemore_ 219

FINDING OPPOSITES 222

WHAT MEKOLKA KNOWS 223

THE BEAR'S NIGHT 228

IS IT THE SAME BEAR? 231

THE CHINESE NEW YEAR'S DAY _Lena E. Johnston_ 232

ADDING THE RIGHT WORDS 235

THE GOOD CITIZEN--HOW HE USES MATCHES 236

NOBLESSE OBLIGE 242

THE MAGIC HORSE 243

THINKING 255

WHAT IS A BOY SCOUT? 256

THE SCOUT AND THE KNIGHT 258

THE FIRE SPIRIT _Hanford M. Burr_ 259

THE BOYHOOD OF A PAINTER _Andrew Lang_ 273

CIVIL DEATH 277

OTELNE, THE INDIAN OF THE GREAT NORTH WOODS _J. Russell Smith_ 278

WHICH IS RIGHT? 288

"VERDUN BELLE" 290

ANOTHER NONSENSE TEST 296

CAN YOU UNDERSTAND RELATIONSHIP? 297

CHARADES 298

GENERAL PERSHING'S WELCOME HOME 299

THE FAIRIES ON THE GUMP _Mabel Quiller-Couch_ 303

THINKING AND DOING 312

A TRIP TO THE MOON _Charles R. Gibson_ 313

SILENT READING

The book which you are now beginning is, as its title tells you, a

_silent reader_; that is, a reader that you are to read to yourself,

silently. It is much more interesting to read silently than to read

aloud, and it is also much faster. With all the wonderful books and

valuable articles that are being printed every day, it is important

that you learn to read rapidly as well as to understand.

The purpose of this book is to help you to read fast and to understand

clearly what you read. You will find all sorts of reading; animal

stories, poems, fairy tales, problems, descriptions of strange places,

puzzles, war stories, and lots of other things. We think you will find

it very interesting, but the important thing is to use all this material

to make yourself a rapid and at the same time a careful reader.

Of course you are much too old to move your lips when you read. If you

have this habit you must break it at once, for you will never read

rapidly as long as you continue to pronounce words even to yourself. It

takes just as long to pronounce a word to yourself as to read it aloud.

You must learn not to do so, if you are to gain speed in reading.

Your teacher is going to help you in every possible way and will

frequently time you when you read and then test you to see if you have

understood what you have read. But you will have to do the most

yourself if you are really to learn to read rapidly and well.

THE ESKIMO

You will be able to remember what you read and to tell about it

much better if you form the habit of making a brief outline as you

go along. You can learn to make this outline without writing

anything down, but in the beginning it would be a good plan to

write down the topics as you come to them.

At the end of this selection you will find suggestions for making

an outline.

Suppose there was no grocery where you could get bread or flour or

potatoes, no meat shop, no milk dealer. Make it worse and suppose there

was no place where you could buy clothes, shoes, coal or wood, balls or

bats, sleds or knives. Suppose you had to go without all these things

unless your father and mother or brothers and sisters helped you to make

them. You would all have to work very hard and even then be poor, and

often hungry, cold, and wet. You could not live in town because there is

not ground enough there to raise potatoes and other things to eat. You

would have to live in the country, where there is more land near each

home. Your father would have to learn how to build a house, how to make

shoes, how to make his tools, and how to do many things which the people

you know never need to think about now. Your mother would have to make

even the cloth for your clothes and to prepare all the food you had.

That is, your family would have to make everything that you had in your

home, or that you ate, or wore, or played with, or used in the garden.

They would be busy all the time. Every family would have to have more

businesses or trades than you can find in some small towns, and many of

the things you have now they could not make at all, so you would not

have them. For a long time, a very long time, that is the way people

used to live all over the world. It was a hard life. There are even yet

many places where people do not use machines and where every family

makes everything for its own use.

The Eskimos live that way. Their country is far away to the north. It

is a very poor, cold country, where very few things will grow, so

there are not many Eskimos. Robinson Crusoe tried living all by

himself for a while, but he had a lot of tools from the ship, and his

island was rich in food and wood. He found goats there that gave milk;

he found good wild grapes and other fruits; but he said he had to work

very hard, even though he did not have any family to support. The

Eskimo country is much poorer than Crusoe's island. It is away up

north where the winter is very long and cold, and the summer is so

short that no trees grow, and there are not many other plants. The

Eskimo has no animals to give milk; he never heard of potatoes or

bread, to say nothing of cake.

It is hard to get the things you need in such a country. For a winter

house the Eskimo often builds a little hut of snow. Many boys and girls

in the cooler parts of the United States and Canada have built a little

snow house for sport, but the Eskimo finds it the warmest house he can

get. If it has a window, you cannot see through it, for it is a piece of

fish skin that looks like dirty glass. To keep the cold out he makes the

doorway so low that people must crawl in. Then he builds a long tunnel

outside the door to keep the wind out, and puts a chunk of snow in the

outer end of the tunnel for a door. Along the sides of the house inside

is a bank of snow covered with skins. This is both chair and bed.

If he made the room as warm as we make our houses, the roof would melt

and drip down his neck. But he does not have enough fire to warm it

much anyhow. The little fire he has for cooking is made by burning

the fat of animals in an oil lamp.

[Illustration: THE ESKIMO BOY AND HIS FATHER FISHING]

Not long ago a man named Rasmussen, whose father was a missionary in

Greenland and whose mother was an Eskimo, made a long journey through

Eskimo land. At one place he found a dead whale on the seashore and the

Eskimos there felt as rich as we should if a carload of coal or

fire-wood were dumped down in the yard. They were busy tearing off

strips of the fat, called blubber, that lies under the whale's skin.

Some of them were hauling it two days' journey on their sleds. Some of

the people Rasmussen saw had never even heard of white men or of any of

the things the white man makes. They themselves had to make everything

they had.

Their boats (or kyaks) were of seal skins sewed into a water-tight sheet

and stretched over a frame-work of whale rib bones and long walrus

tusks, tied together with sinews and strips of leather. In these tiny

boats they paddle around in the sea and catch seals with spears.

Nearly all the Eskimos live along the seashore where they can catch

fish, seals and walrus. The seal is the greatest wealth the Eskimo

has. The seal eats fish and keeps warm in the ice-cold water because

he has a coat of soft, fine, water-proof fur, and under his skin a

thick layer of fat. Seal meat is bread to the Eskimo. He cooks with

seal fat and makes clothes, boats, and tents of the sealskin.

In winter the Eskimo wears two suits of fur, one with the fur inside

and the other with the fur outside. In summer one suit is enough.

When spring comes and the snow house begins to melt, the Eskimo moves

into his sealskin tent or into a stone hut chinked with dirt. Some of

these stone huts are hundreds of years old. Toward the end of summer

there are some berries that get ripe on low-growing bushes, and many

bright flowers bloom in the northland. Then the Eskimos sometimes make

trips inland. They eat berries, rabbit meat, birds, and wild reindeer.

Wild ducks and many other birds are there in summer, but they fly away

to warm lands when cold weather comes, and the people go back to the

seashore to lay in their winter supply of seal meat.

The wild animals that live here all the time do not seem to mind the

cold. They have warm fur, and the rabbit changes his color to keep

from getting caught. He is snow white in winter so that the fox cannot

see him on the snow, but in summer his coat is brown so that the fox

cannot see him on the ground.

The Eskimo has one helper, the dog that pulls his sled. We call him

the "huskie". This dog has a thick, warm coat so that he can curl up

in the dry snow, put his four feet and his nose into a little bunch,

lay his bushy tail over them, and sleep through a blinding snow storm

that would freeze a white man to death. Sometimes the snow covers him

entirely as he sleeps and he has to dig himself out when he wakes up.

When Admiral Peary went over the ice to the North Pole, in 1909,

Eskimo dogs pulled the sleds that carried his food and tents, and

Eskimo men helped him. He found them to be honest, brave men, trusty

helpers, and good friends.

The Eskimos are very fond of games. They play football and several

kinds of shinny, using long bones for shinny sticks. Sometimes they

skate on new smooth ice, using bone skates tied fast to their soft

shoes. As they do not go to school and have no books, the days must

seem long in bad weather, for they have nothing to do but sit around

the little fire in the dark smoky little snow house. They have many

indoor games. The house is too small to play tag or run around, so

they have sitting down games. There are as many as fifty kinds of

string games something like our cat's cradle.

This is the simplest kind of living to be found anywhere in the world.

Every family in the world needs a certain amount of food, clothes,

fuel, shelter, tools, and playthings. In different countries there are

different ways of getting these things, depending on the weather, on

the things that will grow, and the things that man finds in the

ground, or in the woods, or in the sea. Each Eskimo family must make

or get all these things for itself.

The Eskimos do not need money because they do not buy nor sell. If two

Eskimos should meet and want to trade two dogs for a sled, they would

just trade as two schoolboys swap knives. The Eskimos would be much

more comfortable if they could trade some of their sealskins for

lumber to build houses and for flour and dried fruit to eat with their

never ending meat. We cannot trade with them because they are too far

away for us to build railroads to their land, and the sea is so full

of ice that ships cannot get through it Perhaps the aeroplane will let

us see more of the Eskimo.

--_J. Russell Smith.

Courtesy of the John C. Winston Co._

QUESTIONS

Glance quickly at the first paragraph. How would this do as a title

or topic for it: "Doing things for yourself"?

The second paragraph connects the idea that it is very hard to do

everything for yourself with the various things told about the

Eskimo in the rest of the story. So that you may understand better,

the Eskimo is compared with Robinson Crusoe, who had to do

everything for himself but had a better chance because of the

country in which he lived. A topic for the second paragraph might

be, "The Eskimo's life compared with Robinson Crusoe's".

Beginning with the third paragraph, the author tells how the Eskimo

lives. It is not necessary to make a topic for every paragraph. We

can make a general heading under which some of his ways of living

can be grouped. Arrange the heading and the sub-headings as follows:

How the Eskimo manages to live.

(_a_) His house.

(_b_) His food,

(_c_) His clothing.

Now look through the rest of the story, and you will see that it

can be included under the following headings:

The Eskimo dog.

Eskimo games.

Why the Eskimo does not buy and sell.

In making an outline it is not necessary to put in every single

idea in the piece you are outlining.

Now, after going through the selection to see how the outline is

made, you can easily answer the following questions:

1. How does it happen that you do not have to depend on your own

family for the things you eat and wear and use? Make a list of the

people who help you to get the things necessary for every-day

life. Your list might begin with the baker, the milk-man, and the

shoemaker.

2. Try to draw a picture of the outside of the Eskimo's winter

house as it is described here.

3. Make a list of the things you think an Eskimo boy or girl about

your age would do from morning to night--his day's program, you

may call it.

4. Do you think the Eskimo is glad when summer comes? Why?

5. Tell a story that a "huskie" might tell of his experiences.

6. Make a list of raw materials, such as wood, that would make the

life of the Eskimo more comfortable.

SCOTTISH BORDER WARFARE

From your study of the way to make an outline of "The Eskimo", you

will be able to make an outline of "Scottish Border Warfare"

yourself.

Read the selection through, and then go back and write topics that

cover the main points.

Legends of the Scottish borders tell the exciting stories of a warfare

that went on for a hundred years, in the days before England and

Scotland were united. The "Borders" consisted of that part of the

country in the South of Scotland where the boundary was not properly

fixed. The King of England might claim a piece of land that the King of

Scotland thought was his, and the King of Scotland might do the same by

the King of England. And so, because things were never really settled in

these parts, and men thought they could do pretty much as they liked, a

constant warfare sprang up between the families who lived on the English

side of the border and those who lived on the Scottish side. These

families formed great clans, almost like the Highland clans, and every

man in the clan rose in arms at the bidding of his chief.

The warfare which they carried on was not honest fighting so much as

something that sounds to us very much like stealing; only in these old

plundering, or "reiving" days, as they were called, people were not

very particular about other people's property, and right was often

decided by might. So when these old Border chieftains found that their

larders were getting empty, they sent messages around the countryside

to their retainers, telling them to meet them that night at some

secret trysting-place, and ride with them into England to steal some

English yeoman's flock of sheep.

In the darkness, groups of men, mounted on rough, shaggy ponies, would

assemble at some lonely spot among the hills and ride stealthily into

Cumberland or Northumberland, and surround some Englishman's little

flock of sheep, or herd of cattle, and drive them off, setting fire,

perhaps, to his cottage and haystacks at the same time.

The Englishman might be unable to retaliate at the moment, but no

sooner were the reivers' backs turned than he betook himself with all

haste to his chieftain, who, in his turn, gathered his men together,

and rode over into Scotland to take vengeance, and, if possible, bring

back with him a larger drove of sheep and cattle than had been stolen,

or "lifted", by the Scotch.

And so things went merrily on, with raids and counter-raids, and

fierce little encounters, and brave men slain. You can read the

accounts of many of these raids in Sir Walter Scott's "Border

Minstrelsy"--about "Kinmont Willie," "Dick o' the Cow," "Jamie Telfer

of the Fair Dodhead," "Johnnie Armstrong," and "the Raid of the

Reidswire"--and if you ever chance to be traveling between Hawick and

Carlisle you can look out of the window, as the train carries you

swiftly down Liddesdale, and people the hillsides, in your

imagination, with companies of reivers setting out to harry their

"auld enemies", the English.

--_From "A Peep at Scotland",

by Elizabeth Grierson._

QUESTIONS

1. What were the "Borders"?

2. From the way they are used, tell what you think the following

words mean: "reiving," larders, retainers, clan, trysting-place,

yeoman, retaliate, "lifted," harry.

THE NEW WONDERLAND

You have probably, like Betty, the little girl in this story, read

"Alice in Wonderland". If you haven't, you will find out, before

you have read very far on this page, when Alice lived. Glance at

the first part of the story and see.

Alice, in the book that Betty had been reading, had wonderful

adventures in a strange country, where rabbits and caterpillars

talked, and where certain kinds of cake made you grow taller or

shorter, and where people put pepper in tea. Anybody would think a

country like that was a Wonderland; but you will see that Alice

found our everyday, twentieth-century world is a Wonderland, too.

See if you can tell why she thought so.

Betty laid down her book with a sigh. It had been a lovely book, and she

was sorry it was finished. "Such a humdrum old world!" she said

discontentedly. "I wish I had a chance to go to Wonderland, like Alice."

"Why," said a voice from the doorway, "isn't this Wonderland, then?"

Betty looked up, startled. She saw a little girl of about her own age,

with long, light, straight hair hanging to her waist, with wide,

wondering blue eyes, and dressed in the simplest, most old-fashioned

of little white frocks.

"Who are you?" inquired Betty.

"Why, don't you know me? I'm Alice," said the quaint little girl.

"How did you get here? I thought you lived a long time ago, in 1850 or

so."

"Oh, yes, I did begin to live then; but you see I've been traveling in

Wonderland so long that I've never had time to grow up."

"Aren't you sorry to have come back to real life, and begin to do

lessons, and mind what the older people say, and all?"

"Oh, but I haven't! Of course, I suppose the people in Wonderland don't

know they are queer, and so that's why you don't know you live there."

"Well," said Betty scornfully, "I'm sure I don't see anything to

wonder at in this old place--" Just then a bell rang sharply, and

Betty hurried to answer the telephone. It was her father speaking. She

took his message and returned to her guest.

"What in the world," said Alice, "made you talk into that little black

cup?"

"Why, that's the telephone."

"What's a telephone? We didn't have them in my time, I'm sure."

"Oh, everybody has one now. It lets you talk to somebody 'way off,

over an electric wire."

"Of course, we read about Franklin and his kite and all that. Let me

try it." But when the operator's voice saying "Number, please?" came

to Alice's ear, she was so frightened that she dropped the receiver.

"I can show you lots more things we do with electricity," said Betty,

beginning to understand that things which were commonplace to her were

wonders to her visitor. "You see it's getting dark? Now watch." Going

to the push-button in the wall she snapped on the light; Alice jumped

at its suddenness.

"Why, at home we had to find matches and light a lamp," she said in

amazement.

"That's nothing," said Betty. "Come along." She led her new friend

into the dining room, and showed her how, by pressing a button, the

rack could be heated for toasting bread, or heat supplied for the

coffee pot. Then they went on into the kitchen, and she showed Alice

the gas stove, where a flame sprang into life at the turning of a

handle; and the washing-machine, where the pressing of another button

set the clothes to churning up and down in the suds; and the electric

iron, heated by the pressing of still another button.

[Illustration: BETTY SHOWED HER THE VICTROLA]

"Why, nobody needs to do any work at all," said Alice admiringly,

while Betty began to feel that after all she had a great many

remarkable things in her house, which she had never thought much about

because they had always been there. As they walked back into the hall,

they heard a click-clicking sound.

"What's that?" said Alice.

"Oh, it's just my big brother's wireless apparatus catching a message.

If he were here he could tell us what it says."

"What's a wireless?"

"Why, you don't know anything much, do you?" Betty explained as well

as she could about the wireless telegraph.

"Goodness! That's like real magic. You must feel as if you were living

in a fairy story."

Betty had never thought of life in that way, and was about to tell Alice

how really dull a time she had, when a sound of music interrupted them.

"Oh, how lovely! Somebody's singing!"

"No, you little goose, that's only the victrola," answered Betty.

"What's a victrola?"

Betty tried to explain that it was a machine that caught and

imprisoned somebody's voice or the music of some instrument. But Alice

couldn't understand. Even when Betty showed her the victrola, and the

record, she could hardly believe that a real singer wasn't hidden

somewhere making fun of her.

While she was still unpersuaded, Betty heard her father's key in the

lock. She knew the car must still be before the door.

"Father, father," she cried, "this is Alice--from Wonderland, you

know. Won't you take us for a ride?"

"A little one," said Betty's father. Alice clapped her hands, for she

loved to go driving. But when the two little girls were safely seated

in the back seat, she began to wonder again.

"Where are the horses?" she inquired.

"Horses! Why, it's an automobile."

"What's an automobile?"

"Why, a carriage that runs of itself." The car started, and Alice

understood without further explaining. She couldn't ask any more

questions, because the rapid motion quite took away her breath.

Betty asked Alice to spend the night with her, and promised that next

morning she would take her to town and show her some more of the

sights of the New Wonderland. She went to sleep feeling that after all

it wasn't such a humdrum world, and that she had taken for granted a

great many things that, when you came to think of it, really made life

a fairy tale, and the world Wonderland.

--_Mabel Dodge Holmes._

QUESTIONS

1. Alice was no more surprised than any little girl of 1850 would

be. What has happened in the world since that time to make it a

Wonderland?

2. Why was the telephone a wonder to Alice?

3. Make a list of the wonders Betty showed Alice. Add to this list

any similar wonders that you could show her in your house.

4. Can you think of some of the wonders that Betty showed Alice in

their trip to the city?

BRISTOL

Here is an account of the City of Bristol taken from an

encyclopedia. Without reading the whole account, find as quickly as

possible the answer to each of the following questions, in order.

1. Where is Bristol?

2. Is it an attractive city?

3. Is it an industrial city?

4. Is it a healthy city?

5. Are there many public buildings there?

6. If you had children could they be well educated there?

7. Has it had any famous citizens?

8. Is it a seaport or an inland city?

9. Is it a large city?

Bristol, a cathedral city of England, situated partly in

Gloucestershire, partly in Somersetshire, but forming a county in

itself. In 1911 it had a population of 357,059. It stands at the

confluence of the rivers Avon and Frome, which unite within the city

whence the combined stream (the Avon) pursues a course of nearly seven

miles to the Bristol Channel. The Avon is a navigable river, and the

tides rise in it to a great height. The town is built partly on low

grounds, partly on eminences, and has some fine suburban districts, such

as Clifton, on the opposite side of the Avon, connected with Bristol by

a suspension bridge 703 feet long and 245 feet above high-water mark.

The public buildings are numerous and handsome, and the number of places

of worship very great. The most notable of these are the cathedral,

founded in 1142, exhibiting various styles of architecture, and recently

restored and enlarged; St. Mary Redcliff, said to have been founded in

1293, and perhaps the finest parish church in the kingdom. Among modern

buildings are the exchange, the guild-hall, the council house, the post

office, the new grammar school, the fine arts academy, the West of

England, and other banks, insurance offices, etc. The charities are

exceedingly numerous, the most important being Ashley Down Orphanage,

for the orphans of Protestant parents, founded and still managed by the

Rev. George Müller, which may almost be described as a village of

orphans. Among the educational institutions are the University College,

the Theological Colleges of the Baptists and Independents, Clifton

College, and the Philosophical Institute. There is a school of art, and

also a public library. Bristol has glassworks, potteries, soap works,

tanneries, sugar refineries, and chemical works, shipbuilding and

machinery yards. Coal is worked extensively within the limits of the

borough. The export and import trade is large and varied, it being one

of the leading English ports in the foreign trade. Regular navigation

across the Atlantic was first established here, and the _Great Western_,

the pioneer steamship in this route, was built here. There is a harbor

in the city itself, and the construction of new docks at Avonmouth and

Portishead has given a fresh impetus to the port. The construction of

very large new docks was begun in 1902. Bristol is one of the healthiest

of the large towns of the kingdom. It has an excellent water supply

chiefly obtained from the Mendip Hills.--In old Celtic chronicles we

find the name _Caer Oder_, or "the City of the Chasm", given to a place

in this neighborhood, a name peculiarly appropriate to the situation of

Bristol, or rather of its suburb Clifton. The Saxons called it

_Bricgstow_, "bridge-place". In 1373 it was constituted a county of

itself by Edward III. It was made the seat of a bisphoric by Henry VIII

in 1542 (now united with Gloucester). Sebastian Cabot, Chatterton, and

Southey were natives of Bristol.

ON THE FRONTIER

THE SETTING FOR AN ACT IN A PLAY

Your teacher will give the word when you are to begin. She will

keep track of the time and will ask you to stop reading in thirty

seconds. Then she will ask you, without looking back at the

paragraph, to write answers to the questions at the end.