The Children's Hour, Volume 3 (of 10) / Stories from the Classics

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Children's Hour, Volume 3 (of 10), by Various, Edited by Eva March Tappan
“ It is strange that they let that dog lie there ”
Between the dark and the daylight, when the night is beginning to lower comes a pause in the days occupations, that is known as the Children’s Hour.
All rights in stories in this volume are reserved by the holders of the copyrights. The publishers and others named in the subjoined list are the proprietors, either in their own right or as agents for the authors, of the stories taken from the works enumerated, of which the ownership is hereby acknowledged. The editor takes this opportunity to thank both authors and publishers for the ready generosity with which they have allowed her to include these stories in “The Children’s Hour.”
“The Wonder-Book,” and “Tanglewood Tales,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne; published by Houghton, Mifflin & Company.
“Old Greek Folk Stories,” by Josephine Preston Peabody; published by Houghton, Mifflin & Company.
“The Odyssey of Homer,” English prose version by George Herbert Palmer; published by Houghton, Mifflin & Company.
The greater part of this book is made up of stories from the poems of Homer and Virgil. Homer is thought to have lived in Greece about three thousand years ago, and yet his poems never seem old-fashioned and people do not tire of reading them. Boys and girls almost always like them, because they are so full of stories. If you want to read about giants or mermaids or shipwrecks or athletic contests or enchanters or furious battles or the capture of cities or voyages to strange countries, all you have to do is to open the Iliad and the Odyssey, and you will find stories on all of these subjects. Homer can describe a foot-race or the throwing of a discus so that you hold your breath to see who will win; and he can picture a battle so vividly that you almost try to dodge the arrows and spears. He can make the tears come into your eyes by telling you of the grief of the warrior’s wife when he leaves her and their baby son to go to battle; and he can almost make you shout, “Hurrah for the brave champion!” when he tells you what wonderful deeds of prowess have been done. He can describe a shield so minutely that you could make one like it; and he can paint a scene of feasting so perfectly that you feel as if you had been in the very room.