The Eskimo Twins

by Lucy Fitch Perkins

The Last Day of all was so short that Menie and Monnie and Koko saw the whole of it from the top of the Big Rock! They had gone up there in the gray twilight that comes before the sunrise to build a snow house to play in. They had been there only a little while when the sky grew all rosy just over the Edge of the World. The color grew stronger and stronger until the little stars were all drowned in it and then up came the great round red face of the sun itself! The children watched it as it peered over the horizon, threw long blue shadows behind them across the snow, and then sank slowly, slowly down again, leaving only the flaming colors in the sky to mark the place where it had been. They waved their hands as it slipped out of sight. "Good bye, old Sun," they shouted, "and good bye, Shadow, too! We shall be glad to see you both when you come back again."

Then, because the wind blew very cold and they could see a snow cloud coming toward them from the Great White World where the Giants lived, the children ran together down the snowy slope toward the bright windows of their homes.

THE END

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS

To arouse the children's interest and thus to make the reading of this story most valuable as a school exercise, it is suggested that at the outset the children be allowed to look at the pictures in the book in order to get acquainted with "Menie" and "Monnie" and with the scenes illustrating their home life and surroundings.

During the reading, point out the North Pole, Greenland, etc., on a map of the world or on a globe, and tell the children something about the many years of effort before Peary succeeded in reaching his goal; also about the work of subsequent explorers in this part of the world, and around the South Pole as well. Thus this supplementary reading material may be connected with the work in geography.

The text is so simply written that the second grade child can read it without much or any preparation. It may be well to have the children read it first in a study period in order to work out the pronunciation of the more difficult words. But many classes will be able to read it at sight, without the preparatory study. The possibilities in the story for dramatization and for language and constructive work will be immediately apparent.

In connection with the reading of the book, teachers should tell to the children stories describing Eskimo life, and the experiences of explorers and pioneers in the North. Grenfell's Adrift on an Ice-Pan is suitable, for example. Holbrook's Northland Heroes and Schultz's Sinopah, the Indian Boy, while not belonging to the land of the Eskimos, contain stories of allied interest. Let the children bring to class pictures of scenes in the North, clipped from magazines and newspapers.

The unique illustrations in The Eskimo Twins should be much used, both in the reading of the story and in other ways. Children will enjoy sketching some of them; their simple treatment makes them especially useful for this purpose.