—As Rip Van Winkle told his story, the bystanders began to look at each other, nod, and wink significantly and tap their fingers against their foreheads.
—An old woman came tottering forward, put her hand to her brow and peering under it into his face for a moment, exclaimed: "Sure enough, it is Rip Van Winkle!"
—As the Emperor stepped into the court-yard, the ladies were all so busy crowding about the young prince, holding his hands and counting the kisses, that they did not see the old gentleman: "What's all this, what's all this?" he shouted in rage; and they all scampered off in every direction.
—Trotty sat down in his chair and beat his knees and laughed; he sat down in his chair and beat his knees and cried; he got out of his chair and hugged Med; he got out of his chair and hugged Richard; he got out of his chair and hugged them both at once. He was constantly getting up and sitting down, never stopping in his chair a single minute, being beside himself with joy.
—"Here, little girl, can you tell us the way to town?" "That's not the way. The town is over in this direction!" But as the little girl was turning to point out the road, one of the men seized her by the waist and lifted her from the ground. Lucia looked back over her shoulder terrified and gave a shriek. (Manzoni.)
(The children were delighted with this little action and rehearsed it over and over again.)
—With a start, Evangeline looked wildly about her: "Where is Gabriel?" she asked dazedly. "Where is Gabriel? Where is Gabriel?" "He is on that ship that is just sailing out of the harbor!" some one answered. For a few moments Evangeline stood shading her eyes with her palm, gazing after the vessel, fast disappearing into the horizon. At last she spoke half aloud: "I will follow you and find you wherever they may take you, Gabriel," she said, as though taking a vow. Then she turned to the soldier and said: "Lead on to the boat, I am coming. I am coming."
—"Give me the bow," said Tell. Tell chose two arrows: one he fitted to the bow-string, the other he thrust into his girdle. Then for a moment he stood, a little bowed of shoulder, with his eyes downward: he was praying. You might have heard a leaf fall, so still was the place. Then Tell raised his head; his eyes were steady, his hands had become still; his face was like iron; he brought the cross bow to his shoulder and laid his eye to the feather of the shaft: "Twang," the apple fell. A cheer arose from the crowd. Tell laid his hand upon the arrow in his girdle. "If the first had hurt my child," he said, "this one by now would have been through your heart, O Gessler!"
The children by no means restrict themselves to acting out these little scenes and poses. In a second stage they read aloud all these slips which they have interpreted, and in view of the preparation they have had, their reading shows considerable power of expression. They tend to read the slips over and over again, many times, and not infrequently commit them to memory. To take advantage of this new activity we got together a number of poems, making up a little book of children's verse. The pupils read them both mentally and aloud, ultimately committing them to memory and reciting them. Here are some specimens of our Italian collection: