Caybigan, James N. Hopper.
NOTES AND QUESTIONS FOR STUDY
THE RIGHT PROMETHEAN FIRE
In Greek mythology, the work of creating living things was entrusted to two of the gods, Epimetheus and Prometheus. Epimetheus gave to the different animals various powers, to the lion strength, to the bird swiftness, to the fox sagacity, and so on until all the good gifts had been bestowed, and there was nothing left for man. Then Prometheus ascended to heaven and brought down fire, as his gift to man. With this, man could protect himself, could forge iron to make weapons, and so in time develop the arts of civilization. In this story the "Promethean Fire" of love is the means of giving little Emmy Lou her first lesson in reading.
1. A test that may be applied to any story is, Does it read as if it were true? Would the persons in the story do the things they are represented as doing? Test the acts of Billy Traver in this way, and see if they are probable.
2. In writing stories about children, a writer must have the power to present life as a child sees it. Point out places in this story where school life is described as it appears to a new pupil.
3. One thing we ought to gain from our reading is a larger vocabulary. In this story there are a number of words worth adding to our stock. Define these exactly: inquisitorial; lachrymose; laconic; surreptitious; contumely.
Get the habit of looking up new words and writing down their meanings.
4. Can you write a story about a school experience?
5. Other books containing stories of school life are:
Little Aliens, Myra Kelly; May Iverson Tackles Life, Elizabeth Jordan; Ten to Seventeen, Josephine Daskam Bacon; Closed Doors, Margaret P. Montague. Read a story from one of these books, and compare it with this story.
THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE
Central Park, New York, covers an era of more than eight hundred acres, with a zoo and several small lakes. On one of the lakes there are large boats with a huge wooden swan on each side. Richard Harding Davis located one of his stories here: See "Van Bibber and the Swan Boats," in the volume called Van Bibber and Others.
1. How is this story like the preceding one? What difference in the characters? What difference in their homes?
2. How does Myra Kelly make you feel sympathy for the little folks? In what ways have their lives been less fortunate than the lives of children in your town?
3. What is peculiar about the talk of these children? Do they all speak the same dialect? Many of the children of the East Side never hear English spoken at home.
4. What touches of humor are there in this story?
5. What new words do you find? Define garrulous, pedagogically, cicerone.
6. Where did Miss Kelly get her materials for this story? See the life on page 37.
7. What other stories by this author have you read? This is from Little Citizens; other books telling about the same characters are Little Aliens, and Wards of Liberty.
8. Other books of short stories dealing with children are: Whilomville Stories, by Stephen Crane; The Golden Age, by Kenneth Grahame; The Madness of Philip, by Josephine Daskam Bacon; The King of Boyville, by William Allen White; New Chronicles of Rebecca, by Kate Douglas Wiggin. Read one of these, and compare it with Myra Kelly's story.