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THIS IS MY LETTER TO THE WORLD

This is my letter to the World

That never wrote to Me –

The simple News that Nature told –

With tender Majesty

 

Her Message is committed

To Hands I cannot see –

For love of Her – Sweet – countrymen –

Judge tenderly – of Me

 

COMPREHENSION AND DISCUSSION:

1. What is your impression of the speaker in this poem?

2. Dickinson’s poetry is her ‘letter to the World.’ What can you infer about her life from her statement that no one wrote back?

3. How does an understanding of Dickinson's publishing history help us to understand this poem?

4. Find the words and phrases that show the poet’s attitude towards Nature. What kind of nature is the speaker describing?

5. What is a letter? How does this image work in this poem?

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – Too?

Then there's a pair of us?

Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

 

How dreary – to be – Somebody!

How public – like a Frog –

To tell one's name – the livelong June –

To an admiring Bog!

COMPREHENSION AND DISCUSSION:

  1. What connections do you see between this poem and others Dickinson wrote?
  2. How does this poem fit Dickinson's personal reputation?

SUCCESS IS COUNTED SWEETEST

 

Success is counted sweetest

By those who ne’er succeed.

To comprehend a nectar

Requires sorest need.

 

Not one of all the purple Host

Who took the Flag today

Can tell the definition

So clear of Victory

 

As he defeated – dying –

On whose forbidden ear

The distant strains of triumph

Burst agonized and clear!

NOTES:

ne’er – never comprehendhere: fully appreciate

nectarhere: Dickinson uses the word to represent something sweet and desirable

purple Host – winning army

COMPREHENSION AND DISCUSSION:

1. What do you think of the first two lines of the poem?

2. How do you interpret lines 3-4?

3. In this poem Dickinson uses the image of a battlefield to make her point. Why might the defeated soldier be better able to define and appreciate victory than the victorious soldiers?

4. Do you agree that a defeated person appreciates success more than a victor does? Why?

5. Where do you think the speaker places herself in this poem? What is the tone of the poem?

Writing option:

Write a letter to Emily Dickinson telling her what you think of her poetry.

 

FRANCIS BRET HARTE

(1836 – 1902)

Francis Bret Harte is a short story writer and poet of the gold-ruch period in America, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California. He wrote some thirty volumes of prose and one book of verse, but only a small part of his writing has real literary value.

He was born in Albany, New York, in the family of a teacher. His father died when the boy was nine. In 1854 Harte left New York for California and went into mining country on a brief trip that legend has expanded into a lengthy participation in, and intimate knowledge of, camp life. In 1857 he was employed by the “Northern Californian”, a weekly paper.



In about 1860 he moved to San Francisco and began to write for the “Golden Era”, which published the first of his “Condensed Novels”, brilliant parodies of James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo and others. In 1864 he edited the periodical “The Californian”, for which he engaged Mark Twain to write weekly articles. The same year Harte received the post of Secretary of the California Mint where coins were made under State authority.

In 1867 Bret Harte published a volume of verse. In 1868 he began publishing his own magazine “Overland Monthly”, in which during two years his first stories appeared. These stories were later collected into the book “THE LUCK OF THE ROARING CAMP”[2](1870). In 1871 Bret Harte went to Boston and later settled in New York. Everywhere he had an enthusiastic reception. As an established literary figure, Bret Harte was appointed to the position of United States Consul in the town of Krefeld, Germany in 1878 and Glasgow in 1880. In 1885 he settled in London. During the thirty years he spent in Europe, he never abandoned writing. He died in England in 1902 and is buried at Frimley.

The three stories “Waif of the Plains” (1891), “Suzy” (1893), “Clarence” (1895) form a trilogy, in the centre of which is a history of the main hero of these books - Clarence Brant. The historical background of the trilogy is Civil War between the North and the South.

 

In the story “The Luck of the Roaring Camp” Bret Harte describes the gold-seekers in California, but he doesn’t give a complete picture of the brutal fight for gold among the gold-seekers who looked upon one another as mortal enemies. He was, however, realistic enough to give a tragic ending to his story, because there was no place for love and kindness under the brutal conditions of the gold rush.

 

Read the whole story and explain its title. Use a dictionary where necessary.

“The Luck of Roaring Camp”

Roaring Camp was the noisiest gold mining town in California. More than one hundred men for every part of the United States had come to that little camp-stopping there for a short time on their way to getting rich. Many of these gold miners were criminals. All of them were violent. They filled the peaceful mountain air with shouting and gun shots. The noise of their continual fighting finally gave the camp its strange name.

On a sunny morning in 1850, however, the men of Roaring Camp were quiet. A crowd was gathered in front of a small wooden house by the river. Inside that cabin was "Cherokee Sal," the only woman in the camp. She was all alone and in terrible pain. "Cherokee Sal" was having a baby. Deaths were not unusual in Roaring Camp, but a birth was big news.

One of the men turned to another and ordered: "Go in there, Stumpy, and see what you can do!"

Stumpy opened the cabin door, and disappeared inside. The rest of the men built a campfire outside and gathered around it to wait. Above their own whispers they could hear the wind moving among the tall pine trees. Suddenly, a sharp cry broke the air-the cry of a newborn baby. All the men jumped to their feet as Stumpy appeared at the cabin door. Cherokee Sal was dead; but her baby-a boy-was alive.

The men formed a long line. One by one they entered the tiny cabin. On the bed, under a blanket, they could see the body of the unlucky mother. On a pine table, near that bed, was a small wooden box. Inside lay Roaring Camp's newest citizen, wrapped in a piece of bright red cloth.

Someone had put a large hat near the baby's box. As the men slowly marched past, they dropped gifts into the hat: a gold tobacco box, a silver gun, a diamond ring, a lace handkerchief, and about two hundred dollars in gold and silver.

Only one incident broke the flow of men through the cabin. As a gambler named "Kentucky" leaned over the box, the baby reached up and held one of the man's fingers.

Kentucky looked embarrassed. "That funny little fellow!" he said, as he gently pulled his hand out of the box. He held up his finger and stared at it. "He grabbed my finger," he told the men. "That funny little fellow!"

The next morning the men of Roaring Camp buried Cherokee Sal. Afterwards, they held a formal meeting to discuss what to do with her baby. Everyone in the camp voted to keep the child. But nobody could agree on the best way to take care of it. Tom Ryder suggested bringing a woman into the camp to care for the baby. But the men believed no good woman would accept Roaring Camp as her home. And they decided that they didn't want any more of the other kind.

Stumpy didn't say a word during these long discussions. But when the others finally asked his opinion, he admitted that he wanted to continue taking care of the baby himself. He had been feeding it milk from a donkey and he believed he could raise the baby just fine. There was something original, independent, even heroic about Stumpy's plan that pleased the men of Roaring Camp. Stumpy was hired. All the men gave him some gold to send for baby things from the city of Sacramento. They wanted the best that money could buy.

By the time the baby was a month old, the men decided he needed a name. Until then he'd been called many names: "The Kid," "Stumpy's Boy," and even Kentucky's own "Funny Little Fellow." But the men did not like any of these names.

All of them had noticed that since the baby's birth they were finding more gold than ever before. One day Oakhurst declared that the baby had brought "The Luck" to Roaring Camp. So "Luck" was the name they chose for him, adding before it the first name "Tommy."

A name day was set for him. The ceremony was held under the pine trees, with Stumpy saying the simple words: "I proclaim that you Thomas Luck, according to the laws of the United States and the State of California, so help me God."

Soon after the ceremony, Roaring Camp began to change. The first improvements were made in the cabin of Tommy or "The Luck," as he was usually called. The men painted it white, planted flowers around it, and kept it clean. The beautiful rosewood baby bed, Stumpy said, "Killed the rest of the furniture." So the men made another collection of gold and sent to Sacramento for better chairs, a table, a rug, and even pretty paper to cover the walls.

Turtle's store, where they used to meet to talk and play cards, also changed. The owner imported a carpet and some mirrors. The men, seeing themselves in Turtle's mirrors, began to take more care about their hair, beards, and clothing.

Stumpy made a new law for the camp. Anyone who wanted the honor of holding The Luck would have to wash daily. Kentucky appeared at the cabin every afternoon in a clean shirt, his face still shining from the washing he'd given it.

The shouting and yelling that had given the camp its name also stopped. Tommy needed his sleep and the men walked around, speaking in whispers. Instead of angry shouts, the music of gentle songs filled the air, as the men took turns rocking the baby to sleep in their arms. Strange new feelings of peace and happiness came into the hearts of the miners of Roaring Camp.

During those long summer days, The Luck was carried up the mountain to the place where the men were digging for gold. He would lie on a soft blanket, decorated with wild flowers the men would bring. Nature was his nurse and playmate. Birds flew around his blanket, and little animals would play nearby. Golden sunshine and soft breezes would stroke him to sleep. Tommy appeared very happy. But there was a serious expression in his round gray eyes that sometimes worried Stumpy. . . .

During that golden summer The Luck was with them, the men of Roaring Camp all became rich. With the gold they found in the mountains came a desire for further improvement. The men voted to build a hotel the following spring. They hoped some good families with children would come to live in Roaring Camp. But some of the men were against this plan. They hoped something would happen to prevent it.

And something did.

The following winter, the winter of 1851, is still remembered for the heavy snows in the mountains. When the snow melted that spring, every stream became an angry river that raced down the mountains, tearing up trees and bringing destruction. One of those terrible streams was the North Fork River. Late one night, it leaped over its banks and raced into the valley of Roaring Camp.

The sleeping men had no chance to escape the rushing water and the crashing trees in the darkness. When morning came, Stumpy's cabin, near the river, was gone. Further down in the valley they found the body of its unlucky owner. But the pride, the hope, the joy, The Luck of Roaring Camp had disappeared.

Suddenly, a boat appeared from around a bend in the river. The men in it said they had picked up a man and a baby. Did anyone know them? Did they belong here? Lying on the bottom of the rescue boat was Kentucky. He was seriously injured, but still holding The Luck of Roaring Camp in his arms. As they bent over the two, the men saw the child was pale and cold.

"He's dead," said one of them."

Kentucky opened his eyes. "Dead?" he whispered.

"Yes, Kentucky, and you are dying, too."

Kentucky smiled. "Dying!" he repeated. "He is taking me with him. Tell the boys I've got The Luck with me!" And the strong man, still holding the small child, drifted away on the shadowy river that flows forever to the unknown sea.

 

COMPREHENSION AND DISCUSSION:

1. Why did Stumpy help Cherokee Sal?

2. Why did they give the baby horse’s milk?

3. Why did Stumpy put a hat by the baby’s box?

4. Why didn’t they bring a woman to the camp to take care of the baby?

5. Why did they call the baby ‘Luck’?

6. Why did the camp start to change?

7. Why were the men happy that summer?

8. Why didn’t Stumpy leave Roaring Camp?

9. What was the major theme in this story?

10. What can we learn from the characters in the story about the people of this time period?

11. What lesson can be learned from the plot of this story?

12. What message was Harte trying to convey through this work?

 

STEPHEN CRANE

1871-1900

Stephen Crane was born in a poor family in Newark, New Jersey. He was the fourteenth and last child of the Reverend John Townley Crane, a Methodist minister and published writer in ethics, and Mary Helen Peck, the daughter of a prominent Methodist minister. Both of his parents were active in the temperance movement, and his father moved the family repeatedly as he was transferred to different ministries. Crane's father died when he was nine, and his mother earned extra money by writing for Methodist journals, the New York Tribune, and the Philadelphia Press, all with young Stephen's help.

In 1885, Stephen entered a Methodist boarding school where his father had served as principal, then later transferred to a military boarding school. He attained the rank of cadet captain.

In January 1891, he entered Syracuse University, which was co-founded by his mother's uncle, and became extensively involved in writing and English. Instead of returning to school the next September, he decided to concentrate on his writing, and stayed with artist friends in New York. Crane worked as a newspaper reporter in New York. At 22 he wrote his first novel, “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets”(1893), a naturalistic picture of the grim life in New York slums. After the publication of the first novel, Crane began reading Civil War memoirs, and began to write “The Red Badge of Courage” in the spring of 1893.

Crane spent 1895 traveling through the American West and Mexico, writing the whole time. His book of poems, “The Black Riders”, was published in May 1895. “The Red Badge of Courage” was published in October 1895, and quickly became a bestseller, establishing Crane's reputation as an author. Although he met Theodore Roosevelt in New York and shared some of his writing, he fell out of favor with Roosevelt and the New York police when he testified in defense of a woman friend who had been arrested on charges of solicitation[3]. Later in 1896, Crane left the U.S. for Cuba to cover the Cuban revolution.

In 1897, the boat from which Crane was covering the Cuban war sank, becoming the inspiration for his story "The Open Boat." In March, Crane took passage to Greece to cover the Greco-Turkish war. His girlfriend, Cora Howorth Steward, was hired by the New York Journal as their first female war correspondent. The two were married during this time, and after the war moved to Oxted, Surrey, in England, where he continued his literary work until he discovered that he was suffering of tuberculosis. He went to Germany to seek a cure but it was too late. He was twenty-nine years old. He was buried by his wife in Hillside, New Jersey. “Wounds in the Rain” (1900), “Great Battles of the World” (1901), and “The O'Ruddy” (1903), were all published posthumously.

 

“Maggie: A Girl of the Streets”tells a tragedy of a common American girl, who was thrown by the society on the way of prostitution and persecuted by it. The novel's title character, Maggie, Johnson grows up among abuse and poverty in the Bowery neighborhood of New York's Lower East Side. Her mother, Mary, is a vicious alcoholic; her brother, Jimmie, is mean-spirited and brutish. But Maggie grows up a beautiful young lady with romantic hopes for a better life. She falls in love with Pete, whose show of confidence seems to promise wealth and culture. Seduced and abandoned by Pete, Maggie becomes a neighborhood scandal when she turns to prostitution. Crane leaves her death vague - she either commits suicide or is murdered. She seems a natural and hereditary victim, succumbing[4] finally to the forces of poverty and social injustice that built up against her even before her birth. Like all the people in this short novel, she seems chiefly a type rather than an individuated character, serving to illustrate principles about modern urban life.

We can notice three main themes in his creative work: life of the slums, the tragedy of the war, children’s destitution. His best pacifistic narrative is “The Red Badge of Courage” which tells the history of a soldier Henry Fleming. A son of a farmer, Henry Fleming, in spite of his mother’s protest, goes as a volunteer to the army of the northerners. During the battle the recruit is seized with fear, and he runs to the rear, having shamefully left his friends on a battle-field. During the battle there is a turning in favour of an enemy, and all the northerner’s army falls back, in panic, having raised to a deserter. The young man tries to stop one of the running men to know what has happened, but the man beats his head with a butt-stock, having become absolutely fear-stricken and having been afraid of being stopped. Having been wounded by “his own”, the young man falls behind the running men, and when he comes to a battalion, he is met as a hero!

 

MARK TWAIN

1835-1910

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, is a famous American humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer. Although he was confounded by financial and business affairs, his humor and wit was keen, and he enjoyed immense public popularity. At his peak, he was probably the most popular American celebrity of his time.

Born in the village, state Missouri, in 1835, Samuel was the third of four surviving children. His father was a poor lawyer who died when Samuel was 12 years old. When he was four years old, his family moved to Hannibal, a town on the Mississippi River much like the towns depicted in his novels. After father’s death Clemens left school, worked for a printer, and, in 1851, having finished his apprenticeship, Samuel began to work as a printer (Samuel's oldest brother Orion began publishing a newspaper “The Hannibal Journal”). While still in his early twenties, Clemens gave up his printing career and became a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi. He later stated in one of his books “Life on the Mississippi”(1883) that it would have held him to the end of his days. He said that the people he met on the river were a great help to improving his enjoyment of reading.

The Civil War and the advent[5] of railroads put an end to commercial steamboat traffic in 1861, and he had to look for a new job. He fell into newspaper work in Virginia City for the, where he adopted the pen name "Mark Twain" for the first time. His pen name came from his years on the riverboat, where two fathoms[6] (12 ft, approximately 3.7 m) or "safe water" was measured on the sounding line, was marked by calling "mark twain".

After the war, he went to Nevada with his brother Orion to prospect for silver and gold, but he did not like the life of the West. In 1864, he moved down to San Francisco and wrote for several papers there. In 1865, Twain had his first literary success. The story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (1865) brought him fame as a humorist. Having financial resources at his command, Samuel Clemens began to travel extensively. In 1866, he went to Hawaii, and the next year he toured Europe and the Holy Land, the basis for his travel book entitled “Innocents Abroad”. Wherever he went, Clemens observed life and people in order to gather material for his writings. He most appreciated the comedy he saw around him, but at times he also had a gloomy outlook. Both these views of life are developed in his novels.

On the European voyage, Clemens met Charles Langdon, who later introduced him in 1867 to his sister Olivia. Clemens immediately fell in love with her and married her in 1870 after a long courtship. They had a son who died in infancy and three daughters. The family lived in Hartford, Connecticut from 1871 until 1891, the period of Mark Twain’s best writing.

In 1876 he published “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. This book was quite new and original in American literature. It was followed by “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1884), “Tom Sawyer Abroad” (1894) and “Tom Sawyer the Detective” (1896). In “Tom Sawyer” the author gives a picture of contrasting ways of living of the folk and bourgeois society. In “Huckleberry Finn” he comes forward as an enemy of slavery. As Ernest Hemingway said, “all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain – “Huckleberry Finn”. His other famous books are: “The Prince and the Pauper”, “A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court”, which criticized feudal English and monarchy in general.

In 1888, Twain earned a Master of Arts degree from Yale University. He then was awarded two honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from Yale in 1901, and the University of Missouri in 1902. In 1907, he received an honorary degree from Oxford. His last steady pleasure was endless games of billiards that he played with his biographer, Alber B Paine. In 1910, Samuel Langhorne Clemens died at age 75 in his Connecticut home.

QUOTATIONS

"I have never let my schooling get in the way of my education."

"You can have heaven, I’d rather go to Bermuda."

"Familiarity breeds contempt - and babies."

"Golf is a good walk spoilt."

"Truth is our most valuable commodity, so let us economize."

"Never put off until tomorrow that which could be done the day after tomorrow."

"A habit cannot be thrown out the window, it must be coaxed[7] down the stairs one step at a time."

"Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated".

"There are several good protections against temptations but the surest is cowardice."

"Suppose you were a congressman, and suppose you were an idiot. But, I repeat myself."

"Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody."

 

In the story "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," Mark Twain explores many weaknesses of human nature. Hadleyburg was a town, noted, praised and envied of the citizens’ honesty and incorruptibility, until a single man corrupted and surfaced weaknesses of individuals and the community as a whole. Dishonesty, greed and falling into temptation are the stories greatest examples of human weakness.

“THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG”

The story is set in Hadleyburg, a small town renowned for its honesty. This reputation of honesty lasted for three generations and then something happened that disgraced Hadleyburg and robbed the town of its lofty name. The story shows how easily greedy people fall into temptations concerning money.

Hadleyburg had had the ill luck to offend a passing stranger. The stranger so much hated the snobbishness of its leading citizens that he burned with desire to revenge himself on them.

One night the offended stranger came to Hadleyburg and knocked on the door of Edward Richards, the cashier of bank, and gave him a sack to be put into the bank. He said the sack contained forty thousand dollars in gold and that a paper was attached to the sack that would explain everything, and then he went away. It said in the paper that the owner of the sack had been a ruined gambler and had one night come to their town to beg, and one of the citizens had given him $20 to help him out and had said something, certain remark that had made him stop gambling, and he had become a honest man. The owner of the sack wanted his benefactor to be identified by that remark and rewarded for his kind deed. That remark, the paper said, was sewn inside the sack. The stranger suggested that these facts be published and that the man who had made the remark should write down his words and appear in 30 days in the town hall where these words be read before witnesses. Should these words correspond with those in the sack, that person would be the right man and receive the sack.

The news about the gold spread rapidly. The town was unanimous in the belief that the man who had given the stranger $20 must have been Barclay Goodson. But Goodson had died in the meantime.

The excitement of the first week changed into a helpless worry in at least 19 of the principal households of the town. Just a week later the 19 principal families of the town received a letter each from a distant state. The writer of the letter said he had heard the news in Mexico and thought it is his duty to say that he had passed through Hadleyburg that night and had heard Goodson make the remark to the gambler; that he himself had chatted with Goodson until the midnight train came, and that Goodson had talked to him about Hadleyburg and had said that he didn’t like any person in the town – “not one: but that you - I think he said you - had done him a very great service once, and he wished he had a fortune, he would leave it to you when he died, and a curse apiece for the rest of the citizens. Now, then, if it was you that did that service, you are his legitimate heir, and entitled to the sack of gold... This is the remark: ‘You are far from being a bad man: go, and reform’. Howard L. Stephenson”. All 19 letters were exactly alike but for the name of the person they were addressed to in each case. All 19 families thought that only their family knew the secret remark.

When the day came to open the sack, all the town’s citizens were packed in the town hall. Mr. Burgess opened one letter after another and read the names of the claimants comparing their statements with the paper that was in the sack. The original remark was: “You are far from being a bad man: go, and reform - or, mark my words - some day for your sins you will die and go to hell or Hadleyburg - try and make it the former.” Roars of laughter from the poorer people! The names of the most notable citizens held up to derision. Then the inner sack was cut open but there were only gilded disks of lead in it, and another letter saying that it was all a hoax.

Thus the sacred 19 families fell prey to the miserable gold-sack: “the town was stripped of the last rag of its ancient glory.”

DISCUSSION:

  1. Were the people of Hadleyburg as honest and incorruptible as they claimed? Why do you suppose they believe they were? What did they do to reinforce that image and to perpetuate it?
  2. What do you suppose happened to the stranger in Hadleyburg that would cause him to go to such extreme ends to seek his revenge? Why do you suppose he chose to get his revenge on the entire town instead of the individual or individuals that injured him?
  3. Why do you think that all of the nineteen fell into the stranger's trap? What do you think the stranger would have done if none had sent a note?

 

Writing option:

The plot of "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg" ends pretty much as the stranger had planned it. Rewrite the end of the story in such a way that the town is somehow saved from dishonor. Which ending do you think is more realistic? Why?

 

“A DOG AND THREE DOLLARS”

I have always believed that a man must be honest. "Never ask for money you have not earned", I always said.

Now I shall tell you a story which will show you how honest I have always been all my life.

A few days ago at my friend's house I met General Miles. General Miles was a nice man and we became great friends very quickly.

"Did you live in Washington in 1867?" the general asked me.

"Yes, I did," I answered.

"How could it happen that we did not meet then?" said General Miles.

"General", said I. "We could not meet then. You forget that you were already a great general then, and I was a poor young writer whom nobody knew and whose books nobody read. You do not remember me, I thought, but we met once in Washington at that time."

I remember it very well. I was poor then and very often I did not have money even for my bread. I had a friend. He was a poor writer too. We lived together. We did everything together: worked, read books, went for walks together. And when we were hungry, we were both hungry. Once we were in need of three dollars. I don't remember why we needed these three dollars so much, but I remember well that we had to have the money by the evening.

"We must get these three dollars," said my friend. "I shall try to get the money, but you must also try."

I went out of the house, but I did not know where to go and how to get the three dollars. For an hour I was walking along the streets of Washington and was very tired. At last I came to a big hotel. "I shall go in and have a rest," I thought.

I went into the hall of the hotel and sat down on a sofa. I was sitting there when a beautiful small dog ran into the hall. It was looking for somebody. The dog was nice and I had nothing to do, so I called it and began to play with it.

I was playing with the dog, when a man came into the hall. He wore a beautiful uniform and I knew at once that he was General Miles. I knew him by his pictures in the newspapers. "What a beautiful dog!" said he. "Is it your dog?"

I did not have time to answer him when he said, "Do you want to sell it?"

"Three dollars", I answered at once.

"Three dollars?" he asked. "But that is very little. I can give you fifty dollars for it."

"No, no. I only want three dollars."

"Well, it is your dog. If you want three dollars for it, I shall be glad to buy your dog."

General Miles paid me three dollars, took the dog and went up to his room.

Ten minutes later an old man came into the hall. He looked round the hall. I could see that he was looking for something.

"Are you looking for a dog, sir?" I asked.

"Oh, yes! Have you seen it?" said the man.

"Your dog was here a few minutes ago and I saw how it went away with a man," I said. "If you want, I shall try to find it for you."

The man was very happy and asked me to help him.

"I shall be glad to help you, but it will take some of my time and..."

"I am ready to pay you for your time," cried the man. "How much do you want for it?"

"Three dollars," answered I.

"Three dollars?" said the man. "But it is a very good dog. I shall pay you ten dollars if you find it for me."

"No sir, I want three dollars and not a dollar more," said I.

Then I went up to General Miles's room. The General was playing with his new dog." I came here to take the dog back", said I.

"But it is not your dog now – I have bought it. I have paid you three dollars for it," said the General.

"I shall give you back your three dollars, but I must take the dog back", answered I. "But you have sold it to me, it is my dog now."

"I could not sell it to you, sir, because it was not my dog."

"Still you have sold it to me for three dollars."

"How could I sell it to you when it was not my dog? You asked me how much I wanted for the dog, and I said that I wanted three dollars. But I never told you that it was my dog."

General Miles was very angry now.

"Give me back my three dollars and take the dog," he shouted. When I brought the dog back to its master, he was very happy and paid me three dollars with joy. I was happy too because I had the money, and I felt I earned it.

Now you can see why I say that honesty is the best policy and that a man must never take anything that he has not earned.

COMPREHENSION AND DISCUSSION:

  1. Whom did the author meet at his friend’s house one day?
  2. Did General Miles recognize the author? Why could not he?
  3. Why did the boy find himself in the hotel one day?
  4. Who ran into the hall suddenly?
  5. Why did the boy sell the dog to General Miles for three dollars?
  6. What happened ten minutes later?
  7. What brilliant idea came to the boy's mind?
  8. How did he manage to take the dog back?
  9. Did the boy's behaviour prove his words, "Never ask f or money you haven't earned"?

“THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER” (1876) is regarded as one of the best books for children in the world literature. The setting is a small Mississippi River town in the 1830’s. Having read many of books about Robin Hood, robbers, caves and hidden treasures, Tom Sawyer creates his own colourful world, which doesn’t look like surrounding reality. The principles of faithfulness and friendship, justice and courage are victorious in this world. Following them, Tom and Huck, having risked their lives, save an innocent man from death, having assured him of not implication in a crime.

DISCUSSION:

1. How does Tom Sawyer change over the course of the story?

2. Which of Tom’s deed and actions do you like and which do you dislike? Explain.

“THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER” (1881)

In this novel Mark Twain satirizes social conventions, concluding that appearances often hide a person’s true value. The novel shows England of the first half of the 16th century. Poverty reigns in the country. Superstitions and prejudices are widely spread among the people. In such conditions two identical-looking boys exchanged clothes. Prince Edward Tudor of Wales is expelled from the royal palace, and the poor Tom Canty appears on his place. Both are believed to be mad. Edward learns about the problems of commoners, while Tom learns to play the role of a prince and then a king.

 

DISCUSSION:

1. What problems does the writer rise in the novel?

2. Can we say that Tom’s childhood was happy? Explain.

3. What did Tom Canty and Prince Edward learn when they exchanged their places?

4. Why does Tom Canty adapt to his role as king more quickly than Edward Tudor adapts to his role as pauper?

5. Why is Tom Canty so willing to help Edward regain his throne?

6. Discuss the theme of clothes determining the way a person is treated.

 

“A CONNECTICUT YANKEE AT KING ARTHUR’s COURT” (1889)

The book is fantastic but there are many sad pages in it, which describe a hard life of English peasants in the 6th century. The action is set in Britain of the 6th century in the time of a legendary King Arthur. The wicked Queen Morgana and the magician Merlin are the embodiment of social evil. A common American Yankee is opposed to the kingdom of injustice and oppression. He exposes the swindles of Merlin, tries to destroy the most wild laws and customs. Having become the Prime Minister of the kingdom, he carries out a number of reforms, directed to ease the life of common people, promotes the development of trade, industry, crafts, education. In an effort to bring democratic principles and mechanical knowledge to the kingdom, Yankee strings telephone wire, starts schools, trains mechanics and teaches journalism. He also falls in love and marries. But when he tries to better the lot of the peasants, he meets opposition. He and Arthur, in disguise, travel among the miserable common folk, are taken captive and sold as slaves, and only at the last seconds are rescued by 500 knights on bicycles. Hank and his family briefly retire to the seaside. When they return they find the kingdom engulfed in civil war, Arthur killed, and Hank’s innovations abandoned.

IRONY IN THE NOVEL

Mark Twain shows himself as a master of irony when he exposes the social evils of the times and the hypocrisy of the characters humorously. The novel starts on a note of irony. Hank Morgan, the modern American finds himself in the ancient court of King Arthur. At the court, Morgan condemns the knights for telling lies. However, when he is imprisoned, he also tells a lie to escape. He calls himself a magician who can create a calamity and darken the world if he must. Later, he destroys the tower of Merlin through explosives and lighted wires. Twain creates an ironic situation not only out of the ignorance and superstition of the people, but also out of the inconsistency in the behavior of Morgan.

Morgan condemns royalty for thinking themselves superior to their subjects, yet he himself boasts and brags about his powers and his position. Over and over again, he uses his ordinary knowledge from the nineteenth century to make the people think he has extraordinary powers and he never confesses the truth. The ultimate irony is that when it is all over, and he is sent back to the nineteenth century, he realizes the beauty in Camelot's purity and longs to return. He has been given back his place in the technologically and industrially advanced nineteenth century, but all he wants is Camelot.

Writing option:

Think of a period in history that you would like to visit. Write a short story detailing what it would be like if you went there and how you would influence the citizenry with your twenty-first century knowledge.

 

O.HENRY

1862-1910

The real name of the writer is William Sydney Porter. He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA, in the family of a doctor. He was brought up by his aunt because his mother died when he was a small boy. After finishing school at the age of 15, Porter worked as a clerk for 5 years in his uncle’s chemist shop in Greensboro. In 1882 he went to Texas because he wanted to see new places. For 2 years he worked on a ranch, then he became a clerk in an office and at last got a job in a small bank. In 1887 he married Athol Estes Roach; they had a daughter.

In 1894 Porter started a humorous weekly “The Rolling Stone”. It was at this time that he began heavy drinking. When the weekly failed, he joined the “Houston Post” as a reporter and columnist.

But one day a theft of a thousand dollars was discovered at the bank in Austin where he worked as a bank teller. Though it was not he who had taken the money, Porter left the town and went to Central America. But when he heard that his wife was very ill, he returned home in 1897 and was put into prison for 3 years.

After his wife’s death Porter very often thought about his little daughter. She was living with her relatives and was told that her father had gone very far away and would not return soon. To get some money for a Christmas present for his daughter, Porter decided to write a story and send it to one of the American magazines. The story “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Present” was published in 1899 and his daughter received a Christmas present. Porter published at least 12 stories while in prison to help support his daughter. Not wanting his readers to know he was in jail, he started using the pen name "O. Henry". It is believed that Porter got this name from one of the guards who was named Orrin Henry. Other sources say that the name was derived from his calling "Oh Henry!" after the family cat, Henry.

In 1901 when he was released from prison he settled in New York and continued writing short stories for different magazines. From December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York “World”, also publishing in other magazines. O. Henry wrote over 280 short stories and one novel “Cabbages and Kings” (1904). All his works take together are like a humorous encyclopedia of All-American life.

O. Henry's last years were shadowed by alcoholism, ill health, and financial problems. He married Sara Lindsay Coleman in 1907, but the marriage was not happy, and they separated a year later. O. Henry died of cirrhosis of the liver on June 5, 1910, in New York.

 

Read the story

“The Gift of the Magi”

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but cry. So Della did it.

Della finished her cry. She stood by the window and looked out at a grey cat walking on a grey fence in a grey yard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare.

Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the mirror. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Quickly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Now, there were two possessions of the Dillinghams in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair.

So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a coat for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. For a minute she stood still while a tear or two fell on the worn red carpet.

On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat, and she hurried out the door and down the stairs to the street.

Where she stopped the sign read: "M-me Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." Della ran up to the second floor.

"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.

"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take your hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it."

Down rippled the brown cascade.

"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.

"Give it to me quick," said Della.

Oh, the next two hours she was ransacking the stores for Jim's present. She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum chain simple and nice in design. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value – the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents.

When Della reached home she got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a mischievous schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.

"If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do – oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?"

At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.

Jim was never late. Della took the chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God, make him think I am still pretty."

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two – and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.

Jim stepped inside the door. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her with that strange expression on his face.

Della jumped off the table and went to him.

"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again – you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say `Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice – what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."

"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, as if he had not yet realized the fact.

"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?"

Jim looked about the room curiously.

"You say your hair is gone?" he repeated.

"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you – sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"

Jim seemed quickly to wake out of his trance. He embraced his Della. Eight dollars a week or a million a year – what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that one was not among them. This dark assertion will be clear later on.

Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.

"Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you unwrap that package you may see why I behaved so at first."

White fingers tore the string and paper. And then a scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick change to hysterical tears, so that the master of the flat had to use all the comforting powers he could.

For there lay The Combs – the set of combs, side and back, that Della had admired long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims – just the shade to wear in her beautiful brown hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and she had not the least hope of possessing them. And now, they were hers, but the hair that they should have adorned was gone.

But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"

And then Della jumped up like a little cat and cried, "Oh, oh!"

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm.

"Isn't it charming, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."

Instead of obeying, Jim lay down on the sofa and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.

"Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now it’s time to put the chops on."

The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have related to you the simple story of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

 

COMPREHENSION AND DISCUSSION:

  1. What is the overall theme that Porter is trying to portray in this work?
  2. Is “The Gift of the Magi” a good title for this story? Why or why not? Explain why the title may be ironic and give reasons why.
  3. If you had to give this story another title, what would it be and why?
  4. Identify the main characters in “The Gift of the Magi” and analyze them. Think about their personalities and about the reasons that they did what they did in the story. Do you feel that you would do the same thing in their position? Why or why not?
  5. What do we learn about the relationship between Della and Jim? Do they love each other still after the events of the story?
  6. Compare and contrast the sacrifices Jim and Della make. In your opinion, who has made the greater sacrifice?
  7. Who were magi? Why does the author compare Della and Jim to them? How do the magi and their significance relate to the meaning of the story?
  8. At the end of the story, O.Henry seems to be saying two different things. Read below from “The Gift of the Magi”: “And here I have told you the story of two children who were not wise. Each sold the most valuable thing he owned in order to buy a gift for the other. But let me speak a last word to the wise of these days: Of all who give gifts, these two were the most wise.” Who are the two children? Why does O' Henry refer to them as "children"? How were they unwise? How were they wise?
  9. Read each of the following statements carefully. Each statement expresses an idea that may or may not be supported by the story. For each statement tell whether or not it can be supported from the story and list the details from the story that support your conclusion.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Christmas is a difficult time of the year for many people.

If you don’t have money, you should not try to buy gifts.

Gifts are the most important part of Christmas.

All poor people are miserable at Christmas.

Doing things on the spur of the moment is always a bad idea; people should always think before doing something.

Only rich people are really happy at Christmas.

The way a person looks is an important part of a relationship.

 

Writing option:

Plot a new ending for the story. Imagine that Della tries to buy back Jim's watch. How will she raise the money? What will Jim's reaction be?

 

“A SERVICE OF LOVE”

Joe Larrabee dreamed of becoming a great artist. Even when he was six, people in the little western town where he lived used to say, "Joe has great talent, he will become a famous artist." At twenty, he left his home town and went to New York. He had his dreams – but very little money.

Delia had her dreams too. She played the piano so well in the little southern village where she lived that her family said, "She must finish her musical training in New York." With great difficulty they collected enough money to send her north "to finish".

Joe and Delia got acquainted at a friend's house where some art and music students had gathered to discuss art, music and the newest plays. They fell in love with each other, and in a short time they married.

Mr. and Mrs. Larrabee began their married life in a little room. But they were happy, for they had their Art, and they had each other. Joe was painting in, he class of the great Magister. Mr. Magister got a lot of money for his pictures – and he took a lot of money for his lessons. Delia was taking piano lessons from the great Rosenstock, and he was taking a lot of money from Delia.

The two young dreamers were very, very happy while their money lasted. But it didn't last very long. Soon, they didn't have enough to pay for their lessons and eat three times a day. When one loves one's Art, no service seems too hard. So Delia decided she must stop taking lessons and give lessons herself. She began to look for pupils. One evening, she came home very excited, with shining eyes.

"Joe, dear," she announced happily, "I've got a pupil. General Pinkney – I mean – his daughter, Clementina. He's very rich, and they have a wonderful house. She's so beautiful – she dresses in white; and she's so nice and pleasant! I'm going to give her three lessons a week; and just think, Joe! Five dollars a lesson. Now, dear, don't look so worried, and let's have supper. I've bought some very nice fish."

But Joe refused to listen to her. "That's all right for you, Dellie, but all wrong for me," he protested. "Do you suppose I'm going to let you work while I continue to study Art? No! Never! I can get a job as a mechanic or clean windows. I'll get some kind of work."

Delia threw her arms around him. "Joe, dear, you mustn't think of leaving Mr. Magister and your Art. I am not giving up music. The lessons won't interfere with my music. While I teach, I learn, and I can go back to Rosenstock when I get a few more pupils."

"All right," said Joe. "But giving lessons isn't Art."

"When one loves one's Art, no service seems too hard," said Delia.

During the next week, Mr. and Mrs. Larrabee had breakfast very early. Joe was painting some pictures in Central Park, and he needed the morning light especially, he said. Time flies when you love Art, and it was usually seven o'clock in the evening when Joe returned home. At the end of the week, Delia, very proud but a little tired, put fifteen dollars on the table. "Sometimes," she said, "Clementina is a very difficult pupil. And she always wears white. I'm tired of seeing the same colour."

And then Joe, with the manner of Monte Cristo, pulled eighteen dollars out of his pocket and put it on the table too. "I sold one of my pictures to a man from Washington," he said. "And now, he wants a picture of the East River to take with him to Washington."

"I'm so glad you haven't given up your Art, dear," Delia said. "You are sure to win! Thirty-three dollars! We have never had so much money to spend."

The next Saturday evening, Joe came home first. He put his money on the table and then washed what seemed to look like a lot of paint from his hands. Half an hour later, Delia arrived. There was a big bandage[8] on her right hand. "Dellie, dear, what has happened? What is the matter with your hand?" Joe asked.

Delia laughed, but not very happily. "Clementina," she explained, "asked me to have lunch with her and the General after our lesson. She's not very strong, you know, and when she was giving me some tea, her hand shook and she spilled a lot of very hot water over my hand. But General Pinkney bandaged my hand himself. They were both so sorry. Oh, Joe, did you sell another picture?" She had seen the money on the table.

"Yes," said Joe. "To the man from Washington. What time this afternoon did you burn your hand, Dellie?"

"Five o'clock, I think," said Delia. "The iron – the water was very hot. And Clementina cried, and General Pinkney..."

Joe put his arms round Delia. "Where are you working, Dellie? Tell me," he asked in a serious voice.

Delia was about to say something, but-suddenly tears appeared in her eyes and she began to cry. "I couldn't get any pupils," she said. "And I didn't want you to stop taking lessons, so I got a job ironing shirts in the big laundry[9] on Twenty-Fourth Street. This afternoon, I burned my hand with a hot iron. Don't be angry with me, Joe. I did it for your Art. And now, you have painted those pictures for the man from Washington..."

"He isn't from Washington," said Joe slowly.

"It makes no difference where he is from," said Delia. "How clever you are, Joe! How did you guess that I wasn't giving music lessons?"

“I guessed”, Joe said, "because about five o'clock this afternoon, I sent some oil up to the ironing-room. They said a girl had burned her hand. You see, dear, I work as a mechanic in that same laundry on Twenty-Fourth Street."

“And the man from Washington…?”

“Yes, dear”, Joe said. “The man from Washington and General Pinkney are both creations of the same art, but you cannot call it painting or music”. And they both began to laugh.

“You know, dear”, Joe said. “When one loves one’s Art, no service seems…”

But Delia stopped him with her hand on his mouth. “No”, she said, “just – “when one loves”.”

 

COMPREHENSION AND DISCUSSION:

I. Say if these statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.

1. Joe and Delia came to New York from the same town.

2. After they married, both of them stopped taking lessons.

3. Delia soon found a pupil, named Clementina.

4. Joe had not enough courage to tell Delia the truth about his job.

5. The moment Joe saw Delia’s bandaged hand, he understood everything.

6. Delia got angry when she learned about Joe’s job.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. Why did Joe Larrabee and Delia come to New York?

2. Where did the young men get acquainted?

3. In what way did they continue their education after marriage?

4. What made Delia give up her music lessons?

5. Why was Joe disappointed when he learnt about Delia's plan?

6. What was Joe's plan? Did Delia know about it?

7. Every week Joe brought some money. How did he explain it to Delia?

8. What happened one day?

9. How did Joe guess the truth?

10. Explain the meaning of the phrase "When one loves one's Art, no service seems too hard." Do you agree with it? Give your grounds.

11. Why do you think Delia shortened this phrase and said, "just – when one loves"?

12. Why did the author name the story "A Service of Love"?

13. What kind of people, to your mind, can sacrifice something for the good of others?

 

Read the story

“THE LAST LEAF”

In a little New York district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called "places." These "places" make strange angles and curves. One Street crosses itself a time or two.

At the top of a three-story brick house Sue and Johnsy had their studio. "Johnsy" was familiar for Joanna. One was from Maine; the other from California. They had met at a little restaurant and found their tastes in art, green salad and bishop sleeves so similar that they decided to have a joint studio.

They became friends in May. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, walked about, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. He defeated Johnsy; and she lay in bed near the window and looked at the side of the next brick h


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