Just pausing at our door to say,
In the brief autocratic way

Of one who, prompt at Duty's call,
Was free to urge her claim on all,

That some poor neighbor sick abed
At night our mother's aid would need.
For, one in generous thought and deed,
What mattered in the sufferer's sight
The Quaker matron's inward light,
The Doctor's mail of Calvin's creed?
All hearts confess the saints elect

Who, twain in faith, in love agree,
And melt not in an acid sect
The Christian pearl of charity!

So days went on a week had passed

210

215

220

Since the great world was heard from last.
The Almanac we studied o'er,

225

We saw the marvels that it told.
Before us passed the painted Creeks,
And daft McGregor on his raids
In Costa Rica's everglades.
And up Taygetus winding slow
Rode Ypsilanti's Mainote Greeks,

A Turk's head at each saddle bow!
Welcome to us its week-old news,
Its corner for the rustic Muse,

Its monthly gauge of snow and rain,
Its record, mingling in a breath
The wedding knell and dirge of death;
Jest, anecdote, and love-lorn tale,
The latest culprit sent to jail;
Its hue and cry of stolen and lost,
Its vendue sales and goods at cost,
And traffic calling loud for gain.
We felt the stir of hall and street,
The pulse of life that round us beat;
The chill embargo of the snow
Was melted in the genial glow;

Wide swung again our ice-locked door,
And all the world was ours once more!

245

250

255

260

1. This poem covers four days and three nights up to line 223. The first day ends at line 30; the first night ends at line 41 and the second night at line 47. The third day ends at line 115, the third night at line 178, and the fourth day at line 223. Read the poem to find out what happens during each day and each night.

2. There are a few things that need straightening out, in order to understand and enjoy Snow-Bound. One of your first problems is to find the subjects and verbs in the sentences. These are often far apart with phrases and clauses thrown in between. Thus sun in line is the first subject; rose in line 2 is its first verb, and gave in line 3 is its second verb. In the second sentence the subject and verb It sank are together, but they are

preceded by three lines of modifying phrases. The third subject is chill at the beginning of line 9; its verb is told at the end of line 14.

Practice straightening out some of these difficult sentences so that they will read like prose.

3. A second problem is to note the divisions into which the lines of the poem may be grouped. When you have read the poem through, write titles for lines grouped as follows:

4. A third difficulty is the number of unusual words. Note the following words in the first 50 lines:

5. Examine lines 50-99 and make a list of unusual words.

6. The poem is full of descriptions that stand out like pictures. Note the storm in lines 31-40; the landscape in lines 47-65; the animals in

lines 81-92.

7. Do lines 66-67 suggest to you any picture of the father? If so, describe that picture.

8. Many of Whittier's expressions are picturesque. For instance,

The whirl-dance of the blinding storm (line 34)

We cut the solid whiteness through (line 73)

Of ghostly finger tips of sleet (line 105)
The merrier up its roaring draught

The great throat of the chimney laughed (lines 163-164)

Find ten other expressions that seem to you especially picturesque.

9. Note what the family had as reading matter (lines 224 ff.). Name three things. What did the village paper contain? How does it compare with the newspapers you know?

10. Read again lines 1-4 and then lines 261-264. How do they differ in meaning and spirit?

GOOD COMPANY 1

KARLE WILSON BAKER

TODAY I have grown taller from walking with the trees,
The seven sister-poplars that go softly in a line;

And I think my heart is whiter for its parley with a star
That trembled out at nightfall and hung above the pine.

The call-note of a redbird from the cedars in the dusk

Woke his happy mate within me to an answer free and fine; And a sudden angel beckoned from a column of blue smoke Lord, who am I that they should stoop - these holy folk of Thine?

JUDGING POETRY

In this section on NATURE POETRY there are fourteen poems more or less directly connected with the seasons. Some of them you no doubt like better than others. Think which one you like best and write its title at the top of a page in your notebook, placing the figure i before it.

Which one of all the others do you like best? Write its title just below the title of your first choice, and place the figure 2 before it. Do the same for each of the others until you have written the titles of the fourteen poems in the order of your choice.

Compare the list you have written with the order chosen by other members of your class.

If you wish to find the common judgment of your class, proceed as follows: a. Make a list of the poems and rule a page as shown on page 305. b. Write in column 1 the figure which you placed before each title in your list.

I

c. Do the same for each of the other members of your class, using columns 2, 3, etc.

d. When you have written the figures for each pupil, add the numbers across and write the total in the column marked "sum."

1 From Karle Wilson Baker's Blue Smoke, copyrighted by Yale University Press. Used by permission.

e. The poem having the smallest "sum" is the best-liked poem. In the column marked "class rank” place the figure 1 beside this smallest sum. Beside the next lowest total, mark the figure 2, and so on for each of the other poems.

f. Which poem does your class like best? Which does it like least? How does your ranking compare with the class judgment?