“Yes, I do; let’s wait till she comes
back. No matter if we do lose some coasts,”
answered the child who had tried to dissuade her playmate
from going to the rescue.
Then I left them; but I think they learned a lesson
that day in real politeness; for, as they watched
little Katy dutifully supporting the old lady, undaunted
by the rusty dress, the big bag, the old socks, and
the queer bonnet, both their faces lighted up with
new respect and affection for their playmate.
Louisa M. Alcott.
From “Little Women.” Little, Brown
& Co., Publishers.
* * * *
*
DISSUADE, to advise against; to turn from a purpose
by reasons given.
ANTIQUATED, grown old; old-fashioned.
Tell what each contraction met with in the selection
stands for.
Use their or there properly in place
of the blanks in the following sentences: The
girls were on — way to the Park. —
was an old lady at the crossing. Our home is
—. Katy and Mary said — mother
lived —.
Memory Gems:
Count that day lost
Whose low descending sun,
Views from thy hands
No worthy action done.
Author unknown.
What I must do concerns me, not what people will think.
Emerson.
[Footnote 001: Copyrighted by Little, Brown &
Company.]
* * * *
*
24
For Recitation:
Some love the glow of outward
show,
Some love mere wealth and try to win it;
The house to me may lowly be
If I but like the people in it.
What’s all the gold that
glitters cold,
When linked to hard or haughty feeling?
Whate’er we’re told, the noble
gold
Is truth of heart and manly dealing.
A lowly roof may give us proof
That lowly flowers are often fairest;
And trees whose bark is hard and dark
May yield us fruit and bloom the rarest.
There’s worth as sure
’neath garments poor
As e’er adorned a loftier station;
And minds as just as those, we trust,
Whose claim is but of wealth’s creation.
Then let them seek, whose minds
are weak,
Mere fashion’s smile, and try to win
it;
The house to me may lowly be
If I but like the people in it.
Anon.
* * * *
*
What is meant by “haughty feeling”?
What does the author say “the noble gold”
is?
Is “bloom” in the third stanza an action-word
or a name-word? Why?
Give in your own words the thought of the fourth stanza.
Use to, too, two, properly before each of the
following words:
hard, win, people, minds, dark, yield.
What virtues does the poem recommend?
What “lowly flowers are often fairest”?
