Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, For the lesson thou hast taught! Thus at the flaming forge of life Each burning deed and thought. - LONGFEllow. After words and expressions that require explanation have been talked about, the pictures should be described. Sketches may be drawn of the one suggested by the first two lines, or that presented in the fourth stanza. The personal knowledge which pupils may have of such a shop as this will add to the interest of the lesson. Those who have been in blacksmith shops should be permitted to describe them, and tell what interested them most in the shops they visited. The lesson which the poet learned from this laboring man should be talked about, and the class asked to tell what lesson they can learn from him. A STUDY OF THE SENTENCES Give sentences in which comparisons are used in describing the blacksmith. Write sentences describing his size, his hands, and his hair. Tell why you think the writer in describing him used both direct statements and comparisons. Which language is more pleasing, that in which expressions are all of one kind, or of different kinds. Consider how the comparisons and exact statements used in describing the blacksmith help you to see how he looked. Compare this man, who owes no one, and who, tired with his labor, sleeps soundly, with one who wastes his time on the streets with worthless companions, and owes every one who will trust him; and tell which of these, if you were a man, you would rather be. After reading the last stanza use a comparison to tell how the life of every one who accomplishes anything must be like that of the blacksmith. Commit this poem to memory. Write a real or an imaginary account of a visit to the shop of some blacksmith, carpenter, or other working man. Describe the shop, the workman, his appearance and character, and tell what interested you most. Give particular attention to dividing your composition into paragraphs, and be able to tell the thought or topic of each. For additional study, -"The Ploughman," by Oliver Wendell Holmes. LESSON LXV A LETTER Read about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, his home and his children, and then write a letter to a friend describing an imaginary visit which you have made to the home of this poet who loved children. Read your letter, and make any changes that will improve the language. |