Now pile on your smouldering fuel. Fan it with 45 your hat. Kneel down and blow it, and in ten minutes you will have a smoke that will make you wish you had never been born. That is the proper way to make a smudge. But the easiest way is to ask your guide to make it for you. 50 From "Fisherman's Luck." GLOSSARY. Nauseating; intolerable; midge; succumb; incombustible; tinder; unquenchable. STUDY. This is a delightfully whimsical account that any one who has ever tried to make a smudge can easily appreciate. Point out some of the touches of humor. Would you judge that the writer knew a great deal about the discomforts of camping out and the difficulties of driving away troublesome insects? Why? SONG OF THE CHATTAHOOCHEE SIDNEY LANIER Out of the hills of Habersham, I hurry amain to reach the plain, With a lover's pain to attain the plain Far from the valleys of Hall. All down the hills of Habersham, The willful waterweeds held me thrall, The ferns and the fondling grass said Stay, The dewberry dipped for to work delay, And the little reeds sighed Abide, abide, Here in the valleys of Hall. High o'er the hills of Habersham, The hickory told me manifold Fair tales of shade, the poplar tall The chestnut, the oak, the walnut, the pine, Deep shades of the hills of Habersham, These glades in the valleys of Hall. And oft in the hills of Habersham, And oft in the valleys of Hall, The white quartz shone, and the smooth brook-stone Did bar me of passage with friendly brawl, And many a luminous jewel lone Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist, Ruby, garnet and amethyst Made lures with the lights of streaming stone In the clefts of the hills of Habersham, But oh, not the hills of Habersham, And oh, not the valleys of Hall . Avail: I am fain for to water the plain. Downward the voices of Duty call 40 Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main, 45 And a myriad flowers mortally yearn, And the lordly main from beyond the plain Calls through the valleys of Hall. GLOSSARY. Habersham; Hall; amain; fondling; brawl; amethyst; lures; fain; myriad. STUDY. The river, personified, sings its own song. What do you learn of its nature and destination in stanza I? Notice that stanzas 2, 3, and 4 tell of the river's onward flow amid influences which tend to turn it aside from its purpose. Name all these hindering objects. Were they mainly obstacles to be overcome, or allurements to draw aside from the path of duty? Why did these influences have no effect on the river? What suggestions of loyalty to duty do you find in the song? What do you notice about the opening and closing lines of each stanza? Select some of the lines which you especially like. SIDNEY LANIER Sidney Lanier was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1842. By nature he had a great passion for music. As a boy he could play on the flute, organ, piano, violin, guitar, and banjo. His favorite instrument was the violin, but he devoted 50 5 himself to the flute out of regard for his father, who seems to have feared the effect of the violin upon the sensitive nature of the boy. Lanier was able to throw himself into strange trance-like states by his absorption in his playing. At the age of fourteen he entered Oglethorpe College, 10 graduating in 1860 at the head of his class. He was immediately appointed a tutor in his college. Passages in his notebooks show that he felt the presence of some genius in himself for high accomplishment, but was unable to detect its best direction. That he had been 15 moved by his family's objection to music is shown by the following entry: "But I cannot bring myself to believe that I was intended for a musician, because it seems so small a business in comparison with other things which, it seems to me, I might do. Question here, What is the province 20 of music in the economy of the world?" When the Civil War broke out he enlisted as a private in the Confederate army. He refused promotion three times because it would mean separation from his younger brother. Toward the close of the war he was captured and spent five 25 months as a prisoner. When exchanged, he made his way home on foot. In a story called Tiger Lilies he deals with some of these experiences, and expresses the horror of war which had grown on him as the conflict advanced. The dread disease, consumption, which was finally to carry 30 him off, had now taken hold of his system. After a serious illness he became a clerk, then head of a country academy, and then for some years he studied and practiced law with his father. He had married in 1867. In 1873 he went to Baltimore as first flute in the Peabody Symphony Concerts. 35 He had already begun to write the wonderfully musical poems which have given him a high place in our literature. |