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 Contents

Technology in the Language

1 Envisioning English 1 Arts Classroom 56
Critical Web Evaluation 56
Initial Definitions 2 National Technology Standards
for Teachers and Students 58
A Brief History 2
Conclusion 58
Challenges of Teaching English
in the Twenty-First Century 5
Core Beliefs 8 3 Centering on Language 59
Importance of Core Beliefs 9
Awakening and Broadening
Traditional Principles of Learning 9 Language Consciousness 61
Student-Centered, Active, Language Inquiry in the Classroom 61
Constructivist Learning 10
Doublespeak 66
Student-Centered Mnemonics 14
The Story of the English Language 68
Individual Decisions 14
American English: 1620–Present 69
Conclusion 15 Language and Power 70
The Study of Language: Linguistics 70

2 Designing Instruction 17 Descriptive versus Prescriptive Grammar 70

Issues of Right and Wrong 71
The Nature of Learners 17 The Instructional Debate 73
Learning Styles 18 The Linguistic Debate: Change
Right/Left Brain 18 versus Stability 73
Multiple Intelligences 19 The Political Debate: Cultural Diversity 76
The Learning Process 21 The Psychological or Biological Debate:
Language Acquisition 83
Instructional Objectives 21
The Practical Debate: Research and
Educational Outcomes in the
Experience in Grammar Instruction 84
Cognitive Domain 21
Differentiation 22 Language Instruction 86
Definitions of Grammar 86
Four Organizational Structures 26
Unconscious Grammar 87
Lecture 26
Formal Grammar 87
Whole-Class Discussion 29
Conscious Grammar 88
Group Work 42
Grammar and Technology 93
Individual Work 48
English Language Instruction for English
Layering the Four Approaches 51 Language Learners 93
Learning Stations 51 Benchmarks for Evaluating Language
Learning with Technology 54 Instruction 94
Technology in Schools 55 Conclusion 96
vii

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 viii Contents

Associative Recollections 136

4 Developing an Oral Collaborative Authors 136
Imagine This 138
Foundation 97 Character Continuum 138
Character Maps 139
Classroom Talking and Listening 98
Focal Judgments 140
The Talking and Listening Classroom 100
Opinion Survey 141
Oral Language Activities 101 Verbal Scales 142
Activities: Individual to Group, Interrogative Reading 142
Control to Release 102
Jump Starts 143
Creative Drama 109 Title Testing 144
Content Goals 109
Interpretive Community 145
Personal Growth Goals 110
At the Point of Utterance 146
Rules of the Game 111
Jump-In Reading 146
Resources 111
Communal Judgments 147
Creative Drama Activities:
Defining Vignettes 147
Fixed to Free 111
Readers’ Theater 148
Alternative Oral Strategies 117 Assaying Characters 148
Readers’ Theater 117 Psychological Profiles 149
Storytelling 118 Venn Diagramming 151
Interviewing 120
Formal Analysis 152
Evaluating Oracy 123 Basic Principles of Formal
Conclusion 125 Analysis in the Classroom 152
Teachable Moments 154
Formal Discussion Questions 155

5 Responding to Intertextuality 156

Students Write 157
Literature 126 Authors Speak 159
Teachers Read 159
What Is Literature? 126
Critical Synthesis 161
Why Read Literature? 127
A Rationale for Critical Theory
Is Literature Dead? 127 in Secondary Classrooms 161
The Life of Literature 128 Our Approach to Critical Theory
Goals and Methods for Teaching in the Classroom 162
Literature 129 Classroom Strategies 172
Four Stages of Responding Evaluation 174
to Literature 130 A Plea for Pluralism 174
Reader Response 130
Conclusion 175
Interpretive Community 131
Formal Analysis 132
Critical Synthesis 132
Instructional Strategies/Teaching 6 Celebrating Poetry 176
Activities 132 Finding Poetry 179
Reader Response 133 Nonliterary Prose 179
Personal Triggers 133 Music 180
Suppositional Readers 134 Advertising 183
Conceptual Readiness 134 Bumper Stickers 185
Synergistic Texts 135 Unexpected Places 185

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 Contents ix

Forging Poetry 187 Teaching Multicultural Texts

Templates 188 in an Expanding Canon 250
Fixed Forms 191 Challenges of Canon Expansion
Open Forms 195 and Multicultural Inclusion 250
Wild Cards 197 Instructional Approaches for
Multicultural Inclusion 251
Digital Poetry 198
Multiple Strategies for Long Works 257
Discerning Poetry 199 A Reader’s Bill of Rights 264
Definition 199
Censorship 265
Choice 199
Community Standards and
Personal Response 200
School Policies 266
Enactment 202
Allies 266
Visualization 204
Synthesis 207 Conclusion 268

Probing Poetry 209

Adolescent Readers 209
Selecting Poems 210
8 Engaging Drama 270
Listening to Poems 210 Three Phases of the Teaching
Discussing Poems: Setting, Cycle: Enter, Explore, Extend 271
Approaches, Questions, Enter 272
Sequences 212 Explore 272
Poets Talk 213 Extend 272
Placing Poetry 215 Enter, Explore, and Extend:
Resources 217 Drama Worlds 273
National Poetry Organizations 217 Entering the Setting and Plot 274
Further Poetry Resources 218 Exploring Character 276
Exploring Theme and Extending
Conclusion 219 Interpretation 281
Extending Through Form 284

7
Teaching Shakespeare 288
Unlocking Texts 221 Reading Shakespeare 288
Performing Shakespeare 288
Teaching Reading 222
Shakespearean Activities for the
Profiles of Struggling Readers 222
English Classroom 288
What Good Readers Do 223
Strategies for Struggling Readers 224 Conclusion 300
Struggling Readers in the

9
Digital Age 227
Tackling the Classics 227
Assaying Nonfiction 301
Historical Roots of the High Why Teach Nonfiction? 303
School Canon 228 Students’ Actual Reading Choices 304
Texts in the High School Canon 228 Blurred Genres 304
The Canon Wars 230 Critical Challenges to the
Challenging the Canon 231 Literary Canon 304
Critical Literacy Challenge 232 Nonfiction’s Instructional Potential 305
Deconstructionist Challenge 233 Nonfiction Genres in the
Reader Response Challenge 234 Classroom 306
Genre Challenges 235 Essays 306
Multicultural Challenge 242 Biographies 313

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 x Contents

Autobiographies and Memoirs 317

Testimonials 323
Diaries and Journals 325
11 Inspiring Writing 367
Letters 326 A National Writing Report Card 368
Newspapers 327 Core Beliefs About Language
Nonfiction in the Fiction and Writing Instruction 370
Classroom 331 Developmental Tasks 371
Conclusion 333 Developmental Sequence 372
Process Model 376
Basic Assumptions 376

10 Making Media The Teacher’s Role 378

A Case for Revision 381
Matter 335 Writing Workshops 384
Produce: Students as Creators 338 Writing Workshop Principles 385
Electronic Media 339 Writing Workshop Proper 385
Advertisements 341 Work of the Writing Workshop 386
Music 342 Physical Arrangements and
Television and Radio 343 Workshop Rules 389
Magazines and Comics 344 Portfolios 390
Receive: Students as Listeners Variety of Contents 390
and Viewers 345 Works in Progress 391
Film 345 Student Responsibility 391
Podcasts 350 Portfolio Impact 392
Music 351 Authentic Assessment 392
Paintings, Prints, and Writing Tasks Assessed, Writing
Photographs 352 Tasks Taught 393
Examine: Students as Anthropologists Authentic Writing Assignments 393
and Literary Critics 354 Rubrics for Assessment 394
Watching Television 355 Rubrics for Classroom
Covering the News 356 Instruction 395
Examining Advertising 359 Full Circle 396
Reading Magazines 361 Conclusion 397
Critique: Students as Media
Critics 361
Do the Media Corrupt Cultural 12 Enabling Writing 398
Morality or Mirror It? 362
Four Basic Needs 399
Do the Media Falsify Expectations
Substance 399
of Life or Create a Sense of
Possibility? 362 Skills 399
Do the Media Reinforce Passivity Structure 399
or Promote Action? 364 Style 400
Do the Media Undermine Critical Collaborative Writing 400
Reasoning Capacity or Promote
Thoughtful Reflection? 364 Environmental Journalism 403
Do the Media Promote Foxfire’s Lessons 403
Consumerism or a Consumer Interviewing 403
Protection Mind-Set? 365 Contemporary Excavations 404
Conclusion 365 Journal Writing 404

A01_MILN7968_06_SE_FM.indd 10 05/07/16 4:47 PM

 Contents xi

Writing to Learn 407 Portfolios 447

Math and Science 408 Contracts 449
Difficult Problems 409 Observation 449
Sentence Combining 409 Evaluating Knowledge and
Response to Literature 451
Vocabulary Growth 411
Selected-Response (Objective) 452
Acquisition 412
Constructed-Response (Subjective) 454
Immersion 413
Morphology 413 Evaluating Writing 458
Semantics 413 Outside the Classroom 459
Inside the Classroom 459
Research Alternatives 416
Controlled Sources Research 417 Alternative Grading Choices 465
Textual Analysis 417 Critique of Traditional Grading 466
Historical Synthesis 418 Pedagogical Dangers 469
Contemporary Issues Research 418 Psychometric Dangers 469
Scholarly Research 418 Personal Dangers 470
Multigenre Research 418 Cultural Dangers 470
Elemental Variation 420 Moral Dangers 470
Unique Difficulties for English
Lit. Writing 421
Teachers 471
Collaborative Authors 425
Conclusion 471
Roles Around 425
Other Collaborations 425
Apprentice Writing 427
Copying (Duplicating
14 Planning Instruction:
Exact Texts) 427 Lessons, Units,
Paraphrasing (Translating Passages) 427
Modeling (Employing a Template) 428
Curriculum 473
Imitating (Mimicking the Masters) 428 Lesson Planning Models 475
Summary of Research About Creative-Process Model 475
Writing 430 Conversation-Based Model 477
Conclusion 431 Objectives-Based Model 478
Content-Based Model 482

13 Evaluating Learning 433 Unit Planning 485

Focused or Integrated Units 485
Standardized Tests 434 Inquiry-Based Planning 486
State-Mandated Standardized Concept-Based Planning 487
Tests 436 Topic Selection and Instructional
Standardized Tests for College Design 488
Readiness 438 Steps of Unit Development 489
Grading and Evaluation 439 Student-Centered Planning 489
Definition of Terms 439 Curriculum Planning 490
Purposes of Evaluation 440 Variables in Any Planning 491
Learning Possibilities to Be Students 491
Measured 441
Individualization, Interaction,
Alternative Methods of and Integration 491
Evaluation 443 Four Modes of Classroom
Self-Evaluation 443 Organization 492

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 xii Contents

Sequence and Flexibility 492 Shaping a Teacher Persona 506

A Common Danger 492 Defining Yourself for Your Job
Writing Out the Lesson 493 Interview 508
Planning with Discipline and Building Public Trust 509
Inspiration 494 Include 509
Constant Classroom Structures Inform 509
and Concerns 495 Involve 510
Weekly Planning 495
Promoting Professional Growth 512
Routines and Emergencies 495
Goal Setting 512
Motivation 495
Self-Evaluation 512
Classroom Management 496
Peer Review 513
Homework 497
External Assessment 514
Block Scheduling 499
Action Research 516
Paper Load 501
Professional Learning Communities 518
Advice from Experienced
Association Membership 518
Teachers 501
Learning from Mistakes 502 Professional Leadership 519
Conclusion 502 Conclusion 521

15 Becoming a References 522

Complete Teacher 503 Index 542
Defining Yourself as a Teacher 504
Expectations and Actualities 504

A01_MILN7968_06_SE_FM.indd 12 05/07/16 4:47 PM

 Preface

I f education textbooks have a consistent short-

coming, we believe it is their tendency to
focus on “best practices” or the “how to” with-
out first engaging in the “why.” To carry our
title’s bridge metaphor a bit further, it would
ideals inherent in the standards as well as methods for achiev-
ing them without teaching to a test. We sought new and
improved technological resources that would tap students’ in-
terests and promote multimodal literacy skills.
Again, each of the fifteen chapters presents conceptual
be like attempting to construct a bridge straight across from frameworks, a multitude of tested teaching activities, and in-
point A to point B without first building some anchoring sup- vitations to the reader to reflect on both. The comprehensive
ports. Almost twenty-five years ago we wrote the first edition nature of Bridging English can be its strength and its weak-
of Bridging English (1993) because we could not find an Eng- ness, so we have reinforced those textual features that guide
lish methods textbook that provided the balance of theory prospective teachers through the content of the text: “Chapter
(why) and practice (how) that we knew our students, prospec- Road Maps,” figures, tables, teaching activities, “Invitations to
tive teachers, would need to thrive in the classroom. With each Reflection,” and “Effective Practice from Today’s Classrooms.”
subsequent edition, we have worked to strengthen our com- While we have intentionally sequenced these chapters, we
prehensive approach, supplementing theory with historical have also designed the chapters to stand alone so the reader
and modern perspectives and classroom practice with current can enter the book at any chapter without losing momentum
research. In fact, English educators consistently identify the or coherence. An extensive index allows our readers to return
comprehensive nature of our text as one of its greatest to an author, an idea, or a lesson quickly and easily when
strengths. In an educational context in which English educa- they are writing their own lesson plans. Our goal is to make
tion is becoming more and more specialized and divided (e.g., the book easily accessible for new teachers building an in-
separate courses for reading instruction, writing instruction, structional foundation and established teachers searching for
classroom management, and assessment), our text allows new ways to enliven their classroom. With both new and es-
teachers to see the “whole” rather than merely the “parts.” tablished teachers in mind, we have revised this edition to
English educators who teach from our text have reported include the following new features.
that students typically do not sell our book back at the end of
the semester, recognizing it as a teaching guide rather than a
textbook. Even more encouraging is the fact that our former
English education students refer to Bridging English as their New to This Edition
teaching “bible,” an anchoring text in their professional librar-
ies and a necessity in their daily teaching lives. One of our • Teaching practices that are consistent with the current
colleagues simply calls our book “BE” with his students be- requirements of the Common Core State Standards, includ-
cause, as he explains, it captures what his students need to ing an increased focus on nonfiction, linguistic and liter-
know and be in order to enter secondary English classrooms ary analysis, and argumentative and informative writing
with confidence and engage the students waiting there with • Updated teaching activities that are mindful of the increas-
purposive, dynamic lessons. ingly diverse population of students with varied edu-
In writing this sixth edition, we were motivated by the cational, linguistic, and cultural needs who profit from
desire to make the text even more useful, relevant, and acces- heightened attention to differentiated instruction
sible for teachers entering today’s classrooms. Our goals were • The incorporation of current research in linguistics, litera-
twofold: (1) to address new developments in the field of cy, and composition as well as the influence of technology
English education, of education generally, and of the culture, on students’ learning habits and needs
particularly the increasing diversity of today’s students, the • New technological strategies and Web resources that take
challenges of ever-changing standards and reform move- advantage of students’ native abilities and make the study
ments, and the omnipresence of technology in our society; of English more robust and relevant to students’ lives
and (2) to streamline, enhance, and expand the text’s original • Revised attention to burgeoning genres that are establish-
ideas. In order to make room for innovative new research and ing a stronghold in the English classroom such as nonfic-
teaching activities, we devoted significant time to culling re- tion, young adult literature, and graphic novels
search that no longer seemed relevant and eliminating teach- • A new organizing feature (Chapter Road Maps) to aid
ing activities that would no longer meet the diverse learning readers in charting a course through our chapters initially
needs of twenty-first-century students. We approached the and in returning to memorable activities and ideas upon
Common Core State Standards with a healthy respect for the entering the classroom
xiii

A01_MILN7968_06_SE_FM.indd 13 05/07/16 4:47 PM

 xiv Preface

Like its predecessors, the sixth edition of Bridging English and expansions of our best ideas. They make us confident
grows from our ongoing experience in, observations of, and that this text is situated in classroom actualities and reflective
reflections on English classrooms. Together we three have practice and that these students, once novices, now experi-
been teaching since the early 1960s—more than fifty years! In enced, can be relied upon to adapt and enlarge their teachers’
that time, we have been challenged by different generations ideas in unexpected and gratifying ways. You will find many
of students, stirred by successive educators and the thought- of their names within this textbook without formal citation
ful books they have written about teaching, and inspired by as their counsel has often been personal and animated by
innumerable colleagues and each other. One of the greatest active classrooms, not printed journals. Of course, they have
compliments that we have received from the very first edition influenced not just this book, but a good part of our profes-
until the present is that our book is not written like a typical sional lives.
textbook. Some have described it as a narrative, the story of The Milners have been fortunate to have four abiding
English education rather than a manual for how to teach friends—Becky Brown, Nancy Doda, Julia McNamee, and
English. Our authorial voices are those of seasoned classroom Katherine Thompson—who are gifted teachers and who con-
teachers, teacher educators, and researchers constantly seek- tinuously enrich their students’ lives, our lives, and so this
ing new and innovative approaches to English teaching. book. Along with her former teacher, foundational guide,
Readers will find footnotes sprinkled throughout our text that and now coauthor, Joe Milner, Joan counts Kathy Krape and
reflect our fascination with both content and pedagogy. We Stephanie Lonnquist as her primary teaching mentors who
include extra tidbits about an author’s life, suggestions for influenced every teaching decision she made for the last
further research, interesting facts, background information, three years of her time in the high school classroom. Obser-
and many other details. More than anything, these “asides” vations of the teaching of these six women and conversations
reflect our own roles as lifelong learners who remain curious about our common purpose have helped this book find its
about all things related to English and English education. We true north. Each embodies with unique intelligence and as-
view this book as a conversation with our readers, an invita- tute sensitivity the finest ideals of a teacher: understanding
tion and encouragement into the rich and dynamic world of that is scholarly, practical, and moral; a coherent pedagogi-
teaching English. cal position that is clearheaded and creative; an insight into
and compassion for students that keep them steadfast despite
inevitable disappointments and frustrations; and a dedication
Acknowledgments to the common good of the young and of the community of
those who teach them.
Our publisher, Pearson Education, convened a remarkable
At the conclusion of a writing process that has spanned
group of talented and knowledgeable people to bring this
three decades since our first edition and two recent years
edition from idea to manuscript to printed or digital page.
of continuous labor—a process that sums up not just our
Despite uncertainties and delays in a publishing landscape
careers but a good part of our lives—gratitude can be hard
that has dramatically changed over the past decade, the Pear-
to express, even inadequately. We couldn’t have attempted
son team has treated us and our life’s work with understand-
this revision without the help and encouragement of many
ing and encouragement. We are grateful for multiple Pearson
persons starting years back at the beginning of our teach-
staff who ably and patiently guided us through a dizzyingly
ing careers. A list of their names alone would be staggering,
compressed production schedule.
but we must acknowledge a few of the most recent and the
most singular. • Our debts to them begin with Meredith Fossel, who, as
Our sixth edition has benefited from the critiques and Pearson’s Executive Editor for Teacher Education, Profes-
suggestions of reviewers who became valuable, if interior, sional & Career, and Higher Education, launched this
counselors, critics, and supporters through this revision pro- sixth edition with her broad and incisive perspective on
cess: Beverly Ann Chin, University of Montana; Janet K. Isbell, the worlds of literacy and schools and with her sure and
Tennessee Tech University; Gina L. Stocks, Ph.D., Sul Ross steady guidance at crucial moments.
State University Rio Grande College; and Linda Payne Young, • Taking up the daily production schedule, our project man-
Lindsey Wilson College. ager, Karen Mason, displayed extraordinary grace under
We are indebted to faculty and staff members of the Wake pressure as she guided our progress with her deep knowl-
Forest University Department of Education. We feel fortunate edge, her discriminating good sense, her organizational
that our careers have taken shape amidst serious and sensi- skills, and her equanimity and judgment as we fought to
tive educators close at hand. We are grateful to a great many adjust to new publishing realities and to meet unforgiving
other college and university English educators whose ideas deadlines. From the first, no task was too small for Karen’s
and practices enlarge and strengthen our individual efforts notice and forbearance, and she devoted selfless hours to
and resolves. steering us through the multiple stages of production. She
Our gratitude also extends to our English education stu- was joined in this work by Katie Ostler of Ostler Editorial,
dents, past and present, who aspire to enter this challenging who also demonstrated unshakable patience, skill (with
and essential profession committed to the proposition that the perfect balance of expertise and understanding we
teaching English is an ideal ground on which to help children badly needed at times), and unfailing optimism in facing
of all ages flourish. We and this textbook have profited from various production challenges and who landed us finally
what we have learned from them, many of whom are now es- at the completion of this project.
tablished teachers. A number of them contributed substantial- • And as we neared completion, Ananya Das and Moumita
ly to our revision process with their classroom manifestations Majumdar of Cenveo Publisher Services joined our work

A01_MILN7968_06_SE_FM.indd 14 05/07/16 4:47 PM

 Preface xv

with painstaking attention to language on all levels, from In closing, we acknowledge those closest to the day-to-day
words to sentences to paragraphs to ideas. With thought- work of editing our textbook. We owe a special debt of grati-
ful and meticulous scrutiny, they and their team made sug- tude to Joan’s husband, Michael, and her children, Blake and
gestions that corrected errors and supported our desire Avery, for opening small windows of “book-work time” for
for clear and fluent prose. Joan in the midst of extraordinarily busy lives. The Milners’
• Finally, we acknowledge our indebtedness to many three sons and their wives and children have provided their
Pearson folks whose names we barely know or who have own unique support and encouragement through their solici-
come into the project in its final stages for the profes- tous attention to our labors and to their own embodiment of
sionalism of their book-making efforts in the midst of what it is to live active and creative lives. Our writing and re-
changes and upheavals in education and publishing. For vising have again been acts that stubbornly defended us from
their considerateness and counsel, we are especially grate- the distresses in our community and the world around us, that
ful to Maria Feliberty, Editorial Assistant, and, in the final celebrated life’s promise, and that affirmed our hopes for all
months, to Pam Bennett, Project Manager, and Miryam the nation’s and the world’s children to grow and prosper in
Chandler, Program Manager. the presence of committed adults—teachers—to guide them.

A01_MILN7968_06_SE_FM.indd 15 06/07/16 6:34 PM

This page intentionally left blank
 1 Envisioning English

Rido/Fotolia

B
laise Pascal observed in the seventeenth century that “The last thing one
knows when writing a book is what to put first.” Most authors arrive at their
subjects through years of experience, knowledge, and reflection. The larger
and more complicated the subject, the more difficult the point of entry. Eng-
lish education is such a rich and various field that we could begin at any
number of places: adolescent students, secondary schools, learning theory
and research, pedagogical theory and research, the study of language, the study of
literature, the study of writing, crucial issues in English education, the profession of
teaching.
Each of these subjects makes sense as a starting point in a text about teaching
English. We delay each, however, until we have first queried you, the reader. In this
initial chapter, we pose the following questions that we believe are crucial starting
points prior to any discussion of how to teach English:
• What is secondary English?
• How has the definition of English as a subject evolved over the course of history?
• What political, technological, and social challenges will you face as a teacher in
the twenty-first century?
• What are the core educational philosophies that undergird the teaching of English?
• How will these competing ideas and challenges shape your own decisions as an
English teacher?
1

M01_MILN7968_06_SE_C01.indd 1 06/07/16 6:08 PM

 2 Chapter 1

We will alternate statement with query in our Invitations Your visitable past is our starting point and your see-
to Reflection. By the end of this first chapter, you should able teaching future our destination. At present, your own
understand why we consider the reader to be the most experience as a learner probably provides your main
logical beginning. source of ideas about teaching. You will draw on that
experience as you encounter the theories and practices of
other models of learning and teaching. This book will
Initial Definitions serve partly to introduce you to some of these new ways
to reflect on your past experience and imagine your future
In 1916 an educator asked, “Well, then, what is secondary actions. As a first step in that introduction, we invite you
English?” The formal existence of our discipline was only to join a central and persistent debate among English
several decades old, and its national organization, the teachers: What is English?
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), was only
five years old. The answer in 1916 was “Nobody knows.
But opinions are now being codified all over the land. . . .
The chaotic mass is crystallizing” (Ward, 1916, p. 178).
A Brief History
Fifty years later the definition had not yet satisfactorily
In this text we will follow current practice and refer to our
crystallized. John Dixon (1967, p. 1) called English teach-
discipline as English, but disagreements persist about how
ing “a quicksilver among metals—mobile, living, and elu-
English is conceived as a discipline, how it is organized,
sive.” What interests us initially is what teaching high
and how it is taught. The debate over terminology embod-
school English means for you, the prospective teacher at
ies a central tension that has been a part of our profession
the threshold of your own English classroom. Something
from its beginning. Some of this tension can be under-
has drawn you to this doorway. We imagine it was your
stood by looking at the history of the profession. As with
experiences as a student in other English classrooms,
families, we profit from knowing where we came from,
experiences that were positive on some level; otherwise,
who our ancestors were, what hopes they formed, what
you would not be poised to enter this profession. Through
forces influenced their decisions, what habits of mind they
the first of a series of Invitations to Reflection, we ask you
developed, and what experiences of living they passed on
to recall memories of former classrooms and connect them
to us. Knowing the origins of our profession helps us find
with teaching expectations for your own.
our bearings.
The teaching of reading and writing began in the
United States with this country’s founding. The earliest
1-1 Invitation to Reflection settlers, with their vision of an informed citizenry free and
competent enough to be self-governing, believed in teach-
ing American children the rudiments of how to read and
1. Recall one positive memory of an English class. What
language activities predominate in that memory? write. Learning occurred in homes or colonial “dame”
Reading? Talking? Listening? Writing? schools organized by neighbors and taught by a desig-
nated community member. Even when communities built
2. Do you recall an especially positive encounter with
print or nonprint texts (e.g., literature, nonfiction, school buildings, hired teachers, and purchased primers
film)? Which one? With writing? Talking? Listening? and grammar books, English instruction at all levels more
resembled today’s elementary school language skills
3. Do you have memories of certain English teachers
whom you would like to imitate as a teacher? Who development than our contemporary middle and high
were they, and what did they do that inspired you? school language and literature study.
English as taught in today’s schools is a young disci-
4. What memories do you have of unpleasant class-
room events that you hope to avoid in your teaching? pline that arose only toward the end of the nineteenth
century. Surveyors with many differing interests and aims
5. Which of the following best describes the center of
tried to establish its boundaries. Public and private school
your interest in becoming a teacher? (Rank order
them if you wish.) teachers and administrators, college professors, politicians,
• adolescent students and the public—all were involved in drawing its limits.
• print/nonprint literature Figure 1-1 provides a brief outline of the seminal events
• language (writing or speaking) and pioneering groups that were responsible for shaping
• the act of teaching the history of English education in the United States. It will
• the life of schools serve as a road map to guide you through the “story” of
• other (explain) English education that follows. In the 1890s a Committee
6. At this moment how would you answer anyone who of Ten attempted to clarify the purpose of high school
asked you, “Why do you want to become an English English, to reconcile and balance the different strands that
teacher?” were then being taught under the umbrella of English—
grammar, philology, rhetoric, literature—and to unify the

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 Envisioning English 3

Year(s) Committees/Commissions/ Impact on the Field of English and/

Initiatives/Publications or English Education
1890s Committee of Ten Identified the purpose of high school English as preparing students to communicate effectively,
to encounter good literature, and to become lifelong readers
1911 National Council of NCTE established in “protest against overly-specific college entrance requirements and the
Teachers of English (NCTE) effects they were having on high school English education” (www.ncte.org/history)
1917 Hosic Report Argued that high school English should prepare students for “life” rather than merely college,
focusing on developing the cultural, vocational, social, and ethical dimensions of a student’s life
1958 Basic Issues Conference Determined that English classes should be “content-centered, emphasizing a set of skills
(NCTE, MLA, CEA, ASA) and a body of knowledge” with the assumption that “these could be taught – and learned –
sequentially and cumulatively” (Marckwardt, 1967, p. 10)
1961 Committee on National Acknowledged that societal changes such as increasing student diversity and advances in media
Interest communication were making the task of defining the role of the English teacher even more
challenging
1962 Project English Promoted rigorous research across grade levels in English classes to begin to systematically
examine how English was taught
1966 Dartmouth Seminar Challenged the teacher-centered English curriculum, a “shift from a view of English as something
(NCTE, MLA, NATE) one learns about to a sense of it as something one does” (Harris, 1991, p. 631)
1972 “Why Johnny Can’t Read” Intensified the general public’s anxiety about the efficacy of English teaching in the United States
1983 A Nation at Risk Assessed teaching and learning at all levels of education, primary through college, compared
(National Commission on our schools with those of other advanced countries, and found that our country’s educational
Excellence in Education) institutions were failing
1987 English Coalition Renewed belief in English teaching as “a vocation, a calling, a commitment” that had the
Conference potential to “lead the child eagerly through increasingly independent steps toward full adult,
self-sustained learning” (Booth, 1989, p. 10)
2002 No Child Left Behind Called for accountability in student learning, teacher instruction, schools, and school districts and
emphasized research-based classroom practice
2009 Race to the Top Encouraged schools to compete for federal financial rewards by improving student achievement,
preparing students for college and the workplace, evaluating teacher efficacy, and transforming
low-achieving schools
2010 Common Core State Enhanced focus on preparing students to tackle increasingly complex texts, to develop inquiry
Standards and writing skills through research, and to cultivate communication skills that are flexible and
collaborative

FIGURE 1–1 Major influences on the evolution of English education

field into a common focus. Their published Report (1894), were “genuine but faltering efforts to maintain the precari-
often regarded as the charter of high school English, stated: ous balance assumed in [the committee’s] simple statement
of goals. Literature has usually emerged the master, at least
The main objects of the teaching of English in schools
with older, college-bound students; communication skills
seem to be two: (1) to enable the pupil to understand
the handmaiden—with all the inequity those gender-laden
the expressed thoughts of others and to give expression
terms imply.” Applebee (1996, p. 59) describes the situation
to thoughts of his own; and (2) to cultivate a taste for
this way: “The English language arts have a long-standing
reading, to give the pupil some acquaintance with good
predisposition to come unglued—to separate into the myr-
literature, and to furnish him with the means of extend-
iad individual studies from which they were assembled.”
ing that acquaintance. (as quoted in Nelms, 2000, p. 50)
Questions of definition have been persistent and vexing
More than one hundred years later, for all the commit- even with the founding of the National Council of Teachers
tee’s efforts to focus English teaching toward a uniform of English (NCTE) in 1911. Three years after NCTE was
standard, its compromises still haunt the profession. Nelms founded, speech teachers broke away to establish speech as
(2000, p. 51) and others have pointed out that from the first a separate subject in high school. Less overt fractures persist
what could have been two disciplines—communication and in many middle and secondary English language arts class-
literature—were joined as one. “The utilitarian stood side by rooms today, for instance, when literature study is separate
side with the belletristic: the need for practical competence from writing or from listening.
with the aspiration for social grace; what would become Further fracturing occurred as debates arose concern-
known as the language arts (reading, listening, writing, ing the ultimate purpose of teaching English. In 1917
speaking) with the literary canon.” Nelms enumerates the James Fleming Hosic, an early NCTE leader, published an
consequence of this original work: Over a century there article commonly known as the Hosic Report, which

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 4 Chapter 1

argued that because the majority of students were not on instruction that was less a passive depositing of content
going to college, the English classroom should focus on and more an active discovery of ways of approaching
developing the cultural, vocational, social, and ethical knowledge. In addition, educators and the public became
dimensions of a student’s life (Sperling & Dipardo, 2008). more keenly aware of the great racial, socioeconomic, edu-
Each of the four subsequent decades saw an attempt to cational, and linguistic heterogeneity of students.
reconcile secondary English as “academic preparation for In the summer of 1966, a more international group—
college for the few” or as “practical preparation for life for NCTE, MLA, and the British National Association of
the many.” In 1958 twenty-eight representatives from four Teachers of English (NATE)—sponsored another invita-
American associations concerned with English teaching— tional seminar at Dartmouth College (now known as the
NCTE, the Modern Language Association (MLA), the Dartmouth Seminar) to consider common American,
College English Association (CEA), and the American Canadian, and British problems in the discipline and to
Studies Association (ASA)—assembled to articulate the define English, both the subject and the way in which it
basic issues confronting the profession. The issues raised should be taught. But posing the question itself caused
by this Basic Issues Conference reflected the educational trouble. Some wanted to ask, What is the subject matter of
concerns of that time and foreshadowed future problems. English? Others thought that what English is as an aca-
Of the thirty-five issues they defined, the first illustrates demic body of knowledge was subordinate to how English
the conferees’ attitudes toward their most basic concern: functions as a part of the lives of students and teachers.
The proper question for them became, What do we want
What is “English”? We agree generally that English
students and teachers to do? Ultimately, the influence of
composition, language, and literature are within our
the British perspective in particular challenged the teacher-
province, but we are uncertain whether our boundaries
centered English curriculum, promoting a “shift from a
should include world literature in translation, public
view of English as something one learns about to a sense
speaking, journalism, listening, remedial reading, and
of it as something one does” (Harris, 1991, p. 631).
general academic orientation. Some of these activities
Those Dartmouth conferees were reacting to the English
admittedly promote the social development of the indi-
curricula of the 1950s and 1960s high schools that two of us
vidual. But does excessive emphasis on them result in
attended as students. Had they visited these schools, they
the neglect of that great body of literature which can
would have seen English classrooms divided at midyear
point the individual’s development in more significant
into the primary content halves of English study: language
directions? (as quoted in Marckwardt, 1967, p. 9)
and literature. In each semester, the teachers focused on
Marckwardt (1967, p. 10) summarizes the conference’s con- distinct bodies of knowledge, but their general teaching
clusions about what should be taught in all levels of Eng-
lish classes as “content-centered, emphasizing a set of skills
and a body of knowledge. It assumed that these could be
taught—and learned—sequentially and cumulatively.”
Not surprisingly, then, despite these decades of class-
1-2 Invitation to Reflection
room experience and educational theorizing, at mid- 1. Do you think the question, What is English? can be
twentieth century, Congress considered the English answered in the same way as these questions: What is
curriculum of its public schools a failed tradition. NCTE’s algebra? What is physics? What is American history?
Committee on National Interest (1961) reported: 2. Which of the following do you think is appropriate
The ultimate result of these pressures—the greater het- content for a high school course in English?
erogeneity of pupils, the increasing complexity of our language study (grammar) viewing print literature
society, the development of modern media of commu- language skills nonprint literature
nication, the proliferation of responsibilities of the Eng-
writing communication skills
lish teacher—is that English as a subject is in danger of
losing still more of its central focus. In too many locales speaking students’ own lives
English has become all things to all students. The lines listening context of students’ lives
of the discipline have blurred, and the proper path for reading other (explain)
preparing its teachers has faded. (p. 26)
3. If you don’t define English in terms of content, how
In 1962 the expanded National Defense Education Act would you define what you think should actually
enlarged direct federal funding for small research projects. happen in English classrooms? What would you want
One such project established research and demonstration students to be learning and doing? Why?
centers determined to develop effective English curricula 4. Language arts or English is basic to elementary and
and teaching materials (dubbed Project English). This middle school education as well as a requirement of
political change coincided with significant shifts in educa- all four years of most high schools. How would you
tional and social thinking. Theories of learning began to explain its prominence in the curriculum?
emphasize the learner, rather than the teacher, and to focus

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 Envisioning English 5

strategies were similar in both. Teachers passed to the stu- English educators were not alone in their inability to
dents their superior understanding of literature or language answer critiques of traditional schooling. In 1983 a
through lectures, whole-class discussions, drills, written National Commission on Excellence in Education pub-
exercises, quizzes, and occasional writing assignments. The lished its findings, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for
literature read consisted of texts that were considered clas- Educational Reform, that assessed teaching and learning
sics of the Western world, and the language taught was at all levels of education, primary through college, com-
centered in traditional rules of grammar. Once teachers had pared our schools with those of other advanced countries,
“covered” the subject, they tested students to see how well and found that our country’s educational institutions were
they had “learned” it. The galvanizing center of the class- failing. Educational historian and former U.S. Assistant
room was the teacher. Teachers determined content and Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch (2008) called it “the
agenda, and they guided, monitored, and evaluated student most important education reform document of the twenti-
achievement. With conscientious industry, knowledge, con- eth century.” Its most memorable and often-quoted lines
viction, and vision, they passed on the cultural heritage and occur in the first paragraph: “The educational foundations
the requisite language skills to read, write, and talk about it. of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide
Our teachers stood within a long-established educational of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation
tradition, like that described in the Basic Issues Conference. and a people.” Ravitch considers its importance to lie not
The late 1960s and early 1970s following the Dartmouth in this warning but in its call for meeting this threat by
Seminar were a time of new orientations; of new visions, strengthening the core curriculum of schools, establishing
energy, and idealism; and of experimentation with the higher expectations for students, and increasing the edu-
teaching of language, literature, and composition; in short, cation and pay of teachers. The report’s thirty-eight recom-
of a turning away from the legacy of earlier decades. These mendations for reform have not been enacted, but its
classrooms struggled to be student-centered, response- critique and its warnings were immediately influential.
focused, process-oriented, imagination-based, and cultur- In 1987, four years after the publication of A Nation at
ally sensitive. Not surprisingly, a counter-reaction arose in Risk and almost twenty years after the Dartmouth Seminar,
opposition to them. The critics were part of a general con- sixty English teachers from all levels of schooling, from
servative, back-to-the-basics movement in the culture at primary to postgraduate, gathered for another conference
large. The widely read and often-quoted 1974 article in to consider again the state of English education in the
Newsweek, “Why Johnny Can’t Read,” intensified the United States. The conference, called the English Coalition
general public’s anxiety about English teaching in particu- Conference, strongly affected the conferees and, through
lar. Four years after this article, Suhor (1977, pp. 81–82) their books and subsequent careers, the profession itself.
enumerated the public’s growing tendency to make blan- Their insights about the teacher’s classroom role, the cur-
ket judgments, to use “research” data selectively (or ignore riculum emphases, and literacy education were in the tra-
it altogether), to raise indignant questions, and to offer dition of the Dartmouth Seminar’s conclusions, buttressed
simplistic solutions with buzzwords such as “grammar,” by the arguments of current learning theory and the con-
“phonics,” and “basics.” Donelson (2000, p. 45) tells a per- tinuing cultural, social, and linguistic diversity of students.
sonal anecdote that describes the counterforce of this reac- One of the participants in both conferences, Wayne Booth
tion to the shifts in the teaching of English in the late 1960s (1989, p. 10), suggested that for him there was “nothing
and 1970s. During a public debate, someone pointed a radically new in this enterprise,” but there was something
finger at him and began to chide him for contributing to radically revived and important: The conferees discovered
the destruction of the Golden Age, the Camelot, of high that they “in fact share not just a profession with a set of
school English: assumptions and prejudices, but a vocation, a calling, a
commitment. . . . [W]e are in this curious profession
We had destroyed the dream and the English curr­icula
because we see ‘teaching English’ as the best way we know
by dropping the teaching of grammar, by refusing to
of ‘enfranchising,’ ‘liberating,’ ‘enabling,’ ‘empowering’
hold the line on good usage (her example was the dis-
those who will make our future. . . . We choose subjects
tinction between shall and will), by having students
which, by their nature, if taught properly, will lead the
write in journals instead of having them write formal
child eagerly through increasingly independent steps
essays, by ignoring classics we had once made students
toward full adult, self-sustained learning.”
love in favor of second-rate and near-pornographic mod-
ern material, and (her last point was almost shouted in
triumph) by becoming liberal and politically correct and Challenges of Teaching English in
introducing multicultural things, all second or third rate.
the Twenty-First Century
While Suhor regretted that “conservative rhetoric lacked
articulateness (in the sense of ‘complexity,’ not ‘illitera- Many regard the earlier landmark A Nation at Risk docu-
cy’),” he chided the profession for its own inability to ment as causing a lingering doubt about education in the
articulate its case, the case for the new English (as quoted United States. Unease with current education continues and
in Tchudi, 2000, p. 38). manifests itself in shrill public debates about school and

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 6 Chapter 1

teacher failure, the decline of standards, the neglect of the retain effective teachers and principals. Like NCLB, it
classics, the absence of traditional grammar instruction, the relied on standardized tests to measure the progress of
need to move back to the basics, and the distortions of students and the accountability of their teachers, princi-
political correctness. Despite the calls for liberal reform of pals, and schools. It also adopted the expansion of charter
the schools sounded by many English educators, many pro- schools and school choice, though Measures of Effective
posed reforms were conservative in nature, a return to tra- Teaching tests are shifting the focus away from solely
ditional teaching practices and texts. Critics regard the 1983 using student gain scores to assess teacher performance.2
document as the “foul sire” of the 2002 federal reauthoriza- When Race to the Top was launched, one of the criteria
tion of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, for receiving a grant was the state’s development of a set
commonly called the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of high-quality standards for what students would learn
(Ravitch, 2008). Whether that charge is fair, NCLB was cer- and on which they would be tested.3 This process coin-
tainly a culmination of two decades of intensified national cided with the recommendation of an advisory group
pressure on American schooling.1 comprised of governors, state education chiefs, and edu-
The NCLB Act called for accountability in student learn- cational researchers, who suggested that common state
ing, teacher instruction, schools, and school districts. Its standards were necessary for American students to be
stated purpose was to close the achievement gap among globally competitive. The resulting Common Core State
students by developing standards with which learning Standards (CCSS) seek to forge a new path of reform to
could be measured, emphasizing “proven and researched” enhance students’ critical reading, writing, and thinking
classroom educational practices, and creating appropriate skills and thus prepare them for college, careers, and par-
assessment instruments to do the job. Although the osten- ticipation as citizens in a global economy. In contrast to
sible purpose of the NCLB legislation was to close the the basic skills focus of NCLB, the CCSS in English encour-
achievement gap between students and schools and thus age students to tackle increasingly complex texts, to
provide equal learning opportunities for all students, the develop inquiry and writing skills through research, to
financial incentives and punishments associated with attain- cultivate communication skills that are flexible and col-
ing Adequate Yearly Progress goals placed extreme pres- laborative, and to make informed choices concerning lan-
sure on teachers to ensure that their students succeed on guage conventions and vocabulary usage. While many
their end-of-course tests. The consequence of these initia- may be sympathetic with this latest reform initiative, the
tives in practice was to encourage skills-based teaching implementation of CCSS has resulted in significant contro-
strategies that were geared primarily toward success on the versy, both practical and ideological. At the time of our
tests, such as scripted lessons, the exclusive use of test-prep writing, forty-three states have adopted the CCSS, but a
booklets, guided practice, and formulaic writing methods. number of states are already pushing legislation to drop
In his summary of the impact of NCLB, literacy researcher out or scale back their participation. Some worry about
P. David Pearson (2012) explained that NCLB “has done a the cost of funding CCSS assessments, and others fear that
credible job of helping educators make sure that all stu- CCSS represents insidious federal intrusion.4 Because the
dents have basic literacy skills, [but] it hasn’t given us the CCSS “focus heavily on literacy,” Chadwick (2015, p. 1)
type of thoughtful and critical readers and writers we need”
(para. 6). Based on this “fundamental flaw” of NCLB, 2
One difference between the two federal programs was that NCLB
Pearson claims that our challenge over the next decade is held schools responsible if student scores did not progress; whereas,
to “transform the literacy curriculum in our schools to be Race to the Top held teachers as well as schools responsible for
what we always wanted in the first place—the way we help student failure. The punitive consequences of low student test scores
students become engaged and powerful readers, writers, were firing for teachers and closing for schools; the rewards for high
student test scores were merit pay and school recognition. It is easy
and thinkers” (para. 7).
to understand why these standardized exams are called high-stakes
Similar critiques have been leveled at President tests.
Obama’s 2009 education initiative Race to the Top, a 3
As of May 2014, only seventeen states and the District of Columbia
$4.35 billion program in which Department of Education had won Race to the Top funds, but many more states competed.
funds were based on schools’ efforts to create innovative To be eligible, states had to agree both to the standards and to the
learning environments, advance student achievement, assessment of student achievement associated with them.
4
prepare students for college and careers, and recruit and Educational historian Diane Ravitch (2010, 2013) has harshly cri-
tiqued both the NCLB and Race to the Top initiatives: the underlying
and untested assumptions about standards; testing as a means to
1
Congress enacted the original Elementary and Secondary Education evaluate students, teachers, and schools; charter schools and school
Act in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. It choice as the solution for low-performing students; the entry of foun-
radically altered the federal government’s role in education, formerly dations and educational entrepreneurs into education policy; the
almost the exclusive responsibility of state and local governments. growing privatization of public education; the use of competition
The bill required periodic reauthorization, and each reauthorization among states and schools as motivating forces. In short, Ravitch arg­
reflected the dominant educational issues of the time, as in the 2002 ued that the federal government’s focus on competition, choice, and
reauthorization with its emphasis on accountability and methods to accountability as a means for large-scale educational improvement
measure progress. are not empirically grounded or historically validated.

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 Envisioning English 7

suggests that “English language arts has emerged as a professional development influenced their use of educa-
lightning rod for educators, politicians, parents, and busi- tional technology, 78 percent gained most of their knowl-
ness.” Many more seem to worry about the very high stan- edge independently. New teachers must be aware that
dards that will require a new kind of teaching and learning their schools may not have the funding necessary to sup-
in English classrooms. Suspending for a moment these port the technological initiatives they wish to pursue in
financial, ideological, and practical disputes, at present their classrooms. At the same time, they must be willing to
English teachers can find within the standards the free- commit to being students of technology themselves and to
dom to cultivate the communication and thinking skills expanding their definitions of “literacy.” They must remain
that students will need to navigate the challenges of our open to the new ways in which their students will
complex, ever changing world. Regardless of the current approach reading and writing as the influence of technol-
political climate or the latest educational initiative, teach- ogy continues to open unmarked educational territory.
ers just entering the profession should be prepared to An earlier 1994 conference of educators and scholars
acknowledge the practical import of these standards and anticipated these two twenty-first century realities—namely,
assessments for their students’ school success, and simul- the increase in student diversity and the proliferation of
taneously maintain the growth and integrity of their core technology in the classroom and the culture. The group’s
teaching beliefs, a challenging balance to strike. ten members, who came from varied national and academic
The implications of the initiatives arising from CCSS backgrounds including the United Kingdom, Australia, and
represent only one aspect of the changing educational the United States, met for a week in New London, New
environment for teaching English in the twenty-first cen- Hampshire, to consider the state of literacy teaching. Their
tury. New teachers must necessarily address the complex collaboration deepened our sense of students’ linguistic
realities of today’s schools. They are likely to encounter a and cultural diversity and global connectedness as well as
classroom full of diverse students from a variety of linguis- technology’s possibilities and imperatives. Increasing num-
tic and cultural backgrounds. The U.S. Department of bers of diverse students, they perceived, bring more than
Education (2013) reported that during the 2010–2011 linguistic difference to the classroom; they bring cultural
school year, 4.7 million students (10 percent of all stu- and community multiplicity and connections to global soci-
dents) were English Language Learners (ELLs). As this eties. Similarly, the group understood technological chal-
population continues to grow, traditional approaches to lenges as more than how to acquire and use technology as
reading and writing no longer suffice to meet current edu- a classroom tool. The changing nature of communication
cational demands. Challenges to traditional curricular channels that contemporary students are heir to—the pro-
choices about the literature studied will also arise as these liferation of information and multimedia technologies and
diverse students manifest their connection with a broader burgeoning social networks—influence how they commu-
cultural world. If education is to be, as Horace Mann once nicate and add to the “languages” teachers can “speak”
proclaimed, the “great equalizer,” then the task of today’s with them and the skills students need to develop. The
English teacher is to work to meet CCSS’s high standards group agreed on a more fundamental matter as well:
for all students and, at the same time, to recognize the Teaching literacy is crucial to help students make sense of
unique needs of these diverse students, devise instruc- the world and their place in it.
tional strategies to meet those needs, and ensure that these These educators, now referred to as the New London
students are not excluded from educational success. Group, encapsulated their expanding view of literacy in
Technological advances provide endless opportunities the term multiliteracies, which “focuses on modes of rep-
for new teachers to enhance instruction by employing resentation much broader than language alone” (Cazden
technology that is a fixture in their students’ lives. et al., 1996, p. 60). Multiliteracy pedagogy, then, attempts
However, limited resources as well as the challenge of to enable students to gain “access to the evolving language
keeping up with rapidly changing technological applica- of work, power, and community” and to develop tools in
tions can often make technology seem more like a burden order “to design their social futures and achieve success
than a benefit. Although the U.S. Department of Education’s through fulfilling employment” (p. 60). Since the group
National Center for Education Statistics (Gray, Thomas, & first published their article, “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies:
Lewis, 2010, pp. 3–4) confirmed that the majority of public Designing Social Futures” (Cazden et al., 1996), subse-
school teachers had access to at least one computer (97%) quent educators have elaborated on, experimented with,
and the Internet (93%) in their classrooms, other techno- and expanded their initial conclusions. Jewitt (2002,
logical resources were less common in the classroom: LCD p. 171) sums up the immediate outcome: The process of
projectors (36%), interactive whiteboards (28%), and digi- learning in English classes can now be imagined “as more
tal cameras (64%). As for the challenges of keeping up than a linguistic accomplishment.” A policy research brief
with effective instructional strategies that utilize technol- from NCTE (2007, p. 1) enlarges the need to prepare stu-
ogy, only 40 percent of teachers indicated that they or dents for entering our contemporary technology-driven
their students consistently used computers during instruc- world successfully. The brief challenged English teachers
tional time. Although 61 percent of teachers revealed that to teach “problem solving, collaboration, and analysis—as

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 8 Chapter 1

well as skills with word processing, hypertext, LCDs, Web arrangements betray the teacher’s assumptions; selection
cams, digital streaming podcasts, smartboards, and social of instructional strategies and methods, materials, and
networking.” texts expose the teacher’s values and goals. The images
Other literacies have been identified as essential since and principles (implicit and explicit) of your former mid-
the New London Group’s original meeting; how to define, dle and high school classrooms influence your vision of
name, and teach them is still debated. One of these con- your own future classroom. Kennedy (1999, p. 57) bor-
tested “new” forms of literacy is digital literacy, which rows from sociologist Dan Lortie to remind us that pro-
involves the skills that students will need in order to take spective teachers have had a “lengthy apprenticeship of
advantage of information and communication technolo- observation in that they spend their entire childhoods
gies. In her keynote address at the American Library observing teachers teach.”
Association convention in 2012, Renee Hobbs identified If you went directly to your own future classroom with-
digital literacy as an “emerging concept” that was built on out passing through an “English methods” course and
a foundation of various forms of literacy, including visual text, you could easily couple your formative images with
literacy, information literacy, media literacy, computer lit- available teacher resources—the steady proliferation of
eracy, critical literacy, and news literacy. Hobbs rejected state and school district curriculum standards and guide-
the cumbersome definitions of digital literacy that she had lines, in-service training workshops and institutes, profes-
encountered and replaced them with these four sets of sional meetings, and periodic, book, and online resources.
skills that digitally literate students should possess: (1) to From your memory as a student and your use of ready-
“use and share” digital content, (2) to “create and collabo- made materials as a teacher, you could generate enough
rate” as authors of digital content, (3) to “analyze and ideas to construct a year’s worth of lesson plans. Effective
evaluate” the efficacy and purpose of digital content, and teachers, though, must rely on more than the narrow con-
(4) to “apply ethical judgment” to their encounters with fines of their own personal learning experiences and
digital content. In other words, the English teacher’s chal- orderly lesson plans; they need basic tenets, a core of
lenge to prepare students to be “literate” in today’s world beliefs about learning, language, literature, and literacy, to
is growing increasingly more complex as forms of literacy
are shaped and reshaped by new technology and media.
Interestingly, learning to navigate digital content requires 1-3 Invitation to Reflection
many of the same skills that we ask students to apply to
the study of art or literature or film (e.g., creating, collabo- 1. Visualize yourself as a teacher in your own English
rating, evaluating). The forms of media and technology classroom. Which of the five classroom arrange-
may continue to evolve, but the goal of teaching students ments shown in Figure 1-2 do you envision?
to think critically remains constant. 2. Is the arrangement you chose the one that was most
What is indisputable today is that the diversity of our common in your own experience with school? What
culture and our schools has expanded; the proliferation of does this arrangement imply about the relation-
information and communication technologies has exploded; ship between teacher and students? Who is more
the connectivity of people and nations has grown; eco- intellectually and physically active, the teacher or the
nomic and educational disparities have widened; students’ student? Are they equally engaged?
social futures have become more perilous; and the need for 3. Which configuration would make you most comfort-
building classrooms that address changing conceptions of able as a teacher? Which would you have preferred
literacy has increased. Each of these major twenty-first- as a student?
century issues presents unique challenges for new teachers, 4. Imagine that you wanted an alternative classroom
but they also provide opportunities for creativity, innova- design. Which would be your second choice of
tion, and professional growth. The pages of this book pres- physical arrangement? Would those changes dictate
ent strategies and activities to help teachers meet these changes in your teaching method?
challenges. But to avoid being blown and tossed about by 5. What precisely do you see you and your students
whatever winds prevail or by the inevitable waves of change, doing in this classroom? Would your class design
a teacher needs clear, strong core educational beliefs to stay change if the assignment were, say, Native American
narratives, loyalty in friendship, or slang in student
the course.
writing? How would the physical design match the
lesson design?
6. Place each of the arrangements in Figure 1-2 on a
Core Beliefs continuum from the most student-centered (stu-
dents are active and often are independent agents
We begin to articulate our case for English by asking you and subjects of their own learning) to the most
to think again about your experience as a young learner. teacher-centered (the students receive knowledge
We believe that it is hard to define English apart from the from the teacher).
ways in which it is taught in the classroom. The physical

M01_MILN7968_06_SE_C01.indd 8 05/07/16 4:13 PM

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 “And will you really give it me?” said Fanny, and her deep-blue
eyes seemed melting in their own lustre.
“To be sure I will, because I have said so.”
“Well, then, dear, good Cousin Charles, buy me a piano.”
“Buy you a winter full of thunder storms—why you will bang me
deaf.”
“But not dumb, I’ll bet any thing—you will always be able to scold
your poor Cousin Fanny. But I shall play when you are away.”
“I rather think you will when you get a piano. Why do you know
what a deal of money one of those thunderers costs?”
Fanny began to be frightened. She did not know, but she was
really like the child who cried for the moon. The tears came into her
eyes as she thought of herself two years ago. She looked up at her
cousin, with her grateful soul beaming from her beautiful eyes, and
smiling through her tears, she said, “Cousin, I was very wrong to ask
such an impossible thing—will you buy me a canary-bird?”
“Do you give up all claim to the piano if I do?”
“O, yes, to be sure. Please to forget it. Indeed, I did not mean to
be a silly girl.”
Thus ended the talk of the piano; but the next afternoon an
elegant piano and a beautiful canary-bird, were domesticated in Mr.
Evans’s quiet parlor—and Fanny was perfectly wild with delight. That
was a wonderful era in her life—a time to date from forever after—
though Cousin Charles brushed her off as if she had been a whole
swarm of black flies, when she ran to his room, on his return in the
evening, to overwhelm him with thanks, and tears, and crazy
rejoicings.
“Bless me, Fanny,” said he, “you had better make up your mind
whether you are going to melt, or fly away, or go to a lunatic
asylum; and when you have concluded, just come and let me know,
will you? I can do without you till then.”
The next thing to the piano must be a music-teacher. Young
Wilson had played his cards skillfully. He had interested Charles
Evans in his fortunes, and he engaged him from motives of
benevolence, to teach Fanny. To do him justice, he was a good
teacher. But Evans was cheated. He did not think it possible that the
fellow could have thought but to teach Fanny, that he might mend
his small means—a most praiseworthy object in the young man, and
one that Evans felt anxious to assist him in attaining. Though Fanny
had grown very pretty, and was daily improving, yet her cousin was
hardly conscious of it. He thought of her as a mere child as she was,
and a very ugly child as she had been; and it never once entered his
mind that any young man could have designs upon the heart of the
little one. Young Wilson interested him, not because he knew him,
but because he did not know him. He saw him struggling to get an
education, and pay for it himself, and he was glad to have an excuse
to offer him assistance.
Evans had small love for music, but mathematics was a pet of
the first magnitude with him, and for the sake of this branch of
study, he compromised and gave the girl her music. So he said; but
the truth was, he wished Fanny to be happy. And he had his wish.
The bird and the piano were all the time new, and she could never
for a moment, asleep or awake, cease to rejoice in either. She kept
her word not to play when Mr. Evans was at home. But then this was
no great privation, for the bird sang like mad all the morning, and he
went away early, and she managed to tire herself so thoroughly
during the day, that she was very willing to go patiently and quietly
into figures for the evening. Mr. Evans was quite satisfied, for as he
said he saw Fanny always at her “sums,” and never was disturbed by
drums or thunder.
Wilson found himself of just as much social importance to Fanny
as a piano or an algebra. She would have been just as much
interested in a calculating machine; and if her piano could have
taught her to play on it, she would have been neither better or
worse pleased than now. To be sure she was glad when her Aunt
Evans told her of the struggles of young Wilson to educate himself
that she had him for a teacher, but she never thought enough of him
to mention him to Mr. Evans; first, because she seldom needed his
help in her mathematical studies, and of music she never spoke to
her cousin.
Wilson was prudent and careful. He had good hope of getting
into the University—in time of a pulpit, and a rich wife. No word, or
look, or overt act ever revealed to Fanny or her friends, that he had
designs on the fortune of Mr. Evans, through a marriage with his
ward. For months he labored assiduously, when an accident occurred
that changed the face of his fortune, though, perhaps, it did not
materially affect Fanny. A merchant uncle of Wilson, who lived at
New Orleans, found himself in need of an assistant, in consequence
of failing health. He was a man of wealth, and Wilson considered his
fortune assured by this chance—and so the church lost the chance
of adding to her ornaments another of those paste gems that bring
the real jewels into disrepute.

——
 CHAPTER V.
Seventeen! sweet, gay, laughing seventeen had come to Fanny—
and she had never once thought of getting married. Not she. She
would have been obliged to contemplate marriage as something that
must separate her from the only home she had ever known; and she
would as soon have stepped out of her skin some cold night, as
have gone away from her dear friends. She liked everybody and
loved nobody, and wanted to hug the whole world, as she forcibly
said, because she was so happy.
“Christmas Eve, to-morrow, Cousin Charles; I hope all my
presents are purchased and directed.”
“And what are you going to give me, little Miss Fairy?”
“Myself, to be sure,” laughed Fanny. “What else have I to give
away?”
“No, that you wont. You will keep yourself for some worthless
fellow, I’ll warrant.”
“No, I thank you. I had rather be excused. I intend to make your
black tea as long as you live, if you don’t conclude to leave the tea
out, and take water with me.”
“I tell you, you will marry a scamp the day after you are eighteen
—that is the way with all the women.”
“There must be a prodigious number of scamps, then, cousin;
and if you had only been one of them, you might have been happily
married, instead of being the nicest bear of a bachelor at large.”
“I think I might get married even now, if I were only fool
enough.”
“But as you are very wise, you shall be my Cousin Charles, and
nothing else—and I would not exchange you for a pet porcupine.
Don’t you see how I prize you? So don’t think of getting married—I
should quarrel with your wife, to see which should love you best;
and that would be very inconvenient for us all.”
Christmas was a merry time at Charles Evans’s. The man of
deeds and documents always relaxed and came out of the world of
business, or, as he said, “allowed the world to mind its own
business” at Christmas and New Year. But something very serious
happened to Mr. Evans from this year’s Christmas merry-making. A
pretty girl needed some one to see her home, and glowing and
perspiring from the last game at “Blind Man’s Buff,” Mr. Evans
attended her on a bitter night, which made him run home as rapidly
as possible, with chattering teeth, and a chill that seemed to go
quite to his heart. Next morning he awoke with a quaking headache
and pains through all his bones, and great heat and cold chills, and
all the concomitants of a bad fever about him. Thanks to the
exhaustion of unremitting and most unreasonable labor, such as a
great many men perform who do the head-work for the headless
multitude, and thanks also to the lancet of a certain doctor, who held
to letting the bad blood out of a man, and poisoning what remained
to purify it, Mr. Evans became dangerously sick. What an invaluable
treasure was Fanny now. Her foot was the lightest—her hand was
the softest and coolest—her eyes never closed in slumber, unless she
left the best of watchers in her place—and she threw quantities of
physic to the dogs, or some equally prudent place, and she
nourished the patient carefully when he began to get well; and at
last, in spite of all the evils in the patient, and out of him, doctors
and drugs included, she saw Mr. Evans convalescent.
At length he came down stairs, and when he thought how long
Fanny had left her piano locked, and not even listened to her canary,
he asked her for a song. It was in very kindness to her, and in
accordance with his benevolent character—for he thought that he
disliked music, and it is probable that he had the good taste to
dislike the heathen discord that had been christened music, where
he had happened to be the victim.
The Battle of Prague, thumped with indenting emphasis on a
piano sadly out of tune, had given Mr. Evans his ideas of melody;
and it is small wonder that he had as great dislike for music as
prudent regard for his ears.
It was a great surprise to Mr. Evans when Fanny’s melodious
voice fell on his ear, appropriately accompanied by the instrument,
which was one of the softest and sweetest in the world. He had
expected the Battle of Prague, and it seemed to him, so great was
the contrast, like humming-birds amid the flowers.
Fanny sung a song of her own composing, descriptive of her own
life, first in its great sadness and trials and deep grief with her
sainted mother, and then her bereavement, and then her adoption
by her cousin, and the calm flow of her life since then. At the close
of her song she alluded to her best friend’s illness, and spoke of her
joy that he was now safely recovering. The song and the music were
her own, and they came from the depth of her heart. The sad, sweet
murmur of her soul’s sorrow in the first verses, was succeeded by
the calm happiness and bird-like joy of the years passed in her
cousin’s home, and again the sorrowful notes spoke of his illness,
and the winged joy burst forth in the happy conclusion.
It was a triumph to Fanny when she saw at the close of the piece
tears rolling over Mr. Evans’s face, and he said, with a voice rendered
indistinct by emotion, “Sing it again, Fanny”—and she was only too
happy to comply with his request.
When the song was ended, he conquered his emotion, and
laughing through his tears, he said,
“You shall be my nightingale, Fanny.”
“Thank you, I accept the appointment—what salary do you
intend to give?” said Fanny, as she sat down on the sofa by the
invalid, and passed her hand over his high, white forehead, to see if
any fever were warning her to send her patient away to rest.
“I will give you myself and all that I have,” said he, again
bursting into tears.
A flood of new thoughts rushed through the mind of Fanny. She
paused to think what to say. “You are weak, cousin, and must not sit
up too long. Will you go to your room, or will you rest and sleep on
the sofa here?”
Mr. Evans was frightened at what he had said. He was sure Fanny
could never love him only as a father or elder brother; and now he
thought he had broken the freedom of that relation, and he blamed
himself, and troubled himself, and well-nigh fretted himself into a
relapse of his fever. But his naturally strong constitution triumphed,
and in a few weeks he was perfectly restored.
 Meanwhile Fanny had become grave and thoughtful; and, truth
to tell, she shunned her cousin more than she ought. She had not
known how dear he was to her till his illness—during the time that
he was considered dangerous she had neither eaten nor slept. She
had watched over him as a mother watches her first born. She felt
that if he should die, life, which had always seemed so full of joy and
blessing, would be a blank to her. She had not asked herself if this
were love. She had supposed it was only the interest she ought to
feel in her cousin. Now she was put upon examining her own heart.
She fully believed that her cousin was by no means in love with her,
but that his tender confession was owing to the weakness induced
by his severe illness and his gratitude to his fortunately successful
nurse.

——
 CHAPTER VI.
“And now, mother, tell me all about the Evanses. Is my flame as
foxy as ever? She must be quite a young lady. Heaven forgive me for
not being thankful enough for all mercies in general, and for the
particular one that I am not obliged to marry red hair.” Thus spoke
the fortunate Wilson, the morning after his arrival from New Orleans,
bringing the welcome news that his relative was dead, and that he
was his heir.
“Don’t be too hasty, Sylvester,” said his mother. “Miss Evans has
changed more than any one you ever saw. She is a perfect beauty,
bating her freckles. Her hair is no more red than a chestnut. She is
plump and round as an apple; she is white as snow, and her eyes
are as pretty as possible.”
“Amen, mother! One would think you were her lover instead of
your hopeful son. But I will see for myself. I shall not take your word
or your bond for that girl’s beauty.”
And so Mr. Wilson, armed for conquest, presented himself before
Miss Evans. She had never cared enough for him to be very glad to
see him, but she received him politely and kindly, as was her nature.
He was a very good-looking, stylish young man, and he talked well
on common topics, and soon succeeded in interesting Fanny. He was
quite unprepared, notwithstanding all his mother had said, for the
beauty that had grown upon Fanny. He loved beauty just as he loved
roast pig and canvas-backs—and he was smashed at once—Fanny
had made an impression. He asked her to play and sing for her
cidevant teacher, and the impression was fixed.
Wilson was sure at the end of an hour that he should marry
Fanny Evans; and Fanny thought him a very good-looking,
interesting young man, and she rejoiced in his good fortune; their
musical tastes formed a bond between them, and it soon seemed
very natural and proper to Fanny that she saw young Wilson daily.
She was sad, and singing diverted her. His voice was good, and they
sung duets. He played finely, and this was very pleasant. She had
become estranged from her cousin, and she wanted some company.
Fanny had never been so unhappy since she first came to live with
her cousin. Finally, Wilson offered himself to her. This was an event
to Fanny entirely unexpected.
“Don’t speak of such a thing,” said she, earnestly. “Pray excuse
me, Mr. Wilson,” and she went straight out of the room. When she
reached her chamber, she felt very sorrowful, and, truth to tell, very
sick. She had been worn down by labor and watching during Mr.
Evans’s illness, and her sadness in being estranged from him. She
had got nervous, and began, for the first time in her life, to have the
blues. She almost persuaded herself that she was become a burden
to her cousin, and that she ought to marry Wilson. She wept till she
had a dreadful headache, and when the servant came to call her to
make Mr. Evans’s tea, she was really too ill to go down—and with
swollen eyes, red face, and dabbled and disarranged curls, she
looked into the glass, and dared not present herself before her
cousin.
“Tell Mr. Evans that I have a bad headache, and if he will excuse
me, I will go early to bed. Make every thing very nice for him,
Norah. Were his slippers warm when he came in?”
“I don’t know, Miss, but I will get his supper good”—and she
went to carry Fanny’s excuse to Mr. Evans.
“Go back, Norah, quickly, and ask Miss Evans if I may come up.”
Fanny had wheeled her sofa to the fire, and had just buried her
face in a velvet cushion to weep as long and as much as she wished.
Mr. Evans, in his concern for her, had followed Norah, and stood
outside the door.
“Tell him not to trouble himself to come up. I shall do very well
as soon as I have slept.”
“If you had asked me to take the trouble to stay down stairs, I
might have thought of it; but seeing I am here, it is no trouble to
come; and you are so bright and cosy, suppose you let the girl bring
the waiter up here and make my tea for me.”
Mr. Evans was quite sure that something beside sickness had
happened to Fanny, and he intended to be confessor or doctor, as
the case might be.
 “Norah, bring Mr. Evans’s supper to my room,” said Fanny, more
cheerfully than she would have thought possible a few minutes
before. And she passed into her bed-room and bathed her face and
her eyes, and arranged her hair, and came back to make tea for Mr.
Evans very much improved. But she could not talk—she had fairly
lost her tongue.
Mr. Evans seemed more unconstrained and more fully himself
than since his unfortunate offer of himself to Fanny.
“Fanny,” said he, after the tea things were taken away, “I would
like to ask you what is the matter, if I thought you would like to tell
me. It is no common headache that is tormenting you; I would
sooner guess it is a heartache.”
“And what if it is a heartache?” said Fanny.
“You mean to ask what I should have to do with the diseases of
your heart. I tell you, Fanny, I am not as bad as you may think, or so
big a fool either. For instance, though I love you a great deal better
than Heaven, and would sooner have you for my wife than an angel,
yet knowing that you can’t love an old codger like me, I want to see
you happy with the man of your choice, and I tell you now, for the
cure of your headache, or heartache, that you have my consent to
marry Mr. Wilson.”
Fanny burst into so violent and uncontrolled a fit of weeping, that
Mr. Evans was alarmed and puzzled.
“Speak to me, Fanny, tell me what is all this. I thought to give
you great joy, and I only set you weeping. Tell me, what does all this
mean?”
“Dear Cousin Charles,” said Fanny, “you have given me the
greatest joy of my life.”
“Then you love Wilson, as I thought,” said Mr. Evans.
“No, no—not Wilson, but you, Cousin Charles; and you said you
would rather have me for your wife than an angel.” And Fanny threw
her arms around Charles Evans’s neck; and there is not a shadow of
doubt that he would cheerfully have exchanged all the pleasures of
his long bachelorate in a lump, for the kisses of the next five
minutes.
 They were a happy couple that evening; but Wilson’s prospects
were worse damaged than his heart.
THE SLEEP OF THE DEAD.
———
BY HENRY S. HAGERT.
———
 Sweet is the tomb—the all-forgetting tomb—
The dreamless couch round which no phantoms glide,
To harrow up the soul, or read a doom,
Of yore on their dread Sabbath prophesied.
Calm are its slumbers—never more shall pride,
Hatred or malice, wound the sleeping clay;
Wrong not the dead—they should be deified—
They lived and suffered, and have passed away;
Here be all feuds forgot—ye, too, shall have your day.

Your day of trouble, when the cup of Grief,

Full of its Marsh-waters must be drained
E’en to the dregs—when ye will need relief
From those upon whose head your lips have rained,
Curses; when they who were by you disdained,
Shall offer in their mockery, to dry
The hot dew of your brows by anguish strained
Through the parched skin. Ah! then, in grief to fly
For refuge to the grave, and find but calumny.

Let the dead rest—if ye must “snarl and bite,”

Turn to the living—there your venom spill;
Put on Deception’s mask, then vent your spite,
Sharpen your fangs, and gnaw, and rend, and kill—
’Tis a sweet banquet—eat and drink your fill;
Ye can thrive well on malice—but forbear
To stir the ashes of the dead, your skill
Can never fan a glowing ember there,
At which the hated torch of vengeance to repair.

Look on the dead, and if ye cower and quail

To think that ye shall be like them one day—
That the cold coffin-worm, with slimy trail,
Shall crawl across your forehead, or from play
Within your eyeless sockets forth shall stray,
To feast upon your rottenness, your hair
 Shall drip the sick’ning grave-damps, and the gray,
Dry dust of the rank sepulchre, for air,
Fill up your nostrils—then by the cold grave forbear!

Think on your last dark hour, when a gaunt form,

Spectral and shadowy, shall stoop and set
A mystic seal upon you; when the storm
Of conscience rages, till its spray has wet
Your brow; when, like the doom in Venice met,
The walls of your lone chamber seem to close
Upon you, crushed and bleeding, dying, yet
Never to die—from torments such as those,
Would you be free? Withhold—break not the dead’s repose.

FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGIA.

PARAPHRASE.

———
BY RICHARD PENN SMITH.
———

A stalwart blind man trudging through the mud,

O’ertook a cripple; side by side they stood.
“Cripple, you’re stall’d,” cried Blinky, “in this clay.”
Cripple replied, “Can Blinky see his way?”
“Not a d—d inch,” the poor blind man replies,
“But mount my shoulders, boy, lend me your eyes;
Keep them wide open, let their light be mine,
Cling to my shoulders, and my legs are thine.
And with clear eyes, strong shanks and shoulders good
We need no more to travel through this mud.”
 THE BATTLE OF LIFE.
———
BY LEN.
———

A sigh steals down the smiling valley—a gentle sigh of breezes,

wafting happiness over the face of nature, and at the sound from
out their beds of earth, myriads of things of beauty wake into
existence;—meadow and plain and hill-side glisten in fairest verdure
—flowers fling their fragrance on the gale—stately trees wave their
foliage to the passing wind—while streams beneath dance onward to
the ocean—and the dream-like hum that fills the air and swells in
chorus to the arch of heaven, tells of the blooming Spring—of the
transcendent pleasures of Life.
What a glorious earth has man for a habitation! what scenes
surround him to ennoble the soul—what examples to elevate and
incite the mind to strive for the goal of Happiness. That goal, alas!
how distant and hard to reach; thorns hedge the road the aspiring
one would tread, and weeds spring rank and choking in the pathway,
or often, when the seeming height is won, the eminence fades to a
common level, and Happiness is as distant as ever! But the soul
must toil, though success is but a vision—the mind must work,
although its labors be fruitless; for there is a Higher power
controlling the actions of man—guiding his impulses and passions,
and girding him for the conflict around him and within him—the
struggle that is ceaselessly waging—the Battle of Life!
How sweet is Fame! Even now, upon men’s tongues there dwells
some name whose every syllable is a charm, thrilling to adoration.
Here, a patriot spirit, whose fires have smouldered long beneath
wrong and malice, rises superior to ills, and grasps—almost the
consummation of his wishes; there, a warrior from the laureled field,
receives the homage of a grateful people; or some philosopher, with
potent wand, discloses to a wondering world a new discovery in
Science. They stand aloft upon the pinnacle of Fortune, and eager
crowds beneath echo their praises or envy their success; and
upward still they gaze, blind to the rugged crags that lie between—
blind to the slippery height they covet—blind to the thousands round
them on the same great plain, breathless and bleeding from their
vain attempts to climb the dazzling steep—or happy in an humbler
sphere.
Ah! had they seen that lofty mind on the chill yesterday of
Adversity, with naught but obstacles before him; who knew that
Country was upon men’s lips only as a substitute for self, and yet
heard his own efforts slandered as false and recreant, and whose
high purposes had bent before the storm only to rise unbroken—
they would not undergo the patriot’s trials, even for his rewards. The
soldier’s hardships in the camp, with night’s cold shadows closing
round him, and no pillow for his head save the still colder earth; or
’mid the battle’s carnage, or on the ensanguined field, strewn alike
with friends and foes, would look not half so pleasant to their eyes
as that exulting warrior; or had they watched the student through
long years of vain research, poring o’er musty tomes till the stars
paled before the light of day, with fevered brow and aching heart,
filled with strong hopes that time still dashed to earth—though Time
at last was destined to fulfill; the marvels wrought thus dearly, thus
hardly given to the world, the car with wings of fire, the thought,
borne as on the lightning’s shaft, the shadow that no longer
vanishes, when won at such a cost, would lose their value, and the
philosopher stand unenvied though pre-eminent.
Men judge too oft by outward show, the glitter hides the dross
which lies beneath, the peasant would seek happiness in palaces,
the rich, perchance, see pleasures ’mid the poor; all err, all
causelessly despond, for place nor circumstance alone can make life
happy; there is no lake with breast by winds unruffled, no sea by
billows always unconvulsed—even so is it with man. How many
noble minds are crushed beneath adversity, and pulses that ere-
while warmed with a kindred glow to kindred energies, throb now to
sorrow and bereavement? How many hearts that loved—loved, oh,
how fondly—are doomed, alas! to live, and live alone? How many
breathing beings toil and travail on to gain wherewith they may drag
out existence—how many lots that look the brightest, are fraught
with bitterest wo!
And still the strife goes on, still the throng heaves and swells
tumultuously, as waves that surge against the rocks which bind
them, and one unceasing current flows turbulently onward, bearing
with it the joys and sorrows, the hopes and passions of a world—
onward ever, to the trackless ocean of Eternity.
But fields are green and flowers are fair—then is no warfare on
the hills, nor in the groves, nor on the plains; the elements break in
fearful grandeur above; the seasons come and go—yet sunshine
follows storms as day the night, and Winter yields to Spring. No
murmur is heard, save that which trembles through the air, of
rippling streams and stirring leaves, and songs of sweetest music;
and the works of Nature stand forth in majestic harmony, unmoved
by the strivings around them, regardless alike of the fears and
longings, the griefs and tumults raging in the breasts of men—
serene and placid, despite the contest, and at Peace, though amid
the throes of The Battle of Life.

FIFTY SUGGESTIONS.
———
BY EDGAR A. POE.
———

(Concluded from page 319.)

26.

The taste manifested by our Transcendental poets, is to be

treated “reverentially,” beyond doubt, as one of Mr. Emerson’s
friends suggests—for the fact is, it is Taste on her death-bed—Taste
kicking in articulo mortis.

27.

I should not say, of Taglioni, exactly that she dances, but that
she laughs with her arms and legs, and that if she takes vengeance
on her present oppressors, she will be amply justified by the lex
Talionis.

28.

The world is infested, just now, by a new sect of philosophers,

who have not yet suspected themselves of forming a sect, and who,
consequently, have adopted no name. They are the Believers in
every thing Odd. Their High Priest in the East, is Charles Fourier—in
the West, Horace Greely; and high priests they are to some purpose.
The only common bond among the sect, is Credulity:—let us call it
Insanity at once, and be done with it. Ask any one of them why he
believes this or that, and, if he be conscientious, (ignorant people
usually are,) he will make you very much such a reply as Talleyrand
made when asked why he believed in the Bible. “I believe in it first,”
said he, “because I am Bishop of Autun; and, secondly, because I
know nothing about it at all.” What these philosophers call
“argument,” is a way they have “de nier ce qui est et d’expliquer ce
qui n’est pas.”[2]

29.

The goddess Laverna, who is a head without a body, could not

do better, perhaps, than make advances to “La Jeune France,”
which, for some years to come at least, must otherwise remain a
body without a head.

30.
 Mr. A—— is frequently spoken of as “one of our most industrious
writers;” and, in fact, when we consider how much he has written,
we perceive, at once, that he must have been industrious, or he
could never (like an honest woman as he is) have so thoroughly
succeeded in keeping himself from being “talked about.”

31.

H—— calls his verse a “poem,” very much as Francis the First
bestowed the title, mes déserts, upon his snug little deer-park at
Fontainebleau.

32.

K——, the publisher, trying to be critical, talks about books pretty

much as a washerwoman would about Niagara falls or a poulterer
about a phœnix.

33.

The ingenuity of critical malice would often be laughable but for

the disgust, which, even in the most perverted spirits, injustice never
fails to excite. A common trick is that of decrying, impliedly, the
higher, by insisting upon the lower, merits of an author. Macaulay, for
example, deeply feeling how much critical acumen is enforced by
cautious attention to the mere “rhetoric” which is its vehicle, has at
length become the best of modern rhetoricians. His brother
reviewers—anonymous, of course, and likely to remain so forever—
extol “the acumen of Carlyle, the analysis of Schlegel, and the style
of Macaulay.” Bancroft is a philosophical historian; but no amount of
philosophy has yet taught him to despise a minute accuracy in point
of fact. His brother historians talk of “the grace of Prescott, the
erudition of Gibbon, and the pains-taking precision of Bancroft.”
Tennyson, perceiving how vividly an imaginative effect is aided, now
and then, by a certain quaintness judiciously introduced, brings this
latter, at times, in support of his most glorious and most delicate
imagination:—whereupon his brother poets hasten to laud the
imagination of Mr. Somebody, whom nobody imagined to have any,
“and the somewhat affected quaintness of Tennyson.”—Let the
noblest poet add to his other excellences—if he dares—that of
faultless versification and scrupulous attention to grammar. He is
damned at once. His rivals have it in their power to discourse of “A.
the true poet, and B. the versifier and disciple of Lindley Murray.”

34.

That a cause leads to an effect, is scarcely more certain than

that, so far as Morals are concerned, a repetition of effect tends to
the generation of cause. Herein lies the principle of what we so
vaguely term “Habit.”

35.

With the exception of Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall,” I have never

read a poem combining so much of the fiercest passion with so
much of the most delicate imagination, as the “Lady Geraldine’s
Courtship” of Miss Barrett. I am forced to admit, however, that the
latter work is a palpable imitation of the former, which it surpasses in
thesis as much as it falls below it in a certain calm energy, lustrous
and indomitable—such as we might imagine in a broad river of
molten gold.

36.

What has become of the inferior planet which Decuppis, about

nine years ago, declared he saw traversing the disc of the sun?

37.

“Ignorance is bliss”—but, that the bliss be real, the ignorance

must be so profound as not to suspect itself ignorant. With this
understanding, Boileau’s line may be read thus:

“Le plus fou toujours est le plus satisfait,”

—“toujours” in place of “souvent.”

38.

Bryant and Street are both, essentially, descriptive poets; and

descriptive poetry, even in its happiest manifestation, is not of the
highest order. But the distinction between Bryant and Street is very
broad. While the former, in reproducing the sensible images of
Nature, reproduces the sentiments with which he regards them, the
latter gives us the images and nothing beyond. He never forces us to
feel what we feel he must have felt.

39.

In lauding Beauty, Genius merely evinces a filial affection. To

Genius Beauty gives life—reaping often a reward in Immortality.

40.

And this is the “American Drama” of ——! Well!—that

“Conscience which makes cowards of us all” will permit me to say, in
praise of the performance, only that it is not quite so bad as I
expected it to be. But then I always expect too much.

41.

What we feel to be Fancy will be found fanciful still, whatever be

the theme which engages it. No subject exalts it into Imagination.
When Moore is termed “a fanciful poet,” the epithet is applied with
precision. He is. He is fanciful in “Lalla Rookh,” and had he written
the “Inferno,” in the “Inferno” he would have contrived to be still
fanciful and nothing beyond.

42.

When we speak of “a suspicious man,” we may mean either one

who suspects, or one to be suspected. Our language needs either
the adjective “suspectful,” or the adjective “suspectable.”

43.

“To love,” says Spencer, “is

“To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,

To speed, to give, to want, to be undone.”

The philosophy, here, might be rendered more profound, by the

mere omission of a comma. We all know the willing blindness—the
voluntary madness of Love. We express this in thus punctuating the
last line:

To speed, to give—to want to be undone.

It is a case, in short, where we gain point by omitting it.

44.

Miss Edgeworth seems to have had only an approximate

comprehension of “Fashion,” for she says:
“If it was the fashion to burn me, and I at the stake, I hardly
know ten persons of my acquaintance who would refuse to throw on
a faggot.”
There are many who, in such a case, would “refuse to throw on a
faggot”—for fear of smothering out the fire.

45.

I am beginning to think with Horsely—that “the People have

nothing to do with the laws but to obey them.”

46.

“It is not fair to review my book without reading it,” says Mr. M
——, talking at the critics, and, as usual, expecting impossibilities.
The man who is clever enough to write such a work, is clever
enough to read it, no doubt; but we should not look for so much
talent in the world at large. Mr. M—— will not imagine that I mean to
blame him. The book alone is in fault, after all. The fact is, that “er
lasst sich nicht lesen”—it will not permit itself to be read. Being a
hobby of Mr. M——’s, and brimful of spirit, it will let nobody mount it
but Mr. M——.

47.

It is only to teach his children Geography, that G—— wears a

boot the picture of Italy upon the map.

48.

In his great Dictionary, Webster seems to have had an idea of

being more English than the English—“plus Arabe qu’en Arabie.”[3]

49.

That there were once “seven wise men” is by no means, strictly

speaking, an historical fact; and I am rather inclined to rank the idea
among the Kabbala.

50.

Painting their faces to look like Macaulay, some of our critics

manage to resemble him, at length, as a Massaccian does a
Raffäellian Virgin; and, except that the former is feebler and thinner
than the other—suggesting the idea of its being the ghost of the
other—not one connoisseur in ten can perceive any difference. But
then, unhappily, even the street lazzaroni can feel the distinction.

[2] Nouvelle Héloise.

[3] Count Anthony Hamilton.
 MAY LILLIE.
OR LOVE AND LEARNING.

———
BY MRS. CAROLINE H. BUTLER.
———

It was a most provoking thing that young Harry Warren should

have fallen in love with pretty May Lillie—he simply a village school-
master whom nobody knew—and she the only daughter of the
richest and proudest man in the whole county of Erie, whom every
body knew! It was not only very provoking, but it was also very
unfortunate for the poor fellow, as he might as well have aspired to
wed yon bright evening star, as to lead to the altar the daughter of
Diogenes Lillie, Esq., Ex. M. C.
See the maliciousness of Fate! If May had been but the child of
some poor widow or parson—or had Harry claimed descent from
some lordly aristocrat, the course of true love might not have run so
crooked. Leander swam the Hellespont to reach his love, breasting
bravely the surging billows, which parting before him, bore him
exultingly to the feet of Hero—but how shall Harry force the
adamantine chains with which Mammon bars the way to happiness!
Assist him ye gods of hapless lovers.
My hero was the son of a farmer, more rich in children than in
acres, and who could only afford them in schooling, value received
for a few bushels of wheat, rye, or potatoes.
Young Harry had no taste for agriculture. The plough furrowed
his handsome countenance, and the harrow harrowed his soul.
Neither did he fancy mechanics—he turned from the anvil, the
carpenter’s bench, the awl, and the scissors, with equal repugnance.
Books, books alone were his passion. For these all else were
neglected, the cattle strayed loose in the fields, the pigs crept
through to the garden, the wheat remained unshocked, and the
grass uncut, while Harry under a tree lost himself amid the tattered
leaves of an old book, which every breath of wind threatened to
sweep far from him. This was a sore trial to his father, but after
fruitlessly exhausting all his arguments to dissuade his son from the
folly of “larning,” he finally gave it up, and left Harry unmolested to
follow his bent. The clergyman of the village admiring the
perseverance of the young farmer-boy, and wishing to encourage
such laudable zeal, kindly volunteered to assist him in his studies,
and with unwearied toil by night and by day, Harry Warren was
finally prepared to enter college.
At the age of twenty-one he graduated honorably, and left the
college walls, his head well-stored with knowledge—a light heart—a
lighter purse, and a strong will to persevere in the path he had
marked out for himself, a path which, after many crooked windings,
was, as his sanguine imagination assured him, to lead him
eventually on the high road to fame.
To put a little money in his pocket, and at the same time gain
some leisure for study, he offered himself as a candidate for the
school in the beautiful village of G——, some fifty miles distant from
his native town. He was accepted, and entered upon the duties of
his new office with hope and energy. And then—the very first thing
he did was to fall in love! foolish fellow—instead of teaching the
young idea to shoot—he suffered himself to be shot—through the
sparkling roguish eyes of little May Lillie did Cupid aim his dart—
twang—he was gone!

Diogenes Lillie, Esq., professed to be a very learned man, an

immensely learned man, and his library accordingly occupied one
whole wing of his large and costly mansion. No one far or near could
boast of so many square feet of knowledge. He patronized the arts
and sciences, and hinted at many wonderful inventions at work in
his brain, which were in time to burst forth and astonish the world.
He also courted the muses, and was convinced that should he once
plume his flight to Parnassus, there would be an immense fluttering
among all soaring poets, whom he should distance at once by his
bold and flashing imagery.
 Could the eyes of poor old Dominie Sampson have rested upon
the countless volumes which like “Alps on Alps” arose to the lofty
ceiling, would not his meagre, bony jaws have ushered in—“pro-di-
gious!” for there was one compartment devoted to theology, another
to geology, and spaces for all the ’ologies—then there were divisions
for astronomy, for botany, for history, for travels—there was the
poet’s corner, and the niche of romance. There were books in
French, and German, and Spanish, and Russian, and Italian, and a
mausoleum for the dead languages. I cannot vouch that “one poor
head could carry” all this, that the brain of the great Diogenes
contained as many chambers as his library divisions—but it was a
very pleasant thing for him to gaze up and down, and down and up,
upon their costly gold-lettered backs! Then there were also busts,
and statues, and globes, and blow-pipes, and barometers, and
thermometers scattered around, and here in this hall of inspiration,
devoted to the “sisters three and such branches of learning,” did Mr.
Lillie spend the most of his invaluable time.
Now great wisdom is said to bestow upon its possessor a
contempt for wealth proportionate, which, by the way, may be the
reason why so many learned writers and men of genius have died in
a garret. If so—there was no fear that the last breath of Diogenes
Lillie, Esq., would be drawn in an attic, for he lost not sight of his
gold in the depths of his wisdom, but so skillfully managed his
financial concerns, that though apparently paying little heed to
business, as he sat there ensconced amid his books and papers, the
ball was kept constantly rolling and constantly accumulating.
Yet what militated most against the love of Harry Warren, he had
resolved from the time when pretty May slipped her leading-strings,
that she should be the wife of some great man wielding authority;
and pray what virtue was there in the petty birch-twig, or the twelve
inch ruler, which were the only symbols of authority the young
school-master wielded!
“However, there is no need of my troubling myself upon that
head yet!” would Mr. Lillie year after year say to himself—“May is but
a child—it will be time enough years hence to pick out a husband for
her.”
 Pick out a husband! just as if the bright eyes of May were not
capable of selecting for themselves—or that the eyes of sixty could
see for those of sixteen.
But there is in reality no need of Mr. Lillie’s troubling himself, for
the deed is done, and the little gipsy May engaged in as pretty a
flirtation, as ever spread the rosy light of love around the hearts of
youth.

Let me exculpate my unfortunate hero from all attempts to win

the affections of his beautiful pupil. On the contrary, it seems a
mystery that his oddities and awkwardness should have awoke any
other emotion than pity in the heart of May—for he was so terribly
ungraceful in her presence—why if he merely spoke to her his voice
was so low and tremulous, that she had really to approach her little
head quite near to catch a word he said—and as for his scholarship,
you would have thought him a dunce, so many egregrious blunders
did he commit in hearing her recitations—and he could no more
guide her little hand in making those pretty and delicate strokes
which marked her copy-book, than he could fly to the moon. You
would have been amazed that such a fine, handsome young fellow,
could have made such a booby of himself!
However, never were scholars blessed with so indulgent a master,
and his popularity rose in proportion, while as your lovers are for the
most part but little given to the “flesh-pots of Egypt,” he was
pronounced by all economical housewives upon whose hospitality he
was semi-monthly thrown, to possess the most accommodating
taste, and could dine from beef and cabbage, pork and parsnips,
peas porridge, or mush and milk, with equal relish.
I am sorry to say, that at first May joined in the laugh with her
mischievous school-mates at the oddities of the master, and
contrived many little tricks to vex him. Yet if she raised her eyes a
moment from her book, she was sure to encounter those of Harry
fixed upon her, with an expression so mournful, yet so tender, as
bathed her cheek with blushes, and her eyes with tears of contrition.
Her frolicks therefore soon yielded to a more pensive mood. She
could not tell why, but the thoughtless mirth of her companions
vexed and annoyed her—she no longer joined in those idle pranks,
which had for their object the ridicule of the master, but gave way to
sudden fits of musing and abstraction. When she heard his footstep
approaching, her heart beat audibly, and in her class she no longer
raised her saucy eyes to misconstrue her lesson, but scarcely lifted
their drooping lids as she answered in faint tones the questions put
to her.
In short, Love had conquered the merriest and most mischievous
maiden that ever laughed at his wiles!
One day in early spring, ere the snow-drop or the crocus, had
dared to lift their pretty heads above the snowy mantle in which old
winter had so long kept them snug and warm, May placed in her
bosom a bright and beautiful rose-bud. It was the first her little
conservatory had yielded, and as she that morning for the first time
discovered it peeping through the rich green leaves, she thought she
had never seen any thing so fresh and beautiful. Carefully plucking it
from the luxuriant branch, she bore off the fragrant trophy to exhibit
to her young companions.
Well to be sure it was only a rose-bud—but as Harry descried it
sitting so proudly upon its pure and lovely throne, something
whispered that with that tiny rose his fate was linked—was it
thornless, or should he wounded and complaining henceforth bid
adieu to happiness!
May caught the glance of the master, and blushed and trembled
just as if she perfectly comprehended what was passing through his
mind, and as suddenly the little rose-bud was invested with new and
tenfold value. She would fain have hid it next her heart from the
careless gaze of her young associates, for she felt that it had now
become a sacred thing which their touch would profane.
Suddenly, May bent her head over her desk, and shook her long
raven curls over her blushing cheek, as she heard a well-known step
behind her, and felt that the large eloquent eyes of the master were
fixed upon her. But for the throbbing of her own little heart, she
could have heard the rapid pulsation of his, while his breath almost
stirred the beautiful ringlet which rested upon her bosom. Rapidly
her little hand now moved over the slate, glancing to the right and
left, tracing figure upon figure, as though its mistress had not a
thought, but was occupied in deciphering the rules of Coleman. It
was a most puzzling sum—never had she attempted one so difficult
—in vain she erased—in vain began again. Of course it was all
wrong, and so Harry, as in duty bound, took the pencil and sat down
by her side to extricate her from her difficulties—as a school-master
you know, there was no other way!
But, dear me—instead of looking upon the slate, his eyes never
fell a bit lower than that little rose-bud—a pretty teacher, to be sure!
“Ahem—that is a beautiful rose, Miss May!”
“Yes, sir.”
“You—you are fond of flowers, I see.”
“Yes, sir.”
“They are a favorite study of mine—are you much versed in the
language of flowers, my—ahem—Miss May?”
“They always speak to me of God’s love and goodness,” replied
May, as demurely as if she had been answering her minister.
“True, dear Miss May,” said Harry. “They are indeed, as the poet
says—‘the smiles of angels’ blessing and cheering us on our earthly
pilgrimage—but aside from this heavenly mission, the poet has also
bestowed upon them another language:

“‘In eastern lands they talk in flowers,

And they tell in a garland their loves and cares,
Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers,
On its leaves a mystic language bears.’

“Is it so—do you believe this, May?”

May made no answer, but bent her head still lower over the book
before her, and the little rose-bud trembled as though moved by
some breath of summer.
“The—the rose, May,” continued Harry, “seems to have been ever
a favorite and expressive flower of this mystic garland:

“‘The rose is the sign of joy and love,

Young blushing love in its earliest dawn.’”
 There was a pause.
“May—May, will you give me the rose?”
May timidly raised her eyes to his—they were filled with tears.
“Will you, May—will you give me the rose?”
The next moment the little bud was in the hand of the
transported Harry, accompanied with a look of such innocent,
confiding love, as made his heart dance with rapture.
Was there ever in after life a moment of such pure and exquisite
happiness as then filled the hearts of the lovers!
But the rose-bud, the poor rose-bud, bitterly did it rue the
change from its lovely resting-place to the great hand of the school-
master—besides coming very near being crushed to pieces between
that and the dainty little fingers of May as she placed it therein!
Well, it must have been a puzzling sum indeed to keep the
master so long at May Lillie’s desk! and taking advantage of his
inattention, the mischievous scholars carried on a pretty little by-play
of their own—there was tittering in corners, and whispering behind
torn covers—and soft, soft tiptoeing from one seat to another, and
little paper pellets flying like hail-stones from side to side. Ah, dear,
happy children—there is no danger—you might knock the master’s
head off, and he would never know it!
“Young ladies—children—I give you a holyday,” quoth Harry,
rapping his desk with the dread ferule, insignia of his power.
“A holyday—huzza—huzza—a holyday!” shouted the girls and
boys, rushing from the school-room.
But the older girls looked slyly at each other, and then at the
blushing May.
“Look—look!” exclaimed half-a-dozen in a breath. “The master is
walking home with May Lillie!”

Diogenes Lillie, Esq., sat in his study. Around him were gathered
all those powerful incentives necessary to call forth that great
masterly genius which lay hid somewhere in his brain—somewhere—
from whence, though many times coaxed and flattered, it had as yet
resolutely refused to stir.
 Upon the table before him, bearing at each corner respectively a
bust of Plato, of Shakspeare, Homer, and Milton, were pamphlets,
reviews, folios, quartos and duodecimos, thickly strewn—but what
was more to the purpose, there was drawn up close to the elbow of
Mr. Lillie, a quire of hot-pressed letter-paper, with edges of gold—a
silver standish, bearing the golden pen ingrafted in a feather of
pearl, and the cerulean ink with which genius should indite the virgin
page, whenever said genius should deign to issue from its dark
hiding-place.
The lips of Diogenes were closely pressed together—his eyes
upturned with a frenzied glare to the ceiling, and deep indentations,
like the rind of a musk-melon, corrugated his brow.
Reader—he was conceiving.
Bringing down his clinched hand with a force which made old
Homer nod, he exclaimed:
“I will write. Yes, I will write a poem—I will astonish the world—
my talents shall no longer remain under a bushel, but shall go forth
like the sword of Gideon to hew down all minor poets! Upon what
theme shall I first spend my genius—let me consider,” (drawing the
paper still nearer and dipping the golden pen into the flowing liquid,)
“gold—the Age of Gold—the Golden Age—yes, ‘The Golden Age’ it
shall be. My sublimity shall throw Milton into the shade,” (with a look
at the blind bard)—“my glowing pictures of rural life shall startle the
lovers of Homer,” (a bow to the god)—“my wit shall cut with the
keen sarcasm of Shakspeare,” (looking glorious Will full in the face)
—“while the tout-ensemble shall form such a completeness of
wisdom, as might honor even the head of a Plato!” (a triumphant
glance at the old philosopher.)
And thus encouraged, the gold pen capered, and flashed, and
flourished from side to side like a mad thing—pointing notes of
admiration here, dotting and scratching there, and then diving deep
into the sea of ink, plumed its pearly pinion for new and higher
flights.
For three weeks did the poet bury himself in his library with dead
and living authors.
 And every morning he kissed his pretty May-flower as she tied on
her little bonnet:
“There, there—go along child; be a good girl and obey the
master.”
And then as she came to bid him good-night:
“There, there; go to bed, child, and don’t forget your lessons.”
Not she, bless her! Why she never forgot a single lesson the
school-master taught her—she had every word by heart!
At length the Golden Age was ready to burst like a blazing star
upon this dull coppery world, and was the most sublime thing, in the
opinion of its author, that was ever written—and who, pray, could be
a better judge!
Now Mr. Lillie having some conception of the ignorance of the
critics, having once (although it is a great secret,) sent a huge MSS.
to the Harpers, which was pronounced “stuff”—it might have been
very good stuff notwithstanding—resolved that ere he essayed the
publishers, he would give his unique poem in all its unfledged beauty
to his native village. It was a capital idea. It should be delivered
before the Lyceum to an astonished audience. He could then have
some faint idea perhaps of the applause which awaited its
appearance in 12mo., calf and gilt.
One evening he dispatched a hasty note to our young school-
master, and requested to see him immediately upon business of a
private nature.
Heavens how poor Harry trembled as he perused this terrible
summons! All was discovered then—Mr. Lillie knew of his
presumptuous love, and had sent to banish him forever from the
presence of May. And then our little heroine—into what an agony of
doubt and apprehension was she thrown, as she read the billet
which Harry contrived to slip into her hand.
At the hour appointed, with an unsteady hand, Harry knocked at
the door of Mr. Lillie’s library. The great Diogenes himself appeared
at the threshhold—and imagine the surprise of our hero to be
greeted with:
“Come in, come in, my dear sir—I am most happy to see you,”
(shaking him warmly by the hand.) “Sit down, Mr. Warren,”
(motioning to a seat at the table of the gods.) “It has long been my
wish to know you better than my very limited time would allow—my
pursuits” (glancing complacently around him,) “are a great bar to
social intercourse. The muses, Mr. Warren, the muses I find are very
jealous ladies—do you cultivate their acquaintance? No? Ah, I am
surprised, for I assure you I have formed a very high opinion of your
talents.”
Harry bowed, and said something about honor, &c., &c.
“My daughter, Mr. Warren,” (ah! now it is coming! thought poor
Harry,) “my daughter, I am inclined to believe, has made great
proficiency under your instruction—you have my thanks for initiating
her into some of the more abstruse sciences which she never before
attended to.”
Did Harry dream, or was the wrath of Mr. Lillie veiled under the
most cutting irony! He could only bow, and smile “a ghastly smile.”
“And speaking of the Muses, my dear young sir,” continued Mr.
Lillie, “I have just been amusing myself with a trifle—a mere flight of
fancy—if you have a few moments leisure now, I will read you a few
passages.”
Of course our hero considered himself favored—and accordingly
with true bombastic style Mr. Lillie read several stanzas from the
closely written pages of his poem. Never had Harry listened to such
trash—he could hardly credit his senses that any man should be so
inflated with vanity as to deem it even passable!
“Ah, it strikes you I see,” said Mr. Lillie. “I knew it would. Yes, I
see it hits your vein exactly—this convinces me that our tastes are
congenial.”
Again Harry bowed—not daring to trust his voice, he was forced
to nod his head continually like a Chinese mandarin in a toy-shop.
“Mr. Warren,” proceeded the author, wheeling his chair round and
regarding our hero with great benignity, “I have imbibed a great
regard for you, and mean to make your fortune—to smooth your
path to eminence. Yes, I like you, and am convinced there is no one
more worthy than yourself to receive——”
Harry started—his face radiant with hope, he bent eagerly
forward to catch the rest of the sentence.
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