XLII

THE VALLEY OF THE MANY-COLORED GRASS

Study of Literature

Eleonora was the name of my cousin; we had always dwelled together, beneath a tropical sun, in the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass. No unguided footstep ever came upon that vale: for it lay far away up among a range of giant hills that hung beetling around about it, shutting out the sunlight from its sweetest recesses. No path was trodden in its vicinity; and, to reach our happy home, there was need of putting back, with force, the foliage of many thousands of forest trees, and of crushing to death the glories of many millions of fragrant flowers.

From out the dim regions beyond the mountains, there crept a narrow and deep river, brighter than all save the eyes of Eleonora; and, winding stealthily about in mazy courses, it passed away, at length, through a shadowy gorge, among hills still dimmer than those whence it had issued. We called it the "River of Silence."

The margin of the river, and of the many dazzling rivulets that glided into its channel, not less than the whole surface of the valley, was carpeted by a soft, green grass, thick, short, perfectly even, and so besprinkled throughout with the yellow buttercup, the white daisy, the purple violet and the ruby-red asphodel, that its beauty spoke to our hearts in loud tones of the love and of the glory of God. EDGAR ALLAN POE (adapted).

Give this description orally.

This selection is a poem in thought, though not in form. It has beautiful pictures and figures of speech, but no rhyme or meter. Try to see the pictures. If you do not know the meanings of some of the words, use a dictionary.

Suggestive Questions:

Is Eleonora a musical name?

What is a tropical sun?

Why does the author use the word vale (line 4) instead of valley?

What are giant hills? Why not simply high hills?
What is beetling?

Point out all the words and expressions by which Poe makes you feel the peacefulness of the valley.

Ask and answer many questions about the river and the colored meadow.

Would you like to live in so quiet a valley?
What kind of society would you want there?

Think of the most peaceful place you can recall and write a description of it. Take the valley of the ManyColored Grass as your model in writing your description and try to use words that paint pictures.

I love thee when thy swelling buds appear,

And one by one thy tender leaves unfold,
As if they knew what warmer suns were near,
Nor longer sought to hide from Winter's cold;
And when with darker growth thy leaves are seen
To veil from view the early robin's nest,

I love to lie beneath thy waving screen,

With limbs by summer's heat and toil oppressed;

And when the autumn winds have stripped thee bare,
And round thee lies the smooth, untrodden snow,
When naught is thine that made thee once so fair,

I love to watch thy shadowy form below,

And through thy leafless arms to look above

On stars that brighter beam when most we need their love. -JONES VERY.

This poem contains three distinct pictures. What are they?

Paint one of them in colors.

(2)

Write a description of some tree as it appears at the season when you are studying this poem.

Put as many figures of speech into your description

as you can.

XLIV

DANIEL BOONE

Writing History

Gather all the information you can about Boone. Talk it over in class and then write it in chapters, using the following outline.

A Suggestive Outline:

1. Boone's childhood in Pennsylvania.

Probable occupations and education.

2. Removal to North Carolina.

Youth and young manhood in that state.
Conditions, how different from those in Pennsyl-

vania.

Plantations, many slaves.

Boone a famous hunter.

3. First exploring trip into Kentucky. Capture by the Indians.

Escape.

Hunting in Kentucky.

Return home.

4. Settling in Kentucky.
Boone's fort.

Fighting the Indians.
Battle of Blue Lick.
Capture by Indians.

Removal to Detroit.

Escape and return to his fort.
Association with George Rogers Clark.

5. Later years.

Loss of lands.

Removal to Missouri.

Second loss of lands.

Tardy rewards by Congress.

Death and burial.

6. Character and work of Boone.

Love of adventure.

Bravery.

Shrewdness.

Honor.

Wisdom.

The results to the country of his life and labors.

XLV

TWO PICTURES

Here are two pictures. Both are beautiful; both are by great artists, but the pictures are as different as were the lives of the artists. Millet, who painted