Then stepped forth brave Little John. "How many miles is it to thy truelove? Come tell me without any guile:" And Nick, the miller's son, Which made the young man bend his bow, "By the faith of my body," then said When as he saw them come. 'Stand off! stand off!" the young man said; "What is your will with me?" "You must come before our master straight, Under yon greenwood tree.” And when he came bold Robin before, "I have no money," the young man said, "But five shillings and a ring; And that I have kept this seven long years, To have it at my wedding. "Yesterday I should have married a maid, But she is now from me ta 'en, And chose.. to be an old knight's delight, Whereby my poor heart is slain." "What is thy name?" then said Robin Hood; "Come tell me without any fail." "By the faith of my body," then said the young man, "My name it is Allen-a-Dale." "What wilt thou give me," said Robin Hood, "In ready gold or fee, To help thee to thy truelove again, And deliver her unto thee?" the young man, "It is but five little mile." Then Robin he hasted over the plain, Where Allen should keep his wedding. "What dost thou here?" the bishop he said, "I prithee now tell to me" "I am a bold harper," quoth Robin Hood, "And the best in the north country." "O welcome, O welcome," the bishop he said, "That music best pleaseth me." "You shall have no music," quoth Robin Hood, "Till the bride and bridegroom I see." With that came in a wealthy knight, Did shine like glistering gold. "This is no fit match," quoth bold Robin Hood, "That you do seem to make here; For since we are come unto the church, The bride she shall choose her own dear." Then Robin Hood put his horn to his mouth, And blew blasts two or three; When four and twenty bowmen bold "I have no money," then quoth the And when they came into the church young man, "No ready gold nor fee, But I will swear upon a book Thy true servant for to be." yard, Marching all in a row, The first man was Allen-a-Dale, To give bold Robin his bow. "This is thy truelove," Robin he said, "Young Allen, as I hear say; And you shall be married at this same time, Before we depart away." "That shall not be," the bishop he said, "For thy word shall not stand; They shall be three times asked in the church, As the law is of our land." Robin Hood pulled off the bishop's coat, And put it upon Little John; "By the faith of my body," then Robin said, "This cloth doth make thee a man." When Little John went into the choir, "Who gives me this maid?" then said Little John; Quoth Robin, "That do I, And he that doth take her from Allen-aDale Full dearly he shall her buy." And thus having ended this merry wedding, The bride looked as fresh as a queen, And so they returned to the merry greenwood, Amongst the leaves so green. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abbott, J. S. C., Christopher Carson. David Crockett. Antin, Mary, The Promised Land. Baldwin, James, Four Great Americans. [Washington, Franklin, Webster, Lincoln.] A American Book of Golden Deeds. Bolton, Sarah K., Lives of Girls Who Became Famous. Lives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous. Boutet de Monvel, Louis Maurice, Joan of Arc. Brooks, Elbridge S., True Story of Christopher Columbus. Cody, Col. W. F., Adventures of Buffalo Bill. Franklin, Benjamin, Autobiography. Golding, V., Story of David Livingston. Gould, F. J., The Children's Plutarch. [2 vols., one of Greeks, the other of Romans.] Hathaway, Esse V., Napoleon, the Little Corsican. Hughes, Thomas, Alfred the Great. Larcom, Lucy, A New England Girlhood. Mabie, Hamilton W., Heroines Every Child Should Know. Moores, Charles W., Life of Abraham Lincoln for Boys and Girls. Muir, John, Story of My Boyhood and Youth.. Nicolay, Helen, Boy's Life of Abraham Lincoln. Page, Thomas Nelson, Robert E. Lee: Man and Soldier. Paine, Albert Bigelow, Boy's Life of Mark Twain. Quiller-Couch, Sir Arthur, Roll Call of Honor. [Bolivar, John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, Garibaldi, David Livingston, Florence Nightingale, Pasteur, Gordon, Father Damien.] Richards, Laura E., Florence Nightingale. Riis, Jacob, Making of an American. Roosevelt, Theodore, and Lodge, Henry Cabot, Hero Tales from American History. Scudder, Horace E., George Washington. Shaw, Anna Howard, The Story of a Pioneer. Tarbell, Ida M., Life of Abraham Lincoln. Thwaites, Reuben G., Daniel Boone. Washington, Booker T., Up from Slavery. White, John S., Boys' and Girls' Plutarch. [Preserves parallel arrangement.] SECTION XI. BIOGRAPHY AND HERO STORIES INTRODUCTORY Biography and its value. The great charm of biography for both young and old is in its perfect concreteness. Nothing fascinates like the story of a real person at grips with realities. Nothing inspires like the story of a hard-won victory over difficulties. Here are instances of men and women, our own kindred, facing great crises in the physical or moral realm with the calm courage and the clear mind of which we have dreamed. Here are others who have fought the brave fight in opposition to the stupidities and long-entrenched prejudices of their fellows. Here are still others who have wrested from nature her innermost secrets, who have won for us immunity against lurking diseases and dangers, who have labored successfully against great odds to make life more safe, more comfortable, or more beautiful. All these records of real accomplishment appeal to the youthful spirit of emulation, and there can be no stronger inspiration in facing the unsolved problems of the future. "What men have done men can still do." The material and its presentation. Most teachers will find the biographical or historical story easier to handle than the imaginative story, because there is a definite outline of fact from which to work. Only those life stories with which the teacher is in sympathy can be handled satisfactorily. For that reason no definite list of suitable material is worth much, except as illustrating the wide range of choice. Keeping these limitations in mind, we may venture a few practical hints: 1. There is a large list of heroic figures hovering on the border line between reality and legend of whose stories children never tire. In such a list are the names of Leonidas, who held the pass at Thermopylae, William Tell and Arnold von Winkelried, favorite heroes of Switzerland, Robert Bruce of Scotland, and that pair of immortally faithful friends, Damon and Pythias. 2. With Marco Polo we may visit the wonderlands of the East, we may go with Captain Cook through the islands of the southern seas, with Stanley through darkest Africa, with the brave Scott in his tragic dash for the South Pole. Best of all, perhaps, we may, with Columbus, discover another America. 3. How Elihu Burritt became the "learned blacksmith," how Hugh Miller brought himself to be an authority on the old red sandstone, are always inspiring stories to the ambitious student. And in any list of achievements by those bound in by untoward circumstance must be placed that of Booker T. Washington as told by himself in Up from Slavery. 4. From our earlier history we may draw upon such lives as those of Franklin, Washington, and Patrick Henry. There are numberless stirring episodes from the careers of Francis Marion, Israel Putnam, Nathan Hale, and others that will occur to any reader of our history. Lincoln's life history offers an almost inexhaustible treasure. Grant, grimly silent and persevering, and Lee, kindly |