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The Village Blacksmith-4B Grade

BY GEORGIANA E. BROWN, Principal P. S. 91, Brooklyn.

FOURTH YEAR.
Lesson I.

preparation for this lesson and in order to create an interest in it the teacher might take the class to a blacksmith's shop, or if this is not convenient she might get as many of the pupils as would care to go to visit one to see the work being done there. These pupils should report the results of their visit before the lesson is taken up. The teacher should ask questions designed to bring out all the facts observed by the boys leading them to describe the smith at work and the things he uses-the bellows, the flaming forge, the red hot iron, the anvil, etc. Then she might call attention to the interesting facts connected with the blacksmith's work-the heavy blows of the hammer, the ringing sound as he strikes the anvil, the flying sparks, the sizzling of the iron when it is thrown into the bucket, etc. The teacher might proceed with questions something like the following:

What kind of work do they do in the blacksmith's shop? (shoe horses, make wagon tires, iron bolts, nails, braces, chains, repair iron ploughs, harrows, rakes, hay-forks and all kinds of farm implements). Was the blacksmith making any of these things when you were there? (he was hammering a horse shoe). What was he hammering it on? (anvil). What does the anvil look like? (let a boy make a drawing of it on the blackboard). Tell me what you think this horn-shaped part of the anvil is for? (bending the iron into the shape the blacksmith wants it). I wonder if any of the boys who went to the blacksmith's heard a ringing sound as the blacksmith hammered on the anvil? (yes). What caused it? (the blacksmith's hammer tapping on the anvil between strokes). Why does he do this? (to give his arm a little rest by change of motion; he likes to hear the sound and so does everybody, the rythm helps him, he likes to hear the sound and so does everybody). What does the blacksmith do with the iron when it cools and gets too hard to hammer? (puts it in the fire again). Where is the fire? (on the forge). What is the forge? (the fireplace with the chimney and bellows). What do you always see near the forge in the blacksmith's shop? (the anvil). Why is it always near the forge? (so that the blacksmith can turn at once from the forge with his red hot iron). How does he make the fire blaze up in great flames? (he makes the bellows blow). What does the iron look like when it comes out of the fire? (red hot). What happens when the blacksmith hammers it? (sparks fly). Why? (the iron is soft and the blows of the hammer break off little red hot particles and scatter them all around).

Now we have a pretty good idea of the blacksmith's shop and the kind of work that is done there and I want you to listen while I read carefully this beautiful poem about the blacksmith himself.

The teacher now reads the entire poem as impressively as possible without further comment leaving the study of the poem for the next lesson.

Lesson II.

Now to-day we are going to read this beautiful poem once more. I think I will find some very interesting pictures in it. I want you to read the first two lines silently and then let me know what kind of picture these lines make in your mind? (blacksmith's shop with chestnut tree). Yes, this is the blacksmith's shop in the village near where the poet lived and he passed it nearly every day. No doubt he stopped there very often and had many a chat with the blacksmith. And what do you think did he see while he was chatting with the blacksmith? (horses coming to be shod, farmers with their hay-forks and other implements, and some with wagons to be repaired). And what was peculiar about the tree? (large, beautiful). Yes, and probably it was a very old tree and a landmark of the village. And it spread out its branches so as to give plenty of shade to the smithy in warm summer days. Now I want you to listen while I read what the poet says about the blacksmith that he knew so well. The teacher reads the following:

The smith, a mighty man is he,

With large and sinewy hands;

And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,

His face is like the tan;

What is your idea of the blacksmith after hearing these lines? (strong, large, has powerful hands, muscles hardened by work, he has thick crisp hair). How does the poet know his arms are brawny? Did he see them? (yes, his sleeves are always rolled up). The teacher reads "His face was like the tan." What does this mean? (brown from heat of furnace and from exposure to the sun). Here is a good natural pause in the thought and the teacher might take advantage of it by reading the poem down to this point, the object being to familiarize the children with it by reading it as frequently as there is good reason for doing so.

Now the poet has told us how the blacksmith looked and he is now going to tell us what kind of a man he is. Listen. The teacher reads:

His brow is wet with honest sweat,

He earns whate'er he can,

And looks the whole world in the face,

For he owes not any man.

What is your idea of the blacksmith now? (he is honest, hardworking, contented, and pays his debts). The teacher asks a boy to read the lines that show he is honest and hardworking "His brow is wet with honest sweat." Does the blacksmith earn much money? (no). Did you ever hear of a rich blacksmith? (no). How about this blacksmith, do you think he made much money? (no). Do you think he frets about making money? (no). What makes you think he is satisfied? What does the poet say? (read three lines-"He earns whate'er he can, And looks the whole world in

the face, For he owes not any man." Now what does all this mean? (he is satisfied, he has a contented mind; owes nobody). Yes, he works diligently all day long and earns enough to pay all his debts and is a perfectly honest man.

The teacher might ask a boy to read what the poet says about the smithy (first two lines); then the lines that show how the blacksmith looks (next six lines), and then the lines that tell what kind of a man the blacksmith is. The teacher now reads these stanzas and asks one or more of the pupils to read after her.

Lesson III.

The teacher may begin this lesson with a review of the two stanzas studied.

Where did we leave off in our last lesson about the village blacksmith? (the kind of man he was). Yes, and you remember the smithy and the spreading chestnut tree, and how the poet describes this mighty man. Now let us read this poem from the beginning (the teacher recites the first two stanzas). Now listen while I read what he says further (the teacher reads the next two stanzas):

Week in, week out, from morn till night,

You can hear the bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,

Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;

They love to see the flaming forge,

And hear the bellows roar,

And catch the burning sparks that fly

Like chaff from a threshing floor.

In our last lesson we had a picture of the blacksmith himself and now what have we in these two stanzas? (the blacksmith at work). Do you think he is a very industrious man? (yes). What makes you think so? (he works all day). And the poet says you can hear him from morn till night at his work. How does the poet express it? (have the first stanza of the day's lesson read). Then the teacher might read it slowly and impressively, then repeat slowly: "When the evening sun is low"-and how does the village bell sound when the evening sun is low? (soft and low and rythmic). Who rings the bell? (the sexton). Can any boy tell me how the sexton rings the village bell? (he pulls the rope in a regular rythmic motion sometimes with only one hand and then again with both, very much like the blacksmith with the hammer). Why does the poet compare the blacksmith's motion to the sexton's? (they are alike in time and rythm and in producing an

agreeable and inspiring sound). The teacher might now read the stanza beginning "Week in, week out, etc.'

The teacher may now read the second stanza and continue in the following strain. I think a village smithy must be a very interesting place. Everybody seems to stop and look in as he passes by. Why are these children around the door of the smithy? (they want to see the blacksmith working). And what do they love to see in the smithy? (flaming forge). And what do they love to hear? (the bellows roar). What else interests them? (the sparks). Do they have to go into the smithy to see and hear these things? (no). Where do they stand? (at the open door). Why is the door wide open? (to let the horses and wagons out and in). The teacher may now read the poem from the beginning to the end of this lesson, resting at the natural divisions that make pictures in the children's minds. (1) The smithy (first two lines) (2) How the blacksmith looked (next six lines) (3) The kind of man the blacksmith was (next four lines) (4) The blacksmith at work (third and fourth stanzas). These pictures or topics will be convenient aids for memorizing.

Lesson IV.

Now in the four stanzas we have already studied the poet has given us four distinct pictures. Perhaps some of the boys can tell me what these pictures are? (the smithy, how the blacksmith looked, the kind of man the blacksmith was, and the blacksmith at work). Yes, and we left off at the part where the children, coming home from school, stopped at the wide open door of the smithy to look at the flaming forge and the flying sparks (here the teacher should read the last stanza of the previous lesson) "And children coming home, etc."

And now, children, I want you to listen while I read you the next two stanzas which tell us something else interesting about the blacksmith:

He goes on Sunday to the church,

And sits among his boys;

He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter's voice,

Singing in the village choir,

And it makes his heart rejoice.

It sounds to him like her mother's voice,
Singing in Paradise!

He needs must think of her once more,

How in the grave she lies,

And with his hard, rough hand he wipes

A tear out of his eyes.

The teacher reads the fifth stanza. Where is the blacksmith now? (at church). Is the smithy open to-day? (no). No, there is no wide open

door to-day and no children looking in. Why not? (it is Sunday). Yes this is a Sunday of the olden time in New England when all the workshops were closed and everybody went to church. In the morning, just after breakfast, the bells of the village church would ring out and you could see the people coming out of every cottage and wending their way to the little church near the village green. First would come the father and the mother then the boys and girls follow after. The honest blacksmith and his family was one of these parties. Who was with him this Sunday morning? (his sons and his daughter). Was his wife with him? (no). No, he walked to church alone with the boys and his only daughter for their mother was dead. What does the poet say about the daughter? (she sang in the village choir). When the blacksmith heard the sweet voice of his daughter away off in the other part of the church how did it make him feel? (thoughtful, pensive, sad). Of whom did it make him think? (the mother). Yes it made him think of her mother who died long years ago, and he just sat and listened like one in a dream until he thought it was his wife's voice singing away up in heaven. And does this make him feel sad? (yes). Listen to the way the poet tells us this (the teacher should read the lines "and with his hand, etc."). Now how does this make you think of the blacksmith? (that he was tender-tearted, affectionate, loyal).

The teacher might now read the two stanzas. She might then call on one boy to read the stanza that tells about the blacksmith in church, and another to read the stanza that tells of the blacksmith thinking about his wife. The teacher might then ask the class to listen very carefully while she reads the two stanzas. Before reading she might say: Now I want you to see the blacksmith with his boys around him and his daughter singing in the choir, just as the poet pictures it, and I want you to realize just how the blacksmith felt when his daughter's sweet voice reached his ear and touched his heart.

The teacher might now read for the sake of memorizing the stanzas, calling on various pupils to read after her with the idea of expressing the feelings of the blacksmith, making the divisions similar to those in the preceding lessons: (1) The blacksmith going to church; (2) The blacksmith listening to his daughter's sweet voice.

Lesson V.

The teacher might read the entire poem and then take up the last two stanzas as the lesson for the day, re-reading them.

Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begun,
Each evening sees it close;
Something attempted, something done,

Has earned a night's repose.