An American Robinson Crusoe

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American Robinson Crusoe, by Samuel. B. Allison

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Title: An American Robinson Crusoe for American Boys and Girls
Author: Samuel. B. Allison
Release Date: August 13, 2007 [EBook #22309]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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AN AMERICAN ROBINSON CRUSOE FOR AMERICAN BOYS AND GIRLS
THE ADAPTATION, WITH ADDITIONAL INCIDENTS
BY
SAMUEL B. ALLISON, Ph.D.
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, CHICAGO, ILL.
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO
COPYRIGHT, 1918
BY
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY

CONTENTS

I Robinson with His Parents 7
II Robinson as an Apprentice 10
III Robinson's Departure 13
IV Robinson Far from Home 17
V The Shipwreck 19
VI Robinson Saved 21
VII The First Night on Land 23
VIII Robinson on an Island 28
IX Robinson's Shelter 30
X Robinson Makes a Hat 34
XI Robinson's Calendar 38
XII Robinson Makes a Hunting Bag 41
XIII Robinson Explores the Island 44
XIV Robinson as a Hunter 48
XV Robinson's Shoes and Parasol 51
XVI Getting Fire 53
XVII Robinson Makes Some Furniture 55
XVIII Robinson Becomes a Shepherd 57
XIX Robinson Builds a Home for His Goats 60
XX Robinson Gets Ready for Winter 64
XXI How Robinson Lays up a Store of Food 67
XXII Robinson's Diary 70
XXIII Robinson is Sick 74
XXIV Robinson's Bower 77
XXV Robinson Again Explores His Island 81
XXVI Robinson and His Birds 84
XXVII Robinson Gets Fire 89
XXVIII Robinson Makes Baskets 93
XXIX Robinson Becomes a Farmer 98
XXX Robinson as Potter 104
XXXI Robinson as Baker 108
XXXII Robinson as Fisherman 112
XXXIII Robinson Builds a Boat 116
XXXIV Robinson as a Sailor 120
XXXV A Discovery 127
XXXVI The Landing of the Savages 133
XXXVII Robinson as Teacher 139
XXXVIII Another Shipwreck 144
XXXIX Saving Things from the Ship 149
XL The Return of the Savages 155
XLI Deliverance at Last 162
XLII Robinson at Home 167

PREFATORY NOTE
"An American Robinson Crusoe" is the outcome of many years of experience with the story in the early grades of elementary schools. It was written to be used as a content in giving a knowledge of the beginning and development of human progress. The aim is not just to furnish an interesting narrative, but one that is true to the course of human development and the scientific and geographical facts of the island on which Robinson is supposed to have lived.
The excuse for departing so widely from the original story is to be found in the use which was desired to be made of it. The story here presented is simply the free adaptation of the original narrative to the demand for a specific kind of content in a form which would be interesting to the children.
The teacher is and should be justified in using with entire freedom any material accessible for the ends of instruction.
The text as here given has been published with an introduction and suggestive treatments as a Teacher's Manual for Primary Grades--"The Teacher's Robinson Crusoe." Explicit directions and ample suggestions are made for the use of the story as material for instruction in all the language arts, drawing, social history, and the manual arts.
Published by the Educational Publishing Company.

AN AMERICAN ROBINSON CRUSOE

I
ROBINSON WITH HIS PARENTS
There once lived in the city of New York, a boy by the name of Robinson Crusoe. He had a pleasant home. His father and mother were kind to him and sent him to school. They hoped that he would study hard and grow up to be a wise and useful man, but he loved rather to run idle about the street than to go to school. He was fond of playing along the River Hudson, for he there saw the great ships come and go. They were as big as houses. He watched them load and unload their cargoes and hundreds of people get off and on. His father had told him that the ships came from far distant lands, where lived many large animals and black men. His father told him too, that in these faraway countries the nuts on the trees grew to be as large as one's head and that the tree were as high as church steeples.
When Robinson saw the ships put out to sea he would watch them till they would disappear below the horizon far out in the ocean, and think, "Oh, if I could only go with them far away to see those strange countries!" Thus he would linger along the great river and wish he might find an opportunity of making a voyage. Often it would be dark before he would get home. When he came into the house his mother would meet him and say in a gentle voice,