The Literary World Seventh Reader | Page 8

descendant of the historian of that name, who wrote one of the earliest accounts of the province. Peter was the most ancient inhabitant of the village, and well versed in all the wonderful events and traditions of the neighborhood. He recollected Rip at once, and corroborated his story in the most satisfactory manner. He assured the company that it was a fact, handed down from his ancestor the historian, that the Catskill Mountains had always been haunted by strange beings. It was affirmed that the great Hendrick Hudson, the first discoverer of the river and country, kept a kind of vigil there every twenty years, with his crew of the Half-moon; being permitted in this way to revisit the scenes of his enterprise, and keep a guardian eye upon the river and the great city called by his name. His father had once seen them in their old Dutch dresses playing at ninepins in a hollow of the mountain; and he himself had heard, one summer afternoon, the sound of their balls, like distant peals of thunder.
To make a long story short, the company broke up and returned to the more important concerns of the election. Rip's daughter took him home to live with her; she had a snug, well-furnished house, and a stout, cheery farmer for a husband, whom Rip recollected for one of the urchins that used to climb upon his back. As to Rip's son and heir, who was the ditto of himself, seen leaning against the tree, he was employed to work on the farm; but showed an hereditary disposition to attend to anything else but his business.
WASHINGTON IRVING.
=HELPS TO STUDY=
"Rip Van Winkle" is the most beautiful of American legendary stories. Washington Irving, the author, taking the old idea of long sleep, as found in "The Sleeping Beauty" and other fairy tales, gave it an American setting and interwove in it the legend of Henry Hudson, the discoverer of the Hudson river, who was supposed to return to the scene of his achievement every twenty years, together with the shades of his crew.
I. Where is the scene of this story laid? In which paragraph do you learn when the incident related in the story took place? Why does Irving speak of the mountains as "fairy mountains"? In which paragraph do you meet the principal characters? Give the opinion you form of Rip and his wife. Read sentences that show Rip's good qualities--those that show his faults. What unusual thing happened to Rip on his walk? How was the dog affected? Give a full account of what happened afterward. Tell what impressed you most in this scene. Read aloud the lines that best describe the scenery.
II. Describe Rip's waking. What was his worst fear? How did he explain to himself the change in his gun and the disappearance of Wolf? How did he account for the stiffness of his joints? What was still his chief fear? Describe the changes which had taken place in the mountains. With what feeling did he turn homeward? Why? How did he discover the alteration in his own appearance? How did the children and dogs treat him? Why was this particularly hard for Rip to understand? What other changes did he find? What remained unaltered? How did Rip still account for the peculiar happenings? Describe Rip's feelings as he turned to his own house, and its desolation.
III. What change had been made in the sign over the inn? Why? What important thing was taking place in the village? Why did the speech of the "lean fellow" seem "perfect jargon" to Rip? Why did he not understand the questions asked him? What happened when Rip made his innocent reply to the self-important gentleman? How did he at last learn of the lapse of time? What added to his bewilderment? How was the mystery explained? Note the question Rip reserved for the last and the effect the answer had upon him. How did Peter Vanderdonk explain the strange happening? What is the happy ending? Do you like Rip? Why?
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
Urashima--Graded Classics III. Vice Versa--F. Anstey. Peter Pan--James Barrie. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow--Washington Irving. A Christmas Carol--Charles Dickens. Enoch Arden--Alfred Tennyson.
FOOTNOTE:
[9-*] For words marked [v], see Dictionary.
[Illustration: Photograph by Aldrich
The Great Stone Face]

THE GREAT STONE FACE
I
One afternoon when the sun was going down, a mother and her little boy sat at the door of their cottage, talking about the Great Stone Face. They had but to lift their eyes, and there it was plainly to be seen, though miles away, with the sunshine brightening all its features.
And what was the Great Stone Face? The Great Stone Face was a work of Nature in her mood of majestic playfulness, formed on the perpendicular side of a mountain by some immense rocks, which had been thrown