You'll be surprised at him-how much he's broken. His working days are done; I'm sure of it." "I'd not be in a hurry to say that." "I haven't been. Go, look, see for yourself. But, Warren, please remember how it is: 155 He's come to help you ditch the meadow. He has a plan. You mustn't laugh at him. He may not speak of it, and then he may. I'll sit and see if that small sailing cloud Will hit or miss the moon." 161 NOTES AND QUESTIONS 1. What is the situation at the opening of the poem? Why did Mary wish to put Warren on his guard? What had happened at the last interview between Warren and Silas? Why had Silas left? 2. What had Silas and young Wilson talked about while haying? What did Silas think of college education? What is meant by "He could find water with a hazel prong"? Why did Silas keep thinking of these past events? 3. Do you gain a clear idea of Silas from the poem? Have you ever known anyone like him? What were the chief traits of his character? A FARMER REMEMBERS LINCOLN WITTER BYNNER "Lincoln? Well, I was in the old Second Maine, Of course I didn't get the butt of the clip; "I ain't never ben to the theayter in my life NOTES AND QUESTIONS 1. Why does the speaker say that Lincoln was a farmer? In what respects does his characterization of Lincoln seem to you to be just? Why had the farmer never been in a theater since that night? 2. Compare this portrait of Lincoln with others you have read previously. Do the different sketches of him agree in any particulars? 3. Study the language, the stanza, and the lines of this poem. What signs are there that the farmer found his ideas hard to express. Would the incident make as much impression on you if written in prose? Is this the dream He dreamed who shaped the suns 15 And marked their ways upon the ancient deep? Down all the caverns of Hell to their last gulf There is no shape more terrible than thisMore tongued with censure of the world's blind greed More filled with signs and portents for the soul 20 24 More packed with danger to the universe. Time's tragedy is in that aching stoop; Through this dread shape humanity betrayed, Plundered, profaned, and disinherited, 30 Cries protest to the Judges of the World, A protest that is also prophecy. 24. Plato (B.c. 427-347), a famous Greek philosopher. Pleiades, a cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus. O masters, lords and, rulers in all lands, 35 How will you ever straighten up this shape; 40 O masters, lords, and rulers in all lands, world? 45 How will it be with kingdoms and with kings Mrs. Pelz threw up the sash. "The boiler? What's the matter with yours again? with yours again? Didn't you tell me 10 you had it fixed already last week?" "A black year on him, the robber, the way he fixed it! If you have no luck in this world, then it's better not to live. There I spent out fifteen cents to stop up one hole, and it runs out another. How I ate out my gall bargaining with him he should let it down to fifteen cents! He wanted yet a quarter, the swindler. Gottuniu! 20 My bitter heart on him for every penny he took from me for nothing!" "You got to watch all those swin With those who shaped him to the thing he dlers, or they'll steal the whites out of is When this dumb terror shall appeal to God, NOTES AND QUESTIONS 1. What differences do you note between the "man with the hoe" and Frost's "hired man" as farm laborer types? Is Markham thinking of the American laborer, or of the European peasant? Give reasons for your answer. 2. In what respect is this picture of the peasant unfair or biased? In what respects does it seem to you to be true? 3. Why should the poet say that this brutal man is "packed with danger to the universe"? Why should he appeal to the "masters, lords, and rulers in all lands"? Do you think of any periods in history when this prophecy has come true, wholly or in part? In what ways, do you think, may the repetition of such disasters be prevented? "THE FAT OF THE LAND" ANZIA YEZIERSKA I In an air-shaft so narrow that you could touch the next wall with your bare hands, Hanneh Breineh leaned out and knocked on her neighbor's window. "Can you loan me your wash-boiler for the clothes?" she called. your eyes," admonished Mrs. Pelz. "You should have tried out your boiler before you paid him. Wait a minute till I empty out my dirty clothes in a pillow-case; then I'll hand it to you. Mrs. Pelz returned with the boiler and tried to hand it across to Hanneh Breineh, but the soap-box refrigerator on the window-sill was in the way. "You got to come in for the boiler yourself," said Mrs. Pelz. "Wait only till I tie my Sammy on to the high-chair he shouldn't fall on me again. He's so wild that ropes won't hold him." Hanneh Breineh tied the child in the chair, stuck a pacifier in his mouth, and went in to her neighbor. As she took the boiler Mrs. Pelz. said: "Do you know Mrs. Melker ordered fifty pounds of chicken for her daughter's wedding? And such grand chickens! Shining like gold! My heart melted in me just looking at the flowing fatness of those chickens." Hanneh Breineh smacked her thin, dry lips, a hungry gleam in her sunken eyes. "Fifty pounds!" she gasped. "It ain't possible. How do you know?" "I heard her with my own ears. I 30 40 50 "Some people work themselves up 10 in the world," sighed Hanneh Breineh. "For them is America flowing with milk and honey. In Savel Mrs. Melker used to get shriveled up from hunger. She and her children used to live on potato-peelings and crusts of dry bread picked out from the barrels; and in America she lives to eat chicken, and apple shtrudels soaking in fat." "The world is a wheel always turn20 ing," philosophized Mrs. Pelz. "Those who were high go down low, and those who've been low go up higher. Who will believe me here in America that in Poland I was a cook in a banker's house? I handled ducks and geese every day. I used to bake coffee-cake with cream so thick you could cut it with a knife." "And do you think I was a nobody in 30 Poland?" broke in Hanneh Breineh, tears welling in her eyes as the memories of her past rushed over her. "But what's the use of talking? In America money is everything. Who cares who my father or grandfather was in Poland? Without money I'm a living dead one. My head dries out worrying how to get for the children the eating a penny cheaper." A sudden fall and a baby's scream, 50 and the boiler dropped from Hanneh Breineh's hands as she rushed into her kitchen, Mrs. Pelz after her. They found the high-chair turned on top of the baby. "Gewalt! Save me! Run for a doctor!" cried Hanneh Breineh, as she dragged the child from under the highchair. "He's killed! He's killed! My only child! My precious lamb!" she 60 shrieked as she ran back and forth with the screaming infant. Mrs. Pelz snatched little Sammy from the mother's hands. "Meshugneh! What are you running around like a crazy, frightening the child? Let me see. Let me tend to him. He ain't killed yet." She hastened to the sink to wash the child's face, and discovered a swelling lump 70 on his forehead. "Have you a quarter in your house?" she asked. "Yes, I got one," replied Hanneh Breineh, climbing on a chair. "I got to keep it on a high shelf where the children can't get it.” Mrs. Pelz seized the quarter Hanneh Breineh handed down to her. "Now pull your left eyelid three times while I'm pressing the quarter, so and you'll see the swelling go down.” Hanneh Breineh took the child again in her arms, shaking and cooing over it and caressing it. "Ah-ah-ah, Sammy! Ah-ah-ah-ah, little lamb! Ah-ah-ah, little bird! Ah-ah-ah-ah, precious heart! Oh, you saved my life; I thought he was killed,” gasped Hanneh Breineh, turning to Mrs. Pelz. "Oi-i!" she sighed, "a 90 mother's heart! Always in fear over her children. The minute anything happens to them all life goes out of me. I lose my head and I don't know where I am any more." "No wonder the child fell," admonished Mrs. Pelz. "You should have a red ribbon or red beads on his neck |