Aye, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod. They have left unstained what there they found Freedom to worship God. SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES 1. Give a brief sketch of the history of the Pilgrim Fathers. Explain "band of exiles." 2. What were the conditions under which they landed at Plymouth? 3. How did their welcome differ from that of a conqueror returning home? 4. How can you account for their spirit as shown in stanzas four and five? 5. Explain "They sought a faith's pure shrine." 6. Why call the soil upon which they landed "holy ground"? 7. Explain fully the last two lines. 8. What is shown of the character of the pilgrims in this poem? 9. What in later history justifies your conclusion? 10. For what do you think this poem should be most highly prized? REFERENCES TENNYSON: England and America in 1782. PIERPONT: The Pilgrim Fathers. SWEETSER: The Pilgrims. EVERETT: The Voyage of the Mayflower. BUTTERWORTH: The Thanksgiving in Boston Harbor. SIGOURNEY: The Indian's Welcome to the Pilgrim Fathers. ELLSWORTH: The Mayflower. JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY: The Mayflower. "T THE LAST LEAF OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES HIS poem," says Holmes, "was suggested by the appearance in one of our streets of a venerable relic of the Revolution (Major Thomas Melville), said to be one of the parties who threw the tea overboard in Boston Harbor. He was a fine monumental specimen in his cocked hat and knee breeches, with his buckled shoes and sturdy cane. The smile with which I, as a young man, greeted him, meant no disrespect to an honest fellow-citizen whose costume was out of date, but whose patriotism never changed with years." "His aspect among crowds of a later generation," Holmes explained further, "reminded me of a withered leaf which has held to its stem, through the storms of autumn and winter, and finds itself still clinging to its bough while the new growths of spring are bursting their buds and spreading their foliage all around it.” Edward Everett Hale, in speaking intimately of men and events during the past eighty years said: "Among the reminiscences of a little boy sitting on his nurse's knees to see the passers-by, I recall old Major Melville. He used to be called 'the last of the Boston Tea Party.' Doctor Holmes wrote a very pretty poem about him, which he called 'The Last Leaf on the Tree.' " The poem is, as Abraham Lincoln suggested, “inexpressibly touching," and it calls forth mingled smiles and tears. Every heart feels the deeper pathos of this simple picture of the "The Last Leaf" whose work is well-nigh o'er, but whose last feeble days are filled with the pride of patriotism and the consciousness of duty done. THE LAST LEAF I saw him once before, The pavement stones resound, They say that in his prime, Not a better man was found But now he walks the streets, And he shakes his feeble head, The mossy marbles rest On the lips that he has prest In their bloom, But now his nose is thin, And a crook is in his back, I know it is a sin For me to sit and grin But the old three-cornered hat, And if I should live to be Let them smile, as I do now, SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES 1. Describe the old man as he is pictured to us. 2. What hints are given of his past? 3. What pathetic touches in stanza three? 4. Memorize the fourth stanza. Why is it so often quoted? 5. What is the meaning of "bloom"? 6. What tells of the extreme old age of the man? 7. Explain, "the pruning-knife of Time cut him down." 8. Contrast the youth and age of the Last Leaf. 9. How does the author justify his smiling at the poor old man? 10. What causes the author, at heart, to respect the old man? 11. Though we too may smile, what causes each of us to appreciate keenly this picture? REFERENCES MOORE: Last Rose of Summer. RALPH HOYT: Old. ALBERT GORDON GREENE: Old Grimes. PARK BENJAMIN: The Old Sexton. BURGESS JOHNSON: When Old Age Comes. WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR: To Age. RODEN NOEL: The Old. HOLMES: The Living Temple. CHARLES LAMB: The Old Familiar Faces. THACKERAY: The Play is Done. THOU WOULD'ST BE LOVED? Thou would'st be loved? Then let thy heart -Edgar Allan Poe. |