Community English, a book of undertakings for boys and girls

Front matter

Gdmmun Englis

PLAGG

Book -r4

Preface

This book aims to be of positive, practical value

1. In helping the pupil to develop within himself the power to understand, use correctly, and appreciate the mother tongue.

2. In contributing, through individual and group investigations and reports of community activities, to the making of sturdy, competent American citizens.

3. In giving the pupil a feeling of self-reliance based upon the knowledge that he has done his own research work and thought questions through for himself.

4. In providing group exercises in which the pupil becomes a critic of his own work and that of his classmates.

5. In drawing little distinction between school and out-of-school activities.

6. In suggesting a sufficient number of purposeful activities to interest every pupil in the class.

7. In making it unnecessary for the teacher to make such a statement as, *'It may not appear useful to you now, but it will be extremely valuable to you in after life."

8. In helping the pupil to form proper mental habits by uninterrupted attention to one undertaking at a time.

9. In giving the pupil a more intimate acquaintance with his environment.

10. In providing an incentive for good English outside the schoolroom.

vii

^^111

Preface

This book is designed for use in the grammar grades and in junior high schools. Each Undertaking is a complete unit in itself and is in the highest possible degree independent of the other Undertakings. In each unit the first activity, in one of its several forms, should be worked out by each pupil. Additional similar projects may be undertaken if interest warrants and time permits.

The method of this book needs little comment or explanation. The book has been written for the pupils and the Undertakings have been presented in simple, concise fashion. The subject matter is organized in nineteen comprehensive units which provide a far greater amount of suggested material than any one teacher or class can" possibly use. This freedom of choice affords a variety of work which would otherwise be impossible.

Furthermore, local conditions and experience are emphasized to such an extent that the problem of what to say proves no longer troublesome, and undivided attention may be given to how to say it. Home industries, home government, public utilities, and local history form the means by which the work of the Enghsh class is almost automatically correlated with that in other subjects. Introductory talks and questions serve as guides to the pupil. The play spirit, so large a part of the home and outdoor life of the pupil, is made a salient feature of the classroom activity. Hence there is no lost energy and no mind-wandering. Indeed, in almost every Undertaking the pupil loses sight of the fact that he is gaining knowledge, because of his interest in the results.

The paragraph has been made the subject of special study ; and letter-writing, the making of reports, memory

Preface

IX training, the use of reference books, telephone conversations, verse-making, dramatization, and the study of literary masterpieces have received much attention. Provision has been made for only enough technical grammar to furnish a touchstone by which the pupil is able to understand what he reads and to correct his own faulty habits of speech.

This book is the direct outcome of five years of experience in the teaching and supervision of English by the project method. Each of the Undertakings has been tested many times in various English classes.

M. B. F.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author makes grateful acknowledgment to the following publishers and authors for permission to use copyright material : to Henry Holcomb Bennett and The Youth's Companion for The Flag Goes By; to Katharine Lee Bates and T. Y. Crowell Company for America the Beautiful; to Samuel Arthur Derieux and The American Magazine for the excerpt from The Smartest Animals We Know; to The Macmillan Company for selections from American History for Grammar Schools by Marguerite Stockman Dickson, for the play James Wolfe from Historical Plays for Children by Bird and Starling, and for the letter from Charles Kingsley; to The Ladies' Home Journal for the editorial The Lip-Lazy American; to Joseph C. Lincoln and D. Apple ton & Co. for the extract from Shavings; to The Review of Reviews Company for the letter from Phillips Brooks to Canon Farrar ; and to various individuals and historical societies for permission to use hitherto unpublished letters.

The selection by Vice-President Calvin Coolidge from Have Faith in Massachusetts and the description of the June day from The Vision of Sir Launfal by James Russell Lowell are used by permission of and by special arrangement with Houghton MifHin Company, the authorized publishers of these works. The author is similarly indebted to Rudyard Kipling, to A. P. Watt & Son of

si xii Acknowledgments

London, and to Doubleday, Page & Co. for //; and to Charles Scribner's Sons for America for Me by Henry Van Dyke, and for The Griffin and the Minor Canon by Frank R. Stockton.

The inaugural address of President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University is reprinted by special permission. Grateful acknowledgment is also due Dr. S. J. Slawson, Superintendent of Schools, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Miss Mary Rosa for help in the preparation of the first draft of the manuscript ; and to Dr. Henry P. Emerson, author of Modern English and English Spoken and Written^ for careful reading of the manuscript and for many helpful suggestions.

Table Of Contents

PAGE

Part I. Letter-Writing i Friendly letters 2

Greetings . 3

Accompanying gifts 5

Travel letters 6

Thanks for gifts 7

Invitations 8

Thanks to hostess 9

Sympathy 10

Business letters 11

Orders 14

Receipts 15

Complaints 15

Adjustments 16

Applications 16

Answers to advertisements 17

Letter of instructions 19

Telegrams 21

Fast day messages 22

Day letters 22

Night letters 23

Cablegram 23

Part IL The Making of Booklets 37

The individual booklet 37

The class booklet 51

The class scrapbook . . . , . , . .51

The class anthology 51

xiii

XIV

Table of Contents

Part III. Oral and Written Reports In paragraph form

Reports upon public utilities Reports upon city governmept .

In outline form .....

Report on subjects looked up in reference books Report on material collected for a biographical sketch Report on material collected for an historical sketch Part IV. The Use of Reference Books

Dictionary .

Encyclopedia

Table of contents

Index ....

General magazine index

Gazetteer .

Atlas ....

Card catalogue .

Who's Who

Congressional Directory

Reference Almanac Part V. Posters and Charts Part VI. Class Parliamentary Usage

What to do

How to do it Part VII. Notebooks Part VIII. The Bulletin Board Part IX. Oral and Written Dramatization Part X. Memory Training .

Memory contests

Selections to be memorized

Quotations ....

Part XI. Games and Contests

Grammar baseball

Spelling contests

Paragraph archery contest .

Table of Contents

XV

An essay contest Prize speaking contest Debates

American authors Word contests .

Booklet contests Poster contests .

Memory contests Part XII. Telephone Conversations Part XIII. The Short Speech Speeches for various occasions

Speech of introduction

Speech of presentation

Speech of acceptance

Responses to toasts

Announcements .

Speech of welcome

Speech of farewell

Part XIV. The Class Museum

Part XV. Campaigns Public health Protection of birds Thrift Safety First Clean Up .

Victory drive for better English

Part XVI. Verse-Making .

Illustrated booklet of rhymes Class or school song .

Verses for special occasions

Part XVII. Diaries .

Part XVIII. The Class Publication Preparation of manuscript Correction of proof .

xvi Table of Contents

PACK

News stories . . . ' 231

The school print shop 236

Products of the shop 236

Activities of the shop 237

Part XIX. The Study of a Literary Masterpiece . 240

Evangeline 241

Rip Van Winkle 244

Courtship of Miles Standish 246

The Lady of the Lake . 249

Part I. Letter Writing

What do you think is the value of learning to write? Only a few of you will ever earn your living by writing stories and magazine articles. To most of you the chief value of learning to express yourself well on paper will be to enable you to write a simple, clear, and interesting letter. In fact, all of us — whatever our age or position in life — have to write letters, and the majority of us never write anything else.

How many letters do you suppose that you have already written? Probably a great many. Yet you may be surprised to learn that four million letters are received and dehvered every day in the New Y'ork City post office alone, and twelve thousand employees are required to handle its fifteen million pieces of ordinary mail. These stupendous figures will help you to realize how great a part the writing of letters plays m American life.

As you grow older you will be called upon to write letters more and more frequently, and upon the character of these letters many of the important interests of your life will depend. Social relations, business matters, absence from friends, all demand that letters be written with clearness, courtesy, and common sense.

In Part I of this book you will be asked to collect all the correspondence necessary in connection with a long journey to a place you really wish to visit. After you have collected the letters, notes, and telegrams you are to arrange them in a booklet. Since you are not to show this Httle book to your teacher until it is finished and since no opportunity wiil be given you to 'Mo it over," you will wish to have it as nearly correct as possible before you hand it in. For this reason, you may be glad to read over the following suggestions and letters before you begin to plan your journey.

Suggestions. -^ Read the following suggestions carefully ; they may help you to write correct and complete letters.

1. Use unlined white paper and black ink.

2. Leave a one inch margin at the left of your paper.

3. Indent the first line of each paragraph.

4. Write neatly, carefully, and plainly. Dot your i's and cross your t's. Avoid making such a remark at the end of your letter as '' Excuse this scrawl."

5. Spell correctly. If you are uncertain about the speUing of words, consult the dictionary.

6. Punctuate correctly.

7. Stick to the point in business letters. Omit unnecessary details.

8. In going from page to page of your paper, follow the regular order ; first, second, third, etc.

9. Avoid postscripts.

10. Read over your letter carefully before putting it into the envelope.

Personal Letters

Your first real need for knowing how to write generally comes when you write to your family or friends. Such messages are called either personal letters or /r^'^w^/}' letters.

Specimen letters. — There are many different kinds of personal letters, since messages to friends may treat of almost any subject. Some of the most common types of personal letters are given in this chapter.

A Letter of Greeting ^

Here is an interesting letter from a great American naturahst and author, John Burroughs. Give your reasons for believing it to be a friendly letter.

West Park, New York March 26, 1915 Dear Miss Buchanan,

A good many schools beside yours are reminding me that I am to have a birthday on April third. Of course it is a pleasure for me to be remembered by so many young people and I wish I could say something to them all that would keep them as young as I am, nearing seventy-eight. I am sure I could lead any of them up any mountain in this state this side of the Adirondacks and feel none the worse for it.

The secret of youth in old age is temperance in all things and love for all things that are good and fair, not forgetting your fellow men. If I had used tobacco or alcoholic drinks or even tea and coffee, I am sure my step would not be as elastic as it is now. To use and not abuse the gift of life is the great secret. Good luck to you all.

Very sincerely,

John Burroughs

As you read over the above letter you will note that what it says is of even greater importance than the manner in which it is said. ' Unfortunately, no one can tell you what

^ This is a hitherto unpubHshed letter.

to say ; that must grow out of your own heart and mind. In a personal letter, however, anything that interests you is likely to prove of interest to some one else. A chatty letter, full of news, is almost always one which gives pleasure. It is, therefore, a good plan when writing to a friend to think not of yourself but of him. What you do — at home, at school, at play — these are the things which you know most about and which will prove most interesting to your friends. What can you learn of John Burroughs' Hfe from his letter ? Did he write about things which especially interested him?

A Letter of Christmas Greeting

Letters of greeting are often written upon special occasions. Here is such a letter from the great American Bishop, Phillips Brooks, to the noted English clergyman and author, Canon Frederic William Farrar. Observe how natural the letter is. Can you not imagine that Bishop Brooks is talking instead of writing?

233 Clarendon Street, Boston Tuesday, December 13, 1892 My dear Archdeacon,

It is partly that I want to send you Christmas greeting, and partly that I need your sympathy to-day when I am fifty-seven years old — for these two reasons and a hundred others I am going to fill these four pages with talk with you across the water.

In the midst of a thousand useless things which I do every day there is always coming up the recollection of last summer, and how good you were to me, and what enjoyment I had in those delightful idle days. Never shall I cease to thank you for taking me to Tennyson's, and letting me see the great dear man again. How good he was that day ! Do you remember how he read those two stanzas about "Faith," which he had just written ? I can hear his great voice booming in them as I read them over in the new volume which has come since the poet died. . . . And Whittier, too, is gone. He never forgot the visit which you paid him, nor ceased to speak of it whenever I saw him. But how strange it seems, this writing against one friend's name after another that you will see his face no more. I pray you to live, for to come to London and not see you there — what should I care for the old places, St. Margaret's, and the Abbey, and the Dean's Yard, and all the rest?

I hope that you are very well and happy. Do not let the great world trouble you, but be sure that many are rejoicing in your brave work.

Oh, that you were here to-night ! With all best Christmas wishes for Mrs. Farrar and you and your children,

I am, affectionately your friend,

PhilHps Brooks

Do you think that the references to people add to the attractiveness of this letter? Name at least three poems written by " the great dear man " mentioned in this letter.

A Letter Accompanying a Gift ^ In this letter written by the beloved poet, Henry W. Longfellow, the most valuable gifts in the world are described. What are they?

Cambridge, Massachusetts February 20, 1876 Dear Miss Dalton,

I am much gratified and touched by your kind letter, and hasten to say how much pleasure it has given me. ^ This is a hitherto unpublished letter.

I do not imagine that any writer can be indifferent to the impression his writings produce on the minds and hearts of his readers. Certainly I am not. It always makes me happy to know that any words of mine have given pleasure and comfort to any one ; and I thank you for saying that you have found pleasure and comfort in them.

My publisher has taken a fancy to issue a series of very small volumes, one of which I send you by this post. It is a mere trifle ; but I hope you will be kind enough to accept it, with my kind regards and good wishes. I sometimes think that gifts of no value are the most valuable. They show the good will of the giver, which is always the best part of any gift.

When you see the tiny book you will smile at this long preface to it!

With kind regards,

Yours very truly,

H. W. Longfellow

What was Mr. Longfellow's attitude toward Miss Dalton? What can you learn about the author through his discussion of gifts and their value? How many different parts are there in this letter?

A Travel Letter

In this delightful letter from Charles Kingsley to his young son, the author of Water Babies and Westward Hoi thought not of himself but of his Httle boy. Why do you think this letter would interest a young child?

Pau My dear Uttle Man,

I was quite dehghted to get a letter from you so nicely written. Yesterday I went by the railway to a most beautiful place where

I am staying now. A town with an old castle, hundreds of years old, where the great King Henry the Fourth of France was born, and his cradle is still there, made of tortoise-shell. Underneath the castle are beautiful walks and woods — all green as if it were summer, and roses and flowers, and birds singing — but different from our English birds. But it is quite summer here because it is so far south. Under the castle, by the river, are frogs that make a noise like a rattle, and frogs that bark like toy-dogs, and frogs that climb up trees, and even up the window-panes — they have suckers on their feet and are quite green like a leaf. Far away, before the castle, are the great mountains, ten thousand feet high, covered with snow, and the clouds crawling about their tops. I am going to see them tomorrow, and when I come back I will tell you. But I have been out to-night, and all the frogs are croaking still and making a horrid noise. Mind and be a good boy and give nurse my love. There is a vulture here in the inn, but he is a little Egyptian vulture, not like the great vulture I saw at Bayonne. Ask mother to show you his picture in the beginning of the bird book. He% called Neophia Egyptiacus, and is an ugly fellow, who eats dead horses and sheep. There is his picture.

Your own daddy,

C. Kingsley

Where is Pau ? What mountains could be seen from the castle? Why was the weather in Pau warmer than that in England?

Letter of Thanks ^

John Greenleaf Whittier, the Quaker poet, wrote the following letter to a young girl who had thanked him for the pleasure which his poems had given her. Account, if you can, for the great charm of this letter.

^ This letter has never before been published.

Amesbury, Massachusetts I Month 5, 1876 My dear friend,

For so, judging by thy letter, I may call thee, I am heartily glad that any words of mine have been blessed to the comforting of thyself and thy father. It is a great happiness to feel that I have not written altogether in vain.

Thou art quite right in thinking that I should have gladly welcomed thee had thy steps been led to this region. Happy would I be if I had, like thy father, a loving daughter. But it is providentially otherwise, and I have many blessings to be thankful for. Dear friends send me their messages of love, almost with every mail, and although in impaired health, I am happier than I deserve to be.

Accept my thanks for thy kind letter, and my best wishes for thy happiness, here and hereafter, and believe me truly and sincerely thy friend,

John G. Whittier

How did Mr. Whittier's method of dating a letter differ from the modern method of writing the date? In what month did he write the letter? What does this letter tell you of the poet's love for children? What are four of his best known poems ?

A Letter of Invitation ^

This letter by the author of Thanatopsis and many other poems was written to an old friend. Do you think the writer really wished to see his friend ?

^ This is a hitherto unpublished letter.

Letter \\>iting 9

New York January 28, 1876 My dear friend,

New York is pleasanter than usual this winter. We have had no snow and no ice in the streets, and a good many sunshiny days. Now that the days are growing longer and — I was going to say that there is a chance that the streets may continue free from ice and snow — but who can tell ? — will you not be tempted to come to New York and bring your better half? You shall have your old quarters in this house, and take your cigar when in the humor without being in anybody's way, and we will talk over Lucretius when you have nobody else to talk to, or are not running about town after your old friends, who will be for tearing you in pieces when you come, as they alwa}'s are.

Yours very truly,

William Cullen Bryant

How does the phrase used in the complimentary ending of this letter differ from the complimentary endings of the preceding letters? In what way was New York unusually pleasant during the winter of 1876?

A Letter of Thanks to a Hostess

After visiting at any one's home it is customary to write a cordial note or letter of thanks to the hostess. Such a letter is frequently referred to as a bread and butter letter and should be.wTitten as soon as possible after the \dsit is over. The following letter was written by a young man to his cousin.

lo Community English

New York City September 30, 1920 My dear Cousin,

I have waited a disgracefully long time, I know, before writing to tell you what a bright spot in a dull and humdrum existence that week was that I spent at your delightful place by the seashore. The work that piled up at the office while I was playing in the sand and boating on the lagoon has, I am afraid, made me seem forgetful of your many kindnesses. Yet I am not afraid of seeming ungrateful, for I know that you are one of those friendly souls with whom I can begin where I left off in either a letter or a visit.

When next summer comes around, and you invite me out there again (as you always have and I hope always will), I can tell you about the many interesting affairs of the office and the city. Yet I probably shan't, at that, for I am sure that once again the noisy haunts of men will seem remote and unimportant, and the only questions that will interest us will be when the tide is high and what are the prospects of a favoring

Cordially and gratefully yours, ,

Fred

Why do you think the hostess would be glad to receive such a letter ? In what way did Fred indicate that he had had a delightful visit?

A Letter of Sympathy

You may be interested to know what Colonel Theodore Roosevelt said of the following letter. " The mother of whom Lincoln wrote stood in one sense on a loftier plane of patriotism than the mighty President himself. Her memory, and the memory of her sons whom she bore for the Union, should be kept green in our minds ; for she aad they in life and death, t3rpified all that is best and highest in our national existence. The deed itself, and the words of the great man which commemorate that deed, should form one of those heritages for all Americans which it is of inestimable consequence that America should possess."

Executive Mansion Washington, Nov. 21, 1864 To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass.

Dear Madam : I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully,

A. Lincoln

Give your reasons for believing that this is a friendly or personal letter, although President Lmcoln did not know Mrs. Bixby.

Business Letters

You will remember that in personal letters considerable attention is paid to the form in which the message is written. Business letters need to be worded even more carefully than letters written to relatives and friends, because greater interests are usually at stake. Here the " three C's " — clearness, courtesy, and common sense, are of vital importance. Carelessness in the matter of form produces an unfavorable impression. Custom sanctions several forms of business letters, any one of which is correct. The following diagram sets forth one of these permitted forms :

Address

Greeting or Salutation

67 Adams Street

Ida Parkway, Georgia December 10, 1920 Mr. John Brown 29 Otis Road Warren, Ohio

Dear Sir :

Very truly youis.

Heading

Body of Letter

Complimentary Ending

Signature

The superscription. — The address on the envelope, or the superscription, is written in the same way as the address found within the letter. The name of the writer ought also to be indicated. It is generally written in the upper left-hand corner of the envelope. At the New York City post ofhce last year there were 9,696,243 dead letters, and 79,000 parcels without any address whatever. Not one of these pieces of mail bore the address of the sender. Moreover, to trace and correct addresses on misdirected mail in New York City alone, the Government spent $100,000.00. The postmaster of that city says, '' Thousands of errors could be avoided if people would address their letters with the name of the town and state as well as the name of the addressee Written Out in Full." The street and number should also be placed on each letter, as indicated by the following examples :

Keturn after Five Days to

THE YOUTH'S COMPANION

Boston, Massachusetts

Miss Helen Merrill 54 Oak Road

Buffalo, New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY PUBLISHERS Huntington Cliambers, Copley Square Boston 17, Mass.

Mr. John Brown

29 Otisville Road Cleveland Ohio

Does the first line of the address come above or below the middle of the envelope? Is the address centered on the envelope or is it written at one side? Why is there a comma after the word Bujffalo on the first envelope but no comma after the word Cleveland on the second envelope ?

Specimen letters. — Read over the following business letters and note carefully these points :

1. Are the letters clear?

2. Is the entire heading written upon a single line in any of the letters ?

3. Is the appearance of the letter improved by making the right and left hand margins nearly equal?

4. Is it customary to leave as much white space below the letter as at the sides?

5. Are all paragraphs in a letter indented the same distance from the margin?

6. When a letter of complaint is received why is it good business to send a courteous letter of adjustment in reply?

An Order

54 Oak Road Buffalo, New York October 20, 1920 The Youth's Companion 881 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, Massachusetts Dear Sirs :

Please send the "Youth's Companion" to me for one year, beginning with the January numbers. I am inclosing a postal money order to pay for my subscription.

(Miss) Helen Merrill

A Receipt

ANIO] isetts

November 16, 1920

THE YOUTH'S COMPANION

Boston, Massachusetts

Miss Helen Merrill 54 Oak Road

Buffalo, New York Dear Madam :

Your letter, inclosing postal money order for subscription to ''The Youth's Companion" for one year, has been received. If you do not receive your first copy promptly, kindly inform us of the fact.

The Youth's Companion

A Letter of Complaint or Claim Letter

54 Oak Road

Buffalo, New York January 22, 1921 The Youth's Companion 881 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, Mass.

Dear Sirs :

Before me is a letter dated November sixteenth, in which you state that a postal money order to cover my subscription to your magazine for one year has been received. As yet, however, I have not received my first copy.

Will you kindly consult your records to see if some mistake has been made in entering my subscription ?

(Miss) Helen Merrill l6 Community English

A Letter of Adjustment

THE YOUTH'S COMPANION Bostou, Massachusetts

January 24, 192 1 Miss Helen Merrill 54 Oak Road Buffalo, New York

Dear Miss Merrill :

We regret that you have not received any of the January numbers of the "Youth's Companion,'' and we thank you for calhng our attention to the matter.

We have consulted our files and find that your order was promptly entered, but because of an unusual error in our mailing department the magazine was sent to the wrong address. We have ordered, therefore, other copies forwarded to you without delay. If they do not reach you promptly we shall be glad to hear from you.