“Hiawatha,” the poem about the Indian tribes, is also a great favorite,
especially with the children. This is because of its descriptions of
Indian customs and legends. It is the life history of the Indian boy,
Hiawatha, from the time when he was a funny little papoose till he had
grown to sturdy manhood.
When the little Indian boy was old enough he was sent out on a lone hunt
through the wilderness to fit himself to become a true Indian brave.
Here is what he did and saw and heard at that time:
“Forth into the forest straightway
All alone walked Hiawatha
Proudly, with his bow and arrows;
And the birds sang round him, o’er him:
‘Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!’
Sang the robin, the Opeechee,
Sang the bluebird, the Owaissa,
‘Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!’
“Up the oak-tree close behind him,
Sprang the squirrel, Adjidaumo,
In and out among the branches,
Coughed and chattered from the oak-tree,
Laughed, and said between his laughing,
‘Do not shoot me, Hiawatha!’”
Some of the Indian tribes of the Great Northwest were so delighted with
“Hiawatha” that they voted to make the poet one of their great chiefs;
and after Longfellow himself had gone to the “Happy Hunting Grounds”
across the River of Death, the Indians went through a formal service
making the poet’s daughter Alice a girl chief.
It must have been because he was so fond of children that Longfellow
became known as the “Children’s Poet.” In the hall of quaint old Craigie
House, which became the poet’s home, stood the stately “Old Clock on the
Stairs,” solemnly ticking: “Forever, never! Never, forever!” In the
early morning the spacious rooms were made bright with the merry
laughter of Longfellow’s three little daughters, running down to spend
an hour with their kindly, white-haired poet father. Of this he wrote in
a poem named “The Children’s Hour”:
“From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.”
Longfellow’s last poem was about “The Bells of San Blas,” which appeared
in print just a few days before he died. The close of this--the last
poetry he ever wrote--were these three lines:
“Out of the shadow of night
The world rolls into light--
It is daybreak everywhere.”
INDEX
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION
āte, sen*ate, râre, căt, loc*al, fär, åsk, p_å_rade; scēne, *event,
ĕdge, nov*el, refḛr; rîght, sĭn; cōld, *obey, côrd, stŏp, c*ompare;
ūnit, *unite, bûrn, cŭt, foc*us, menü; bōōt, fŏŏt; f=ou=nd; b=oi=l;
fuṅction; =ch=ase; =g=ood; =j=oy; _th_en, =th=ick; hw = wh as in
when; zh = z as in azure; kh = ch as in loch.
A
Aaron (ā´r*on), 3
Aboukir (_å_-bōō-kēr´) Bay, 75
Achilles (å-kĭl´ēz), 12
Acre (ä´kêr), (see _Akka_)
Africa (ăf´rĭ-k_å_), 32
Akka (ä´kå), 49
Albany (ôl´b_å_-nĭ), 118
Alciun (*al´sĭ-ŭn), 33
Alden (ôl´dĕn), John, 162
Alexander (ăl´´ĕg-zăn´dĕr) the Great, 20-24;
conquers Persia, 22
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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