Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 2Sylvester, Charles Herbert
General
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 2
Sylvester, Charles Herbert
Children's literature; Literature -- Collections
When you read that the Danish Arms consist of "three lions and nine
hearts," what do you see? Has the United States any arms? What are they?
Do you know a legend about King Canute and the waves of the sea? Can you
find out anything more about Waldemar and Margaret?
Do you think the man whose face was carved into a figurehead was really
Holger Danske? Do you think it possible that the grandfather could mean
that every brave man who fights for his country is a Holger Danske? Can
you imagine the great figure of Holger Danske throwing its shadow on the
wall and seeming to move about in the candle light? Does the grandfather
believe that such heroes can do other things than fight?
What do you know about Thorwaldsen? Did you ever see a picture of his
beautiful statue of Christ? Did the little boy see any other Holger
Danske than the one whose beard was grown into the marble table?
Has a Holger ever come to save this United States from great danger?
Would you call Washington and Longfellow and Hawthorne, Holgers? Why?
Can you name a few men whom the grandfather, had he been an American,
might have said were Holgers? Do you not believe that if the people of
the United States need a great man he will be forthcoming if we have
faith that he will come?
Do you not think that the little Danish boy, by his dreaming about
Holger Danske, might have come to be the very one to aid his country
most? Is it worth while for each of us to try to be a Holger?
WHAT THE OLD MAN DOES IS ALWAYS RIGHT
By Hans Christian Andersen
I will tell you the story which was told to me when I was a little boy.
Every time I thought of the story it seemed to me to become more and
more charming; for it is with stories as it is with many people--they
become better as they grow older.
I take it for granted that you have been in the country, and have seen a
very old farmhouse with a thatched roof, and mosses and small plants
growing wild upon the thatch. There is a stork's nest on the summit of
the gable; for we can't do without the stork. The walls of the house are
sloping, and the windows are low, and only one of the latter is made so
that it will open. The baking-oven sticks out of the wall like a little
fat body. The elder tree hangs over the paling, and beneath its
branches, at the foot of the paling, is a pool of water in which a few
ducks are disporting themselves. There is a yard dog, too, who barks at
all comers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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