Transcriber's Note
The chapter 'PERSONS AND PLACES MENTIONED' contains some less commonly used characters to indicate pronunciation, including the following:
upper and lower case c with hyphen through, C̵ and c̵
s with uptack below, s̝
y with breve above, y̆
y with macron above, ȳ
a with dot above, ȧ
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’ROUND THE YEAR IN
MYTH AND SONG
BY
FLORENCE HOLBROOK
NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
Copyright, 1897, by
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY.
——
HOL. MYTH AND SONG.
W. P. II
TO
MRS. ELLA FLAGG YOUNG
A FRIEND
WHOSE ZEAL AND
ABILITY IN THE CAUSE OF
EDUCATION ARE KNOWN TO THOUSANDS
THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED
BY ONE OF THE MANY TO WHOM
HER WORDS HAVE BEEN
AN INCENTIVE AND
HER WORK AN
INSPIRATION
PREFACE.
This book is intended for use in all grades of elementary schools, the method of presentation varying with the age of the pupils. It has been welcomed even by pupils in higher schools, because easily familiarizing them with myths and characters that figure so largely in the literary texts with which they are to deal.
In the first and second grades the teachers should read or tell some of the stories to the pupils, thus satisfying the demand of children for a story, and preparing the way for an appreciation of literature. The pupils should retell the stories, thus enriching their vocabulary and learning to express thought clearly, easily, consecutively, and confidently,—a power so much needed and so valuable to citizens of a republic.
Some of the poems, as “Daybreak,” “The Moss Rose,” “Forget-me-not,” “Sweet and Low,” “The Child’s World,” etc., should be memorized. If this work has been well done in these grades, the pupils of third and fourth grades will enjoy reading the stories, continuing the reciting of myth and poem. The pictures that so well illustrate the myths should be studied and described. In these classes and in the grammar grades the stories should be written and the poems reproduced accurately, serving as valuable lessons in form, in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. The reproduction of the myth and poem both orally and in written papers is an exercise whose value cannot be overestimated.
While the myths are valuable in themselves as stories which appeal to and which nourish the imagination, and as aids to expression in oral and written language, they are also very helpful, when presented early, to the understanding of references with which our literature is filled, and make the reading of the best in literature more of a delight because of this knowledge. It is important that these myths be given to children who enjoy the world of fairy tale and myth,—children who in their imagination drive the car of Apollo with the bold Phaëthon, and see with Narcissus the nymph smiling in the brook.
The poems and pictures in the book serve to illustrate the debt both poets and artists owe to the fancies of the beauty-loving Greeks, the children of our race. With imagination and memory nourished and stored with stories that have been part of men’s literary possessions for centuries, and which have been embodied in all the arts, the love for literature which is permanent and valuable will leave no room for the worthless and transitory.
Acknowledgments are due to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Company for selections from Holmes, Whittier, and Longfellow; to Messrs. D. Appleton & Company for selections from Bryant; to Messrs. A. C. McClurg & Company for the poem, “Rainbow Fairies,” from Tomlin’s “Child’s Garden of Song”; and to Mr. John Burroughs for permission to use his poem, “Waiting.”
CONTENTS.
PERSONS AND PLACES MENTIONED.
Ä´bou bĕn Äd´hem (ä´bōō)
A c̵hĭl´lēs̝
A dō´nis
Æ ō´li a
Æ ō´li an Īs´lands̝
Æ´o lus
A pŏl´lo
Aq´ui lo (ăk´wi lo)
A răc̵h´ne
A ri´on
Ăth´ens̝
Au rō´ra
Bō´re as
Cæ´s̝ar Au gŭs´tus
C̵al lï´o pe
Cẽr´be rus
Cē´rēs̝
C̵hā´ron
C̵lē´on
C̵lī´o
C̵lȳ´tie
C̵ŏl i sē´um
C̵ŏr´inth
C̵ō´rus
C̵ū´pid
Cȳ´c̵lops
Cy̆g´nus
Cy̆n´thi a
Dăph´ne
Di ā´na
Drȳ´ads̝
Ec̵h´o
En dy̆m´i on
Ep i mē´the us
Ĕr´a to
Ē´ris
Ĕt´na
Eu rō´pa
Eū´rus
Eu ry̆d´i ce
Eu tẽr´pe
Flō´ra
Flŏr´ence
Frĭg´ga
Găn y mē´de
Hā´dēs̝
Hē´be
He li´a dēs̝
Hẽr´mēs̝
Hes pē´ri a
Hes pĕr´i dēs̝
Hēs´pe rus
Hi a wä´tha
Hō´mer
Ī´ris
Ĭt´a ly
Ĭth´a c̵a
Ī´da
Jā´nus
Jōve
Jūli us Cæ´s̝ar
Jū´no
Jū´pi ter
Kä´be yun
Ka bi bon ŏk´ka
La tō´na
Lē´da
Lĭp´ar i Īs´lands̝
Louvre (lōōvr)
Mā´i a
Märs̝
Mē´los
Mel pŏm´e ne
Mĕm´non
Mẽr´cu ry
Mĭ nẽr´va
Mud je kēē´wis
Nā´iads̝ (yādz)
Nar cĭs´sus
Nĕp´tūne
Nē´re ids̝
Nĭ´o be
No kō´mis
Nō´tus
O ce ăn´ids̝ (she)
Oc tā´vi us Cæs̝ar
Ō´din
O ly̆m´pus
Ō´re ads̝
O rī´on
Ôr´phe us
Păl´las A thē´ne
Pan dō´ra
Păr´is
Par năs´sus
Pär´the non
Per i ăn´der
Per sĕph´o ne
Phā´ë thon
Phœ´bus (fē)
Pi ĕr´ i dēs̝
Pī´e rus
Plē´ia dēs̝ (yȧ)
Plū´to
Pō
Pol y hy̆m´ni a
Po mō´na
Pro mē´the us
Psȳ´c̵he (sȳ´)
Rōme
Sæ´ter
Sha won dä´see
Sĭb´y̆ls
Sĭc´i ly
Sĭ´rens̝
Sty̆x
Ta rĕn´tum
Tẽrp sĭc̵h´o re
Tha lĭ´a
Thēbes̝
Thē´tis
Thôr
Ti thō´nus
Tiw (tū)
Tri´tons̝
Troy
U ly̆s´sĕs̝
U rā´ni a
Val´en tīne
Vē´nus
Vẽr´gil
Vĕs´ta
Vŭl´c̵an
Wa bäs´so
Wä´bun
Wä´bun-An´nung
Wō´den
Zĕph´y̆ rus (zĕf´)
’ROUND THE YEAR.
When bluebirds carol clear,
And rills outleap,
And new buds peep,
And the soft sky seems more near;
With billowy green and leaves,—what then?
How soon we greet the red again!
When roses blush so fair,
And winds blow sweet,
And lambkins bleat,
And the bees hum here and there;
With thrill of bobolinks,—ah, then,
Before we know, the gold again!
When waving grain is ripe,
And apples beam
Through the hazy gleam,
And quails on the fence rails pipe;
With pattering nuts and winds,—why then,
How swiftly falls the white again!
When trees are hung with lace,
And the rough winds chide,
And snowflakes hide
Each bleak unsheltered place;
When birds and brooks are dumb,—what then?
O, round we go to the green again!
THE SEASONS.
The earth receives light from the sun, and completes its course through the heavens once a year. Each year brings Spring with her garlands of flowers, Summer—golden Summer—with her sheaves of sunlit grain, Autumn with the purple grape, and Winter clad in frost and snow.
Every year there is the same order of the seasons. Therefore man knows when to plant the tiny seeds, when the harvests and fruits will ripen, and what provision to make for the cold but merry winter.
Just as little children, tired with play, and men who work all day, must have the night for sleep and rest, so Mother Earth, who plays and works so gaily from March to October, must have the winter season for rest. Then she covers herself with a mantle of snow, and sings a sleepy lullaby song.
Each of the seasons has three months to attend her.
Spring, clad in dainty green, has March with cleansing winds, changeable April with sunshine and rain, and tender May with the fragrant flowers.
Summer, in her golden dress, has June, July, and August to
Autumn, with September, October, and November, comes with her hands filled with baskets of fruit.
Winter has December, January, and February to cover the earth with snow, to freeze the rivers, and to paint curious pictures upon the windowpanes.
Can you compare the passing of the year and the life of man? Childhood, the springtime of life, is the time for play and dance and merry song, the time to make the body supple and strong. When the body is strong and the mind has been trained, comes the summer time of work—hard work in all the fields of labor, that the harvest may not fail. In the autumn of life, when the labor of the summer ripens into fruit, how pleasant to reap the reward of work! Then slowly come the snowy hair and the winter of life, when we sit by the fire and tell the story of our battles, our struggles, our defeats, and our victories.
Each season of the year has its pleasures and its tasks, and so has each season of life. A youth of cheerful labor and study brings its own reward of a well-prepared and happy adult life. Then we can repeat Browning’s cheering words,—
The best of life is yet to be,
The last for which the first is made.”
WORSHIP OF NATURE.
Has never ceased to play;
The song the stars of morning sung
Has never died away.
By all things near and far;
The ocean looketh up to heaven,
And mirrors every star.
From many a mountain shrine;
From folded leaf and dewy cup
She pours her sacred wine.
Rise white as wings of prayer;
The altar curtains of the hills
Are sunset’s purple air.
Its transept earth and air,
The music of its starry march
The chorus of a prayer.
HOW THE MYTHS AROSE.
The Greeks lived much in the open air, and dearly loved the trees, the flowers, the birds, the sea and sky.
They watched the clouds floating in the beautiful azure dome, sometimes in long lines like soldiers, sometimes looking like great curly white feathers, and sometimes piled high like mountains of snow.
They saw the sun rise, coloring the clouds and awakening all things on the earth; and they watched him sink in the western sky, flooding the heavens with brilliant hues.
In the quiet night, they saw the lovely stars come, one by one at first, and then in such numbers that their eyes were dazzled, and they thought of God and of the beauty of His works.