Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10: The Guide

C. The Scene.

Question. Where were the Fox and the Crow?

Answer. Outdoors, somewhere.

Q. Were they near a house?

A. I think so, because the Crow had cheese in her mouth.

Q. Was it a prairie country?

A. Perhaps, but there was one tree near.

Q. Was it day, or night?

A. Daytime, I think. Crows do not hunt at night, but foxes do.

Q. Tell me all you know or can guess about the place where the bird and fox were.

A. I think they were on the edge of the woods, not very far away from a farmhouse. One tree stood out by itself, and the Crow flew from the farmhouse to the lone tree.

D. and E. The Lesson and the Author’s Purpose.

Question. This is an old, old story, and it has been told in many languages. We cannot be sure who first wrote it. But what do you suppose the writer meant the story to do?

Answer. He meant it to teach a good lesson, I think.

Q. What is the lesson?

A. That foxes are tricky animals; that crows are silly birds; that flattery and lying are bad; that it is foolish to trust anyone who flatters you.

Q. Does that mean you do not trust people who praise you?

A. Oh, no. Praise is all right. Everybody likes to be praised.

Q. What is the difference between praise and flattery?

A. When a person praises you he tells the truth, and tells it because he likes you, and wants to help you; but when he flatters you, he lies and deceives you, and does it to fool you, because he wants you to do something for him, or to get something you have.

Q. How can we tell whether we are being praised or flattered?

A. We must be sharp and know ourselves and what we really can do. Then we will know whether others are speaking the truth about us.

F. The Method and Style of the Author.

Question. What do you call a story like this?

Answer. A fable.

Q. Why is it a fable?

A. Because it’s short; because animals talk and act like human beings; because it teaches a good lesson.

Q. Do you call this story “slow”?

A. No. It’s a quick, lively one.

Q. What do you think makes it so?

A. There are not too many words; the Fox and the Crow are interesting; there is a lot of talking; we can see the Fox and the Crow; they act like human beings.

Q. Are there any good sentences you would like to remember?

A. Yes: “Do not trust flatterers.”

G. Emotional Power.

Question. How did the Fox feel when he saw the Crow with the cheese in her mouth?

Answer. He was hungry; he wanted the cheese; he made up his mind to get it.

Q. How did he feel when he was flattering the Crow?

A. He felt jolly; he thought it was fun to fool the Crow.

Q. How did he feel when he got the cheese?

A. He was pleased; he was happy; he did not pity the Crow; he laughed at the Crow when he gave her advice.

Q. How did the Crow feel when she flew off with the cheese?

A. She was happy.

Q. How did she feel while the Fox was flattering her?

A. She was proud and vain and felt sure she could sing.

Q. When she dropped the cheese?

A. She was disappointed; she was sorry she had tried to sing; she knew she had been fooled, and was ashamed.

Q. Did she like the advice the Fox gave her?

A. No, but she thought it was good advice.

Q. Do you think the Fox could fool her again?

H. Conclusion.

Now, read the fable all through just as well as you can. (It is read.) Now, Harry, you be the Fox, and read just what he says. Clara, be the Crow, and read just what she says. Tom may be the story teller, and read just the descriptions. Now, watch your parts so there will be no delay, and try to speak just as though you are really what you are representing. Tom may read the first paragraph, and the fourth, but may omit entirely those words that are not spoken in the other paragraphs. Begin, Tom.

The Drummer

The fairy stories of the brothers Grimm are inferior to those of Andersen in plot, lesson and style. The plots are more monotonous and sometimes unnecessarily coarse and rough; the lessons are more obscure and sometimes are of doubtful value; and the style is much less forcible, in fact is often labored and inelegant. Yet many of the stories are attractive and harmless. They may be used to make the transition from fairy tales to more elevated literature. Their very imperfections can be utilized to discourage the reading of fairy tales and by criticism and gentle ridicule a child can be led away from that type of stories which though harmless when read in moderation have been made so attractive by modern writers that children fancy them too much and cling to them long after they should be reading things of much greater value. If children are led to study fairy stories, absurdities in them soon become tiresome. Ordinarily they read merely for the excitement in the tale, for the effect it has upon their naturally vivid imaginations. If they are led to think, to analyze, their intelligence will quickly call for something more substantial, more nearly true to life.

The Drummer is one of the best of the Grimm stories and yet some of their weaknesses are evident. It is inadvisable to talk to small children of studying a story. They are always delighted to see their parents interested and will be very glad to “talk over” the story. In this particular tale there are many points of interest that may be brought up by skilful questioning and many places where comments may be made, comments that will show the attitude of the adult mind without raising opposition on the part of the juvenile reader. Some of the subjects suggested by a reading of The Drummer are the following:

I. Characters. Taken in the order of their appearance in the story the characters are:

• 1. The Drummer
• 2. The King’s Daughter
• 3. The First Giant
• 4. The Second Giant
• 5. The Third Giant
• 6. The Two Men Quarreling
• 7. The Witch
• 8. The Drummer’s Parents
• 9. The Maiden

II. What the Characters Do.

1. The Drummer finds the piece of cloth, goes to the mountain of glass, deceives the two quarreling men, flies to the top of the mountain, visits the witch, performs the three tasks, throws the witch in the fire, goes to his home, kisses his parents on their right cheeks, forgets the princess, gives her jewels away, gets ready to marry the maiden, remembers the princess, rewards the maiden and marries the princess.

2. The King’s Daughter asks for her dress, tells the Drummer where she is confined, helps the Drummer in his three tasks, advises the Drummer how to destroy the witch, takes the Drummer to his parents, waits in the field for the Drummer, sings her song three times, forgives and marries the Drummer.

3. The First Giant talks with the Drummer and carries him through the woods on his back.

4. The Second Giant carries the Drummer in his button hole.

5. The Third Giant carries the Drummer on his hat.

6. The Two Men quarrel, talk with the Drummer, race to the white staff and lose the saddle.

7. The Witch gives the Drummer food and shelter, assigns three tasks, requires the log to be brought from the fire, tries to carry off the King’s Daughter, and dies in the flames.

8. The Drummer’s Parents welcome their son, accept the jewels of the King’s Daughter, build a palace, choose a maiden for their son’s wife, but receive the princess in her place.

9. The Maiden is willing to marry the Drummer but is satisfied with his presents instead.

III. The Good and the Bad Characters.

1. The Drummer was brave, kind to his parents and loved the princess, but he tricked the two quarreling men, and disobeyed and forgot the princess.

2. The King’s Daughter was always helpful, faithful and lovable.

3, 4 and 5. The Three Giants were usually cruel but were afraid of the Drummer and so behaved very well.

6. The Two Men were very unwise to quarrel and perhaps deserved to lose their saddle.

7. The Witch was cruel, deceitful and always bad, deserving her awful fate.

8. The Drummer’s Parents were good people, for they knew nothing of the princess when they tried to marry their son to another.

9. The Maiden was a commonplace person who did not really love the Drummer.

IV. The Unreal and Magical Things.

1. There are no glass mountains, but an iceberg resembles one.

2. There never were giants as big as fir trees.

3. There never was a saddle that could itself carry anyone anywhere.

4. There never was an old woman who could enchant a maiden.

5. There never was a magic ring that could grant wishes. Fish never jumped from water and sorted themselves, wood never cut itself nor piled itself.

6. Never was a princess enchanted into a log and no log ever became a king’s beautiful daughter.

7. It never made any difference in a young man’s fortunes if he did kiss his parents on the right instead of the left cheek.

8. No castle such as this was ever built in a day.

V. Things that Happen in Threes.

How absurd it is that in fairy stories things so often happen in sets of three! In this one short story we find:

1. The Drummer saw three pieces of white linen.

2. The Drummer met three giants.

3. The mountain looked as high as if three mountains had been placed one upon another.

4. On the plain are three things, an old stone house, a large fish pond and a dark, dreary forest.

5. The Witch did not appear till the Drummer had knocked three times.

6. The Drummer wanted three things, admission, food and a night’s lodging.

7. The Witch assigned three tasks.

8. There were three conditions to the first task, to scoop out the water, sort the fish, and finish by night.

9. There were three parts to the second task, to cut the trees, to split them into logs and to stack them.

10. The Witch gave the Drummer three tools with which to accomplish the second task, an ax, a chopper and a wedge.

11. In the third task there were three steps, to place the wood in a heap, to set fire to it and to burn it.

12. The Drummer supposed he had been gone three days but it was three years.

13. The wedding was to take place in three days.

14. The princess sang her song three times.

Tom, the Water Baby

I. Analysis. At first Tom is a real boy, a little grimy, ignorant chimney sweep, next a water baby or eft, in which character, under the tutelage of the fairies, he gains his education. Briefly at the end he is a man, an engineer, but all that is delightfully vague, for he has ceased to be the little Tom we like so thoroughly.

Chapters I and II.

1. Tom, the Chimney Sweep,
2. Works for Mr. Grimes;
3. Summoned to sweep the chimney at Hartover Place;
4. Overtakes the poor Irishwoman, who
5. Walks with Tom;
6. Asks about his prayers and makes him sad;
7. Tells about the sea and makes him wish to be clean;
8. Helps him pick flowers;
9. Frightens Grimes for beating Tom,
10. Warns them both to be clean;
11. Promises to see them again;
12. Disappears.
13. Meets the keeper who warns Grimes against poaching;
14. Walks up the avenue;
15. Sees the deer, trees, bees, and makes friends with the keeper;
16. Enters the house and sweeps chimneys;
17. Comes out in a beautiful room and sees the little white lady;
18. Sees himself for the first time and cries;
19. Escapes from the nurse by window and tree;
20. Is chased by everybody;
21. Is lost in the woods;
22. Scales a wall;
23. Is followed by the Irishwoman, who throws the pursuers off the scent;
24. Crosses the river, climbs a mountain;
25. Descends Lewthwaite Crag;
26. Drags himself to the cottage;
27. Begs for water of the dame;
28. Is given milk, and put in an outhouse;
29. Is feverish and out of his mind;
30. Thinks he must be clean;
31. Drags himself to the stream, looks into the clear water, and undresses;
32. Does not see the Irishwoman transform herself to the queen of the fairies;
33. Tumbles himself into the stream;
34. Falls asleep in the water;
35. Is turned into a water-baby by the fairies;
36. Is mourned as dead by the people who find his poor dirty body.

Chapters III and IV.

1. Tom, the Water Baby,
2. Watches the caddis-flies build their homes (page 262) and go into the chrysalis state (page 262);
3. Sees the metamorphosis of the dragon-fly (pages 263-264);
4. Meets and makes friends with the otters (pages 270-274);
5. Travels towards the sea after the storm;
6. Finds the salmon and witnesses the death of Grimes (pages 278-286);
7. Passes the sleeping villages and reaches the sea;
8. Greets the seal and looks for water babies;
9. Plays with the lobsters (pages 292-294);
10. Is caught by Professor Ptthmllnsprts and shown to Ellie, the little white lady, who flies away (pages 296-299). (Can you make out what Kingsley had in mind, by filling in the vowels of the Professor’s name?)

Chapter V.

1. Tom, the Water Baby,
2. Has an adventure in the lobster pots (pages 300-303);
3. Joins the water babies;
4. Is met by Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, who
5. Examines Tom;
6. Rewards the good children;
7. Punishes those who know no better, viz.:
8. Tom,
9. The doctors,
10. The foolish ladies,
11. The careless nurserymaids,
12. The cruel school teachers,
13. Tells Tom about those who knew better.
14. Sees Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, who
15. Mothers Tom;
16. Tells him the story.

Chapter VI.

1. Tom, the Water Baby,
2. Steals the candy from the cabinet;
3. Becomes prickly and ugly from sin;
4. Confesses to Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid;
5. Goes to school to rid himself of his ugliness;
6. Is taught by the beautiful little girl;
7. Gains his own smooth, clean skin;
8. Recognizes the little white lady, Ellie;
9. Learns how to join Ellie in the beautiful place;
10. Loses her by being unkind;
11. Hears the history of the Doasyoulikes;

Chapter VII.

1. Tom, the Water Baby,
2. Starts to go where he does not like, to find Mr. Grimes;
3. Inquires of the King of the Herrings;
4. Visits the last of the Gairfowl on the Allalonestone;
5. Follows Mother Carey’s chickens;
6. Struggles with the water dog;
7. Is carried by the mollymocks from Jan Mayen’s land to Shiny Wall;
8. Dives under the great white gate that never was opened yet;
9. Reaches Peace-pool with the dog;
10. Finds Mother Carey at work making new creatures from sea water;
11. Is given passport to the Other-End-of-No-where;
12. Goes backward in safety.

Chapter VIII.

1. Tom, the Water Baby,
2. Comes to the place called Stop;
3. Is blown through the Sea;
4. Finds himself in the claws of the bogy;
5. Sees the metals made;
6. Slides down the whirlpool;
7. Swims to the shore of the Other-End-of-No-where;
8. Finds Gotham;
9. Comes to the isle of Tomtoddies;
10. Hears of their great idol, Examination;
11. Gives information to the nimblecomequick turnip;
12. Stumbles over the respectable old stick;
13. Faces Examiner-of-all-Examiners;
14. Arrives at Oldwivesfabledom;
15. Comes to the quiet place called Leaveheavenalone;
16. Sees the prison;
17. Offers the passport to the truncheon;
18. Searches for chimney No. 345;
19. Finds Grimes stuck in the chimney;
20. Tries to light Grimes’ pipe and to release him;
21. Learns that the old dame teacher was the mother of Grimes;
22. Sees Grimes’ tears effect his release;
23. Recognizes Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid as the Irishwoman;
24. Hears Grimes sentenced to sweep out Aetna;
25. Is blindfolded and taken up the back stairs;
26. Recognizes St. Brandon’s Isle and hears the song;
27. Rejoices with Ellie and goes with her Sundays;
28. Becomes a man of science and knows everything;
29. And, it may be, marries Ellie.

II. Fact and Fancy. The story begins with a vivid description of the little sweep and his master, and it is not till we have read several pages that we have reason to suspect that we are reading a fairy story. In fact the “poor Irishwoman” might be a veritable Irishwoman till we have read page 247. From this point on, the work of the fairies is seen occasionally to the end.

The facts of the natural history are mingled with the fancies of the author’s brain in the most natural manner. The description of the house-building of the caddis larvae (page 262) is accurate enough for a scientist, who might, however, be shocked by the whimsical notion of the rivalry told in the last sentence of the paragraph. The otters behave like otters, the salmon like salmon, the lobster like the lobster he is. The dragon “splits” at the call of nature, the ephemerae dance in the sunlight, and game-keepers kill poachers in real life as in the story. The great auk is extinct and the right whale is still hunted, but Peace-pool is as fancifully portrayed as is the creation of world-pap. It appears that as Kingsley proceeded with his story he let his imagination play more freely and drew farther away from facts as his fancies came plentifully. So the story furnishes food for thought by old and young, and parts of it can be understood only by those who have had considerable study and experience.

III. Fun and Humor. A more entertaining story is hard to find. There are many amusing situations and funny doings, besides which, Kingsley’s style of writing abounds in a rich humor that is not always evident to the hasty and careless reader. Not a little of the humor is ironical and sometimes we are inclined to think that the writer may be having a little quiet fun at the expense of his readers.

Children are inclined to read Tom, the Water Baby as they do many another tale, for the story only. They want to know what happens to Tom, whether or no Grimes is punished, what becomes of Ellie, and how it “all comes out.” But when attention is called to the fun in the tale children will read it more than once, for they like to laugh even better than their elders, and curiosity prompts them to watch to “see the joke.”

The humorous twist to things begins in the second sentence of the story and it does not disappear permanently till the very last sentence of the Moral. See how it shows in these few extracts: “His master was so delighted at his new customer that he knocked Tom down out of hand” (page 219).

After Tom’s pathetic discovery of his own dirtiness (page 232), comes this: “With a noise as of ten thousand tin kettles tied to ten thousand mad dogs’ tails.” Humor and pathos are both strengthened by the violent contrast.

On page 232 begins the long humorous paragraph descriptive of the chase after Tom.

“The birches birched him as soundly as if he had been a nobleman at Eton, and over the face too (which is not fair swishing, as all brave boys will agree)” (page 235).

What could you imagine more amusing in its way than the extremely absurd “argument” the author makes for the existence of water babies (page 254): “You never heard of a water baby? Perhaps not. That is the very reason why this story was written. There are a great many things in the world which you never heard of; and a great many more which nobody ever heard of; and a great many things, too, which nobody ever will hear of. No water babies, indeed! Why, wise men of old said that everything on earth had its double in the water; and you may see that that is, if not quite true, still quite as true as most other theories which you are likely to hear for many a day. There are land babies, then why not water babies? Are there not water rats, water flies, water crickets, water crabs, water tortoises, water scorpions, water tigers and so on without end? To be sure, there must be water babies. Am I in earnest? Oh dear no!”

Read the account of the policemen, beginning on page 306, for an example of a broader humor.

Page 347: “And the sun acted policeman, and worked round outside every day, peeping just over the top of the icewall, to see that all went right; and now and then he played conjuring tricks, or had an exhibition of fireworks, to amuse the sea fairies. For he would make himself into four or five suns at once, or paint the sky with rings and crosses and crescents of white fire and stick himself in the middle of them, and wink at the fairies; and I dare say they were very much amused, for anything’s fun in the country.”

Do not think of “skipping” the Moral. No more attractive “moral” was ever written for fable or fairy tale!

IV. Pathos. Tom, the Chimney Sweep is always pathetic. He enlists our sympathies wholly from the time we meet him where there was “plenty of money for Tom to earn and his master to spend,” until he “pulled off all his clothes in such haste that he tore some of them, which was easy enough with such ragged old things,” “put his poor, hot, sore feet into the water,” “tumbled himself as quick as he could into the clear, cool stream” and in two minutes “fell fast asleep, into the quietest, sunniest, coziest sleep that he had ever had in his life and—dreamt of nothing at all.” It is only as Tom the Water Baby that he does not make us sad.

Poor little, dirty, ignorant Tom! Little enough to climb up the sooty chimney flues; so dirty that he knew not what cleanliness meant; so ignorant that he “never had heard of God, or of Christ, except in words which you never have heard,” and his idea of happiness was to “sit in a public house with a quart of beer and a long pipe,” to play cards for silver money, to “keep a white bull dog with one gray ear, and carry her puppies in his pocket just like a man,” to have apprentices and to bully them, to knock them about and make them carry soot sacks while he “rode before them on his donkey, with a pipe in his mouth and a flower in his button hole, like a king at the head of his army!” “Yes, when his master let him have a pull at the leavings of his beer, Tom was the jolliest boy in the whole town.”

To him who reads understandingly, there is pathos on nearly every page of the first two chapters. Sometimes it is seen in hints and shown by indirection but in other instances it is direct, positive, powerful.

Just read (page 231), how Tom learns that he is naught but a “little black ape,” an “ugly, black, ragged figure with bleared eyes and grinning white teeth.”

In his terrible race for life he “thought he heard church bells ringing a long way off” and thought “where there is a church there will be houses and people,” and perhaps someone will give him a “bit and a sup.” So he follows the ringing in his ears till he comes to the top of the great crag and sees “a mile off and a thousand feet down” the old dame in her garden. We lose our own breath in following him down that awful descent, find ourselves panting, and at last, suddenly, “b-e-a-t, beat!” After the old dame has given him the old rug and bidden him sleep off his weariness, comes the fever with the ringing of the church bells and the persistent, agonizing thought, “I must be clean, I must be clean.” It is this that drives him out to the “clear, clear limestone water, with every pebble at the bottom bright and clean” the cool, cool, cool water for his weary feet.

Then when it is too late, just to add to the pathos of the sad little tale, comes the Squire, conscious of the terrible mistake and ready to put Tom in the way of cleanliness, knowledge and happiness; Tom, of whom there remained only the husk and shell which made the Squire think the poor sweep was drowned.

To close the chapter and the sad part of the story, the dame sings the old, old song which the children could not understand but which they liked nevertheless, “for it was very sweet and very sad and that was enough for them.” We know what it means.

“When all the world is old, lad,
And all the trees are brown;
And all the sport is stale, lad,
And all the wheels run down;
Creep home, and take your place there,
The spent and maimed among;
God grant you find one face there,
You loved when all was young.”

V. Beauty. Tom, the Water Baby has in it much more of real beauty both in sentiment and expression than most prose and more than many a charming poem. There is little of ugliness in the story, and what there is, is so softened in the way in which it is presented that the impression is neither repulsive nor lasting. Kingsley’s work is highly artistic and this story is real literature.

Some of his descriptions are like beautiful pictures in color. Here is one from page 220:

“But soon the road grew white, and the walls likewise; and at the wall’s foot grew long grass and gay flowers, all drenched with dew; and instead of the groaning of the pit engines, they heard the skylark saying his matins high up in the air, and the pit bird warbling in the sedges as he had warbled all night long.”

Beginning at the bottom of the same page (220): “For old Mrs. Earth was still fast asleep; and, like many pretty people she looked still prettier asleep than awake. The great elm trees in the gold-green meadows were fast asleep above, and the cows fast asleep beneath them; nay, the few clouds which were about were fast asleep likewise, and so tired that they had lain down on the earth to rest, in long white flakes and bars, among the stems of the elm trees, and along the tops of the alders by the stream, waiting for the sun to bid them rise and go about their day’s business in the clear blue overhead.” Was there ever more attractive description of the mist patches that lie across the earth waiting for the morning sun to dissipate them?

The poor Irishwoman followed Tom in this manner: “She went along quite smoothly and gracefully, while her feet twinkled past each other so fast that you could not see which was foremost.”

The dragon-fly is described in this way: “It grew strong and firm; the most lovely colors began to show on its body—blue and yellow and black, spots and bars and rings; out of its back rose four great wings of bright brown gauze; and its eyes grew so large that they filled all its head and shone like ten thousand diamonds.”

This is Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby: “She was a very tall woman, as tall as her sister; but instead of being gnarly, and horny, and scaly, and prickly, like her, she was the most nice, soft, fat, smooth, pussy, cuddly, delicious creature who ever nursed a baby—and all her delight was to play with babies—and therefore when the children saw her, they naturally caught hold of her, and pulled her till she sat down on a stone, and climbed into her lap, and clung round her neck, and caught hold of her hands, and then they all put their thumbs into their mouths and began cuddling and purring like so many kittens.”

And this is a scene in Peace-pool: “There were moths with pink heads and wings and opal bodies, that flapped about slowly; moths with brown wings that flapped about quickly; yellow shrimps that hopped and skipped most quickly of all; and jellies of all the colors in the world that neither hopped nor skipped, but only dawdled and yawned.”

Here are a few descriptive phrases taken at random: “Two great, grand blue eyes, as blue as the sea itself”; “his little whirl-about of a head”; “long curls floating behind her like a golden cloud, and long robes floating all round her like a silver one”; “came paddling and wriggling back to her like so many tadpoles”; “the shadows of the clouds ran races over the bright blue sky”; “the river widened to the shining sea”; “such enormous trees that the blue sky rested on their heads.”

VI. Good Lessons. Through all the fun, the burlesque, the amusing exaggerations and the bombastic humor runs a scheme of advice and instruction. Sometimes it takes the form of a direct caution to the reader, again it may be shown by inference, and lastly the events speak for themselves and give their own lesson. The author meant to teach adults as well as children. The graphic history of the Doasyoulikes is rather a clear-cut study in degeneracy for older people, as well as a lively warning for youngsters. But what is the author’s main theme? Is his real text in the advice the poor Irishwoman gives to Grimes and Tom? “Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be; and those that wish to be foul, foul they will be. Remember.” (page 225). Perhaps a second text or at least a corollary to this is expressed in the name of the cuddly lady, Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby. This may mean the same as the advice she gives on page 328: “Those who go there must go first where they do not like, and do what they do not like, and help somebody they do not like.” Besides these leading ideas there are several others that run through the story. Meanness and wickedness are made unattractive and bring punishment. The punishment grows logically out of the offense and has a direct relation to the misdeed. Persons are not rewarded for their good deeds but they are happy in being good. It is not a credit to do right, but wrongdoing is discreditable. Little meannesses stand in the way of happiness though they may not bring any definite punishments. Evil is ugliness, goodness is beauty. Friendship is made attractive and filial love is strongly inculcated. The strong appeal made to the sympathy of the reader by the very real and very human Tom, the chimney sweep, is a strong influence for good, and progress toward character in the clever little water baby is a continuous refining influence on the reader.

The bits of advice, the little asides, are slipped into the text so naturally that they are never repulsive or calculated to raise antagonism in the minds of those who naturally dislike advice. Taken from the text they seem more formal and less helpful, but here are a few of them as illustrations:

“Let well alone, lad, and ill too at times.”

“You must expect to be beat a few times in your life, little man, if you live such a life as a man ought to live.”

“Ah, first thoughts are best, and a body’s heart’ll guide them right, if they will but hearken to it.”

“It was not quite well bred, no doubt; but you know, Tom had not finished his education yet.”

“For salmon, like other true gentlemen, always choose their lady and love her, and are true to her, and take care of her, and work for her, and fight for her, as every true gentleman ought.”

“What has been once can never come over again.”

“No more to be bought for money than a good conscience or the Victoria cross.”

“You see, experience is of very little good unless a man, or a lobster, has wit enough to make use of it.”

“It is not good for little boys to be told everything, and never to be forced to use their own wits.”

“And so if you do not know that things are wrong, that is no reason why you should not be punished for them; though not as much, my little man (and the lady looked very kindly, after all), as if you did know.”

“I am quite sure that she knows best. Perhaps she wishes people to learn to keep their fingers out of the fire by having them burned.”

“I always forgive people the minute they tell me the truth of their own accord.”

“But even they were no foolisher than some hundred scores of papas and mamas; who fetch the rod when they ought to fetch a new toy, and send to the dark cupboard instead of to a doctor.”

VII. Life-like Characters. The great storyteller makes his characters seem like human beings. The reader can almost see them; at any rate, he feels that he knows them and that they are real, not merely life-like. It is hard to understand how the author accomplishes the wonderful feat (for it is the most wonderful thing about story writing), and it is much more difficult to tell how it is done. One word here, a clear descriptive phrase there, and Tom, or the Squire, or the old schoolmistress, or Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid with her awkward name, has become so much of a personality that you cannot forget if you would. Certainly one of the fine things about Tom, the Water Baby is the living reality of its characters, which appeals universally to young and old, even in the first reading of the story.

VIII. The Writer’s Art. It will add something to a child’s interest in the story if his attention is called to the skilful way in which Kingsley handles his plot. It is high art to throw into the early part of the story the conversation between the keeper and Grimes. It shows that Grimes is a poacher and known to be one. The keeper is inclined to wink at the offense, but still he feels that a warning is necessary. Nothing more is said about poaching till much later, where Tom, the Water Baby, sees Grimes meet a poacher’s death.

Again, it is early evident that Grimes has done other wicked things and that the poor Irishwoman knows of one at least. She even mentions Vendale, but the reader attaches no importance to it. Tom flees to Vendale and is pitied and kindly treated by the old Schoolmistress, but it is not until Tom finds Grimes suffering his punishment in the chimney flues that the reader learns what the poor Irishwoman knew about Grimes, and that the schoolmistress was Grimes’s poor ill-treated mother.

Once more, Kingsley’s art is seen in the selection of incidents and the arrangement of influences which bring to Tom the conviction of his dirtiness and create in him the overpowering desire to be clean.

But this interpretation of Tom, the Water Baby has already reached the limits of space and we must forego the pleasure of pointing out other examples of artistic treatment. Probably it is better to leave the story to plead its own cause.

The Passing of Arthur

Tennyson’s The Passing of Arthur is one of the noble things in literature, solemn, impressive, inspiring. In order to appreciate a careful study of it, one should have read at least those selections which appear in the fifth volume, beginning with page 113 and extending to page 236. With this preliminary setting there should be no difficulty in feeling a sufficient interest in King Arthur to be appreciative of Tennyson’s work from the very beginning.

a. Characters. Three characters appear in this poem, viz: King Arthur; Sir Bedivere, the knight first made and last surviving of all those who sat about King Arthur’s table; Modred, Arthur’s traitorous nephew. Besides these three human characters, the ghost of Gawain, the three queens who came in the barge, and even Excalibur itself are of so much interest that they may be considered as almost human.

King Arthur is shown in his old age, when wife and friend are traitor to his peace, and all his realm has sunk back into disorder and is rapidly approaching extinction.

Bedivere, oldest of the knights, now in the white winter of his age, when he himself was really no more than a voice, is supposed to tell the story to those with whom he dwelt, new faces, other minds.

Modred is seen retreating league by league before King Arthur. At Lyonnesse, after a fierce battle in which confusion reigned and friends and foes were shadows in the mist, he meets his king. The false knight strikes Arthur hard upon the helmet, and gives the wound that finally proves fatal; while the king, with the last stroke of Excalibur, slays his traitorous nephew.

The dead Gawain appears, a ghost blown along a wandering wind, and on the eve of the battle warns King Arthur of approaching death, but intimates that somewhere is an isle of rest for him.

b. The Incidents.

1.   1. Arthur mourns for his departed kingdom.
2.   2. Gawain warns Arthur of his approaching death; Arthur is depressed by the warning.
3.   3. Bedivere warns Arthur that he must rise and conquer Modred; Arthur hesitates to make war against his people.
4.   4. He moves his host to Lyonnesse: the last weird battle is fought.
5.   5. Arthur thinks himself king only among the dead.
6.   6. Bedivere professes affection, and calls Arthur’s attention to the traitor, Modred.
7.   7. The king promises one last act of kinghood.
8.   8. Modred wounds the king; the king kills Modred.
9.   9. Bedivere carries the wounded Arthur to the ruined chapel.
10. 10. The dying Arthur directs Bedivere to throw Excalibur into the mere; Bedivere twice deceives Arthur and is twice reproved.
11. 11. Bedivere throws Excalibur into the mere, and tells King Arthur what happened.
12. 12. Bedivere bears Arthur to the margin of the mere.
13. 13. The three black-hooded queens with crowns of gold come in the dusky barge.
14. 14. Arthur is placed in the barge and speaks his last words to Bedivere; the barge moves swan-like from the brink.
15. 15. Bedivere watches the speck that bears the king move down the long water opening on the deep.

c. Scenes.

1. 1. Arthur in his tent among the slumbering host.
2. 2. The march to the sunset bound of Lyonnesse, and the moving pageant to the battlefield.
3. 3. The dark strait of barren land with the ocean on one side and on the other the great water; the ruined chapel with its broken chancel and broken cross, and, near at hand, the place of tombs with its bones of ancient mighty men; athwart all shines the moon, and over all the chill wind with flakes of foam sings shrilly. Zigzag paths lead around jutting points of rock down to the shining levels of the lake, where the ripple washes softly in the reeds, the wild water laps the crags, and many-knotted water-flags whistle stiff and dry. Frozen hills, barren chasms with icy caves, the bare black cliff and slippery crag wall, and the level lake gleaming in the glories of the winter moon.

d. Descriptive Passages. Besides those passages which relate especially to the scenes, there are other beautiful and powerful bits of description that will well repay examination. For instance:

1. 1. Of King Arthur’s dream the poet says,

“And fainter onward, like wild birds that change
Their season in the night and wail their way
From cloud to cloud, down the long wind the dream
Shrill’d.”

Note the figure of speech (simile), beginning with the word like.

1. 2. The description of the last, dim, weird battle in the west, beginning at the bottom of page 240 with the line “A death-white mist slept over land and sea,” is one of the most stirring things in the poem, and deserves particularly close reading. The pictures are crowded, the figures vivid, the phrases full of force.
2. 3. Tennyson has used his highest art in the composition, and makes the sound of his lines imitate in no feeble way the noise of battle. For instance:

“Shocks, and the splintering spear, the hard mail hewn,
Shield-breakings, and the clash of brands, the crash
Of battle-axes on shatter’d helms, and shrieks
After the Christ, of those who falling down
Look’d up for heaven, and only saw the mist.”

1. 4. The brilliancy of description corresponds well with the glittering marvel of Excalibur:

“For all the haft twinkled with diamond sparks,
Myriads of topaz-lights, and jacinth-work
Of subtlest jewelry.”

“.....the wonder of the hilt,
How curiously and strangely chased,”

“The great brand
Made lightnings in the splendor of the moon,
And flashing round and round, and whirl’d in an arch,
Shot like a streamer of the northern morn,
Seen where the moving isles of winter shock
By night, with noises of the Northern Sea.”

1. 5. King Arthur, as he lay in the barge with his weary head upon the lap of the fairest and tallest of the three queens, is described as follows:

“a brow
Striped with dark blood: for all his face was white
And colorless, and like the wither’d moon
Smote by the fresh beam of the springing east;
And all his greaves and cuisses dash’d with drops
Of onset; and the light and lustrous curls—
That made his forehead like a rising sun
High from the dais-throne—were parch’d with dust,
Or, clotted into points and hanging loose,
Mix’d with the knightly growth that fringed his lips.
So like a shatter’d column lay the king;
Not like that Arthur, who, with lance in rest,
From spur to plume a star of tournament,
Shot thro’ the lists at Camelot, and charged
Before the eyes of ladies and of kings.”

e. Character Study—King Arthur. The best estimate of King Arthur’s character is made from his own words and those of Bedivere, not from Tennyson’s description.

1. 1. He has been a devout man. He has fought for Christ and searched for Christ and

“found Him in the shining of the stars,
Mark’d Him in the flowering of His fields.”

1. 2. He is now discouraged. He has not found Him in His ways with men, and now it seems to him,

“As if some lesser god had made the world,
But had not force to shape it as he would.”

“My God, thou hast forgotten me in my death.”

1. 3. Yet he is hopeful, and he feels that perchance the world is wholly fair, and that his doubts come because he has not the power to see it as it is, and may not see it to the close.
2. 4. He desires to be just, and feels that in the coming battle in the west he may not have the right on his side:

“Ill doom is mine
To war against my people and my knights.
The king who fights his people fights himself.”

1. 5. Yet courage and confidence are not all gone:

“Yet let us hence, and find or feel a way
Thro’ this blind haze.”

1. 6. After the battle, he grows more confused:

“I know not what I am,
Nor whence I am, nor whether I be King.
Behold, I seem but King among the dead.”

1. 7. He must be noble, kingly, to have inspired such devotion as Bedivere shows. Hear what the latter says:

“My King,
King everywhere! and so the dead have kings,
There also will I worship thee as King.”

1. 8. He is a warrior to the last. Listen to his reply to Bedivere:

“King am I, whatsoever be their cry;
And one last act of kinghood shalt thou see
Yet, ere I pass.”

1.   9. He is resigned: “Let what will be, be.”

1. 10. He is faithful to the trust imposed upon him when he acquired Excalibur. Three times he sends Bedivere to cast the sword into the mere. The last time he says:

“But, if thou spare to fling Excalibur,
I will arise and slay thee with my hands.”

1. 11. He loves truth and reveres it:

“This is a shameful thing for men to lie.”

1. 12. Though he appears to fear death, rather is his fear that he shall die before he reaches the water where he expects something.

1. 13. At the last his philosophy bears him up, though still he calls for devotion from his faithful knight. The whole speech is matchless. Note these fine passages:

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils himself in many ways.”

“And that which I have done
May He within himself make pure!”

“More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.”

“The whole round earth is everyway
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”

1. 14. His faith rises triumphant:

“I am going a long way ...
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep-meadow’d, happy, fair with orchard lawns
And bowery hollows crown’d with summer sea,
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound.”

f. Beauty. All the elements of poetic beauty join to make The Passing of Arthur a masterpiece. Sublime sentiment thrills through the stanzas. A stately meter gives a solemn, rhythmic swing to the noble lines. Sonorous words add to the grandeur. Apt phrases and beautiful figures of speech seize the imagination and enchain the fancy. Rare and choice diction gives artistic finish to every sentence.

Most beautiful are such phrases as the following:

“The phantom circle of a moaning sea.”

“Some whisper of the seething sea.”

“Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful.”

“Let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.”

“And looking wistfully with wide blue eyes
As in a picture.”

“Clothed with his breath.”

“A cry that shiver’d to the tingling stars.”

Note how the following phrases give color to the poem:

“that day when the great light of heaven
Burn’d at his lowest in the rolling year.”

“Among the mountains by the winter sea.”

“The winter moon,
Brightening the skirts of a long cloud.”

Observe the pictorial power of these quotations:

“Make broad thy shoulders to receive my weight.”

“Straining his eyes beneath an arch of hand.”

“One black dot against the verge of dawn.”

Most forceful are the following phrases:

“And the days darken round me, and the years,
Among new men, strange faces, other minds.”

“From the great deep to the great deep he goes.”

“Authority forgets a dying king.”

“An agony
Of lamentation, like a wind that shrills
All night in a waste land, where no one comes,
Or hath come, since the making of the world.”

There never was a more beautiful comparison than the following:

“Like some full-breasted swan
That, fluting a wild carol ere her death,
Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood
With swarthy webs.”