THE WORLD OF ADVENTURE

A REVIEW

In reading the adventure stories of Part II, you experienced the first of the three joys of reading mentioned on page 14; what is this joy of reading? What reasons have you for thinking that the spirit of adventure is as keen today as in the past? Mention some daring feats undertaken in recent years.

Name the knights of King Arthur's Round Table that you recall most vividly. Which of them do you admire most? Which did Arthur love most? Compare the story of Elaine with that of Guinevere; which woman reminds you of a Red Cross nurse? Why do you think the character of King Arthur has been such a favorite one for over a thousand years? Learn by heart the vows of true knighthood (p. 96, ll. 15-17). Compare these vows with the laws and pledges of the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, and the Camp Fire Girls.

What adventures described in Part II relate incidents that occurred within your lifetime? Which poets represented in this group are living? What country claims each as a citizen? Have you seen any newspaper or magazine references to any of them? Have any of them ever visited your locality? Perhaps someone who has heard them can tell you interesting facts regarding them. What did you learn about ballads and minstrels from your study of Part II? Can you tell how a folk-ballad differs from a ballad like "Kilmeny"?

Your magic power of reading does for you what Aladdin's lamp did for him; by rubbing it, he could be anywhere he chose. It does even more, for you are able to visit seas and lands existing only in imagination; who are the characters that people the island of Shakespeare's imagination? Quote from memory the lines by Kingsley on page 99, and explain them. Why is the picture on page 100 an apt illustration for Part II? Why is it worth while to read exciting tales of adventurous deeds?

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PART III

OUR INHERITANCE OF FREEDOM

"When a deed is done for Freedom, through the broad earth's aching breast Runs a thrill of joy prophetic, trembling on from east to west."

-James Russell Lowell.

Copyright by M. G. Abbey (from a Copley Print, copyright by Curtis & Cameron, Boston)

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

OUR INHERITANCE OF FREEDOM

AN INTRODUCTION

American boys and girls think of their country as a land of freedom, where each one has an opportunity to enter any business or profession he likes, to make as much of his life as he can, and to share in the government. It is a land of freedom. But if we are to make good use of this freedom and if we are to keep it safe for those who come after us, it will be necessary for us to stop long enough to think just what freedom means, and to learn how we came to have a free government in which all of us may share.

First of all, we shall need to notice that freedom is not a condition that "just happens." Ever since the world began, certain strong, ambitious men or groups of men have tried to force their rule upon others. Sometimes these groups of men have succeeded so well that they and their descendants have held under their power millions of subjects for hundreds of years. But always there has been in the hearts of brave men a longing to throw off the rule of these oppressors. So, all over the world battles have been fought against unjust rulers, until slowly, as time went on, men won their freedom. These heroes secured freedom not only for themselves, but for their children and for those who came after them through all later times. In just this way we came to have our freedom in America. It is an "inheritance," or precious gift, handed down to us by our brave forefathers who fought to win it for themselves and for us. We shall value it and preserve it the better if we learn something about the men who gave us so valuable an inheritance.

Part III of this book will make you acquainted with some of these heroes to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for the free life that we enjoy. You will need to notice that not all of these

men were soldiers, who risked their lives in battle. For great poets have played an important part when they wrote patriotic poems that aroused men to struggle for freedom, and great orators, too, have stirred whole nations by their eloquence, to resist the acts of tyrants. Soldiers, poets, orators, statesmenall are represented in the pages of Part III, as they work to make for us our noble inheritance of freedom. You will read of a hero named Leonidas who, more than two thousand years ago, gave his life in the attempt to keep Greece, his native land, from the rule of an ambitious Persian King who was seeking to conquer the world. You will read, too, the story of Arnold Winkelried, who, in 1386, won freedom for the brave little land of Switzerland. These are only two out of countless daring deeds done in the cause of freedom. The struggle went on in all ages and in many countries. You will gain another view of it from the tales about the Scotch hero, Robert Bruce. Again you will learn from the quaint words of Sir Walter Raleigh how the heroic English sea captains more than three hundred years ago gave their lives to save the world from oppression by an ambitious King of Spain.

Always the struggle for liberty has gone on, everywhere. But there are some champions of freedom to whom the whole world owes special gratitude. Certain heroic figures in history have played an especially important part in handing down to mankind this precious "inheritance of freedom." Perhaps the most striking of all these world champions of liberty was our own George Washington. For he performed a double service in the cause of freedom: he overthrew in the American colonies the unjust rule of the English King; and by this victory he weakened the King's despotic power over his own subjects in England. Thus Washington made it possible for liberty-loving Englishmen gradually to gain a larger share in their own government. As you read the stirring tales of our Revolutionary War days, you should keep this fact always in mind: the heroes who set up a new and freer government in America were men whose ideals