Biography. Thomas Hardy (1840- ) was born in Dorsetshire, England, and was educated at local schools and by private tutors. While a boy he began writing verse and an occasional short story. From 1870 his life has been devoted to literature. He excels as a short story writer, his "The Three Strangers" appearing in a number of lists of the one hundred best short stories. Among his other works, Laughing Stock and Other Verses, Under the Greenwood Tree, and A Pair of Blue Eyes are widely known. Mr. Hardy was given the Order of Merit in 1910. The poem "Men Who March Away" was written at the time the English soldiers were entering the World War.

Discussion. 1. What "faith and fire" must the soldier have who freely enlists in the service of his country in war? 2. Whom does the poet address in the second stanza? 3. Use other words instead of "purblind prank." 4. Explain the meaning of the fourth and fifth lines of the third stanza. 5. Why does the poet say the soldiers march to war ungrieving? 6. What reason is given for the "faith and fire" of the soldiers? 7. In the fourth stanza, what belief does the author say the soldier has? 8. What was said on page 220 about the service of poets in the cause of freedom? 9. How does a poem like this cause men to volunteer to fight for their country? During what war was this poem written? 10. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: musing; dolorous; pondering; dallier; rueing.

Phrases for Study

faith and fire within us, 261, 1
all that here could win us, 261, 5

bite the dust, 261, 25
press we to the field, 261, 26

"Charley, my boy," said Grandfather, "do you remember who was the last occupant of the chair?"

"It was Lieutenant-governor Hutchinson," answered Charley. "Sir Francis Bernard, the new Governor, had given him the chair 5 instead of putting it away in the garret of the province-house. And when we took leave of Hutchinson he was sitting by his fireside and thinking of the past adventures of the chair and of what was to come."

"Very well," said Grandfather, "and you recollect that this 10 was in 1763 or thereabouts, at the close of the Old French War. Now, that you may fully comprehend the remaining adventures of the chair, I must make some brief remarks on the situation and character of the New England colonies at this period."

So Grandfather spoke of the earnest loyalty of our fathers 15 during the Old French War, and after the conquest of Canada had brought that war to a triumphant close.

*See Silent and Oral Reading, page 40.

The people loved and reverenced the King of England even more than if the ocean had not rolled its waves between him and them, for at the distance of three thousand miles they could not discover his bad qualities and imperfections. Their love was 5 increased by the dangers which they had encountered in order to heighten his glory and extend his dominion. Throughout the war the American colonists had fought side by side with the soldiers of Old England, and nearly thirty thousand young men had laid down their lives for the honor of King George. And 10 the survivors loved him the better because they had done and suffered so much for his sake.

But there were some circumstances that caused America to feel more independent of England than at an earlier period. Canada and Acadia had now become British provinces, and our 15 fathers were no longer afraid of the bands of French and Indians who used to assault them in old times. For a century and a half this had been the great terror of New England. Now the old French soldier was driven from the north forever. And even had it been otherwise, the English colonies were growing so popu20 lous and powerful that they might have felt fully able to protect themselves without any help from England.

There were thoughtful and sagacious men who began to doubt whether a great country like America would always be content to remain under the government of an island three thousand 25 miles away. This was the more doubtful because the English Parliament had long ago made laws which were intended to be very beneficial to England at the expense of America. By these laws the colonists were forbidden to manufacture articles for their own use or to carry on trade with any nation but the 80 English.

"Now," continued Grandfather, "if King George III and his counselors had considered these things wisely, they would have taken another course than they did. But when they saw how rich and populous the colonies had grown, their first thought was 85 how they might make more profit out of them than heretofore.

England was enormously in debt at the close of the Old French War, and it was pretended that this debt had been contracted for the defense of the American colonies, and that therefore a part of it ought to be paid by them."

5 "Why, this was nonsense!" exclaimed Charley. "Did not our fathers spend their lives, and their money too, to get Canada for King George?"

"True, they did," said Grandfather, "and they told the English rulers so. But the King and his ministers would not listen to 10 good advice. In 1765 the British Parliament passed a stamp act.” "What was that?" inquired Charley.

"The stamp act," replied Grandfather, “was a law by which all deeds, bonds, and other papers of the same kind were ordered to be marked with the King's stamp, and without this mark they 15 were declared illegal and void. Now, in order to get a blank sheet of paper with the King's stamp upon it, people were obliged to pay threepence more than the actual value of the paper. And this extra sum of threepence was a tax and was to be paid into the King's treasury."

20 "I am sure threepence was not worth quarreling about!" remarked Clara.

"It was not for threepence, nor for any amount of money, that America quarreled with England,” replied Grandfather; “it was for a great principle. The colonists were determined not to be 25 taxed except by their own representatives. They said that neither the King and Parliament nor any other power on earth had a right to take their money out of their pockets unless they freely gave it. And, rather than pay threepence when it was unjustly demanded, they resolved to sacrifice all the wealth of 30 the country, and their lives along with it. They therefore made a most stubborn resistance to the stamp act."

"That was noble!" exclaimed Laurence. "I understand how it was. If they had quietly paid the tax of threepence, they would have ceased to be freemen and would have become 35 tributaries of England. And so they contended about a great