1. Introduction

You have already read part of this poem. Do you remember the description of the snow-storm and the pleasant picture of the kitchen on a winter night? Read these descriptions again if you can.

Who wrote the poem? Where did he live when he was a boy? What other ones of his poems do you know?

After describing the kitchen scene, Whittier tells of some of the persons who gathered around the fireside.

2. Reading Lesson

The Mother

Our mother, while she turned her wheel Or run the new-knit stocking-heel, Told how the Indian hordes came down At midnight on Cocheco town, And how her own great-uncle bore His cruel scalp-mark to fourscore. Recalling, in her fitting phrase, So rich and picturesque and free, (The common unrhymed poetry Of simple life and country ways), The story of her early days, - She made us welcome to her home; Old hearths grew wide to give us room; We stole with her a frightened look At the gray wizard's conjuring-book, The fame whereof went far and wide Through all the simple country-side; We heard the hawks at twilight play, The boat-horn on Piscataqua, The loon's weird laughter far away; We fished her little trout-brook, knew What flowers in wood and meadow grew,

What sunny hillsides autumn-brown She climbed to shake the ripe nuts down. Saw where in sheltered cove and bay The duck's black squadron anchored lay, And heard the wild geese calling loud Beneath the gray November cloud.

Later in the poem Whittier tells us that when

The bull's-eye watch that hung in view *** * *

Pointed with mutely warning sign Its black hand to the hour of nine the circle broke up. And he adds these lines to the description of his mother:

And while, with care, our mother laid

The work aside, her steps she strayed

One moment, seeking to express

Her grateful sense of happiness

For food and shelter, warmth and health,

And love's contentment more than wealth,

With simple wishes

*****

That none might lack that winter night, For bread and clothing, warmth and light.

3. Study

What sort of wheel did the mother turn? Did you ever see one? Ask your mother and your grandmothers if they know what it is to "run the new-knit stocking heel.,, Where is the mother's work done now?

Cocheco is an old name for Dover. What other name helps you to tell where the mother lived in her childhood?

A phrase is a group of words. What does fit mean? Explain the words "fitting phrase."

Explain the hues:

" She made us welcome to her home; Old hearths grew wide to give us room."

What is a witch? The word wizard is the masculine form of witch.

Do you like to hear older persons talk about when they were young? Tell in your own words what different things the mother told about.

Does Whittier make you like his mother? See how long a list of words that describe her you can make. Show that each is well chosen. You will need to read the description again, perhaps.

4. Oral Composition

Tell a story you have heard some older person tell about his youth.

5. Use Of The Comma: Words In Pairs

What rule have you learned for the punctuation of a series of words? These lines show that the rule has an exception:

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"Her grateful sense of happiness For food and shelter, warmth and health, And love's contentment more than wealth."

6. Rule

If the words of a series are written in pairs, the pairs only are separated by the comma.

Find another illustration of this rule in the lines about the mother.