the hunters after the bargain is settled; how do you account for the difference? 5. How do you explain your sympathy for the horse in spite of his viciousness? 6. Library reading: "The Pacing Mustang," Seton (in Wild Animals I Have Known); Ben, the Battle Horse (a story of the World War), Dyer; "The Bronco That Would Not Be Broken," Lindsay (in The Chinese Nightingale, and Other Poems); "Bucephalus," Baldwin (in The Wonder-Book of Horses); Black Beauty, Sewell. 7. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: foal; careering; vestige, bucking; hobbling; superb; limpid; caracoled; harry. 8. Pronounce: Arab; corral; indomitable; Salmon; subtly; cañon; Chaldean. horse wrangler, 26, 7 break him to ride, 26, 20 stoutly maintained, 27, 20 possessed of a demon, 29, 35 high divide, 31, 12 at his famous best, 31, 30 inborn certainty, 31, 34 Phrases wire fence still is not, 32, 6 purpling plain, 32, 16 by Cedra, 32, 20 claim his toll, 32, 27 spurned Arabian plains, 32, 34 Suggestions for Theme Topics 1. An incident from your own observation in which an animal showed spirit or understanding. 2. Description of a pet, noting Ernest Thompson Seton's method of description. 3. Review of some other story in Wild Animal Ways, adding interest to your report by showing the author's illustrations to the class. 4. A book review of The Biography of a Grizzly or any other of Ernest Thompson Seton's books which you may find in your library. (See page 98 for book review suggestions.) 5. Ernest Thompson Seton as an illustrator; invite the class to reproduce some of his sketches upon the blackboard. 6. Incidents from the lives or works of other naturalists, as Thoreau, Muir, Audubon, Burroughs, and Fabre. SATAN, THE WAR DOG THAT SAVED A TOWN ERNEST HAROLD BAYNES "Somewhere in France," and not far from Verdun, a little village occupied a very important position in the Allies' line. It was held by a garrison consisting of a few hundred French soldiers, who had orders to hold on until they were relieved. The enemy had succeeded in cutting them off from their friends in the rear, but they fought on bravely alone. For days they had hindered the German advance, answering the enemy batteries with a steady stream of shells. But now their ammunition was giving out, and there was no 10 way of getting more, for the enemy was in possession of every road. Worst of all, the Germans had managed to plant a battery on the left in a position from which it could pour a deadly fire into the French town. Owing to the shortage of shells, only a weak reply could be made by the garrison. If the latter could 15 only let the French army know the position of that battery, it might yet be silenced in time. But there was no way of letting it know. The telephone and telegraph wires had been cut, the last homing pigeons had been killed by a bursting shell, and every other means of communication was destroyed. 20 With the French garrison was a famous dog trainer named Duval, from the war dog school at Satory. He had been sent to the front with two dogs, Rip and Satan, both in the messenger service of the French army. Rip, a soft-eyed Irish setter, was killed in action soon after his arrival, and Satan had been left 25 with the French troops two miles in the rear of the now isolated town where his master was stationed. Satan was an ideal messenger dog, swift-limbed, intelligent, and absolutely fearless under fire. He was black as night, a mongrel by birth, but a thoroughbred by nature. His father 30 was a champion English greyhound, and from him he inherited. his speed. His mother was a working Scotch collie that had won more than one silver cup at the sheep-dog trials in Scotland. 38 Junior High School Literat Satan loved just one man in all the world, an Duval. Together they had walked several times which now stretched between them, and Duval kı friends in the rear had any message to send, Sat it if it could be brought. So every little while his head cautiously and look out over the shell-to ing to see his dog. At last he started forward with a great cry, Satan!" At first his companions could see nothi 10 speck moving toward them from the distance. Bu black speck took the form of a dog-a black dog mask and skimming the earth as he came. As he rough ground and leaped the shell holes, some o clared that he was flying-that they even saw h 1 the ground was fairly smoking under the enemy fi but Duval believed that even this great speed and save him from death. Perhaps they were right, for as a German bullet found its mark. Duval saw him as he fell, and saw him stagg 10 again, confused and faltering. Taking his life the man leaped to the top of the trench wall of the enemy, and heedless of the bullets around him, shouted at the top of his voice: "S Come, mon ami! For France! For!" A bu 25 down. But Satan had seen and heard, and with a fra pain or joy, no one could tell-once more he was in On three legs now, and with the fourth swinging loo he moved swiftly toward his goal. As he swept int Jo dozen hands caught him, and from a metal tube on h took a message which read: "For God's sake, hold of troops to relieve you tomorrow." It was signed by a on his shoulders were two little baskets, and in each basket there was a homing pigeon frightened almost to death. An officer took a message pad of tissue paper and wrote upon it: "Silence the battery on our left." Then he added some • figures showing the exact position of the battery. The message was folded and placed in a small aluminum capsule, and that was attached to the leg of a pigeon. A copy of the message was entrusted to the other bird, and both were tossed into the air. Away they went as if they knew the importance of their work, 10 and the men in the town watched them as they sped toward the French lines far away. Then a score of German rifles cracked, and one of the little messengers fell earthward with a mist of blue-gray feathers in his wake. But the other pigeon passed through the hail of bullets un15 hurt, and flew straight to his loft, where an alert young officer caught him up. The anxious men of the garrison did not see their message read, nor could they hear the sharp, terse order given to the waiting gunners. But they heard the deep roar of the big French guns which smothered with bursting shells the 20 German battery on their left, and they knew that the town wast saved. NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. Ernest Harold Baynes (1868-1925), the naturalist-author, lived in Meriden, New Hampshire. He was an authority on the service of birds and animals in the World War, having been sent overseas to the front to make a permanent history of the war work done by animals. Because of this, his story, “Satan, the War Dog,” has peculiar interest. Mr. Baynes was a member of the American Bison Society and the National Association of Audubon Societies, and president of the Meriden Humane Society. He organized the Meriden Bird Club, which has made his town a refuge spot for birds, and the Bird Club of Long Island, of which Theodore Roosevelt was president. Mr. Baynes's book, Wild Bird Guests, was written to interest people in protecting birds. It has a preface by Colonel Roosevelt, in which he says, "The Meriden Club has furnished a model for all similar experiments in preserving bird life, and Mr. Baynes writes in advocacy of a cause which by practical achievement he has shown to be entitled to the support of every sensible man, woman, and child in the country." Discussion. 1. Tell the story, using the following outline: (a) the condition of the French garrison; (b) Satan and his message; (c) the homing pigeon and the silencing of the German battery. 2. What made the situation of the French garrison unbearable? 3. How did Satan save the town? 4. What did Satan bring besides the message? 5. What happened to the homing pigeons? 6. Library reading: Pierrot, Dog of Belgium, Dyer; "What We Two Dogs Did" (in Ladies' Home Journal, September, 1919); "Autobiographic Sketch of the Most Famous War Dog" (in Literary Digest, April, 1919); Bob, Son of Battle, Ollivant; The Call of the Wild, London; Stickeen, Muir. 7. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: garrison; mongrel; violà; mon ami; terse. 8. Pronounce: isolated; aluminum. Magazine Reading. The average American today is too busy to read many books, but he does find time to read his favorite magazine; from the large number of magazines now published he chooses one that suits his particular interest and taste. Examine the magazines in the library and ask the librarian's advice as to which ones you will be likely to find useful and enjoyable. You are probably familiar with The Junior Red Cross News, St. Nicholas, The Youth's Companion, The Saturday Evening Post, The Geographic Magazine, The Scientific American, Good Housekeeping, The Outlook, The World's Work, The Literary Digest. What others do you sometimes read? Valuable suggestions for magazine reading will be gained if each member of the class chooses some one magazine, agreeing to examine the current numbers as they appear, with the purpose of informing the class of the most interesting articles, stories, or poems. Many of the masterpieces of American literature were first published in magazines. Bryant's "To a Waterfowl" appeared in the North American Review; Poe's "The Raven" was first published in the New York Mirror; and Hale's "The Man Without a Country" was first printed in the Atlantic Monthly. Undoubtedly some of the magazine contributors of today will be the standard writers of tomorrow, and some of their poems and prose stories will become masterpieces of the future. Perhaps you have had the experience of reading a story, and later when you wished to refer to it, being unable to tell in which number or in which magazine you had read it. The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature will help you locate any story, poem, or article by title, author, or subject. It will also be helpful in showing you what has appeared in current magazines by certain authors or on certain subjects. Ask your teacher or the librarian to show you how to use the Reader's Guide. |