THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER

unbending. The soldier was so much moved that ready to shed tears of tin, but that would not hav fitting. He looked at her, and she looked at but they said never a word. At this momen of the little boys took up the tin soldier, and w rhyme or reason, threw him into the fire. No the little goblin in the snuff box was to blame for The tin soldier stood there, lighted up by the and in the most horrible heat; but whether it w heat of the real fire, or the warmth of his feelings not know. He had lost all his gay color. It have been from his dangerous journey, or it migh been from grief, who can tell?

He looked at the little maiden, and she looked a and he felt that he was melting away, but h managed to keep himself erect, shouldering hi bravely.

A door was suddenly opened, the draught caug little dancer and she fluttered like a sylph, straigh the fire to the soldier, blazed up, and was gone!

By this time the soldier was reduced to a mere and when the maid took away the ashes next m she found him, in the shape of a small tin heart that was left of the dancer was her spangle, an was burnt as black as a coal.

wanted most to see? 2.
What does Hans Christian
Andersen mean when he
says the beautiful little
dancer was "unbending"? 3.
(Think hard about this
and remember that the Tin
Soldier wanted her for his
wife.) Do you think she 4.
was too proud when she
did not "bend" to the
wish of so brave a soldier?

How did the brave Tin Sol-
dier die? Did he die
bravely? What in the
story tells you so?
Did he win the pretty dancer

at last? Tell how she went to the brave soldier when she saw him dying. What only was left of the

Tin Soldier next morning? What do you think this means?

Hope is like a harebell, trembling from its birth;
Love is like a rose, the joy of all the earth;
Faith is like a lily, lifted high and white;
Love is like a lovely rose, the world's delight;
Harebells and sweet lilies show a thornless growth,
But the rose, with all its thorns, excels them both.
CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI

What is it to be a gentleman? It is to be honest, to be gentle, to be generous, to be brave, to be wise; and, possessing all these qualities, to exercise them in the most graceful outward manner.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY

LITTLE BOY BLUE

EUGENE FIELD

Try to think of a man as he stands looking at a child's dusty little chair, on which are a dust-covered toy dog and a toy soldier, with red rust covering the soldier and his musket.

The tears are streaming from the man's eyes. He is thinking of a dear little lad whom he called "Little Boy Blue."

What is the man seeing besides the chair, the little toy dog, and the tin soldier? He is seeing Little Boy Blue, as, one evening long years ago, he got ready to go to bed. He had been playing with his bright new toys. He kissed each one, and put it on his chair. Then he said to the toy dog and the tin soldier,

"Now, don't you go till I come,

And don't you make any noise!"

Then he toddled off to his trundle-bed to go to sleep, and dream of his pretty toys.

But he never came back to his beloved toy dog and his tin soldier. Poor little lad! He died that night. An angel song awakened Little Boy Blue.

And his parents left his toy dog and his tin soldier on the same little chair, just as he had left them when he kissed them and told them to wait till he should come again. And there they are still, waiting for him faithfully, through the many long years. And they wonder

"What has become of our Little Boy Blue,

Since he kissed them and put them there."

Learn the meanings of the following words before you read the poem :

sturdy strong, ready for battle, | passing fair: more than beau

:

stanch: brave-hearted, loyal. dreamt (drěmt): dreamed.

LITTLE BOY BLUE

1

The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and stanch he stands ;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket molds in his hands.

5 Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair;

And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.

10

2

"Now, don't you go till I come," he said, "And don't you make any noise!"

So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,

He dreamt of the pretty toys;
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
Awakened our Little Boy Blue

15 Oh! the years are many, the years are long, But the little toy friends are true!

3

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,

Each in the same old place,

Awaiting the touch of a little hand,

The smile of a little face;

And they wonder, as waiting the long years through 5 In the dust of that little chair,

What has become of our Little Boy Blue,

Since he kissed them and put them there.

From "A Little Book of Western Verse." Copyright, 1889, by Eugene Field. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What picture must we see

in the first stanza?

2. How long had the toy dog 4.

and the tin soldier been

waiting for Little Boy 5.
Blue?

3. Imagine that you are Little
Boy Blue, placing your 6.
toys in the chair and talk-
ing to them. Then read 7.
aloud the second stanza,

just as you think it should

be read.

Why did he not come back to his toys?

Why did his parents leave his

toys untouched for SO many years? What does Mr. Field imagine

that the toys are thinking? How many friends are as true as these little toy friends?

Eugene Field, who wrote "Little Boy Blue" and many other delightful poems for children and about them, was born at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1850. He was a newspaper writer during most of his life. His poems about children and the things that children love have made him dear to American boys and girls and also to all grown persons who remember their childhood. Mr. Field died at Chicago, Illinois, in 1895.