Short Stories of Various Types Part 42

2. Note the number of birds mentioned in the story. How many of them do you know?

3. What are some of the beautiful or poetic pictures of nature given by the author? Did the scenes have any effect on the imagination and feeling of these real boys and add to their enjoyment?

4. Have you ever had a camping experience? In what ways was your experience like that of the boys in this story?

5. Write a story of a camping or other out-of-doors trip in which the characters have some narrow escape and which contains some description of nature.

The Thread without a Knot

1. Has the recent World War made any difference in the current idea in America that only foreign universities, art schools, and works of art are of any real value? Why did Mr. Harrison good-humoredly a.s.sent to this really false idea, when he was seeking higher education?

2. When does the story become really interesting to you? Why?

3. What American characteristics does Mr. Harrison ill.u.s.trate?

4. Although the English girl's story is not told directly, can you gather what she thought of the young American? Does it remind you of what the French people thought of our American boys when they went to France during the recent war?

5. What characteristics of the English does the frank American bring out in his talk with the English girl?

6. What was the motive of the young American's conduct toward the English girl? Why was the American blameless, or _do_ you blame him?

7. Is the slang this young man uses characteristic of Americans in general?

Chu Chu

1. Where is this story located? What are some of the things that give it the atmosphere or flavor of California?

2. Is "Chu Chu" anything like "John G."? Tell the likenesses and differences between the two horses. Which do you admire more?

3. Why are there so many Spanish words in this story?

4. Do you think Consuelo is like other Spanish girls you have read or heard about? In what ways is she different from American girls?

5. Is the love story, or the action of the horse, the most interesting incident in the story?

6. Read the Introduction and see what Bret Harte added to the idea of the short story. Does it apply to this story?

Feathertop, A Moralized Legend

1. What do the words "moralized legend" mean? What _is_ the moral of the story?

2. This is a fanciful story. Do you like it as well as "The Gift of the Magi" or "A Reward of Merit" in which there are real people?

3. Does Hawthorne show his personality and boyhood training in this story as much as Mr. Garland showed his in "A Camping Trip"? (See biographical sketches.)

4. What do you think was the word that Feathertop whispered in Mr.

Gookin's ear?

5. Which do you think more difficult to write, a story wholly from the imagination like "Feathertop," or one from experience like "A Camping Trip"?

The Red-Headed League

1. Do you think this a good detective story? What makes it better than the cheap ones you perhaps have bought at the news stands?

2. What do you know about Sherlock Holmes? (See biographical sketch of Conan Doyle.)

3. Where did the most thrilling moment come? Was this the place where you saw how the story was going to turn out? What might you call this point?

4. Relate a mystery from real life that you have heard of or read in a newspaper that is just as hard to find out about as those Conan Doyle explains in his stories.

5. When Sherlock Holmes explains how he knew things about people, as, for instance, how he knew that Wilson was a Freemason, does it all seem simple enough to you? Why then are there not more good Sherlock Holmeses?

6. Relate some sly bits of humor you find in the story.

The Inconsiderate Waiter

1. What kind of humor is shown in this story? Is it different from "A Reward of Merit"?

2. Is there anything touching in the story?

3. What do you think are the real qualities of the narrator of this story? Why does he try to conceal his real self?

4. What do you think was Mr. Barrie's purpose in making this waiter of an exclusive English club show himself to be a real human being?

5. After you have read the biographical sketch of Mr. Barrie, see if you can discover anything in the story that shows his personality.

The Siege of Berlin

1. What is it that holds your attention in this story, is it the character of the fine old soldier, the story itself, or both?

2. What qualities of a soldier does M. Jouve show to the last?

3. What n.o.ble qualities does war bring out in the women of a nation, as revealed by the granddaughter of the old soldier?

4. What recent attack on Paris does this one make you think of? In what ways is it similar? How different?

5. How near did the Germans get to Paris in the World War?

6. What places mentioned in this story were strategic points around which great and critical battles were fought during the World War?

7. Read the notes on this story carefully, and from what you have read or can find out from soldier friends who were in the late war, see how the battles of the Franco-Prussian War and the World War differed. For instance, were the same people victorious in each case?