RDSWORTH
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
JOSEPH ADDISON]

_Nurse helps me when I embark_ (Volume One page 127) is a fine picture
for study. Ask questions like the following: What toys do you see in the
picture? Do boys like toys which suggest adventure? Do you think he
likes his small boat? Why? Did it suggest to his mind that he would call
his bed a boat, and sail away in it to dreamland? Is he saying his
prayer? Will the small candle give light enough? Why does it smoke? What
kind of a bed is it? What is the canopy over the bed made of?
Interesting questions may be asked about the poem: What is a prudent
sailor? What do prudent sailors have to take on board? What is a pier?
What is the pier beside which the boy finds his vessel fast?

On page 262 of Volume One is printed _Wynken, Blynken, and Nod_, Eugene
Field's musical lyric for little ones. The attractive picture may be
looked at before the poem is read. Questions help the children more than
explanations and comments, particularly where they are logically asked.
The natural order is to ask about the prominent things first, and then
about minor details, thus: How many children are there? Where are they?
What does their boat look like? What is the child nearest the toe of the
shoes doing? Where are the other two standing? What have they in their
hands? What are they doing with the net? Are they catching any fish?
Where is the moon? What can you see in the moon? Is the face laughing?
Now let us read the poem, and when we have done so, let us see what
lines in particular the artist was thinking about. Who are the three
children? "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod." What did they do? "Sailed off in a
wooden shoe ... into a sea of dew." What did the moon say? "'Where are
you going and what do you wish?'" What did the children answer? "'We
have come to fish for the herring fish.'" What kind of nets have they?
"Nets of silver and gold." What did the old moon do? "The old moon
laughed and sang a song." What were the herring fish? "The herring fish
were the little stars." How long did they fish? "All night long their
nets they threw." Where did they throw their nets? "To the stars in the
twinkling foam." * * * * Were there really three little children? No.
How many were there? Only one. Who, then, were Wynken and Blynken? The
little child's eyes. And who was Nod? His head. What was the wooden shoe
that sailed the skies? Only a trundle-bed. What then was all this story
about fishing from a woo