er of romances and
short stories (1804-1864).]

EXPRESSION: Read this selection again and again until you
understand it clearly and appreciate its rare charm. Study each
paragraph separately, observing how the topic of each is developed.
Select the expressions which are the most pleasing to you. Tell why
each pleases.

Did you ever see a town pump? In the cities and larger towns, what
has taken its place? Can we imagine a hydrant or a water faucet
talking as this town pump did? If Hawthorne were writing to-day,
would he represent the town pump as the "chief person of the
municipality"? Discuss this question fully.

Talk with your teacher about the life and works of the author of
this selection. If you have access to any of his books, bring them
to the class and read selections from them. Compare the style of
this story with that of the selection from Dickens, page 22; or
from Thackeray, page 27; or from Goldsmith, page 94.

WORD STUDY: Refer to the dictionary for the pronunciation and
meaning of: _perpetuity_, _constable_, _municipality_, _cognac_,
_quaff_, _rubicund_, _Tophet_, _decanter_, _titillation_,
_capacious_.

COME UP FROM THE FIELDS, FATHER[30]

Come up from the fields, father; here's a letter from our Pete,
And come to the front door, mother; here's a letter from thy dear son.
Lo, 'tis autumn;
Lo, where the fields, deeper green, yellower and redder,
Cool and sweeten Ohio's villages, with leaves fluttering in the moderate
wind;

Where apples ripe in the orchards hang, and grapes on the trellised
vines,
(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?
Smell you the buckwheat, where the bees were lately buzzing?)
Above all, lo! the sky so calm, so transparent after the rain, and with
wondrous clouds;
Below, too, all calm, all vital and beautiful,--and the farm prospers
well.

Down in the fields all prospers well;
But now from the fields come, father,--come at the daughter's call;
And come to the entry, mother,--to the front door come, right away.
Fast as she can she hurries,--something ominous,--her steps trembling;
She does not tarry to smooth her white hair, nor adjust her cap.

Open the envelope quickly;
Oh, this is not our son's writing, yet his name is signed!
Oh, a strange hand writes for our dear son--O stricken