A Village Fair

Robin, John-go-in-the-Wynd and Brother Luke ventured up the winding road to the top of the hill, where there was a sign announcing a fair at Wychwood Bec. “Let us see a little of the fun,” begged Robin. So they turned aside and spent some hours at the fair, tethering the horses near the gate, giving……

Troyes, City of Trades

Marguerite was of an imaginative turn and she loved her land of Champagne. She found Troyes a wonderful city in which to grow up. She knew its history well. It was an ancient town, once Roman. In the Middle Ages, the counts of Champagne had made it their capital; as one of the richer cities……

Medieval Tradesmen

As they rode in through the gates of the town, Otto looked up at the high-peaked houses with their overhanging gables, the like of which he had never seen before, and he stared with his round blue eyes at seeing them so crowded together along the length of the street. But most of all he……

The Village Blacksmith

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Under a spreading chestnut-tree ⁠The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands, And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. His hair is crisp, and black, and long; His face is like the tan; His brow is wet with……

The Noble Trade of a Smith

The business of man’s life is not mere pastime, and none knew this truth better than the wise old king, Siegmund. “All work is noble,” said he to Siegfried, “and he who yearns to win fame must not shun toil. Even princes should know how to earn a livelihood by the labor of their hands.”……

That Was England!

The bell rang. The long line of children went out into the hall, down the steps. They were in the assembly hall now, long rows of white-clad children. That day, the first day of the war, they did not sing the school hymn. Instead their voices rang fresh and clear with: Land of hope and……

Coming Home to Harbour

(You may omit what is in italics.) It was just then that I heard to the right of me the crooning of a man. A few moments before I should not have seen him under the darkness of the sea-wall, but the light was so largely advanced (it was nearly two o’clock) that I now……

Traditional Homeland

Konnersreuth is a small village in the poorest part of northern Bavaria, only three miles from the Czechoslovakian border. The soil in this region is so meager that one wonders how the peasants draw from it any sustenance. All the countryside has the atmosphere that here time has stood still, it is so completely unchanged……

The Soldier (Nineteen-Fourteen: The Soldier)

BY RUPERT BROOKE If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam; A……

In Flanders Field

BY JOHN MCCRAE In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now……