Betsey Trotwood. Here he was kindly received, and under the guardianship of his aunt, he began a new and happy life. You will have to read the novel David Copperfield to find out what he did in later years, and what became of Mr. and Mrs. Barkis, Steerforth, Little Em'ly, and his other friends.] HELPS TO STUDY I. DAVID IS SENT AWAY FROM HOME. 1. Who was David Copperfield? 2. Where was he going? 3. Why was he going? 4. Who was Peggotty? 5. Describe her parting from David. 6. What did he find in the purse? 7. What questions did Mr. Barkis ask? 8. What message did he send to Peggotty? 9. Where did Mr. Barkis leave David? 10. How was David greeted there? 11. Describe the dining room at the inn. 12. Describe the waiter's appearance. 13. What do you hear of Mr. Topsawyer? 14. How did the greedy waiter get the chops and potatoes? 15. How did he get the pudding? 16. How did the waiter impress David? 17. How does David impress you? 18. What mistakes in grammar and punctuation are made by Mr. Barkis? by the greedy waiter? 19. Does little David make any grammatical mistakes? 20. "Barkis is willing" has become a proverb; how would it be used? II. THE FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL. 1. Who was the first boy that David met at school? 2. How was David decorated? 3. How did the boys treat him? 4. How much is seven shillings in American money? 5. Describe the "royal spread." 6. What did the boys think of J. Steerforth? 7. What idea do you get of David's looks? 8. Describe your own first day at school. III. MY HOLIDAYS, ESPECIALLY ONE HAPPY AFTERNOON. 1. How did David fare at this inn? 2. How did Mr. Barkis greet him? 3. In what way had the message to Peggotty been a failure? 4. How did Barkis supplement his message? 5. Whom did David fear to find at home? 6. Whom did he find there? 7. How did David's mother receive him? 8. How did Peggotty receive the new message from Barkis? 9. What did she promise David's mother? 10. How did they spend the afternoon? 11. Can you describe the first time you came home after a visit? IV. PEGGOTTY'S WEDDING. 1. Where is David? 2. What presents did Mr. Barkis bring for Peggotty? 3. Describe his wooing. 4. Describe his wedding costume. 5. Can you draw a picture of Mr. Barkis? 6. Why does Mrs. Gummidge object to throwing the shoe? 7. What mistakes does she make in grammar? in pronunciation? 8. How did Mr. Barkis announce his marriage? 9. Describe the wedding dinner. 10. What did David talk about on the drive home? PERSONS OF THE STORY DAVID COPPERFIELD, aged eight MR. MURDSTONE, his stepfather MR. CREAKLE, the schoolmaster LITTLE EM'LY, his niece For Study with the Glossary: I. carrier, solitary, keepsake, accordingly, resolution, leisure, half-crown, faltering, transmission, commission, prospectively, latent, ultimately, affably, ruminate, disconcerting, phenomenon (the word means fact, or occurrence, but here means an extraordinary fact, or a wonder), prematurely. II. embarrassment, disclosure, concealment, boisterous, anticipated, reputed, misgiving, acceded, feign. Schoolboy Phrases: here's a game, jolly shame, you're going it, smuggle the prog (food) in, royal spread, a Tartar. III. elapsed, sixpence, inquisitively, pondering, stitch in my side, tilt (the cloth or canvas cover of a wagon), lowering, infantine, superadded. IV. vacant, eccentric, pig's trotters, betimes, phenomenon (wonder) of respectability, the House (poorhouse), demure, disparaging, unimpaired, philosophically (i.e. calmly, like a philosopher), contemplation, exponent, impart, veneration. CHARLES DICKENS CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870) was really writing of his own childhood when he told the story of David Copperfield. Like David he suffered from poverty and neglect and was taken from school and set to work in a warehouse. Dickens's own father was a person somewhat like David's friend, Mr. Micawber. Charles Dickens had made his way as a shorthand reporter before he became known as a contributor to the magazines. When he was only twenty-four he began writing the Pickwick Papers. These made a great success. Four hundred copies of the first paper were bound, and forty thousand of the fifteenth. Wealth and fame had come to the young writer almost in a moment. Dickens was a man of enormous energy. He was always doing something. He would walk thirty or forty miles at a stretch, often at night through the streets of London, and in the long walks he noted down in his memory thousands of persons and places. Later on, he made use of these in his novels. After he had stored his mind with the many incidents and characters that were to make up a story, he wrote with great rapidity. Indeed, he shut himself up with his book and really lived with its persons, laughing and weeping over their joys and sorrows as so many readers have done since then. Most of his novels were written for serial publication and are very long with a great many characters and scenes. These are of all kinds, comic, pathetic, tragic, or horrible, but most of them present life of his own time. Perhaps you have already read some of the amusing adventures of Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller from the Pickwick Papers and the Christmas awakening of Old Scrooge from the Christmas Carol (See FIFTH READER, p. 269). Some of the best of the novels tell of children, as Little Nell in the Old Curiosity Shop, Paul Dombey in Dombey and Son, Oliver Twist, in the novel of that name, and Pip in Great Expectations. Perhaps the greatest of all his many novels is David Copperfield, which tells the story of David from his birth to manhood. Dickens made two visits to the United States. On his first visit in 1842 he was received everywhere with great enthusiasm ; but his impressions of the country, as recorded in his American Notes and the fine novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, were neither flattering nor pleasing to Americans. When, however, he came again in 1867, old resentments were forgotten, and the readings which he gave from his stories were attended everywhere by crowded audiences. Dickens is one of the great inventors or creators of English |