Free PDF

Author : Ragozin Zénaïde Alexeïevna
Title : Siegfried the hero of the North and Beowulf the hero of the Anglo-Saxons
Year : 1898

Link download : Ragozin_Zenaide_Alexeievna_-_Siegfried_the_hero_of_the_North_and_Beowulf_the_hero_of_the_Anglo-Saxons.zip

A STRANGE thing happened last winter in New York, strange even for New York. It was reported, with the names and addresses, in all the papers ; and personal investigation proved the facts to be true. It happened in the family of a respectable and well-to-do German artisan couple. Both husband and wife had come from the old country very young, and prospered, as honest industry will, when coupled with intelligence and a moderate share of luck. They had profited, perhaps to an exceptional degree, by the educational advantages which Germany provides for her poorest children ; but, unfortunately, their minds and their moral sense ran in a groove. They loved truth above all things, but truth in a narrow, absolute sense. They read in their leisure hours, but only what was literally true. All fiction, all poetry was tabooed, branded uncompromisingly as "lies," and abominated accordingly. In a word, the worthy couple were specimens of a very rare genus : human beings utterly devoid of imagination. Strictly on these lines they brought up their little daughter, a pretty, blue-eyed fairy of a child, their idol and their joy. They would give to her a first-class education. They could afford it, for their savings- bank account kept growing and had reached the sum of $1400.00. But the parents the mother especially watched her studies and recreations keenly, and so successfully that little Gertrude at twelve years of age had never heard a fairy-tale, never seen a story-book or a Mother Goose picture, and had never suspected that there were any other intellectual meadows to browse on than mathematics, spelling, and geography. ...