McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson CX · Part 11: Country, sea and the great classics
116. Dissertation on Roast Pig (Charles Lamb)
Goal: Your child enjoys and retells Lamb's comic tale of how roast pork was "discovered," and explains why it is funny.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook or lined paper and a pencil
What's in the book
Charles Lamb's humorous essay, said to come from a Chinese manuscript: Bo-bo, son of the swine-herd Ho-ti, accidentally burns down the cottage and a litter of pigs, tastes the crackling, and starts a craze for burning houses to roast pigs, until a sage discovers that meat can be cooked without burning the house. Definitions and notes follow.
The lesson, step by step
About the author
The book says Charles Lamb (b. 1775, d. 1834) was born in London, went to school at Christ's Hospital where he became a friend of Coleridge, worked as a clerk at the India House, and cared all his life for his sister Mary. His fame rests mainly on the "Essays of Elia."
Words and meanings
The words and meanings are printed at the end of the lesson. Read a few together before the reading, so they don't trip your child up:
Antediluvian, very ancient.
Obnoxious, liable to censure, offensive.
Culinary, relating to the kitchen.
Makeshift, that which answers a need with the best means at hand.
Your child reads each meaning aloud, then uses the word in a sentence of their own.
Read aloud
Your child reads the essay aloud, a few paragraphs at a time. Enjoy the silly seriousness:
Eat, eat, eat the burnt pig, father! only taste!
Nothing but fires from this time forward.
Talk about it
SayHow did Bo-bo discover roast pig? What did his father do at first, and then?
SayWhy did the jury say "Not Guilty"? What did the judge do afterward?
SayLamb writes about something silly in a very grand, serious style. Why does that make it funnier?
Tell it back
Close the book.
SayTell me the whole tale of the roast pig, from the first fire to the gridiron.
Older children can write their narration in a short paragraph instead. Don't correct while they talk; just listen.
Optional writing
Your child writes a short, serious-sounding "history" of how some ordinary thing was discovered (toast, ice cream, the sandwich), in Lamb's style.
Tip
Lamb is joking. The "Chinese manuscript" is part of the joke, not real history; say so if your child asks.