McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson CXXIII · Part 12: Herculaneum, Waterloo and A Psalm of Life

129. Abraham Davenport (John Greenleaf Whittier)

Goal: Your student can tell what happened on the Dark Day and explain why Davenport's answer is admired.

⏱ About 35 minutes · 7 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pen
  • A dictionary

What's in the book

Whittier's poem about the Dark Day of May 1780, when the Connecticut lawmakers thought the end of the world had come and Abraham Davenport kept them at work. A note explains the Dark Day.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Read the notes printed at the end of the lesson together before reading. The book explains, among others:

    The Dark Day: occurred May 19th, 1780, over all New England; the darkness came on about ten in the morning and lasted until midnight of the next day; the cause is unknown

    Ask your student to find two other hard words in the lesson, guess their meaning from the sentence, then check a dictionary.

  2. About the author

    Whittier was introduced in Lesson LXXXVII (The Barefoot Boy).

  3. Read aloud

    Read it together. Pause when the darkness falls and let your student imagine it.

    Listen for these lines:

    'Twas on a May-day of the far old year

    Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhat did people think was happening when the sky went dark?

    SayWhat did the lawmakers want to do?

    SayWhat did Davenport say? Why was it wise?

    SayIf you knew the world might end today, what would be your duty?

  5. Narration

    Your student retells the story and Davenport's words.

  6. Memorize or copy

    Learn Davenport's words:

    Let God do his work, we will see to ours.

    Bring in the candles.

  7. Writing (optional)

    Write a paragraph about someone who stayed calm and kept doing their duty when others panicked.

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