McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LXXX · Part 8: Webster, Evangeline and the poets of death and toil
86. A Hot Day in New York (William Dean Howells)
Goal: Your student can picture a busy city street in a heat wave and tell what Howells noticed.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook and pen
- A dictionary
What's in the book
An extract from Howells's novel Their Wedding Journey: a crowded wholesale street in New York on a burning summer afternoon, and a man struck down by the heat.
The lesson, step by step
Words and meanings
Look over the notes and definitions printed at the end of the lesson before you start, so names and hard words don't trip up the reading.
Find out what sunstroke is before reading; it matters in the story.
Your student picks three unfamiliar words, guesses each meaning from the sentence, then checks a dictionary.
About the author
The book says Howells was born in 1837 in Belmont County, Ohio, learned the printer's trade, published poems in 1860 with John J. Piatt, was U.S. Consul at Venice from 1861 to 1865, helped edit the Nation, and edited the Atlantic Monthly. It says his writing has an artistic finish and a keen but subtle humor.
Read aloud
Read the street description aloud slowly. Your student should close their eyes for one paragraph and just listen.
Talk about it
SayWhich details make you feel the heat? Find three.
SayWhat happens to the man in the street? How do people react?
SayThe speaker says the biggest place is both the kindest and the cruelest. What does that mean?
SayWould you rather be in trouble in a big city or a small town? Why?
Narration
Your student describes the scene as if they were standing on the corner that afternoon.
Writing (optional)
Describe a very hot or very cold day where you live, using at least four details of sight, sound and touch.