Florence Holbrook

At the turn of the century, my father's parents expected him to learn to read using the Bible. It was a great "liberal" step to allow Longfellow's Hiawatha to be used as a reading primer.
Holbrook used the poem, large sections of which were expected to be "memorized", to introduce reading and vocabulary skills, in both print and script forms.
An Appendix includes "stories" drawn from the epic poem -- of old Mudjekeewis, of Hiawatha's canoe and his two best friends -- one strong, one gentle [134-5]: "When the work of the day was over, the three friends sat by the fire and talked together with naked hearts. The pathway between them was straight." [135] Interestingly, the women are morning stars and prairie dandelions. Of course, the exception is grandmother Nokomis, who is the one who teaches Hiawatha not to fear the who-oo-ing owl, and curiously, how to be a warrior.… (meer)