A
view from the home of two Angelicum students living
in Ireland
(they moved to Ireland from America several years
ago)
Below
is a Good Books Literature Report sent to us by one
of our 4th grade students, John K. from NY.
In Freedom's Cause by G. A. Henty
In Freedom's Cause, A Story of Wallace and Bruce,
by G. A. Henty is a great book. This book was first
published on July 16, 1894, by Blackie and Son London.
This historical fiction story is written in the first
person. The story takes place in the late 13th - early
14th centuries during the War for Scottish Independence
from England. There are several ways to write a book
report, but I decided to focus on characters. I chose
these characters because they are the main characters,
and they are all noble.
Archie Forbes is a fictional main character. Archie
is in his mid-teens. He is very important to the story
because he brings Bruce back to the side of Scotland.
He also makes the story more interesting with his
adventures, thoughts and fears. Archie is an enemy
of the English, because the English occupy his country,
Scotland. He is very, very clever, and prefers learning
how to use a sword to learning how to read. The only
reason he did his schoolwork was because it pleased
his mom. His patriotism was helped along by his mother
telling him stories about her family, the Seatons,
and the Forbes. Archie stood up for the peasants in
his hometown when two were unjustly hung by the Kerrs.
Sir William Wallace is the most patriotic man I have
ever read about. He was a strong man who built up
his strength by unceasing practice with arms. Wallace
is also a young man, he is in his late teens. Wallace
is important to the story because he started the rebellion
in Scotland. Wallace hated the English because they
killed every one who was dear to him, and they were
cruel to his people. King Edward of England whose
nick-name was "Long Shanks," invaded Scotland
on several occasions. During these invasions his army
would kill and destroy anything in their path. When
he invaded Berwick he murdered every innocent person
there. He invaded because he wanted more power.
Sir William was very smart, he used his wit to protect
his men and call them back to their camp. Two of Sir
William's many virtues were chivalry and patriotism.
This hero's story is told in the movie, Braveheart.
This man taught Europe that footmen with spears could
withstand the charge of mail chad chivalry if the
troops were properly motivated. The Scots were motivated
by love for their families. Sir William was captured
by treachery after he came back from France. The English
hung and mutilated his body.
Robert Bruce was different from other heroes. Before
Wallace was hung Bruce fought for the English. He
loved his power more than his country. Bruce was esteemed
as the first or second best knight in all of Europe.
In the story Archie goes to London to persaude Bruce
to come back to the side of Scotland. Archie succeeds.
After awhile the Scots made Bruce their king. Bruce
was a good man but he had his faults. Once he attacked
the English on Fat Tuesday. This was a good tactic,
but I think it was disrepectful of God to fight on
days you should be praying. Bruce's other fault was
a large one. He killed a man in church. It was an
evil deed, but it was provoked. He was very sorry
afterward. Bruce's cause, which was freeing Scotland
from the tyrannical English kings, was triumphant
with the help of many patriotic knights of Scotland.
Bruce was king of Scotland until his death. Bruce,
dispite his many faults, was an honorable man.
These three characters in the story were vital to
the success of Scotland. I will remember how cruel
Edward "Long Shanks" was to the people of
Scotland. He killed tens of thousands of Scots just
because they wanted to be free. I will also remember
how noble, patriotic, kind, loving, as well as hopeful
for freedom, and unselfish these main characters were.
Shurley
Grammar Creative Writing Assignment sent to us by
one of our 6th grade students.
Senora
Morena was a notorious woman, often seen at Patricio's
gambling house, smoking, drinking and playing monte.
Having been married at a young age to a superficious
curandero Senora Morena lived in a cluttered adobe.
The brickred walls were lined with shelves on which
stood jars of immortal, ground mint leaves and pumpkin
stems, maraschinos, chiles and yucca roots. The curandero,
by the name of Senor Felippo was always in the shrub-ladden
fields, collecting herbs. He favored most ground pumpkins
stems due to the fact that he often had sore throats,
and qround pumpkin stems eased the pain if consumed.
Senior Felippo would never go out of his house at
darkling-time, even when a severe case pressed him
to. For he was exceedingly superstitious and nervous.
He was frightened by the coyotes, bears and rattlesnakes
that wandered the shrub lands. Every moment his ears
were alert for the sound of rushing water, which meant
a flash flood. Oh, he feared nature's weapons, but
even more he feared that of man's. Every man in his
conception was vile, ready to strike if not appeased.
Selfish and lurid.
When Apollinia was first introduced to Senor Felippo
she was struck by his size and complexion. For he
was little more than four feet tall, and his complexion
was that of a dead man. "Those who live in fear
die a hundred times," was a common saying and
Apollinia readily believed it when she was introduced
to the currandero.
Well, though Apollinia was not so pleased with her
new master, she was delighted with her simple tasks:
collecting water, dusting the pots and jars which
contained the medicines, and help with the cooking.
Dusting, cooking and collecting water was all very
simple, but when Senior Felippo ordered her to amuse
the residing patient, her heart stopped. She set down
the water jar, shakily, sprinkled the last teaspoon
of water over the floor to settle the dust, and then
dragged her feet along to where the patient was moaning.
She gulped, and shrugged her shoulders.
"Buenos dias!" she dully exclaimed.
The toxemia victim rolled his bloodshot cobalt eyes
toward her.
"Who are you!" he cried through his parched
lips.
"Senorita Apollinia," she replied, with
a frown. "You did not return my Buenos dias,
Senor."
"And I don't intend to," he crackled. "For
as you see, I have not had a very good morning."
"Si, senior."
"Now go and fetch me some water. El agua es la
vida, and it is life to me too."
Apollinia rejoiced to get out in the open air. The
air in the curandero's home was stuffy and filled
with the odor of diseased victims, plus, the atmosphere
in the home was that of a church during a funeral.
Apollinia danced along the trodden path adorned with
smalt michealmasses and ruby roses.
Jack
V. M. has recently been awarded a full scholarship
to the prestigious high school school, Scotch College
in Melbourne. His mother writes to us:
I'm
writing to tell you that Jack has won a scholarship
to one of Australia's most prestigious private schools.
Jack has won a scholarship to Scotch College(which
is a private high school) for years 9-12. It is arguably
one of the finest and most expensive private schools
in Australia. The scholarship covers his tuition for
years 9-12 , worth approximately $60,000US dollars.
We are so proud of him and so thankful to everyone
who made it possible, including the Angelicum Academy.
I really believe that the depth and breadth of the
reading list you provide put him over the top in his
scholarship interview. The principal asked him to
discuss his favourite authours and not many high school
children can say that they've ever read G.A. Henty
or Jules Vern, or even heard of them for that matter!
Thank you! A. V. M.
Shurley
Grammar Creative Writing Assignment sent to us by
one of our 7th grade students from Melbourne, Australia.
A
Story of Frog Legs and Flies
Phil
and Phlo, the two houseflies, were uncertain where
the smell was coming from, but they knew it was making
them hungry. "Look ou!" yelled Phlo, as
the swatter missed her by inches. Suddenly, they were
wrenched off the glass wall by something sticky. It
was a frog's tongue, and in an instant, they were
within its stomach. "That's right, you're always
directed by your nose, Phil!" said Phlo. ""Now
how will we even get out of here?"
"Mum's
going to kill me!" groaned Phil.
"
I'm going to kill you!" Phlo retorted. Almost
as an answer to Phlo's statement, a long, stainless
steel kitchen knife, begun to slide down the frog's
stomach, narrowly missing Phil. Phil and Phlo emerged
from the carcass into a kitchen. "Come on, let's
get out of here," said Phlo.
"Wait!
It's that smell!" cried Phil.
"Frog
legs!" Phlo exclaimed, as she zoomed towards
the newly cooked dish. She offered some to Phil who
declined from the offer, saying, "I think I've
had enough of frogs," and they both laughed.
LOS
ALAMOS STUDENT WINS TOP STATE SCIENCE AWARD
Monitor
Staff Report
Brian
C., an eighth grade Angelicum Academy Homeschool student,
received the Junior Division Grand Award in Physical
Science at the New Mexico Science and Engineering
Fair.
The
State Science Fair was held April 11 and 12 on the
campus of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
in Socorro.
Brian,
who lives in Los Alamos, received the top award for
his computer science project, "Dead Reckoning
Biometric Robot Navigation to Learn and Reproduce
a Path to a Target." He also received first place
in Computer Science and an invitation to participate
in the Discovery Channel Young Scientists Challenge.
An
essay completed by J. C., a student in the first year
of our
Great Books High School Program.
Thucydides,
the Real Father of History by J. C.
Evan B. Thucydides is one of the greatest authors
of western literary tradition, and his work on the
events of the Peloponnesian War is a magnificent example
of ancient history writing. Despite this, he is overshadowed
by and overlooked because of Herodotus, often known
as the "Father of History." We ought instead
to provide Thucydides with this appellation, for his
is the first true history, and it has been the model
for every work in this genre thereafter. Thucydides's
work is far more historical in three areas: its analysis
of the events recounted, its realism and accuracy,
and its sole focus on historical episodes.
The first difference between Herodotus and Thucydides
involves the authors' analyses of the events that
they narrate. Thucydides names broad political and
economic trends as the driving force behind human
affairs, in the same way a modern historian would.
For example, he states that the basis of the Peloponnesian
War was Sparta's growing fear of Athenian expansionism.
He often cites collective causes for the episodes
he is writing about and is never afraid to list expansionistic
desires or some similar aspiration as having caused
a particular chain of events. Herodotus, on the other
hand, almost never believes that widespread tendencies
could have caused wars. Instead, he attributes causes
to the whims of individuals, preferring to write of
whole nations warring over one man's beliefs, grudges,
or desires. While this makes a good story, it is most
likely not accurate. Most subsequent authors of history
continued as Thucydides did and attributed wars to
nations, not individuals.
The second divergence is the realism of their accounts.
Thucydides stays as close to reality as he possibly
can. He only discusses events that occurred within
a generation of his own and talks only of broad episodes
where he is unlikely to get important details wrong.
In addition, Thucydides openly admits at the beginning
of his work that the speeches contained in it are
not reproduced verbatim and states that he has only
done his best to communicate what he believed the
intent of the speaker was. Other than these speeches,
Thucydides's work contains little dialogue, and he
tries in all respects to represent accurately the
events that occurred. Herodotus, however, relates
hundreds of outlandish, fictional stories from every
area about which he speaks. In addition, he narrates
the history of several generations before his time.
The scarcity of written works forced him to rely entirely
on oral history, and after such a long time, orally
transmitted stories had likely become contorted and
jumbled. Furthermore, Herodotus relates hundreds of
lines of direct dialogue, never saying how he happened
upon the exact words of men who lived two hundred
years before his time. Quite often, he quotes lines
attributed to Persian kings or other such characters,
and it is unlikely that the Greeks could have had
such accurate knowledge of their enemies. Such liberal
usage of literary license places Herodotus's work
closer to the category of historical fiction rather
than history.
The third and final distinction between the authors
is their focus. Thucydides's work is a true history
that relates the events of the Peloponnesian War.
He focuses only on that which is pertinent to the
events surrounding the war. He rarely strays from
his topic, only occasionally relating an anecdote
that is always relevant to the episode he is currently
recounting. Herodotus focuses not only on the Persian
Wars, but also on whatever happens to intrigue him.
He often goes into extensive detail about the customs
or geography of a country. For example, Book 2 in
its entirety is devoted to Egyptian mores and religion.
He relates stories that have no relevance to what
he is narrating, discusses the culture of countries,
and describes their geography. In this sense, Herodotus
wrote an ethnographical, geographical, or theological
work, not a history. In no way does he focus on historical
events.
As indicated by the examples above, Thucydides's work
is much more a history than Herodotus's. While Herodotus
may have invented the social studies historical fiction
novel, Thucydides was the first to write solely about
past human events. In fact, Thucydides wrote what
has become the model for most subsequent works of
history. Every ensuing history book has relied on
the same basic model that he laid down; and so, Thucydides
should be considered the real Father of History.
An
essay completed by Marilyn A., a student in the third
year of our Great Books High School Program.
Marilynn
A.
Medieval Year Essay
November 11, 2004
Machiavelli's
Lack of Virtue
Machiavelli,
in his work The Prince, abandoned the notions of correct
conduct in the political context previously laid out
by philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. Machiavelli,
a keen observer and learned man in both people and
politics, developed what he considered a practical
guide for a new prince, specifically for the work's
dedicatee, Lorenzo de Medici. The Prince was intended
to be a straightforward guide for the new prince,
stressing the importance of practical results rather
than moral or ethical methods.
One
outstanding characteristic of Machiavelli's writings
is his revolutionary view of man. In all of the ancient
teachings and texts (the Platonic and Aristotelian)
the view of man is high. Humans are recognized as
superior beings, created by the gods, and, in some
cases, a direct descendent of them. Machiavelli held
a view of man as simple and naturalistic. He maintained
that man is little more than a creature of animal
instincts and impulses. A key aspect of this position
worthy of note is the fact that Machiavelli did not
recognize the spirit and dignity of each individual
human person.
Plato
and Aristotle would have found Machiavelli's teachings
detestable in the way it stressed the worst in man.
They understood and recognized the fact that man has
a nature with an immaterial and spiritual soul. This
soul makes the man capable of some certain, higher
extent of being. Both philosophers held that man is
on a constant quest to achieve a higher good through
this spiritual aspect of his nature. In order to be
happy, a desire of all mankind, Plato and Aristotle
taught that a man's choices had to be made in favor
of his own interests, attaining this greater good.
Machiavelli,
on the other hand, removes man from this higher, supernatural
dimension, and strips him to an existence devoid of
moral consideration. Under Machiavelli, man is motivated
by purely rational thoughts, removed from the workings
and influences of his spirit. Thus, Machiavelli holds
a naturalistic view of man, geared toward his fallen
nature. This elevation of self-satisfying, unjust
motivation starkly contrasts the Platonic and Aristotelian
recognition of virtue.
All
of this leads up to Machiavelli's views on leadership.
Machiavelli, in a nutshell, maintains that the primary
obligation of a ruler is to successfully maintain
and support his state, no matter what the cost. He
believes that a man has no strong obligation to God,
or any higher power, nor to his own soul but only
to his state. A failure to provide for the preservation
of his state is by far a greater disservice to his
subjects than for him to actually perform evil in
order to maintain it in Machiavelli's thinking.
Machiavelli
simply outlines the need to literally do whatever
is necessary to maintain a strong nation. He is a
strong advocate of ruling in fear in order to be a
strong ruler. He is not afraid to punish his subjects
by any means possible either. His whole idea seems
to be the need to rule as a fox and a lion; the fox
to cunningly discern traps, and the lion to powerfully
instill fear into his enemies.
Obviously,
Machiavelli is not familiar with the notion that the
"ends do not justify the means." While Plato
and Aristotle defined virtue in relation to a higher
good, Machiavelli simply treats virtue as a simple
appearance, holding self-interest and self-preservation
at a higher level than an ideal of genuine goodness.
Machiavelli realizes that men tend to respect virtue
and that it is essential for a prince to secure the
trust and approval of his subjects, but he only takes
this realization to the level of simply appearing
to possess virtue. He therefore encourages the falsified
appearance of virtue to attain an end through whatever
channels necessary. The adoption and use of this type
of attitude in society can only lead to a self-centered,
corruptible society with no notion of community or
goodness.
Unfortunately
for us, we see this type of mentality far too often
in our society. The coming to power tends to have
negative impacts on even virtuous men, and they often
succumb, to some extent, to the Machiavellian way
of thinking. It would seem that the political world
has left the ideals of ancient justice and virtue,
no longer looking out for the rights and well beings
of others. Rather, we have adopted a more modern,
selfish approach, where we feel obligated to do the
"right" thing for ourselves in our own twisted
notion of a "greater good," no matter what
the consequences or means may be. Our challenge is
to reverse this conduit and bring the values of virtue
and justice back into society, before we completely
fall into the Machiavellian way.
Paintings
completed by Therese C. - she is one of our 6th grade
students in WA State.
A
Creative Writing Essay sent to us by Mary C.,
one of our 4th graders.
By
Mary C.
Chapter
1
San Perpetua
Hardly anything is more terrible than the loss of
a loved one. Many people cannot live through it, and
if it was not for their strong faith no one would
in the poor little village of San Perpetua located
in New Mexico on the western side of the Rocky Mountains
where death was not a rare event. Senora Josephina
Isadora was one of these unfortunate people. She had
recently gone through the death of her husband, Senor
Diego Isadoro leaving her with her fifteen year old
son Roch and her thirteen year old daughter Apollinia.
She had lived in the town of San Jose most of her
life but when she was twenty one years old Senor Diego
had come married her at the church of Santa Agnes
and brought her to the poor little village of San
Perpetua where she has lived for sixteen years happily
settled with her husband and two children.
Her husband's house was located of the eastern side
of the little village close by the Chapel of San Perpetua.
He owned five goats which Roch would take to the village
creek ever day to tend. He also own a portion of the
village apricot orchards out of which great fun was
made of by the children of San Perpetua.
Senora Josephina had never been beautiful, for her
nose was broad and flat and her cheeks would have
been very pale if it wasn't for the effect of the
Mexican sun whos sharp rays were merciless. Her eyes
were small and brown and after the death of her husband
seemed to see very little indeed. She had a strong
chin and black hair that was never seen anywhere but
up in a bun carefully knotted. She was neat and orderly
lady and she could never sleep at night unless all
her daily chores were accomplished - and well, too.
She was well-educated for that time for she could
read and write and do simple mathematics and she knew
Latin, a large accomplishment. She had spent much
of her teenage years learning it. She did not study
only for herself to obtain knowledge but also so that
she could teach her children, and she did so with
much diligence.
She was also a religious lady as many New Mexican
women were, for the heart of her town was the church.
The building was made of adobe with but one window
which was toward the east for the sun rose in the
east so the sun shone through the one window and light
up the whole chapel. Since there was a shortage of
priests in New Mexico the chapel of San Perpetua had
a carekeeper who basically organized the whole of
daily life. The carekeeper was also the bellringer.
On the roof of the chapel there was a place for the
bell which would wake the villagers up, announce the
time for daily prayers, the time for dinner, and the
time to come to bed. The men of the village would
after a quick breakfast of plain tortillas go to work
as a blacksmith, a carpenter, a healer or a regular
farmer in the fields. They would work until the carekeeper
announced the time for a daily event and then they
were precede with their work. The women of the village
would sweep floors, rollaway the beds, prepare food,
tend children, string chiles and other vegetables,
and all other manners of domestic work.
In small villages such as San Perpetua a man was sent
every month to trade chiles, nuts, geese, and other
products for large town products such as sugar, salt,
jewelry, bullets, lead, guns, and more.
Senora Josephina had always remember the time that
Senor Diego had left for Santa Fe, the biggest town
in New Mexico to trade some chickens a year after
their marriage. It had been a hot day, the merciless
sun was scorching the passerby's, the bees and wasps
were fierce, no one wanted to buy the chickens, and
he could find no priest to invite to San Perpetua
to celebrate the mass on the day of Roch's baptism.
Then an unfortunate event accured. He stumbled on
a stone lying in the dirt and he dropped the cage
of chickens and a passing wagon killed them. The wagon
stopped and a kindly looking priest jumped out and
readily apologized for he carelessness.
"I am most apologetic, Senor," he said,"but
remember, life goes on. Here, take this money and
say that you sold the chickens for they are as good
as sold." He laughed and said, "Meanwhile,
I see that you are looking with a greedy look at me.
Would you like me to come to your town to celebrate
the Holy Eucharist?"
Senor Diego's face brightened up and he announced
whole heatedly that he was be overjoyed if he would
come to San Perpetua. So the preist, Father Mereco,
arranged to go to San Perpetua and Senor Diego trip
to Santa Fe was successful after all, and Senora Josephine
was especially touched for a reason unknown about
how Father Mereco had a said 'remember, life goes
on', and she made it her motto and when Senor Diego
was laid down to rest in his grave she said silently
to herself, "Remember, life goes on".
Now, Roch, Senora Josephine's first-born son was a
lively lad, not given to work, but he was steady at
it when told to. He was brown-skinned with dark brown
hair, and large black eyes resembling that of his
father. His chin, similar to his mothers was strong
and bold. He kept the laws of the church, he was faithfull
to the saying of the rosary with his family, and he
went to mass if the opportunity presented itself,
but besides that he really did not have much for the
Catholic faith that his mother kept so strongly. Due
to his mother's schooling he was well educated for
being a simple New Mexican lad, but instead of making
the best out of it by silent study and thought he
went around to the other less fortunately educated
boys and boasted of it with high airs. Due to this
his previous popularity as an intelligent,sweet and
humble boy declined and soon he was known as Fine
Airs and the few friends he had were bad boys given
to drink and gambling.
As would be expected Senora Josephine, as a Catholic
mother was much disappointed at Roch's lack of the
virtue of chastity, and she made much effort to persuade
him to leave his companions and pay more attention
to the faith. But he stubbornly persisted as he had
an air of independence about him and if it wasn't
for his father Senora Josephine was sure that he would
have run off to try his luck in the world.
Apollinia was very much the opposite of Roch. She
obedient, quiet, hard-working, graceful and conscience
of the work her mother had put into her to make her
so. She had much skill in weaving and the walls of
the Isadoro house were wondrously decorated in beautiful
quilts, and often a time did the villagers of San
Perpetua see Senor Diego leaving for Santa Fe to trade
some. She was a girl of great common sense as Senora
Josephine would note.
Once as trick question her father had asked her, "Apollinia,
who is burried in St. Peter's tomb?" Apollinia
had smiled and answered in a cheery voice, "Well,
Pa, I would think St. Peter would be burried in St.
Peter's tomb." Another time Roch had drawn in
the dirt a big bundle of figures and shapes and he
asked Apollinia what she saw in it and she had answered,
"Roch, I don't exactly see anything but a lot
of scribble-scrap!" And once a girl in the village
named Muska had asked Apollinia, "If you were
walking along a path and you saw a person in a well
drowning and there was absolutely nothing you could
do what would you do?" Apollinia had looked at
her puzzled, expecting her to correct her error, but
as Muska did not appear to see her mistake Apollinia
had said, "Well, Muska, if there was absolutely
nothing I could do, well, then there was absolutely
nothing I could do."
But it was not Apollinia's common sense or her obedient
disposition that would first appeal to the onlooker.
It was her face. Apollinia had a long sharp nose,
and large brown eyes, a strong chin, brown skin, and
long strait black hair that hung down in braids. She
had a sharp widow's peack and a pretty set of pink
lips, and overall she was quite pretty for her age.
And so I introduce you to the Isadoros.
An
award given to one of our 8th grade students.
The
American Classical League
and the
National Junior Classical League
present this
Certificate of Honorable Merit
*SUMMA CUM LAUDE*
to
Brian D.
for Outstanding Performance
in the National Latin Examination
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