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Listening tip: 1918: American and German Forces Meet on a Battlefield Near Paris

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THE MAKING OF A NATION – a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

I'm Tony Riggs. Today, Larry West and I continue the story of American President Woodrow Wilson.

In 1917, Europe was at war. It was the conflict known as World War One. After three years of fighting, Europe's lands were filled with the sights and sounds of death. But still, the armies of the Allies and the Central Powers continued to fight.

The United States had tried to keep out of the European conflict. It declared its neutrality. In the end, however, neutrality was impossible.

Germany was facing starvation because of a British naval blockade. To break the blockade, German submarines attacked any ship that sailed to Europe. That included ships from neutral nations like the United States. The German submarines sank several American ships. Many innocent people were killed.German submarine attacks finally forced the United States into the war. It joined the Allies: Britain, France, and Russia.

Like most Americans, President Wilson did not want war. But he had no choice. Sadly, he asked Congress for a declaration of war. Congress approved the declaration on April 6, 1917.

It was not long before American soldiers reached the European continent. They marched in a parade through the streets of Paris. The people of France gave them a wild welcome. They cheered the young Americans. They threw flowers at the soldiers and kissed them.The Americans marched to the burial place of the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette was the French military leader who had come to America's aid during its war of independence from Britain. The United States wanted to repay France for its help more than a hundred years earlier.

An American Army officer made a speech at the tomb. He said: "Lafayette, we are here!"And so the Americans were there. They were ready to fight in the bloodiest war the world had ever known. Week by week, more American troops arrived. By October, 1917, the American army in Europe totaled one hundred thousand men. The leader of that army was General John J. Pershing.

Pershing's forces were not sent directly into battle. Instead, they spent time training, building bases, and preparing supplies. Then a small group was sent to the border between Switzerland and Germany. The Americans fought a short but bitter battle there against German forces.

The Germans knew the American soldiers had not fought before. They tried to frighten the Americans by waving their knives and guns in a fierce attack. The Americans surprised the Germans. They stood and fought back successfully.Full American participation in the fighting did not come for several months. It came only after another event took place. That event changed the war...and the history of the Twentieth Century. It was the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Its leader was Vladimir Lenin.

The Russian Revolution began in the spring of 1917. The people of that country were tired of fighting Germany. And they were tired of their ruler, Czar Nicholas. The Czar was overthrown. A temporary government was established. It was headed by Alexander Kerenski.

President Woodrow Wilson sent a team of American officials to Russia to help Kerenski's new government. The officials urged Russia to remain in the war.Under Kerenski, Russia did keep fighting. But it continued to suffer terrible losses. Many Russians demanded an end to the war.

Lenin saw this opposition as a way to gain control of the government. So he went to the city of Petrograd. There, he led the opposition to the war and to Kerenski.  Night after night, he spoke to big crowds. "What do you get from war." He shouted. "Only wounds, hunger, and death!"

Lenin promised peace under Bolshevik Communism. Within a few months, he won control of the Petrograd Soviet.  That was an organization of workers and soldiers. Another Bolshevik Communist, lLon Trotsky, controlled the Soviet in Moscow.Kerenski's government continued to do badly in the war. More and more Russian soldiers lost hope. Many fled the army. Others stayed. But they refused to fight.

The end came in November, 1917. Soldiers in Petrograd turned against Kerenski. Lenin ordered them to rebel. And he took control of the government within forty-eight hours. Russia was now a Communist nation.

As promised, Lenin called for peace. So Russia signed its own peace treaty with Germany. The treaty forced Russia to pay a high price for its part in the war. It had to give up a third of its farmland, half of its industry, and ninety percent of its coal mines. It also lost a third of its population. Still, it did not have real peace with Germany.The treaty between Russia and Germany had a powerful influence on the military situation in the rest of Europe. Now, Germany no longer had to fight an enemy on two fronts. Its eastern border was quiet suddenly. It could aim all its forces against Britain, France, and the other Allies on its western border.

Germany had suffered terrible losses during four years of war. Many of its soldiers had been killed. And many of its civilians had come close to starving, because of the British naval blockade. Yet Germany's leaders still hoped to win. They decided to launch a major attack. They knew they had to act quickly, before the United States could send more troops to help the Allies.German military leaders decided to break through the long battle line that divided most of central Europe. They planned to strike first at the north end of the line. British troops held that area. The Germans would push the British off the continent and back across the English Channel. Then they would turn all their strength on France. When France was defeated, Germany would be victorious.

The campaign opened in March, 1918. German forces attacked British soldiers near Amiens, France. The Germans had six thousand pieces of artillery. The British troops fought hard, but could not stop the Germans. They were pushed back fifty kilometers. The attack stopped for about a week.Then the Germans struck again. This time, their target was Ypres, Belgium.

The second attack was so successful it seemed the Germans might push the British all the way back to the sea. The British commander, Field Marshal Douglas Haig, ordered his men not to withdraw. Haig said: "There is no other course open to us, but to fight it out."

The British fought hard and stopped the attack. Losses on both sides were extremely high. Yet the Germans continued with their plan.Their next attack was northeast of Paris in May. This time, they broke the Allied line easily and rushed toward Paris. The German Army chief, General Erich Ludendorff, tried to capture the French capital without waiting to strengthen his forces. He got close enough to shell the city.

The French government prepared to flee.

Allied military leaders rushed more troops to the area. The new force included two big groups of American marines.The heaviest fighting was outside Paris at a place called Belleau Wood. The American Marines were advised to prepare for a possible withdrawal. One Marine said: "Withdraw? We just got here!"

The Marines resisted as the Germans attacked Allied lines in Belleau Wood again and again. Then they attacked the German lines. The Battle for Belleau Wood lasted three weeks. It was the most serious German offensive of the war. The Germans lost.

We will continue our story of World War One next week.

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Your narrators were Tony Riggs and Larry West. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.

Source: www.manythings.org/voa/history Picture: Wikipedia

The Luck of Roaring Camp (By Bret Harte)

Source of this picture: http://www.usdiplomacy.org

Source of the entry: 

American Stories in VOA Special English

www.manythings.org/voa/stories 

Our story today is called, "The Luck of Roaring Camp."  It was written by Bret Harte.  Here is Harry Monroe with our story.

Roaring Camp was the noisiest gold mining town in California.  More than one-hundred men from every part of the United States had come to that little camp – stopping there for a short time on their way to getting rich.

Many of these gold miners were criminals.  All of them were violent.  They filled the peaceful mountain air with shouting and gun shots.  The noise of their continual fighting finally gave the camp its strange name.

On a sunny morning in eighteen fifty, however, the men of Roaring Camp were quiet.  A crowd was gathered in front of a small wooden house by the river.  Inside that cabin was "Cherokee Sal," the only woman in camp.  She was all alone and in terrible pain.  Cherokee Sal was having a baby.

Deaths were not unusual in Roaring Camp.  But a birth was big news.

One of the men turned to another and ordered: "Go in there, Stumpy, and see what you can do."  Stumpy opened the cabin door, and disappeared inside.  The rest of the men built a campfire outside and gathered around it to wait.

Suddenly, a sharp cry broke the air…the cry of a new-born baby.  All the men jumped to their feet as Stumpy appeared at the cabin door.  Cherokee Sal was dead.  But her baby, a boy, was alive.

The men formed a long line.  One by one they entered the tiny cabin.  On the bed, under a blanket, they could see the body of the unlucky mother.  On a pine table, near that bed, was a small wooden box.  Inside lay Roaring Camps newest citizen, wrapped in a piece of bright red cloth.

Someone had put a large hat near the babys box.  And as the men slowly marched past, they dropped gifts into the hat.  A gold tobacco box.  A silver gun.  A diamond ring.  A lace handkerchief.  And about two hundred dollars in gold and silver.

Only one incident broke the flow of the men through the cabin.  As a gambler named Kentucky leaned over the box, the baby reached up and held one of the mans fingers.  Kentucky looked embarrassed.

"That funny little fellow," he said, as he gently pulled his hand out of the box.  He held up his finger and stared at it.  "He grabbed my finger," he told the men.  "That funny little fellow."

The next morning, the men of Roaring Camp buried Cherokee Sal.  Afterwards, they held a formal meeting to discuss what to do with the baby.  Everyone in the camp voted to keep the child.  But nobody could agree on the best way to take care of it.

Tom Ryder suggested bringing a woman into the camp to care for the baby.  But the men believed no good woman would accept Roaring Camp as her home.  And they decided that they didnt want any more of the other kind.

Stumpy didnt say a word during these long discussions.  But when the others finally asked his opinion, he admitted that he wanted to continue taking care of the baby himself.  He had been feeding it milk from a donkey, and he believed he could raise the baby just fine.

There was something original, independent, even heroic about Stumpys plan that pleased the men of Roaring Camp.  Stumpy was hired.

All the men gave him some gold to send for baby things from the city of Sacramento.  They wanted the best that money could buy.

By the time the baby was a month old, the men decided he needed a name.  All of them had noticed that since the babys birth, they were finding more gold than ever before.  One day Oakhurst declared that the baby had brought "The Luck" to Roaring Camp.  So "Luck" was the name they chose for him, adding before it, the first name "Tommy."

A name day was set for him.  The ceremony was held under the pine trees with Stumpy saying the simple works: "I proclaim you Thomas Luck, according to the laws of the United States and the state of California, so help me God."

Soon after the ceremony, Roaring Camp began to change.  The first improvements were made in the cabin of Tommy or "The Luck" as he was usually called.  The men painted it white, planted flowers around it and kept it clean.

Tuttles store, where the men used to meet to talk and play cards, also changed.  The owner imported a carpet and some mirrors.  The men – seeing themselves in Tuttles mirrors – began to take more care about their hair, beards and clothing.

Stumpy made a new law for the camp.  Anyone who wanted the honor of holding The Luck would have to wash daily.  Kentuck appeared at the cabin every afternoon in a clean shirt, his face still shining from the washing hed given it.

The shouting and yelling that had given the camp its name also stopped.  Tommy needed his sleep, and the men walked around speaking in whispers.  Instead of angry shouts, the music of gentle songs filled the air.  Strange new feelings of peace and happiness came into the hearts of the miners of Roaring Camp.

During those long summer days, The Luck was carried up the mountain to the place where the men were digging for gold.  He would lie on a soft blanket decorated with wild flowers the men would bring.

Nature was his nurse and playmate.  Birds flew around his blanket.  And little animals would play nearby.  Golden sunshine and soft breezes would stroke him to sleep.

During that golden summer The Luck was with them, the men of Roaring Camp all became rich.  With the gold they found in the mountains came a desire for further improvement.  The men voted to build a hotel the following spring.  They hoped some good families with children would come to live in Roaring Camp.

But some of the men were against this plan.  They hoped something would happen to prevent it.  And something did.

The following winter, the winter of eighteen fifty-one, is still remembered for the heavy snows in the mountains.  When the snow melted that spring, every stream became an angry river that raced down the mountains tearing up trees and bringing destruction.

One of those terrible streams was the North Fork River.  Late one night, it leaped over its banks and raced into the valley of Roaring Camp.

The sleeping men had no chance to escape the rushing water, the crashing trees and the darkness.  When morning came, Stumpys cabin near the river was gone.  Further down in the valley they found the body of its unlucky owner.

But the pride, the hope, the joy, The Luck of Roaring Camp had disappeared.

Suddenly, a boat appeared from around a bend in the river.  The men in it said they had picked up a man and a baby.  Did anyone know them?  Did they belong here?

Lying on the bottom of the rescue boat was Kentuck.  He was seriously injured, but still holding The Luck of Roaring Camp in his arms.  As they bent over the two, the men saw the child was pale and cold.

"Hes dead," said one of them.

Kentuck opened his eyes.  "Dead?" he whispered.  "Yes, Kentuck.  And you are dying, too."

Kentuck smiled.  "Dying!" he repeated.  "He is taking me with him.  Tell the boys Ive got The Luck with me."

And the strong man, still holding the small child, drifted away on the shadowy river that flows forever to the unknown sea.

You have just heard "The Luck of Roaring Camp," a story by Bret Harte.  It was adapted for Special English by Dona De Sanctis.  Your storyteller was Harry Monroe.

Pigs Is Pigs (By Ellis Parker Butler )

Pigs Is Pigs (By Ellis Parker Butler )

Source: www.manythings.org/voa/stories

Our story today is called "Pigs is Pigs."  It was written by Ellis Parker Butler.  Here is Shep O'Neal with the story.

Mike Flannery, the agent of the Interurban Express Company, leaned over the desk in the company's office in Westcote and shook his fist.  Mr. Morehouse, angry and red, stood on the other side of the desk shaking with fury.  The argument had been long and hot.  At last Mr. Morehouse had become speechless.

The cause of the trouble lay on the desk between the two men.  It was a box with two guinea pigs inside.

"Do as you like, then!" shouted Flannery.  "Pay for them and take them.  Or don't pay for them and leave them here.  Rules are rules, Mr. Morehouse.  And Mike Flannery is not going to break them."

"But you stupid idiot!" shouted Mr. Morehouse, madly shaking a thin book beneath the agent's nose.  "Can't you read it here – in your own book of transportation rates?  'Pets, domestic, Franklin to Westcote, if correctly boxed, twenty-five cents each.'"

He threw the book on the desk.  "What more do you want?  Aren't they pets?  Aren't they domestic?  Aren't they correctly boxed?  What?"

He turned and walked back and forth rapidly, with a furious look on his face.  "Pets," he said.  "P-E-T-S!  Twenty-five cents each.  Two times twenty-five is fifty!  Can you understand that?  I offer you fifty cents."

Flannery reached for the book.  He ran his hand through the pages and stopped at page sixty-four.

"I don't take fifty cents," he whispered in an unpleasant voice.  "Here's the rule for it:  'When the agent be in any doubt about which two rates should be charged on a shipment, he shall charge the larger.  The person receiving the shipment may put in a claim for the overcharge.'  In this case, Mr. Morehouse, I be in doubt.  Pets them animals may be.  And domestic they may be, but pigs I'm sure they do be.  And my rule says plain as the nose on your face, 'Pigs, Franklin to Westcote, thirty cents each.'"

Mr. Morehouse shook his head savagely.  "Nonsense!"  he shouted.  "Confounded nonsense, I tell you!  That rule means common pigs, not guinea pigs!"

"Pigs is pigs," Flannery said firmly.

Mr. Morehouse bit his lip and then flung his arms out wildly.  "Very well!" he shouted.  "You shall hear of this!  Your president shall hear of this!  It is an outrage!  I have offered you fifty cents.  You refuse it.  Keep the pigs until you are ready to take the fifty cents.  But, by George, sir, if one hair of those pigs' heads is harmed, I will have the law on you!"    He turned and walked out, slamming the door.  Flannery carefully lifted the box from the desk and put it in a corner.

(MUSIC)

Mr. Morehouse quickly wrote a letter to the president of the transportation express company.  The president answered, informing Mr. Morehouse that all claims for overcharge should be sent to the Claims Department.

Mr. Morehouse wrote to the Claims Department.  One week later he received an answer.  The Claims Department said it had discussed the matter with the agent at Westcote.  The agent said Mr. Morehouse had refused to accept the two guinea pigs shipped to him.  Therefore, the department said, Mr. Morehouse had no claim against the company and should write to its Tariff Department.

Mr. Morehouse wrote to the Tariff Department.  He stated his case clearly.  The head of the Tariff Department read Mr. Morehouse's letter.  "Huh!  Guinea pigs," he said.  "Probably starved to death by this time."  He wrote to the agent asking why the shipment was held up.  He also wanted to know if the guinea pigs were still in good health.

Before answering, agent Flannery wanted to make sure his report was up to date.  So he went to the back of the office and looked into the cage.  Good Lord!  There were now eight of them!  All well and eating like hippopotamuses.

He went back to the office and explained to the head of the Tariff Department what the rules said about pigs.  And as for the condition of the guinea pigs, said Flannery, they were all well.  But there were eight of them now, all good eaters.

The head of the Tariff Department laughed when he read Flannery's letter.  He read it again and became serious.

"By George!" he said.  "Flannery is right.  Pigs is pigs.  I'll have to get something official on this.  He spoke to the president of the company.  The president treated the matter lightly.  "What is the rate on pigs and on pets?" he asked.

"Pigs thirty cents, pets twenty-five," the head of the Tariff Department answered.  "Then of course guinea pigs are pigs," the president said.

"Yes," the head of the Tariff Department agreed.  "I look at it that way too.  A thing that can come under two rates is naturally to be charged at the higher one.  But are guinea pigs, pigs?  Aren't they rabbits?"

"Come to think of it," the president said, "I believe they are more like rabbits.  Sort of half-way between pig and rabbit.  I think the question is this – are guinea pigs of the domestic pig family?  I'll ask Professor Gordon.  He is an expert about such things."

The president wrote to Professor Gordon.  Unfortunately, the professor was in South America collecting zoological samples.  His wife forwarded the letter to him.

The professor was in the High Andes Mountains.  The letter took many months to reach him.  In time, the president forgot the guinea pigs.  The head of the Tariff Department forgot them.  Mr. Morehouse forgot them.  But agent Flannery did not.  The guinea pigs had increased to thirty-two.  He asked the head of the Tariff Department what he should do with them.

"Don't sell the pigs," agent Flannery was told.  "They are not your property.  Take care of them until the case is settled."

The guinea pigs needed more room.  Flannery made a large and airy room for them in the back of his office.

(MUSIC)

Some months later he discovered he now had one hundred sixty of them.  He was going out of his mind.

Not long after this, the president of the express company heard from Professor Gordon.  It was a long and scholarly letter.  It pointed out that the guinea pig was thecavia aparoea, while the common pig was the genus sus of the family suidae.

The president then told the head of the Tariff Department that guinea pigs are not pigs and must be charged only twenty-five cents as domestic pets.  The Tariff Department informed agent Flannery that he should take the one hundred sixty guinea pigs to Mr. Morehouse and collect twenty-five cents for each of them.

Agent Flannery wired back.  "I've got eight hundred now.  Shall I collect for eight hundred or what?  How about the sixty-four dollars I paid for cabbages to feed them?"

Many letters went back and forth.  Flannery was crowded into a few feet at the extreme front of the office.  The guinea pigs had all the rest of the room.  Time kept moving on as the letters continued to go back and forth.

(MUSIC)

Flannery now had four thousand sixty-four guinea pigs.  He was beginning to lose control of himself.  Then, he got a telegram from the company that said: "Error in guinea pig bill.  Collect for two guinea pigs -- fifty cents."

Flannery ran all the way to Mr. Morehouse's home.  But Mr. Morehouse had moved.  Flannery searched for him in town but without success.  He returned to the express office and found that two hundred six guinea pigs had entered the world since he left the office.

At last, he got an urgent telegram from the main office:  "Send the pigs to the main office of the company at Franklin."  Flannery did so.  Soon, came another telegram.  "Stop sending pigs.  Warehouse full."  But he kept sending them.

Agent Flannery finally got free of the guinea pigs.  "Rules may be rules," he said, "but so long as Flannery runs this express office, pigs is pets and cows is pets and horses is pets and lions and tigers and Rocky Mountain goats is pets.  And the rate on them is twenty-five cents."

Then he looked around and said cheerfully, "Well, anyhow, it is not as bad as it might have been.  What if them guinea pigs had been elephants?"

"Pigs is Pigs" was written by Ellis Parker Butler.  It was adapted for Special English by Harold Berman.  The storyteller was Shep O'Neal.  The producer was Lawan Davis.

I'm Shirley Griffith.

Pauls Case, Part One

Source: www.manythings.org 


Our story today is called "Pauls Case."  It was written by Willa Cather. "Pauls Case" will be told in two parts.  Here is Kay Gallant with part one of the story.

Paul hated school. He did not do his homework. He did not like his teachers. Pauls father did not know what to do with him. His teachers did not know either. One afternoon, all his teachers at Pittsburgh high school met together with him to discuss his case. Paul was late. When he entered the room his teachers sat waiting for him.

He was tall for his age and very thin. His clothes were too small for him, but they were clean. He had a bright red flower in the button hole of his black jacket. One of the teachers asked paul why he had come to the meeting. Paul said politely that he wanted to do better in school. This was a lie. Paul often lied.

His teachers began to speak. They had many complaints. One said Paul talked to the other students instead of paying attention to the lessons. Another said Paul always sat in class with his hands covering his eyes. A third teacher said Paul looked out the window instead of looking at her. His teachers attacked him without mercy.

Pauls eyesbrows moved up and down as his teachers spoke. His smile never left his face, but his fingers shook as he touched the flower on his coat. At last the meeting was over. Pauls smile got even wider. He bowed gracefully and left the room.

His teachers were angry and confused. The art teacher spoke for all of them when he said there was something about paul that he didnt understand. "I dont think he really means to be bad," he said. "Theres just something wrong with that boy."  Then the art teacher remembered one warm afternoon when Paul had fallen asleep in his class. Pauls face was white with thin blue veins under the skin. The boys face looked tired and lined, like an old mans. His eyebrows moved up and down, even in his sleep.

After he left the meeting, Paul ran down the hill from the school whistling. He was late for his job at the concert hall. Paul was an usher there. He showed people to their seats. He carried messages for them. He brought them their programs with a polite bow. Everyone thought he was a charming boy and the best usher at the hall.

When Paul reached the concert hall that evening, he went immediately to the dressing room. About six boys were already there. Paul began changing his clothes with excited hands. He loved his green uniform with the gold pockets and design.

Paul rushed into the concert hall as soon as he had changed clothes. He ran up and down the hall, helping people. He became more and more excited. His face became pink and his eyes seemed larger and very bright. He looked almost handsome. At last everyone was seated. The orchestra began to play and Paul sat down with a sign of relief.

The music seemed to free something in Pauls spirit. Then a woman came out and began to sing. She had a rich, strong soprano voice. Paul felt truly happy for the first time that day.

At the end of the concert Paul went back to the dressing room. After he had changed his clothes again he went outside the concert hall. He decided to wait for the singer to come out. While he waited he looked across the street to the large hotel called "The Schenley."  All the important people stayed at The Schenley when they visited Pittsburgh. Paul had never been inside it, but he used to stand near the hotels wide glass doors. He liked to watch the people enter and leave. He believed if he could only enter this kind of a hotel, he would be able to leave school, his teachers, and his ordinary, gray life behind him. . . forever.

At last the singer came out of the concert hall. Paul followed her as she walked to the hotel. He was part of a large crowd of admirers who had waited to see her. When they all reached the hotel, she turned and waved. Then the doors opened and she disappeared inside. Paul stared into the hotel as the doors slowly closed. He could feel the warm, sweet air inside. And for a moment, he felt part of a golden world of sparkling lights and marble floors. He thought about the mysterious dishes of food being served in the hotels dining room. He thought about green bottles of wine growing cold in silver buckets of ice.

He turned away from the hotel and walked home. He thought of his room with its horrible yellow wallpaper, the old bed with its ugly red cover. He shook his head.

Soon he was walking down the street where he lived. All the houses on Cordelia Street were exactly alike. Middle class businessmen had bought them for their families. All their children went to school and to church. They loved arithmetic. As Paul walked toward his house he felt as if he were drowning in ugliness. He longed for cool colors and soft lights and fresh flowers. He didnt want to see his ugly bedroom or the cold bathroom with its cracked mirror and gray floor.

Paul went around to the back of his fathers house. He found an open window and climbed into the kitchen. Then he went downstairs to the basement. He was afraid of rats. But he did not want to face his own bedroom. Paul couldnt sleep. He sat on the floor and stared into the darkness until morning came.

The following Sunday Paul had to go to church with his family. Afterwards, everyone came home and ate a big dinner. Then all the people who lived on Cordelia Street came outside to visit each other.

After supper Paul asked his father if he could visit a friend to get some help with his arithmetic. Paul left the house with his school books under his arm. But he didnt go to his friends house. Instead he went to see Charley Edwards. Charley was a young actor. Paul liked to spend as much time as he could at the theater where Charley Edwards and his group acted in their plays.

It was only at the theater and the concert hall that Paul felt really alive. The moment he smelled the air of these places he felt like a prisoner suddenly set free. As soon as he heard the concert hall orchestra play he forgot all the ugly, unpleasant events in his own life.

Paul had discovered that any kind of music awakened his imagination.

Paul didnt want to become a musician, however. He didnt want to become an actor, either. He only wanted to be near people who were actors and musicians. He wanted to see the kind of life these artists led.

Paul found a schoolroom even worse after a night at the theater or the concert hall. He hated the schools bare floors and cracked walls. He turned away from his dull teachers in their plain clothes. He tried to show them how little he thought of them and the studies they taught.

He would bring photographs of all the actors he knew to school. He would tell the other students that he spent his evenings with these people at elegant restaurants. Then he would announce that he was going away to Europe or to California, or to Egypt for a while. The next day he would come to school smiling nervously. His sister was ill, he would say. But he was still planning to make his trip next spring.

Pauls problems at school became worse. Even after the meeting with his teachers, things did not get better. He told them he had no time to study grammar and arithmetic. He told them he had to help the actors in the theater. They were old friends of his.

Finally, his teachers went to Pauls father. He took Paul out of school and made him get a job. He told the manager at the concert hall that Paul could not work there anymore. His father warned the doorman at the theater not to let Paul into the place. And Charley Edwards promised Pauls father not to see Paul again.

All the actors at the theater laughed when they heard about the stories Paul had been telling. The women thought it was funny that Paul had told people he took them out to nice restaurants and sent them flowers. They agreed with the teachers and with his father that Pauls was a bad case.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

You have just heard part one of the American story "Pauls Case."  It was written by Willa Cather. Your storyteller was Kay Gallant.  Listen again next week at this time for the final part of "Pauls Case" told in Special English on the Voice of America.  Im Steve Ember

George Gershwin, 1898-1937: One of America's Greatest Composers

Source: Voice of America Special English

Source: www.manythings.org/voa/people 

I'm Barbara Klein. And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.  Today we tell about the life and music of one of America's greatest composers, George Gershwin.

(MUSIC: "Rhapsody in Blue")

That was the opening of "Rhapsody in Blue," composed by George Gershwin. Gershwin lived only thirty-nine years. Yet, in that short time, he wrote hundreds of unforgettable popular songs. He wrote

some concert works, such as "Rhapsody in Blue," that are still performed today. And he wrote what many consider to be the most beautiful American opera, "Porgy and Bess. "

George Gershwin was born in New York City in eighteen ninety-eight. His parents were Russian Jews who had immigrated to the United States. George and his two brothers and sister had a close, happy family life. George liked playing games on the streets of New York. He liked exploring the city. He did not like school or studying.

While exploring the city, George heard jazz and blues music spilling out of public drinking places. However, he did not become seriously interested in music until he heard another boy playing the violin in a concert at his school.  George began to take piano lessons. His teacher was a fine classical musician. He immediately recognized George's unusual ability. The teacher wrote about him to a friend: "I have a student who will make his mark in music, if anybody will. The boy is a genius, without doubt. "

George studied classical piano. But his strongest interest continued to be jazz and popular music. At the age of fifteen, he left school and went to work in the music business. The New York City street where most music publishers had their offices was called "Tin Pan Alley."

The phonograph and radio had been invented in the late eighteen hundreds. But it would be many years before there were musical recordings or regular radio broadcasts. Tin Pan Alley publishers needed another way to sell new songs. So, they employed people to play the piano to do this.

The piano players played the songs all day long to interested singers and other performers. George Gershwin was one of the youngest piano players in Tin Pan Alley. Soon, he was considered one of the finest there. He was already writing his own songs. He succeeded in getting one published when he was only eighteen years old. It had a long title: "When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em, When You've Got 'Em, You Don't Want 'Em."

George Gershwin was now a real composer. The rest of his life was an unbroken record of success. He wrote song after song. His ideas were so endless that he was not even troubled when he once lost some music he had been writing. "There is plenty more where that came from," he said.

George Gershwin had his first big hit in nineteen nineteen, when he was twenty-one years old.  It was a song called "Swanee." A popular entertainer, Al Jolson, sang the song. "Swanee" was made into one of the first musical recordings. George Gershwin was suddenly famous.  Here is Al Jolson singing what became his trademark song, "Swanee."

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Music critics note that "Swanee" is not like most of George Gershwin's music. Later, he wrote true love songs. Some were light and funny. Some were full of intense feeling. Many of these songs were written for the popular musical theater. One of his most emotional love songs never became part of a musical play, however. It is called "The Man I Love." Here is a modern recording by Maureen McGovern.

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George Gershwin's older brother, Ira, wrote the words to that song.  As George became famous, Ira wrote the words to more and more of his songs. The two brothers were very different. Ira, the writer, was quiet and serious. George, the musician, was outgoing -- the life of any party. But George wrote better songs with Ira than with anyone else.  It is impossible to imagine many of George's songs without Ira's perfectly chosen, often surprising words.

One of many examples is the song "They Can't Take That Away From Me."  The Gershwins wrote the song for dancer and actor Fred Astaire for the film "Shall We Dance." That was George and Ira Gershwin's first movie musical.   Here is Fred Astaire, followed by a later version sung by Ella Fitzgerald.

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This program was written by Shelley Gollust.  It was produced by Lawan Davis.  I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Barbara Klein.  Join us again next week as we continue the story of the music of George Gershwin on PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.