{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71019/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71019","id":"gutenberg_71019","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71019","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Poetry","Category: Short Stories","Readers (Elementary)"],"text":"_THE SUMMERS READERS_\n\n SECOND READER\n\n BY\n MAUD SUMMERS\n\n ILLUSTRATED FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY\n\n LUCY FITCH PERKINS\n AND\n MARION L. MAHONY\n\n [Illustration]\n\n FRANK D. BEATTYS AND COMPANY\n NEW YORK\n\n Copyright, 1909, by\n FRANK D. BEATTYS AND COMPANY\n NEW YORK\n\n THE DE VINNE PRESS\n\n\n\n\nACKNOWLEDGMENTS\n\n\nThanks are due to the following publishers and authors for permission to\nreprint poems and to adapt stories on which they hold copyright:\n\nCHARLES SCRIBNER\u2019S SONS:\n\n \u201cSinging\u201d; \u201cAutumn Fires\u201d by Robert Louis Stevenson from \u201cPoems\n and Ballads\u201d (copyright 1895, 1896).\n\nHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY:\n\n \u201cSir Robin\u201d from \u201cChildhood Songs\u201d by Lucy Larcom; \u201cA Flock\n of Doves\u201d from \u201cPoems for Children\u201d by Celia Thaxter; \u201cWhat\n the Winds Bring\u201d by Edmund Clarence Stedman; \u201cHiawatha\u201d;\n \u201cThe Children\u2019s Hour\u201d; \u201cChristmas Bells\u201d by Henry Wadsworth\n Longfellow; \u201cThe Miraculous Pitcher\u201d; \u201cThe Pomegranate Seed\u201d by\n Nathaniel Hawthorne.\n\nKINDERGARTEN LITERATURE COMPANY:\n\n \u201cThe Bluebird\u201d from \u201cSongs from the Nest\u201d by Emily Huntington\n Miller.\n\nLITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY:\n\n \u201cSeptember\u201d by Helen Hunt Jackson.\n\nLOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD COMPANY:\n\n \u201cThe Caterpillar\u201d from \u201cFinger Plays\u201d by Emilie Poulsson.\n\nTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY:\n\n \u201cThe Fairy\u2019s Love Song\u201d by Ella Higginson.\n\nMILTON BRADLEY COMPANY:\n\n \u201cPatty\u2019s New Dress\u201d from \u201cMore Mother Stories\u201d by Maud Lindsay;\n \u201cThe Teeter\u201d from \u201cRhymes for Little Fingers\u201d by Maud Burnham.\n\nSOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE:\n\n \u201cMary\u2019s Meadow\u201d by Juliana Horatio Ewing.\n\nTHE PHELPS PUBLISHING COMPANY:\n\n \u201cPop-corn Song\u201d by Sophia T. Newman. From \u201cGood Housekeeping.\u201d\n\nTHE YOUTH\u2019S COMPANION:\n\n \u201cThe Calico\u2019s Story\u201d; \u201cThe Nixie\u2019s Strain\u201d by Hjalmar Hjorth\n Boyesen.\n\nF. A. OWEN PUBLISHING COMPANY:\n\n \u201cThe Story of a Little Water Drop\u201d by Eva Mayne.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n\n SEPTEMBER: HELEN HUNT JACKSON\n\n INDIAN CORN 11\n\n THE COMING OF THE CORN\u2014Henry W. Longfellow (_Adapted_) 14\n\n ARABELLA\u2019S PARTY 16\n\n THE CATERPILLAR\u2014Emilie Poulsson 18\n\n RUMPEL-STILTS-KIN\u2014Jacob and William Grimm (_Adapted_) 19\n\n OCTOBER: WILLIAM ALLINGHAM\n\n HIAWATHA\u2019S CANOE\u2014Henry W. Longfellow (_Adapted_) 25\n\n HIAWATHA\u2019S SAILING\u2014Henry W. Longfellow (_Adapted_) 26\n\n LADY GRAY 27\n\n THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER\u2014Jacob and William Grimm 29\n\n HALLOWE\u2019EN 31\n\n POP-CORN SONG\u2014Sophia T. Newman 34\n\n PHILEMON AND BAUCIS\u2014Nathaniel Hawthorne (_Adapted_) 35\n\n NOVEMBER: JOHN G. WHITTIER\n\n THE FIRST THANKSGIVING DAY 41\n\n THANKSGIVING DAY LONG AGO 44\n\n THANKSGIVING DAY\u2014Lydia Maria Child 46\n\n WHITTIER 48\n\n PATTIE\u2019S NEW DRESS\u2014Maud Lindsay (_Adapted_) 51\n\n DECEMBER: OLD SONG\n\n CHRISTMAS CAROL 56\n\n THE BIRDS\u2019 CHRISTMAS FEAST 57\n\n PICCOLA 59\n\n THE STAR-CHILDREN\u2014Fraulein Meissner (_Adapted_) 62\n\n THE STARS\u2014May Moore Jackson 65\n\n RAPHAEL\u2014Louise de la Ram\u00e9e (_Adapted_) 67\n\n JANUARY: DINAH M. MULOCK\n\n THE GREAT WHITE STOVE\u2014Louise de la Ram\u00e9e (_Adapted_) 71\n\n THE FLOCK OF DOVES\u2014Celia Thaxter 75\n\n THE MIDNIGHT SUN 77\n\n MICHAEL ANGELO 80\n\n FEBRUARY: EVE BRODLIQUE SUMMERS\n\n A VALENTINE\u2014Eve Brodlique Summers 83\n\n ABRAHAM LINCOLN 84\n\n THE FIRST FLAG 87\n\n LONGFELLOW\u2019S ARM-CHAIR 88\n\n THE ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART 89\n\n SINGING\u2014Robert Louis Stevenson 91\n\n MARCH: CELIA THAXTER\n\n THE FOUR WINDS\u2014Edmund Clarence Stedman 93\n\n THE BAG OF WINDS 94\n\n THE FEAST OF DOLLS 97\n\n THE FEAST OF FLAGS 98\n\n FRANKLIN\u2019S KITE 100\n\n BOATS SAIL ON THE RIVERS\u2014Christina G. Rossetti 102\n\n THE STORY OF A WATER-DROP\u2014Eva Mayne (_Adapted_) 103\n\n APRIL: LUCY LARCOM\n\n THE SLEEPING PRINCESS\u2014Jacob and William Grimm (_Adapted_) 106\n\n AN OPEN SECRET\u2014Unknown 110\n\n THE FEAST OF EGGS\u2014Christoph Schmid (_Adapted_) 111\n\n THE EASTER EGG\u2014Christoph Schmid (_Adapted_) 114\n\n THE FARMER AND THE BIRDS 116\n\n MAY: EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER\n\n MARY\u2019S MEADOW\u2014Juliana Horatio Ewing (_Adapted_) 119\n\n THE MAY PARTY 122\n\n COME, MY DOLLY\u2014Lydia Avery Coonley-Ward 124\n\n PROSERPINA\u2014Nathaniel Hawthorne (_Adapted_) 125\n\n HAWTHORNE AND HIS CHILDREN 131\n\n JUNE: SELECTED\n\n THUMBLING\u2014Hans Christian Andersen (_Adapted_) 134\n\n MIDSUMMER NIGHT\u2014Shakespeare (_Adapted_) 143\n\n THE TEETER\u2014Maud Burnham 144\n\n THE NIXIE\u2019S MUSIC\u2014Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen (_Adapted_) 145\n\n JULY: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY\n\n AMERICA\u2014Samuel F. Smith 150\n\n LIBERTY BELL 152\n\n THE SOLDIER BIRD 155\n\n THE CALICO\u2019S STORY\u2014The Youths\u2019 Companion (_Adapted_) 157\n\n AUGUST: ELLA HIGGINSON\n\n THE SIX LITTLE SEA-MAIDS\u2014Andersen (_Adapted_) 162\n\n THE SINGER AND THE CRICKET 166\n\n KING SOLOMON AND THE BEES 168\n\n THE LITTLE MAID OF THE LIGHTHOUSE 169\n\n GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD MORNING\u2014Lord Houghton 173\n\n WORD LIST 177\n\n Sing a song of Seasons!\n Something bright in all!\n Flowers in the summer,\n Fires in the fall.\n\n ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n The goldenrod is yellow,\n The corn is turning brown,\n The trees in apple orchards\n With fruit are bending down.\n\n By all these lovely tokens\n September days are here,\n With summer\u2019s best of beauty\n And autumn\u2019s best of cheer.\n\n HELEN HUNT JACKSON.\n]\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN CORN.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLong ago the Indians lived where we now live.\n\nThe Indian house was a tent covered with skins or bark. These tents were\ncalled wigwams.\n\nThe Indians wore clothes made of deerskin. Often these were covered with\npretty beads.\n\nIndian boys played ball, and swam in the rivers. Sometimes they went into\nthe woods to hunt with their bows and arrows.\n\nIndian girls played with dolls made of deerskin. Sometimes they helped\ntheir mothers plant the corn or cook the food.\n\nThe Indian baby\u2019s cradle was a bag made of skin. It was tied to a board.\n\nThe Indian mother carried the baby on her back in this cradle.\n\nOften she hung the cradle on a branch of a tree. The wind rocked the\nlittle cradle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSometimes the Indian father wore feathers in his hair, and painted his\nface. This made him look very fierce.\n\nIndian children never cried. More than anything else they wanted to be\nbrave.\n\n\nII\n\nOne day some white people came over the sea in a ship. They were called\nPilgrims.\n\nIt was cold, and snow was on the ground.\n\nThe Pilgrims sent out some men to walk along the shore.\n\nThey were looking for a good place to build their log-houses.\n\nThey soon came to a pile of sand. They began to dig, and found a basket\nfull of corn. It belonged to the Indians.\n\nThe Pilgrims did not know that the Indians could make such large, strong\nbaskets. It took two men to lift the basket of corn from the ground.\n\nThe white men had never seen Indian corn.\n\n\u201cHow beautiful it is!\u201d they said.\n\nThe Pilgrims took some of the corn to plant in the spring. The next\nsummer they paid the Indians for all they had taken.\n\nA kind Indian taught them how to plant the corn. He also taught them how\nto cook it.\n\nIndian corn is one of the most useful of all the plants that grow.\n\n\n\n\nTHE COMING OF THE CORN.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHiawatha, the young Indian chief, was alone in the woods.\n\nHe was thinking what he could do to help his people.\n\nHe could not rise from his bed of leaves, as he had not eaten anything\nfor three days.\n\nThen a young man dressed in green and yellow came to him.\n\n\u201cOh, my Hiawatha!\u201d he said. \u201cI am Mondamin, the friend of man.\n\n\u201cI have come to tell you how you can help your people. Arise from your\nbed and wrestle with me.\u201d\n\nHiawatha grew stronger and stronger as he wrestled with Mondamin. Three\ntimes Mondamin came and wrestled with Hiawatha.\n\nThen Mondamin said, \u201cThe next time we wrestle you will win. Take off my\ngreen and yellow clothes. Make a bed for me to lie in where the sun may\ncome and warm me.\n\n\u201cNo one but you must watch beside me, until I come again with the\nsunshine.\u201d\n\nHiawatha made the bed as Mondamin had told him, and then went home. Every\nday he watched the place where Mondamin was lying.\n\nAt last he saw a small green feather coming up from the earth.\n\nBefore the summer was over, the corn with its soft yellow hair stood\nbefore him, tall and beautiful.\n\nThen Hiawatha was glad, and cried, \u201cIt is Mondamin, the friend of man!\u201d\n\nHe called the Indians and showed them the corn. Then he said, \u201cIt is a\ngift for you, my people, and it will always be your food.\u201d\n\n HENRY W. LONGFELLOW\u2019S \u201cHiawatha\u201d (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nARABELLA\u2019S PARTY.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cGrandma, Arabella wants a party, and there are no dolls to come to it,\u201d\nsaid Ruth.\n\n\u201cPeter has been lying in my room a great many years,\u201d said Grandma. \u201cI\nthink he would like to come to a party.\u201d\n\nRuth laughed when Grandma gave her the rag baby. He wore such queer\nclothes.\n\n\u201cYour father played with Peter when he was a little boy,\u201d said Grandma.\n\u201cHe liked Sally Squash, too. Shall we ask her to the party?\u201d\n\nRuth followed Grandma into the garden. They soon found a long squash.\n\nGrandma cut a face in the small end, and put a white paper dress on the\nsquash. Then Sally was ready for the party.\n\n\u201cI should like to ask Patty Corncob,\u201d said Grandma. \u201cI played with her\nwhen I was a little girl.\u201d\n\nGrandma tied a head and arms made of paper on a corncob. Then she made a\npink paper dress and cap.\n\n\u201cOh, how pretty!\u201d said Ruth as she looked at Patty Corncob. \u201cI like her\nalmost as well as Arabella.\u201d\n\nGrandma drew a face in the head of a clothespin, and put on a blue paper\ndress and hat.\n\n\u201cThis is Betty Clothes-pin,\u201d said Grandma. \u201cShe came to my parties long\nago.\u201d\n\nRuth could not tell which she liked the better, Patty or Betty.\n\nThey all sat down under a tree, and ate the cake that Dinah had baked for\nthe party.\n\nArabella did not look like the other dolls. She had blue eyes and yellow\nhair, and wore a beautiful silk dress.\n\nBut she smiled and seemed to have almost as good a time as Grandma and\nRuth.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CATERPILLAR.\n\n\n Fuzzy little caterpillar,\n Crawling, crawling on the ground!\n Fuzzy little caterpillar,\n Nowhere, nowhere to be found,\n Though we\u2019ve looked and looked and hunted\n Everywhere around!\n\n When the little caterpillar\n Found his fuzzy coat too tight,\n Then a snug cocoon he made him,\n Spun of silk so soft and light;\n Rolled himself away within it,\n Slept there day and night.\n\n See how this cocoon is stirring!\n Now a little head we spy.\n What! Is _this_ our caterpillar\n Spreading gorgeous wings to dry?\n Soon the free and happy creature\n Flutters gaily by.\n\n EMILIE POULSSON.\n\n\n\n\nRUMPEL-STILTS-KIN.\n\n\nThere was once a wicked miller who said to his king, \u201cI have a beautiful\ndaughter who can spin straw into gold.\u201d\n\nThe king loved gold more than anything else, so he carried the miller\u2019s\ndaughter away to his castle.\n\nHe filled a large room with straw, and said to her, \u201cIf you do not spin\nthis straw into gold before morning, you must die.\u201d\n\nThen the king went out and locked the door.\n\nThe miller\u2019s daughter sat down and began to cry. She did not know how to\nspin straw into gold.\n\nSoon a brownie came in, and said, \u201cWhat will you give me if I spin this\nstraw into gold?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy gold chain,\u201d said the miller\u2019s daughter.\n\nThe brownie sat down beside the spinning-wheel, and sang,\n\n \u201cRound about, round about,\n Lo and behold!\n Reel away, reel away,\n Straw into gold!\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAround went the wheel, and soon all the straw was spun into gold.\n\nWhen the king came in the next morning, he was very glad to see so much\ngold. But he wanted more.\n\nSo he locked the miller\u2019s daughter into a larger room filled with straw.\n\n\nII\n\nAgain the brownie came in, and said, \u201cWhat will you give me if I spin\nthis straw into gold?\u201d\n\nThe miller\u2019s daughter said, \u201cMy gold ring.\u201d\n\nSo again he sang,\n\n \u201cRound about, round about,\n Lo and behold!\n Reel away, reel away,\n Straw into gold!\u201d\n\nThe king was so glad to see all the gold, that he filled a much larger\nroom with straw.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d he said, \u201cif you spin this straw into gold I will make you my\nqueen.\u201d\n\nWhen the brownie came that night, the miller\u2019s daughter said, \u201cI have\nnothing else to give you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you give me your first little child, when you are queen?\u201d said the\nbrownie.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the miller\u2019s daughter.\n\nOnce more the brownie sang. The wheel went round, and soon the room was\nfilled with gold.\n\nThe king was so glad that he made the miller\u2019s daughter his queen.\n\nWhen she held her first little child in her arms, she was so happy that\nshe did not think about the brownie.\n\nBut one day he came to take away the baby. The poor queen was very\nunhappy.\n\nThen the brownie said, \u201cIf in three days you can find out my name, I will\nnot take away your child.\u201d\n\n\nIII\n\nThe queen sent all over the land to find out the queerest names.\n\nThe first day passed, and the second day passed, and she could not tell\nthe brownie his name.\n\nOn the third day a man came to the queen and said, \u201cLast night as I was\nwalking through the woods, I saw a brownie dancing around a bonfire and\nsinging,\n\n \u201cTo-day I brew, to-morrow I bake,\n Next day the queen\u2019s child I shall take.\n How glad I am that nobody knows\n That my name is Rumpel-Stilts-Kin!\u201d\n\nThis made the queen very happy. When the brownie came in she said,\n\n\u201cIs your name Tom?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my queen.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it John?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my queen.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it Robert?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my queen.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan your name be Rumpel-Stilts-Kin?\u201d\n\n\u201cAn old fairy has told you! An old fairy has told you!\u201d he cried. Then he\nran away.\n\nThe queen laughed and said,\n\n\u201cGood morning to you, Mr. Rumpel-Stilts-Kin.\u201d\n\n JACOB AND WILLIAM GRIMM (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n Bright yellow, red, and orange,\n The leaves come down in hosts;\n The trees are Indian princes,\n But soon they\u2019ll turn to ghosts;\n The leathery pears and apples\n Hang russet on the bough;\n It\u2019s autumn, autumn, autumn late,\n \u2019Twill soon be winter now.\n\n WILLIAM ALLINGHAM.\n]\n\n\n\n\nHIAWATHA\u2019S CANOE.\n\n\nHiawatha, the young Indian chief, lived in the woods, by the Big Sea\nWater. He wanted to make a canoe.\n\nHe said to the Birch-tree, \u201cTake off your white cloak, for the summer is\ncoming, and you will not need it.\u201d\n\nThe Birch-tree waved its branches in the wind and said, \u201cTake my cloak, O\nHiawatha!\u201d\n\nSo Hiawatha cut the beautiful white bark from the tree.\n\nThen he said to the Cedar, \u201cGive me your branches, so my canoe will be\nstrong.\u201d\n\nThere was a cry from the top of the Cedar, but it said, \u201cTake my\nbranches, O Hiawatha!\u201d\n\nSo Hiawatha cut them off and bent them, to make a frame for his canoe.\n\n\u201cGive me your roots, O Larch-tree,\u201d Hiawatha said, \u201cto hold the ends of\nmy canoe together.\u201d\n\nThe Larch-tree said sadly, \u201cTake them all, O Hiawatha!\u201d\n\nHiawatha pulled up the roots of the Larch-tree, and sewed the bark\ntogether. Then he said to the Fir-tree, \u201cGive me your balm, so that the\nwater may not come into my canoe.\u201d\n\nAnd the tall dark Fir-tree said, \u201cTake my balm, O Hiawatha!\u201d\n\nSo Hiawatha made his birch canoe. And it lay upon the water like a yellow\nleaf in autumn.\n\n HENRY W. LONGFELLOW\u2019S \u201cHiawatha.\u201d (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nHIAWATHA\u2019S SAILING.\n\n\n \u201cGive me of your bark, O Birch-Tree!\n Of your yellow bark, O Birch-Tree!\n Growing by the rushing river,\n Tall and stately in the valley!\n I a light canoe will build me,\n That shall float upon the river\n Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,\n Like a yellow water-lily!\u201d\n\n HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nLADY GRAY.\n\n\nOne summer Robert and his father and mother lived in a little house in\nthe woods.\n\nThey saw a squirrel running about in the trees.\n\nRobert put some nuts on the ground and hid behind a tree. Soon the\nsquirrel came and carried them away.\n\nThe next day he put the nuts nearer the house. The squirrel came again\nand carried them away.\n\nSo it went on for some time. Each day Robert put the nuts nearer the\nhouse.\n\nThey named the squirrel Lady Gray.\n\nOne day Robert\u2019s mother sat down in a chair on the porch. She put some\nnuts on the floor and kept very still.\n\nAfter a while Lady Gray came up on the porch. She looked at Robert\u2019s\nmother, then she took a nut and ran away as fast as she could.\n\nBy and by Lady Gray became so gentle that she would hunt for nuts in\ntheir pockets.\n\nOne morning Father put a nut on his shoulder. Lady Gray jumped on\nFather\u2019s shoulder and ate the nut. How they all laughed.\n\n\nII\n\nThe next summer Robert went again to the little house in the woods.\n\nRobert\u2019s father wanted the house to look pretty, so he painted it white\nand green.\n\nIn the morning Robert called out, \u201cMother! Mother! See what the squirrels\nhave done!\u201d\n\nThe porch was covered with marks of little feet.\n\nLady Gray saw Robert and came up on the porch. A baby squirrel was with\nher. They named it Little Son.\n\nSoon Little Son was as gentle as Lady Gray. Sometimes he would let them\nput their hands on his soft fur.\n\nOne day Robert was out walking with his father. They saw a hole in an old\ntree.\n\nRobert\u2019s father held him up so that he could put his hand in the hole.\nThe squirrel\u2019s nest was almost full of nuts.\n\nAll summer Robert had good times, playing with Lady Gray and Little Son.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere was once a kind old shoemaker who was very poor. He had leather to\nmake only one pair of shoes.\n\nHe cut these out and went to bed. The next morning the shoes were\nstanding ready upon the table.\n\nThe shoemaker sold them and bought leather to make two pairs of shoes.\n\nHe cut these out, and again found the shoes made when he got up in the\nmorning.\n\nHe sold the shoes and bought leather to make four pairs. The work he cut\nout was always done in the morning.\n\nOne evening the shoemaker said to his wife, \u201cI should like to sit up\nto-night and see who it is that makes the shoes.\u201d\n\nIn the night two little elves ran in. They sewed and rapped and tapped so\nquickly that the shoes were made long before morning. Then the elves ran\naway.\n\nThe next day the shoemaker\u2019s wife said, \u201cThese elves have made us rich. I\nshould like to do something for them. You make each of them a little pair\nof shoes, and I will make them some clothes.\u201d\n\nOn Christmas eve they put the shoes and the clothes on the table. Then\nthey hid behind the door to see what the elves would do.\n\nWhen the elves saw the clothes, they quickly put them on. They laughed\nand danced and jumped about.\n\nAt last they danced out of the door and across the grass and were seen no\nmore. But the kind shoemaker and his wife lived a long and happy life.\n\n JACOB and WILLIAM GRIMM (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nHALLOWE\u2019EN.\n\n\nBig Brother Ben, Sister Polly and little Martha sat talking together\nunder the old oak-tree.\n\nFather went out to see what the children were doing.\n\n\u201cOh, Father,\u201d said Polly, \u201cto-night is Hallowe\u2019en!\u201d\n\n\u201cMay we have some pumpkins to make Jack-o\u2019-lanterns?\u201d asked Ben.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Father. \u201cCome with me.\u201d\n\nThey went down to the corn-field and each chose a yellow pumpkin.\n\nBrother Ben cut a round piece out of the stem-end of each pumpkin. The\nlittle girls then went to work to dig out the pumpkins.\n\nAfter this Brother Ben cut eyes, nose, and mouth on the outside. The last\nthing was to make a little hole in which to set a candle.\n\n\u201cHow would you like a bonfire to-night?\u201d asked Father.\n\nThis pleased Brother Ben so much that he threw his cap in the air and\ncried,\n\n\u201cHurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nII\n\nWhen evening came Father and Brother Ben made a large bonfire near the\ncorn-field.\n\nThey all sat around the bonfire and ate the good things which Mother and\nSister Polly carried down in a basket.\n\nFather showed them how to toast apples, pop corn and roast nuts in the\nfire.\n\n\u201cNow let us march around with the pumpkins on our heads,\u201d said Brother\nBen.\n\nMother sat on a rug and watched them. After a while little Martha joined\nher and soon the rug held them all.\n\n\u201cPlease, Mother, tell us a story,\u201d said little Martha.\n\nMother told them about the brownies and elves who come out on Hallowe\u2019en\nto help the farmer, and all the busy people who work for us.\n\n\u201cI know a story about them, Mother,\u201d said little Martha.\n\n\u201cLet us hear it, dear,\u201d said Mother.\n\nSo little Martha told them about the Elves and the Shoemaker.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll tell about Cinderella and her Pumpkin Coach,\u201d said Polly.\n\nFather told them the story of Mondamin and his gift of corn to the\nIndians.\n\n\u201cI can say the poem,\u201d said Brother Ben. \u201cWe learned it in school.\u201d\n\nBrother Ben gave the poem so well that they were all very still for a few\nmoments.\n\nThen Mother said softly, \u201cIt is bedtime now.\u201d\n\nAs they turned away from the fire Polly said, \u201cThe Jack-o\u2019-lanterns were\nfun, but I like the stories best of all.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nPOP-CORN SONG.\n\n\n In they drop with a click, clack, click,\n Kernels so hard and yellow;\n \u2019Round they whirl with a hop, skip, hop,\n Each little dancing fellow.\n Up they leap, with a snap, crack, snap,\n Tossing so light and airy;\n Out they pour with a soft, swift rush,\n Snowballs fit for a fairy.\n\n SOPHIA T. NEWMAN.\n\n\n\n\nPHILEMON AND BAUCIS.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA long time ago, on a high hill, lived old Philemon and his good wife\nBaucis.\n\nThey were poor, but they were two of the kindest old people that ever\nlived. Often they went without their supper to give it to some traveler.\n\nOne evening, Philemon and Baucis sat on their door-step looking at the\nsunset.\n\nSoon they saw two travelers coming up the hill. Some children ran after\nthem, shouting and setting their dogs on them.\n\n\u201cCome, Wife,\u201d said Philemon. \u201cLet us go and meet these travelers.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou go to them,\u201d said Baucis, \u201cwhile I get them some bread and milk.\u201d\n\nPhilemon went to meet the travelers and said, \u201cWelcome, strangers!\nWelcome!\u201d\n\nHe asked them to come in to supper. Baucis gave the travelers bread and\nmilk and honey.\n\nOn the table stood a pitcher half full of milk.\n\nThe travelers quickly drank the milk.\n\n\u201cWhat good milk!\u201d said one of them. \u201cMay I have a little more, kind\nBaucis?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am sorry,\u201d said Baucis, \u201cbut there is no more milk.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said the traveler, \u201chere is more milk!\u201d\n\nHe took the pitcher and filled both bowls.\n\nBaucis looked into the pitcher, and saw the white milk running in from\nthe side. Soon it was full.\n\n\u201cMay I have some bread, Mother Baucis,\u201d said the traveler, \u201cand a little\nof that honey?\u201d\n\nBaucis cut him some and found that the bread was no longer old and hard\nas it was when she and Philemon ate of it.\n\nAnd, oh, the honey! It was better than any honey they had ever eaten.\n\n\u201cWho are you, wonderful travelers?\u201d said Philemon.\n\n\u201cYour friends, my good Philemon. After this the pitcher will always be\nfull of milk for you and Baucis, and for poor travelers.\u201d\n\n\nII\n\nThe next morning the travelers asked Philemon and Baucis to walk with\nthem and show them the road.\n\nWhen Philemon and Baucis turned to go back, the older traveler said,\n\u201cGood Philemon and Baucis, you gave us not only milk and bread but also a\nkind welcome. Ask for anything you want, and you shall have it.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPhilemon and Baucis looked at each other and said, \u201cGrant that we may die\ntogether.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shall have your wish,\u201d said the traveler. \u201cNow look at your home.\u201d\n\nThey saw a beautiful white castle standing where their little house had\nbeen.\n\nThe old people fell on their knees to give thanks. When they looked up,\nthe travelers were not there.\n\nPhilemon and Baucis lived in the castle a long, long time. One morning\nthey could not be found.\n\nThe people looked everywhere for them. At last they saw two large trees\nstanding in front of the castle.\n\nOne was an oak, the other was a linden-tree. The people wondered where\nthey came from. Just then the wind began to blow, and the trees seemed to\nbe talking.\n\n\u201cI am Philemon,\u201d said the Oak.\n\n\u201cI am Baucis,\u201d said the Linden.\n\nWhenever a traveler rested under the trees, the leaves seemed to say,\n\u201cWelcome, dear traveler! Welcome!\u201d\n\n NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n Ah! on Thanksgiving Day, when from east and from west,\n From north and from south come the pilgrim and guest,\n What moistens the lip, and what brightens the eye?\n What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin-pie?\n\n JOHN G. WHITTIER.\n]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST THANKSGIVING DAY.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOne spring the Pilgrims planted corn as the Indians had taught them.\n\nSummer brought the sunshine and the rain to ripen the corn.\n\nSuch a harvest as there was when autumn came!\n\n\u201cLet us have a day of thanksgiving for this great blessing,\u201d said the\nGovernor.\n\n\u201cA Thanksgiving Day! A Thanksgiving Day!\u201d cried the Pilgrims.\n\n\u201cThe Indians have been kind to us. We will ask them to our feast,\u201d said\nthe Governor.\n\nSo they began to get ready for the first Thanksgiving Day.\n\n\nII\n\nThe Pilgrim fathers went hunting and fishing. They carried home duck,\nturkey, and fish.\n\nThe Pilgrim mothers made bread and cake from the corn. They baked plenty\nof pumpkin-pies.\n\nWhat a good time the children had getting ready for the feast! They\ngathered the wild plums and grapes. They put pop-corn in the ashes of\nthe wide fireplace. Then they watched until the \u201cSnap! Crack! Snap!\u201d was\nheard.\n\nThe Indians came, gaily dressed in skins, and paint, and feathers. They\nbrought five large deer to the feast.\n\nThe Indians came in time for breakfast and stayed three whole days. So\nthey must have had a good time. They played games, and danced, and sang.\n\nBefore the feast the Indians and the Pilgrims thanked God for His\ngoodness to them.\n\nEver since then the people have kept Thanksgiving Day.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHANKSGIVING DAY LONG AGO.\n\n\nThe large kitchen was a busy place on Thanksgiving morning.\n\nA log fire was burning in the fireplace. On the walls hung strings of\ndried apples. Long, yellow squashes hung up above.\n\nA little girl sat beside the spinning-wheel dressing corncob dolls. She\nwas taking care of the baby that lay in the queer old cradle.\n\nMother put the pudding in the kettle that hung before the fire. Then she\nsaid, \u201cCome, Patty! It is time to set the table.\u201d\n\nPatty looked at the turkey that was roasting before the fire.\n\n\u201cI wish Thanksgiving came every day,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cWhat hard work that would make for Mother!\u201d said Grandma, looking at the\nrows of pies.\n\nAfter a while a loud shout made them all run to the door.\n\n\u201cHere they come! Here they come!\u201d said Patty, dancing around the room.\n\nUncle John stopped the sleigh and out jumped Aunt Mary and the children.\n\nWhat a good dinner it was! They all said that the turkey was the best\nthey ever ate. And, oh, the pudding and the pies!\n\nAfter dinner the fun began. There were games and songs, and at last a\ndance.\n\nGrandma and Grandpa stood at one end. Father and little Patty stood at\nthe other end. Then up and down the long kitchen they went, laughing all\nthe time.\n\nIn the evening they sat around the log fire. They told stories, roasted\napples, and ate the nuts the children had gathered.\n\nAt last they said good night. Then Uncle John put Aunt Mary and the\nchildren in the sleigh, and drove home through the softly falling snow.\n\nSoon every one in the old farm-house was in bed and asleep.\n\nPussy sat in the warm firelight, alone, in the large kitchen.\n\n\n\n\nTHANKSGIVING DAY.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n Over the river and through the wood,\n To Grandfather\u2019s house we go;\n The horse knows the way\n To carry the sleigh\n Through the white and drifted snow.\n\n Over the river and through the wood;\n Oh, how the wind does blow!\n It stings the toes\n And bites the nose,\n As over the ground we go.\n\n Over the river and through the wood,\n To have a first-rate play.\n Hear the bells ring,\n \u201cTing-a-ling-ding!\u201d\n Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!\n\n Over the river and through the wood,\n Trot fast, my dapple-gray!\n Spring over the ground,\n Like a hunting-hound!\n For this is Thanksgiving Day!\n\n Over the river and through the wood,\n And straight through the barn-yard gate.\n We seem to go\n Extremely slow,\n It is so hard to wait!\n\n Over the river and through the wood;\n Now Grandmother\u2019s cap I spy!\n Hurrah for the fun!\n Is the pudding done?\n Hurrah for the pumpkin-pie!\n\n LYDIA MARIA CHILD.\n\n\n\n\nWHITTIER.\n\n\nWhen Whittier was a little boy, he lived on a farm.\n\nIn the summer he ran about with bare feet. He went swimming and fishing.\n\nHis merry whistle could be heard as he hunted for strawberries.\n\nHe knew the songs of the birds. He liked to watch them make their nests\nand feed their young.\n\nWhen he went into the woods, the squirrels played about him. They let him\nsee where they hid their nuts.\n\nHe watched the bee gather honey from the flowers. He knew how it made its\nhouse.\n\nOften, at night, he sat on the door-step to eat bread and milk.\n\nThen he could see the clouds and hear the frogs. Sometimes the fireflies\nflew about looking like little lanterns.\n\nHe tells of all those happy times in a poem called \u201cThe Barefoot Boy.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nII\n\nIn another poem called \u201cSnow-Bound,\u201d Whittier tells what he did in the\nwinter.\n\nOne morning they looked out to find everything covered with snow.\n\n\u201cSee the well!\u201d said one of the boys. \u201cIt looks like a castle.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat pole looks like an old man,\u201d said another.\n\nJust then their father called out, \u201cBoys! Make a path.\u201d\n\nWith merry shouts they made a path to the barn. In one place the snow was\nso deep that they played it was a cave.\n\nThe old horse heard them and put his head out of the barn window to see\nthe fun.\n\nThe rooster heard them coming and crowed a good morning.\n\nThey fed the farm-yard animals and gave them straw for their beds.\n\nIn the evening they all gathered around the fireplace.\n\nThe dog lay asleep in the warm firelight. The cat opened and closed her\nyellow eyes as she sat beside him.\n\nThe boys roasted apples and ate the nuts which they had gathered.\n\nThen their father told them a story about the Indians. Mother talked of\nthe days when she was a little girl.\n\nWhen bedtime came, they said good night.\n\nThe wind roared around the house. The snow fell through the roof upon\ntheir beds. But the children did not know it, for they were soon fast\nasleep.\n\n\n\n\nPATTIE\u2019S NEW DRESS.\n\n\nWhen Pattie was a little girl, long ago, she needed a warm new dress.\n\nGrandmother said, \u201cI\u2019ll spin the wool for it.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ll weave the cloth,\u201d said Sister Rachel.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ll make the dress,\u201d said the little girl\u2019s mother.\n\nThe sheep had given the wool from their backs for Pattie\u2019s new dress.\n\n\u201cIt is as soft as down, and as white as milk, and as beautiful as snow,\u201d\nsaid Pattie.\n\nGrandmother carded the wool fine and smooth. Then she fastened it on her\nspindle and sent the spinning-wheel whirling round.\n\n\u201cZu-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m!\u201d sang the wheel, as it turned.\n\u201cZu-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m!\u201d\n\nPattie\u2019s brother said it sounded as if there were bees in the room.\n\u201cZu-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m!\u201d\n\nAs Grandmother drew the thread out from the fleecy wool she said,\n\n \u201cA hum and a whirl,\n A twist and a twirl,\n This is the way good yarn is spun.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nII\n\nPattie stood by to watch her spin. She asked more questions than\nGrandmother had time to answer.\n\n\u201cWill there be a pocket in my new dress,\u201d she asked, \u201cand buttons down\nthe back?\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd, oh, Grandmother! What color is it going to be?\u201d\n\n\u201cI know,\u201d said Brother Joe. He had just come in from the woods with some\nwalnut bark.\n\n\u201cIt will be the color of a\u2014chestnut.\u201d\n\n\u201cBrown, brown, brown!\u201d cried Pattie.\n\nMother made a dye with the walnut bark. Sure enough, when she dipped\nthe yarn into the dye it came out a beautiful brown just as Pattie had\nguessed.\n\nThen Sister Rachel fastened the yarn in the loom and began to weave.\n\nThe treadle went up and the treadle went down with a click and a clack.\nSuch a merry sound!\n\nAway the shuttle went to carry the thread under and over, and in and out.\n\nWhen the cloth was woven Sister Rachel took it out of the loom. Mother\nwas all ready to begin the dress.\n\n\u201cSnip, snip, snip!\u201d went her sharp scissors.\n\n\u201cStitch, stitch, stitch!\u201d flew her shining needle.\n\nLong after Pattie was in bed and fast asleep that night, Mother was busy\nsewing.\n\nGrandmother and Rachel helped, too, and the dress was ready the very next\nday.\n\nIt had pockets, two of them, bound with red.\n\nIt had buttons down the back like a row of red berries.\n\nJack Frost had come in the night and the cold winds had begun to blow.\nBut Pattie did not care.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m warm as toast in my new woolen dress,\u201d said little Pattie.\n\n MAUD LINDSAY (_Adapted_).\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER.\n\n\n[Illustration: OLD SONG.\n\n Sing we all merrily,\n Christmas is here.\n The day that we love best\n Of days in the year.\n\n Bring forth the holly,\n The box and the bay,\n Deck out our cottage,\n For glad Christmas Day.\n]\n\n\n\n\nCHRISTMAS CAROL.\n\n\n And all the bells on earth shall ring,\n On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,\n And all the bells on earth shall ring,\n On Christmas Day in the morning.\n\n And all the angels in heaven shall sing,\n On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,\n And all the angels in heaven shall sing,\n On Christmas Day in the morning.\n\n And all the souls on earth shall sing,\n On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,\n And all the souls on earth shall sing,\n On Christmas Day in the morning.\n\n OLD SONG.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BIRDS\u2019 CHRISTMAS FEAST.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFar away across the sea, there is a very cold country.\n\nThe ground is covered with snow almost all the year, and the birds cannot\nget enough to eat.\n\nSo every Christmas the children are the birds\u2019 Santa Claus.\n\nIn the summer the children go into the fields and gather grain for the\nbirds.\n\nThe day before Christmas such a wonderful thing happens!\n\nOver the snow the birds come from north, south, east, and west.\n\nThey sit upon the porch, upon the roof of the house, and sometimes look\nin at the windows.\n\n\u201cHere we are, little friends!\u201d they seem to say.\n\nOn Christmas morning, a tall pole with a bunch of grain on the top is set\nbefore every door.\n\nThen such a twittering is heard from the birds, and such merry shouts\nfrom the children!\n\nIt would be hard to tell which has the better time, the birds or the\nhappy children.\n\n Suggested by CELIA THAXTER\u2019S Poem, \u201cThe Sparrows.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nPICCOLA.\n\n\nFred and May lived one winter in a country where the sun was always\nbright and warm.\n\nWhat good times they had playing in the garden!\n\nOne day they saw a queer little girl watching them. She did not look like\nthe little girls they played with at home.\n\nShe wore a long red dress. On her feet were little wooden shoes.\n\nShe said that her name was Piccola. She told them that she was alone all\nday, because her mother went out to work.\n\nFred and May asked her to come and play with them in the garden.\n\nOne day the children were talking about Santa Claus.\n\n\u201cWho is that?\u201d asked Piccola.\n\n\u201cWhy, Piccola!\u201d said May. \u201cDid you never hear of Christmas?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Piccola. \u201cWe go to church on Christmas Day, and hear\nbeautiful singing.\u201d\n\nThen the children told her all about Santa Claus.\n\n\u201cHang up your stocking on Christmas Eve,\u201d said May. \u201cHe will come down\nthe chimney and fill it with toys.\u201d\n\nPiccola could hardly wait to tell her mother about Santa Claus.\n\n\u201cI wonder what he will give me,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cDo not look for him this year, little daughter,\u201d said her mother. \u201cI\nshall be thankful if we have enough to eat.\u201d\n\nBut Piccola knew that Santa Claus would not forget her.\n\n\nII\n\nOn Christmas Eve Piccola did not have any stocking to hang up. So she put\nher little wooden shoe in front of the fireplace.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure Santa Claus will not care if it is a shoe,\u201d she said.\n\nThe next morning Piccola awoke before it was light. She ran softly to the\nfireplace to see what was in her shoe.\n\n\u201cOh, Mother, Mother!\u201d cried the happy little girl. \u201cSee what Santa Claus\nhas given me!\u201d\n\nShe ran to her mother with the shoe in her hand. A little bird had come\ndown the chimney. There it lay in the shoe, looking up at her with its\ntwo bright eyes.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPiccola fed it and warmed it. Then she carried it into the garden to show\nit to Fred and May.\n\nThey gave her candy, and toys, and a doll. But Piccola liked the gift of\nSanta Claus best of all.\n\n Suggested by CELIA THAXTER\u2019S Poem, \u201cPiccola.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE STAR-CHILDREN.\n\n\nQueen Sunshine lived in a wonderful red and blue castle.\n\nShe wore a dress of gold. Whenever she came out from her castle\neverything became light.\n\nShe had many children whom she loved very dearly, and they also wore\ndresses of gold.\n\nTheir good servant, the Moon, who followed after them, wore a dress of\nshining silver.\n\nIn another country across the sea lived Queen Darkness.\n\nShe always wore the same black dress. Wherever she went all things became\ndark.\n\nShe was alone and unhappy and often wished that she had children like\nthose of Queen Sunshine.\n\nOne day when Queen Sunshine\u2019s children were playing on the seashore, a\nlittle boy fell into the water.\n\n\u201cOh, help me! Help me!\u201d he cried.\n\nOne of his sisters tried to help him, and she, too, fell into the sea.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBy and by, when the Moon came to take them home, not one child was on the\nshore. They had all fallen into the water.\n\nThe Moon looked at the sea, and saw that it was black.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d she cried. \u201cQueen Darkness is there! She has taken all the dear\nchildren.\u201d\n\n\nII\n\nThe Moon was so sorry for Queen Sunshine that she would not go home and\ntell her that Queen Darkness had taken the children.\n\nShe said to Queen Darkness, \u201cLet me go with the children.\u201d\n\nQueen Darkness gladly carried their good servant, the Moon, to her dark\ncastle to live with Queen Sunshine\u2019s children.\n\nShe named them the Star-children. Queen Darkness always keeps the\nStar-children near her. The little ones are so close together that they\nlook like a silver ribbon on her dress.\n\nEver since, their mother, Queen Sunshine, has been looking for her\nchildren.\n\nWhenever she comes in her golden dress to the shore of the sea, the\nwater is so bright that she cannot find them.\n\nQueen Darkness does not let the Star-children go out when it is light,\nbut once every night she leads them across the sky.\n\nTheir mother always follows after them. Sometimes she sees one of her\nchildren far away.\n\nThe kind old servant, the Moon, sometimes runs away and comes to Queen\nSunshine to tell her about her children.\n\n From the German of FRAULEIN MEISSNER (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nTHE STARS.\n\n\n Do you know what the little stars do at night?\n They play on a deep blue hill.\n Mother Moon watches to keep them in sight,\n For they\u2019re never, never still.\n\n Do you know what the little stars do at dawn?\n They sink in a sun-kissed sea,\n And there they sleep till the day is gone,\n As still as still can be.\n\n MAY MOORE JACKSON.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nRAPHAEL.\n\n\nLong, long ago, across the sea, there lived a master artist.\n\nHe made, in clay, such beautiful bowls and vases, that people came from\nfar and near to buy them.\n\nSome young men lived with him. The master artist taught them how to make\nthe same beautiful things.\n\nOne summer day, one of these young men was very sad. A little boy with\ngolden hair ran up to him and said, \u201cDear Luca, why are you so unhappy?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, Raphael!\u201d said Luca. \u201cThe great duke wants us to paint him a bowl\nand a vase. The master says that the artist who makes the most beautiful\none may live with him always. He will also have a gift from the duke.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen must the bowl and the vase be ready?\u201d said Raphael.\n\n\u201cIn three months,\u201d answered Luca.\n\nRaphael threw his arms around Luca\u2019s neck.\n\n\u201cLet me try to paint them for you,\u201d said the little boy with golden hair.\n\n\u201cYou dear child!\u201d cried Luca. \u201cYou are only seven years old. You cannot\nhelp me.\u201d\n\nRaphael was very sorry for his dear Luca.\n\n\u201cOh, Luca, I love you so! Please let me try,\u201d he said again.\n\nThen Luca said, \u201cYou may try, Raphael. It can do no harm. I can never\npaint the vase and the bowl.\u201d\n\n\nII\n\nRaphael was glad now that his father had taught him how to draw.\n\nHe was glad, too, that the master artist had taught him how to put the\ncolors on the clay.\n\nAll through the long summer days the child worked alone. He would not let\nany one see his painting till it was done.\n\nOne day he showed Luca his work.\n\n\u201cDear Luca, see!\u201d he said. \u201cThere are the vase and the bowl for you to\ngive the duke!\u201d\n\nLuca fell on his knees before the little boy.\n\n\u201cWonderful child!\u201d he said. \u201cI cannot call this beautiful work mine. It\nwould not be right.\u201d\n\nThe next day the duke came to look at all the vases and the bowls.\n\n\u201cHere is something very beautiful,\u201d he said, taking a bowl in his hand.\n\u201cWho painted this?\u201d\n\nThe master artist turned to the young men and said, \u201cWho did this work?\u201d\n\nBut no one answered.\n\nThen a little boy with golden hair went to him. \u201cI painted it,\u201d he said.\n\u201cI, Raphael.\u201d\n\nTears of joy came into the great duke\u2019s eyes. He took a golden chain from\naround his neck and gave it to Raphael.\n\nThe little boy said, \u201cBut it is Luca\u2019s. I painted the bowl for him to\ngive to you.\u201d\n\nBut Luca did not hear him. He was kneeling again at the feet of the\nwonderful child.\n\n LOUISE DE LA RAM\u00c9E\u2019S \u201cThe Child of Urbino\u201d (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n Who comes dancing over the snow,\n His soft little feet all bare and rosy?\n Open the door, though the wild winds blow,\n Take the child in and make him cozy.\n Take him in and hold him dear,\n He is the wonderful glad New Year.\n\n DINAH M. MULOCK.\n]\n\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT WHITE STOVE.\n\n\nKarl had no mother and his father was very poor.\n\nThe only beautiful thing in their little house was a white stove. It was\nvery large, and it had wonderful colored pictures all over it.\n\nKarl and his brothers and sisters loved it dearly. In the summer they\ncovered it with flowers.\n\nIn the winter the children sat around the stove, while Karl drew them\npictures and told them stories.\n\nOne cold winter night the father came home very late. He could not find\nwork, and the children had not enough to eat.\n\nBy and by the little ones went to bed.\n\nThen the father told Karl and his sister that he had sold the great white\nstove.\n\n\u201cOh, no, Father!\u201d cried Karl. \u201cYou will not send our dear stove away.\u201d\n\n\u201cI must,\u201d said his father. \u201cIt is a wonderful stove. There is a man who\nwill give me a great deal of gold for it. I must have gold to buy bread\nfor my little ones.\u201d\n\n\u201cWait awhile,\u201d said Karl. \u201cI will help. I am sure there is work I can do.\u201d\n\nKarl\u2019s father shook his head and went away. He thought such a very little\nboy could not help him.\n\nAll that night Karl lay on the floor beside his dear white stove.\n\n\nII\n\nIn the morning the man came and carried the stove away in a wagon. Karl\nwas so unhappy that he could do nothing but cry and cry.\n\n\u201cI love it so,\u201d he said. \u201cBetter than anything on earth.\u201d\n\nThen he said, \u201cI will go with it.\u201d\n\nHe ran quickly after the wagon and climbed into it.\n\nBy and by when no one was looking, he hid inside the great white stove.\nIt was very dark, but it was warm, and soon he was fast asleep.\n\nWhen Karl opened his eyes, he wondered where he could be. He lay quite\nstill and listened.\n\nHe traveled a long, long time. At last the stove was set down on a soft\nrug. Then some one said, \u201cWhat a wonderful stove!\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe door was opened, and Karl jumped out. He fell on his knees before a\nman who had a very kind face.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d cried he, \u201cplease do not send me away! Let me stay here with my\ndear white stove.\u201d\n\n\u201cPoor child!\u201d said the man, as he laid his hand on Karl\u2019s hand. \u201cWhy did\nyou hide in the stove? Tell me for I can help you. I am the king.\u201d\n\n\nIII\n\nKarl was glad to tell the king all about the great white stove. He told\nhim how much they all loved it. He said that they had to send it away\nbecause they had no bread to eat.\n\n\u201cDo let me stay with it,\u201d he said again. \u201cI will cut wood for it and feed\nit. The stove loves to have me feed it, for I have done it so long.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut what else do you wish to do?\u201d said the king.\n\n\u201cI should like to paint pictures, beautiful pictures, like those on the\nstove,\u201d said the little boy.\n\nSo the king told Karl that he could stay in the castle with the great\nwhite stove.\n\nKarl became a great artist and painted beautiful pictures. Then the king\ngave him the stove.\n\nKarl sent it back to the little house where his father still lived. He\noften went there to see his father and the great white stove.\n\nHe was thankful that he had traveled so far inside of the stove that\nwinter day.\n\n LOUISE DE LA RAM\u00c9E\u2019S \u201cThe Nurnberg Stove\u201d (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nTHE FLOCK OF DOVES.\n\n\n The world was like a wilderness\n Of soft and downy snow;\n The trees were plumed with feathery flakes,\n And the ground was white below.\n\n Came the little mother out to the gate\n To watch for her children three;\n Her hood was red as a poppy-flower,\n And rosy and young was she.\n\n She took the snow in her cunning hands,\n As waiting she stood alone,\n And lo! in a moment, beneath her touch,\n A fair white dove had grown.\n\n A flock she wrought, and on the fence\n Set them in bright array,\n With folded wings, or pinions spread,\n Ready to fly away.\n\n And then she hid by the pine-tree tall,\n For the children\u2019s tones rang sweet,\n As home from school through the drifts so light,\n They sped with merry feet.\n\n \u201cO Nannie, Nannie! See the fence\n Alive with doves so white!\n Oh, hush! don\u2019t frighten them away!\u201d\n They whisper with delight.\n\n They crept so soft, they crept so still,\n The wondrous sight to see,\n The little mother pushed the gate,\n And laughed out joyfully.\n\n She clasped them close, she kissed their cheeks,\n And lips so sweet and red.\n \u201cThe birds are only made of snow!\n You are my doves,\u201d she said.\n\n CELIA THAXTER.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MIDNIGHT SUN.\n\n\nNaka lives where it is very cold. There is snow and ice nearly all the\nyear.\n\nNaka lives in a queer little round house made of cakes of snow. The door\nis so close to the ground that she has to creep in and out on her hands\nand knees.\n\nOne day Naka\u2019s mother dressed the little girl in her warm fur clothes.\n\nShe first put on stockings made of bird skins. The soft feathers kept her\nfeet very warm. Over the stockings she wore another pair made of bearskin.\n\nNext she put on a white bearskin coat. This had a hood which she put over\nNaka\u2019s short, dark hair.\n\nIt was almost noon when they crept out into the dim light.\n\nThey climbed a hill and saw the sun just rising; the beautiful, bright\nsun which they had not seen for so long!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt soon went away, but the next day it came again and stayed longer.\nAfter a while it did not go away at all.\n\nAll day and all night the bright sun was shining on the earth. Naka had a\nmerry time playing in the warm sunshine.\n\nShe ran about on the soft green grass and picked the pretty flowers.\n\nShe found some berries one day and carried them home to her mother.\n\nShe watched the great white birds that came to lay their eggs among the\nrocks.\n\nBest of all, the reindeer came back and gave her milk to drink.\n\nBy and by the sun went slowly away. But Naka was happy.\n\nIn the winter she had no sun. But the moon and the stars were bright.\n\nThen, too, she saw again the beautiful northern lights, which are\nbrighter than fireworks.\n\n\n\n\nMICHAEL ANGELO.\n\n\nLong ago in a country over the sea there lived a Grand Duke.\n\nHe had a garden in which he put some beautiful statues.\n\nA boy artist named Michael Angelo often came there to study. One day he\nsaw across the garden the statue of a faun that had no head.\n\n\u201cI will make a head for that statue,\u201d said Angelo.\n\nHe made a head of a laughing faun. The mouth was open so that the teeth\ncould be seen.\n\nAbout this time the Grand Duke was walking in his garden. He stopped to\nlook at the statue made by the boy artist.\n\n\u201cWell done, Angelo!\u201d said the Grand Duke. \u201cBut, see! You have made an old\nfaun. He should not have all his teeth.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is so,\u201d said Angelo, and he quickly took out some of the teeth.\n\nThis pleased the Grand Duke so much that he asked Angelo to live with him\nin his castle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe years Michael Angelo spent among the beautiful statues in the Grand\nDuke\u2019s garden helped him to become a great artist.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n But this one is my very own.\n See! here a kiss I write\n Shaped like a star that all alone\n Shines brightly through the night.\n]\n\n\n\n\nA VALENTINE.\n\n\n I\u2019m making you a valentine,\n At least, I\u2019m going to try,\n Because they don\u2019t seem really mine\n Those valentines I buy.\n\n But _this_ one is my very own.\n See! Here a kiss I write\n Shaped like a star that all alone\n Shines brightly through the night.\n\n Now something blue, just like the sky.\n And this\u2014green like a tree,\n And this thing\u2014oh, so very high!\u2014\n Is just some love from me!\n\n EVE BRODLIQUE SUMMERS.\n\n\n\n\nABRAHAM LINCOLN.\n\n\nWhen Abraham Lincoln was a little boy, he lived in a log house in the\nwoods.\n\nHe could not go to school, for he worked on a farm with his father. He\nwent to school only one year.\n\nHis mother taught him how to read and write in the evenings. When\neverybody had gone to bed, he would sit and read by the light of a log\nfire.\n\nThere were only two or three books in the house. Lincoln read them over\nand over.\n\nOne day a man let him take a book about George Washington. When he went\nto bed, Lincoln put it between the logs of the house.\n\nWhen he awoke he found that the snow had fallen upon the book and spoiled\nit. He took it back to the man and told him he was very sorry.\n\nThe man said, \u201cYou must either pay for the book, or work three days in my\ncorn-field.\u201d\n\nAt the end of the three days the man said, \u201cYou are an honest boy, Abe.\nYou may keep the book.\u201d\n\n\nII\n\nLincoln did not like to see any one unkind to animals.\n\nOnce, when he was a boy, Lincoln was standing on a log making a speech.\nThe boys were clapping their hands and shouting.\n\nOne of the boys saw a turtle. He picked it up and threw it down at\nLincoln\u2019s feet. The poor turtle could not crawl away with its broken\nshell.\n\nLincoln did not like this. He jumped off the log and said, \u201cWhoever did\nthat is a coward!\u201d\n\nThe boys were sorry for the poor turtle. They gently picked it up and\ncarried it down to the water.\n\nOne day when Lincoln was a man, he saw a pig trying to get out of the mud.\n\nLincoln had on some new clothes. He did not want to get them muddy, so he\npassed on.\n\nBut he could not help thinking about the poor pig. He turned back and\nhelped the pig out.\n\nLincoln became a very great man. He was so wise and kind that the people\nmade him President.\n\nHe did so much for his country that we keep his birthday on the 12th of\nFebruary.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST FLAG.\n\n\nOver one hundred years ago, there lived in Philadelphia a young woman\nnamed Betsy Ross.\n\nFrom the time she was a little girl she liked to sew. When her husband\ndied she made money by her needlework.\n\nOne day there came to her little brown house the great General Washington.\n\nHe wanted a new flag for his soldiers to carry in their war against the\nKing of England.\n\nWhen he heard of the beautiful needlework of Betsy Ross, he came to ask\nher to help him.\n\nTogether they planned a flag that had thirteen stripes and thirteen stars.\n\nA few days later Betsy Ross showed General Washington the flag. She had\ncut it and sewed it with her own hands.\n\nGeneral Washington was so pleased that he told his soldiers to have their\nflags made at once.\n\nSoon the beautiful stars and stripes were flying all over the country.\n\nIn Philadelphia, the little house where Betsy Ross lived is still\nstanding.\n\n\n\n\nLONGFELLOW\u2019S ARM-CHAIR.\n\n\nNear the poet Longfellow\u2019s home there was a blacksmith shop. A beautiful\nchestnut tree grew beside it and spread its branches over the shop.\n\nLittle children often looked in at the open door on their way home from\nschool. They liked to see the sparks fly from the anvil.\n\nThe poet Longfellow sometimes passed by the shop. He thought it was such\na pretty picture that he wrote a poem about it. He called the poem \u201cThe\nVillage Blacksmith.\u201d\n\nLongfellow loved the tree and felt sorry when it was cut down. He and the\nchestnut tree had grown old together.\n\nAbout that time Longfellow had a birthday. He was an old, white-haired\nman.\n\nThe children wanted to show their love for him. They had the wood from\nthe tree made into a chair and gave their pennies to pay for it.\n\nThis gift made Longfellow very happy. He thanked the children by writing\na beautiful poem, called \u201cFrom My Arm-Chair.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART.\n\n\nRobert Louis Stevenson wrote the beautiful poem called \u201cSinging.\u201d It is\nin a book which he named \u201cA Child\u2019s Garden of Verses.\u201d\n\nHe was sick much of the time and had to live in a warm country. His home\nwas far away in the South Seas on a beautiful island.\n\nRobert Louis Stevenson built his house on a hillside among the large\nforest trees. Here the flying foxes came to rest. At night great bats\nflew about.\n\nThe house was three miles from the nearest town. The trees grew close and\nhigh along the path that led to it. They used packhorses to carry things\nfrom the town to the house.\n\nA beautiful stream ran through the ground. Orange trees grew along the\nbanks. Here Robert Louis Stevenson came to bathe and swim.\n\nMrs. Stevenson had a garden in which grew oranges, lemons, bananas, and\nbreadfruit trees.\n\nShe had cows, and pigs, and chickens in the barn-yard.\n\nRobert Louis Stevenson had a brown pony named Jack. He and Jack were\ngreat friends and had many fine rides together.\n\nIn this warm country Robert Louis Stevenson grew so much better that he\nonce said,\n\n\u201cIt is like a fairy story that I should become well and strong. I go\nboating, riding, bathing, and work hard with my wood-knife in the forest.\u201d\n\n\nII\n\nThe people on the island do not look as we do. Their skin is brown. Many\nbright flowers grow on the island. The women always wear flowers in their\nhair.\n\nThe people loved Mr. Stevenson very dearly. When they learned that he\nwrote stories, they named him Tusitala. That means The Story Writer.\n\nOnce some of the chiefs were put in prison. Robert Louis Stevenson did\nnot think this was right.\n\nHe went to the prison to see the chiefs and was very kind to them.\n\nAt last the chiefs were set free. They wanted to show their love for Mr.\nStevenson, so they made a road from the town to his house.\n\nIt was a hard piece of work. It took many men a long time to do it.\n\nWhen the road was made the chiefs gave a great feast. All the people on\nthe island came to it.\n\nThese are some of the words which they put on a board beside the road,\n\n\u201cTo show our great love for Tusitala we have made this gift. It shall\nnever be muddy. It shall go on forever, this road that we have dug.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nSINGING.\n\n\n Of speckled eggs the birdie sings\n And nests among the trees;\n The sailor sings of ropes and things\n In ships upon the seas.\n\n The children sing in far Japan,\n The children sing in Spain;\n The organ with the organ man\n Is singing in the rain.\n\n ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n O March that blusters, and March that blows,\n What color under your footsteps glows!\n Beauty you summon from winter snows,\n And you are the pathway that leads to the rose.\n\n CELIA THAXTER.\n]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FOUR WINDS.\n\n\n \u201cWhich is the wind that brings the cold?\u201d\n \u201cThe North wind, Freddy, and all the snow;\n And the sheep will scamper into the fold,\n When the North begins to blow.\u201d\n\n \u201cWhich is the wind that brings the heat?\u201d\n \u201cThe South wind, Katy; and corn will grow,\n And peaches redden for you to eat,\n When the South begins to blow.\u201d\n\n \u201cWhich is the wind that brings the rain?\u201d\n \u201cThe East wind, Arty; and farmers know\n That cows come shivering up the lane,\n When the East begins to blow.\u201d\n\n \u201cWhich is the wind that brings the flowers?\u201d\n \u201cThe West wind, Bessie; and soft and low\n The birdies sing in the summer hours,\n When the West begins to blow.\u201d\n\n EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BAG OF WINDS.\n\n\nLong ago there was a man named Ulysses who had been traveling for many\nyears.\n\nHe was sailing toward home one day when he came to the land where \u00c6olus\nlived. \u00c6olus was king of all the winds that blow.\n\nSometimes he sent soft winds to fill the sails of the ships at sea.\nSometimes he sent winds that made the waters roar. Then he called them\nback and the sea would become quiet again.\n\nUlysses and his sailors were glad to stay for a time in the land of\n\u00c6olus. They were tired of traveling so long.\n\nWhen they were ready to go away, King \u00c6olus filled their boat with food\nand many gifts. One of these gifts was a large bag made of skin.\n\nKing \u00c6olus said to Ulysses, \u201cIn this bag I have tied all the winds that\nblow. If you wish to go more quickly toward home, open the bag and let\none of the winds fly out. Then tie the bag again.\u201d\n\n\u00c6olus said good-by to Ulysses and sent a soft wind to carry him from the\nland.\n\n\nII\n\nDay after day Ulysses sailed his boat safely over the sea. But one night\nwhen he was asleep, his sailors wondered what was in the large bag made\nof skin.\n\n\u201cIt must be full of gold,\u201d they said. \u201cLet us take it.\u201d\n\nThe sailors opened the bag and at once all the winds flew out.\n\nHow they made the waters roar around the boat! Even Ulysses could do\nnothing to quiet them. For many days the boat was tossed about by the\nwaves.\n\nAt last the sailors saw land. They were very glad to pull the boat upon\nthe shore, and rest.\n\nThey did not know where they were. The winds had made the boat go far\nfrom its path.\n\nThe sailors were sorry that they had opened the bag which King \u00c6olus had\ngiven Ulysses.\n\nA long-time afterward the travelers came home. Ulysses often told the\nstory of his friend, King \u00c6olus, and his gift of the Bag of Winds.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FEAST OF DOLLS.\n\n\nThe Feast of Dolls is the happiest day in the year for the little girls\nin Japan. It is the third day of March.\n\nThe night before, while the little girls are asleep, great boxes of dolls\nare taken from the store-room.\n\nThere are all kinds,\u2014large dolls, small dolls, girl dolls, and boy dolls.\n\nThe mothers and grandmothers of the little girls played with some of\nthese. Others are very much older.\n\nOn the day of the Feast of Dolls, the little girls wake up early and run\nto the feast room.\n\nEach doll must be dressed. This takes a long time, for some of the little\ngirls have a great many dolls.\n\nBy this time the feast is ready. The dolls cannot eat the rice cakes and\ndrink the tea, so their little mothers do this for them.\n\nWhen the long, happy day is over, the dolls are undressed. Then they are\nput away until the Feast of Dolls comes again.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FEAST OF FLAGS.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe fifth of May is the great day for boys in Japan. It is called the\nFeast of Flags.\n\nEverywhere poles with gold paper balls on the top may be seen. Paper\nflags of all colors fly from these.\n\nThe boys get up early on the day of the Feast of Flags. They go to the\nroom where the dolls had their feast.\n\nNow the room is filled with flags, toy soldiers, and the games that boys\nlike. Their grandfathers and great-grandfathers played with some of these.\n\nAll day long the boys play at war with their soldiers. Sometimes they go\ninto the garden and shoot at straw soldiers.\n\nOn the morning of the Feast of Flags each father gives his son a paper\nfish.\n\nEvery one in the house stands near while the boy ties this to a string.\nThen they watch him raise it to the top of the pole which is set before\nthe house.\n\nThe wind fills out the hollow body of the fish. It pulls at the end of\nthe string as if it were alive.\n\nThe name of this fish is the carp. It is so strong that it can swim very\nfast and even jump over waterfalls.\n\nIn America, fathers tell their sons to be brave and strong like the\neagle. But in Japan, they tell them to be brave and strong like the carp.\n\n\n\n\nFRANKLIN\u2019S KITE.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA long time ago there lived a wise man named Benjamin Franklin.\n\nPeople did not know much about lightning in those days. Franklin made a\nkite to catch some of it.\n\nHe knew that rain would spoil paper, so he covered his kite with silk. He\nput a piece of pointed wire at the top of the kite to draw the lightning\ninto it.\n\nAt the end of the string he tied a key for the lightning to follow. Then\nhe tied a piece of ribbon to the string and held it in his hand.\n\nOne rainy night when it was lightning he went out to fly his kite.\n\nAfter a while he held his hand near the key. He saw a little spark of\nlightning go from the key to his hand.\n\nAfter that he brought the lightning into his house on wires. He made it\nring bells and do many strange things.\n\nOther wise men have told us how to make lightning without drawing it from\nthe skies.\n\nIt lights houses, runs street-cars, and does many other useful things.\n\nIt is called electricity.\n\n\n\n\nBOATS SAIL ON THE RIVERS.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n Boats sail on the rivers,\n And ships sail on the seas,\n But clouds that sail across the sky\n Are prettier far than these.\n\n There are bridges on the rivers,\n As pretty as you please;\n But the bow that bridges heaven\n And overtops the trees,\n And builds a road from earth to sky,\n Is prettier far than these.\n\n CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF A WATER-DROP.\n\n\nOnce there was a little drop of water. It lived in the great sea with\nhundreds of other water-drops.\n\nWhen the sun shone all the little water-drops danced up and down. They\nlooked like diamonds sparkling in the sunshine.\n\nOne day something happened. The little water-drop broke into a great many\ntiny drops.\n\nAt the same time it went up in the air. Other drops were going up, too.\nUp, up, they went, higher, and higher.\n\nAt last the water-drops were sailing far above the sea. A strong wind\nblew them over the land.\n\nA man looked up at them and said, \u201cSee this big dark cloud. I think it is\ngoing to rain.\u201d\n\n\nII\n\nAs they sailed along, the air grew very cold. This made the little\nwater-drops creep so close together that they became a shining raindrop.\n\nSoon all the other little water-drops ran together and became raindrops.\n\nThey were so heavy that they could not float in the air. So down they all\nwent toward the earth.\n\nPitter-patter! Pitter-patter! They fell upon the grass, the trees, and\nthe fields.\n\n\u201cIt is raining!\u201d cried the children as they ran into the house.\n\nWhen the rain was over, out came the sun. Then a wonderful thing happened.\n\nSome of the water-drops were not heavy enough to fall to the earth. As\nthe sun shone through them they changed into beautiful colors.\n\nThese colors were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. They\nformed a bow across the sky.\n\n\u201cOh, look!\u201d cried the children. \u201cLook at the beautiful rainbow.\u201d\n\n EVA MAYNE (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n Rollicking Robin is here again.\n What does he care for the April rain?\n Care for it? Glad of it. Doesn\u2019t he know\n That the April rain carries off the snow.\n And coaxes out leaves to shadow his nest,\n And washes his pretty red Easter vest?\n\n LUCY LARCOM.\n]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SLEEPING PRINCESS.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a king and a queen who had no children.\n\nThey were so happy when a little daughter came that they gave a great\nfeast.\n\nThe king asked the fairies to come because he wished them to be kind and\ngood to the little princess.\n\nThere were thirteen fairies in the land. But the king had only twelve\ngolden dishes. So one fairy was not asked to come to the feast. This made\nher very angry.\n\nThe twelve fairies came and gave all their best gifts to the little\nprincess.\n\nJust then the door opened and the angry fairy came into the room.\n\n\u201cWhen the princess is fifteen years old she shall prick her finger with a\nspinning needle and die,\u201d said the angry fairy.\n\nBut there was one kind fairy who had not made her wish.\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d she said. \u201cThe princess shall not die. She shall fall asleep for a\nhundred years.\u201d\n\nThe king and the queen were frightened. So they said that no\nspinning-wheel should be used in all the land.\n\n\nII\n\nOne day, when the princess was fifteen years old, she went into a high\ntower of the castle. There sat an old woman spinning.\n\n\u201cGood morning,\u201d said the princess. \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am spinning,\u201d said the old woman.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d cried the princess, \u201chow I should like to spin!\u201d\n\nThe old woman gave the needle to the princess. She pricked her finger and\nfell back fast asleep.\n\nThe king and the queen and every one in the castle fell asleep.\n\nThe fire in the kitchen stopped burning and the cook fell asleep.\n\nThe horses in the barn went to sleep.\n\nThe dogs stopped barking and fell asleep.\n\nThe doves on the housetop put their heads under their wings and went to\nsleep.\n\nEven the flies on the walls stopped buzzing and fell asleep.\n\nA hedge of thorns soon grew around the castle. It was so high and thick\nthat no one could pass through it.\n\n\nIII\n\nOne hundred years after, a king\u2019s son was hunting. He saw the towers of a\ncastle far away.\n\nHe rode toward the castle and at last came to the hedge of thorns. As the\nprince looked he saw that it was not a hedge of thorns, but a hedge of\nbeautiful flowers.\n\nThe prince passed through the hedge of flowers and followed a path to the\ncastle.\n\nHe went into the castle and saw the king and the queen fast asleep.\n\nThen he looked in all the rooms. By and by the prince came to the high\ntower.\n\nThere lay the princess fast asleep. She was so beautiful that the prince\nkissed her hand.\n\nThe princess opened her eyes and said, \u201cMy prince, I have waited for you\nhere a hundred years.\u201d\n\nThen the prince and the princess went out of the high tower together.\n\nAt once the king and the queen and every one in the castle awoke.\n\nThe fire in the kitchen burned, and the cook began to get the dinner.\n\nThe horses in the barn awoke, and the dogs jumped about and barked.\n\nThe flies on the wall buzzed, and the doves flew about the housetop.\n\nThat night there was a great feast in the castle. Ever after the prince\nand the princess lived happily together.\n\n JACOB AND WILLIAM GRIMM (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nAN OPEN SECRET.\n\n\n Pussy Willow had a secret\n That the snowdrops whispered her,\n And she purred it to the south wind\n While it stroked her velvet fur;\n And the south wind hummed it softly\n To the busy honey-bees,\n And they buzzed it to the blossoms\n On the scarlet maple-trees.\n\n And these dropped it to the wood brooks\n Brimming full of melted snow,\n And the brooks told Robin Redbreast\n As he chattered to and fro;\n Little Robin could not keep it,\n So he sang it loud and clear\n To the sleepy hills and meadows\n \u201cWake up! Cheer up! Spring is here!\u201d\n\n UNKNOWN.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FEAST OF EGGS.\n\n\nThere was once a princess who left her beautiful castle. She went to live\nin a little house in the country.\n\nOne day she told her servant to go to the village and buy some eggs for\nsupper.\n\n\u201cEggs!\u201d said the servant. \u201cThere are no birds\u2019 eggs.\u201d\n\n\u201cI did not ask for birds\u2019 eggs,\u201d said the princess. \u201cBuy hens\u2019 eggs, of\ncourse.\u201d\n\nThe servant shook her head and said, \u201cWe have no hens. I do not know what\nkind of birds they are.\u201d\n\nThe princess thought that she would surprise the boys and the girls of\nthe village. So she sent an old man far away.\n\nWhen he came back the old man carried a chicken coop on his head.\n\nAll the children of the village ran after him. They wanted to know what\nhe was carrying on his head.\n\nThe old man set the coop down, opened the little door, and a large\nrooster stepped out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe children all cried, \u201cOh, what a wonderful bird that is!\u201d They did not\nknow what to call him.\n\nThen out stepped the hens. There was a white one, and one that was brown,\nand one that had tall red combs.\n\nThe princess gave the chickens some corn. When they had eaten it the\nrooster crowed.\n\nHow the children laughed! \u201cKi-ki-ri-ki!\u201d they cried, like the rooster.\n\n\nII\n\nThe children ran home to tell about the wonderful birds that had come to\nlive in the village.\n\nNot long after, the princess showed the children one of the hens that was\nsitting.\n\n\u201cFifteen eggs!\u201d they cried. \u201cThe doves lay only two, and the other birds\nonly five. How will the hens feed so many little ones?\u201d\n\nThe children watched the chickens when they came out of the eggs. They\nwere surprised that the little chickens were covered with yellow down.\n\n\u201cIt is wonderful!\u201d they cried. \u201cOther little birds have no feathers. And\nsee! They know how to run. Oh, there are no birds like them!\u201d\n\nBy and by the princess asked the people of the village to a feast of\neggs. They all sat down at a long table in the garden.\n\nThe eggs were in large baskets on the table. They were as white as snow.\n\nThe princess showed them how to break the eggs. Then she cooked them in\nmany ways.\n\nThe people of the village liked the feast of eggs. When they went home,\nthe princess gave them some chickens.\n\nAfter that the children had merry times hunting for the white eggs.\n\n From the German of CHRISTOPH SCHMID (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nTHE EASTER EGG.\n\n\nOn Easter Day, a princess gave a party to the children of the village.\n\nShe had no apples and nuts to give them. So she colored some eggs red,\nblue, and yellow.\n\nWhen the children came, the princess took them into the woods. She told\nthem to make nests out of the grass and leaves.\n\nThey left the nests under the trees. Then they went into the garden where\na feast was waiting for them.\n\nWhile they were eating, the princess carried the colored eggs into the\nwoods. She filled the nests with them.\n\nThen she went back to the children and said, \u201cCome, now! Let us look for\nour nests.\u201d\n\nThe children hunted everywhere. When they found the nests, they clapped\ntheir hands for joy. In each nest lay five colored eggs.\n\n\u201cRed eggs! Red eggs!\u201d cried one. \u201cIn my nest all are red!\u201d\n\n\u201cIn mine are blue ones,\u201d cried another. \u201cAll blue like the sky!\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cAnd mine are as yellow as the butterfly that is flying around us,\u201d said\nanother.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d they all cried, \u201chow we should like to see the chickens that lay\nsuch beautiful eggs!\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course hens do not lay them,\u201d said one little girl. \u201cHens\u2019 eggs are\nwhite.\u201d\n\n\u201cI saw a rabbit running away from my nest,\u201d said another. \u201cI believe a\nlittle rabbit laid them.\u201d\n\nAll the children laughed and said, \u201cYes, yes! The rabbits laid the\ncolored eggs!\u201d\n\n From the German of CHRISTOPH SCHMID (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nTHE FARMER AND THE BIRDS.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt was springtime. The birds were singing merrily as they built their\nnests.\n\nBut the farmers were angry. They did not want the birds to eat the corn\nin the fields, and the cherries on the trees.\n\nThe farmers said that all the birds must be killed. But the birds had one\nfriend.\n\nThis friend stood up before the farmers and said, \u201cThink of your woods\nand fields without the birds! Who will drive the worms from your fields\nand gardens?\n\n\u201cThe birds pay you well for the grain and the cherries that they eat.\nWhat will you do without their sweet music?\u201d\n\nThe farmers laughed and would not listen to the friend.\n\nThey sent men and boys into the fields and the woods to kill the birds.\nThe little ones were left to die in their nests.\n\nWhen summer came, there was not a bird to be seen. Hundreds of worms ate\neverything that grew in the gardens and fields.\n\nThat autumn there were no red and yellow leaves on the trees. The\nbranches were dry and brown.\n\nThen the farmers were sorry. The next spring they sent a man away to\nbring the birds from all the country around.\n\nOne day the man drove a wagon covered with green branches into the\nvillage. Cages filled with singing birds hung upon the branches.\n\nThe farmers opened the doors, and the birds flew out.\n\nOnce more the woods and the fields were filled with sweet music.\n\n Suggested by LONGFELLOW\u2019S poem, \u201cThe Birds of Killingworth.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nMAY.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n Little white snowdrop! I pray you arise;\n Bright yellow crocus! Come open your eyes;\n Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,\n Put on your mantles of purple and gold;\n Daffodils! Daffodils! Say, do you hear?\n Summer is coming! And springtime is here!\n\n EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER.\n]\n\n\n\n\nMARY\u2019S MEADOW.\n\n\nMary liked to plant flowers beside the road and in the fields.\n\nShe told her father that she wanted to make people happy who had no\ngardens. So Father called her The Traveler\u2019s Joy.\n\nBut Mary liked best of all to play in the Squire\u2019s meadow. It was filled\nwith beautiful flowers and singing birds.\n\nMary cried when her father told her that he and the Squire were no longer\nfriends. He said she must not play in the meadow with the Squire\u2019s great\ndog, Saxon.\n\nOne day, the gardener gave Mary some pretty cowslips. She forgot what her\nfather had told her, and ran down to the Squire\u2019s meadow to plant them.\n\nSoon she heard a loud shout. She looked up and saw the old Squire running\ntoward her. With one hand he held his dog, Saxon, who was trying to get\naway.\n\nMary was so frightened that she did not hear what the Squire was saying.\nShe told him that she was not digging up his cowslips, but planting them.\n\nJust then Saxon came running toward her. The Squire stopped shouting to\nher, and called to Saxon. He did not know that Mary and Saxon were such\ngood friends.\n\nMary threw her arms around Saxon\u2019s neck, and began to cry. Then she\npicked up her basket and ran home as fast as she could.\n\nEvery day she thought the old Squire would come and tell her father. But\nhe never came.\n\n\nII\n\nThe next spring it was great fun to look for the flowers which The\nTraveler\u2019s Joy had planted.\n\nOne day Mary\u2019s father sent for her. When she came home, she found the old\nSquire talking to her father. He held some cowslips in his hand.\n\nHe gave them to Mary, and said, \u201cMy dear, I am sorry that I sent you out\nof the meadow.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I was not digging up your cowslips,\u201d Mary said.\n\nThe old Squire put his hand on her head. \u201cI know, my child,\u201d he said.\n\u201cYou are The Traveler\u2019s Joy.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am glad the cowslips grew,\u201d Mary said. \u201cI hope they will grow all over\nyour meadow.\u201d\n\nThen the Squire said, \u201cIt is not my meadow now. I have given it away.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, please, please, do not give it away!\u201d cried Mary. \u201cCan\u2019t I play\nthere with Saxon, and plant flowers?\u201d\n\nThe Squire smiled at her father, and said, \u201cYes, Mary! You may play, and\nplant, and do what you like there.\u201d\n\nFather put his arm around the little girl. \u201cYou do not know what the\nSquire means. Do you, dear?\u201d he said. \u201cThe Squire has given it to you.\nNow we shall always call it Mary\u2019s Meadow.\u201d\n\n JULIANA HORATIO EWING\u2019S \u201cMary\u2019s Meadow\u201d (_Adapted_).\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAY PARTY.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA bright, happy crowd of children marched to the woods for a May party.\n\nFirst came two boys carrying a May-pole to which bright ribbons were tied.\n\nThen came the May Queen with a crown of flowers on her head, and a long\nwand in her hand.\n\nThe girls marched behind the May Queen, carrying the pretty May baskets\nwhich they had made. The boys were waving flags and blowing horns.\n\nWhen they came to the woods, the boys set up the May-pole and all the\nchildren danced around it.\n\nIn and out they went weaving the bright ribbons. The girls went to the\nleft, the boys to the right. They bowed as they passed each other, and\nsang the pretty May-pole song.\n\nSoon the pole was wound with the bright ribbons.\n\nThen some of the children ran down to the water to sail boats, and others\nwent up, up, in the swings.\n\nThe older girls set the table. What a beautiful table it was! There were\nsandwiches, and oranges, and cakes, and nuts, and candy.\n\nAfter the children had eaten all the good things, they went through the\nwoods gathering flowers.\n\nThey filled the pretty baskets with flowers, and stood them side by side.\nBut the children could not tell which they liked the best.\n\nThat night, when it was dark, each girl and boy put a basket on the\ndoor-step of a friend, then rang the bell and ran away.\n\nThey had such a good time that they wished May-day came oftener than once\na year.\n\n\n\n\nCOME, MY DOLLY.\n\n\n Come, my Dolly, come with me,\n Dance beneath the apple-tree.\n See the blossoms flying down,\n Wings of pink and rosy crown.\n Catch them, Dolly, in your gown,\n While the sun sees you and me\n Dancing \u2019neath the apple-tree.\n\n Some day, Dolly, you will see\n Snow upon the apple-tree;\n White wings then will flutter down,\n Covering leaves all dry and brown.\n But, my Dolly, do not frown;\n When spring comes again, you\u2019ll see\n Pink wings on the apple-tree.\n\n LYDIA AVERY COONLEY-WARD.\n\n\n\n\nPROSERPINA.\n\n\nIt was harvest-time and the grain was ready to be gathered.\n\nMother Ceres was very busy, for she had the care of every seed that grows.\n\nShe put on her hat made of poppies. Then she stepped into a chariot drawn\nby a pair of winged dragons.\n\n\u201cDear Mother,\u201d said Proserpina, \u201cmay I go down to the shore and play with\nthe sea-maids?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, child,\u201d answered Mother Ceres, \u201cbut you must not go alone into the\nfields.\u201d\n\nThe sea-maids heard Proserpina calling. Soon she saw them coming up out\nof the water. They made a chain of beautiful shells and hung it around\nProserpina\u2019s neck.\n\n\u201cHow pretty it is!\u201d said Proserpina. \u201cWait for me here while I run into\nthe fields. I want to make each of you a chain of flowers.\u201d\n\nProserpina\u2019s hands were soon full of flowers. She was turning to go back,\nwhen she saw a beautiful plant near her.\n\n\u201cI will put it in my garden,\u201d said Proserpina. She pulled and pulled.\nSoon Proserpina held the plant in her hands. She was surprised to see the\ndeep hole which its roots left in the ground.\n\n\nII\n\nThe hole grew deeper and wider, and Proserpina heard a loud noise under\nthe ground.\n\nFour black horses jumped out of the hole, drawing a golden chariot. In it\nsat a very dark man, with a crown of diamonds on his head.\n\nThe man caught Proserpina in his arms, and shouted to his horses. They\nwent so fast that they seemed to fly through the air.\n\nProserpina was frightened and called out, \u201cMother! Mother Ceres! Come\nquickly and help me!\u201d\n\nBut Mother Ceres was a great way off, and could not hear her cry.\n\n\u201cI will not harm you,\u201d said the man. \u201cI am King Pluto. All the gold and\nsilver under the ground belong to me.\n\n\u201cI will give you a garden full of prettier flowers than those in your\nhand. Where I live all the flowers are made of pearls and rubies.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJust then Proserpina saw Mother Ceres in a field far away. She gave a\nloud cry, but King Pluto only made the horses go faster.\n\nAs they went under the earth it grew darker and darker. By and by they\ncame to his castle. It was made of gold and lighted with lanterns made of\ndiamonds. There was no sunshine in King Pluto\u2019s country.\n\n\u201cTry to be happy, little Proserpina,\u201d he said. \u201cYou may have my crown to\nplay with. If you like, you may sit beside me and be my little queen.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not want golden castles and crowns,\u201d sobbed Proserpina. \u201cPlease\ncarry me back to my mother.\u201d\n\nDinner was ready for them but Proserpina would eat nothing. She knew that\nif she ate the food or drank the water of King Pluto\u2019s country, she could\nnever see her mother again.\n\n\nIII\n\nMother Ceres heard Proserpina\u2019s loud cry. She looked all around but could\nnot see her. Then she drove home quickly, but she could not find her in\nthe house.\n\nShe heard the sea-maids singing, and ran down to ask them about\nProserpina.\n\n\u201cShe left us this morning to gather flowers,\u201d said one of them. \u201cWe have\nnot seen her since.\u201d\n\nIt was now almost dark. Mother Ceres lighted her torch, and went from\nhouse to house asking every one about her child.\n\nDay and night for six long months she hunted for her little girl. Her\ntorch burned dimly by day but at night it lighted her path.\n\nAt last some one told her that Proserpina had been carried off by King\nPluto.\n\nThen Mother Ceres said, \u201cThe grain shall not grow, nor the flowers bloom,\nuntil my little girl is given back to me.\u201d\n\nThe earth turned brown, and there was no food for men nor animals. So\nthey asked King Pluto to make the earth green by sending Proserpina home.\n\n\nIV\n\nProserpina had grown very hungry. She had just begun to eat some fruit\nwhen King Pluto told her she could go back to her mother.\n\nAs she walked along, everything turned green. Beautiful flowers grew in\nher path. The cows and the sheep began to eat the grass and the birds to\nsing in the trees.\n\nMother Ceres was sitting on the door-step when she heard Proserpina say,\n\u201cHere I am, Mother dear.\u201d\n\nHow happy Mother Ceres was, to hold her little girl in her arms once\nmore. Proserpina told her all about King Pluto\u2019s castle.\n\n\u201cI was so unhappy, Mother dear,\u201d she said, \u201cthat I did not eat anything\nuntil to-day. Then King Pluto gave me some fruit that had grown in one of\nyour gardens.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, my little Proserpina!\u201d said Mother Ceres. \u201cWhy did you eat it?\u201d\n\n\u201cI did not eat all of it,\u201d said the little girl. \u201cI swallowed only six\nseeds.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy child,\u201d said Mother Ceres sadly, \u201cyou ate those six seeds in King\nPluto\u2019s castle. So you will have to spend six months of every year under\nthe ground with him. While you are gone nothing shall grow. But when you\ncome back to me in the spring, we will make the world beautiful.\u201d\n\n NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nHAWTHORNE AND HIS CHILDREN.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNathaniel Hawthorne had three children. They had great fun together.\n\nIn the spring he made them boats to sail on the lake, and kites to fly in\nthe air.\n\nIn the summer he went fishing with them and took them into the woods to\ngather flowers.\n\nIn the autumn they went nutting.\n\nOne day the children were standing at the foot of a tall walnut tree.\nSoon they heard a shout.\n\nWhen they looked up the children saw their father high up in the top of\nthe tree. Then down came the nuts! The children put them into bags and\ncarried them home.\n\nWhen the snow came, their father took them coasting. Sometimes as they\nwent down the hill they fell into the snow.\n\nThen how they shouted and laughed!\n\nHawthorne liked to take long walks with his son. The little boy thought\nthat his father was the best playmate in the world.\n\nOnce when they were out walking, they passed through some tall grass and\nweeds. They played these were giants and dragons which had to be cut down.\n\nHawthorne struck so hard that he broke his cane. Then he sat down and\nwatched the little boy fighting with the giants and dragons.\n\nHawthorne loved children so much that he wrote books for them.\n\nHis three children loved his stories. They read his Wonder Book and\nTanglewood Tales so often that they knew them almost by heart.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n The lilies ring their tiny bells\n From garden-beds in June,\n And high and clear their music swells,\n A lovely fairy tune.\n\n SELECTED.\n]\n\n\n\n\nTHUMBLING.\n\n\nThere was once a woman who had no little child. So one day she went to\nsee a Wise Fairy.\n\n\u201cI wish for a tiny, little child,\u201d she said. \u201cCan you tell me where I can\nget one?\u201d\n\n\u201cHere is a grain of corn,\u201d said the Wise Fairy. \u201cPlant it in a\nflower-pot. Then you will see what is to be seen.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you,\u201d said the woman.\n\nThen she went home and planted the corn in a flower-pot.\n\nThe next day a large flower came up. It looked like a tulip bud.\n\nThe woman kissed the red and yellow leaves. As she kissed it the flower\nopened with a loud snap.\n\nIn the middle of the tulip there was a little tiny girl. She was only an\ninch high. So they named her Thumbling.\n\n\nII\n\n\u201cThumbling must have a cradle,\u201d said the woman. So she made her one out\nof a walnut shell.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThumbling slept on the blue velvet leaves of a violet. Her cover was a\npink rose leaf.\n\nOne night a great Ugly Toad hopped in at the window.\n\n\u201cWhat a pretty little girl!\u201d she said. The Ugly Toad took the walnut\nshell and hopped down into the garden. A brook ran through the garden.\n\n\u201cI will put her out in the brook on a water-lily leaf,\u201d said the Ugly\nToad. \u201cThen she cannot get away.\u201d\n\nOn the largest leaf the Toad laid the walnut shell. Thumbling was in it\nfast asleep.\n\nIn the morning Thumbling awoke and began to cry. The Fishes looked up and\nsaw poor little Thumbling.\n\n\u201cWhy are you crying, little girl?\u201d they said.\n\n\u201cI do not want to live with the Ugly Toad,\u201d said Thumbling.\n\n\u201cLive with the Toads?\u201d said the Fishes. \u201cNo, that must never be.\u201d\n\nThey cut the stem of the lily leaf with their sharp teeth.\n\nThe lily leaf floated down the brook and carried Thumbling away from the\nUgly Toads.\n\n\nIII\n\nBy and by a large May-bug came flying along.\n\nHe caught Thumbling with his long claws. Then he flew with her into a\ntree. How frightened little Thumbling was!\n\nSoon many other May-bugs came into the tree, to look at poor frightened\nlittle Thumbling.\n\n\u201cWhy!\u201d said one. \u201cShe has no claws.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe has only two legs,\u201d said another. \u201cShe should have six.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow ugly she is!\u201d said all the others.\n\nWhen the May-bug heard this he flew down with her from the tree. He set\nher upon a large daisy and left her there.\n\nAll summer Thumbling lived alone in the great woods.\n\nShe wove a bed out of the leaves of grass. She hung the bed under a large\nleaf to keep out the rain.\n\nThumbling ate the honey from the flowers. She drank the dew that stood\nevery morning upon the leaves.\n\nThen winter came, and it began to snow. Poor little Thumbling! She was\nvery cold.\n\n\nIV\n\nA Field Mouse lived in a corn-field close to the woods.\n\n\u201cI will ask the Field Mouse for something to eat,\u201d she said.\n\nPoor Thumbling stood at the door like a little beggar girl.\n\n\u201cYou dear child!\u201d said the Field Mouse. \u201cCome into my warm house. You may\neat dinner with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWould you like to stay with me all winter?\u201d said the Field Mouse.\n\n\u201cYou may keep my house clean, and you may tell me pretty stories.\u201d\n\nThe winter was long and cold. But Thumbling was happy with the kind Field\nMouse.\n\n\nV\n\nOne day Thumbling found a poor bird lying near the Field Mouse\u2019s door.\nThumbling was very sorry. She thought the bird was dead.\n\n\u201cPoor little Swallow!\u201d she said. \u201cYou must not lie on the cold snow.\u201d\n\nThumbling wove a mat of hay. Then she laid it over the Swallow. She found\nsome soft wool and made a warm bed.\n\n\u201cGood-by, you pretty little Swallow,\u201d she said.\n\nThen Thumbling laid her head against the bird. The Swallow moved. It was\nnot dead. It was only cold.\n\nThe Swallow opened its eyes and looked at Thumbling.\n\n\u201cThank you, pretty child,\u201d he said. \u201cI am warm now. Soon I shall fly\nabout in the bright sunshine.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said Thumbling. \u201cYou cannot live out of doors. Cold winter is here.\nYou must stay in the Field Mouse\u2019s home.\u201d\n\nThe Field Mouse did not like birds. But she liked Thumbling and wished to\nmake her happy.\n\nSo all winter the Swallow lived in the Field Mouse\u2019s warm home.\n\n\nVI\n\nAt last spring came.\n\n\u201cI must go now,\u201d said the Swallow. \u201cWill you go with me, Thumbling? You\nmay sit upon my back and I will fly out into the bright sunshine.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d said Thumbling. \u201cThe kind Field Mouse will be sorry to have me\nleave her.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cGood-by, then, dear little Thumbling,\u201d said the Swallow.\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d said Thumbling. \u201cI will go with you. I do not like to live in\nthe dark ground when it is so beautiful above.\u201d\n\nThumbling sat upon the Swallow\u2019s back. Then he flew high up into the air.\n\nBy and by they came to a warm country.\n\nA large white flower was growing in a garden. The Swallow flew down and\nset Thumbling upon one of its broad leaves.\n\n\nVII\n\nIn the middle of the flower she saw a little tiny man. He was no larger\nthan Thumbling.\n\nThe tiny man was as pure and white as if made of glass. He had a gold\ncrown on his head and bright wings on his shoulders.\n\nHe was the King of the flower fairies.\n\n\u201cOh, how beautiful he is!\u201d said Thumbling to the Swallow.\n\nThe fairy King was glad to see Thumbling. He took off his crown and put\nit on her head.\n\n\u201cYou shall be Queen of all the flower fairies,\u201d he said.\n\nHow happy every one was! Out of every flower came a tiny flower fairy.\n\nEach one brought the Queen a gift, but the one she liked best was a pair\nof golden wings.\n\nWhen she put these on she could fly from flower to flower.\n\n\u201cYou shall not be called Thumbling,\u201d said the fairy King. \u201cThat is an\nugly name. We will call you Maia.\u201d\n\n HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN (_Adapted_).\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nMIDSUMMER NIGHT.\n\n\nWhen the moon shines, and the stars are bright, and the warm winds blow,\nthe fairies meet together. They come from everywhere.\n\nThe fairy queen, Titania, sends one to hang pearls of dew on the flowers.\nShe sends another to kill the worms that are eating the roses. She sends\nothers to frighten away the birds that cry at night.\n\nWhen Titania lies down upon a bed of cowslips, the fairies sing her to\nsleep.\n\nOther fairies wait upon Oberon, the king. The one he likes best is Puck.\n\nPuck is the merriest fairy of all. He plays all sorts of tricks to make\nthe king laugh.\n\nThe fairies dance merrily together in the moonlight. But when they are\nfrightened they hide in acorn cups.\n\nThe king and the queen and all their fairies stay in the woods through\nthe summer night. But when they first see the sunlight, they fly away,\nand follow darkness around the world.\n\n SHAKESPEARE\u2019S \u201cMidsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nTHE TEETER.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n Said the brownest little Brownie,\n To the weest little Fairy,\n \u201cWon\u2019t you come along\n And play a while with me?\u201d\n Said the weest little Fairy\n To the brownest little Brownie,\n \u201cTell me what you want to play,\n Then I will see!\u201d\n So this sprightly happy fellow\n Found the broadest blade of grass,\n And balanced it upon a mossy stone.\n And those little fairy children\n Teetered gaily up and down,\n Up and down all the afternoon alone.\n\n MAUD BURNHAM.\n\n\n\n\nTHE NIXIE\u2019S MUSIC.\n\n\nLittle Nils was born on Sunday.\n\nHis mother told him that the fairies always liked a Sunday child. They\nwould help him to be a great and good man.\n\nShe said that if he were kind and true, he would see the Nixie sometime.\nThen the Nixie would grant him three wishes.\n\nNils wanted to see the Nixie more than anything else. Many a time he sat\nby the water where the Nixie lived and listened for her music.\n\nSometimes on midsummer nights he thought he could hear it. But he could\nnot see the Nixie nor tell her his three wishes.\n\n\u201cPerhaps I am not good enough,\u201d thought Nils. Then he tried to be kind to\nthe birds and animals. He was also very gentle with his little sister.\n\nHe knew what his three wishes would be, when he saw the Nixie.\n\nFirst he wanted to be wise; then he wanted to be famous. But most of all\nhe wanted a violin, so that he could play the Nixie\u2019s music.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOne day he asked the schoolmaster to let him take his violin.\n\nThe kind old man listened to Nils\u2019s story. Then he said, \u201cI will teach\nyou to play the violin.\u201d\n\nAfter a few lessons, Nils tried to play the Nixie\u2019s music. But though his\nears could hear it, his fingers could not play it.\n\n\nII\n\nAfter a while the old schoolmaster died and left his violin to Nils.\n\nNils played on it all the time when he was not at work in the woods with\nhis father.\n\nThe people said that he could play the Nixie\u2019s music. They came from far\nand near to hear it. But Nils knew that he could not play it, although he\ncould still hear it.\n\nHe played at all the feasts. He made more money with his violin than he\ndid when he worked in the woods.\n\nWhen he grew to be a man, he was very gentle and kind. People came to him\nwhen they were sad and wanted help. They called him Wise Nils.\n\nOnce two men were traveling through the country. They came to hear Nils\nplay.\n\nThe travelers had never heard such beautiful music. They asked Nils to go\nwith them and play in many countries.\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d Nils answered. \u201cI must stay here. My people need me.\u201d\n\n\nIII\n\nA few weeks after the men went away, a large box came to Nils. He opened\nit and found that the travelers had sent him a beautiful violin.\n\nAs he drew the bow over the strings, Nils said, \u201cNow I can play the\nNixie\u2019s music.\u201d\n\nHe ran down to the water, for it was Midsummer Night. That is the time\nwhen Nixie always plays the loudest.\n\nAfter a while he heard the soft music. But when he tried to play it the\nmusic was gone. Sadly he put his violin down.\n\nShould he never see the Nixie and tell her his three wishes?\n\nThen he said to himself, \u201cBut I have my first wish, for the people call\nme Wise Nils. And I might have been famous, if I had gone with the men.\u201d\n\nThen he thought of his third wish. He picked up his dear violin, and held\nit lovingly in his arms.\n\n HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nJULY.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n \u2019Tis the star-spangled banner!\n Oh, long may it wave!\n O\u2019er the land of the free\n And the home of the brave!\n\n FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.\n]\n\n\n\n\nAMERICA.\n\n(_To be memorized_)\n\n\n My country! \u2019tis of thee,\n Sweet land of liberty,\n Of thee I sing;\n Land where my Fathers died,\n Land of the Pilgrims\u2019 pride,\n From ev\u2019ry mountain side\n Let freedom ring.\n\n My native country, thee,\n Land of the noble free,\n Thy name I love;\n I love thy rocks and rills,\n Thy woods and templed hills,\n My heart with rapture thrills,\n Like that above.\n\n Let music swell the breeze,\n And ring from all the trees\n Sweet freedom\u2019s song;\n Let mortal tongues awake,\n Let all that breathe partake,\n Let rocks their silence break,\n The sound prolong.\n\n Our Fathers\u2019 God, to thee;\n Author of liberty,\n To thee we sing;\n Long may our land be bright\n With freedom\u2019s holy light,\n Protect us by thy might,\n Great God, our King!\n\n SAMUEL F. SMITH.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LIBERTY BELL.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt was the Fourth of July, 1776.\n\nFor more than a year America had been at war with England.\n\nA great and good man had written a paper saying that America must be free.\n\nOn the Fourth of July a number of wise men met in Philadelphia, to see\nabout signing this paper.\n\nMany people stood around the house where they met.\n\n\u201cWill they sign it? Will they sign it?\u201d the people asked.\n\nAn old bell-man was in the tower ready to ring the bell. His little\ngrandson stood below to tell him when to ring it.\n\nHour after hour passed, but still the old man and the little boy waited.\n\nAt last the boy shouted, \u201cRing, Grandpa! Ring! Oh, ring for liberty!\u201d\n\nThe old bell rang out loud and clear. How the people shouted! Cheer after\ncheer went up.\n\nFor two hours the old bell-man sent out the glad news. America was free!\n\nThis was the first Fourth of July.\n\nFor many years the old bell rang out merrily on all great days. But at\nlast a sad thing happened. A large crack was found in it.\n\nThe old bell could never ring any more. But the people loved it better\nthan ever.\n\nThey gave it a home in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where every\nyear travelers go to see it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SOLDIER BIRD.\n\n\nOne day, Chief Sky, an Indian, found an eagle\u2019s nest with a baby eagle in\nit.\n\nThe Indian was poor, so he sold the eagle to a white man for some corn.\n\nThe man took it into a village where some soldiers were getting ready to\ngo to the war.\n\n\u201cHere is a new soldier,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cAn eagle! An eagle!\u201d shouted the soldiers. \u201cLet us take him to the war.\u201d\n\nThey put red, white, and blue ribbons around his neck, and named him Old\nAbe. They covered his perch with the American flag and marched into camp.\n\nWhen the eagle heard the people cheer, he took the flag in his beak and\nspread his wings.\n\n\u201cThe bird of America! The eagle of freedom!\u201d shouted the soldiers.\n\n\nII\n\nOld Abe was carried in front of the soldiers.\n\nOften he would spread his wings and fly far up into the sky. Then how the\nmen cheered!\n\nSometimes Old Abe flew away to look for food and he would be gone for two\nor three days. But he always found his soldiers again.\n\nAt one time the soldiers\u2019 food was nearly gone. For two days Old Abe had\nnothing to eat.\n\nThe soldiers of the other army were very near. No one could leave the\ncamp.\n\nTom, the man who carried Old Abe, felt very sorry. He went to his captain\nand begged him to let him go out and get food for poor Old Abe.\n\nSoon Tom came back with a good supper for his pet.\n\nOld Abe was very fond of music, and liked to drill with the soldiers. He\nwatched the captain and did as he was told.\n\nAt last the war came to an end. The brave eagle that had been in so many\nbattles was taken home.\n\nA large house was built for him. The soldier who had carried him through\nthe war took care of him.\n\nIn this pleasant home Old Abe lived a long and happy life.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CALICO\u2019S STORY.\n\n\nOnce I was a tiny seed covered over with a brown coat. I had many\nbrothers and sisters.\n\nWe lived in the warm South and were kept in a strong bag.\n\nOne morning the people who lived in the house were up very early.\n\nI heard the master say, \u201cTom, you may plant that cotton seed to-day.\u201d\n\nCotton Seed was my name. Tom picked me up and I was soon put into a\nlittle bed close to a great river. I began to feel larger and larger.\n\nOne day my coat burst and I came up out of the ground. Wasn\u2019t I happy\nthen!\n\nI had a green body and two green leaves. I stretched my head higher and\nhigher.\n\n\nII\n\nAt last I had three beautiful blossoms. Soon all my pretty leaves left\nme, to go with Mr. Wind.\n\nOne day the buds left by the blossoms burst open. I was covered with\ncotton as white as snow and as soft as silk.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cCome, children!\u201d I heard some one call. \u201cWe must pick the cotton.\u201d\n\nAnd the children did come. They had woolly heads and shining eyes.\n\nOne little boy cried out, \u201cOh! Did you ever see prettier cotton?\u201d\n\nHis little black fingers soon picked all my white cotton.\n\nNext I was riding in a basket on Tom\u2019s head.\n\nI was sorry to leave the fields, and said, \u201cGood-by, dear old body and\nleaves! Good-by, dear river!\u201d\n\n\nIII\n\nA machine took away from me many little hard seeds. They looked just as I\ndid before I went to sleep in Mother Earth.\n\nAfter a while I was loaded on a ship which sailed on a great sea. By and\nby the ship stopped.\n\nI was carried to a large house where I heard, \u201cBuzz, buzz, buzz!\u201d\n\nA great many strange things were done to me. I was cleaned, and twisted,\nand spun, and woven.\n\nAt last I had become white cloth.\n\n\nIV\n\nNext I went through a printing-machine.\n\nThis machine sent me under a roller which left little red cherries all\nover me.\n\nThen I went under another roller which put green stems on the cherries.\nIt left green leaves close to the stems.\n\nPrettier cherries you never saw!\n\nAfter I left the roller I was dried, folded, and sent to a store in a\ncity.\n\nOne day a little girl from the country came into the store. She had a\nbasket of eggs. When she saw me she gave all of her eggs for me.\n\nThen I was made into a pretty dress. I gave much joy to the little girl\nwho liked to wear me to school.\n\n THE YOUTHS\u2019 COMPANION (_Adapted_).\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n Oh, fireflies, fireflies, light all your candles!\n Far down, deep down in the sea\u2019s wet bed\n The wise little fishes have lighted their lanterns,\n And luminous jellyfish tents are spread.\n\n ELLA HIGGINSON.\n]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SIX LITTLE SEA-MAIDS.\n\n\nDeep down in the sea, there was a beautiful red and yellow castle. Its\nroof was made of shells which opened and shut to let the water in and out.\n\nThere the sea king lived with his six daughters. They were pretty little\ngirls, with long, golden hair, and blue eyes. They had no feet, but they\nhad tails like fishes.\n\nThe sea-maids were very happy playing all day deep down in the water.\n\nSometimes the fish would swim through the windows of the castle. They\noften ate out of the hands of the little sea-maids.\n\nOutside the castle, the sisters had a garden, where flowers grew in the\nblue sand.\n\nOn her fifteenth birthday, each of the little sea-maids went up through\nthe water for the first time. The sisters promised to tell what they\nliked best in the world above.\n\nThe oldest sister came down to the castle and said, \u201cI liked best to\nwatch the lights on the land, and to hear the bells ring.\u201d\n\nWhen the second sister was fifteen years old, she went up through the\nwater at sunset.\n\n\u201cI think the golden clouds are the most beautiful things in the world,\u201d\nsaid the second sister.\n\nThe third sister went up a wide river, with green woods and hills along\nthe shore. \u201cI watched some children in the water,\u201d said the sea-maid.\n\u201cHow can they swim? Children have no fish tails.\u201d\n\nThe fourth sister said, \u201cThe sea is more beautiful than the land. There\nare white ships, and large fishes, and many strange things to be seen\nhere.\u201d\n\nThe birthday of the fifth sister came in the winter. The sea was green.\nThere were large pieces of ice in it, which seemed to frighten the\nsailors.\n\nThe sea-maid sat down on a piece of ice, and let the wind play with her\nlong hair.\n\n\nII\n\nThe youngest sister wanted to see the world above more than any of her\nsisters.\n\nWhen she went up through the water, she saw a large white ship filled\nwith people.\n\nA young prince was on the ship. It was his birthday, so there were\nfireworks, and music, and dancing.\n\nThe little sea-maid had never seen men and women before. So she rode on\nthe high waves and watched them.\n\nBy and by there was a storm, and the people on the ship were frightened.\nSoon the ship parted, and the sea-maid saw the young prince fall into the\nwater.\n\nShe knew that he could not live in the water. So the sea-maid went up to\nhim and held his head above the waves. When the storm was over, she laid\nhim down on the yellow sand.\n\nSoon the prince opened his eyes. He was very glad to be on the land once\nmore. He did not know that he had been saved by a little sea-maid.\n\nOften at evening the six little sisters joined hands and went up through\nthe water. They sang to the sailors in the ships.\n\n\u201cDo not be afraid,\u201d sang the sea-maids. \u201cIt is very beautiful far down\nunder the blue water.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut the sailors could not hear what the sea-maids were saying. They\nthought the sweet music was the sound of the wind.\n\n HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN\u2019S \u201cA Little Sea-maid\u201d (_Adapted_).\n\n\n\n\nTHE SINGER AND THE CRICKET.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOne summer day, long ago, a great many people came together to listen to\na festival of song. They sat around in bright colored tents, laughing and\nfeasting.\n\nBy and by some one shouted, \u201cThe Mastersingers! The Mastersingers!\u201d The\npeople cheered them as they passed to their places.\n\nFirst one and then another of the Mastersingers came forward and sang.\n\nAt last a young man took his lute and stood before the people. While he\nwas singing a beautiful song of spring, one of the strings of his lute\nbroke.\n\nJust then a cricket jumped upon the lute. Whenever the singer touched the\nbroken string, the cricket sang.\n\nThose who listened did not know of the broken string. The song of the\ncricket was like the music of the lute.\n\nWhen the song was ended, the women clapped their hands. The men waved\ntheir hats and cheered.\n\nNo one had ever heard such beautiful music. The Mastersong had been sung.\nThey crowned the singer with flowers and hung a gold chain around his\nneck.\n\nIn the city where he lived there stands a beautiful statue of the\nMastersinger.\n\nIn his left hand the Mastersinger holds a lute. The other hand points to\na cricket that stands beside a broken string.\n\nThe statue tells us that the great man did not forget the little friend\nthat helped him sing the Mastersong.\n\n Suggested by ROBERT BROWNING\u2019S poem, \u201cThe Two Poets of Crosie.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nKING SOLOMON AND THE BEES.\n\n\nKing Solomon was the wisest man in the world.\n\nOne day a beautiful queen came to his castle.\n\nShe had heard that King Solomon was very wise. But she did not believe\nthat he knew everything.\n\nThe queen gave him a red rose which she had brought from the garden. She\nalso gave him a rose that was made of red paper. They looked just alike.\n\n\u201cKing Solomon,\u201d she said, \u201cyou are very wise. Can you tell me at once\nwhich rose is made of paper, and which grew in the garden?\u201d\n\nKing Solomon looked at them, but he could not tell. So he said to his\nservants, \u201cOpen the windows.\u201d\n\nSome bees flew into the room. They buzzed around the rose that grew in\nthe garden.\n\nKing Solomon pointed to the other one. \u201cThat rose,\u201d said he, \u201cis made of\npaper.\u201d\n\nThen the queen thought King Solomon the wisest man in the world.\n\n Suggested by JOHN SAXE\u2019S poem, \u201cKing Solomon and the Bees.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE LITTLE MAID OF THE LIGHTHOUSE.\n\n\nA tall lighthouse stood far out at sea, on a white rock. Once upon a time\na little girl lived there with her father, mother, and two brothers.\n\nThere were no children for her to play with, and she could not go to\nschool. But she was never sad and lonely.\n\nShe loved her rocky home, with the bright light above it, and the great\nsea roaring around it. She loved the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars,\nand the clouds.\n\nOn summer mornings, she liked to go out on the rocks and see the sun rise.\n\nOften she made herself a crown of pink morning-glories. She put this on\nher head, and danced about on the rocks like a flower-fairy.\n\nSometimes she made chains of gold-colored shells to hang about her neck.\n\nShe liked to run into the green water in her bare feet. What fun it was!\n\nShe laughed, and sang, and danced about in the waves like a little\nsea-maid.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nII\n\nThe winter seemed very long to the little maid in the lighthouse.\n\nOften, when the windows were covered with frost, she put her pennies\nagainst them. Then she blew on the pennies till they were warm.\n\nThe warm pennies made holes in the frost, so that the little maid could\nlook out on the deep blue sea.\n\nHow happy she was if a ship passed by! She wondered where it came from\nand where it was going.\n\nSometimes a sea-bird flew past, high in the sky.\n\nThen she would call out, \u201cTake me to ride with you, sea-bird, between\nyour wide wings!\u201d\n\nEvery evening she watched the lighting of the great lantern in the tower\nof the lighthouse. She was a proud little girl when she was old enough to\nlight it.\n\nBest of all she liked the evenings by the fireside with her books and\nplaythings.\n\nThe wind roared, and the waves dashed against the rocks, but she was safe\nand warm.\n\n\nIII\n\nWhen the first warm days of spring came, she made her garden.\n\nShe could hardly wait for the dry, brown seeds to grow into the flowers\nshe loved so well.\n\nSometimes she made boats out of the pieces of wood on the shore.\n\nThen she cut sailor boys out of sea wood, and put them in the boats. With\nmerry shouts she sent them out on the great sea.\n\nOften she sailed shell boats in the pools of water which she found in the\nrocks.\n\nThese pools were filled with wonderful sea plants and animals. She called\nthem the gardens of the sea.\n\nCelia Thaxter was the name of the little maid of the lighthouse.\n\nWhen she grew to be a woman she went to live on the mainland. But the sea\nwas always singing in her ears like a hollow shell.\n\nShe wanted others to know how beautiful it was, so she wrote many poems\nabout the sea.\n\n\n\n\nGOOD NIGHT AND GOOD MORNING.\n\n\n A fair little girl sat under a tree\n Sewing as long as her eyes could see;\n Then she smoothed her work and folded it right,\n And said, \u201cDear work, good night! Good night!\u201d\n\n Such a number of rooks came over her head,\n Crying \u201cCaw! Caw!\u201d on their way to bed;\n She said as she watched their curious flight,\n \u201cLittle black things, good night! Good night!\u201d\n\n The horses neighed and the oxen lowed,\n The sheep\u2019s \u201cBleat! Bleat!\u201d came over the road;\n All seeming to say, with a quiet delight,\n \u201cGood little girl, good night! Good night!\u201d\n\n She did not say to the sun, \u201cGood night!\u201d\n Though she saw him there like a ball of light;\n For she knew he had God\u2019s time to keep\n All over the world, and never could sleep.\n\n The tall pink fox-glove bowed his head,\n The violet curtsied and went to bed;\n And good little Lucy tied up her hair,\n And said on her knees her favorite prayer.\n\n And while on her pillow she softly lay,\n She knew nothing more till again it was day;\n And all things said to the beautiful sun,\n \u201cGood morning! Good morning! Our work is begun.\u201d\n\n LORD HOUGHTON.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nWORD LIST\n\n\nThe following is a list of the words used in the Second Reader, omitting\nthose previously used in the Primer and First Reader. They are grouped by\npages, in the order in which they first occur.\n\n ix seasons\n\n x goldenrod\n orchards\n fruit\n bending\n tokens\n September\n beauty\n cheer\n\n 11 Indian\n ago\n tent\n skins\n bark\n wigwam\n wore\n deer\n beads\n swam\n hunt\n arrows\n food\n tied\n branch\n\n 12 feathers\n hair\n painted\n face\n fierce\n cried\n else\n wanted\n brave\n\n 13 people\n Pilgrims\n ground\n place\n pile\n found\n belonged\n paid\n taken\n taught\n useful\n\n 14 Hiawatha\n chief\n dressed\n Mondamin\n wrestle\n\n 15 grew\n win\n lie\n stood\n tall\n showed\n gift\n always\n\n 16 Arabella\n Ruth\n Peter\n many\n rag\n queer\n squash\n\n 17 ready\n Patty Corncob\n pink\n almost\n Betty Clothes-pin\n drew\n hat\n Dinah\n silk\n smiled\n seemed\n\n 18 caterpillar\n fuzzy\n crawling\n though\n we\u2019ve\n tight\n snug\n cocoon\n spun\n slept\n stirring\n spy\n spreading\n gorgeous\n free\n creature\n flutters\n gaily\n\n 19 Rumpel-Stilts-Kin\n wicked\n daughter\n spin\n straw\n filled\n die\n locked\n brownie\n chain\n lo\n behold\n reel\n\n 21 ring\n queen\n\n 22 nothing\n held\n unhappy\n land\n\n 23 dancing\n bonfire\n brew\n to-morrow\n nobody\n Tom\n Robert\n told\n\n 24 October\n orange\n hosts\n princes\n they\u2019ll\n ghosts\n leathery\n pears\n russet\n late\n \u2019twill\n\n 25 canoe\n Birch-tree\n cloak\n waved\n Cedar\n bent\n frame\n Larch-tree\n sadly\n pulled\n\n 26 Fir-tree\n balm\n sailing\n rushing\n stately\n valley\n float\n water-lily\n\n 27 Lady Gray\n hid\n each\n porch\n kept\n became\n gentle\n pockets\n shoulder\n\n 28 fur\n\n 29 elves\n shoemaker\n pair\n standing\n sold\n bought\n four\n done\n evening\n\n 30 wife\n rapped\n quickly\n rich\n Christmas eve\n across\n\n 31 Hallowe\u2019en\n Ben\n Polly\n Martha\n pumpkins\n Jack-o\u2019-lantern\n chose\n stem-end\n nose\n mouth\n candle\n much\n threw\n hurrah\n\n 33 toast\n pop\n roast\n march\n rug\n joined\n\n 34 Cinderella\n coach\n poem\n learned\n moments\n stories\n clack\n kernels\n whirl\n skip\n fellow\n leap\n snap\n crack\n tossing\n pour\n swift\n fit\n\n 35 Philemon\n Baucis\n\n 36 ever\n traveler\n door-step\n shouting\n meet\n welcome\n strangers\n\n 39 grant\n knees\n linden\n\n 40 November\n ah\n Thanksgiving Day\n guest\n moistens\n lip\n past\n pie\n\n 41 first\n harvest\n blessing\n Governor\n feast\n\n 42 plenty\n gathered\n wild\n plums\n grapes\n ashes\n breakfast\n whole\n games\n God\n goodness\n since\n\n 44 kitchen\n burning\n strings\n dried\n above\n taking\n care\n pudding\n rows\n loud\n\n 45 uncle\n sleigh\n aunt\n drove\n\n 46 drifted\n stings\n toes\n bites\n\n 47 first-rate\n bells\n ting-a-ling-ding\n trot\n dapple-gray\n hound\n straight\n yard\n gate\n extremely\n slow\n\n 48 Whittier\n bare\n feet\n swimming\n merry\n whistle\n strawberries\n feed\n knew\n\n 49 another\n Snow-Bound\n pole\n\n 50 cave\n rooster\n closed\n roared\n\n 51 cloth\n Rachel\n carded\n fine\n smooth\n fastened\n spindle\n Zum\n sounded\n thread\n fleecy\n hum\n twist\n twirl\n\n 53 questions\n answer\n buttons\n color\n Joe\n chestnut\n dye\n dipped\n guessed\n loom\n treadle\n shuttle\n woven\n\n 54 snip\n scissors\n stitch\n Jack Frost\n I\u2019m\n\n 55 forth\n holly\n box\n bay\n deck\n cottage\n December\n\n 56 carol\n angels\n heaven\n souls\n\n 58 Santa Claus\n grain\n wonderful\n happens\n bunch\n twittering\n\n 59 Piccola\n Fred\n because\n church\n\n 60 stocking\n toys\n awoke\n\n 61 candy\n\n 62 dearly\n also\n servant\n darkness\n same\n\n 64 fallen\n sorry\n close\n ribbon\n\n 65 leads\n sight\n they\u2019re\n dawn\n sink\n\n 67 Raphael\n master\n artist\n clay\n vases\n buy\n Luca\n duke\n wants\n neck\n\n 68 seven\n try\n harm\n draw\n\n 69 tears\n joy\n kneeling\n\n 70 January\n rosy\n cozy\n\n 71 stove\n Karl\n pictures\n\n 72 deal\n thought\n floor\n wagon\n climbed\n inside\n quite\n listened\n\n 74 thankful\n\n 75 flock\n world\n wilderness\n downy\n plumed\n feathery\n flakes\n below\n poppy\n cunning\n beneath\n touch\n fair\n grown\n wrought\n fence\n array\n folded\n pinions\n\n 76 tones\n rang\n sped\n Nannie\n alive\n hush\n frighten\n whisper\n delight\n crept\n wondrous\n joyfully\n clasped\n cheeks\n\n 77 midnight\n Naka\n nearly\n hands\n short\n noon\n dim\n\n 79 rocks\n reindeer\n northern\n\n 80 Michael Angelo\n Grand Duke\n statues\n faun\n stopped\n\n 81 spent\n among\n become\n\n 82 February\n valentine\n least\n don\u2019t\n really\n\n 83 own\n write\n shaped\n\n 84 between\n Abraham Lincoln\n George Washington\n spoiled\n either\n pay\n Abe\n\n 85 unkind\n speech\n clapping\n turtle\n shell\n coward\n gently\n muddy\n wise\n President\n\n 87 flag\n Philadelphia\n Betsy Ross\n husband\n money\n General\n soldiers\n war\n England\n planned\n thirteen\n stripes\n later\n\n 88 Longfellow\n poet\n blacksmith\n shop\n sparks\n anvil\n wrote\n village\n felt\n pennies\n writing\n\n 89 road\n heart\n Robert Louis Stevenson\n verses\n island\n forest\n foxes\n bats\n miles\n town\n led\n packhorses\n banks\n bathe\n lemons\n bananas\n\n 90 bathing\n knife\n women\n wear\n Tusitala\n means\n writer\n prison\n\n 91 speckled\n sailor\n ropes\n Japan\n Spain\n organ\n\n 92 March\n blusters\n glows\n summon\n rose\n\n 93 Freddy\n scamper\n begin\n heat\n Katy\n peaches\n redden\n Arty\n shivering\n lane\n Bessie\n low\n\n 94 Ulysses\n traveling\n toward\n \u00c6olus\n sails\n quiet\n\n 95 safely\n tossed\n waves\n afterward\n\n 97 happiest\n third\n boxes\n store-room\n early\n rice\n tea\n undressed\n\n 98 fifth\n top\n\n 99 raise\n hollow\n carp\n waterfalls\n America\n eagle\n\n 100 Benjamin Franklin\n\n 101 lightning\n pointed\n wire\n key\n rainy\n brought\n strange\n street-cars\n electricity\n\n 102 prettier\n bridges\n\n 103 shone\n diamonds\n sparkling\n happened\n\n 104 heavy\n formed\n\n 105 April\n Rollicking Robin\n doesn\u2019t\n coaxes\n shadow\n Easter\n vest\n\n 106 princess\n fairies\n twelve\n dishes\n angry\n\n 107 fifteen\n prick\n finger\n spinning\n tower\n\n 108 hedge\n thorns\n rode\n\n 110 secret\n Pussy Willow\n purred\n stroked\n velvet\n hummed\n blossoms\n scarlet\n brimming\n chattered\n fro\n clear\n\n 111 course\n surprise\n coop\n\n 112 combs\n Ki-ki-ri-ki\n\n 115 rabbit\n laid\n\n 116 merrily\n cherries\n drive\n worms\n\n 117 music\n cages\n\n 118 May\n pray\n arise\n crocus\n mantles\n purple\n daffodils\n\n 119 squire\n Saxon\n cowslips\n forgot\n\n 120 can\u2019t\n\n 122 crown\n wand\n crowd\n\n 123 left\n wound\n sandwiches\n\n 124 gown\n frown\n you\u2019ll\n\n 125 Proserpina\n Mother Ceres\n chariot\n dragons\n sea-maids\n\n 126 noise\n King Pluto\n\n 127 pearls\n rubies\n\n 128 sobbed\n\n 129 torch\n month\n bloom\n hungry\n begun\n\n 130 swallowed\n spend\n\n 131 Nathaniel Hawthorne\n lake\n\n 132 coasting\n weeds\n giants\n Tanglewood Tales\n\n 133 June\n lilies\n swells\n\n 134 Thumbling\n pot\n tulip\n inch\n\n 135 ugly\n\n 136 bug\n claws\n\n 137 legs\n daisy\n dew\n\n 138 beggar\n clean\n\n 139 dead\n\n 141 Maia\n\n 143 Midsummer\n Titania\n Oberon\n Puck\n sorts\n tricks\n acorn\n\n 144 teeter\n weest\n won\u2019t\n sprightly\n broadest\n blade\n balanced\n stone\n\n 145 Nixie\n Nils\n born\n Sunday\n true\n perhaps\n famous\n violin\n\n 146 schoolmaster\n lessons\n\n 147 although\n\n 149 July\n \u2019tis\n spangled\n banner\n\n 150 liberty\n thee\n pride\n mountain\n freedom\n native\n noble\n rills\n templed\n rapture\n thrills\n\n 151 breeze\n mortal\n tongues\n breathe\n partake\n silence\n prolong\n author\n holy\n protect\n might\n\n 152 Fourth of July\n written\n number\n signing\n\n 153 Independence Hall\n\n 155 perch\n camp\n beak\n front\n\n 156 army\n drill\n captain\n battles\n\n 157 calico\n cotton\n burst\n wasn\u2019t\n stretched\n\n 159 woolly\n machine\n loaded\n\n 160 printing\n roller\n\n 161 August\n wet\n luminous\n jellyfish\n\n 162 shut\n promised\n\n 164 storm\n saved\n\n 166 cricket\n festival\n forward\n lute\n\n 167 sung\n\n 168 King Solomon\n believe\n\n 169 lonely\n morning-glories\n\n 171 dashed\n\n 172 pools\n Celia Thaxter\n mainland\n\n 173 rooks\n curious\n flight\n neighed\n lowed\n bleat\n\n 174 glove\n curtsied\n favorite\n prayer\n pillow\n\n[Illustration]","title":"The Summers readers: second reader","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":20485}