Kindergarten Read Aloud Banquet

Nursery Songs for December

I Saw Three Ships

The Mulberry Bush

The North Wind and the Robin

Dance a Baby

A Child's Garden of Verses

North-west Passage

1. Good-Night

When the bright lamp is carried in,
The sunless hours again begin;
O'er all without, in field and lane,
The haunted night returns again.

Now we behold the embers flee
About the firelit hearth; and see
Our faces painted as we pass,
Like pictures, on the window-glass.

Must we to bed indeed? Well then,
Let us arise and go like men,
And face with an undaunted tread
The long black passage up to bed.

Farewell, O brother, sister, sire!
O pleasant party round the fire!
The songs you sing, the tales you tell,
Till far to-morrow, fare ye well!

2. Shadow March

All around the house is the jet-black night;
It stares through the window-pane;
It crawls in the corners, hiding from the light,
And it moves with the moving flame.

Now my little heart goes a-beating like a drum,
With the breath of the Bogie in my hair;
And all around the candle the crooked shadows come,
And go marching along up the stair.

The shadow of the balusters, the shadow of the lamp,
The shadow of the child that goes to bed—
All the wicked shadows coming tramp, tramp, tramp,
With the black night overhead.

3. In Port

Last, to the chamber where I lie
My fearful footsteps patter nigh,
And come from out the cold and gloom
Into my warm and cheerful room.

There, safe arrived, we turn about
To keep the coming shadows out,
And close the happy door at last
On all the perils that we past.

Then, when mamma goes by to bed,
She shall come in with tip-toe tread,
And see me lying warm and fast
And in the land of Nod at last.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 46	Johnny Chuck Is Kept Busy	One Sunday (Part 2 of 2)	The Three Bears	The Travellers Go South	How the Home Was Built	The Trap Story	The Story of the Spies
Week 46	The Man of Derby	Old Woman, Old Woman	The Coachman	Grey Goose and Gander	There Was an Old Woman	Old Mother Hubbard	A Thorn

Old Old Tales Retold by Frederick Richardson [Illustration]

dropcap image NCE upon a time a curly-tailed pig said to his friend the sheep, "I am tired of living in a pen. I am going to build me a house on the hill."

"Oh! may I go with you?" said the sheep.

"What can you do to help?" asked the pig.

"I can haul the logs for the house," said the sheep.

"Good!" said the pig. "You are just the one I want. You may go with me."

As the pig and the sheep walked and talked about their new house, they met a goose.

"Good morning, pig," said the goose. "Where are you going this fine morning?"

"We are going to the hill to build us a house. I am tired of living in a pen," said the pig.

"Quack! quack!" said the goose. "May I go with you?"

"What can you do to help?" asked the pig.

"I can gather moss, and stuff it into the cracks to keep out the rain."

"Good!" said the pig and the sheep. "You are just the one we want. You may go with us."

As the pig and the sheep and the goose walked and talked about their new house, they met a rabbit.

"Good morning, rabbit," said the pig.

"Good morning," said the rabbit. "Where are you going this fine morning?"

"We are going to the hill to build us a house. I am tired of living in a pen," said the pig.

"Oh!" said the rabbit, with a quick little jump. "May I go with you?"

"What can you do to help?" asked the pig.

"I can dig holes for the posts of your house," said the rabbit.

"Good!" said the pig and the sheep and the goose. "You are just the one we want. You may go with us."

As the pig and the sheep and the goose and the rabbit walked and talked about their new house, they met a cock.

"Good morning, cock," said the pig.

"Good morning," said the cock. "Where are you going this fine morning?"

"We are going to build us a house. I am tired of living in a pen," said the pig.

The cock flapped his wings three times. "Oh, Oh, Oh, O-O-Oh!" he crowed. "May I go with you?"

"What can you do to help?" asked the pig.

"I can be your clock," said the cock. "I will crow every morning and waken you at daybreak."

"Good!" said the pig and the sheep and the goose and the rabbit. "You are just the one we want. You may go with us."

Then they all went happily to the hill.

The pig found the logs for the house. The sheep hauled them together. The rabbit dug the holes for the posts. The goose stuffed moss in the cracks to keep out the rain. And every morning the cock crowed to waken the workers.

When at last the house was finished, the cock flew to the very top of it, and crowed and crowed and crowed.