Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December

The Land of Story-Books

At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.

Now, with my little gun, I crawl
All in the dark along the wall,
And follow round the forest track
Away behind the sofa back.

There, in the night, where none can spy,
All in my hunter's camp I lie,
And play at books that I have read
Till it is time to go to bed.

These are the hills, these are the woods,
These are my starry solitudes;
And there the river by whose brink
The roaring lions come to drink.

I see the others far away
As if in firelit camp they lay,
And I, like to an Indian scout,
Around their party prowled about.

So when my nurse comes in for me,
Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear land of Story-Books.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 32	Pinocchio Becomes a Donkey from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi	A Laconic Answer from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	Three Cousins Quite Unlike from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	The Sea-Maiden Who Became a Sea-Swan (Part 1 of 2) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum	The Sea of Darkness from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	The Big Bear (Part 2 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major	Where David Found the Giant's Sword from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
	Roasting Oysters from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Learning To Cook Other Things from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis The Sweet Potato Root from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	Johnny Darter from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	The Ants and the Grasshopper from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I See Something in the Sand from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	Buchettino from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner	Mr. Toad and Prickly Porky Put Their Heads Togethe from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess	A United Family from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
	The Fairy Thrall, Anonymous	Thank You, Pretty Cow by Jane Taylor		The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear	Berries by Walter de la Mare	Dandelions by Helen Gray Cone	My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

Belling the Cat

The mice once called a meeting to decide on a plan to free themselves of their enemy, the Cat. At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away. Indeed, something had to be done, for they lived in such constant fear of her claws that they hardly dared stir from their dens by night or day.

Many plans were discussed, but none of them was thought good enough. At last a very young Mouse got up and said:

"I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will be successful. All we have to do is to hang a bell about the Cat's neck. When we hear the bell ringing we will know immediately that our enemy is coming."

All the Mice were much surprised that they had not thought of such a plan before. But in the midst of the rejoicing over their good fortune, an old Mouse arose and said:

"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good. But let me ask one question Who will bell the Cat?"

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.