Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for February

The Sugar-Plum Tree

Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
'Tis a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;
The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet
(As those who have tasted it say)
That good little children have only to eat
Of that fruit to be happy next day.

When you've got to the tree, you would have a hard time
To capture the fruit which I sing;
The tree is so tall that no person could climb
To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!
But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,
And a gingerbread dog prowls below—
And this is the way you contrive to get at
Those sugar-plums tempting you so:

You say but the word to that gingerbread dog
And he barks with such terrible zest
That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,
As her swelling proportions attest.
And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around
From this leafy limb unto that,
And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground—
Hurrah for that chocolate cat!

There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,
With stripings of scarlet or gold,
And you carry away of the treasure that rains
As much as your apron can hold!
So come, little child, cuddle closer to me
In your dainty white nightcap and gown,
And I'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 33	Pinocchio Is Sold from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi	The Ungrateful Guest from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	Peter Gets a Lame Neck from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	The Sea-Maiden Who Became a Sea-Swan (Part 2 of 2) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum	Prince Henry, the Sailor from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	How Balser Got a Gun (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major	How David Spared Saul's Life from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
	A Touch of Homesickness from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Master Hunt's Preaching from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Neglecting To Provide for the Future from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	A Spider's Tower from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	The Ass Carrying the Image from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Am Again Alarmed from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	The Straw Ox from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner	The Runaway Cabbage from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess	Safe from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
	A Sand Castle, Anonymous	The Wonderful World by William Brighty Rands		The Fairy Shoemaker by William Allingham	The Bees' Song by Walter de la Mare	Summer Woods by Mary Howitt	A Sea Song from the Shore by James Whitcomb Riley

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

A Town Mouse once visited a relative who lived in the country. For lunch the Country Mouse served wheat stalks, roots, and acorns, with a dash of cold water for drink. The Town Mouse ate very sparingly, nibbling a little of this and a little of that, and by her manner making it very plain that she ate the simple food only to be polite.

After the meal the friends had a long talk, or rather the Town Mouse talked about her life in the city while the Country Mouse listened. They then went to bed in a cozy nest in the hedgerow and slept in quiet and comfort until morning. In her sleep the Country Mouse dreamed she was a Town Mouse with all the luxuries and delights of city life that her friend had described for her. So the next day when the Town Mouse asked the Country Mouse to go home with her to the city, she gladly said yes.

When they reached the mansion in which the Town Mouse lived, they found on the table in the dining room the leavings of a very fine banquet. There were sweetmeats and jellies, pastries, delicious cheeses, indeed, the most tempting foods that a Mouse can imagine. But just as the Country Mouse was about to nibble a dainty bit of pastry, she heard a Cat mew loudly and scratch at the door. In great fear the Mice scurried to a hiding place, where they lay quite still for a long time, hardly daring to breathe. When at last they ventured back to the feast, the door opened suddenly and in came the servants to clear the table, followed by the House Dog.

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

The Country Mouse stopped in the Town Mouse's den only long enough to pick up her carpet bag and umbrella.

"You may have luxuries and dainties that I have not," she said as she hurried away, "but I prefer my plain food and simple life in the country with the peace and security that go with it."

Poverty with security is better than plenty in the midst of fear and uncertainty.