Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for July


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 38 Changes in the Palace from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock The King and His Hawk from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Voices of the Dusk from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess The Forge in the Forest from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum India at Last from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge The One-Eared Bear (Part 2 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major Saint Cosmo and Saint Damian from In God's Garden by Amy Steedman
The Visit of Pocahontas from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Captain Kendall's Plot from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
The Death of Captain Kendall from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis 		A Pleasant Game from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Leap at Rhodes from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Make Another Voyage from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin Bruin and Reynard Partners from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner The Foolishness of Unc' Billy Possum from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Flying-Fish Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Gray Doves' Answer, Anonymous
The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson 		  The Night Will Never Stay by Eleanor Farjeon Come! by Walter de la Mare The Tree by Bjornstjerne Bjornson The Bumblebee by James Whitcomb Riley
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Lion and the Mouse

A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and in her fright and haste to get away, ran across the Lion's nose. Roused from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the tiny creature to kill her.

"Spare me!" begged the poor Mouse. "Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you."

The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go.

Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter's net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.


[Illustration]

"You laughed when I said I would repay you," said the Mouse. "Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion."

A kindness is never wasted.