Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for December


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 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 Milkmaid and Her Pail

A Milkmaid had been out to milk the cows and was returning from the field with the shining milk pail balanced nicely on her head. As she walked along, her pretty head was busy with plans for the days to come.

"This good, rich milk," she reused, "will give me plenty of cream to churn. The butter I make I will take to market, and with the money I get for it I will buy a lot of eggs for hatching. How nice it will be when they are all hatched and the yard is full of fine young chicks. Then when May day comes I will sell them, and with the money I'll buy a lovely new dress to wear to the fair. All the young men will look at me. They will come and try to make love to me,—but I shall very quickly send them about their business!"

As she thought of how she would settle that matter, she tossed her head scornfully, and down fell the pail of milk to the ground. And all the milk flowed out, and with it vanished butter and eggs and chicks and new dress and all the milkmaid's pride.

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.


[Illustration]