Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for July


My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.


The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.


He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

He stays so close beside me, he's a coward, you can see;

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!


One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 41 Through the Skylight from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock The Barmecide Feast from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Mourner the Dove and Cuckoo from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess WATER: THE FIRST STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
The Story of Ys from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum 		Christopher Columbus from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge Borrowed Fire (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom (Part 1 of 2) from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Captain Newport's Return from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Gold-Seekers from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
A Worthless Cargo from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis 		The Yellow Spider from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Wild Boar and the Fox from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Am Pleased with My Man Friday from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Story That Had No End from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner Unc' Billy Possum Is a Prisoner from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Christmas Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Twilight by Madison Cawein
One, Two, Three by Henry C. Bunner 		  Pigwiggen Arms Himself by Michael Drayton Silver by Walter de la Mare Cradle Song by Richard Watson Gilder When the Frost Is on the Punkin by James Whitcomb Riley
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Hare and the Tortoise

A Hare was making fun of the Tortoise one day for being so slow.

"Do you ever get anywhere?" he asked with a mocking laugh.

"Yes," replied the Tortoise, "and I get there sooner than you think. I'll run you a race and prove it."

The Hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the Tortoise, but for the fun of the thing he agreed. So the Fox, who had consented to act as judge, marked the distance and started the runners off.

The Hare was soon far out of sight, and to make the Tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try a race with a Hare, he lay down beside the course to take a nap until the Tortoise should catch up.

The Tortoise meanwhile kept going slowly but steadily, and, after a time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping. But the Hare slept on very peacefully; and when at last he did wake up, the Tortoise was near the goal. The Hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the Tortoise in time.

The race is not always to the swift.


[Illustration]

The Hare and the Tortoise