Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for September


The Purple Cow

I never saw a purple cow.

I never hope to see one.

But I can tell you anyhow

I'd rather see than be one.


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Week 42 Living Creatures from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock The Endless Tale from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin A Butcher and a Hummer from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess EARTH: THE FIRST STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
The Seven Sleepers from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
The Last of the Moors from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge Borrowed Fire (Part 2 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom (Part 2 of 2) from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
The Condition of the Colony from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Tobacco from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Captain Newport's Return from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Blue Chicory from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Teach Friday Many Things from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Leaping Match from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner What the Snow Did from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Sounding Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Great Brown Owl by Ann Hawkshaw Evening Red and Morning Gray, Anonymous   A Nautical Ballad, Anonymous Five Eyes by Walter de la Mare Jack Frost by Celia Thaxter The Mill by Dinah Maria Mulock
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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.


[Illustration]

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.


[Illustration]

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.