Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for January

Bed in Summer

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 43	Stirrings of Ambition from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock	The Blind Men and the Elephant from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	A Stranger and a Dandy from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	EARTH: THE SECOND STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum King Solomon and the Servitor of the Lord of Earth from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum	Discovery of the New World from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	The Fire Bear from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major	Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne (Part 1 of 2) from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
	Gazing at the Women from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Master Hunt Brings Great News from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Captain Newport's Instructions from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	Flyaway Seeds from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	The Birds, the Beasts and the Bat from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Make a New Boat from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	The Clever Turtle from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner	Unc' Billy Possum Wishes He Had Snowshoes from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess	The Teak-Wood Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
	How the Leaves Came Down by Susan Coolidge	Lady Moon by Richard Monckton Milnes		The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost	The Song of the Secret by Walter de la Mare	The Challenge of Thor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	Little Orphant Annie 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.