Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for November

Alone

A very old woman
Lives in yon house.
The squeak of the cricket,
The stir of the mouse,
Are all she knows
Of the earth and us.

Once she was young,
Would dance and play,
Like many another
Young popinjay;
And run to her mother
At dusk of day.

And colours bright
She delighted in;
The fiddle to hear,
And to lift her chin,
And sing as small
As a twittering wren.

But age apace
Comes at last to all;
And a lone house filled
With the cricket's call;
And the scampering mouse
In the hollow wall.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 49	The Bird's Nest from The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin	Antonio Canova from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	Peter Learns Something about Spooky from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	Buying the Porringer from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein	Robber Hans from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein	The Little Colour Grinder from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein	Brother Stephen's Inspiration from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein
	Captain Smith's Speech from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis The New Laws from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis The Accident from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	Sleepy Bumblebees (Part 1 of 3) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	Karen Asks about Christmas from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein	I Bring My Tale to a Close from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	The Jar of Rosemary from The Story-Teller by Maud Lindsay	A Christmas Star from The Children's Book of Christmas Stories by Asa Don Dickinson	The Privateer Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
	The Christmas Tree in the Nursery by Richard Watson Gilder	An Old Christmas Carol, Anonymous	A Song of the Snow by Madison Cawein	The Friendly Beasts, Anonymous	A Christmas Song by Phillips Brooks	Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	Bethlehem, Anonymous

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

Belling the Cat

The mice once called a meeting to decide on a plan to free themselves of their enemy, the Cat. At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away. Indeed, something had to be done, for they lived in such constant fear of her claws that they hardly dared stir from their dens by night or day.

Many plans were discussed, but none of them was thought good enough. At last a very young Mouse got up and said:

"I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will be successful. All we have to do is to hang a bell about the Cat's neck. When we hear the bell ringing we will know immediately that our enemy is coming."

All the Mice were much surprised that they had not thought of such a plan before. But in the midst of the rejoicing over their good fortune, an old Mouse arose and said:

"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good. But let me ask one question Who will bell the Cat?"

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.