Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for November


The Duel

The gingham dog and the calico cat

Side by side on the table sat;

'Twas half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)

Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!

The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate

Appeared to know as sure as fate

There was going to be a terrible spat.

(I wasn't there; I simply state

What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)


The gingham dog went "bow-wow-wow!"

And the calico cat replied "mee-ow!"

The air was littered, an hour or so,

With bits of gingham and calico,

While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place

Up with its hands before its face,

For it always dreaded a family row!

(Now mind: I'm only telling you

What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)


The Chinese plate looked very blue,

And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"

But the gingham dog and the calico cat

Wallowed this way and tumbled that,

Employing every tooth and claw

In the awfullest way you ever saw—

And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!

(Don't fancy I exaggerate—

I got my news from the Chinese plate!)


Next morning where the two had sat

They found no trace of the dog or cat;

And some folks think unto this day

That burglars stole the pair away!

But the truth about the cat and the pup

Is this: They ate each other up!

Now what do you really think of that!

(The old Dutch clock it told me so,

And that is how I came to know.)

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 51 Some Other Birds Are Taught To Fly from The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin Mignon from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin More Folks in Red from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess Grandmother and Karen from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein Gabriel's Prayer from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein The Book Goes to Lady Anne from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein Lady Anne Writes to the King from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein
Our Courage Gives Out from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Abandoning Jamestown from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis 		A Winter Butterfly (Part 3 of 3) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch At the Rag-Market from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein Tiny Tim from For the Children's Hour by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey How The Good Gifts Were Used by Two from The Wonder Clock by Howard Pyle The First Christmas Roses from Christmas in Legend and Story: A Book for Boys and Girls by Elva S. Smith The Pilot Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
Christmas Day and Every Day by George MacDonald Carol by Kenneth Grahame The Frost King by Mary Mapes Dodge
Santa Claus, Anonymous 		A Christmas Carol by Christina Georgina Rossetti As Joseph Was A-Walking, Anonymous How Far Is It to Bethlehem? by Frances Chesterton
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf

A Shepherd Boy tended his master's Sheep near a dark forest not far from the village. Soon he found life in the pasture very dull. All he could do to amuse himself was to talk to his dog or play on his shepherd's pipe.

One day as he sat watching the Sheep and the quiet forest, and thinking what he would do should he see a Wolf, he thought of a plan to amuse himself.

His Master had told him to call for help should a Wolf attack the flock, and the Villagers would drive it away. So now, though he had not seen anything that even looked like a Wolf, he ran toward the village shouting at the top of his voice, "Wolf! Wolf!"

As he expected, the Villagers who heard the cry dropped their work and ran in great excitement to the pasture. But when they got there they found the Boy doubled up with laughter at the trick he had played on them.

A few days later the Shepherd Boy again shouted, "Wolf! Wolf!" Again the Villagers ran to help him, only to be laughed at again. Then one evening as the sun was setting behind the forest and the shadows were creeping out over the pasture, a Wolf really did spring from the underbrush and fall upon the Sheep.


[Illustration]

In terror the Boy ran toward the village shouting "Wolf! Wolf!" But though the Villagers heard the cry, they did not run to help him as they had before. "He cannot fool us again," they said.

The Wolf killed a great many of the Boy's sheep and then slipped away into the forest.

Liars are not believed even when they speak the truth.