Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for June


The Horseman

I heard a horseman

Ride over the hill;

The moon shone clear,

The night was still;

His helm was silver,

And pale was he;

And the horse he rode

Was of ivory.


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Week 48 Drooping Wings from The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin Casabianca from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Some More Friends Come with the Snow from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess Why the Sea Is Salt from Fairy Tales Too Good To Miss—Into the Woods by Lisa M. Ripperton Discovery of the Pacific from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge A Castle on Brandywine (Part 2 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major Solomon on David's Throne from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Dreams of the Future from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
A Plague of Rats from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Treachery during Captain Smith's Absence from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Fall Picnics from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Fox and the Stork from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Have a New Suit of Clothes from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Hill from The Golden Windows by Laura E. Richards Happy Jack Squirrel Helps Unc' Billy Possum from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Trafalgar Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Cargo Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Willow Man by Juliana Horatia Ewing Heigho, My Dearie by Eugene Field A Thanksgiving Fable by Oliver Herford A Tragic Story by Albert von Chamisso The Children of Stare by Walter de la Mare Humility by Robert Herrick Old Granny Dusk by James Whitcomb Riley
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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.