Fourth Grade Read Aloud Banquet




The Splendor Falls

The splendor falls on castle walls

And snowy summits old in story:

The long light shakes across the lakes

And the wild cataract leaps in glory.

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,

Blow, bugle; answer, echoes dying, dying, dying.


O hark, O hear! how thin and clear,

And thinner, clearer, farther going!

O sweet and far from cliff and scar

The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!

Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying,

Blow, bugle; answer, echoes dying, dying, dying.


O love they die in yon rich sky,

They faint on hill or field, or river:

Our echoes roll from soul to soul,

And grow forever and forever.

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,

And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.


  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 38 Splendid Days and Fearsome Nights from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain The Story of the Earl of Mar's Hunting Party from Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall Franklin and De Romas from The Story Book of Science by Jean Henri Fabre Ferdiad and the Dane Prisoner from Our Little Celtic Cousin of Long Ago by Evaleen Stein Napoleon, Emperor of the French from The Struggle for Sea Power by M. B. Synge The Nightingale from Fairy Tales Too Good To Miss—Across the Lake by Lisa M. Ripperton The Last Visits of Jesus to the Temple from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
The Stories of William Tell and Arnold Von Winkelried from Heroes of the Middle Ages by Eva March Tappan The "Cony" from Summer by Dallas Lore Sharp The Orphan Boy of Nevis from Four American Patriots by Alma Holman Burton The King, the Falcon, and the Drinking-Cup from The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Barrows Dutton The Story of Gessler and Stauffacher from Stories of William Tell Told to the Children by H. E. Marshall The Nest Is Finished from Will o' the Wasps by Margaret Warner Morley How Valoroso Got the Crown and Giglio Went Without from The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray
Who the Fairy Blackstick Was from The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray
  September by Helen Hunt Jackson The Railway Train by Emily Dickinson The Old Oaken Bucket by Samuel Woodworth The Sandpiper from Poems by Celia Thaxter The Vulture by Hilaire Belloc Sep 18
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Miller, His Son, and the Ass

One day, a long time ago, an old Miller and his Son were on their way to market with an Ass which they hoped to sell. They drove him very slowly, for they thought they would have a better chance to sell him if they kept him in good condition. As they walked along the highway some travelers laughed loudly at them.

"What foolishness," cried one, "to walk when they might as well ride. The most stupid of the three is not the one you would expect it to be."

The Miller did not like to be laughed at, so he told his son to climb up and ride.

They had gone a little farther along the road, when three merchants passed by.

"Oho, what have we here?" they cried. "Respect old age, young man! Get down, and let the old man ride."

Though the Miller was not tired, he made the boy get down and climbed up himself to ride, just to please the Merchants.

At the next turnstile they overtook some women carrying market baskets loaded with vegetables and other things to sell.

"Look at the old fool," exclaimed one of them. "Perched on the Ass, while that poor boy has to walk."

The Miller felt a bit vexed, but to be agreeable he told the Boy to climb up behind him.


[Illustration]

They had no sooner started out again than a loud shout went up from another company of people on the road.

"What a crime," cried one, "to load up a poor dumb beast like that! They look more able to carry the poor creature, than he to carry them."

"They must be on their way to sell the poor thing's hide," said another.

The Miller and his Son quickly scrambled down, and a short time later, the market place was thrown into an uproar as the two came along carrying the Donkey slung from a pole. A great crowd of people ran out to get a closer look at the strange sight.


[Illustration]

The Ass did not dislike being carried, but so many people came up to point at him and laugh and shout, that he began to kick and bray, and then, just as they were crossing a bridge, the ropes that held him gave way, and down he tumbled into the river.

The poor Miller now set out sadly for home. By trying to please everybody, he had pleased nobody, and lost his Ass besides.

If you try to please all, you please none.