 Reading Guide from the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1, Poems Old and New, read for LibriVox.org by Betty B. The Junior Classics Reading Guide with lists of the best books for young people by William Allen Nielsen, PhD, President Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, formerly Professor of English Harvard University, Associate Editor of the Harvard Classics, Editor of the Tudor Shakespeare, the Chief Elizabethan Dramatists, the Types of English Literature, Author of Essentials of Poetry, etc. Volume 1, Fairy and Wonder Tales. There are people who doubt the wisdom of permitting their children to hear or to read fairy tales. In their zeal for truth, they fear that these narratives of the impossible and the fantastic will accustom the young mind to falsehood and cancel their efforts to train their boys and girls in habits of veracity. This attitude is due to two things chiefly, a verbal confusion and an ignoring of some familiar facts in the development of the human mind. For in the first place, everybody knows that a fictitious tale that makes no pretense of being history is a quite different thing from a lie, which implies the intent to deceive. And a very slight observation of children makes it clear that it is only sophisticated grown-up people who need to have the distinction pointed out. In the second place, the world of imagination is the natural habitation of the child. The inverted chair, which serves in turn as steamship, pulpit, locomotive, or fortress is only a symbol of the triumphant mastery of mind over matter in the young, a mastery which is only too soon checked by the pressure of material fact in the modern world. As the boy grows to manhood, his preeminence among his fellows largely depends on the extent to which his imaginative powers have resisted and survived this attack. In the field of morals, it needs imagination to create that sympathy, that power of putting oneself in the other man's place, without which philanthropic effort is apt to be tactless, cold, and even injurious. In the fields of science and industry, imaginative range, the capacity to form clear visions of combinations and developments not yet realized is the most precious of faculties. In the field of art, imagination is the mainspring and everything else is merely contributory. Thus, it is not dangerous but only wise during that period when the imagination is naturally most active to feed and guide rather than suppress it, and these stories gathered largely from the youth of the world are among the most potent aids to this end. The junior classics begin appropriately with the tales of our own Indians. These represent that stage of civilization when as yet man did not distinguish different kinds of existence and stones, clouds, trees, beasts, and men were thought of as all having the same kind of life, as all having souls, and so being capable of intercommunication, interchange of forms, and even intermarriage. This belief explains not only the names, but also many of the strange incidents of these mythological tales. Most of the Indian stories here given were gathered by Schoolcraft, the distinguished student of the American Indian and collector of their legends. It was from Schoolcraft that Long Fellow derived his material for Hiawatha, and that poem may fitly be used as a sequel to these tales as the children grow older. Manabasho, who appears in the frontispiece of this volume, was the Algonquin Hiawatha. Of many of the tales from India, an explanation may again be found in a current belief. The teaching of the Buddha included the doctrine of transmigration of souls, and both the frequency of animal stories and the constant teaching of kindness to animals are due to this belief, a belief which becomes very vivid when one realizes that according to it, one's dog may have the soul of one's father. Most of the other stories belong to the great body of folktales, derived from very various sources and ever traveling from district to district and people to people, sometimes springing up independently in surprisingly similar shapes, but in general, full of the charm and entertainment of the genuinely popular tale. Some, however, are deliberately invented, those of the Danish Hans Andersen, most successful of all moderns in the imitation of the traditional fairy tale, and those centuries older that go by the name of the shadowy Esop, fables made by many men in many lands and at many times for the purpose of embodying the fragments of worldly wisdom which are usually summed up in their morals. List of best books, Esop's Fables, edited by Joseph Jacobs, Andersen, H.C., Fairy Tales, Arabian Nights, Lanes Translation, as Jornsson, P.C., Fairy Tales from the Far North, Bell, F.E.E., Fairy Tale Plays, Boyeson, H.H., Norseland Tales, Brown, Francis, Fairy Tales, Brown, Francis, The Wonderful Chair, Bullfinch, Thomas, The Age of Fable, Bunce, John T., Fairy Tales, Their Origin and Meaning, Catlin, George, The Boy's Book on Indians, Compton, Margaret, American Indian Fairy Stories, Darten, F.J.H., Wonder Book of Beasts, Deming, E.W., Indian Child Life, Red Folk and Wild Folk, Dole, N.H., Russian Fairy Book, Grim, J.L. and W.K., German Household Tales, Gerber, H.M.A., Myths of Northern Lands, Hall, Jenny, Biking Tales, Holbrook, Florence, Book of Nature Myths, Jacobs, Joseph, English Fairy Tales, La Fontaine, Jean Deux, Fables, Lang, Andrew, The Blue Fairy Book and Other Fairy Books, Lansing, M.F., Tales of Old England in Pros and Verse, Pittman, Norman H., Chinese Fairy Tales, Pyle, Catherine, Fairy Tales from Many Lands, Volume 2, Folk Tales and Myths of All Nations. The earliest myths everywhere were the attempts of primitive people to explain the world in which they lived. Early science as much as religion, in which imagination played more part than observation or experiment. American Indian stories such as those in the first volume are as pure an example of these myths as any, and a special type is to be found in those called by folklorists, porquois or why stories like why the hippoponibus lives in the water and why the elephant has small eyes. Here the attempt to satisfy primitive curiosity, a curiosity which is as apparent in every child as in every young race, is to be seen undisguised by the trimmings of the literary artists. But as time went on and civilization developed, people became more critical and exacting. The tellers of the myths found it necessary to make their stories hold together better and conform to man's gradually increasing knowledge of nature. In many cases the primitive scientific purpose of the myth was lost sight of altogether and the tale developed as a piece of entertainment sometimes attached to gods or to ancestry or to the history of the nation but interesting chiefly as a story. The pieces contained in this volume illustrate various stages of this process from the why stories just mentioned to the purely literary retelling of local legends like Washington Irving's fan Winkle and the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Stories like those of Thor and Balder and the Norse explanation of how all things began belong obviously to the period of attempted answers to the universal questions of whence. How? Why? While those of Brunhelde and Siegfried and of Lowengren are later but still much more primitive than the retellings of the same stories in the music dramas of Wagner. Iceland was converted to Christianity about the year 1000 A.D. and the stories of the mythological sagas of the north here exemplified originated before that date though in their written forms they belong to Christian times. They represent the religious legends of the pagan Norsemen elaborated and made more coherent by later writers. Modern poems like William Morris's Seeger the Volsung and translations of the Nebelungaleed may well be used to give older children a fuller knowledge of these themes. The Greek myths here represented are also far removed from the primitive type and in the form in which they have come down to us show abundant traces of the more or less conscious handling of generations of storytellers who have added much to the interest and picturesqueness of the original myths while they have dropped many elements which had either become meaningless or had come to be felt too barbarous for the taste of a more refined age. The story of Cupid and Psyche is an instance of a quite late mythological tale the form in which we know it appearing first in the golden ass of Apuleus as late as the second century of our era. List of best books Baldwin James story of Siegfried Bullfinch Thomas legends of Charlemagne Burns jet tales and legends Buxton E. M. Wilmot stories of Norse heroes Buxton E. M. Wilmot stories of Persian heroes Chapin A. A. Wonder tales from Wagner Curtin J. Myths and Folktales of the Russians Darten F. J. H. Wonder Book of Beasts Drake S. A. North East Legends Emerson L. N. R. Indian Myths Foster Mary H. and Cummings Mabel M. Asgard stories Pransalon R. E. Gods and Heroes Gailey F. Classic Myths and English Literature Griffis W. E. The Japanese Fairy World Gerber H. M. A. Myths of Greece and Rome Harris Joel Chandler Nights with Uncle Remus Hawthorne Nathaniel Tanglewood Tales Hawthorne Nathaniel The Wonder Book Perne Lefkadeo Kwaidon Pouton Mrs. L. A Russian Grandmother's Wonder Tales Hutchinson W. M. L. The Golden Porch A Book of Greek Fairy Tales Kennedy Patrick Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts Kipling Rudyard The Jungle Book Kipling Rudyard The Second Jungle Book Lang Andrew Animal Story Book Litchfield Mary E. The Nine Wonders Maybe Hamilton Wright Legends Every Child Should Know Macaulay Thomas B. Lord Lays of Ancient Rome Maud Constance Bogner's Heroes Maud Constance Bogner's Heroines Mitchell S. W. Prince Little Boy Norton Charles Elliott Heart of Oak Books Nut Alfred Folklore Peabody Josephine P. Old Greek Folk Stories Pearson Clara D. Among the Farmyard People Pearson Clara D. Among the Meadow People Pearson Clara D. Among the Night People Rouse W. H. B. The Talking Thrush Santine X. B. Myths of the Rhine Scutter H. E. Book of Folk Stories Scutter H. E. Fables and Folk Stories Skinner C. M. Myths and Legends Steele Flora A. Tales of the Punjab Wild Lady Ancient Legends Young Philson Stories of the Wagner Operas Volume Three Tales from Greece and Rome We have now seen how the myth is gradually transformed into the artistic story, the element of the explanation of nature giving way to the desire to glorify the family or nation or to the interest in an absorbing narrative. The Old Greek Tales which occupy the first 200 pages of the present volume are very close to the myths of Greece and Rome of the second volume and all of them are far from being pure myths. One evidence of this is the tendency of the stories to gather around a center. Some great hero or far-reaching event and the organization of these groups is evidence enough of the presence of the work of artists in fiction. The stories connected with such demigods as Hercules or such heroes as Theseus and Jason are prominent examples but the most famous of all the tales which center in the Siege of Troy and which form the theme not only of the great Greek epics but also of a considerable number of the Greek tragedies. The tales of the Trojan War and the Homer voyage of Ulysses are of course derived from the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer and older children may well be encouraged to read these in the complete translations of Lang, Leaf and Myers and Abutcher and Lang. The original material of these poems had certainly passed through the mouths of many generations of Greeks before it was committed to writing. Separate episodes had been chanted in public by professional reciters and the form in which we know the stories is the result of the molding of many minds and betrays the reaction upon the material of the tastes and emotions of generations of auditors who finally organized them into their present shape when they became two complete epics where their Homer alone was the final editor who Homer himself was if he was anything but a name. These are questions upon which scholars are not yet agreed and probably will never be agreed but of the perennial interest of the deeds of Achilles and Hector, of the romantic wanderings of Ulysses, of the singular nobility and simplicity of the storytelling there is and can be no question. Here for all time is a storehouse of great deeds of noble emotions of universal types of human character that can never cease to influence the ideals of the race. In the Aeneid of Virgil the Roman poet took the Homeric epics as his model and strove with all the skill of a great literary artist to weld the traditions of his people into a work that would be to his nation what the Iliad and the Odyssey were to the Greeks. The material as before was legendary and connected with Troy but here the whole transmutation into a heroic poem was the work of one man gaining thus unity and polish but wanting as was inevitable much of the spontaneity freshness and popularity in the best sense which constitutes so much of the charm of Homer. List of best books Ashton Tee Romances of Chivalry Baldwin James Old Greek Stories Baldwin James Story of the Golden Age Brooks E the Story of the Aeneid Brooks E the Story of the Odyssey Bryant William Cullen the Iliad Bryant William Cullen the Odyssey Bullfinch Thomas the Age of Chivalry Carpenter E.J. Long ago in Greece Church Alpha J the Greek Gulliver Church Alpha J Stories from Ovid Church Alpha J Stories from Virgil Church Alpha J Stories of the Old World Church Alpha J Wonder Stories from Lucian Claude E. The Birth and Growth of Myths Claude E. The Childhood of Religions Cox George W. Tales of Ancient Greece Cromelon Mary Famous Legends Fisk John Myths and Mythmakers Hanson G.H. Stories of Old Rome Hawthorne Nathaniel Tanglewood Tales Hawthorne Nathaniel the Wonder Book Holm F.E. Mythland Kingsley Charles Greek Heroes Coupler Grace H. Stories of Long ago Liam Charles The Adventures of Ulysses Lights A.F. Legends and Stories Lowell D.O.S. Jason's Quest Morris W. The Earthly Paradise Murray A.S. Manual of Mythology Harry W.C. The Boys Iliad Harry W.C. The Boys Odyssey Tappin Eva M. The Story of the Greek People Tappin Eva M. The Story of the Roman People White John S. Plutarch for Boys and Girls Young Charlotte M. The Cook and the Captive The Story of the Romans in Ball Volume 4 Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry In this volume we pass from the Myths and Legends of Antiquity to the Romances and Chronicles of the Middle Ages An old French writer once classified the materials of narrative poetry into three divisions, the matter of Britain, the matter of France, and the matter of Rome. To him, the matter of Rome meant mainly the exploits of Julius Caesar, of France, the deeds of Charlemagne, and his peers, of Britain, the stories of Arthur, and the Round Table. The last two of these are abundantly represented here. The historical Arthur was a British chieftain who led his people in their attempts to beat off the invasion of the pagan Angles and Saxons about the latter part of the fifth century of our era. It is one of the ironies of history that he should have become the most prominent hero in the literature of the descendants of the people against whom he fought. The small fragment of historical fact about Arthur was elaborated from legendary and imaginative sources by chroniclers and romancers in England and France, and after the development of chivalry he took his place in the French and later in the English romances as the ideal king and Christian knight, the center of a vast cycle of stories which spread through all the countries of Western Europe. For the close of the Middle Ages, an English gentleman and soldier, Sir Thomas Mallory, retold in prose a great number of these romantic tales and it is on his form of them that the version in the present collection is based. Older readers may be directed to the vigorous, if somewhat archaic prose of Mallory himself, and to modern poetical versions like those of Arnold, Morris, Swinburne, and especially of Tennyson in The Idols of the King. Though these stories present a picture of a society such as probably never existed in just this form, and certainly not in the time of the historical Arthur, they yet give an inspiring view of the chivalrous ideal which has exercised so potent an influence on conduct these many centuries. The tales of havaloc and horn are favorable examples of the medieval romances which were not attached to the court of Arthur and represent a somewhat simpler social life than the Arthurian romances. Among the various sources from which were gathered the stories that became connected with Arthur were the Welsh legends. Some of these were genuine Celtic tales. Others had been earlier borrowed from the neighboring French and English, and a collection of them made for the use of professional storytellers is known as the Mabanogean, from which in Lady Guest's translation, the second section of the present volume is drawn. The complete work is now easily accessible and contains a number of excellent stories. The poetic treatment of The Matter of France began with the famous Song of Roland and extended into the huge mass of so-called chanson de geste, second in interest only to the Arthurian stories in the literature of old French. This, like The Matter of Britain, spread to all the surrounding countries, but it was in Italy next to France itself that it attained its greatest popularity. Not only did it supply themes to artistic poets like Ariosto and Boyardo, but the stories of Charlemagne continue to this day as the favorite reading of the common people in Italy, and one may see in the puppet theaters of the Italian Quarter of New York a vigorous if crude representation of the deeds of Roland and Oliver applauded with heartfelt enthusiasm by our Italian fellow citizens. In the present selection, the most striking episodes of the Song of Roland are given in simple form, and the whole poem may be read in a good English-verse translation. What Charlemagne and Roland were to the French, the Sid was to the Spanish, and Southeast version of The Chronicle of the Sid properly takes its place here beside the Mort, D'Arthur and the Roland. These romantic narratives are all in a sense aristocratic, both in the personages with whom they deal and in the audiences for which they were originally composed. The ballads dealing with Robin Hood, however, are of the common people and give an equally vigorous presentation of popular ideals of justice and fair play. The tales from Chaucer are typical examples of the work of that master of storytellers, all of them far older than Chaucer, but owing to his tact and skill, their admirable rapidity and point. The story of patient Griselda is interesting not only as showing a feminine ideal remote enough from ours, but also as having come to Chaucer through the versions of the two great Italians, Boccaccio and Petrarch. By the end of the 16th century, chivalry as an institution had practically passed away, but it continued largely to dominate imaginative literature until the Spaniard Cervantes turned the outworn romantic material to ridicule in his satire Don Quixote. This great novel has escaped the usual fate of satires of contemporary life because it rises above the merely temporary and deals with permanent elements in human nature and society with such insight and humor that it appeals to us almost as keenly as it did to the men for whom it was written. It is placed here appropriately enough with the romances, which it satirizes, but it may be found that it suits the taste of somewhat older readers than the youngest who can enjoy Arthur and Rowland. List of best books Ashton T. Romances of Chivalry. Baldwin, James, the story of Rowland. Bearing Gould S. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. Brown, Abbey F. Northland Heroes. Cervantes, Saavedra, Miguel de. Adventures of Don Quixote de la Mancha. Child, Clarence G. Beowulf. Church, Alfred J. Heroes of Chivalry and Romance. Clark, H.B., Sid, Compiador. Cox, George W., Popular Romances of the Middle Ages. Curtin, J., Hero Tales of Ireland. Demoria, George, Legend of Camelot. Gilbert, H.F.B., King Arthur's Nights. Green, F.N., Legends of King Arthur and his Court. Paul, J., Legends of the West. Hare, Christopher, The Story of Bayard. Hunt, R., Popular Romances of the West of England. Lang, Andrew, Modern Mythology. Lanier, Sydney, The Boy's King Arthur. Maybe, Hamilton Wright, Norse Tales. McLeod, Mary, The Book of King Arthur. McLeod, Mary, Stories of the Fairy Queen. Markham, Richard, Heroes of Chivalry. Maxwell, Sir H.E., Robert the Bruce. Pyle, Howard, Story of King Arthur. Pyle, Howard, The Mary Adventures of Robinhood. Renninger, Elizabeth D., The Story of Rustam. Rolliston, T.W., High Deeds of Finn and other Bartic romances of ancient Ireland. Santin, X.B., Myths of the Rhine. Shraiman, J., Legends of German Heroes of the Middle Ages. Sothe, Robert, Chronicles of the Sid. Stevens, Lillian O., and Alan, E.F., King Arthur Stories from Mallory. Tappin, E.M., Robinhood, His Book. Tappin, E.M., When Nights Were Bold. Wilson, Calvin D., The Story of the Sid. Volume 5, Stories that Never Grow Old. Since the first translation of the Thousand and One Nights into English, they have held a unique place in the interest of young readers. Remote though they are in every way from the experience of the Western peoples, fantastic and extravagant in their use of magic and the supernatural, they never fail to hold the attention. And in spite of their imaginative wildness, they give a living picture of the manners and mode of life of the gorgeous East. They are, of course, not the work of one man, but the fitting into a single framework of a great variety of stories found in many forms throughout the Orient. It is a far cry from the Arabian Nights to Robinson Crusoe, with its fictitious adventures presented with all the circumstantial detail of sober history. No one has excelled Defoe in this particular trick of realism, and much of the hold of the book is due to the illusion that results from it. But the nature of Crusoe's adventures are precisely such as to interest boys in the camping and boat building stage, and none of Defoe's many imitators have been able to surpass him. In writing Dulliver's Travels, Swift had no intention of providing entertainment for the young. His aim was to make a satire, in part on the government of England in his day, in part on human nature at large. The point of much of the satire has disappeared, and practically none of it is perceived by the modern child. But there happens to remain in the narrative medium in which he conveyed his satire, a resident of exciting adventure, which makes the book a children's classic. It is however best read by the young in selections. The Pilgrim's Progress is another accidental children's classic. The work is an elaborate allegory of the Christian life, interpreted in terms of Puritan theology. But like all the best allegory, the surface story is interesting on its own account, and it is for this that children read it. The spiritual meaning, however, is by no means so obscure as Swift's satire in Gulliver, that there need be no fear of theological bias. Whatever of the underlying meaning is likely to be caught by the young reader is of the nature of generally accepted moral and religious truth, and some of the characters rank with the great creations of modern fiction as permanent types of human nature. Of the stories of Shakespeare's plays and Scott's novels, there is no need to speak. Their chief function here is to give such a taste of these writers as will entice the reader to go direct to the fountain head. The literature of adventure reaches its anticlimax in the startling adventures of Baron Munchausen. This is a classic of the preposterous, and few children fail to enjoy this extreme example of the humor of the longbow. List of best books, Abbott, Jacob, Rolo Books, Addison, Steele, Budget, Papers of Roger DeCoverly, Aguilar, Grace, The Days of Bruce, Akin, John, and Barbode, Anna Letitia, Evenings at Home, Alcott L.M., Eight Cousins, or The Ant Hill, Alcott L.M., Little Women, or Meg Jo Bethany, Aldrich T.B., Story of a Bad Boy, Aspenwall, Mrs. Alisha, Short Stories for Short People, Bunyan, John, Pilgrim's Progress, Clemens S.L., Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Cooper J.F., The Deerslayer, A Tale, Cooper J.F., Last of the Mohicans, Cooper J.F., The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea, Cooper J.F., The Pioneers, or The Sources of the Susquehanna, Cooper J.F., The Prairie, Day, Thomas, Sanford and Merton, Defoe, Daniel, Robinson, Crusoe, Villarame, Guida, The Nernberg Stove, Dickens, Charles, Personal History and Experience of David Copperfield the Younger, Edgeworth Maria, Popular Tales, Edgeworth Maria, Tales that Never Die, Elliott, George, Silas Marner, Goldsmith, Oliver, The Vicar of Wakefield, Howitt, Mary, Treasury of Tales, Hughes, Thomas, Tom Brown and Oxford, Hughes, Thomas, Tom Brown's School Days, Hugo, Victor, Les Miserables, Kingsley, Charles, Westward Ho, Lever, C.J., Charles O'Malley, Lucas E.V., Forgotten Tales of Long ago, Lucas E.V., Old Fashioned Tales, Lytton, Bulwer, Last Days of Pompeii, Mariette, Captain Frederick, Master Man Ready, Mariette, Captain Frederick, Mr. Midshipman Easy, Porter, Jane, Scottish Chiefs, Scott, Sir Walter, Guy Manoring, Whittier, John Greenleaf, Child Life in Pros, Wyss, Johann R., Swiss Family Robinson. Volume 6, Old Fashioned Tales. With this volume, we arrive at a period in which it is no longer necessary to deal with translations and modernizations, but in which we have the advantage of reading the actual words of the original writers without that loss of flavor and accent entailed by even the best translation. The first half of the sixth volume contains stories which, although by modern authors, are largely modeled on folk stories of the type contained in the earlier volumes. Some are examples of how close some of our writers in English can come to the skill and fairy tales shown by Hans Andersen. Others, like Hawthorne's great stone face, have an underlying meaning, yet not so deeply buried as to be beyond the reach of young readers, and adding to the entertainment of the literal tale, the pleasure of deciphering a riddle and the profit of a great lesson. Some of the extracts are beautiful, merely as English prose. The specimens from Ruskin, Dickens, and Hawthorne can be read aloud in such a way as, by making obvious the beauty of their style to cultivate the ear of the listeners and begin to add, though unconsciously at first, to the delight in the story, the more subtle enjoyment that comes from the perception of fine cadences. The work of Lewis Carroll stands alone. There is humor in the very idea of the sober Oxford clergyman and lecturer on mathematics, Charles Ludwig Dotson, disporting himself with the most delightful nonsense ever written for the entertainment of a small girl. Alison Wunderland and its companion volume, through the looking glass, have the ideal qualities of books to be read aloud by adults to children. For while the young listener is delighted with the fantastic absurdities of the story, the reader has his own reward in the delicate irony that plays about the descriptions of the actors and incidents and in the brilliant cleverness constantly exhibited both in the phrasing and in the conceiving of situations. Moreover, these are essentially social books. If any reader, perusing them in solitude, fails to find the charm, let him have patience till he has tried them in company. Friendships have been formed on no solider basis than a capacity to exchange allusions to Alice, and many a grown-up has found his way to a child's heart through a common acquaintance with the Hatter and the March Hare. List of best books. Abbott, Jacob, Franconia Stories, Ainsworth, William Harrison, Old St. Paul's, Austin, Jane, Pride and Prejudice, Austin, Jane, Standish of Standish, A Story of the Pilgrims, Barr, Mrs. A.E., Bow of Orange Ribbon, Burnett, Francis Hodgson, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Carol Lewis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Carol Lewis, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Clemens, Samuel L., The Prince and the Popper, Dana, R.H., Two Years Before the Mast, The Land, Margaret, Old Chester Tales, Dickens, Charles, Tale of Two Cities, Dodge, Mary Mapes, Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates, Fox, John Jr., Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, Hale, E.E., Ten Times One is Ten and Other Stories, Hale, Lucretia P., The Peterkin Papers, Hawthorne, Nathaniel, Twice-Told Tales, Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Elsie Venner, Jewett, S.O., Betty Lester, A Story for Girls, Kipling, Rudyard, Just So Stories for Little Children, Mitchell, S.W., Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker, Reed, Charles, The Cloister and the Hearth, Shelley, Mrs. Mary, Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, Wigan, Kate Douglas, The Bird's Christmas Carol, Yong, Charlotte M., The Air of Redcliffe. Volume 7, Stories of Courage and Heroism, The contents of the seventh volume deal for the most part with historical persons and events and exhibit qualities of courage and heroism in action. The episodes are gathered from a wide range of place and time, from the illustrious figures of antiquity to the unnamed heroes of obscure crises in our own land and day. But the greater number tell of deeds and acquaintance with which is an essential part of everyone's intellectual background. The Spartans at Thermopylae, Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, the English victories at Crecy and Poitiers, the heroism of Joan of Arc, the tragedy of James I of Scotland, the voyages of Columbus, the sea dogs of the Age of Elizabeth, the adventures of the pioneers of America, the pathos of the Acadian exiles, the glories and terrors of the Napoleonic Wars, the peaceful heroism of Grace Darling. Such themes as these are a vast influence on more than one side of a child's education. The accounts of such things given here are necessarily short, but they should serve to introduce young readers to some of the most glorious achievements in human history and at the same time to rouse that curiosity, which is the best introduction to the serious study of history. But the most important educational effect of these fragments of heroism is in the formation of character. The kind of man a boy is to become is largely determined by the kind of man he admires. And the reading of stories, such as are contained in this volume, may be of great importance in forming his admirations. Though here we are dealing with historical personages and historical happenings, it is still through the imagination that the effect on character is produced. Out of what he sees and hears, the boy gradually and unconsciously forms his ideal of what he would like to be. And it is important that he should be made familiar with figures more loftily heroic than the picture of the local baseball team, if we wish him to aim at a career higher than that of a professional athlete. The attaining of this end of influence on character does not, however, imply the turning of the stories into texts for moral lectures. The effect, as has been said, is unconscious. The important thing is that the talk about a story, which has been read, should bring out clearly the point wherein the heroism lay. And this is done all the more effectively, when it is not reduced to abstract terms, but left a vivid, concrete, imaginative picture of a real human being doing a fine thing. List of best books. Baldwin, James, an American book of golden deeds. Barnes, James, midshipman Farragut. Bass, Florence, stories of pioneer life. Blackmore, Richard D., Springhaven. Brady, C.T., for the freedom of the sea. Brooks, E.S., a boy of the First Empire. Brooks, Noah, the boy, immigrants. Carlisle, Thomas, heroes and hero worship. Catherwood, M.H., heroes of the Middle West. Clemens, Samuel L., personal recollections of Joan of Arc. Dumas, Alexander, the Three Musketeers. Ewart, Henry C., heroes and martyrs of science. Fowler, A.E., patriotic stories of America. Grinnell, G.B., Jack, the young ranchman. Paul, Thomas W., heroes of our revolution. Apgut, Norman, Abraham Lincoln. Johnson, W.H., the worlds discoverers. Lytton, Bulwer. Rienzi, the last of the tribunes. Motley, J.L., the Siege of Leiden. Paige, Thomas Nelson. The Burial of the Guns and Other Stories. Porter, Jane. Thaddeus of Warsaw and Scottish Chiefs. Thompson, D.P., Green Mountain Boys. Tomlinson, E.T., Boys of Old Monmouth. Wallace, Louis, Ben-Hur, A Tale of the Christ. Warren, H.P., Stories from English History. Volume 8, Animal and Nature Stories. We have in this volume a great variety of tales dealing with external nature and the lives of animals. In such matters, the normal child has a spontaneous interest, which in the country expresses itself in endless explorations and collections, with all their attendant educational advantages in the training of observation and resource. But not all children live in the country, and even in the country, children cannot always be in the woods. Tales such as The Present are in part a substitute for country life, in part a supplement to it. They supply information about the habits of animals and the like. They browse curiosity. They sharpen observation. A boy reads in a story of some characteristic of a familiar animal, which he has never noticed. Next time, he sees it with different eyes. On the intellectual side, few qualities are worth more cultivating than this of keen first-hand observation. And a child's natural interest in animals supplies the obvious starting point for its development. But these stories have another function than that of entertaining and peaking curiosity. Most of them deal with the brute creation in a humanitarian spirit. And without sacrificing truth to nature, are calculated to put the reader into a sympathetic attitude toward animals. Here again, the imagination is called into beneficent operation with the result of a widening of the child's emotional and sympathetic range. You can tell almost as much, though, different things about a man from the way he treats a dog as from the way he meets a man. And any discipline, which refines as does training in the proper treatment of animals, is well worthwhile. The danger of much modern writing about animals is sentimentality. The brutes are used as occasions for the enjoyment of pathetic emotions, often without regard for truth to nature or the effect of such cheap pathos on the reader. A sympathetic attitude such as implied in the stories in this volume is said to be distinguished from such sentimentality. More and more knowledge of natural history, such as this book is meant to create an appetite for, will check foolish emotion without destroying kindness and beget a real respect for animal intelligence and animal rights. List of best books. Akin Doctor and Barbo Misses, Eyes and No Eyes and Other Stories. Bass, Florence, Animal Life. Bass, Florence, Plant Life. Brown, Dr. John, Rab and his friends. Burrows, Jay, Ways of Nature. Cochran, Robert, 400 Animal Stories. Davis, Richard Harding. Barr, Sinister. De La Rame, Wida, The Dog of Flanders. Eastman, C.A. The Red Hunters and the Animal People. X-Storm, Fanny Hardy, The Bird Book. Hamilton, Philip G. Chapters on Animals. Harris, Joel Chandler. Uncle Remus. Holder, C.F. The Ivory King. Holbert, William D. Forrest Neighbors. Ingersaw, Ernest, Wild Neighbors. Jordan, David Starr. True Tales of Birds and Beasts. Jordan, B.S., Kellogg, V.L. and Heath, H. Animals. Kipling, Rudyard, Jungle Books. Knox, Thomas W., Horse Stories. Lang, Andrew, The Red Book of Animal Stories. Lockwood, Samuel, Animal Memoirs. London, Jack, The Call of the Wild. Melville, Herman. Tape, Life in the South Seas. Miller, Olive Thorn. Little Brothers of the Air. Sewel, Anna, Black Beauty. Smith, F., World of Animals. White, S.E., The Forest. Volume 9, Stories of Today. The first part of this volume consists of stories by modern writers dealing mainly with life in our own day. They are, of course, men for the older children, and both the style and the situations fall for more maturity on the part of the reader. The lore of the extraordinary is now dispensed with, and instead these tales supply the interest that comes from recognizable truth to experience. When a boy reaches a certain age in his development, he is apt to become impatient of the fantastic and impossible in fiction. The sense of fact, which is everyday life and most of his study in school have been cultivating, finally becomes the dominant element, and it tends to reject summarily all that offends it. For some years now, the physical is in the ascendant, and the child is passing through the most precarious period of his life. The imaginative and ideal elements were never more important than at this time, and yet these are precisely what he is most likely to reject in his reading. The lavish use of such qualities in the books of his earlier years is now merely irritating to him and a substitute is urgently needed. It is at this point that wholesome modern fiction of a more realistic type can serve a lofty educational purpose. The care of the best modern writers of fiction for accuracy of detail, for faithfulness to local color, for technical exactness in the description of both internal and external matters, appeals to a youth just beginning to pride himself on his grasp of reality and lays him open to whatever else the writer may have to offer. What these stories have to give is a number of pictures of life presented vividly and convincingly and in proportion to their truth and vigor serving as the kind of vicarious experience. The reading of such fiction with a lively realization of the scenes and characters is not only an exercise of the imagination abundantly rewarded by the pleasure obtained but is also a moral gymnastic through its stretching and supplying of the capacity for sympathy with one's fellows. The list of fiction contained in these volumes representing the imaginative product of almost all races and times is fitly closed by the gift made to the children of England of a story for themselves by the master of English novelists William Makepeace Thackeray. List of best books, Bacon, Josephine Daschrom, The Madness of Philip, Brown, Abbey Farwell, The Lonesome Miss Dahl, Churchill, Winston, Richard Carvel, Collins Wilkie, The Moonstone, Craig, Mrs. M.D., John Halifax, Gentlemen, Doyle, Arthur Conan, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Ebers, George, Egyptian Princess, Garland, Hamlin, Captain of the Grey Horse Troop, Haggard, H.R., King Solomon's Mines, Haleve, Ludovic, Abbey, Constantine, Hope Anthony, The Prisoner of Zenda, Hope Anthony, Rupert of Henzau, Jewett, Sarah O., Deep Haven, Johnson Owen, Stover at Yale, Johnson Owen, The Varmint, King Charles, Cadet Days, Kipling, Rudyard, Kim, Ollivant, Alfred, Bob, Son of Battle, Paige, Thomas Nelson, A Captured Santa Claus, Parker Gilbert, The Seats of the Mighty, Pierre Arthur S., The Gesture of St. Timothy's, Rice, Mrs. A.C., Mrs. Wigs of the Cabbage Patch, Russell William C., The Wreck of the Grovener, Seton, Ernest Thompson, Biography of a Grizzly, Stevenson, Robert Lewis, Kidnapped, Tarkington Booth, Monsieur Bocair, Webster, Jean, When Patty Went to College, Wigan, Kate Douglas, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Volume 10, poems old and new. The previous volumes have provided roughly a progression from the simplest fairy tales to modern fiction, not written primarily for young people. The wise guide will, of course, not follow this order slavishly, but will pick and choose in accordance with the taste of the individual child. For in spite of the stress that has been laid in these remarks on the educative value, intellectual and moral of the stories, it must never be forgotten that whatever ulterior end literature may serve, it must do it by pleasing. If, then, any selection, however delightful to the adult, fails to entertain the child, it should be laid aside for a later time. The material here gathered is to be regarded not as a means of discipline, but as a source of joy, and anything that would introduce unpleasant associations with these volumes should be avoided as endangering the main ends they are created to serve. If this is true of the prose, it is still more true of the poetry. Indeed, there is no excuse here for either tedium or labor, so rich is the variety, so wide the range. The collection of poems begins with the simplest nursery rhymes to be said or better sung to the child from its earliest years until it has them all by heart. The habit of committing verse to memory thus begun should be kept up throughout childhood, care being taken that the poems find allogment not through drudgery, but as a result of delighted repetition. In this way a child may arrive at the end of his school days to find himself in possession of a large body of poetry, much of it from the pens of the greatest of our writers. The profit of this in enjoyment in the cultivation of the ear for the beauty of words and rhythms, in the storing of the memory with fine phrases and noble thoughts, in the familiarity with rich and elevated feeling, has been pointed out by Mr. Eliot in the introduction, and need not be further urged here. Something of the best and most delightful of such poets as Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Burns, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Scott, Byron, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Longfellow and Emerson will be found along with the most exquisite of the simpler products of minor pens. The table is spread with abundance. These notes are meant merely to give hints for serving the feast. List of best books. Book of Old English Ballads. Bryant, William Cullen, A New Library of Poetry and Song. Coates, Henry T., The Children's Book of Poetry. Eggleston, George Kerry, American War Ballads and Lyrics. Elliott, Samuel, Poetry for Children. Gilder, Jeanette L., The Heart of Youth. Engpen, Roger, 1000 Poems for Children. Jordan, Charlotte Brewster, Mother Song and Child Song. Knight, William, The Poets on Christmas. Knowles, Frederick Lawrence, A Treasury of Humorous Poetry. Lang, Andrew, The Blue Poetry Book. Lovejoy, Mary I., Nature in Verse. Lucas, Edward Verall, A Book of Verses for Children. Lucas, Edward Verall, Another Book of Verses for Children. Our Children's Songs. Padgett, R.L., Poems of American Patriotism. Halegrave, Francis Turner, Golden Treasury. Patmore, Coventry, The Children's Garland from the Best Poets. Replier, Agnes, A Book of Famous Verses. Steadman, Edmund Clarence, An American Anthology, 1787-1900. Steadman, Edmund Clarence, A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895. Thacker, Lucy W., The Listening Child. Tileson, Mary Wilder, The Child's Harvest of Verse. Whittier, John Greenleaf, Child Life. Wigan, Kate Douglas and Smith, Nora Archibald, Pinafore Palace. End of Reading Guide. The King was in his counting-house counting out his money. The Queen was in the parlor eating bread and honey. The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes. There came a little blackbird and snapped off her nose. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. A Diller, A Dollar, by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Larry Wilson. A Diller, A Dollar, A 10 o'clock Scholar. What makes you come so soon? You used to come at 10 o'clock, but now you come at noon. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Simple Simon by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Craig Franklin. Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair. Says Simple Simon to the pieman, let me taste your wear. Says the pieman to Simple Simon, show me first your penny. Says Simple Simon to the pieman, indeed I have not any. Simple Simon went to fishing for to catch a whale. All the water he had got was in his mother's pail. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Little Boy Blue by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Larry Wilson. Little Boy Blue, Come Blow Your Horn. The Sheeps and the Meadow, The Cows and the Corn. Where's the little boy that looks after the sheep? He's under the haycock fast asleep. Will you wake him? No not I, for if I do he'll be sure to cry. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Daffy Down Dilly by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. Daffy Down Dilly has come up to town in a yellow petticoat and a green gown. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Little Nancy Eticoat from the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. Little Nancy Eticoat in a white petticoat with a red nose. The longer she stands the shorter she grows. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. When I Was a Bachelor by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Rachel Marie. When I Was a Bachelor I lived by myself and all the meat I got I put upon a shelf. The rats and the mice did lead me such a life that I went to London to get myself a wife. The streets were so broad and the lanes were so narrow I could not get my wife home without a wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow broke, my wife got a fall. Down tumbled wheelbarrow, little wife and all. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Great A Little A. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Dale Grossman. Great A Little A. Bouncing Bee. The cat's in the cupboard and can't see me. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Pussycat Pussycat. By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Larry Wilson. Pussycat Pussycat. Where have you been? I've been to London to look at the queen. Pussycat Pussycat. What did you there? I frightened a little mouse under the chair. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Higglypiggly. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Dale Grossman. Higglypiggly My Black Hand. She lays eggs for gentlemen. Sometimes nine and sometimes ten. Higglypiggly My Black Hand. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Humpty Dumpty. By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Larry Wilson. Humpty Dumpty. Sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty. Had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back again. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Curly Locks, Curly Locks. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Dale Grossman. Curly Locks, Curly Locks. Will thou be mine? Thou shalt not wash dishes, nor yet feed the swine, but sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, and feed on strawberries, sugar, and cream. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. The North Wind, Doth Blow. By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Rachel Marie. The North Wind, Doth Blow. And we shall have snow. And what will poor Robin do then, poor thing? End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Jack Spratt, By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Craig Franklin. Jack Spratt, Could Eat No Fat. His Wife, Could Eat No Lean. And so, between them both you see, they licked the platter clean. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Come Let's to Bed. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Hannah Dorma. Come Let's to Bed. Says Sleepyhead. Terry a while. Says Slow. Put on the pan. Says Greedy Nern. Let's up before we go. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Pease Putting Hot. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Dale Grothman. Pease Putting Hot. Pease Putting Cold. Pease Putting In The Pot, 9 Days Old. Some Like It Hot. Some Like It Cold. Some Like It In The Pot, 9 Days Old. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Solomon Grundy. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Dale Grothman. Solomon Grundy. Born on Monday. Crissoned on Tuesday. Married on Wednesday. Took ill on Thursday. Worse on Friday. Died on Saturday. Buried on Sunday. This is the end of Solomon Grundy. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Ding Dong Bell. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Dale Grothman. Ding Dong Bell. Pussies in the Well. Who put her in? Little Tommy Lin. Who pulled her out? Dog with long snout. What a naughty boy was that to drown poor pussycat, who never did any harm, but killed the mice in his father's barn. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. There was an old woman tossed up in a basket. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Dale Grothman. There was an old woman tossed up in a basket. Nineteen times as high as the moon. Where she was going, I couldn't but ask it. For in her hand she carried a broom. Old woman, old woman, old woman, quote I. Oh wither, oh wither, oh wither, so high. To brush the cobwebs off of the sky. Shall I go with thee? I, by and by. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Little Miss Muffet. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Dale Grothman. Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating of curds and whey. There came a spider and sat down beside her, and frightened Miss Muffet away. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Little Jack Horner. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Dale Grothman. Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, eating a Christmas pie. He put in his thumb, and took out a plum, and said, What a good boy am I? End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. A Diddle Diddle. By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Larry Wilson. A Diddle Diddle. The Cat and the Fiddle. The Cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport, while the dish ran after the spoon. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. This is the Way the Ladies Ride. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Hannah Dorma. This is the Way the Ladies Ride. Tr-t-t-tree! Tr-t-t-tree! This is the Way the Ladies Ride. Tr-t-t-t-tree! This is the Way the Gentleman Ride. Gallop-a-trot! Gallop-a-trot! This is the Way the Gentleman Ride. Gallop-a-gallop-a-trot! This is the Way the Farmers Ride. Ho-ble-de-hoi! Ho-ble-de-hoi! This is the Way the Farmers Ride. Ho-ble-de-ho-ble-de-hoi! End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Little Bo Peep. By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Larry Wilson. Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and can't tell where to find them. Leave them alone and they'll come home and bring their tails behind them. Little Bo Peep fell fast asleep and dreamt she heard them bleeding, but when she awoke she found it a joke, for they were still a-fleeting. Then up she took her little quilt determined to find them. She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed, for they'd left all their tails behind them. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Old King Cole. By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Larry Wilson. Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he. He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl, and he called for his fiddlers three. Every fiddler he had a fiddle, and a very fine fiddle had he. Tweed twiddledee twiddledee went the fiddlers. Oh, there's none so rare as can compare with King Cole and his fiddlers three. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Jack and Jill. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Nan Dodge. Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Little Polly Flinders. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Nan Dodge. Little Polly Flinders. Sat among the cinders. Warming her pretty little toes, her mother came and caught her, and whipped her little daughter, for spoiling her nice new clothes. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. To market, to market, to buy a fat pig. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Nan Dodge. To market, to market, to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, dancing a jib. Ride to the market to buy a fat hog. Home again, home again, jiggity jog. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. The Queen of Hearts. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Nan Dodge. The Queen of Hearts. She made some tarts all on a summer's day. The Nave of Hearts. He stole those tarts and took them clean away. The King of Hearts called for the tarts and beat the Nave full sore. The Nave of Hearts brought back the tarts and vowed he'd steal no more. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Low Wind Blow. And Go Mill Go. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Nan Dodge. Low Wind Blow. And Go Mill Go. That the miller may grind his corn. That the baker may take it. And into rolls make it. And send us some hot in the morn. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Nan Dodge. Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John. He went to bed with his stockings on. One shoe off, and one shoe on. Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Larry Wilson. There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do. She gave them some broth without any bread. She whipped them all suddenly, and put them to bed. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Goosey Goosey Gander. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Linda Cantony. Goosey Goosey Gander. Where Shall I Wander? Upstairs, Downstairs, and in My Lady's Chamber. There I met an Old Man that would not say his prayers. I took him by the left leg, and threw him downstairs. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Recording by Linda Cantony. Ride a Cock Horse. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Linda Cantony. Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross. To see a fine lady upon a white horse. Rings on her fingers. Bells on her toes. She shall have music wherever she goes. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Recording by Linda Cantony. Where Are You Going, My Pretty Maid? By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Rachel Marie. Where Are You Going, My Pretty Maid? I'm Going a Milking, Sir, She Said. May I Go With You, My Pretty Maid? You're Kindly Welcome, Sir, She Said. What Is Your Father, My Pretty Maid? My Father's a Farmer, Sir, She Said. Say, Will You Marry Me, My Pretty Maid? Yes, If You Please, Kind, Sir, She Said. What Is Your Fortune, My Pretty Maid? My Face Is My Fortune, Sir, She Said. Then I Can't Marry You, My Pretty Maid. Nobody Asked You, Sir, She Said. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Baby Dear, Good Night, Good Night. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. By Hannah Dorma. Baby Dear, Good Night, Good Night. Doggy Lies and Slumbers Deep. Hush a Buy, My Treasure Bright. Pussy Two is Fast to Sleep. Don't You Wake Them, If You Do, Pups Will Bark and Puss Will Mew. Go to Sleep and Never Fear. Mother Will Call When Morning's Near. End of Poem. This Recording is in the Public Domain. Kind Hearts are Gardens by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. Kind Hearts are Gardens. Kind Thoughts are Roots. Kind Words are Blossoms. Kind Deeds are Fruits. End of Poem. This Recording is in the Public Domain. I Had a Little Pony by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. I Had a Little Pony. They Called Him Dapple Gray. I Lent Him to a Lady to Ride a Mile Away. She Whipped Him. She Slashed Him. She Rowed Him through the Mire. I Would Not Lend My Pony Now for All the Ladies Higher. End of Poem. This Recording is in the Public Domain. Tuffy was a Welshman by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Craig Franklin. Tuffy was a Welshman. Tuffy was a Thief. Tuffy came to my house and stole a piece of beef. I went to Tuffy's house. Tuffy was not at home. Tuffy came to my house and stole a Marrowbone. I went to Tuffy's house. Tuffy was not in. Tuffy came to my house and stole a Silver Pin. I went to Tuffy's house. Tuffy was in bed. I took up a poker and flung it at his head. End of Poem. This Recording is in the Public Domain. Hushabye, Baby. Thy Cradle is Green by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. Hushabye, Baby. Thy Cradle is Green. Father's a Nobleman. Mother's a Queen. Sister's a Lady and wears a Gold Ring. Father's a Drummer and Drums for the King. Rockabye, Baby. On the Tree Top. When the wind blows, the Cradle will rock. When the bow breaks, the Cradle will fall. Down will come Baby, Bow, Cradle, and All. End of Poem. This Recording is in the Public Domain. There is Very Little Trouble by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. There is Very Little Trouble that happens us today. It's the sorrow of tomorrow that drives our joys away. We sometimes sit and wonder and stew and fume and fret. For fear something may happen, but it hasn't happened yet. End of Poem. This Recording is in the Public Domain. Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary. How Does Your Garden Grow? With Cockles Shells and Silver Bells and Pretty Maids All a Row. End of Poem. This Recording is in the Public Domain. Hearts, Like Doors, will open with ease by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. Hearts, Like Doors, will open with ease to Very, Very Little Keys. And don't forget that two of these are I thank you and if you please. End of Poem. This Recording is in the Public Domain. Weather Song by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. When the weather is wet, we must not fret. When the weather is cold, we must not scald. When the weather is warm, we must not storm. But be thankful together, whatever the weather. End of Poem. This Recording is in the Public Domain. The Old Woman Who Bought a Little Pig by Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Phil Shampf. An old woman was sweeping her house, and she found a little crooked six-pence. What said she? Shall I do with this little six-pence? I will go to market and buy a little pig. As she was coming home, she came to a style, but the pig would not go over the style. She went a little further, and she met a dog. So she said to the dog, dog, dog, bite pig. Pig won't get over the style, and I shan't get home tonight. But the dog would not. She went a little further, and she met a stick. So she said, stick, stick, beat dog. Dog won't bite pig. Pig won't get over the style, and I shan't get home tonight. But the stick would not. She went a little further, and she met a fire. So she said, fire, fire, burn stick. Stick won't beat dog. Dog won't bite pig. Pig won't get over the style, and I shan't get home tonight. But the fire would not. She went a little further, and she met some water. So she said, water, water quench fire. Fire won't burn stick. Stick won't beat dog. Dog won't bite pig. Pig won't get over the style, and I shan't get home tonight. But the water would not. So she went a little further, and she met an ox. So she said, ox, ox, drink water. Water won't quench fire. Fire won't burn stick. Stick won't beat dog. Dog won't bite pig. Pig won't get over the style, and I shan't get home tonight. But the ox would not. So she went a little further, and she met a butcher. So she said, butcher, butcher, kill ox. Ox won't drink water. Water won't quench fire. Fire won't burn stick. Stick won't beat dog. Dog won't bite pig. Pig won't get over the style, and I shan't get home tonight. But the butcher would not. She went a little further, and she met a rope. So she said, rope, rope, hang butcher. Butcher won't kill ox. Ox won't drink water. Water won't quench fire. Fire won't burn stick. Stick won't beat dog. Dog won't bite pig. Pig won't get over the style, and I shan't get home tonight. But the rope would not. She went a little further, and she met a rat. So she said, rat, rat, nah, rope. Rope won't hang butcher. Butcher won't kill ox. Ox won't drink water. Water won't quench fire. Fire won't burn stick. Stick won't beat dog. Dog won't bite pig. Pig won't get over the style, and I shan't get home tonight. But the rat would not. She went a little further, and she met a cat. So she said, cat, cat, kill rat. Rat won't nah rope. Rope won't hang butcher. Butcher won't kill ox. Ox won't drink water. Water won't quench fire. Fire won't burn stick. Stick won't beat dog. Dog won't bite pig. Pig won't get over the style, and I shan't get home tonight. The cat said, if you will give me a saucer of milk, I will kill the rat. So the old woman gave the cat the milk. And when she had lapped up the milk, the cat began to kill the rat. The rat began to nah the rope. The rope began to hang the butcher. The butcher began to kill the ox. The ox began to drink the water. The water began to quench the fire. The fire began to burn the stick. The stick began to beat the dog. The dog began to bite the pig. And the pig jumped over the style. And so the old woman got home that night. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. The Three Little Kittens. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Linda Cantoni. Three little kittens lost their mittens, and they began to cry. Oh, mother dear, we very much fear that we have lost our mittens. Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens. Then you shall have no pie. Me, ow, me, ow, me, ow. No, you shall have no pie. The three little kittens found their mittens, and they began to cry. Oh, mother dear, see here, see here, see, we have found our mittens. What found your mittens, you darling kittens. Then you shall have some pie. Then you shall have some pie. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Recording by Linda Cantoni. Pussy by Jane Taylor. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. I like little pussy. Her coat is so warm, and if I don't hurt her, she'll do me no harm. So I'll not pull her tail nor drive her away, but Pussy and I very gently will play. She shall sit by my side, and I'll give her some food, and she'll love me because I'm gentle and good. I'll pat little Pussy, and then she will pur, and thus show her thanks for my kindness to her. I'll not pinch her ears nor tread on her paw, lest I should provoke her to use her sharp claw. I never will vex her, nor make her displeased. Her pussy don't like to be worried or teased. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Mother Hubbard and Her Dog. By Anonymous. From the Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Phil Shampf. Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to get her poor dog a bone, but when she came there the cupboard was bare, and so the poor dog had none. She went to the bakers to buy him some bread, but when she came back the poor dog was dead. She went to the joiners to buy him a coffin, but when she came back the poor dog was laughing. She took a clean dish to get him some tripe, but when she came back he was smoking his pipe. She went to the fishmongers to buy him some fish, but when she came back he was licking the dish. She went to the ale-house to get him some beer, but when she got back the dog sat in a chair. She went to the tavern for white wine and red, but when she came back the dog stood on his head. She went to the hatters to buy him a hat, but when she came back he was feeding the cat. She went to the barbers to buy him a wig, but when she came back he was dancing a jig. She went to the fruitiers to buy him some fruit, but when she came back he was playing the flute. She went to the tailors to buy him a coat, but when she came back he was riding a goat. She went to the cobblers to buy him some shoes, but when she came back he was reading the news. She went to the seamstress to buy him some linen, but when she came back the dog was spinning. She went to the hosiers to buy him some hoes, but when she came back he was dressed in his clothes. The dame made a curtsy, the dog made a bow. The dame said, you're servant. The dog said, bow wow. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. The Sleepy Song by Josephine D. Bacon from the junior classics volume 10, part 1, poems old and new. Red for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. As soon as the fire burns red and low and the house upstairs is still, she sings me a queer little sleepy song of sheep that go over the hill. The good little sheep run quick and soft. Their colors are gray and white. They follow their leader nose and tail, for they must be home by night. And one slips over, and one comes next, and one runs after behind. The gray ones' nose at the white ones' tail, the top of the hill they find. And when they get to the top of the hill they quietly slip away. But one runs over, and one comes next, their colors are white and gray. And over they go, and over they go, and over the top of the hill. The good little sheep run quick and soft, and the house upstairs is still. And one slips over, and one comes next, the good little gray little sheep. I watch how the fire burns red and low, and she says that I fall asleep. 20 Froggies went to school down beside a rushy pool, twenty little coats of green, twenty vests all white and clean. We must be in time, said they. First we study, then we play. That is how we keep the rule when we Froggies go to school. Master Bullfrog brave and stern called his classes in their turn, taught them how to nobly strive and how to leap and dive, taught them how to dodge a blow from the sticks that bad boys throw. Twenty Froggies grew up fast, Bullfrogs they became at last, polished in a high degree, as each froggy ought to be. Now they sit on other logs, teaching other little frogs. End of Poem This recording is in the public domain. A Child's Even Song by Richard Lugalien from the Junior Classics Volume 10, Part 1, Poems Old and New, read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. The sun is weary, for he ran so far and fast today. The birds are weary, for who sang so many songs as they. The bees and butterflies at last are tired out, for just think, too, how many gardens through the day their little wings have fluttered through. And so, as all tired people do, they've gone to lay their sleepy heads, deep, deep in warm and happy beds. The sun has shut his golden eye, and gone to sleep beneath the sky. The birds and butterflies and bees have all crept into flowers and trees. And all lie quiet, still as mice, till morning comes, like father's voice. So, Jeffrey, Owen Phyllis, you, must sleep away till morning, too. Close little eyes, down little heads, and sleep, sleep, sleep, in happy beds. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Old Gaelic Lullaby, by Anonymous, from the Junior Classics Volume 10, Part 1, Poems Old and New, read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. Hush! The waves are rolling in. White with foam, white with foam. Father toils amid the din, but baby sleeps at home. Hush! The winds roar, hoarse and deep. On they come, on they come. Brother seeks the wandering sheep, but baby sleeps at home. Hush! The rain sweeps o'er the nose, where they roam, where they roam. Sister goes to seek the cows, but baby sleeps at home. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Sleep, baby, sleep, from the Junior Classics Volume 10, Part 1, Poems Old and New, read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. Sleep, baby, sleep. Thy father watches his sheep. Thy mother is shaking the dreamland tree, and down comes a little dream on thee. Sleep, baby, sleep. Sleep, baby, sleep. The large stars are the sheep. The little stars are the lambs, I guess, and the gentle moon is the shepherdess. Sleep, baby, sleep. Sleep, baby, sleep. Our Savior loves his sheep. He is the lamb of God on high, who for our sakes came down to die. Sleep, baby, sleep. End of Poem. This recording is in the public domain. Lady Button Eyes by Eugene Field, from the Junior Classics Volume 10, Part 1, Poems Old and New, read for LibriVox.org by Phil Shampf. When the busy day is done, and my weary little one rocketh gently to and fro, when the night winds softly blow, and the crickets in the glen chirp and chirp and chirp again, when upon the haunted green ferries dance around their queen. Then from yonder misty skies come at Lady Button Eyes. Through the merc and mist and gloom, to our quiet cozy home, where to singing sweet and low rocks a cradle to and fro, where the clocked dull monotone telleth of the day that's done, where the moonbeams hover o'er, play things sleeping on the floor, where my weary wee one lies. Comet Lady Button Eyes. Comet like a fleeting ghost, from some distant, eerie coast. Never footfall can you hear, as that spirit fareth near. Never whisper, never word, from that shadow queen is heard. In ethereal raiment-dite, from the realm of fey and sprite, in the depth of yonder skies, Comet Lady Button Eyes. Layeth she her hands upon, my dear weary little one, and those white hands overspread, like a veil the curly head, seem to fondle and caress every little silken dress. Then she smooths the eyelids down, over those two eyes of brown, in such soothing tender wise, Comet Lady Button Eyes. Dearest feel upon your brow, that caressing magic now, for the crickets in the glen chirp and chirp and chirp again, while upon the haunted green ferries dance around their queen. And the moonbeams hover o'er, play things sleeping on the floor, hush my sweet, from yonder skies Comet Lady Button Eyes. And the poem, this recording is in the public domain. Rockabye, Lady, by Eugene Field. From the junior classics, volume 10, part 1, Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org. The rockabye, Lady, from Hushabye Street. Come stealing, comes creeping. The poppies, they hang from her head to her feet. And each hath a dream, that is tiny and fleet, she bringeth her poppies to you, my sweet, when she findeth you sleeping. There is one little dream of a beautiful drum, rub a dub it goeth. There is one little dream of a big sugar plum, and lo, thick and fast, and the other dreams come, of pop guns that bang, and tin tops that hum, and a trumpet that bloweth. And dollies peep out of those wee little dreams, with laughter and singing, and boats go afloating on silvery streams. And the stars peek-a-boo with their own misty gleams. And up, up and up, where the Mother Moon beams, the fairies go winging. Would you dream all these dreams that are tiny and fleet? They'll come to you sleeping. So shut the two eyes that are weary, my sweet, for the rockabye, Lady, from Hushabye Street, with poppies that hang from her head to her feet, come stealing, come screeping. End of poem, this recording is in the public domain. Dear Mother, how pretty the moon looks tonight. She was never so cunning before. Her two little horns are so sharp and so bright. I hope she'll not grow any more. If I were up there with you and my friends, I'd rock in it nicely, you'd see. I'd sit in the middle and hold by both ends. Oh, what a bright cradle twid be! I would call to the stars to keep out of the way, lest we should rock over their toes. And then I would rock till the dawn of the day and see where the pretty moon goes. And there we would stay in the beautiful skies, and through the bright clouds we would roam. We would see the sun set and see the sun rise, and on the next rainbow come home. End of poem, this recording is in the public domain. Will you walk into my parlor, said a spider to a fly? Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy. The way into my parlor is up a winding stair, and I have many pretty things to show you when you are there. Oh no, no, said the little fly, to ask me is in vain, for who goes up your winding stair can air come down again. I'm sure you must be weary with soaring up, so I. Will you rest upon my little bed, said the spider to the fly? There are pretty curtains drawn around, the sheets are fine and thin, and if you like to rest awhile I'll snugly tuck you in. Oh no, no, said the little fly, for I have often heard it said. They never, never wake again who sleep upon your bed. Said the cunning spider to the fly. Dear friend, what shall I do to prove the warm affection I've always felt for you? I have within my pantry good store of all that's nice. I'm sure you're very welcome. Will you please to take a slice? Oh no, no, said the little fly. Kind sir, that cannot be. I've heard what's in your pantry, and I do not wish to see. Sweet creature, said the spider, your witty and your wise, how handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes. I have a little looking glass upon my parlor shelf. If you step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself. I thank you, gentle sir, she said, for what you were pleased to say, and bidding you good morning now I'll call another day. The spider turned him round about and went into his den, for well he knew the silly fly would soon be back again. So he wove a subtle thread in a little corner sly, and set his table ready to dine upon the fly. He went out to his door again, and merrily did sing, come hither, hither pretty fly, with the pearl and silver wing. Your robes are green and purple, there's a crest upon your head. Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead. Alas, alas, how very soon this silly little fly, hearing his wildly flattering words, came slowly flitting by. With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew, thought only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue, thought only of her crested head, poor foolish thing. At last up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast. He dragged her up his winding stair into his dismal den, within his little parlor, but she ne'er came out again. And now, dear little children, who may this story read, two idle, silly, flattering words, I pray you, ne'er give heed. Unto an evil counselor, close heart and ear and eye, and learn a lesson from this tale of the spider and the fly. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. The Sugar Plum Tree, by Eugene Field, from the junior classics volume 10, part 1, Poems Old and New, read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. Have you ever heard of the Sugar Plum Tree? It is a marvel of great renown. It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop Sea in the garden of Shaddai town. The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet, as those who have tasted it say, that good little children have only to eat of that fruit to be happy next day. When you've got to the tree, you would have a hard time to capture the fruit which I sing. The tree is so tall that no person could climb to the boughs where the Sugar Plums swing. But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat and a gingerbread dog prows below. And this is the way you can try to get at those Sugar Plums tempting you so. You say but the word to that gingerbread dog, and he barks with such terrible zest, that the chocolate cat is at once oligog as her swelling proportions attest. And the chocolate cat goes covording around from this leafy limb unto that, and the Sugar Plums tumble of course to the ground, hurrah for that chocolate cat. There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes with strippings of scarlet or gold, and you carry away of the treasure that reigns as much as your apron can hold. So come, little child, cuddle closer to me in your dainty white nightcap and gown, and I'll rock you away to that Sugar Plum tree in the garden of Shaddai town. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Young Night Thought by Robert Louis Stevenson From The Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems, Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Dale Grothman. All night long and every night, when my mama puts out the light, I see the people marching by, as plain as day before my eye. Armies and emperor and kings, all carrying different kinds of things, and marching in so grand a way you never saw the like by day. So fine a show was never seen, at the great circus on the green, for every kind of beast and man is marching in that caravan. As first they move a little slow, but still the faster on they go, and still beside me close, I keep, until we reach the town of sleep. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Lullaby of An Infant Chief by Sir Walter Scott From The Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems, Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Rick Clemens. O hush thee, my baby, thy sire was a knight, thy mother a lady both lovely and bright, the woods and the glens from the tower which we see, they all are belonging, dear baby, to thee. O fear not the bugle, though loudly it blows, it calls but the waters that guard thy repose. Their bows would be bended, their blades would be read, ere the step of a foeman draws near to thy bed. O hush thee, my baby, the time will soon come when thy sleep shall be broken by trumpet and drum. Then hush thee, my darling, take rest while you may, for strife comes with manhood, and waking with day. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Sweet and Low by Alfred Tennyson From The Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems, Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Rachel Marie. Sweet and Low, Sweet and Low, Wind of the Western Sea, Low, Low, Breathe and Blow, Wind of the Western Sea, Over the rolling waters go, Come from the dying moon and blow, Blow him again to me, While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps. Sleep and rest, sleep and rest, Father will come to thee soon. Rest, rest on mother's breast, Father will come to thee soon. Father will come to his babe in the nest, Silver sails all out of the west, Under the silver moon. Sleep, my little one, Sleep, my pretty one, sleep. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Wink and Blinken and Nod by Eugene Field, From The Junior Classics, Volume 10, Part 1. Poems, Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. Wink and Blinken and Nod one night, Sailed off in a wooden shoe, Sailed on a river of crystal light Into a sea of dew. Where are you going, and what do you wish? The Old Moon asked the three. We have come to fish for the herring fish That live in this beautiful sea. Nets of silver and gold have we, Said Wink and Blinken and Nod. The Old Moon laughed and sang a song As they rocked in the wooden shoe, And the wind that sped them all night long Ruffled the waves of dew. The little stars were the herring fish That lived in that beautiful sea. Now cast your nets wherever you wish, Never afeared are we, So cried the stars to the fisherman three, Wink and Blinken and Nod. All night long their nets they threw To the stars in the twinkling foam. Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe, Bringing the fisherman home. It was all so pretty a sail, It seemed, as if it could not be. And some folks thought, Twas a dream they'd dreamed of sailing that beautiful sea. But I shall name you the fisherman three, Wink and Blinken and Nod. Wink and Blinken are two little eyes, And Nod is a little head, And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies Is a wee one's trundle bed. So shut your eyes while mother sings Of wonderful sights that be, And you shall see the beautiful things As you rock in the misty sea, Where the old shoe rocked the fisherman three, Wink and Blinken and Nod. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Cuddle Down Dolly by Kate Douglas Wiggin From the Junior Classics Volume 10, Part 1, Poems Old and New Read for LibriVox.org by Craig Franklin They sent me to bed, dear, so dreadfully early. I hadn't a moment to talk to my girlie. But while nurse is getting her dinner downstairs, I'll rock you a little and hear you your prayers. Cuddle Down Dolly, Cuddle Down, dear. Here on my shoulder you've nothing to fear. That's what mama sings to me every night. Cuddle Down Dolly, dear. Shut your eyes tight. Not comfortable, Dolly? Or why do you fidget? You're hurting my shoulder, you troublesome midget. Perhaps it's that hole that you told me about. Why, darling, your sawdust is trickling out. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. The Shed Eye Train by Eugene Field From the Junior Classics Volume 10, Part 1, Poems Old and New Read for LibriVox.org by Sarah Brown Come, my little one, with me, there are wondrous sights to see. As the evening shadows fall in your pretty cap and gown, Don't detain the shed eye train, tingling the bell it goeth, Toot toot the whistle bloweth, and we hear the warning call. All aboard for Shed Eye Town. Over hill and over plain, soon we'll speed the shed eye train. Through the blue where bloom the stars and the mother moon looks down. Wheel away to land of Faye. Oh, the sights that we shall see there. Come, my little one, with me there. Tis a goodly train of cars. All aboard for Shed Eye Town. Swifter than a wild bird's flight. Through the realms of fleecy light. We shall speed and speed away. Let the night in envy frown, What care we how wroth she be? To the bellow land above us, To the bellow folk who love us. Let us hasten while we may. All aboard for Shed Eye Town. Shed Eye Town is passing fair. Golden dreams await us there. We shall dream those dreams, my dear, Till the mother moon goes down. See unfold, delights untold. And in those mysterious places we shall see beloved faces, And beloved voices here in the grace of Shed Eye Town. Heavy are your eyes, my sweet. Weary are your little feet. Nestle closer up to me in your pretty cap and gown. Don't detain the shed eye train. Tingling the bell it goeth. Toot toot the whistle bloweth. Oh, the sights that we shall see. All aboard for Shed Eye Town. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. A Mortifying Mistake by Anna Maria Pratt From the Junior Classics Volume 10 Part 1 Poems Old and New. Read for LibriVox.org by Jen Broda. I studied my tables over and over and backward and forward too, But I couldn't remember six times nine, and I didn't know what to do. Till Sister told me to play with my doll and not to bother my head. If you call her fifty-four for a while, you'll learn it by heart, she said. So I took my favorite, Mary Anne, though I thought was a dreadful shame, To give such a perfectly lovely child such a perfectly horrid name. And I called her my dear little fifty-four a hundred times till I knew the answer of six times nine as well as the answer of two times two. Next day Elizabeth Wigglesworth, who always acts so proud, said six times nine is fifty-two, and I nearly laughed aloud. But I wished I hadn't when teacher said, Now Dorothy, tell if you can. For I thought of my doll, and sakes alive, I answered, Mary Anne. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain.