The Summers readers: second reader
Part 1
_THE SUMMERS READERS_
SECOND READER
BY MAUD SUMMERS
ILLUSTRATED FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY
LUCY FITCH PERKINS AND MARION L. MAHONY
FRANK D. BEATTYS AND COMPANY NEW YORK
Copyright, 1909, by FRANK D. BEATTYS AND COMPANY NEW YORK
THE DE VINNE PRESS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks are due to the following publishers and authors for permission to reprint poems and to adapt stories on which they hold copyright:
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS:
“Singing”; “Autumn Fires” by Robert Louis Stevenson from “Poems and Ballads” (copyright 1895, 1896).
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY:
“Sir Robin” from “Childhood Songs” by Lucy Larcom; “A Flock of Doves” from “Poems for Children” by Celia Thaxter; “What the Winds Bring” by Edmund Clarence Stedman; “Hiawatha”; “The Children’s Hour”; “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; “The Miraculous Pitcher”; “The Pomegranate Seed” by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
KINDERGARTEN LITERATURE COMPANY:
“The Bluebird” from “Songs from the Nest” by Emily Huntington Miller.
LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY:
“September” by Helen Hunt Jackson.
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD COMPANY:
“The Caterpillar” from “Finger Plays” by Emilie Poulsson.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY:
“The Fairy’s Love Song” by Ella Higginson.
MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY:
“Patty’s New Dress” from “More Mother Stories” by Maud Lindsay; “The Teeter” from “Rhymes for Little Fingers” by Maud Burnham.
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE:
“Mary’s Meadow” by Juliana Horatio Ewing.
THE PHELPS PUBLISHING COMPANY:
“Pop-corn Song” by Sophia T. Newman. From “Good Housekeeping.”
THE YOUTH’S COMPANION:
“The Calico’s Story”; “The Nixie’s Strain” by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen.
F. A. OWEN PUBLISHING COMPANY:
“The Story of a Little Water Drop” by Eva Mayne.
CONTENTS
PAGE
SEPTEMBER: HELEN HUNT JACKSON
INDIAN CORN 11
THE COMING OF THE CORN—Henry W. Longfellow (_Adapted_) 14
ARABELLA’S PARTY 16
THE CATERPILLAR—Emilie Poulsson 18
RUMPEL-STILTS-KIN—Jacob and William Grimm (_Adapted_) 19
OCTOBER: WILLIAM ALLINGHAM
HIAWATHA’S CANOE—Henry W. Longfellow (_Adapted_) 25
HIAWATHA’S SAILING—Henry W. Longfellow (_Adapted_) 26
LADY GRAY 27
THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER—Jacob and William Grimm 29
HALLOWE’EN 31
POP-CORN SONG—Sophia T. Newman 34
PHILEMON AND BAUCIS—Nathaniel Hawthorne (_Adapted_) 35
NOVEMBER: JOHN G. WHITTIER
THE FIRST THANKSGIVING DAY 41
THANKSGIVING DAY LONG AGO 44
THANKSGIVING DAY—Lydia Maria Child 46
WHITTIER 48
PATTIE’S NEW DRESS—Maud Lindsay (_Adapted_) 51
DECEMBER: OLD SONG
CHRISTMAS CAROL 56
THE BIRDS’ CHRISTMAS FEAST 57
PICCOLA 59
THE STAR-CHILDREN—Fraulein Meissner (_Adapted_) 62
THE STARS—May Moore Jackson 65
RAPHAEL—Louise de la Ramée (_Adapted_) 67
JANUARY: DINAH M. MULOCK
THE GREAT WHITE STOVE—Louise de la Ramée (_Adapted_) 71
THE FLOCK OF DOVES—Celia Thaxter 75
THE MIDNIGHT SUN 77
MICHAEL ANGELO 80
FEBRUARY: EVE BRODLIQUE SUMMERS
A VALENTINE—Eve Brodlique Summers 83
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 84
THE FIRST FLAG 87
LONGFELLOW’S ARM-CHAIR 88
THE ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART 89
SINGING—Robert Louis Stevenson 91
MARCH: CELIA THAXTER
THE FOUR WINDS—Edmund Clarence Stedman 93
THE BAG OF WINDS 94
THE FEAST OF DOLLS 97
THE FEAST OF FLAGS 98
FRANKLIN’S KITE 100
BOATS SAIL ON THE RIVERS—Christina G. Rossetti 102
THE STORY OF A WATER-DROP—Eva Mayne (_Adapted_) 103
APRIL: LUCY LARCOM
THE SLEEPING PRINCESS—Jacob and William Grimm (_Adapted_) 106
AN OPEN SECRET—Unknown 110
THE FEAST OF EGGS—Christoph Schmid (_Adapted_) 111
THE EASTER EGG—Christoph Schmid (_Adapted_) 114
THE FARMER AND THE BIRDS 116
MAY: EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER
MARY’S MEADOW—Juliana Horatio Ewing (_Adapted_) 119
THE MAY PARTY 122
COME, MY DOLLY—Lydia Avery Coonley-Ward 124
PROSERPINA—Nathaniel Hawthorne (_Adapted_) 125
HAWTHORNE AND HIS CHILDREN 131
JUNE: SELECTED
THUMBLING—Hans Christian Andersen (_Adapted_) 134
MIDSUMMER NIGHT—Shakespeare (_Adapted_) 143
THE TEETER—Maud Burnham 144
THE NIXIE’S MUSIC—Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen (_Adapted_) 145
JULY: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY
AMERICA—Samuel F. Smith 150
LIBERTY BELL 152
THE SOLDIER BIRD 155
THE CALICO’S STORY—The Youths’ Companion (_Adapted_) 157
AUGUST: ELLA HIGGINSON
THE SIX LITTLE SEA-MAIDS—Andersen (_Adapted_) 162
THE SINGER AND THE CRICKET 166
KING SOLOMON AND THE BEES 168
THE LITTLE MAID OF THE LIGHTHOUSE 169
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD MORNING—Lord Houghton 173
WORD LIST 177
Sing a song of Seasons! Something bright in all! Flowers in the summer, Fires in the fall.
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
SEPTEMBER.
INDIAN CORN.
Long ago the Indians lived where we now live.
The Indian house was a tent covered with skins or bark. These tents were called wigwams.
The Indians wore clothes made of deerskin. Often these were covered with pretty beads.
Indian boys played ball, and swam in the rivers. Sometimes they went into the woods to hunt with their bows and arrows.
Indian girls played with dolls made of deerskin. Sometimes they helped their mothers plant the corn or cook the food.
The Indian baby’s cradle was a bag made of skin. It was tied to a board.
The Indian mother carried the baby on her back in this cradle.
Often she hung the cradle on a branch of a tree. The wind rocked the little cradle.
Sometimes the Indian father wore feathers in his hair, and painted his face. This made him look very fierce.
Indian children never cried. More than anything else they wanted to be brave.
II
One day some white people came over the sea in a ship. They were called Pilgrims.
It was cold, and snow was on the ground.
The Pilgrims sent out some men to walk along the shore.
They were looking for a good place to build their log-houses.
They soon came to a pile of sand. They began to dig, and found a basket full of corn. It belonged to the Indians.
The Pilgrims did not know that the Indians could make such large, strong baskets. It took two men to lift the basket of corn from the ground.
The white men had never seen Indian corn.
“How beautiful it is!” they said.
The Pilgrims took some of the corn to plant in the spring. The next summer they paid the Indians for all they had taken.
A kind Indian taught them how to plant the corn. He also taught them how to cook it.
Indian corn is one of the most useful of all the plants that grow.
THE COMING OF THE CORN.
Hiawatha, the young Indian chief, was alone in the woods.
He was thinking what he could do to help his people.
He could not rise from his bed of leaves, as he had not eaten anything for three days.
Then a young man dressed in green and yellow came to him.
“Oh, my Hiawatha!” he said. “I am Mondamin, the friend of man.
“I have come to tell you how you can help your people. Arise from your bed and wrestle with me.”
Hiawatha grew stronger and stronger as he wrestled with Mondamin. Three times Mondamin came and wrestled with Hiawatha.
Then Mondamin said, “The next time we wrestle you will win. Take off my green and yellow clothes. Make a bed for me to lie in where the sun may come and warm me.
“No one but you must watch beside me, until I come again with the sunshine.”
Hiawatha made the bed as Mondamin had told him, and then went home. Every day he watched the place where Mondamin was lying.
At last he saw a small green feather coming up from the earth.
Before the summer was over, the corn with its soft yellow hair stood before him, tall and beautiful.
Then Hiawatha was glad, and cried, “It is Mondamin, the friend of man!”
He called the Indians and showed them the corn. Then he said, “It is a gift for you, my people, and it will always be your food.”
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW’S “Hiawatha” (_Adapted_).
ARABELLA’S PARTY.
“Grandma, Arabella wants a party, and there are no dolls to come to it,” said Ruth.
“Peter has been lying in my room a great many years,” said Grandma. “I think he would like to come to a party.”
Ruth laughed when Grandma gave her the rag baby. He wore such queer clothes.
“Your father played with Peter when he was a little boy,” said Grandma. “He liked Sally Squash, too. Shall we ask her to the party?”
Ruth followed Grandma into the garden. They soon found a long squash.
Grandma cut a face in the small end, and put a white paper dress on the squash. Then Sally was ready for the party.
“I should like to ask Patty Corncob,” said Grandma. “I played with her when I was a little girl.”
Grandma tied a head and arms made of paper on a corncob. Then she made a pink paper dress and cap.
“Oh, how pretty!” said Ruth as she looked at Patty Corncob. “I like her almost as well as Arabella.”
Grandma drew a face in the head of a clothespin, and put on a blue paper dress and hat.
“This is Betty Clothes-pin,” said Grandma. “She came to my parties long ago.”
Ruth could not tell which she liked the better, Patty or Betty.
They all sat down under a tree, and ate the cake that Dinah had baked for the party.
Arabella did not look like the other dolls. She had blue eyes and yellow hair, and wore a beautiful silk dress.
But she smiled and seemed to have almost as good a time as Grandma and Ruth.
THE CATERPILLAR.
Fuzzy little caterpillar, Crawling, crawling on the ground! Fuzzy little caterpillar, Nowhere, nowhere to be found, Though we’ve looked and looked and hunted Everywhere around!
When the little caterpillar Found his fuzzy coat too tight, Then a snug cocoon he made him, Spun of silk so soft and light; Rolled himself away within it, Slept there day and night.
See how this cocoon is stirring! Now a little head we spy. What! Is _this_ our caterpillar Spreading gorgeous wings to dry? Soon the free and happy creature Flutters gaily by.
EMILIE POULSSON.
RUMPEL-STILTS-KIN.
There was once a wicked miller who said to his king, “I have a beautiful daughter who can spin straw into gold.”
The king loved gold more than anything else, so he carried the miller’s daughter away to his castle.
He filled a large room with straw, and said to her, “If you do not spin this straw into gold before morning, you must die.”
Then the king went out and locked the door.
The miller’s daughter sat down and began to cry. She did not know how to spin straw into gold.
Soon a brownie came in, and said, “What will you give me if I spin this straw into gold?”
“My gold chain,” said the miller’s daughter.
The brownie sat down beside the spinning-wheel, and sang,
“Round about, round about, Lo and behold! Reel away, reel away, Straw into gold!”
Around went the wheel, and soon all the straw was spun into gold.
When the king came in the next morning, he was very glad to see so much gold. But he wanted more.
So he locked the miller’s daughter into a larger room filled with straw.
II
Again the brownie came in, and said, “What will you give me if I spin this straw into gold?”
The miller’s daughter said, “My gold ring.”
So again he sang,
“Round about, round about, Lo and behold! Reel away, reel away, Straw into gold!”
The king was so glad to see all the gold, that he filled a much larger room with straw.
“Now,” he said, “if you spin this straw into gold I will make you my queen.”
When the brownie came that night, the miller’s daughter said, “I have nothing else to give you.”
“Will you give me your first little child, when you are queen?” said the brownie.
“Yes,” said the miller’s daughter.
Once more the brownie sang. The wheel went round, and soon the room was filled with gold.
The king was so glad that he made the miller’s daughter his queen.
When she held her first little child in her arms, she was so happy that she did not think about the brownie.
But one day he came to take away the baby. The poor queen was very unhappy.
Then the brownie said, “If in three days you can find out my name, I will not take away your child.”
III
The queen sent all over the land to find out the queerest names.
The first day passed, and the second day passed, and she could not tell the brownie his name.
On the third day a man came to the queen and said, “Last night as I was walking through the woods, I saw a brownie dancing around a bonfire and singing,
“To-day I brew, to-morrow I bake, Next day the queen’s child I shall take. How glad I am that nobody knows That my name is Rumpel-Stilts-Kin!”
This made the queen very happy. When the brownie came in she said,
“Is your name Tom?”
“No, my queen.”
“Is it John?”
“No, my queen.”
“Is it Robert?”
“No, my queen.”
“Can your name be Rumpel-Stilts-Kin?”
“An old fairy has told you! An old fairy has told you!” he cried. Then he ran away.
The queen laughed and said,
“Good morning to you, Mr. Rumpel-Stilts-Kin.”
JACOB AND WILLIAM GRIMM (_Adapted_).
OCTOBER.
HIAWATHA’S CANOE.
Hiawatha, the young Indian chief, lived in the woods, by the Big Sea Water. He wanted to make a canoe.
He said to the Birch-tree, “Take off your white cloak, for the summer is coming, and you will not need it.”
The Birch-tree waved its branches in the wind and said, “Take my cloak, O Hiawatha!”
So Hiawatha cut the beautiful white bark from the tree.
Then he said to the Cedar, “Give me your branches, so my canoe will be strong.”
There was a cry from the top of the Cedar, but it said, “Take my branches, O Hiawatha!”
So Hiawatha cut them off and bent them, to make a frame for his canoe.
“Give me your roots, O Larch-tree,” Hiawatha said, “to hold the ends of my canoe together.”
The Larch-tree said sadly, “Take them all, O Hiawatha!”
Hiawatha pulled up the roots of the Larch-tree, and sewed the bark together. Then he said to the Fir-tree, “Give me your balm, so that the water may not come into my canoe.”
And the tall dark Fir-tree said, “Take my balm, O Hiawatha!”
So Hiawatha made his birch canoe. And it lay upon the water like a yellow leaf in autumn.
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW’S “Hiawatha.” (_Adapted_).
HIAWATHA’S SAILING.
“Give me of your bark, O Birch-Tree! Of your yellow bark, O Birch-Tree! Growing by the rushing river, Tall and stately in the valley! I a light canoe will build me, That shall float upon the river Like a yellow leaf in Autumn, Like a yellow water-lily!”
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.
LADY GRAY.
One summer Robert and his father and mother lived in a little house in the woods.
They saw a squirrel running about in the trees.
Robert put some nuts on the ground and hid behind a tree. Soon the squirrel came and carried them away.
The next day he put the nuts nearer the house. The squirrel came again and carried them away.
So it went on for some time. Each day Robert put the nuts nearer the house.
They named the squirrel Lady Gray.
One day Robert’s mother sat down in a chair on the porch. She put some nuts on the floor and kept very still.
After a while Lady Gray came up on the porch. She looked at Robert’s mother, then she took a nut and ran away as fast as she could.
By and by Lady Gray became so gentle that she would hunt for nuts in their pockets.
One morning Father put a nut on his shoulder. Lady Gray jumped on Father’s shoulder and ate the nut. How they all laughed.
II
The next summer Robert went again to the little house in the woods.
Robert’s father wanted the house to look pretty, so he painted it white and green.
In the morning Robert called out, “Mother! Mother! See what the squirrels have done!”
The porch was covered with marks of little feet.
Lady Gray saw Robert and came up on the porch. A baby squirrel was with her. They named it Little Son.
Soon Little Son was as gentle as Lady Gray. Sometimes he would let them put their hands on his soft fur.
One day Robert was out walking with his father. They saw a hole in an old tree.
Robert’s father held him up so that he could put his hand in the hole. The squirrel’s nest was almost full of nuts.
All summer Robert had good times, playing with Lady Gray and Little Son.
THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER.
There was once a kind old shoemaker who was very poor. He had leather to make only one pair of shoes.
He cut these out and went to bed. The next morning the shoes were standing ready upon the table.
The shoemaker sold them and bought leather to make two pairs of shoes.
He cut these out, and again found the shoes made when he got up in the morning.
He sold the shoes and bought leather to make four pairs. The work he cut out was always done in the morning.
One evening the shoemaker said to his wife, “I should like to sit up to-night and see who it is that makes the shoes.”
In the night two little elves ran in. They sewed and rapped and tapped so quickly that the shoes were made long before morning. Then the elves ran away.
The next day the shoemaker’s wife said, “These elves have made us rich. I should like to do something for them. You make each of them a little pair of shoes, and I will make them some clothes.”
On Christmas eve they put the shoes and the clothes on the table. Then they hid behind the door to see what the elves would do.
When the elves saw the clothes, they quickly put them on. They laughed and danced and jumped about.
At last they danced out of the door and across the grass and were seen no more. But the kind shoemaker and his wife lived a long and happy life.
JACOB and WILLIAM GRIMM (_Adapted_).
HALLOWE’EN.
Big Brother Ben, Sister Polly and little Martha sat talking together under the old oak-tree.
Father went out to see what the children were doing.
“Oh, Father,” said Polly, “to-night is Hallowe’en!”
“May we have some pumpkins to make Jack-o’-lanterns?” asked Ben.
“Yes,” said Father. “Come with me.”
They went down to the corn-field and each chose a yellow pumpkin.
Brother Ben cut a round piece out of the stem-end of each pumpkin. The little girls then went to work to dig out the pumpkins.
After this Brother Ben cut eyes, nose, and mouth on the outside. The last thing was to make a little hole in which to set a candle.
“How would you like a bonfire to-night?” asked Father.
This pleased Brother Ben so much that he threw his cap in the air and cried,
“Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”
II
When evening came Father and Brother Ben made a large bonfire near the corn-field.
They all sat around the bonfire and ate the good things which Mother and Sister Polly carried down in a basket.
Father showed them how to toast apples, pop corn and roast nuts in the fire.
“Now let us march around with the pumpkins on our heads,” said Brother Ben.
Mother sat on a rug and watched them. After a while little Martha joined her and soon the rug held them all.
“Please, Mother, tell us a story,” said little Martha.
Mother told them about the brownies and elves who come out on Hallowe’en to help the farmer, and all the busy people who work for us.
“I know a story about them, Mother,” said little Martha.
“Let us hear it, dear,” said Mother.
So little Martha told them about the Elves and the Shoemaker.
“I’ll tell about Cinderella and her Pumpkin Coach,” said Polly.
Father told them the story of Mondamin and his gift of corn to the Indians.
“I can say the poem,” said Brother Ben. “We learned it in school.”
Brother Ben gave the poem so well that they were all very still for a few moments.
Then Mother said softly, “It is bedtime now.”
As they turned away from the fire Polly said, “The Jack-o’-lanterns were fun, but I like the stories best of all.”
POP-CORN SONG.
In they drop with a click, clack, click, Kernels so hard and yellow; ’Round they whirl with a hop, skip, hop, Each little dancing fellow. Up they leap, with a snap, crack, snap, Tossing so light and airy; Out they pour with a soft, swift rush, Snowballs fit for a fairy.
SOPHIA T. NEWMAN.
PHILEMON AND BAUCIS.
A long time ago, on a high hill, lived old Philemon and his good wife Baucis.
They were poor, but they were two of the kindest old people that ever lived. Often they went without their supper to give it to some traveler.
One evening, Philemon and Baucis sat on their door-step looking at the sunset.
Soon they saw two travelers coming up the hill. Some children ran after them, shouting and setting their dogs on them.
“Come, Wife,” said Philemon. “Let us go and meet these travelers.”
“You go to them,” said Baucis, “while I get them some bread and milk.”
Philemon went to meet the travelers and said, “Welcome, strangers! Welcome!”