BROOKS'S READERS
THIRD YEAR
BY
STRATTON D. BROOKS
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
NEW YORK ❖ CINCINNATI ❖ CHICAGO
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
Copyright, 1906, by
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY.
Copyright, 1907, Tokyo.
BROOKS'S READERS. THIRD YEAR.
CONTENTS
Page The Magic Windows 11 The Land of Story Books Robert Louis Stevenson 16 O Big, Round World Alice C. D. Riley 18 A Wonderful Ball Adapted 19 The Great, Wide World William Brighty Rands 21 Flowers that Tell Time Kate L. Brown 22 Dandelion George Cooper 24 The Farmer's Wheat Field W. E. Baldwin 25 The Song of the Wheat Selected 27 The Song of the Mill Wheel Selected 29 The Sky Bridge Christina G. Rossetti 30 The Apple-tree Mother Selected 31 The Diamond Dipper An Old Legend 39 Beautiful Things David Swing 43 My Country Marie Zetterberg 44 My Own Land Forever John G. Whittier 44 Home, Sweet Home John Howard Payne 45 Verses for September, October, November 46 Emily Dickinson, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Dora Read Goodale An Autumn Riddle Selected 48 Leaves at Play Frank D. Sherman 48 Where Go the Boats Robert Louis Stevenson 49 The Corn Song John G. Whittier 50 Shapes of Leaves Adapted 52 Dogs that almost Talk Edith Carrington 56ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The selections from the writings of Henry W. Longfellow, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, John G. Whittier, Frank Dempster Sherman, Olive Thorne Miller, Dora Read Goodale, Lucy Larcom, Alice and Phœbe Cary, are used by permission of and by special arrangements with Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the authorized publishers of the writings of these authors.
Special arrangements have also been made with the following publishers for permission to use selections from their publications: Little, Brown & Co. for a stanza from Emily Dickinson's poems; The Macmillan Company for "Clovers," copyright, 1902; Charles Scribner's Sons for "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod," by Eugene Field, and for a stanza from "Rhymes and Jingles," by Mary Mapes Dodge.
Acknowledgments are also due to Silver, Burdett & Company for "Flowers that tell Time" and "Maple Leaves," from The Plant Baby and its Friends, by Kate Louise Brown, copyright, 1897, and also for a selection from Stories of Starland; to the Century Company for "How Birds learn to Sing," by Mary Mapes Dodge, from When Life is Young; to F. A. Stokes Company for a selection from The Snow Baby, by Josephine D. Peary, copyright, 1901; to the Biglow & Main Company for "The Easter Song," from Little Pilgrim Songs; to A. Flanagan Company for "The First Thanksgiving," from The Plan Book; to James Baldwin for "Abraham Lincoln," from Four Great Americans; to Alice C. D. Riley and to Lydia A. C. Ward for selections from their writings.
Acknowledgments are due to Miss Frances Lilian Taylor of Galesburg, Illinois, and to Mr. W. J. Button of Chicago for valuable assistance rendered in choosing the selections comprised in this volume.
THE MAGIC WINDOWS.
THE MAGIC WINDOWS
I
Did you
You ask me how you can do this? I will answer by telling you a story.
There was once a happy boy who played through the long summer days. And where he played the meadows were green, and the sky was blue, and the sunshine was bright.
On every side the flowers nodded like smiling playmates. Birds chirped to him from the bushes. The rabbits gave him a friendly look as they went leaping by. The squirrels watched him with bright eyes as they ran up and down the trees.
A little brook flowed through the meadows. On its sandy bed the happy boy found bright pebbles. His toy ships sailed proudly upon its waves or rested in the quiet harbors along its banks. Tiny fishes darted from their hiding places to eat the crumbs which he threw into the water.
"I wonder where the brook goes," said the happy boy. "I should like to follow it and see. How I wish the school bell would never call me from my play! I would rather sail my boat than learn to read, and I like the rabbits and squirrels better than my books."
II.
harbor magic curious spun crumbs delight slumber cubsThe little brook heard the boy's words as it went flowing by. On its way to the great river it ran through a forest where fairyland was hidden. There it told the fairies of the happy boy and of his wishes.
By and by the sun went down and playtime ended. Night came, and the Shut-eye train carried the boy far away to the Land of Slumber.
There a wise fairy met the happy boy. "Come with me," she said, "and I will let you look through Magic Windows into a land of wonders."
Through the Magic Windows the boy looked with delight. All the things that he had ever wished to see were before him. There were the hiding places of the wild birds. There were the animals that live in the fields and in the woods.
He could look into the birds' nests that hung on the tallest trees. He could peep into the holes where the squirrels kept their little ones.
He could see the mole digging long halls under ground. He could watch the spider as it spun the silk for its curious house.
Rabbits were hiding their young in the long grass, and little foxes were playing by their rocky dens.
He could even see the bear's cubs curled up like balls in the hollow trunks of trees.
III.
seal reindeer monkeys crept huge dashing elephants hollow"Look to the north," said the fairy.
And then the happy boy looked away over the great round world. He saw strange lands and strange people. Far off in the north he could see the land of snow and ice. There were the homes of the seal, the reindeer, and the white bear.
Children dressed in fur crept out of snow houses. They went dashing over the snow in sleds drawn by dogs.
Again the happy boy looked, and the wonder lands of the south lay before him. Gay flowers blossomed everywhere. Bright-colored birds found a safe home in the great forest.
He could see the lion and his mate in their home. Hundreds of monkeys played in the branches of the trees. Tigers ran through the tall grass, and huge elephants pushed their way among the trees and bushes.
Once more the happy boy looked through the Magic Windows, and oh, how wonderful! He could see into fairy land where animals talk, and where the playthings are alive.
"Oh, kind fairy, let me stay here," said the happy boy. "I can not leave this land of wonders."
"Would you like to have the Magic Windows for your own?" asked the fairy. "Then listen well. When the school bell rings, it will call you to the land of books. Through the Magic Windows of your books you may see greater wonders than fairies can tell or fairy land can show."
Another day came with the rising sun. Once more the school bell rang. Gladly the happy boy left his play, for in his books he would find the Magic Windows.
THE LAND OF STORY BOOKS
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.
All in the dark along the wall,
And follow round the forest track
Away behind the sofa back.
All in my hunter's camp I lie,
And play at books that I have read.
Till it is time to go to bed.
These are my starry solitudes;
And there the river by whose brink
The roaring lions come to drink.
As if in firelit camp they lay,
And I, like to an Indian scout,
Around their party prowled about.
Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear Land of Story Books.
—Robert Louis Stevenson.
How wonderful you are.
Your oceans are so very deep,
Your hills reach up so far;
Down through your valleys wide and green,
Such mighty rivers flow;
Upon your great sky-reaching hills,
Such giant forests grow.—Alice C. D. Riley.
By permission of John Church Company,
owners of the copyright.
A WONDERFUL BALL
rough surface stretches drifts level islands feathery drearyI have heard of a wonderful ball which floats in the sweet blue air, and has soft white clouds about it as it floats along.
There are many charming stories to be told about this wonderful ball. Some of them you shall hear.
It is so large that many houses are built upon it. Men and women live upon it, and little children can play upon its surface.
In some places it is soft and green, like the long meadows between the hills. In other parts there are trees for miles and miles on every side. All kinds of wild animals live in the great forests that grow on this wonderful ball.
Then again in some places it is steep and rough. And there are mountains so high that the snow lies upon their tops all the year around.
In other parts there are no hills at all, but level land, and quiet little ponds of blue water. There the white water lilies grow and fishes play among the lily stems.
Now, if we look on another side of the ball, we shall see no ponds, but something very dreary. A great plain of sand stretches away on every side. There are no trees, and the sunshine beats down upon the burning sand.
We look again, and we see a great body of water. Many islands are in the sea, and great ships sail upon it.
Look at one more side of this ball as it turns around. Jack Frost must have spent all his longest winter nights here. For see what a palace of ice he has built for himself.
How cold it looks! See the clear, blue ice, almost as blue as the sky. And look at the snow, drifts upon drifts, and the feathery flakes filling the air.
Now, what do you think of this ball, so white and cold, so warm and green, so dreary and rough, as it floats along in the sweet blue air, with the flocks of white clouds about it?
I will tell you one thing more. The wise men have said that this earth on which we live is just such a ball. We shall know more about this when we are older and wiser.
THE GREAT, WIDE WORLD
With the wonderful water round you curled,
And the wonderful grass upon your breast—
World, you are beautifully dressed.
And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree;
It walks on the water, and whirls the mills,
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.
With the wheat fields that nod and the rivers that flow,
With cities and gardens, and cliffs and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles?
—William Brighty Rands.