Chapter I: Front Matter

_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.

The goldenrod is yellow,
The corn is turning brown,
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of beauty
And autumn’s best of cheer.

HELEN HUNT JACKSON.
]

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.