Brooks's Readers, Third Year.

by Stratton D. Brooks.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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 Phbe 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 d.i.c.kinson'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. b.u.t.ton of Chicago for valuable a.s.sistance rendered in choosing the selections comprised in this volume.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MAGIC WINDOWS.]

THE MAGIC WINDOWS

I

Did you ever hear of the Magic Windows? Those who look through them behold many strange and beautiful sights. If you will but make them your own, you may enter the fairyland of wonder and see all its rich treasures.

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 cubs

The 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 gra.s.s, and little foxes were playing by their rocky dens.

He could even see the bear's cubs curled up like b.a.l.l.s 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 gra.s.s, 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

At evening, when the lamp is lit, Around the fire my parents sit; They sit at home and talk and sing, And do not play at anything.