The selections from Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, and Lucy Larcom are used by special arrangement with and permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the authorized publishers of the writings of these authors. CONTENTS [The Elocutionary Introduction and pronunciation markups are omitted in the Project Gutenberg edition because of abundance of non-ascii characters.] SELECTIONS FOR READING Young Benjamin Franklin -- Nathaniel Hawthorne A Hard Word A Song -- James Whitcomb Riley The Journey of Life. An Allegory What I live for Try Again! -- Charlotte Elizabeth True Manliness The Miller of the Dee -- Charles Mackay A Boy on a Farm -- Charles Dudley Warner Meddlesome Mattie The Eagle The Old Eagle Tree -- John Todd A New Kind of Fun -- From the German Two Ways of telling a Story -- Henry K. Oliver The Blind Men and the Elephant -- John G. Saxe Harry's Riches A Happy New Year -- Margaret E. Sangster Jeanette and Jo -- Mary Mapes Dodge Watseka. An Indian Legend Harry and his Dog -- Mary Russell Milford Little Boy Blue -- Eugene Field If I were a Boy The Tempest -- James T. Fields The Right Way -- Frank R. Stockton An Adventure with Wolves The Old Oaken Bucket -- Samuel Woodworth The Farmer and the Fox -- James Anthony Frowde Hiawatha's Childhood -- H. W. Longfellow At Rugby School -- Thomas Hughes Somebody's Darling -- Marie La Coste The Captive -- John R. Musick The Star-Spangled Banner -- F. S. Key Our National Banner -- Edward Everett Burning the Fallow -- Susanna Moodie Piccola -- Celia L. Thaxter The Mountain and the Squirrel -- R. W. Emerson Srange Stories of Ants: White Ants -- Henry Drummond Red Ants -- Jules Michelet Dear Country Mine -- R. W. Gilder My Country The Four MacNicols -- William Black The Blue and the Gray -- Ellen H. Flagg The Captain's Feather -- Samuel M. Peck The Ride to London -- Charles Dickens The Planting of the Apple Tree -- W. C. Bryant The Apple -- John Burroughs The Bugle Song -- Alfred Tennyson The Story of Captain John Smith -- John Esten Cooke On the Banks of the Tennessee -- W. D. Gallagher Good Will -- J. T. Trowbridge The Good Reader A Legend of Bregenz -- Adelaide A. Procter The Golden Touch -- Nathaniel Hawthorne The Brook -- Alfred Tennyson The Sermon on the Mount -- Bible The Song of Steam -- G. W. Cutter The Gentle Hand -- T. S. Arthur Spring -- Henry Timrod Marion's Men -- William Gilmore Simms The Pied Piper of Hamelin -- Robert Browning FOURTH READER YOUNG BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. When Benjamin Franklin was a boy he was very fond of fishing; and many of his leisure hours were spent on the margin of the mill pond catching flounders, perch, and eels that came up thither with the tide. The place where Ben and his playmates did most of their fishing was a marshy spot on the outskirts of Boston. On the edge of the water there was a deep bed of clay, in which the boys were forced to stand while they caught their fish.