McGuffeys Second Eclectic Reader | Page 5

same time.

LESSON XI.
twit-twee bough (bow) twit-twit top'most lock
spray mate close'ly ros'y an'swer (an'ser)

[Illustration: Bird perched on tree branch.]
WHAT A BIRD TAUGHT.
1. Why do you come to my apple tree, Little bird so gray? Twit-twit,
twit-twit, twit-twit-twee! That was all he would say.
2. Why do you lock your rosy feet So closely round the spray?
Twit-twit, twit-twit, twit-tweet! That was all he would say.
3. Why on the topmost bough do you get, Little bird so gray?
Twit-twit-twee! twit-twit-twit! That was all he would say.
4. Where is your mate? come, answer me, Little bird so gray.
Twit-twit-twit! twit-twit-twee! That was all he would say. Alice Cary.

LESSON XII.
bright'ness pleas'ant learned dress
play'mates un kind' rag'ged word
ques'tions smil'ing crowed child
Sun'beam cheered Sus'ie gave
glad'ness un less' name gate
SUSIE SUNBEAM.
1. Susie Sunbeam was not her real name; that was Susan Brown. But
every one called her Susie Sunbeam, because she had such a sweet,
smiling face, and always brought brightness with her when she came.
[Illustration: Older girls playing with younger girl. Three children
standing in background.]
2. Her grandfather first gave her this name, and it seemed to fit the little

girl so nicely that soon it took the place of her own.
3. Even when a baby, Susie laughed and crowed from morning till
night. No one ever heard her cry unless she was sick or hurt.
4. When she had learned to walk, she loved to go about the house and
get things for her mother, and in this way save her as many steps as she
could.
5. She would sit by her mother's side for an hour at a time, and ask her
ever so many questions, or she would take her new book and read.
6. Susie was always pleasant in her play with other children. She never
used an unkind word, but tried to do whatever would please her
playmates best.
7. One day, a poor little girl with a very ragged dress was going by and
Susie heard some children teasing her and making fun of her.
8. She at once ran out to the gate, and asked the poor little girl to come
in. "What are you crying for?" Susie asked.
9. "Because they all laugh at me," she said.
10. Then Susie took the little girl into the house. She cheered her up
with kind words, and gave her a nice dress and a pair of shoes.
11. This brought real joy and gladness to the poor child, and she, too,
thought that Susie was rightly called Sunbeam.

LESSON XIII.
wood'lands di vine' raised un til' droop'ing blessed
whose seek up'ward hov'els in'ner steal
heav'en hearts lil'ies die roam'ing

IF I WERE A SUNBEAM.
1. "If I were a sunbeam, I know what I'd do; I would seek white lilies,
Roaming woodlands through. I would steal among them, Softest light
I'd shed, Until every lily Raised its drooping head.
2. "If I were a sunbeam, I know where I'd go; Into lowly hovels, Dark
with want and woe: Till sad hearts looked upward, I would shine and
shine; Then they'd think of heaven, Their sweet home and mine."
3. Are you not a sunbeam, Child, whose life is glad With an inner
brightness Sunshine never had? Oh, as God has blessed you, Scatter
light divine! For there is no sunbeam But must die or shine.

SECOND READER. 35
LESSON XIV.
sup port' a long' boots be long' dol'lar years
man'age taught cor'ner no'tice mon'ey black'ing
gen'tle men hon'est (on'est) quite buy earned
[Illustration: Boy offering to shine man's shoes.]
HENRY, THE BOOTBLACK.
1. Henry was a kind, good boy. His father was dead, and his mother
was very poor. He had a little sister about two years old.
2. He wanted to help his mother, for she could not always earn enough
to buy food for her little family.
3. One day, a man gave him a dollar for finding a pocketbook which he
had lost.
4. Henry might have kept all the money, for no one saw him when he

found it. But his mother had taught him to be honest, and never to keep
what did not belong, to him.
5. With the dollar he bought a box, three brushes, and some blacking.
He then went to the corner of the street, and said to every one whose
boots did not look nice, "Black your boots, sir, please?"
6. He was so polite that gentlemen soon began to notice him, and to let
him black their boots. The first day he brought home fifty cents, which
he gave to his mother to buy food with.
7. When he gave her the money, she said, as she dropped a