THE NIGHT WIND

EUGENE FIELD

Reader 1

Have you ever heard the wind go “Yooooo”?

‘Tis a pitiful sound to hear!
It seems to chill you through and through
With a strange and speechless fear.

All
‘Tis the voice of the night that broods outside
When folks should be asleep,

Reader 2
And many and many’s the time I’ve cried
To the darkness brooding far and wide
Over the land and the deep:
“Whom do you want, O lonely night,
That you wail the long hours through?”

All
And the night would say in its ghostly way:
“Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!”

Reader 3

My mother told me long ago

(When I was a little lad)
That when the night went wailing so,
Somebody had been bad;

All
And then, when I was snug in bed,
Whither I had been sent,
With the blankets pulled up round my head,
I’d think of what my mother’d said
And wonder what boy she meant!

Reader 4

And “Who’s been bad to-day?” I’d ask

Of the wind that hoarsely blew,

All
And the voice would say in its meaningful way:
“Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!”

Reader 5

That this was true I must allow –

You’ll not believe it, though!
Yes, though I’m quite a model now,
I was not always so,
And if you doubt what things I say,
Suppose you make the test.
Suppose, when you’ve been bad some day
And up to bed are sent away
From Mother and the rest–
Suppose you ask, “Who has been bad?”
And then you’ll hear what’s true,
For the wind will moan in its ruefulest tone:

All
“Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!”
THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
JOHN GODFREY SAXE

1. All It was six men of Hindustan,

2. To learning much inclined,
3. Who went to see the elephant
4. (Though all of them were blind)
5. That each by observation
6. Might satisfy his mind.

7. Reader 1 The First approached the elephant,

8. And, happening to fall
9. Against his broad and sturdy side,
10. At once began to bawl:
11. All "God bless me! but the elephant
12. Is nothing but a wall!"

13. Reader 2 The Second, feeling of the tusk,

14. Cried: "Ho! what have we here,
15. So very round and smooth and sharp?
16. To me 'tis mighty clear
17. All This wonder of an elephant
18. Is very like a spear!"

19. Reader 3 The Third approached the animal,

20. And, happening to take
21. The squirming trunk within his hands,
22. Thus boldly up and spake:
23. All "I see," quoth he, "the elephant
24. Is very like a snake!"

25. Reader 4 The Fourth reached out his eager hand

26. And felt about the knee.
27. "What most this wondrous beast is like
28. Is mighty plain," quoth he.
29. All "'Tis clear enough the elephant
30. Is very like a tree."

31. Reader 5 The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

32. Said: "E'en the blindest man
33. Can tell what this resembles most.
34. Deny the fact who can,
35. All This marvel of an elephant
36. Is very like a fan!"

37. Reader 6 The Sixth no sooner had begun

38. About the beast to grope
39. Than, seizing on the swinging tail
40. That fell within his scope,
41. All "I see," quoth he, "the elephant
42. Is very like a rope!"

43. Reader 7 And so these men of Hindustan

44. Disputed loud and long,
45. Each in his own opinion
46. Exceeding stiff and strong,
47. All Though each was partly in the right
48. And all were in the wrong!

49. Reader 8 So, oft in theologic wars

50. The disputants, I ween,
51. Rail on in utter ignorance
52. Of what each other mean
53. All And prate about an elephant
54. Not one of them has seen!

Glossary:
E’en - even
Hindustan – the Hindu areas of India
Prate - babble
Spake - spoke
Theologic – studies about God
Ween – suppose
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me

Maya Angelou

Reader 1 Shadows on the wall

Noises down the hall

Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Reader 2 Bad dogs barking loud

Big ghosts in a cloud

Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Reader 3 Mean old Mother Goose

Lions on the loose

They don’t frighten me at all

Reader 4 Dragons breathing flame

On my counterpane

That doesn’t frighten me at all.

Reader 5 I go boo

Make them shoo

I make fun

Way they run

I won’t cry

So they fly

I just smile

They go wild

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Reader 6 Tough guys fight

All alone at night

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Reader 7 Panthers in the park

Strangers in the dark

No, they don’t frighten me at all.

Reader 8 That new classroom where

(Kissy little girls

With their hair in curls)

They don’t frighten me at all.

Reader 9 Don’t show me frogs and snakes

And listen for my scream,

If I’m afraid at all

It’s only in my dreams.

Reader 10 I’ve got a magic charm

That I keep up my sleeve

I can walk the ocean floor

And never have to breathe.

All Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Not at all

Not at all.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

GRANDFATHER'S CLOCK
HENRY CLAY WORK

1. Reader 1 My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf,

2. So it stood ninety years on the floor.
3. Reader 2 It was taller by half than the old man himself,
4. Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.
5. Reader 3 It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born
6. And was always his treasure and pride,
7. All But it stopped –short-, never to go again,
8. When the old man died.

9. Ninety years without slumbering-

10. Tick, tock, tick, tock.
11. His life seconds numbering-
12. Tick, tock, tick, tock.
13. It stopped -short-, never to go again,
14. When the old man died.

15. Reader 4 In watching its pendulum swing to and fro

16. Many hours had he spent while a boy,
17. Reader 5 And in childhood and manhood the clock seemed to
know
18. And to share both his grief and his joy,
19. Reader 6 For it struck twenty-four when he entered the door
20. With a blooming and beautiful bride,
21. All But it stopped –short-, never to go again,
22. When the old man died.

23. Reader 7 My grandfather said of those he could hire,

24. Not a servant so faithful he found,
25. Reader 8 For it wasted no time and had but one desire -
26. At the close of each week to be wound.
27. Reader 9 And it kept in its place, not a frown on its face,
28. And its hands never hung by its side,
29. All But it stopped –short-, never to go again,
30. When the old man died.

31. Reader 10 It rang an alarm in the dead of night,

32. An alarm that for years had been dumb,
33. Reader 11 And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight,
34. That his hour for departure had come.
35. Reader 12 Still the clock kept the time with a soft and muffled
chime
36. As we silently stood by his side,
37. All But it stopped –short-, never to go again,
38. When the old man died.
Glossary:
Muffled – wrapped up to reduce sound
Pennyweight – about 1/20 of an ounce
Pluming – dressing
DRIED-APPLE PIES
(author unknown)

1. All I loathe, abhor, detest, despise,

2. Abominate dried-apple pies.
3. Reader 1 I like good bread, I like good meat,
4. Or anything that's fit to eat,
5. But of all poor grub beneath the skies
6. The poorest is dried-apple pies.
7. Reader 2 Give me the toothache or sore eyes,
8. But don't give me dried-apple pies.
9. Group 1 The farmer takes his gnarliest fruit,
10. 'Tis wormy, bitter, and hard, to boot.
11. Group 2 He leaves the hulls to make us cough,
12. And don't take half the peeling off.
13. Group 1 Then on a dirty cord it’s strung
14. And in a garret window hung,
15. Group 2 And there it serves as roost for flies,
16. Until it's made up into pies.
17. All Tread on my corns, or tell me lies,
18. But don't pass me dried-apple pies.

Glossary:
Pies – small pies for individual persons
Garret – an attic
Grub - food
Hulls – coverings (shells) of seeds (apple seeds)
Corns – hardened skin on toes
HOME, SWEET HOME
JOHN HOWARD PAYNE

1. Reader 1 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

2. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
3. Reader 2 A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
4. Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.
5. All Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
6. There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

7. Reader 3 An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain.

8. Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
9. Reader 4 The birds singing gaily, that came at my call -
10. Give me them - and the peace of mind, dearer than all!
11. All Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
12. There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

13. Reader 5 I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild

14. And feel that my mother now thinks of her child,
15. Reader 6 As she looks on that moon from our own cottage door
16. Thro' the woodbine, whose fragrance shall cheer me no
more.
17. All Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
18. There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

19. Reader 7 How sweet 'tis to sit 'neath a fond father's smile
20. And the caress of a mother to soothe and beguile!
21. Reader 8 Let others delight 'mid new pleasure to roam,
22. But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of home,
23. All Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
24. There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

25. Reader 9 To thee I'll return, overburdened with care.

26. The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there.
27. Reader 10 No more from that cottage again will I roam.
28. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
29. All Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
30. There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

Glossary:
‘neath – beneath
‘tis – it is
‘mid – amid
Beguile – charm
Drear – dreary
Exile – a person separated from his/her country
Hallow – to honor as holy
Humble – modest or unimportant
Ne’er – never
Solace – comfort
Thatched – roof covered with straw
Thro’ – through
Tread – walk upon
Woodbine – a vine such as honeysuckle or Virginia creeper
PAUL REVERE'S RIDE

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2. Reader 1 Listen, my children, and you shall hear

3. Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
4. On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
5. Hardly a man is now alive
6. Who remembers that famous day and year.

7. Reader 2 He said to his friend, "If the British march

8. By land or sea from the town to-night,
9. Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
10. Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,--
11. One if by land, and two if by sea;
12. And I on the opposite shore will be,
13. Ready to ride and spread the alarm
14. Through every Middlesex village and farm,
15. For the country-folk to be up and to arm."

16. Reader 3 Then he said "Good night!" and with muffled oar
17. Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
18. Just as the moon rose over the bay,
19. Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
20. The Somerset, British man-of-war:
21. A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
22. Across the moon, like a prison-bar,
23. And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
24. By its own reflection in the tide.

25. Reader 4 Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street

26. Wanders and watches with eager ears,
27. Till in the silence around him he hears
28. The muster of men at the barrack door,
29. The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
30. And the measured tread of the grenadiers
31. Marching down to their boats on the shore.

32. Reader 5 Then he climbed to the tower of the church,

33. Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
34. To the belfry-chamber overhead,
35. And startled the pigeons from their perch
36. On the sombre rafters, that round him made
37. Masses and moving shapes of shade,--
38. By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
39. To the highest window in the wall,
40. Reader 6 Where he paused to listen and look down
41. A moment on the roofs of the town,
42. And the moonlight flowing over all.

43. Reader 7 Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,

44. In their night-encampment on the hill,
45. Wrapped in silence so deep and still
46. That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
47. The watchful night-wind, as it went
48. Creeping along from tent to tent,
49. And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
50. Reader 8 A moment only he feels the spell
51. Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
52. Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
53. For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
54. On a shadowy something far away,
55. Where the river widens to meet the bay, --
56. A line of black, that bends and floats
57. On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.

58. Reader 9 Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,

59. Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride,
60. On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
61. Now he patted his horse's side,
62. Now gazed on the landscape far and near,
63. Then impetuous stamped the earth,
64. And turned and tightened his saddle-girth;
65. Reader 10 But mostly he watched with eager search
66. The belfry-tower of the old North Church,
67. As it rose above the graves on the hill,
68. Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
69. Reader 11 And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height,
70. A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
71. He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
72. But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
73. A second lamp in the belfry burns!

74. Reader 12 A hurry of hoofs in a village-street,

75. A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
76. And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
77. Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet:
78. Reader 13 That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the
light,
79. The fate of a nation was riding that night;
80. And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,

81. Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

83. Reader 14 He has left the village and mounted the steep,
84. And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
85. Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
86. And under the alders, that skirt its edge,
87. Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
88. Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

89. Reader 15 It was twelve by the village clock

90. When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
91. He heard the crowing of the cock,
92. And the barking of the farmer's dog,
93. And felt the damp of the river-fog,
94. That rises when the sun goes down.

95. Reader 16 It was one by the village clock,

96. When he galloped into Lexington.
97. He saw the gilded weathercock
98. Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
99. And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,
100. Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
101. As if they already stood aghast
102. At the bloody work they would look upon.

103. Reader 17 It was two by the village clock,

104. When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
105. He heard the bleating of the flock,
106. And the twitter of birds among the trees,
107. And felt the breath of the morning breeze
108. Blowing over the meadows brown.
109. Reader 18 And one was safe and asleep in his bed
110. Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
111. Who that day would be lying dead,
112. Pierced by a British musket-ball.
113. Reader 19 You know the rest. In the books you have read,
114. How the British Regulars fired and fled,--
115. How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
116. From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
117. Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
118. Then crossing the fields to emerge again
119. Under the trees at the turn of the road,
120. And only pausing to fire and load.

121. Reader 20 So through the night rode Paul Revere;

122. And so through the night went his cry of alarm
123. To every Middlesex village and farm,--
124. A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
125. A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
126. And a word that shall echo forevermore!
127. All For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
128. Through all our history, to the last,
129. In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
130. The people will waken and listen to hear
131. The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
132. And the midnight message of Paul Revere.
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

George David Weiss, George Douglas, Bob Thiele

1 Reader 1 I see trees of green, red roses, too.

2 Reader 2 I see them bloom for me and for you,
3 Reader 3 And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

4 All I see skies of blue, clouds of white,

5 Bright blessed days, dark sacred nights,
6 And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

7 Reader 4 The colors of a rainbow, so pretty in the sky

8 Reader 5 Are also on the faces of people going by.
9 Reader 6 I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do.
10 Reader 7 They're really saying, I love you.

11 Reader 8 I hear babies cry, I watch them grow.

12 They'll learn much more than I'll ever know,
13 And I think to myself, what a wonderful world,
14 All Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world.