Selections by Emerson, Hawthorne, Holmes, Longfellow, Amy Lowell, James Russell Lowell, Sill, Thoreau, and Whittier are used by permission of and special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company, the authorized publishers of these authors.

Acknowledgment is made to the American Book Company for the use of selections by James Baldwin, John Esten Cooke, Edward Eggleston, Hélène Guerber, Joel Chandler Harris, William Dean Howells, James Johonnot, Orison Swett Marden, W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith, Frank R. Stockton, and Maurice Thompson.

CONTENTS

PAGE
A SHEAF OF LEGENDS
Ali Hafed's QuestOrison Swett Marden[13]
How Kilhugh Rode to Arthur's HallJames Baldwin[18]
The Gift of the White BearGeorge Webbe Dasent[25]
The Story of Iron [31]
The Wonderful ArtisanJames Baldwin[39]
Charlemagne and RolandHélène A. Guerber[46]
Keeping the BridgeThomas Babington Macaulay[50]

PIONEER DAYS
The Story of Molly PitcherFrank R. Stockton[57]
King Philip to the White SettlersEdward Everett[60]
Pioneer Life in OhioWilliam Dean Howells[62]
WitchcraftNathaniel Hawthorne[70]
Tea Parties in Old New YorkWashington Irving[70]
A School of Long AgoEdward Eggleston[73]
French Life in the NorthwestJames Baldwin[77]
A Bear StoryMaurice Thompson[82]
A Patriot of GeorgiaJoel Chandler Harris[85]
Song of the PioneersW. D. Gallagher[87]

SPECIAL DAYS
Columbus and the EclipseJames Johonnot[91]
First Thanksgiving Day ProclamationGeorge Washington[93]
Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1905Theodore Roosevelt[93]
Harvest SongJames Montgomery[95]
The Cratchits' ChristmasCharles Dickens[96]
The Holiday SpiritÉmile Souvestre[101]
Christmas in the PinesMeredith Nicholson[106]
The New Year's Dinner PartyCharles Lamb[108]
Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln [111]
O Captain! My CaptainWalt Whitman[114]
Washington's Greatest BattleFrederick Trever Hill[116]
John James AudubonW. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith[122]
Memorial Day, 1917Woodrow Wilson[125]

ADVENTURE
A Grandstand Seat in the SkyHoward Mingos[129]
Prayer for the PilotCecil Roberts[137]
A Battle with a WhaleFrank T. Bullen[138]
The Glove and the LionsLeigh Hunt[145]
How Buck Won the BetJack London[147]
The Loss of the DrakeCharlotte M. Yonge[151]
The Walrus HuntRobert M. Ballantyne[155]
The Rescue [158]
Descending the Grand Cañon [162]
Night Fishing in the South SeasFrederick O'Brien[164]
A Ballad of East and WestRudyard Kipling[168]

UNDER THE OPEN SKY
A Night among the PinesRobert Louis Stevenson[177]
Autumn on the FarmJohn Greenleaf Whittier[183]
GoldenrodElaine Goodale Eastman[186]
The PalisadesJohn Masefield[188]
On the Grasshopper and CricketJohn Keats[189]
To a WaterfowlWilliam Cullen Bryant[190]
A Night in the TropicsRichard Henry Dana, Jr.[192]
A Winter RideAmy Lowell[193]
The SnowstormRalph Waldo Emerson[194]
Snow-BoundJohn Greenleaf Whittier[195]
Tom Pinch's RideCharles Dickens[198]
Ode to a ButterflyThomas Wentworth Higginson[201]
In the DesertA. W. Kinglake[203]
May is Building her HouseRichard Le Gallienne[207]
The DaffodilsWilliam Wordsworth[208]
The Falls of LodoreRobert Southey[210]

STORIES THAT TEACH
An Adventure in Brotherhood [215]
The Prayer PerfectJames Whitcomb Riley[217]
Get Out or Get in LineElbert Hubbard[218]
John Marshall of VirginiaJohn Esten Cooke[224]
OpportunityEdward Rowland Sill[227]
Boy WantedDr. Frank Crane[228]
John LittlejohnCharles Mackay[230]
The Discontented Pendulum [232]
Two Sides to Every Question [235]
If I were a BoyWashington Gladden[237]
The Lesson of the Water MillSarah Doudney[239]
A Motto of Oxford [241]
Sailing and FailingHamilton W. Mabie[242]
Use and Abuse of TimeArcher Brown[243]
Hidden TreasureCharles Reade[245]
The Solitary ReaperWilliam Wordsworth[249]

IN GOOD HUMOR
The StagecoachMark Twain[253]
The ChameleonJames Merrick[261]
The Pickwick Club on IceCharles Dickens[263]
Darius Green and his Flying MachineJohn Townsend Trowbridge[270]
Aunt Doleful's Visit [279]
Gradgrind's Idea of EducationCharles Dickens[281]
The Deacon's Masterpiece, or The Wonderful "One-Hoss Shay"Oliver Wendell Holmes[286]
The Schoolmaster's RideWashington Irving[291]
Signing Petitions [296]

IN TIME OF WAR
Great Little RiversFrazier Hunt[299]
The Burial of Sir John MooreCharles Wolfe[302]
Lexington and ConcordWilliam Emerson[304]
Hervé RielRobert Browning[307]
The Song of the CampBayard Taylor[313]
Cabin Boy and Admiral [315]
Little GiffenFrancis O. Ticknor[320]
Marco BozzarisFitz-Greene Halleck[322]
San Juan HillGeneral John J. Pershing[325]
Burial of a Soldier in FranceGerald M. Dwyer[329]

OUR COUNTRY
America for MeHenry van Dyke[333]
Warren's Address at the Battle of Bunker HillJohn Pierpont[335]
What is an American?Hector Saint Jean de Crèvecœur[336]
The Rising of '76Thomas Buchanan Read[338]
Our Own CountryJames Montgomery[342]
Patrick Henry's Speech [343]
Abraham Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby [347]
The Flower of LibertyOliver Wendell Holmes[348]
True PatriotismBenjamin Harrison[350]
America the BeautifulKatharine Lee Bates[352]
O Beautiful! My Country!James Russell Lowell[353]
The Problems of the RepublicTheodore Roosevelt[354]
The Meaning of AmericanismCharles Evans Hughes[356]
What Constitutes a State?William Jones[359]
A Patriotic CreedEdgar A. Guest[360]

FROM GREAT BOOKS
The Lists at AshbySir Walter Scott[363]
The Twenty-Third PsalmThe Bible[376]
Doubting CastleJohn Bunyan[377]
Christmas Eve at Fezziwig'sCharles Dickens[384]
Jean Valjean Meets the BishopVictor Hugo[387]
A Voyage to LilliputJonathan Swift[394]
The Struggle in the ArenaHenryk Sienkiewicz[405]
Polonius's Advice to his SonWilliam Shakespeare[413]
MercyWilliam Shakespeare[414]

A SHEAF OF LEGENDS

To every important race of people there has come down through the ages a fine heritage of story and song. Usually these tales are largely fiction and partially fact. They may be songs about heroes; stories to account for the existence of things; moral tales; or tales of pure imagination. Whatever they are, they preserve for us from the past the thoughts or the deeds of our early ancestors; and as tales they excite our interest because of their simplicity and straightforwardness.