.•jl"l2TW1l*I-*.-n:3axiMt»HHMIHin»Tt1»M4»*H«»«Ht8t>HHI'iH»»»t»**J i i W^|«ti)« i| wJ ( l i ffl li !l ®{je Htfcrarp of tlje SJnifoersrttpof Jlortf) Carolina trom Cnfcotoeb bp Wi)t Btalectic anb ^ijilantfjroptc ikiriettetf extension Bibteton 808.8 wAq tn^|,. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://archive.org/details/arrangedselectio22west Werner's Readings and Recitations No. 22 COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY ELISE WEST * WI EDGAR S. WERNER & COMPANY NEW YORK Copyright, 1800, by Edgar S, Werner Publishing & Supply Co. PREFACE. TN arranging and compiling this book of recitations, my purpose has been to present a series of selections suitable not only for the platform but also for use in schools and in parlors. My experience as a teacher has been that it is especially difficult to find good orations for young men and boys. I have proved the value of those given in this volume at prize contests and at commencement exercises of well-known schools. All of the larger prose articles have been cut and arranged by me in the way that has seemed most effective when I have either given them myself or watched them given before an audience. I beg pardon of the author and the public for passages where I have substituted words of my own in place of those originally printed. Often that which is perfectly clear when read is not so when spoken. My thanks are due to Charles Scribner's Sons, G. P. Put- nam's Sons, the Curtis Publishing Co., M. Witmark & Sons, Frank A. Munsey, George Munro, Hamlin Garland, Louise Imogen Guiney, Edmund Vance Cooke, and the many other authors and representatives of authors who have allowed me to reprint articles over which they hold a copyright. In every case the permission asked for was most courteously granted. E. W. CONTENTS PAGE After Grace 16 All for a Man. — Helen M. Winslow 140 Annunciata. — Mary Annable Fanton ..... 113 Autograph Book of Blue. — H. W. Jakeway 126 Balcony Scene from "Cyrano de Bergerac." — Edmond Rostand.... 118 Ballad of Sweet P. — Virginia Woodward Cloud 153 Battle of Shrewsbury. — Elbridge S. Brooks 77 Betrothed. — Rudyard Kipling 166 Bob. — Henry W. Grady 61 | Bob White. — Francis Charles McDonald 106 m Brief Burlesque 73 "Bud's Charge." — Louis E. Van Norman 82 Capture of Major Andre. — Chauncey M. Depew 48 Character Sketch 44 Clown's Baby. — Margaret Vandegrift ._ 184 Coon's Lullaby 28 Cupid's Alley. — Austin Dobson 89 Dat Gawgy Watahmillon. — Edmund Vance Cooke 125 Daughter of the Desert — James Clarence Harvey 17 Death of Harold. — Charles Dickens ; 142 Dollar. — Walter S. Logan 23 Elijah Brown 81 | Festival of Mars. — Elbridge S. Brooks 25 Franz— Wells T. Hawks i 107 Garfield. — Hon. Frank Fuller 87 Halliday Hunt Breakfast.— Alfred Stoddart 67 He and She. — Edwin Arnold 1 90 House of Too Much Trouble. — Albert Bigelow Paine 15 If Love Were All.— Anthony Hope 177 Informal Prayer 66 In May.— Edwin M. Stern .' 85 James Henry in School. — Emily Selinger ')8 [5] Werner's Readings No, 22. \* 6 CONTENTS PAGE Jest of Fate. — Sam Walter Foss 59 Katie an' Me. — Edmund Vance Cooke 134 Keepsakes 47 Linette. — Florence Folsom 1 33 Little Maid and the Speckled Hen.— E. W. Dennison 188 Missing Ships. — Albert Laighton 52 Mr. Brown Has His Hair Cut 168 My Childhood's Love. — Charles Kingsley 112 Naughty Little Comet.— Ella Wheeler Wilcox 36 Ole Bull's Christmas. — Wallace Bruce 171 On Board the Victory. — Ednah Robinson 129 On the Calendar 112 Over the Hill.— E. H. Hastings 80 Patience 123 Platonic Friendship. — James M. Barrie 29 Price. — Tom Masson 35 Prophecy. — Florence May Alt 124 Race for Life. — J. Fenimore Cooper 74 Rose of Rome. — George Henry Galpin 144 Sally Ann's Experience. — Eliza Calvert Hall 156 Scotch Witness , 123 Siege of Cuautla — Bunker Hill of Mexico. — Walter S. Logan 95 Slight Mistake.— Anthony Hope 101 Smith and the King. — Edward Carpenter 100 Social Glass -. 24 Song of the "Lower Classes." — Ernest Jones 34 Student-Heroes of Our War.— 'Charles W. Eliot 127 Sunshine Johnson 135 Tarpeia. — Louise Imogen Guiney 91 Ten-Hour Bill. — Thomas Babington Macaulay 45 Tousoulia. — Thomas Bailey Aldrich 181 Trying the "Rose Act."— Marietta Holley 54 Two Gray Wolves. — Mary Annable Fanton 40 Two Simple Little Ostriches. — Juliet W. Tompkins 94 Uncle Ethan Ripley's Speculation. — Hamlin Garland 9 When George Was King. — Theodosia Pickering 14 Witch. — Virginia Woodward Cloud 148 Wrong Time to Laugh * 187 Young Lochinvar. — Elise West 37 Werner's Readings No. 22. INDEX TO AUTHORS PAGE PAQB Aldrich, Thomas Bailey. . . 181 Alt, Florence May 124 Arnold, Edwin 190 Barrie, James M 29 Brooks, Elbridge S. . . .25, 77 Bruce, Wallace 171 Carpenter, Edward 100 Cloud, Virginia Woodward 148, 153 Cooke, Edmund Vance.125, 134 Cooper, J. Fenimore 74 Dennison, E. W 188 Depew, Chauncey M 48 Dickens, Charles 142 Dobson, Austin 89 Eliot, Charles W 127 Eanton, Mary Annable.40, 113 Folsom, Florence 133 Foss, Sam Walter 59 Fuller, Hon. Frank 87 Galpin, George Henry 144 Garland, Hamlin 9 Grady, Henry W 61 Guiney, Louise Imogen... 91 Hall, Eliza Calvert 156 Harvey, James Clarence. . 17 Hastings, E. H 80 m Hawks, Wells T 107 Holley, Marietta 54 Hope, Anthony 101, 177 Jakeway, H. W 126 Jones, Ernest 34 Kingsley, Charles 1 12 Kipling, Rudyard 166 Laighton, Albert 52 Logan, Walter S 23, 95 Macaulay, Thomas Babing- ton 45 Masson, Tom 35 McDonald, Francis Charles 106 Paine, Albert Bigelow 15 Pickering, Theodosia. . . . . 14 Robinson, Ednah 129 Rostand, Edmond 118 Selinger, Emily 98 Stern, Edwin M 85 Stoddart, Alfred 67 Tompkins, Juliet W 94 Van Norman, Louis E. . . . 82 Vandegrift, Margaret 184 West, Elise 3, 37 Wilcox, Ella Wheeler 36 Winslow, Helen M 140 W«rn§r*» Headings No. 22. WERNER'S READINGS AND RECITATIONS No. 22. UNCLE ETHAN RIPLEY'S SPECULATION. HAMLIN GARLAND. [A cutting from the original story, in revised edition, of "Main-Traveled Roads," MacMillan & Co., publishers, by permission of the author.] T TNCLE ETHAN had a theory that a man's character **-' could be told by the way he sat in a wagon seat. " A mean man sets right plump in the middle o' the seat, as much as to say, ' Walk, gol darn yeh, who cares ? ' But a man that sets in one corner o' the seat, much as to say, ' Jump in — cheaper t' ride 'n to walk/ you can jest tie to." Uncle Ripley was prejudiced in favor of the stranger, therefore, before he pulled up opposite the potato patch where the old man was bugging his vines. * * * " Good afternoon," said the stranger, pleasantly. " Good afternoon, sir." " Bugs purty plenty ? " " Plenty enough, I gol ! " " Good piece of oats yonder." " That's barley." " So 'tis. Didn't notice." Uncle Ethan was wondering what the man was. He had some pots of black paint in the wagon and two or three square boxes. * * * 9 io WERNER'S READINGS " Is that your new barn acrost there ? " asked the stranger. " Yes, sir, it is," answered the old man, proudly. After years of planning and hard work, he had managed to erect a little wooden barn, in which he took a childish pride. " Couldn't think o' lettin' me paint a sign on that barn? " mused the stranger. * * * '* What kind of a sign ? * * * See the darned things ! " rapping savagely on the edge of the pan to rattle the bugs back. " Dodd's Family Bitters. * * * The best bitters on the market. * * * Warranted to cure gout, fevers, colds, rheumatism, summer complaints, pulmonary difficul- ties, and many other diseases, and tone you up generally. Come now," said the stranger, speaking in a warmly gener- ous tone, " I'll give you twenty-five bottles of the bitters if you'll let me paint a sign on that barn." * * * " I guess I hadn't better," said Uncle Ripley, thinking of what his little old wife would say. " It simply puts a family bitter in your home that may save you fifty dollars this coming fall. * * * If you don't want to use the whole twenty-five bottles y'self, why, sell it to your neighbors. The sign won't hurt the barn a bit, and if you like you can paint it out a year from date, and you can get twenty dollars easy out of the bitters." * * * It was this thought which consoled Uncle Ethan as the hideous black letters appeared under the agent's brush, and, in a short time, " Dodd's Family Bitters, Best in the Market " glared forth from the sweet-smelling pine boards. " Ethan Ripley, what have you been a-doin' ? " demanded Mrs. Ripley, when she returned home that afternoon. " Who painted that sign on there ? " * * * " A man come along an' he paid me twenty-five dollars for it." * * * "Did'e?" She was visiblv affected by the news. " Well, it amounts to that ; he give me twenty-five bot- tles " Mrs. Ripley sank into a chair. AND RECITATIONS No. 22. n " Well I swan to Bungay, Ethan Ripley, you git fooler an' fooler every day you live, I do believe. Where is the stuff ? " " Down cellar, an' you needn't take on no airs, ol' woman. I've known you to buy things you didn't need time an' again, an' I guess you wish you had back that ten dollars you paid for that illustrated Bible." * * * " Go get it this minute." Uncle Ethan tugged the two cases * * * into the kitchen. Mrs. Ripley opened a bottle and smelled of it cau- tiously. " Ugh ! Merciful sakes, what stuff ! * * • * What d* you think you was goin' to do with it ? " " I expected to take it — if I was sick. Whaddy ye s'pose ? " * * * "The hull cart-load of it?" " No. I'm goin' to sell part of it, an' git me an overcoat — " " Sell it ! " she shouted. " Nobuddy'd buy that sick'nin' stuff. * * * Take it out this minute an' smash every bottle on the stones." * * * She subsided in a tumult of banging pans. Uncle Ethan did not smash the medicine as commanded, because he had determined to sell it. The next Sunday morning he put on his best suit of faded diagonal and started out with four bottles of the bitters in a water pail. But he ' found that the agent had been to several of his neighbors, painting signs and giving the medicine for payment, so that the country had been practically canvassed. He disposed of Pone bottle on credit and came home, tired, dusty, and hungry. The evening passed in grim silence, and in sleep he saw that sign wriggling across the side of the barn like boa-con- strictors hung on rails. As he stepped into the yard the next morning, Mrs. Ripley came to the window,- buttoning her dress at the throat. * * *. " Lovely, ain't it ? An' I've got to see it all day long. I can't look out the winder but that thing's right in my face." (It seemed to make her savage.) " I hope you feel satisfied with it." Ripley walked off to the barn. His pride in its clean t2 WERNER'S READINGS sweet newness was gone. He slyly tried the paint to see if it could be scraped off, but it was dried in thoroughly. Whereas before he had taken delight in having his neighbors turn and look at the building, now he kept out of sight whenever he saw a team coming. * * * Mrs. Ripley held herself in check for several days, but at last she burst forth. " Ethan Ripley, I can't stand that thing any longer, an' I ain't goin' to, that's all ! You got to go an' paint that thing out or I will. I'm just crazy with it." " But, mother, I promised — " " I don't care what you promised ; it's got to be painted out. I've got the nightmare now seein' it. I'm goin' to send for a pail of red paint, an' I'm goin' to paint that out if it takes the last breath I've got to do it." " I'll 'tend to it, mother, if you won't hurry me — " " I can't stand it another day. It makes me boil every time I look out the winder." Uncle Ethan hitched up his team and drove gloomily off to town, where he tried to find the agent. He lived in some other part of the country, however, and so the old man gave up and bought a pot of red paint, not daring to go back to his desperate wife without it. * * * After supper that night he went out to the barn, and Mrs. Ripley heard him sawing and hammering. " What y' been makin' ? " she inquired, when he came in. " I jest thought I'd git the stagin' ready for paintin'," he said, evasively. * * * When she got ready for bed he was still seated in his chair, and after she had dozed off two or three times she be- gan to wonder why he didn't come. When the clock struck ten she began to get impatient. " Come, are y' goin' to sit there all night ? " There was no answer. She rose up in bed and looked about the room. The broad moon flooded it with light so that she could see that he was not in his chair. * * * • " Ethan! Ethan Ripley, where are you? " * * * There was no answer. She rose and looked distractedly about among the furniture; she went upstairs. All sorts AND RECITATIONS. No. 22. 13 of vague horrors sprang unbidden into her brain. * * * She hurried out into the fragrant night. The ghastly story of a man who had hung himself because his wife had deserted him came into her mind and stayed there with frightful per- sistency. She felt a wild rush of loneliness. She had a sud- den realization of how dear that gaunt old figure was, with its grizzled face and ready smile. Her breath came quicker and quicker, and she was on the point of bursting into a wild cry, when she heard a strange creaking noise. She looked toward the barn and saw on the shadowed side a deeper shadow moving to and fro. * * * " Land of Bungay, if he ain't paintin' that barn like a per- fect old idiot, in the night." Uncle Ethan, working desperately, did not hear her. * * * " Ethan Ripley, you come right straight to bed. What d' you mean by actin' so ? " * * * He made two or three slapping passes with the brush and then snapped : " You go back into the house an' let me be. I know what I'm a-doin'. You've pestered me about that sign jest about enough." * * * Working alone out there had made him savage. She knew by the tone of his voice he was not to be pushed any further. She slipped on her shoes and her shawl and came back where he was working and took a seat on a saw-horse. " I'm a-goin' to set right here till you come in, Ethan Rip- ley," she said, in a firm voice but gentler than usual. '" Waal, you'll set a good while." * * * But each felt a furtive tenderness for the other. He worked on in silence. * * * At last Mrs. Ripley spoke, in a curious tone : "' Well, I don't know as you was so very much to blame. I didn't want that Bible myself — I held out I did, but I didn't." Ethan worked on until the full meaning of the unprece- dented surrender penetrated his head, and then he threw down the brushes. " Wall, I guess I'll let 'er go at that. I've covered up the most of it anyhow. Guess we'd better go in." i 4 WERNER'S READINGS WHEN GEORGE WAS KING. THEODOSIA PICKERING. [Prom Munsey's Magazine, by permission of Frank A. Munsey.] A N ancient hallway, generous and square ; •**• A drowsy fire ghostly shadows throwing; An old clock ticking slowly on the stair, As one who tells a story worth the knowing ; And prone upon the bearskin, showing clear In the red light, a sleeping cavalier. His listless fingers closed about a book, One red-sleeved arm above his head reposing, And on his rugged face the weary look He wore, perchance, before his eyes were closing; And one stands laughing eyed upon the stair, Half merry, half confused, to find him there. A maiden, rustling in her stiff brocade, A girlish bud fast blooming into woman, With the same face that Gainsborough oft made, Coquettish, most divine, and wholly human, Who watches the dark sleeper as he lies, With something more than mischief in her eyes ; And, step by step, comes down with bated breath, With lips half curled and yet not wholly smiling, And bends above him (as the old tale saith Dian above Endymion bent beguiling) And notes the gray streak in his dusky hair, And wonders timidly what brought it there. Then, as a sudden thought comes flashing red, All guiltily, as though the whole world knew it, She first inclines and then draws back her head, Though the old clock ticks : "Do it, do it, do it ! " AND RECITATIONS No. 22.