New National Fourth Reader eBook


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Directions for Reading.—­Read in a conversational tone of voice, as in
Lessons I and II.

What word is emphatic in the third paragraph?

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Language Lesson.—­Syllabify, accent, and mark sounds of letters in the words, broken, packages, courage, polite.

Tell in your own words how the bean grew.

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elf, a very small person; an unreal being.

vex, make angry; trouble.

pon’dered, thought about with care.

streak, line; long mark.

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  A bright little boy with laughing face,
  Whose every motion was full of grace,
  Who knew no trouble and feared no care,
  Was the light of our household—­the youngest there.

  He was too young—­this little elf—­
  With troublesome questions to vex himself;
  But for many days a thought would rise,
  And bring a shade to the dancing eyes.

  He went to one whom he thought more wise
  Than any other beneath the skies: 
  “Mother,”—­O word that makes the home!—­
  “Tell me, when will to-morrow come?”

  “It is almost night,” the mother said,
  “And time for my boy to be in bed;
  When you wake up and it’s day again,
  It will be to-morrow, my darling, then.”

  The little boy slept through all the night,
  But woke with the first red streak of light;
  He pressed a kiss on his mother’s brow,
  And whispered, “Is it to-morrow now?”

  “No, little Eddie, this is to-day;
  To-morrow is always one night away.” 
  He pondered awhile, but joys came fast,
  And this vexing question quickly passed.

  But it came again with the shades of night: 
  “Will it be to-morrow when it is light?”
  From years to come, he seemed care to borrow,
  He tried so hard to catch to-morrow.

  “You can not catch it, my little Ted;
  Enjoy to-day,” the mother said;
  “Some wait for to-morrow through many a year—­
  It always is coming, but never is here.”

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Directions for Reading.—­In reading poetry, pupils should notice the emphatic words, and give them proper force.



    “Tell me, when will to-morrow come?”

The two dashes in the first line of the preceding example are used instead of a parenthesis, and have the same value.

When there is no pause at the end of a line (see first line, third stanza), it should be closely joined in reading to the line which follows it, thus making the two lines read as one.

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New National Fourth Reader from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
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