The Entertainment Speaker
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THE ENTERTAINMENT SPEAKER : wkmm wmmm •KopWxv: ^ENTERTAINMENT SPEAKER^ EDITED BY William Montgomery Major Albert Whitman & Company is/iers CHICAGO U. S. A. TIU&oi The Entertainment Speaker Copyright, 1927 By Albert Whitman & Company JUST RIGHT GIFT TITLES Flag of Our Hearts Edited by W. Montgomery Major In Ocean Land By Emily Paret Atwater The Woods in the Home By Hope Daring Merry Christmas Stories Edited by W. Montgomery Major *>, “A Just Right Book” Printed in the U. S. A. PREFACE “The Entertainment Speaker” has been made to fill a need for a collection of speaker poetry that contains both original and classical material. The variety of mood and expression, combining well-known favorites with new and original selections, lends itself to a more varied program of recitations. While primarily intended for young people, some poems for older folk have been included, suitable for those who are advanced for their years. The content ranges from the new selections by Clara J. Denton to the older favorites by Longfellow, Hemans, Whittier, Holmes and others. A few lesser known yet worthy pieces have been included, such as “The Jackdaw of Rheims” which is seldom found in speaker material although anthologists such as Sted- man consider it one of the masterpieces of humorous English verse. Dramatic, humorous, serious, fanciful, patriotic— the endeavor has been to include some verses of each mood and suitable for every occasion and place, the home, school or church. —W. M. M. CONTENTS Page Let’s Pretend, Clara J. Denton. 15 Honor to Whom Due. 16 The Shamrock . 17 The Pine Tree Maiden. 18 Choosing . 19 The Seed . 21 Action . 22 Good Will . 24 The Giver of All. 24 “Cease Firing”. 26 My Daddy . 27 New Year’s Day. 28 Our Greatest American. 29 The Happy April Fool. 30 Christ Is Arisen. 33 Doubt . 34 Maytime . 35 A Mother’s Love. 36 United . 37 The Flag We Love. 38 A Ride for a Vote. 39 Columbus, Clara J. Denton. 42 A Tragic Story, William Makepeace Thackeray. 44 7 CONTENTS—( Continued) Page The Height of the Ridiculous, Oliver Wendell Holmes. 45 Over in the Meadow, Olive Wadsworth. 47 The Walrus and the Carpenter, Lewis Carroll. 50 The Dog of Reflection, Jeffreys Taylor. 55 The Lion and the Mouse, Jeffreys Taylor. 56 The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, Edward Lear. 58 The Mountain and the Squirrel, Ralph Waldo Emerson. 60 A Milkmaid, Jeffreys Taylor. 61 Marjorie’s Almanac, Thomas Bailey Aldrich. 63 Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Thomas Gray. 65 I Remember, I Remember, Thomas Hood. 71 Those Evening Bells, Thomas Moore. 73 I Love Little Pussy, Anonymous. 74 Under the Greenwood Tree, William Shakespeare. 75 Twinkle, Twinkle, Jane Taylor. 76 The Chambered Nautilus, Oliver Wendell Holmes. 77 The Village Blacksmith, Henry W. Longfellow. 79 Escape at Bedtime, Robert Louis Stevenson. 81 Hearts, Like Doors, Anonymous. 82 A Boy’s Song, James Hogg. 83 For A’ That and A’ That, Robert Burns. 84 The Deserted Village, Oliver Goldsmith. 86 The Three Fishers, Charles Kingsley. 88 The Inchcape Rock, Robert Southey. 89 Big and Little Things, Alfred H. Miles. 93 How Doth the Little Busy Bee, Isaac Watts. 95 A Song of a Doll, Charles Kingsley. 96 8 CONTENTS—( Continued) Page Ajax, Phoebe Cary. 97 Little Things, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer. 99 Dirty Jim, Jane Taylor. 100 Wishing, William Allingham. IOI The Kitten at Play, Anonymous. 102 Suppose, Phoebe Cary. 103 The Bridge, Henry W. Longfellow. 105 Abou Ben Adhem, Leigh Hunt. 109 Old Ironsides, Oliver Wendell Holmes. no Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Tennyson. in Warren’s Address at Bunker Hill, John Pierpoint. 114 Peace, Anonymous . 115 George Washington, Anonymous. 116 The Minstrel Boy, Thomas Moore. 117 The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, Felicia Dorothea Piemans. 119 My Old Kentucky Home, Stephen Collins Foster. 120 Pocahontas, William Makepeace Thackeray. 121 Casabianca, Felicia Dorothea Hemans. 123 The Leak in the Dike, Phoebe Cary. 125 “Curfew Must Not Ring To-Night,” Rose Hartwick Thorpe. 132 Words of Welcome, Anonymous. 137 “Quite Like a Stocking,” Thomas Bailey Aldrich. 138 God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen, Dinah Maria Mulock. 139 The Holly Tree, Robert Southey. 140 Christmas Greeting, Lewis Carroll. 142 Hymn for Christmas, Felicia Dorothea Hemans. 143 Mercy, William Shakespeare. 144 9 CONTENTS—( Continued) Page Sonnets, William Shakespeare. 145 Lines Supposed to be Written the Night Before His Execution, Sir Walter Raleigh. 147 The Battle of Agincourt, Michael Drayton. 147 On His Blindness, John Milton. 153 From “An Honest Man’s Fortune,” Fletcher. 154 Providence, William Cowper. 154 To a Mountain Daisy, Robert Burns. 156 Bannockburn, Robert Burns. 158 The Tiger, William Blake. 160 Lochinvar, Sir Walter Scott. 161 Before the Battle of Waterloo, Lord Byron. 164 A Farewell, Charles Kingsley. 167 The Burial of Sir John Moore, Charles Wolfe. 168 Pirate Story, Robert Louis Stevenson. 170 The Land of Story-Books, Robert Louis Stevenson. 171 The Battle of Blenheim, Robert Southey. 172 The Retired Cat, William Cowper. 175 The Eagle, Alfred Tennyson. 180 Columbus, Joaquin Miller. 181 Concord Hymn, Ralph Waldo Emerson. 183 Barbara Frietche, John Greenleaf Whittier. 184 The Bugle Song, Alfred Tennyson. 187 The Ship of State, Henry W. Longfellow. 188 Boats Sail on the Rivers, Christina Georgina Rossetti. 190 Why Repine, My Friend?, Walter Savage Landor. 190 To a Waterfowl, William Cullen Bryant. 191 10 CONTENTS—( Continued) Page Breathes There A Man, Sir Walter Scott. 193 Bruce and the Spider, Bernard Barton. 194 Make Way for Liberty, James Montgomery. 196 Young and Old, Charles Kingsley. 199 The Gloves and the Lions, Leigh Hunt. 200 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Edward FitzGerald. 202 The Jackdaw of Rheims,, Thomas Ingoldsby. 203 The Onset, Barry Cornwall. 208 Polonius’s Advice to Laertes, William Shakespeare. 210 Rienzi to the Romans, Mary Russel M it ford. 211 Nursery Reminiscences, Thomas Ingoldsby. 213 The Ride to Aix, Robert Browning. 215 Ivan the Czar, Felicia Dorothea He/nans. 217 The Patriot, Robert Browning. 220 The Seminole’s Defiance, G. W. Patten. 222 Curse of Kehama, Robert Southey. 224 Truth in Parenthesis, Thomas Hood. 225 Bernardo Del Carpio, Felicia Dorothea Hemans. 226 The Ocean, Lord Byron. 231 My Shadow, Robert Louis Stevenson. 234 The Arrow and the Song, Henry W. Longfellow. 235 Robert of Lincoln, William Cullen Bryant. 235 The Song in Camp, Bayard Taylor. 238 Sheridan’s Ride, Thomas Buchanan Read. 240 Sir Galahad, Alfred Tennyson. 243 The Sandpiper, Celia Thaxter. 247 Crossing the Bar, Alfred Tennyson. 249 1 The Entertainment Speaker The Entertainment Speaker Let’s Pretend If every day were Christmas day, How gaily life would dance away. On Christmas day we try to be From “envy, hatred, malice free,” So “let’s pretend,” as children do, That Christmas comes each day anew. Yes, let us try, just you and I, As all the year goes flitting by, To make each day, for you and me, From selfishness all pure and free. If all around should imitate These ways, Oh, wouldn’t that be great? If every one of us would say, “I’ll keep each day like Christmas day,” How. changed would be this thing called life, All free from selfishness and strife. So let’s pretend, again I say, That every day is Christmas day. —Clara J. Denton. 15 i6 THE ENTERTAINMENT SPEAKER Honor to Whom Due O land so fair, O land so free, From every clime men came to thee. They fled away from carking care And sought thy restful, balmy air. A strange new land, wild tales were told Of riches great, of gems and gold. All cold indeed that throbbing heart Which did not seek thy better part. To reach a land all new and strange Where men in freedom sweet might range How could there be a greater lure Than here a foothold to secure? And thus to thee they early came, Upon thy soil a home to claim. Shall we not honor them the more Who early sought thy distant shore? To all of these, a noble race, Who first adventured, we give place, We bow to them most gratefully For this their land, so proud, so free. THE ENTERTAINMENT SPEAKER 17 The Shamrock This simple tale was told to me, I hope ’tis true, it ought to be. The good Saint Patrick preaching came To Erin’s Isle in Christ’s pure name. On hillside green he often stood And taught the eager multitude. One day the Trinity he taught, That holy truth with mystery fraught. But as his stirring words fell down He caught now here, now there, a frown, Across these speaking faces flew Dark waves of doubt, the signs he knew. Then stooping down a shamrock small He plucked and held before them all. “Lo! here,” he said, “is symbol shown Of three in one, yet each alone.” And then a revelation came, Faith lit each face, a sudden flame. The shamrock green from that great day Holds every Irish heart in sway. i8 THE ENTERTAINMENT SPEAKER The Pine Tree Maiden Listen to this queer old legend, Found in ancient Swedish lore; From a pine knot grew a maiden, All unknown the name she bore. Fair and queenly was her aspect, None could tell just whence she came, But she lived and won all loving, Toiled and played the human game. One bright day a knot well-fitted To a pine board in the wall Dropped, and left a small round opening; Quickly came this maiden tall, Listening gladly, long and often To the woodland music stirred; Small, and smaller grew her body As the magic sounds she heard. Then, at last, when none were watching, She became a tiny elf, Lightly through the knot-hole hurrying, Free at last she found herself.