CONTENTS

To THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF OUR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS.... iii
INTRODUCTION... ix
A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Charles Dickens... 1
THE POWER OF PRAYER. ..John Henry Cardinal Newman.... 72
THE HOLY CROSS Eugene Field ....73
ON THE DEATH OF EUGENE FIELD. Slason Thompson..... 88
LETTER: EUGENE FIELD TO HIS FRIEND MR. GRAY Eugene Field .....90
WITH TRUMPET AND DRUM Eugene Field.... 92
THE BARREL ORGAN. Alfred Noyes.... 93
WATER Jean Henri Fabre.... 102
NATURE Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. ......111
AT HIGH MASS. Rt. Rev. Msgr. Robert H. Benson.... 112
NOX IGNATIANA Rev.James J. Daly, S.J ....113
THE BLESSED VIRGIN William Wordsworth...... 114
THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CAESAR William Shakespeare..... 115
THE LEGEND BEAUTIFUL .Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...... 223
THE WILD RIDE. Louise lmogen Guiney..... 227
LETTER TO MRS. BIXBY ...Abraham Lincoln.... 229
REVERENCE FOR LAW. ...Abraham Lincoln...... 230
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. Abraham Lincoln. .......231
OUR MARTYRED CHIEF ...James Russell Lowell..... 232
ABRAHAM LINCOLN WALKS AT MIDNIGHT ..Vachel Lindsay.... .234
JIMMIE THE WIND. Frank H. Spearman. .....236
THE NAMES OF OUR LADY .Adelaide A. Procter.... 257
THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS. Oliver W endell Holmes..... 260
MEMORIAL DAY ADDRESS..Wroodrow Wilson..... 262
LETTERS TO HIS CHILDREN. Joyce Kilmer ....266
LETTER TO SIDNEY COLVIN Robert Louis Stevenson....... 268
LETTERS FROM ROME. ...Rt. Rev. Msgr. Robert H. Benson..... 276
AFTER A RETREAT. Rf. Rev. Msgr. Robert H. Benson.... 279
THE CONVICT TRAIL. William Beebe.... 280
THE GENTLE ART OF CHRISTMAS GIVING. Joyce Kilmer...... 294
THE NEW SCHOOL. Joyce Kilmer..... 305
THE SPIRES OF OXFORD. ..Winifred Letts. .....307
HISTORY OF NEW YORK BY DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER (Chapter 4, Book 3) Washingoton Irving ....308
CONSCIENCE OR KING? ...Mrs. Lang. ....315
MAKERS OF THE FLAG. ...Franklin K. Lane. .....337
SEA FEVER John Masefield. .....340
MISTRESS CASTLEMAINE'S CHRISTMAS DINNER. ...Rev. Daniel A. Lord, S.J. ....341
THE SOUL OF JEANNE D'ARC Theodosia Garrison..... 363
THE AMERICAN BOY. ..Theodore Roosevelt.... 366
HOWE'S MASQUERADE Nathaniel Hawthorne..... 374
THE PASSING OF CHRIST. .Rickard Watson Gilder..... 396
THE FIRST FLOWER Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman ...400
148TH PSALM The Holy Bible.... 410
THE ANGELIC CHORUS. ..D. J. Donahoe ...411
LITTLE DARBY Thomas Nelson Page..... 412
REVEILLE. Alfred Edward Housman.... 481
THE LAST LEAF Olilver Wendell Holmes... 483
A DISSERTATION ON ROAST PIG Charles Lamb ...485
RUST Jean Henri Fabre..... 495
THE PROPHET LOST IN THE HILLS AT EVENING.Hilaire Belloc....... 501
SALUTE TO THE TREES ...Henry van Dyke.... 502
ON SONG Hilaire Belloc.... 504
THE SOLITARY REAPER ...William Wordsworth...... 510
OXFORD REVISITED. John Henry Cardinal Newman.... .511
THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. .John Henry Cardinal Newman..... 513
A BUILDER'S LESSON John Boyle O'Reilly.... 514
ALICE BRAND Sir Walter Scott ....515
MARZIO'S CRUCIFIX (Excerpt from Chapter XI) F. Marion Crawford... 520
REQUIEM. Robert Louiis Stevenson.... 539
PROSPICE Robert Browning... 540
CROSSING THE BAR. Alfred Tennyson... 541
SUGGESTIONS FOR HOME READING FOR SEVENTH, EIGHTH AND NINTH YEARS.... 543

The Blessed Virgin by William Wordsworth
(from the American Cardinal Readers, Book Eight, pg. 114)

Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought to sin allied;
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature's solitary boast;
Purer than foam on central ocean tost;
Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn
With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon
Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast;
Thy Image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,
Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend,
As to a visible Power, in which did blend
All that was mixed and reconciled in Thee
Of mother's love with maiden purity,
Of high with low, celestial with terrene!